The Outer Sphere

I agree with zigman on this story. I liked it a lot. It’s a bit zany, arguably SciFi meets cultivator. There is a time slip unit which discombobulated some readers but would be unremarkable to an SFfan.

Don’t let the negative reviews bias you - I think they just didn’t “get it”. This is a fun read.

I really like this story as it contains a lot of the LitRPG elements combined with a main character who is smart and funny. The MC is is relatable and smart while also being unorthodox and cunning. There are only a few stories that have made me actually laugh out loud on this site, but this one has me rolling in laughter.

That all being said I found the story line great until there was a sharp left turn at chapter 100. I won't go into it as others have already commented on it. However, after I kept going the new story arc is growing on me. 

The grammar and punctuation is a bit spotty at times, but nothing too distracting. 

Keep up the good work!

Very well written, the story is great, the mc is great, the author has some great ideas and implements them well.

like others have said everything changes at chapter 100. It’s honestly a completely different story. I can see why the author did it and I can understand why people are mad about it. 

Personally, I don’t mind it. It could have been executed better, maybe giving a bit more closure to what was essentially the end of one story but I can also see why you would want it to stay open ended, it let’s then readers feel the frustration of the MC to some extent. 

I still enjoy the story and I look forward to continue reading it, even if it is a very different one to the one I started reading. Keep up the good work! 

Title says it all. This is FUN. Remember FUN?

After chapter 100 there is a massive shift, but it is clear the author didn't forget or abandoned what happened before. There are CLEAR hints that a lot of things transpired and not all is as it seems.

But what happens when your MC doesn't have the Hero Shield? He gambles, and gambles, and gets owned. Chances. 

Unlike other works where the author was clearly bored with his creation and hit the reset button, this one shows promise. A lot of it. 

For the curious ones :

This is a fun story that I am enjoying immensely.  I was recommended it with the warning of a story change at chapter 100.  It's what is complained about a lot in the reviews.  It is just a time skip.  A rather large time skip.  I beleive the story was good before the change and better after it.  Before the skip it was getting a bit stale with a plateau of power and lack of story progression.  The change fixes this and makes it more interesting.  Highly recommended.

I'm a fan. I really like this novel. Here I will first give out positives (spoiler free) and later in the second haf of the review come the subjective negatives with spoilers. I will start the second half with “WARNING..”. Seriously, first enjoy and read until ch.160 and then read my spoilers. You have been warned.

The Isekai-apocalyptic world setting was attractive to me. I thought the novel started strong. The story flow is good, as the adventure goes forward nicely and logically. The world building is inventive, but it (mostly) makes sense and is easy to follow. The humor worked really well with me. The pop-culture references are funny and I can identify with the MC maybe more than I would like to admit... in the adult male who-thinks-he-is-one-of-the-good-guys department. I only wish I was as smart and open minded as Garth. Reading this novel is almost like a learning experience. You (may) learn a new way to look at the world by reading this novel. Not that RR readers would be among the most, or even the medium-narrow minded punch of people out there. Hahaha.

This reminds me of the best type of reading experiences I have had. With our favorite novels, we can dive in them and immerse ourselves in to the lives of the characters and follow the story from the first person point of view. At least for me, this is the experience I got. The Outer Sphere story development is unpredictable and the world building is a great mixture of fantasy, Sci-fi and LitRPG. I also liked how the MC power upping is funnily enough very Xianxia-like. There are tastes of so many genres and ideas in this novel, but it still manage to build up a unique world and story. But I have to admit I'm a relatively noob reader of this form of novels, so I am not aware if there are recycled ideas, like there are in the typical Xianxia-novels. Well, the development of the harem-angle is still pending at chapter 160.

Defending the author’s choices at chapter 100 and after... While I was also shocked about the developments at chapter 100, I realize that this a way of breathing in fresh air to the story, mixing the bag, not make the story just about constant power ups, bring in new characters, continue adventuring more or less in the same universe... and maybe even solve an upcoming dead end in the original plot development (I thought the story was too rushed, now the brakes were put on). I find it sooooo hilarious that the author essentially "did the Castavelle" with the story (LOL).

WARNING, SPOILERS + HYPOTHESES FOLLOW… Even though I'm a fan, I have a few important nitpickings, which will turn out as rants here. Sorry in advance. My misgivings in the order of importance:

1) The world building about the spheres is a little iffy. At least, a better explanation about the “Stranger Things”-effect the Kipling have produced in the world. That angle is super important + where did those super valuable Mythic cores originate from again?

2) OK, it’s fantasy LitRPG, but I’m left wondering, what about that status windows and the updates in the Garth-gamer-operating-system, where do they come from? Also, where do the guild nominations come from, if not the Gods? Is there a Gods-IT-programming-unit, which does the Windows operating system in the story? Or is it the “Silicon Valley” in the central sphere, which first programmed the Gods. Are the Gates and Jobs of this fantasy world just casually doing barbecue and accidentally tilting their charcoal (Mythic cores), while posing for their social media on Mount Olympus? Yes, I have also read Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. By the way, why would Gods care about every single pathetic life form in the new Spheres, if not for some Vegas-style gambling in the central Sphere?

3) In the first 100 chapters of the story, Garth was powering up too much, or so it seemed. At least, his guild was looking a little too powerful, while it was supposed to be the weakest at the beginning, i.e. wizards and magic. I hope the author will use this opportunity to create other strong guild powers that can serve powerful opponents AND FRIENDS to make the story more interesting in the future. Otherwise, why would anyone choose another guild voluntarily, or a patron God… After some thought just now… I am liking the novel setup less and less. This is because, although Garth maybe smart and lucky, in the real world I know of, he would not be that special in his choises. Nope, when you consider about all the environmentalist home garden vegetarian hippies and the tough-as-nails farmers of the world, surely Garth would not be so special in his choice of patron God either + plant development success afterwards. ALSO, if Beladia is the only God of sex, sexual pleasure and kinky fetishes, there would surely be more heroes who would choose her, i.e. the sexy/comforting mother figure with big boobs, on their first night after fighting for their life and surviving the apocalypse. I know I would, if I was smart. Think about it. The ability to grow your own food and clean your drinking water, or to grow killer bamboo spears indefinitely. Make the whole world allergic unless they serve you. Seriously, a significant portion of the earth in the Outer Sphere should be purple when the story starts.

4) By now, I exhausted by my own review. Thanks for reading. Finally, my last complaint until this point in the story, at ch.160, is that there are a number of side characters we have not heard about since chapter 100. Namely, I would like to hear what happened to Itet’chi’zzt and her kind. I also remember one character that may been a mishap and a forgotten blunder from the author, i.e. the “Demon lord Sibylline, Destroyer of Hope”, from chapter 12.

After this light critique above, I would like to say big thanks to the author. Thumbs up buddy, you are doing great. Keep on publishing chapters here and let your other novels ripen away in the back of your mind. Please sir, have a heartstone of empathy for this poor reader.