Apocalypse Assassin

My biggest struggle with LitRPG and progression genres is the sheer magnitude of poorly written great ideas. Storytelling is about projecting those great ideas in a way that succinctly builds a relationship between us, the main character, and the people around them. That projection requires a meaningful understanding of the science of writing, in all its nerdy syntax, semantics, and structured topic flows. And J.J. Thorn absolutely nails it. As we learn about Claire's experiences in The Project, I could feel her growing fatigue as she progresses through the stages of grief: “Drink. Drink. Drink.” Projecting those experiences in a meaningful way isn’t a race to get to the good parts, it's a thoughtful structure of carefully chosen words that build context into emotional weight. The simple sentence “There is only one cup today” could so easily be a throwaway line, but instead it carries an entire backstory that leans into the struggle of what it means to be truly helpless. There are several instances of these context driven references sprinkled throughout the book. One example is when Claire puts her back to the train of innocents and stares down a horde of monsters. This mirrors her mother Judy, putting her back to the stairs leading to Claire’s bedroom door as she stares down the beast. This level of storytelling takes far more than just great ideas—it takes honest skill with the written word. Cheers to J.J. Thorn. I absolutely look forward to seeing what Book 3 has in store for us.

Really enjoyable. For a child of trauma and abuse MC, she was very well written. Interesting system, slightly different from the normal cookie cutter systems. Looking forward to book 2!

this is an interesting take on the ltrpg genre.