The Gift Of Judgement

Good quality and premise, with plentu of potential. An interesting take on Isekai, with a realtively clear long-term goal of progressing through the giant structure that makes up this strange new world. With magical intrigue and mysterious danger, the protagonist will need all the help he can get. Some LitRPG aspects are present in this story. Great start!  

This is a solid LITRPG, text boxes and all. The main character Tal is decent enough, the main issue is that is path has been pretty clear cut so far. There have been issues, like with the Imp, but not ones where a decision would be a struggle. I would call this a Hero LITRPG

Style: The writing is well done and consistant. The pacing, descriptions, are all on point. I never felt confused about the scene I was reading.

Grammar: No mistakes so take a 5/5

Story: The story is good, but there are a few things that made me scratch my head a bit. I called this story a hero LITRPG, well grandpa grabbed him and just yeeted him off right away. Then it was right into a tower with challenges. While the bigger context of the story is told in the blurb. He finds a tavern, but there was no questioning for information, just about bindings.

Character: We really only get the MC so far. I would say stoic, in the mold of a hero. The main issue I have is his lack of drive to gather information, or grill anything he can talk to about the systems/rules goveroning the tower he is in. He trained with Doldahr for a while, but it was all about fighting and training.

The story is a good read, with a classic hero LITRPG focus, with good fight scenes, and a focused protagonist in the mold of a hero. Definitely worth a read.

I love this story so far, really something that I don't see a lot of around. The only reason I couldn't award this story the full 5 stars, is due to a few writing cliches that briefly takes me out of the fictional world. Excellent work for early on, however.

The Gift Of Judgement is the LitRPG isekai(portal fantasy) that takes quite obvious inspiration from quite a few pre-existing media to create its own, unique blend of the dark fantasy setting. 

Style - Story is well written, though as with many other stories around there, it a slightly light on descriptions. I am always conflicted about whether this should count as the issue worth the loss of a star or not - and in this particular case, I think the story is a little lacking when it comes to building the atmosphere. This story, as the author pointed out in the synopsis, is a grimdark fantasy setting and those, along with horrors and thrillers, should build atmosphere and inspire feelings. Though the author is otherwise good at writing, a certain lack of atmosphere is worth a 4.5 out of 5 in style. 

Grammar - All stories I review receive 5-stars for Grammar by default. English is not my first language, Grammar will never be an issue I would point out. 

Story - The story itself is as good as isekai could get, progression does make a certain level of sense, especially in the context of what is practically a game in-universe. If this story has any issues, they are not really related to the story or plot. 5-star in the story category.

Character - This is largely related to the atmosphere, but Tal is far too calm for this. Unlike other protagonists whisked to who knows this world is hell. He even died. Yet, he is still fairly cool, and methodical. Normally, I wouldn’t complain about this, but The Gift of Judgement sells itself to be especially dark and gritty, which not all isekai (portal fantasy) tend to do, so I’ll have lost half a star here. 4.5*

Overall, this isn’t a bad story. It is actually fairly good even, it just doesn’t feel as dark as it tries to present itself. Actually, if there was a slightly different synopsis, I would even find the above as unfitting as I make it to be - so I’ll give this a good overall 5-star. People who don’t care about the atmosphere would love it.

I really enjoyed this story, and it's definitely one of my favourites.

The story is great, it's full of action and adventure. The plot twists and turns in unexpected ways and you never know what's going to happen. It's also very intriguing and captivating, I couldn't put it down.

I really liked the characters in this story, they were all developed well. Even the minor ones! The MC in particular is very well-developed and interesting. The supporting cast is great too, I loved them all.

Overall: This story is absolutely wonderful.

A well written slow progression LitRPG isekai.

Style: Written in 3^rd person, the tone of the story is consistent, and the events are very clear if only a little rushed over. The downside here is that there is frequent head popping, particularly in the training montage involving the dwarf in an effort to get us to sympathize with the character, as a result the attempt at the emotional manipulation feels forced and unnatural. That doesn’t mean that the character itself isn’t interesting.
Another quirk of the genre, which means this detail is a personal preference, is that the writer tells us a lot of what’s happening instead of taking the time to craft a moment of visual clarity. Such scenes come of as worth mentioning, but not worth sharing in the experience – which is adds to the feeling that some scenes feel rushed, potentially for the sake of hitting a publishing deadline.

Story: It’s starts off as a typical LitRPG isekai – Tal in this case is dying of something, his parents are fighting because of said illness, and he’s just using gaming for escapism. In the next chapter, he’s pulled into the game world, resulting in the death of a physical self. Pretty standard LitRPG stuff at this point.
Tal finds himself stuck in a tower – which due to the limited descriptions, I wasn’t really able to piece together the tone, atmosphere, or theme’s he hoped to convey with the tower itself or even in any of the room he ends up frequenting. We end up getting told that he’s found rooms to rest in, but little else.
He's lucky that he starts off in a place that’s called the forked tongue (or the Devil’s tongue) which I think is the bar and not so much the floor he’s on though I’m not sure. One of the proprietors takes Tal under his wing and his initiation into the dangers of the tower begins.

Character: I don’t know much about Tal in terms of personality, beyond determined. He ends up stating that he stopped thinking of the training dwarf as friend, but for me the emotional withdrawal was lacking. I understood he didn’t enjoy the beatings he was getting and that was shading his perspective, but I didn’t feel it. I felt more about what the dwarf was going through, though a lot of his inner dialogue focused around that he felt that he was being too hard on the boy, but there were reasons… which isn’t quite enough, and again we’re told this information instead of being show this information.

Overall, the story is very well put together, very thoughtful. I particularly liked the details in the text boxes which is often the litRPG detail I cringe at. In this case, I like that while it does feel like a progression RPG the character has to work for it. He doesn’t start over powered, and element I love and will make this story stand apart from all other others.

Overall: Fairly interesting premise of a poor man, being ported through the strange system of the unknown Tower. Tal is a gamer, as his health was always poor prior to his summoning. He knows certain things, yet the beginning of the first steps into the mysterious Tower are very careful. Perhaps a little too much, but considering the circumstances and the personality of the Tal, I guess it is fine as it is. 

Style: Style from the 3rd person perspective. I love these, so I have no reason to judge it worse. Yet, I still do, because of the type of issue I had. Lots of times, the paragraphs are glued together into one, while thoughts and assumptions of Tal are within the paragraphs written in Italic. This slightly bothered my experience, but one could get used to it for sure.  Normal dialogues are there as well, which leads to tougher reading on my side.

Grammar: I don't judge it, it is fine as everything that an author can manage. No issue.

Story: The story starts interestingly enough, where the very beginning of the rebirth, of the Tower was done with very little telling. There are others, like him summoned there, as they are Chosen, or Selected by the Tower that have not been fully fleshed out, but the mystery is obvious. 

Characters: Tal is a normal lad. A person with flesh out problems within the 1st chapter that one could truly understand. Who knows, his personality would shift or change in a different way. There are also some mysterious beings, from the beginning. Some Grandpa, Tal's forceful abduction while he curses as his fate. A certain aspect of it is surely believable and likable.  There is also a player? dwarf who chose to teach him for whatever reason? I guess the explanation will suffice since Tal is an obvious noob, so... It seems it will be very MC-heavy, while no particular character is all that interesting to me, apart from Tal. It all resembles a gemelit series I've read to some extent, so I bet there will be some interesting side characters if the author is brave enough. He created the right space to do whatever he can, as the Tower, is quite vast.

System: Tower system will surely resemble a game-like system. Resembling stats, leveling, struggle as if one plays a VR, or rpg game. I have no doubt this could be an interesting one, even from the beginning.  Blue boxes are within the chapter, and while the text within them is abundant, it is fine.

There willl be items, rarities, perks, traits, quests, equipment and who knows what else in the future. It seems well done, so good job, Author.

It will be interesting.

This is a first impressions review, as I haven't read what is entirely available, but read far enough to get the gist.

Story:

There isn't really a story, like in the traditional sense of a developing plot or antagonists or too many supporting characters that elivate the progression that I read in the 10 chapters I went through.

Tal gets wisked away inside a game he was playing. No real reason was given that he was. Tal kinda sucked at the game, never getting out of the tutorial, so it's not like 'The Last Star Fighter' where the MC is exceptional at it and is recruited to be a fighter pilot.

No Tal is just brought in the game and has to explore the Tower. Can't really say much else.

Style:

I can tell either the author has been writing for a long time or he has read plenty of books, because he's got a good base for skills. His narration is solid, descriptions are there for the most part, and he has a good plan of how he wants to tell his story. I would say my complaint is that, although Josh has an excellent array of vocabulary, Tal carries that as well. He sounds so unatural for a kid, whether he is a teen or child. But he could just be a well-read theater teen, so its not that jarring.

However this is another problem with the story. We know nothing about the characters or the setting other than Tal is a bed-ridden sick kid and he is trapped in a game. Its a tower. Really there's absolutely no world building going on. It's like cooking with no taste buds. Sure the food can look pretty, but we dont know what it tastes like. The world is here, its got a system, hes in a tower...thats all we get.

I should remark on the combat, because that's my forte in writing. Josh needs to use less floaty descriptions and focus on pacing and impactful wording. 

I think if the author worked on combat and world building, he would find himself a real solid writer.

Character 

Tal....Tal comes off pretty whiny. Maybe it's because I was in the military and went through boot camp, but Tal fought, kicking and screaming his entire way through his training. It was really annoying to read and I rolled my eyes with each introspection of the character.

That too, Tal more or less reacts to things happening, but we really don't learn anything about Tal. We don't feel his emotion about losing his friends or his experience with being on the verge of death and if he left the game how he would feel about being back to being ill. Really theres no true interospection that would make. Any character developement we find is from a blue box. 

Grammar

Other than an odd mistake here or there, I'd say grammar is in good shape. Nothing that pulls you out of the story.

Over all this story is Infinity Train...but in a tower. Which has some serious potential and if the author improves on some story telling aspects and combat, then this could be a real winner. 

I give it 4/5

Story 5/5: The Gift of Judgement is an isekai/LItRPG with all of the trappings one would expect from the genre. The author does an excellent job with the setup to get the MC, Tal, into the new world. While I am not overly familiar with genre tropes, I felt Tal’s situation was unique and fresh. After arriving in the new world, Tal has a few encounters with an imp and tiger as he becomes at ease with his new surroundings and starts to learn the ins and outs of the rules of the new world.

Style 4.5/5: The Gift of Judgement is told from a third-person perspective in a genre that focuses on first-person narratives. I prefer third-person, so I applaud this decision. The only thing I did not enjoy in the overall style was the abundance of blue boxes. Now I understand this is a genre norm, but I feel they take me out of the story. I also understand that this is probably a problem only for me, but I could do with less frequent blue boxes.

Grammar 5/5: Outside of a few typos, the grammar was on point. 

Character 4.5/5: Tal is a likable MC with an incredible backstory, but I did find how quickly he came to terms with his situation to be a little weak. The side characters are fun and well-written.

The author avoids some of the tropes of the genre but stays true to the trappings of the genre. The Gift of Judgement doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it doesn’t have to do that. It is a fun story with room to grow. I would suggest it if you are a fan of isekai/LItRPG stories or if you are looking for an entry point into the genre.

I'm not often one to read this kind of story, but I still found myself enjoying it with the way this one is written. It uses the basic ideas that I associate with isekai litrpg, but still presents them in a way that makes the story interesting.

Style: I enjoy how the story is written, with a few exceptions that I'm going to be considering as 'grammar.' I don't have much complaints here, and in general the story almost has a certain charm to it in its writing.

Story: The plot follows some basic beats I see as common in isekai litrpg stories - sickly MC who is transferred to a game that exists in their world, then has to fight their way through it. However, the author uses these concepts well, and puts nice details to aid them in making the story unique.

Grammar: It could be better, but it could also be a lot worse. Past the first chapter, I saw a few sentences that read strangely - more than a few sentences stopped at weird places, and a common error I saw was the lack of punctuation if dialogue ended the paragraph. Other than that, I didn't see a whole lot of errors.

Character: I'm not often one to find characters relatable, but Tal's attitude towards his circumstances in the first chapter is something I can understand. In general, the characters are well-written and the ones that have been given focus so far are distinct from each other.