DNF-ing after chapter 13. I might come back to this if I have no other options for the bingo LitRPG square, but it's so bad.

The story/dialogue/writing is desperately uninteresting for at least the first 5 chapters. The writing as of chapter 10 or so has risen to "readable, but only just," but it's still just an idiot living in an MMO. The dialogue is still atrocious. ( )

Perhaps it was Andrea Parsneau's performance from the audio version that really sold me on the story. I was surprised by the Wandering Inn, had no idea what to expect when I first started. What I was greated with was a slice of life novel as a young woman attempts to coop and adjust to life in a new world. She deals with being the only human in the area she finds herself and ultimately having to kill in self defense. The characters all grow over time and each one stands out on their own. This book had me laughing and happy at parts, and crying and sad at others. If I didn't have a family or children I doubt I would have put the book down at all.

Andrea's narration however, is really what pulled me in. Her range of voices is crazy and each character had their own, even down to the different Gnolls, Drakes and other races Erin encounters in her new life. ( )

This is the third web serial I've ever read, and the second LitRPG. If you're not familiar with the term, a LitRPG is a novel that includes the conventions of tabletop role-playing games (like Dungeons & Dragons) or videogames. The characters have codified classes and skills that advance in an unnatural way according to the mechanics of the game.

I enjoyed the slice-of-life aspects of the story more than the larger narrative, so it took me a little while to be totally sold on the story. It also mixes tones (light humor alongside some grim tragedy) and I typically don't like that. However, the likeable characters and the distinctiveness of the setting both won me over hard eventually.

One word of warning regarding length: This is a very long book! It is broken up into manageable story arcs that often stand well on their own, but the overall story is extremely slow-paced. This feels more like a series of books than a single novel, and the continuations really are just that: More of the same stories stretching forwards for a very very long while. ( )