I can definitely see why it’s got all the hype and am already bracing for a thousand and one similar attempts in the upcoming years. It’s an easy entry into video game-based stories and LitRPG as a genre, with a humorous system and explanations placed where needed for both the characters and the readers. There’s snappy quotable sound bites and the combination of Carl and Donut is a fantastic one.

The humour will be what loses some people, it’s childish in places and punching down in others, but despite that, I enjoyed reading it and I will continue with the series. The world of the dungeon is a fascinating one and with it originally and currently being guided in some places by audience vote, I’m curious to see where it will end up.

The premise of the story caught my attention first as a police detective who can speak to ghosts always makes for an interesting procedural story. I was expecting him to keep his abilities secret for longer before revealing them to his partner, but I liked the explanation around how they functioned, as well as the bureaucratic nature of something spiritual.

The relationship between Teruo and Shinji developed so much faster than I was expecting, and there was spice there as well, which again, caught me by surprise. I think going into the story I had the ratio of murder mystery to romance off, this story leans a lot more into the romance side than the murder mystery. It’s very instant and I would’ve liked to see more of a buildup to the start of the relationship. That being said, the spice? Excellent, varied, the two change roles which is always amazing to see.

The writing style took a bit to get into, it’s very blunt and some of the dialogue is overly juvenile, but it settled as the story progressed.

I am Enriched in my enclosure and obsessed with this series once more after the extras. These were definitely more explicit than I was expecting going in but the fanfic scenarios are so well fed with Zhuzhi-Lang making an appearance as well as MoShang and Liu Qingge. The backstory was heartbreaking and I am so happy about it. 🥰🥰🥰