The Bookwyrm's Review of Uncontrollable by Sean Oswald

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Rating: 9.25/10 Stars

Synopsis

If Tim is to survive his new world; he'll have to combine the skills of his shifting classes.

Whether it be the heroes of legends or the characters in games, few things are more defining than Class. Except maybe Class isn't always static. Tank, DPS, healer, and more. They are all just different sides of fate's die.

Taken from life as an office drone by a trickster god, Tim finds himself in the magical world of Iocusinte, where change is his only constant.It grants him great potential, enough to be sought out by different factions looking to use him for their own ends.

That potential, however, is mercurial. His Class and very appearance change at random even as his Skills and Stats progress. He'll have to solve the riddle of his nature and learn to master the uncontrollable if he hopes to survive.

Review

I've been a fan of portal fantasies since I discovered Joel Rosenburg's Guardians of the Flame books in the 80's. All these years later, I still love the idea of people from out world being transported into a fantasy setting, and seeing the kind of adventures they'd have. Combining it with RPG mechanics, such as leveling and classes, is just gravy for the gamer nerd in me. Uncontrollable, the first book in the Class Shift series, brings some serious storytelling to the table, and I'm glad I got a chance to check it out.

Tim Stein is the main character, and he is fairly typical of the kind of character in these stories, an office drone just existing, gaming at night but not really going anywhere. When he wakes up in a void and is prompted to roll the dice to determine his trait, class and level, he is sure he's dreaming. Again, kind of typical for this kind of book, but things go in some really interesting directions when Tim wakes up in the body of a 70 year old man in his boxers on the side of a dirt road in a medieval setting. His character sheet says he's a blood mage, whatever that means, and things go sideways fairly quickly as he gets to the adventurers guild in the capital city. Especially when he becomes unconscious and wakes up in yet another body, with an entirely different class and abilities. This sets the table, as Tim discovers he is much different than other Sojourners (the transplants to this world and their decendents), who can't change classes or transfer abilities like Tim can. As the Trickster Patron (god?) Cal Dakota pushes Tim to be more entertaining to him, and changes things to his liking in Tim's life, things in the world around him are in flux, as the dungeons of the world are starting to overflow and the Sojourner's are pressed to the limit to stop the monster outbreaks. Tim is in the middle of world changing events, and may be the catalyst of that change.

The secondary characters are well thought out, ranging from various Sojourner's who run businesses, support the military as contracted mercenaries, or dungeon diving adventurers, to the regular people, called flats by the Sojourners, who make up the bulk of the population, including the nobles and royals. The main secondary characters are Tim's fellow sojourner's, who are later generations than he is, but are much more familiar with the world. They each get some attention to their abilities and backstories, the author doing a good job showing how they fit into the world, and they have a variety of interactions and opinions of Tim and his powers, both for good and ill. They grow closer to Tim throughout the story, and it's intriguing the way they adventure together, especially with Tim's rather variable form and abilities. 

The villains are basically the monsters and mobs you'd expect in a LitRPG. The chimeras, the giant rats, the slimes, that sort of thing are the usual danger. There is also a new threat, a type of monster that normally isn't seen outside of dungeons, but seems to be making appearances in numbers and places not seen before, and in varieties and levels that are new as well. There seems to be a bigger baddy behind this outbreak, and we get a small peak, but the mystery still remains about the real big baddie. An excellent setup for the next installment in the series.

The world building is a good example of LitRPG settings. A land with levels, stats and crafting for the people, with an assortment of countries and dungeons scattered throughout. There are a variety of fantasy races and monsters, although some of the other intelligent races are known by different names. and there are some interesting book specific hybrids, so it does have some differentiation as well. The logic behind the magic and crafting is consistent, as is the leveling, although Tim breaks some of the established rules. A twist is there are no gods, just four godlike beings called Patrons that almost nobody but first generation Sojourner's believes in. It's a creative way to use higher beings, and I'm intrigued to see where it goes from here.

The audiobook version is narrated by the talented Daniel Wisniewski. He has quickly climbed onto the list of my top five favorite narrators. His work on James Haddock's various books hooked me, and now his work on series like this have taken it to new heights. He does such an excellent job giving each character their own distinct voice, and the emotion he imparts is just perfection. You are drawn into the character's triumphs and struggles, and you are never in doubt who is speaking or how they are feeling. His narrative pacing is the gold standard, never bogging down in a monotone or having any weird pacing.  Just another fantastic job.

This massive increase in LitRPG titles from a wide variety of authors has given me a ton of choices in books to review. When I come across a story like this, it makes me glad it stands out so much. It has so much to recommend itself, with an appeal to fans across the fantasy genre, for LitRPG, cultivation, epic fantasy to portal fantasy/isekai fans, this book has something for everybody. I highly recommend checking it out today.