Life sucks when you’re a potato farmer.
That’s why Rin can’t wait to turn sixteen and conquer the nearest beginner dungeon. Only then can he acquire a powerful class in the Game of the Gods and begin the earnest grind to leveling up. With enough monster kills, he might even become someone truly strong, just like his father.
In a world where levels mean everything, it’s a perfect plan.
Until it all falls apart.
Second up in our run through the SPFBO Finals is No More Levels by Benjamin Barreth, a standalone LitRPG, which already sets it apart in a genre that usually wants a five book commitment before you even know if you like it.
It follows Rin, a potato farmer’s kid who can’t wait to turn sixteen and dive into his first dungeon to earn a class, only to walk out with a Cursed one nobody wants. Add a genial, slightly tricky trickster god, a murderous ghost, and a cast of monsters that get more mileage out of familiar game mechanics than you’d expect, and you’ve got a fun, easy read that splits opinion mainly on how its ending lands. Here’s what we thought.
Julia
This one’s a fun ride that stumbles right at the finish line.
Let’s start with the obvious win: it’s a standalone LitRPG. That alone makes it stand out in a genre that usually demands a five book commitment before you even know if you like it.
The story follows Rin, a potato farmer’s kid who can’t wait to hit sixteen and dive into a beginner dungeon to get his class. He ends up picking an unconventional path, and watching him make the most of that choice is one of the book’s real strengths. The tone and voice carry a lot of the book too, there’s a genuine sense of fun running through it, helped along by a trickster god who brings solid humor throughout.
Rin gets overpowered fast, and for most of the book that works fine, it’s part of the appeal. There’s a nice cast of monsters and companions, some magic and world building ideas that go against genre expectations, a properly murderous ghost, and game mechanics that get used in fresher ways than you’d expect, which helps balance out the more familiar trope-heavy stretches.
Then the big final showdown arrives, built up like it’s going to be the epic payoff, and it just fizzles. Anticlimactic in the truest sense, all that tension deflates in an instant instead of landing with any weight. It’s a real letdown after the buildup, and it has a knock on effect: suddenly the tropes, the predictability, the convenient plotting that the fun tone had been carrying you past start to grate more than they would have otherwise. The actual ending after that scene picks the fun back up again, so it’s really that one sequence that throws things off.
Still a book I enjoyed, just one that left an aftertaste it didn’t need to.
Sara
I’m not much of a video games player, and so for the first 25% of the book, I mostly thought it seemed pretty silly. Then about the 30% mark, I actually started liking Rin as a character and decided to stick with it. Rin is a great character in that he keeps going even when the going gets tough. Life may be giving him lemons, but he’s determined to make something out of them. The humor wasn’t my style, but I’m sure some people would find it funny. The writing was a bit on the fluffy side, easy to read, and did keep me coming back for more. All the different monsters were fun, and I actually was hoping Rin would do more traveling and find even more monsters. The end battle was a bit too violent for my tastes. Nice to have a standalone!
Maureen
I admit a fondness for LitRPG and this book was a treat to read. I loved our Level Six Potato Farmer, Rin, manoeuvred into accepting a situation that hearty adventurers the world over would find repugnant. However, what our fella has that separates him from the others is resilience. In spades— up-the-sleeve kind of spades.
He makes do so well that he attracts the attention of a god; not necessarily one you’d want to have hanging around, but it is one who controls his fate, and he seems genial enough, if a bit tricky.
The book’s plot takes us through one outlandish dungeon through the next, even crazier situation, until we reach the conclusion. Along the way, Rin makes friends, one of whom was dropped into a big plot hole at the end, unfortunately.
I applaud the boy’s ingenuity, but all dungeons were solved in practically the same manner; and without spoiling the plot, I can’t elaborate.
While I liked the character of Rin, his adversaries were reduced to playing various iterations of Snidely Whiplash. His friends, likewise, were rather superficial.
As a tale that you’d tell your kids to entertain them on a journey, this story works so, so well, where deeper motivations aren’t necessary to bring about a complete story.
This is a light story; if something deeper is preferred, where choices have real consequences and a magic sword can’t negate the bad guys, then perhaps one needs to look farther afield.
EG
This story is one I went into knowing only that it was LitRPG. Right off the bat, I felt like I was in a video game. Rin starts with level 0 in the Game of Gods and is sent off by his parents to go to his first dungeon and start earning levels. Only, he learns that his parents aren’t his parents and his trip through this dungeon leaves him with a Cursed class. This means he can’t advance any further in his levels. But the Cursed class has some secrets and Rin is determined to figure them out.
This was a fun, entertaining book. It started a little slowly as we learn about Rin and the rules of the world we’ve been thrown into. The pace picked up considerably the further we get into the book, with epic monsters and battles. I will admit that I never really felt like Rin was in particular danger (after the first dungeon), so I wasn’t entirely absorbed in the world or the characters. With that in mind, the writing was entertaining and quick and I didn’t mind never forgetting that I was reading.
I liked the way that Rin chose to learn things and the tailors as mentor characters. The monsters were also quite fun. I will say that the ending felt a bit abrupt, as we went from epic battle to even more epic battle. There didn’t feel like there was much time for absorbing that info before the reveal at the end. Even with that, it was an entertaining read and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Karen
LitRPGs can sometimes be difficult for me to get into. I was a little nervous that I would bounce off this one the first time I had to read a status list, but I ended up getting into it and just kept plodding along (even if I just skimmed right over the stats). The story was fun and easy to read which made it easy to just keep on being pulled along by Rin’s story. The pay out at the end maybe fell a little flat. Rin is following the road less traveled and finding power in it, but the character work in the book still left something to be desired. If I am not totally invested in a character or the villain, I tend to struggle with a book and that leads to feeling less invested in the finishing move of the story. All in all, it was a fun read.
Kerry
NGL, but I did go into this book with some degree of wariness as I am quite particular regarding RPGlit. (I recently read all of the DCC books and I was “meh”, me and stats do not work well together) so I was surprised when I realised I’d almost read the entire book. The stats didn’t pull me from the story as they usually do (though I did get my usual feeling that I’ve been implanted in some type of cyber dystopia when character’s personal details are displayed above their heads) and I really liked the way the story subverted many of the usual RPGlit tropes.
I admit to nose snorting my coffee and subsequent giggles when it came to the chickens and I absolutely adored the Rhino.
I totally related to the way Rin’s brain worked, extremely logical and didn’t consider the shortcuts.
My main negative about this book was the evil stepmother and her henchman arc, it felt a tad superfluous with a battle that fell flat.
Overall though I did enjoy most of my time reading this. A great introduction to RPGlit, fun, lighthearted and not being swamped with heaps of percentages.
Eva
Compared to many of my fellow reviewers, I’m a total newb to LitRPG. I’m into the third DCC and enjoying myself, but outside of that, No More Levels was my only other experience with the genre. This was fun, light, and kept my attention well enough with the uniqueness of the power assortment seen in the magic system. There were some minor areas that I struggled with, but overall I found this an enjoyable read with low stakes.
We follow Rin, a 16 year old potato farmer, who is eager to leave his simple home and loving parents to find adventure and power through The Game of the Gods. Rin has set his mind on choosing a Warrior class as many 16 year old boys would. Through unfortunate circumstances, Rin is met by an unknown enemy in his first dungeon and forced to accept the Cursed class–a class who are perceived by the public as a pariah and unworthy of living and working near the general population. Rin’s dreams are snuffed out in a moment. Albeit initially devastated, Rin perseveres and makes the most of his Cursed status by adventuring in a way almost no others have done before. His path to power is unique and despite Rin’s initial immaturity, you can’t help but root for him through his ups and downs.
There were some areas of this story that I struggled with. The side characters fell flat for me. The villains had no real depth and the bonded companion was introduced in a way that felt disjointed. From what I saw, Rin wasn’t expressing loneliness or a need for assistance, so bringing in a bonded companion from another “world” that we didn’t previously hear about felt random and unnecessary. The dialogue was another area that I found to be wanting. While I enjoyed Rin’s internal thoughts and his chats with the monsters, human to human interactions felt awkward and I couldn’t help but cringe in a few scenes. Barreth certainly may have been trying to get Rin’s teenage social discomforts to come alive on the page (he is a potato farmer after all), but I did feel the dialogue could have brought more depth to the story.
I found the magical powers and learned skills to be extremely creative and thought the inclusion of a prankster and roguish God was so fun. There are certainly bits to this story that are a pure delight to read.
For the most part, I enjoyed this story and could quickly move past the areas that I felt needed a bit more TLC.
Adawia
Wasn’t sure I could get my teeth into this book after the first few chapters, the writing felt a little basic, and I didn’t feel like it had a nice flow. I expected this to frustrate me, but I persevered and the writing style actually grew on me. It began to feel appropriate for the story, the world, the characters, and with several (or more) more chapters I settled right in. The writing style eventually worked nicely for me and I ended up really enjoying it.
That said, there are a few things I feel could have been done a little better. Some characters I would have appreciated a little more follow-through on, and a little more time spent on the final battle scene to help the reader truly feel the weight of those events.
If you feel the “stats” in litRPG are a little daunting, don’t be afraid to skim them, particularly when it comes to the monsters. Any important attributes are described in enough detail if and when they’re employed, so you don’t have to have memorised (or even read) them.
There’s definitely some fairly gruesome violence in this story, but for the most part it’s a fun, easy read that doesn’t rest on its laurels.
Stacey
Unfortunately it was an early DNF for me. No shade to this story, it’s definitely a me issue. The story didn’t catch me immediately and I didn’t pick it back up.
That’s our take on No More Levels! Most of us landed somewhere between “fun, easy read” and “genuinely enjoyed it,” with the ending being the main point of disagreement, some found it fell flat, others were fine with it. One early DNF from Stacey, but otherwise this one went over well across the board.
Our Score: 7/10
No More Levels is one of the ten finalists in this year’s SPFBO. Here’s how our current standings look:
- A Light from the Nether by Molly Dowd Sullivan
- Carrion Saints by Hiyodori: 7.25
- Dogged by Michael R. Fletcher
- The Hallows by H. L. Tinsley
- The Honorable Con by Michele C. Shaw
- Jester by Tim Carter
- No More Levels by Benjamin Barreth: 7
- Of Mages and Makers by Rel Carroll: 7.9
- To Touch a Silent Fury by R. A. Sandpiper
- Violence & Vigilance by David T. List
A huge thank you to Benjamin Barreth for putting this book forward, and to all the other teams working through the Finals alongside us. Stay tuned as the scores come in for the rest.
