The Fifth Realm by Michael Chatfield
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I don't have anything bad to say about the LitRPG elements here. I love leveling and I love skillups and crafting and fighting. It's all pretty standard and satisfying.

Where I DO have a problem in this book, and, indeed, most of the books in the Ten Realms, is the HEAVY rah-rah redneck military capitalism at all costs support-the-troops and support-debt and the America-forever mindset. I don't mind a little bit. I don't even mind a moderate amount of it. But I do mind if the propaganda-speak and superiority-mindset hijacks the LitRPG reality in highly unrealistic ways and it always works out because the rah rah is OBVIOUSLY superior.

I expect a bit of goofiness in these books. LitRPG is pure fantasy distilled down to game mechanics and the rest is snark. I really love that. But propaganda politics? I can handle any type until it starts taking over the pages and I just want to get back to some fighting or crafting.

I don't TRULY mind unless it just becomes a vehicle for America-fuck-yeah. This is skirting the edge.

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