Salvos (A Monster Evolution LitRPG)

I had hoped this story would get better but it has not so I dropped my rating. I have had fun reading this don't be mistaken by my relatively low rating but I have had enough. I have read and dropped this 4-5 times and still find it childish and not in fun way. Demon hunters that don't know what demon looks like, fine, said demon ambushing the said demon hunters and going one vs army ,fine, but every encounter not made by Salvos feels like interactions between mentally unwell individuals and even of encounters Salvos makes are wooden. Not my cup of tea.

The story stars off well, the characters were interesting, the system balanced and entertaining and the world was full of potential.

Sadly, this story starts focusing on quantity over quality at some point. After the initial Worldbuilding in the first chapters we basically don’t get anything. We don’t learn about the local cultures, the cities, the neighbourhoods or about anything that’s not plot related. Outside the main characters there isn’t much, just NPC’s who don’t have any impact in the story. The world started to feel empty, it got better for a few chapters at the school arc but that’s it.

Instead, the pace starts getting faster and faster. Millions die but we have no reason to care, it’s just the author throwing numbers at us, since we don’t actually learn about any of those affected. Any kind of global event lacks urgency because of the reasons mentioned before.

Finally, the story downgrades to a “numbers go up!” kind, deprived of depth.

Although this review is very negative, the story is entertaining. The prose is good despite it being first person and the characters have fun interactions. 

I don't write reviews often, but this is such a great, easy-going story, about a fresh, naive mind, new places whilst making some fantastic friends and companions. 

What makes Salvos so good, is the way MC interacts with the world, and how others react to that. Her relationship with Daniel and other humans is fantastic, bringing out more and more of Salvos as the story progresses. What starts out as a simple, single minded quest to return home, turns into battles for levels, friendship, growth and vengeance.

The growth during her journey is immense, both in the classical LitRPG sense, and emotionally and mentally. Her endearing yet clearly demonic nature makes her both loveable and interesting, showing a different side to what is out a classic demonic race. 

The humour, light hearted nature, and cast come together to give a story well worth reading. Something easy to read, with more depth than you'd think, and characters you can't help but love. Give it a go (and Melas), you won't regret it!

Thank you, for making such a good story! And don't be disheartened, ignore the haters and tell reviews, you've got a green in your hands, polish it good and proper! 

the story follows a battle-junkie demoness as she stumbles through life and meeting hardships such as losing friends, getting spirited away and adjusting to human society when people don't really get along with demons well in general. The characters are well-rounded and the writing style invites you to keep reading, I enjoyed it very much.

I will rate this a 4.5 since for the standards of this site it is top notch, but it is not a masterpiece yet.

Personally I find the current story description

This is not the story of a newborn monster trying to evolve and survive in a violent nightmarish wasteland. It started like that but then around chapter 15/16 (?) It turns into a sitcom, between the grumpy/secretive/kindhearted human helping the ignorant alien fit into the fantasy styled human world. Lots of humour and misunderstandings because despite having an encyclopedic knowledge of what things are the demon understands nothing about how people or societies actually work. 

Yes there is fighting but there never feels like their is any tension to it and there is litrpg elements but they feel clunky and the character keeps getting handed more new powerups instead of earning them. 

On one hand reaching the rank of greater demon is presented as though it's supposed to be an achievement of note. Something of significance, given how the one we speak to goes on about how great he is and how he massacre his way through whole towns with apparent easy. Yet the MC manages it in a matter of months with what feels like very little work. 

It's not a bad sitcom, but it's not a good litrpg about a monster facing dangers and evolving to meet them. 

Grammar is fine. Writing itself doesn't seem to stand out in any way that is that positive, but as a whole the writing itself is great enough that it can flow well. 

The characters are shallow and underdeveloped despite hundreds of chapters of expansive dialogue and a dozen odd character arcs that lead generally nowhere. 

What irritates me the most is that the author introduces interesting concepts and plot pieces and then shunts them into the closet to never be developed on ever again. I've never quite seen a story that says so much that conversely manages to not progress in any meaningful way. The author has shown so many ideas that they want to pursue that they can't possibly follow them all, but they continue to add more regardless. Many of the arcs can be considered stand-alone short stories for how well they tie into the overall plot. 

For instance, do you remember Haec? First and only emotional attachment of Salvos for the beginning stages of her life? It seems the author finally has as well.

After ditching him in literal hell at the beginning of the story, he's finally been brought back up again 300 chapters later as if it's something the author has been building to for the majority of the plot. Then the author expects some sort of emotional attachment to remain for a character that hasn't effectively existed for a real world year and a half. This is just one example of the many plot devices the author has finally found the time to address. 

I've given up on their story for the most part and am going to stop reading now. Just thought I should leave my thoughts before I go.

This is a great story. The characters are all interesting and the grammar is great but there is one galaring problem and that is the main character herself. While her naivety and bluntness were fun for a while I slowly began to notice myself skipping past her dialogue and antics as time went on. She never changes and she rarely faces consequences for her actions. Instead the people around her are punished and she could care less.

Now the author tries to play her off as eccentric but intelligent yet the more I read the less it makes sense for the character (to me at least) that she suddenly swaps from having no idea what the hell is happening to a tactical mastermind.

The character goes from funny to annoying around the 50th chapter and it just keeps getting worse. I implore the author to bite the bullet and kill a main character because Salvos needs to change and this is the only way it would make sense for it to happen in the story. Her obsession with being a princess was funny for until the author continued to (and still does) hammer the same joke into everyone’s skull. Running jokes can be funny but when the same ones are used in almost every chapter they quickly become infuriating.

Daniel and Edith are better characters in every way imaginable. Their backstories interesting, their motivations are stronger than “I want to save the friend I barely knew!”, they actually acknowledge their flaws and actively try to improve themselves. Salvos on the other hand only has one of these things going for her. The Netherworld and her birth are very interesting and the situation as to how she ended up trapped outside of the Netherworld is interesting as well. But unlike her companions she never grows as a character, refuses to acknowledge both her flaws and weaknesses, is incredibly naive, and extremely prideful.

I understand why many people like her character but I’m at the point where I can’t stay invested in the story anymore because I find the MC infuriating. I’d recommend this book if you don’t care about character development all that much but if that’s something you like the just move on to something like “The Prefect Run”.

Hard to pinpoint why I just stopped caring enough to read new chapters, but what sticks out most is the "fuzziness" of character/faction motivations, a lack of investment in the characters or events. Felt rushed through plot, concepts that were fun or stood out weren't really explored or prioritized. Some solid baselines here but they're not done justice.

Also, grating to have patreon, topwebfiction, review boosting, reactions to negative feedback at the end of every. single. post. 

Objectively, I don't think Salvos should be a very good book. The characters are predictable, mc is ridiculously overpowered (casually fighting enemies 20-30 levels higher than them), the overall plot so far is nothing to write home about, but at the end of the day, I still enjoyed reading it.

It's just some goofy fun with litRPG aspects and a naive demon girl thrown in the mix. It's not the most revolutionary story, but it doesn't have to be. Salvos is Salvos, and it's really enjoyable to read.

Just don't come into this story with expectations of an expansive plot and you'll have a great time.

EDIT:

Adjusting my score by -1/2 star. If you've kept up with the story so far then it should be fairly self explanatory as to why. The newer chapters just aren't as quality as the previous ones.

Everything feels rushed now, more like a script for a play than an actual novel. The lower quality combined with the shorter length of the chapters makes everything feel like a useless slog. I'd much prefer if we only got a chapter or two a week that had actual content as opposed to the daily hollow shells of a story we're getting now.

The story will probably pick up soon, but even then I feel that I'll be bored reading it. I still will read it mind you, but I'm finding myself more and more disappointed as I continue with this novel.

EDIT 2:

Let me clarify, chapters feel shorter. My apologies for being unclear with my previous update. This story is still fun to read, but it feels to me as though the daily uploads are slowly draining any noticeable content out of the chapters (or maybe I just got used to reading other stories with longer chapters and thats why I feel that they're shorter).

To be perfectly clear. Read this novel. Do it. Everything in my original review still applies, but the later chapters feel empty and devoid of life.

Apologies to the author for being unclear and apologies for souring the mood. That was not my intention, and I understand how hard it is to constantly and consistently write a story like this.

The one thing that really brakes this novel is the fact that human characters with high level still maintain a childish behaviour. 

The psychological that are shown in the dialogues make it seem like they're so innocent. When they literally couldn't get to where they are without going through bloody battles, places littered with corpses, and losing many companions.

As if all of those 'adventuring' are just a picnic and never meet with deceit, griefs, and thieves. Has it been such a smooth and easy ride that their character are not calloused even after reaching such a rank?

If anything, their level should've stagnate and only increase after you narrate them getting over certain mental hurdle that DEVELOP their character and NEVER bring up their previous character as if they've never changed. 

That's it on the Character... which is the most GLARING drop in quality out of the other aspects.

--- 2 --- 

Storywise? It's not bad... It's geniunely enjoyable. The development are interesting. Author adopts a free style world setting so we never exactly know what's the limit. If Author want something to appear out of thin air... put a few paragrahs and it'd be something that'd exist. I don't mind that style as long as Author can put more focus on keeping it interesting, which done quite well... Until the increase in word count, which brings us to my 2nd and final issue with this novel.

U can SKIP through so many paragraphs, even a whole chapter, and you'd still understand what's going on as if u didn't miss anything. The further I read the more sentences that's just there for the sake of increasing word count; dialogues included.

-- But overall the development in itself is still good --

Dialogues... It's 'okay', only a few are super indirect like it shouldn't even exist. 

--- 3 --- 

Grammar, error are only visible in the earlier chapters but it improved and only small typos here and there. Nothing major. At least for me, this is not an issue to bicker about.

--- 4 ---

Style... No issue here... POVs are consistent, and cronology are easy to follow and comprehend.

Overall, I love how the story is presented, it's super easy to read to the point it's relaxing perhaps that is why so many ppl reads it. 

--- Conlusion ---

If you manage to read to this point, I appericiate it, hope none of my words offends you, and it could help you decide whether to read it or not if you haven't.

But if you have read it, then I don't know why you're reading this other than you're the Author. If so, I could understand the reason behind the increase in word count. But that still doesn't change my opinion on the character. Hope it improves the further it goes. 

Take care. 

=======================

Edit: 

The quality picks up once it's over 100+ but everything stops once it's 245 for me. Cause that was it. MC already become a xianxia novels MC with an ancient master. There's no more reason for me to read since potential of the major villain is pretty much scratched out. I know MC will win in the end based on the style of the novel so far and the Author.

But it was about unveiling the mysteries in this story... But now the major figures are pretty much introduced.

So yea, once Author decided to bring the biggest border into play... My curiousity peaked. And it's meet. 

The main reason for this novel success is the targeted audience and the network done by the Author. Ofc all this backed up with a writing skill that improves after chapter 100... cause that's the time he take writing as a full time. Compare to instability of quality in the earlier chapter. So yes, the chapter after he take it seriously it becomes easy to read, enjoyable... I can definitely see how many ppl would like this type of story. It's the same case as in other websites as well. 

Overall, really well done on the Author. He really did an amazing work.