The Butcher of Gadobhra

A really enjoyable series, with the right amount of humor and character progression for me. I appreciate the world the Walrus King has created, and marvel at the gaming system behind it all as well... though I honestly don't pay too much attention to it (enjoying it but not balance checking it). The latter is totally OK with me, and I'm totally OK with the protoganists frequently overcoming what's thrown their way, vs. some series that may be more about feeling the suffering of the characters (or dwelling too long in exenstential angst). In short, I'm a fan, and will happily return to this series, bravo!  

This is an amazing book and i am always looking forward to the next chapter! This book really takes a unique perspective on litrpg, instead of being about an OP normal player, it's about players who work for a corporation under heavy restrictions. All the characters are well done, and the way the contract workers bypass restrictions is extremely entertaining. My favorite line:

Wally smiled. "What type of monster? That, Steven, is a Butcher."

Overall the best story on here, the worst thing about it is the name doesn't do justice to it, I started by reading tunnel rat the other series by the author, and after finishing it decided to give this one a try, in my humble view the butcher is better 

Really enjoying the story over-all so far. Really like the characters, they are well put together as far as I can tell. I think I am about half way through the current chapters at around chap 150. Not going to leave any spoilers here, but I would like to say I think DD is my favourite so far even if we hardly see him.

The story has no focus. The author is much more interested in adding new POV characters than adding depth to any of them. Every character can be boiled down to a handful of character traits and maybe a chapters worth of backstory. Most of them don't even really have established motivation aside from make money.  But the author keeps changing points of veiw to give backstoy to events that could be explained in a sentence as they happened. Do I really need 4 chapters from the point of view of a character that only exists to explain why some paladins got attacked by wolves? It's a video game, wolves don't need a reason to attack people. Now I don't think changing povs in itself a bad thing, but it feels like minor character chapters outnumber any given main charactes chapter count 2 to one.  Which is a problem when I don't even know why these characters are doing what they're doing, is their only purpose in life to make enough money to not die? Is there really nothing deeper than that? But I guess we'll never know, because the author is more interested in telling us about the back stories of a group of new players who think the main character is hot.

I like the depth of world building and detail that goes into each chapter.  The characters are very entertaining, sort of a cross between McGyver cleverness and Forrest Gump bizarre luck and serendipity. Only on chapter 50 or so, but already hooked for the full ride!  Looking forward to many more chapters...

Warning: This review has some minor, general spoilers. Nothing specific and nothing you don’t find out in a few chapters anyway, but please don’t read if you hate all spoilers.

In a corporate dystopia future, menial workers are just assets to be used up and tossed aside. Even more so if the menial workers are hired to work in a virtual reality RPG as basic labor. Unfortunately for the corporations’ way of thinking, Ozzy and his friends are far more competent than expected and have at least one powerful hidden ally. Plus, the corporation they now work for has outsmarted itself – the game the workers are placed in is balanced so when the corporation tried to make brainwashed grunts with no offensive skills, the workers received some well-hidden advantages included in the package. PCs and NPCs alike start learning some things the hard way: don’t insult the barmaid, shepherd powers are OP, the courier has friends in unexpected places, and don’t ever, ever mess with the butcher.

Blurb aside, this story has a lot of good points: easily readable general grammar and sentence and paragraph structure; a mix of short-term and longer-term plots; a good blend of drama and humor (no real romance so far though); smooth pacing; significant plot interactions; etc. The one thing that really makes the story is the characterization. I usually don’t like multiple point-of-view stories, but this one pulls it off very well. Every main character is given enough time and attention onscreen to feel like a real, unique person – there are no two-dimensional characters except for a few that are clearly comic relief. Even the villains have their own motivations and characterization.

My one minor gripe is that the framing story, which is set in the base reality of the world, seems to be overly complex and dramatic. If this irritates you as it does me, just ignore it for the short amount of time it takes to get to the in-game portion of the story. The author claims there is a reason for the framing story, but only hints have shown up in the in-game story so far. In any case, that’s one minor gripe compared to a lot of positives, so the story is well worth the read.

Too often on RR do you find stories rushing to hit you with a hard hook then taper off as the author runs through the list of ideas they had before writing the story. Not with this story. Just when you think you've caught up to the plot there's a twist that keeps you binging the story. The different perspectives keep you guessing because the characters have unique outlooks and backstories yet lack omnipotence. Really feels like you're getting more than just one story and I love it.

I've read stories start out bad and then rise to greatness, but this is the first time I've read a story that starts out this close to being a masterpiece, and then intentionally throw it all away. As you might have read in other reviews, starting at around tier 2, the story changes. That's the understatement of a century right there, and now I've got to figure out how to rate it.

It starts out as a pretty serious action story with some out of place comedy, but, starting at tier 2, it jumps off the deep end into an action-comedy and transitions to an action-slice of life set in a VRMMO. We go from a story about some workers just trying to secure their future by secretly gaining power in any way possible, to a happy slice of life fantasy where the single source of conflict comes from whichever MMO boss they've decided to openly fight today.

I'm just disappointed really, though I do believe my rating is fair despite the author's apparent disagreement. I tried pushing through 60 more chapters in the vein hope it improves, but it doesn't, and now I can't even bring myself to properly finish this review.

I'll change the review once I've read further.

So where to begin... Ah, yes. Let's begin with Wally, the artificial intelligence. The smartest, the fastest, the most advanced, and loneliest being on the planet. He knows all. he sees all. And he listens to you. But he's too busy. He's overburdened and grieving for his lost brothers, the artificial intelligence who didn't survive. 

This story is his plan to bring them back. He's the true butcher of Gadobhra. I believe.

Let's start with the review:

The importance of style depends upon the story foretold, but it should and foremost be entertaining. Style is easier to grasp, but the hardest of the four categories to master. How well the style is received depends not upon the words used and information crammed between the dialogues, but upon the narrator and his ability to awe a reader.

The style of this story is flawed in this sense since it tries too be grand, rather than be entertaining. We are welcomed with a rather normally written first chapter, but what follows are the not so entertaining stage performances between characters whose importance to the story is as fleeting as the information they provide. 

The style of the normal chapters is as fine as chicken dinner, but the author's idea to go grand with it breaks the pace of the story, and that is just a tragedy. 

I have given 4 stars to the story because of things I've perceived and plot seen. I had difficulty understanding who the real protagonists of the story were, plural because there is never only one character on screen, which is a great thing by the way. 
However, everything is not great with the plot and how it's told. I believe, the central idea of a game world needing human forces to act as NPC's should have been better explored, because it feels half-baked at the moment. I had to ignore it to read the story, which made me quite sad, to be honest. 

To think such hardworking people had no place in the real world was a bitter pill for me to swallow. It's a novel idea in general, and I liked that author put it right in the center of the story by giving the players and the NPCs an empty world to grow and reign. The human-controlled Npc's would certainly have plenty of growth potential in terms of personal status in the game, and their influence in the real world.

Overall, the story, or the plot definitely has more potential than most rrl works, but the one thing that might keep it from real growth is the pace at which it opens the world.