A (Not So) Simple Fetch Quest: Part 1: Monsters

Book 1

By: Cathfach

Narrated by: Jessica Almasy

Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

Oh great hero! The evil Demon Lord has once again arisen to terrorise our lands, and we have summoned you to save our people!

No, we don't want you to fight the demon lord! Of course not; we're the good guys! What sort of good guys kidnap people from other worlds and force them to take part in wars that have nothing to do with them? That would just be plain evil! We'd be no better than the demons!

Katie, after her summoning by an excessively loud mage suddenly takes an unexpected twist, is sent off on a simple fetch quest, with a promise that she'll be back home in five minutes at most. She doesn't even need to leave the building. Alas, when a goddess' blessing causes her wish for an actual adventure to be taken rather more literally than she expected, she finds herself lost in a dark cave, far away from the sword she was supposed to acquire and far too close to a population of giant bugs. Still, at least she wished her life wasn't in any danger. Among other things.

Be careful what you wish for. You might just get it.

This is a dark LitRPG adventure, both in terms of Katie accidentally wishing all the lights out, and also in that she loses as often as she wins, often with horrific and disturbing consequences. Luckily, Katie isn’t the sort of person to let a mere grizzly death or two get her down, and is prepared to try, try and try again to get her hands on the holy sword and finally complete her ‘simple’ fetch quest. Or perhaps, with a few resistance skills under her nightie, she might even come to enjoy losing. Not that she’d ever consider forgoing revenge, even if she did.

©2023 Cathfach (P)2023 Podium Audio

Great litrpg with a female protagonist

It's so hard to find litrpg with a female protagonist, especially audiobooks, and this series is fantastic (great humor, mechanics, narrator, etc etc).
One of my favorite series!

Fascinating Story, and A Closet Pervert

This book is quite well written, with an interesting and well-characterized MC, unsettling worldbuilding, and a fun LitRPG system. The mechanics are thoroughly thought out, and the progression is both well earned and interesting. To my delight, the main character (an utterly nondescript young adult from our world) has a noticeable yet tasteful sexuality, which is something you rarely see these days. Even the side characters have complex and realistic motivations, and evoke the emotions they are intended to (damn foxkin guards!). Overall, I quite enjoyed the book and its sequel.

If you're interested in LitRPG, unique respawn mechanics, and a morally-concerning main character, then I highly recommend this book to you. The only heads-up I will give is about the, well, subtle bondage elements.

[Mild Series Spoilers] Before we go any further, I'm not saying that this is an issue with the book or a reason to not get it. It's really subtle and totally discreet, as it takes till the first interlude between books 1 and 2 to really notice it, but, well, I'm quite certain Cathfach is into bondage/restraint-play. It's pointed out several times by our MC, but somehow every single enemy has some sort of restraint-type interaction with her. It's unobtrusive, semi-comedic, and both character driven and plot relevant, but definitely there.

From tentacles to webs to mind control to self-harm, there are a LOT of nsfw-in-hindsight elements to the story. I'd have to stoop to using porn tags to describe them all, so I think I'll refrain, but you get the idea. And while it DID make me uncomfortable at several points, I was able to overlook it, so likely no one else will mind (for reference I utterly abhor sexuality in stories). Mostly I just want to rant about it, and in case Cathfach reads this, to kinkshame her. It's honestly not a problem, just amusing.

Very good book all around, and while the monsterfication of the main character is kind of depressing, I will definitely be getting book 3. I need me that happy ending. I fully recommend this series despite the odd bondage flavoring.


TL;DR: Good book with great character, story, magic, and setting. The MC is strong and fleshed out, and every element is interesting. There are very subtle elements of bdsm that would require porn tagging to fully describe, but it’s tasteful and honestly shouldn't be an issue for anyone. Highly recommend.

So underrated

This was such a great listen. Bit of a slow start, but I was totally hooked after our crazy little protagonist finally finds her footing. It's easy to mistake this for the usual generic litrpg and yes, while many of those tropes are used, there are many more unique ones and a bit of deviation from what you'd expect in this sort of story. I especially liked the setting and world building in general and again, it's not exactly what you'd expect. I especially enjoyed exploring this world with our manic protagonist. No whining or too much inner conflict that generally comes with morally grey characters. There's some of the latter sure but not to an annoying degree, which is generally a personal gripe for me.

The book certainly isn't perfect but I'm here to enjoy myself and it certainly provided that. Whatever writing issues it may have had, I was able to thoroughly ignore them. I'm sure someone else could provide a more critical review. I'm so looking forward to starting the next book.

The performance. Uh I've gushed so much about Jessica that I'm starting to feel like a broken record. Actually, I initially only picked this book up because specifically because she was the narrator (though the story definitely stands perfectly fine on its own) and of course I wasn't disappointed. She's at the top of my narrator list along with Nick Podehl, who's works are usually an instant get.

Not the worst fetish porn i've seen....

I have listened to all three books now and can honestly say it is by far not the worst fetish porn i have seen, but it is still very much fetish porn. However the fact that a clear distinction between consensual BDSM and rape is definitely a plus, as well as all partners being adults is also quite pleasant, no weird child sexualization in this series at all!!! As for the Litrpg elements.... well there was some good bits, it was clearly more than just background. It does feel a bit rushed at times though. While the fetish stuff really isn't my thing....much, i think the thing that decided me on 3 stars is that every single problem in this story is do to Katy's very poor impulse control and inability to see the consequences of her actions. it's gets really tedious after a while. Poor communication seems to be the second theme to this series. There IS growth, it just requires a lot of teeth grinding to get there. Also I REALLY hate when authors never give a description of the main character, it's f--king anoying.

Final thoughts? While i would probably laugh if i found out someone liked this series, I wouldn't look down on them for it.