He Who Fights with Monsters: A LitRPG Adventure

He Who Fights with Monsters, Book 1

By: Shirtaloon, Travis Deverell

Narrated by: Heath Miller

Selected as one of Audible's best audiobooks of 2021

Jason wakes up in a mysterious world of magic and monsters.

It’s not easy making the career jump from office-supplies-store middle manager to heroic interdimensional adventurer. At least, Jason tries to be heroic, but it's hard to be good when all your powers are evil.

He’ll face off against cannibals, cultists, wizards, monsters...and that’s just on the first day. He’s going to need courage, he’s going to need wit, and he’s going to need some magic powers of his own. But first, he’s going to need pants.

After cementing itself as one of the best-rated serial novels on Royal Road with an astonishing 13 million views, He Who Fights with Monsters is now brought to you in professionally formatted audio.

©2021 Shirtaloon (P)2021 Podium Audio

A great litrpg

This book is a great start to what maybe a topshelf litrpg book. I loved the pacing and character development. I also love that it's long and tells a great story without needing 3 books to do that. One of the things I think is a problem with most litrpgs is that they are like dime novels and are short needing multiple books to finish a story ark. That is not the case for this book if you are a fan of "The Land", "Edens Gate", of "Bushido online", than this book is a great read.

Best new series in quite a while...

In spite of their somewhat dubious choice of pen name, Shirtaloon has written an intelligent, compelling, intricate, sophisticated, and funny LitRPG story... How many times have you seen that combination of adjectives in a review of a single GameLit book?

Moreover, they have bucked the current trend of talented GameLit authors dribbling out 7-9 hour segments of their audiobooks every two months in a blatant credit grab. I’d almost give this author 5 stars just for releasing a 28 hour debut.

Fortunately, I was not confronted with that choice. This novel is one of those few works where the excessive length is like looking into your fridge and realizing you have enough really good leftovers to last you the week. Every time I was forced to stop listening I would look at the time remaining fearing that the story might be coming to an end, only to find out that there were still hours and hours of story left.

Heath Miller’s narration is spot on in both tone and delivery. I did note a few places where the switch between character voices didn’t quite match up with the dialog, but in a 28 hour performance it was so rare that I feel like I’m mentioning it just to satisfy my desire for leaving a balanced review. Miller’s performance melded with the material so well that it was like I was reading the book myself.

To summarize, if you have enough interest in this book to actually read this far into my review, then I am confident that you will enjoy He Who Fights Monsters every bit as much as I have... And with the next 23 hour installment slated to be released in 63 days from the time of this review, you don’t even have to worry about a long wait to find out what happens next.

Stop wasting time reading reviews, and spend the credit... You’ll be happy you did.

Too much of good thing kept this from being 5 star

loved the snark at first but after a while it just got old.
I'll preface my next criticism by saying that I've taken the mantle of an SJW every now and then and could go on forever about inequality However...

The MC's holler than thou monologs about about inequality got old fast.

if you can get passed that this is a very good story.

wonderfully crafted witty adventure

it was a wonderfully written story with a very witty character with scenes that just unfolded like magic. beautiful to the ears and too irresistible to put down. keep up the wonderful work.

This one is great

I've read a lot of litrpg until now and the truth is that the genre has lot of low quality and/or cringey material with often obnoxious main characters. It is my guilty pleasure nevertheless.
This book was a surprise. I found it well written, with great story and a really likeable main character.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and I'm looking forward to the next one.