nlowell reviewed The Fortifier by D. K. Landtroop (The Fortifier, #1)
Another Brick in the Wall
5 stars
The Fortifier lives in a sub-sub-niche within the litRPG catalog - the Apocalypse Story. In these stories, some powerful entity transforms Earth and all the people, turning the planet into a role-playing game. The powerful entity then sends plagues of strange and powerful creatures to eat the people who can't cope with the New Rules. A key element for survivors is building a base to collect the living, provide a safe haven from which to work, and to begin rebuilding - or at least surviving.
It's a half-twist away from isekai in that everybody gets - in effect - sent to a new and deadly world instead of just one person.
Landtroop's The Fortifier handles the transition from "normal" to "omg, we're all gonna die" pretty handily by ignoring it and starting four days in. I liked that technique. It gets around the "bloody transition and initial shock" phase of …
The Fortifier lives in a sub-sub-niche within the litRPG catalog - the Apocalypse Story. In these stories, some powerful entity transforms Earth and all the people, turning the planet into a role-playing game. The powerful entity then sends plagues of strange and powerful creatures to eat the people who can't cope with the New Rules. A key element for survivors is building a base to collect the living, provide a safe haven from which to work, and to begin rebuilding - or at least surviving.
It's a half-twist away from isekai in that everybody gets - in effect - sent to a new and deadly world instead of just one person.
Landtroop's The Fortifier handles the transition from "normal" to "omg, we're all gonna die" pretty handily by ignoring it and starting four days in. I liked that technique. It gets around the "bloody transition and initial shock" phase of the typical story, and jumps into the "I'm not gonna take it any more" phase. It's a lot more interesting way to introduce the character and setting.
I also appreciated that William's main focus is building, rather than fighting. Being more attuned to what his burgeoning community needs and working to attain it rather than a sword and slaughter fest of global proportions made this story much more interesting to me.
Highly Recommended