"character growth"

2018 · Nathan Thompson · 512 pages · LitRPG / Portal Fantasy

Challenger's Call is a slow-burn LitRPG that asks a lot of patience before it pays off, and whether that tradeoff works depends entirely on what you're looking for. The emotional depth is real, the trauma-to-power mechanic is wholly original, and the character work is stronger than most of what the genre produces. But the first book demands commitment through a heavy, sometimes exhausting setup before the story Thompson is building comes into focus. For readers willing to give it the runway it needs, the series behind it is widely considered one of the best in the genre. For those who need momentum from page one, the asking price is steep.