Defiance of the Fall might be the BEST of the genre, possibly!

​@10 minute reviews I agree! If you are looking for a great cultivation series I would check out Artorian's Archives.

All of these titles are plagued with an over abundance of tropes and too much deus ex machina. I’d love to see something as well written as name of the wind but with a game system background

Yay, I’ve tried a few LitRPG books and most of them kind of suck, with characters that face no interesting conflicts, have no interesting character interactions and no meaningful change aside from the stat/power kind. I read he who fight monsters and it was actually decent with the. Characters and progression, but I kind of stopped reading when he beat a whole squad of people more powerful than him in the simulation. I didn’t intend to stop reading, but I guess it just doesn’t sit well with me when someone becomes overpowered like that, even if there’s some explained reason behind it like “he psyched them out cause’ he’s good at people” I also felt like he was rarely ever genuine with his interactions and that became a bit bothersome. There was also the weird religious aspect where he was really adamant about there being no God for some reason and then he just wasn’t sure and had to ask the goddess of knowledge or whatever for no reason. I mean, at this point, does it even matter? Your in a weird fantasy world with magic and living deities and now your having a weird crisis of faith that I’m pretty sure won’t lead anywhere and is just a bit annoying to read after all of the attacks on religion earlier. There was no nuance there. It was like “God isn’t/wasn’t real and I don’t bow to any deity. I respect no hierarchy and put myself Beneath no man, deity, God, or Goddess.” And then he asks the Goddess if the God of earth is actually real as if he wasn’t just proclaiming his adamant atheism and rejection of authority the whole boom to that point. I don’t know, sorry for ranting and raving on what’s honestly a smaller part of the book, but my point is I had a few hangups with how things where unfolding and just became a little annoyed when he just jumped a ton of rungs in power even if it was explained away through his people skills and environmental advantage. I know I’m being kind of harsh here. I haven’t sat down and properly read something in a bit and since I have some free time and I’m in the mood I think I’ll finish this book and move on to the second one. Im sure it won’t go off the rails with power fantasy or anything. I just hope the main character can actually speak with people genuinely instead of using every single conversation to work someone to his advantage somehow even if he has the best of intentions.

@@christianboi7690 now the first thing ill say is im not about to start an internet arguement. So, i can acknowledge that Jason gets very OP over time but at least to me it felt like he earns all of it so it never really bothered me. There is also the "boring superman" effect where his opponents scale exponentially with his growth which keeps the tension up as long as you are immerged (obviously the main character is not going to just die to the main big bad nor sone goon so they only really need to keep up the illusion so you can suspend your disbelief.) While to me it didn't feel as annoying as other fantasy stuff where the mc literally makes friend with gods (due to earning most of his progress) i can totally understand and respect the idea of that putting anybody off since it just feels like a juvenile power fantasy. While on the surface level he who fights with monsters seems just like any other fantasy power fantasy, i think the real reason i at least enjoyed it was because of the good character writing: Jason wears a mask of being the funny guy or the weird guy because he feels like he isn't good enough and doesn't fit in. He feels off balance constantly and like a strong breeze could push him over so he puts other on his level to deal with it. While i wont spoil the character arcs he goes trough after the first book he does develop naturally and we get to see his journey and feel his pain at every failure and trauma. Other characters also have their own 3D personalities and motivations that lead to conflict and plot progression. Characters dont simply act as needed to prompt the OP MC number 76 to teach them a lesson or show their awesomeness. Instead you get to understand why they do the things they do even if its not what they need to do. I personally also quite enjoyed the fresher way of showing progress as opposed to endless numbers its simpler to understand silver is better than bronze. I respect your decision to drop it and i can feel your frustration as i remember feeling like that about many pieces of media where i was told to try again after dropping it and i dont think it works usually. It has so far let me read and enjoy "the primal hunter" which is now one of my favourite litrpg series. But for the most part my mind stays overly critical towards media i have previously dismissed for me to properly get into it. However i do still recommend you give it one more try and try to focus on the character writing instead of searching for negatives or things you dont like. Because you will always find what you look for in fiction. TL;TR: sure, but what if you tried to read it again?

I've reviewed almost every one of them, lol, it's always on my list as the best LitRPG series out there.

I'd actually have to say no. The writing style of an author isn't for everybody, and if this book didn't grip you quickly, it likely won't the style doesn't change or the pace pick up.