The Two Week Curse - The Ten Realms Series Book 1

This is more Starcraft than World of Warcraft in that it is really about setting up a base and gathering resources more than about taking a character and growing it in power gradually. The whole story (if there is one) lacks any kind of focus, climax or cathartic moment. Although one could argue that when the leader of the healing house gets killed should be cathartic it is rather unsatisfying in that the two characters who accomplish it just blitz past everything. This seems more like Rambo and his buddy go to an alternate universe and blitz through it than a story about someone adjusting to a new world. What is worse is that there are so many loose narrative threads that are unnecessarily created. It feels like the author came up with ideas then discarded them, but didn’t go back to smooth them out of the narrative.

Other reviewers have noted the foul language. Yes there is a lot of foul language used, but it fits the two characters (I would call them main characters, but it is hard to say there is such a thing in this book) that the book focuses on the most. They are basically an ex-Marine and an ex-Army doctor who never grew up and act like teenagers. It fits the characters, and they are somewhat likeable. This could have been a good book if the author had focused more on character and plot development and less on facilities and materials. There is a bare-bones element of character progression and development that is subservient to a military adventure fantasy that is poorly executed. You will be skimming a lot if you pick this one up. Whatever you do, don't buy this one - get it for free with Kindle Unlimited otherwise it's not worth a penny.

The first 3-4 chapters were difficult for me to get through but I am so glad I did. The characters are well flushed out and feel realistic is a fantasy environment.
To those who have issues with grammar issues like misspelling and typos, please give this a chance. It seems like the book is self published and self edited, so it’s not like most mainstream books that only have 1 or 2 errors.

I was leary on LitRPG but have already ordered the 2nd book and I still have half the book left.

All-in-all give it a try. Support a self published author it’s worth it.

The story itself is fantastic - as a military guy myself, it's great to see relatable characters and their reactions in a non-traditional yet familiar isekai format. There's great attention to detail, even too much at times as the author connects every possible aspect of a video game world to every possible concept in Wuxing and Taoism. But, holy hells, does it feel like this was written by a marine vet. Every time the action kicks off, the author seems to get "too excited to English" and any semblance of grammar and writing form goes down the drain. Fight scenes are a mess, with characters often having more limbs/hands than they know how to punch with and the scenes are left entirely to the reader's imagination - because there won't be anything on paper beyond witty one-liners throughout the entire action sequence. This genre is starved for good editors.

I prefer the idea of two trained warriors going to OP gradually versus the zero to hero approach most litrpgs go with. Don’t know why having someone from special forces go into a new world isn’t used but Radom Joe is so often. Though there were some plot issues like trying to add a skeleton comedian for no reason and some details missing where you wish more background was provided for some of the mechanics of the world, the overall story was good.

Reading it again offers an interesting perspective. You know what they achieve, and how some of their ideas in this book are accurate, and some fall way short. A fun experience and well worth doing.