Hugo Huesca

Great worldbuilding full of very neat tricks to work around the usual consistency problems I see in litRPG books but the plot never really gripped me and I lost interest in the middle of the second book.
It's just so similar in plot layout that I felt like I was reading the same book with a different skin.
While a lot of thought clearly went into parts of the worldbuilding itself there are quite a few logical inconsistencies caused by changing plot requirements.

I don't know what exactly it was but the story never properly hooked me beyond the great intro.
I guess it was due to many small things adding up.
While the author successfully subverts a few litRPG tropes very well, the books use clichéed templates a lot.
I never really felt like we were going anywhere.
A lot of time is wasted in hypotheticals that never went anywhere.
It all just was too easy for the MC. Not in the sense that he was too strong but as if all the stars constantly aligned for him which all makes it feel strangely undeserved.
The dangers he faces and overcomes are somehow unconnected to his success and progress in a way.
These are all kinds of minor complaints. Maybe it was one of those, maybe it was not, idk.… (mais)

So good!
Setups paying off, new plot lines being developed, all of the current characters getting thrown into a blender and put on high, it's great. We've got the mindbrood finally resurfacing, the Light gods clearly know something is up with Gallio getting the Sunwave, Kharon is injecting chaos where he can, characters growing, Ed's moral quandaries continue, and then of course we have two new major plots threads in the form of Ed's parents and whatever is up with Starevos. I'm a little worried about suddenly having prophecy mixed into this.

A few things I'm interested in for the next book:
-More of this length if possible!
-I hope we see Lisa appear in Book 5, not sure if I want her to actually come in as a main character or just be an aside.
-Given that pretty much every other significant character in the Haunt shows growth I was hoping to see the same from Laurel. Laurel is Ed's oldest major ally in this series and she was both important and interesting in the earlier books. She's entirely absent from book 4. I wanted to continue to see her development, particularly as an alien psyche that doesn't follow the same trends as the other human characters.
-Please don't spend the whole of Book 5 on Earth. The story is expansive, but I don't know if its scope is able to handle interdimensional bridges.


Some minor spelling and grammar errors need cleanup.
I think were a few minor continuity errors too, but nothing that stuck with me.… (mais)

The Wraith's Haunt series is a pretty good for litpg. The characters are good, the writing, while describing a bit too much for my taste, is competent. The series doesn't fall into the common pitfall of these kinda books by feeling like it doesn't go anywhere. While there is no clear ending to the story, there feels like every book has a clear objective and story leading us closer to a conclusion.
It felt more like a fantasy book incorporating litrpg elements to tell the story the author wanted to tell rather than being just another shitty author just using litrpg as a crutch because they can't write a good story.
If litrpg's is your thing I'd strongly recommend this book.… (mais)