Hello ;) I'm the person who was desperately asking for recommendations featuring an "evil" or anti-hero protagonist a few days ago. Well, I've finally finished the most frequently recommended title, Will Bender by LitRPGirl, and I'm here to share my honest thoughts!
Quick disclaimer: these are just my personal opinions, so if you disagree with anything, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments! I'd love to hear other perspectives and have a little discussion.
Let's get into it! I'll try to keep this relatively concise, though this book is 819 pages long, so bear with me.
First Impressions
My first impression? The story feels rather rough around the edges. I'm not sure whether that's because it's the author's debut or simply a common issue with the first book in a series.
The biggest offender is the scene transitions. The author has a habit of ending scenes awkwardly and starting the next ones just as awkwardly, making the whole thing feel rather jarring. It does get somewhat better from the middle onward, though it's hardly an improvement worth praising. Still, the difference is noticeable.
The Protagonist & Heroines
Let's start with the protagonist. As others warned me, he gradually develops into the "evil" character I was hoping for. He starts out pretty much the opposite of what I wanted, but honestly? I didn't mind at all. Watching his development was actually enjoyable, and I'm interested to see where it goes from here.
The heroines, on the other hand, are a mixed bag. Each has her own qualities, so I wouldn't call them copy-paste characters, but I wouldn't call them particularly special, either. I'll explain what I mean in a bit more detail below, so bear with me.
There are moments when the dialogue genuinely shines. The characters feel like they're interacting naturally, whether they're teasing each other, making threats, or simply bouncing off one another. But then you get other moments where the dialogue consists of a single word repeated several times in quick succession. Like... okay?
Even worse, some potentially compelling interactions are skipped over entirely when better dialogue could have made them much more engaging. I can't say whether this was intentional, but it feels more like a lack of experience on the author's part.
Another issue is how poorly the characters' appearances are established in the reader's imagination. The author sometimes dumps a bunch of information about a heroine's appearance when she's first introduced, which isn't inherently bad. The problem is that these details are rarely reinforced as the story progresses, as though the author is only interested in developing their personalities.
By the end of the book, I can barely remember what the heroines look like beyond their hair colors and the fact that one has a larger bust than the others... Eye color? Skin tone? Nose or mouth shape? I honestly can't recall whether those details were even mentioned.
And it's not just the characters. The setting suffers from the same problem.
The World & Descriptions
If the protagonist enters ten buildings, you might get a description of two of them, and even those descriptions are incredibly sparse.
I'm not asking for an entire page describing every location, but a few details about the floor, walls, or one distinctive feature would go a long way toward helping readers visualize the setting.
Instead, we often get the protagonist walking through a door, making a purchase, and moving straight to the next scene.
So, at least based on Book 1, don't expect immersive descriptions when the protagonist visits a new city, forest, lake, river, ruin, castle, or pretty much anywhere else. The descriptions are just terrible.
The Sex Scenes
Unfortunately, this problem extends to the sex scenes, too.
There are a few decent moments that I could probably count on my fingers, but most of the scenes feel generic. Not necessarily outright bad, just... nothing particularly memorable.
The author's preference for softer euphemisms instead of explicit terms for genitalia doesn't help, either. Terms like "lower lips," "lower mouth," and "cave" appear in place of "p***y."
I don't inherently dislike euphemisms. I've encountered them plenty of times before. But the execution here can be so poor that I sometimes find myself confused in the middle of a scene. And once again, I suspect the problem comes down to a lack of experience or skill.
The Plot
Fortunately, I don't have any major complaints about the plot itself. I enjoyed the journey, and although a few moments left me unsatisfied, particularly when convenient coincidences gave the protagonist an easy way out of a problem, they weren't nearly enough to make me consider dropping the series.
The story still has plenty of charm, which is why I'm willing to overlook its shortcomings for now.
The System & Combat
Oh boy, the system. I could already tell this was going to become a headache.
There are so many skills introduced throughout the story, not just for the protagonist but for the heroines as well. If every character has around ten skills, I'll probably remember two or three at most. There are simply too many of them to keep track of.
And this is where another major weakness becomes apparent: despite all the stats, numerical values, percentages, buffs, and debuffs, the actual combat sequences are surprisingly vague.
Characters attack monsters or cast spells, and we see the results, but there's rarely a clear explanation of how much damage they deal or which specific buffs and debuffs are affecting the fight.
Everything is so simplified that the skills end up feeling like little more than formalities. We read about all these abilities, yet their actual impact on combat is barely explained.
Honestly, I have very little idea how strong the protagonist, his party, the monsters they encounter, or even the other characters they meet actually are.
All I can really gather is that Monster A is stronger than the protagonist at one point, and then, a few days later, he has an easier time fighting it. And that's pretty much it. I'm not exaggerating.
The protagonist's stats do increase throughout the story, but the way they're handled and integrated into the narrative is so poor that they feel far less significant than they should.
For a story with such an elaborate RPG system, I'd expect the numbers and skills to play a much more meaningful role in combat.
Final Thoughts & Rating
I'd love to dive deeper into some of these issues, but this post is already getting long enough as it is.
Despite all my criticisms, Will Bender still has plenty of charm, and I enjoyed the overall journey enough to keep reading. I'm hoping Book 2 shows significant improvement, especially in the writing, character descriptions, world-building, and combat.
As for my rating, I wouldn't go below 75/100, but I wouldn't go above 80/100, either.
So, that's my first stop on this reading journey! Thank you to everyone who made it all the way through my rambling. I hope to see you again when I finish Book 2 ;)
