Big Sneaky Barbarian: A LitRPG Novel

Book 1

By: Seth McDuffee

Narrated by: Johnathan McClain

Length: 20 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

One angry young man is about to take a fantasy realm by storm—or by accident—in the hilarious first book of a new series by the author of Good Boy.

Gabe Skelter has a temper, which he likes to imagine has the effect of causing people to fear and respect him. On the contrary, his pudgy, underdeveloped body and negative personality make him more your standard outcast teenager. Worse still, he kinda knows what a jerkweed he actually is.

Then, in the middle of a class trip, Gabe finds himself spirited away to Regaia: a world of magic, mayhem, and nerd-tastic adventure. Naturally, he’s completely ill-prepared. But in this realm, he’s a monstrous, muscular man of action. Unfortunately, he’s still saddled with the frightfully unimpressive brains of a teenage loser.

Now, Gabe must make his burly, bulky way in a land where the strong dominate, the powerful rule, and picking a class has nothing to do with algebra . . . and everything to do with survival.

Bristling with reckless abandon and antisocial attitude, Big Sneaky Barbarian is Die Hard with dungeons; a must-hear for fans of heavy-hitting action mixed with laugh-out-loud snark—and absolutely loaded with swears.

The first volume of the hit LitRPG adventure series—with almost 100,000 views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!

©2022 Seth McDuffee (P)2022 Podium Audio

Critic reviews

“This has gotten me very excited at the chance to be one of those authors quoted on a book.”—Shirtaloon, author of the He Who Fights with Monsters series and brazen Australian

“I loved every one of the words in this book! Especially how they followed one another in perfect sequence, each of them dazzling me with their sublime poise, vigor, and panache. Or at least that’s what I think I’d say if I read the thing. Are we done here now? Wait, don’t write that. Stop, what are you doing, don’t hit send . . .”—Luke Chmilenko, author of the Ascend Online series and collector of “antique” eggs

So much fun

If you like fun and four letter words this book is for you. it has a slow start but hang in there because it gets good before you realize it. The narrator kills it, I imagine he makes all the difference between a meh read and a good one.
if you want an insightful and dedicated MC who solves problems with his superior intelligence then uh maybe keep looking. MC solves problems with his head, his meaty empty head. And anger. mostly anger and f words.
it's fun though. give it a go.

The low stars are deserved

This MC is the most stupidly moronic dimwitted foul-mouthed imbecile. I am speaking honestly. Those were not insults; that is the character's description.

He lacked any kind of discipline, and he would have been killed by other people because he's so annoying that I don't believe no has wanted to or tried to kill him. He just is completely murder friendly, and someone killed him the people around him would be better for it. He's that poisonous to everyone, especially those that try to help him. he doesn't get better and I made it 8 hrs...

I love cursing but shit, the incessant unnecessary cursing. Like a toddler that just heard the word and repeats it for like 8 hrs straight...

The plot armor is also thicker than the universe...No shame to the people that rated it higher but I think these might be people that have followed from before the author got published on Amazon/Audible.

if the different bad parts were by themselves I could have continued but together they make the book a solid 2 stars, only because the world building is great and the other characters carry the utterly intolerable MC.

The narrator is a Saint and he really blew the performance out of the park. Ill look for more stuff by him.

Better than I expected

Overall I thought it was great! Narration kept it interesting and the story itself was really good. I went into this not having high expectations. Just something to listen to while working and low and behold I got scooped in and loved every second of it. Cannot wait for the next one.

Took a bit to hook me, then it did

At first I wasn't sure about this book. MC is kind of a jerk and not the lovable kind. But he grows into a jerk that is lovable and I really liked it by the end

Fantastic book! The narrator really makes it come alive!

I love this book. The narrator made the book so much fun. The story is really good and it do you really grow to like the main character and route for them. In the beginning, they very dark and emo like but as the story progresses. You learn more about the character and just come to love his sense of humor and the way he does things. You are rooting for him the whole time it’s a fantastic book and I cannot wait for the next one.

look out Ryan Rimmel and Noobtown

I found this after looking for more Johnathan McClain and man does it tide me over till the next Noobtown. No longer will I be so sad waiting for Rimmel's humor and McClain's excellent narration in their next release now that I have what seems like a close sibling. I can't wait for more in this series.

Teenage Boys Dream

The story was ok but not my style. The rage the character felt was immature and might reach some of the target audience. The narrator was decent though so I listened to the whole thing.

Hilarious book

This was a really fun book. The narrator really brought it to life. I'll definitely be getting the next book in the series. If you like comedy and ridiculous action scenes you will like this book.

good book

I really hate the minimum word count requirements for audible reviews. . . .

There is Potential Here

Let's get the easy part out of the way, Johnathan McClain is an excellent narrator. He single-handedly salvages this story; raising it from unbearable to merely annoying. He effectively drags the overall rating up.

It's clear that the author is a good writer. It's also clear that the author is planning for Gabe/Loon to have some good character growth. The problem is that Gabe/Loon is the most moronic, teenage edgelord to have ever inceled.

MCs can be stupid. MCs can be jerks. MCs should never be stupid and a jerk and have no redeeming qualities. Gabe/Loon has no valid redeeming qualities as his hatred of bullies is hypocritical and his hatred of bigots is not a high bar enough to offset his awfulness. He does have hinted at past trauma that explains, but does not justify, his abhorrent personality and actions. Presumably Gabe/Loon also has ADHD due to his incessant and inane compulsion to spout quips. There is some character growth in this book starting about 70% in, but by then the listener has to suffer through Gabe/Loon actively avoid even the smallest steps towards intellectual mediocrity.