A Review of System Change
I’ve been riding high off of some pretty damn good books recently, so it was about time for something to take me back down to earth. LitRPG books have been a guilty pleasure of mine for some time now. If you’re unfamiliar with the subgenre, it can be summarized as this: sci-fi/fantasy stories in which the internal logic runs on video game rules (levels, classes, quests – the works). Several years ago, I labeled the genre as ‘pulp fiction for a generation raised on WoW’, and I think the description still fits. A young genre, LitRPG is dominated by self-published works that place more emphasis on fleshing out their respective ‘systems’ (the term used to describe the RPG mechanics embedded in the worldbuilding) than their characters or themes. For a while, that was good enough for me, and I didn’t mind the shallowness of the plot for the meatiness of the mechanics. As I – and the nascent genre – have grown older, my expectations have changed. Before, there was a dearth of well-written LitRPG books, and just about anything that scratched the numbers-go-up itch would satisfy me. This is no longer true.
Which brings us to System Change by SunriseCV. At the level of its premise, the book is interesting. It’s built around the idea of a high-level individual being pulled, stats and all, from one system to another. It’s not quite the first story I’ve read with overlapping systems, but it’s one of the first, which is enough to intrigue me. Its system, too, is interesting enough to keep me going, and I saw some interesting avenues for expansion, especially if the overlapping systems started interacting with each other interesting ways. But that’s about all System Change has going for it.
Originally written on the webfiction site RoyalRoad, System Change was published serially as individual chapters before being collected into volume for wider release on Amazon. Because of this, the plotting of the book feels extremely uneven. There is no discernible climax, and none of the characters really have arcs. After all, it’s hard to expect resolution when the plot was cut off relatively randomly, at the end of one of many mini-arcs. Additionally, because System Change is essentially a first draft packaged and released, the writing feels inconsistent and juvenile. Derek, the lead, jumps between patient and quick-to-anger whenever it serves the plot. He’s infallibly overpowered (a standard for LitRPG), but never in a way that adds any intrigue or tension to the plot. On top of that, the dialogue and descriptions are some of the most tell-don’t-show writing I’ve ever seen. You don’t have to read into any of Derek’s actions, because he’ll tell you exactly what he’s doing and why. Plus, he’s written to be smart and funny, but the humor never hit for me, and his intelligence extended only as far as a couple of logical leaps and a handful of plans that went perfectly(with no opportunity for him to demonstrate that he’s quick on his feet). Plus, it kind of undercuts the character’s supposed brilliance when half of his decisions are made on an impatient whim, with little thought for consequences. I might have been able to forgive his weak characterization if the action carried the plot, but sadly, that’s not the case. The fight scenes were a chore to get through (though that’s almost always my experience reading LitRPG books), a mush of loosely-defined violence leading to Derek’s inevitable victory. All this led to the reading experience feeling wholly unsatisfying and unsurprising, and I found my self skipping paragraphs as often as I read them.
When I got to the end of System Change, I felt very little. I knew there was a sequel, though, and I had a decision in front of me: skim through the next book for the bits that interest me, the world-building and the exploration of the system; or stop and find something else to read. I don’t think I’ll be continuing.
My rating: 3/10 – not recommended
Giving a negative review leaves a bad taste in my mouth, so here are a few LitRPG books I can recommend wholeheartedly:
1. Defiance of the Fall – The First Defier: A fusion of eastern cultivation fantasy and LitRPG, this is another one where I skim the fight scenes(though that’s probably more on me than the author). The world of this series is huge, and I love the way it slowly expands from a single planet to a vast multiverse.
2. Dungeon Crawler Carl – Matt Dinniman: Dominion of Blades was the first book I read by Matt Dinniman, and at the time it was the best-written LitRPG book I’d ever read. Dungeon Crawler Carl takes the same penmanship and brings it to the next level with a massive, hilarious game-show apocalypse that is all kinds of fun.
3. The Wandering Inn – Pirateaba: The Wandering Inn is a slice of life epic fantasy with fairly light LitRPG elements. It’s one of my absolute favorite written works of all time: richly emotional, deep and expansive, endlessly engaging. It’s also preposterously long (about four times the length of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, one of the longest fantasy series out there). Because of the absurd length and the relative weakness of the first volume, I find it hard to recommend The Wandering Inn to any but the most committed readers. If you can find the commitment, though, it’s unforgettable.
