The Daily Grind: A Slice-of-Life LitRPG

The Daily Grind, Book 1

De: Argus

Narrado por: Pavi Proczko

Duración: 17 h y 32 m

Resumen del Editor

An IT worker explores an alternate dimension in his office in the first book of a fun and fast-paced series blending cubical life and dungeon fantasy.

Working as overnight tech support, James Lyle has long said he’d do anything to escape the boredom. But his commitment to excitement is tested when a slight coincidence one shift sends him to a different part of his office building . . . and he discovers a stairwell that contains not stairs but rather a landscape of seemingly infinite cubicles against a distant horizon.

Unwilling (and unable) to stay away, James and a few of his trusted friends begin to explore this endless maze of supernatural business ennui, a few minutes in the real world turning into eight hours of encounters with strange creatures and even stranger interior design choices. But in a realm that allows them to level up in fax machine repair and provides them with enough cash to pay the rent, there are also adversaries that are quickly becoming dangerous—and potentially lethal.

As James, along with his companions, delves ever deeper into this extraordinary place, he starts to realize that animate staplers and time dilation might not be the biggest challenges they face, and those challenges might not stop at the entrance . . .

The Daily Grind is the epic beginning to a slice-of-life urban fantasy that effortlessly blends wry commentary on office life with intricate character- and world-building.

The first volume of the hit LitRPG fantasy series—with more than four million views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!

©2023 Argus (P)2023 Podium Audio

Great writing and realistic human reactions to situations.

I don’t often write reviews but I have adored this entire series.
Argus writes in such a way that you genuinely relate to the characters. The characters have genuine human reactions to both good and traumatic situations. Typically in books “heros” just get over a problem but these characters acknowledge things and process them. It’s refreshing to read.
Not only that but the story itself is compelling. Who doesn’t want a bit of magic in our regular lives?
I recommend this book to all of my friends and family so I recommend it to random strangers too.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
I eagerly await more books as I’m all caught up for now. :)

Interesting

Very real world gets weird with actual mentions of real products and services to reinforce that this is happening to people in our world (fictional). Probably will also apeal to fans of The Backrooms.

Think “The Office” remixed with “Through the Looking Glass”

Some of the story is a bit of a grind but those are framed out with some really good banter between friends, not giving out where to skip with spoilers.

Pavi did a really nice job with this one and there were very few slips between characters or monotonous grinding. Then again this is one of those stories that I know I would have trouble narrating.

Argus managed to capture a piece of my childhood with the way the main characters interact with each other and the love we had for all of the table top RPGs.

Urban dungeon crawl litrpg

TDG is a really fun listen with dynamic characters interacting and a fun plot of what it would be like to find a dungeon in modern day times and how to exploit it for fun and profit. The characters remind me of exactly what it would be like for me and my friends to get access to an irl litrpg. 10/10

What a trip! Loved it

If you like litrpg but want something different this is it. I dont think there is anything else quite as different as this and its well done all around from story to narration.

Unexpected Office Adventures

Working as tech support for many years and part of that time was overnight, I really felt a kinship with James. I felt as if the story started a bit slow for me, but by the end, I couldn't wait to jump into the next book. The creatures in the story are pretty unique compared to other litRPGs I've experienced, as is the level up system.

Well, at least he's not terminally bored anymore.

I read this first as a web series and couldn't resist when this came out. It did not disappoint. There were moments when I worried the narrator hadn't gotten the friendly, playful insulting banter right between the characters but as the story progressed, I loved it. The way the characters talk to one another is something I heavily relate to as someone with ADHD, their interactions between one another really remind me of the way I interact with my own friends. It was interesting to hear the voices of the characters, specifically Anesh, change as the narrator became used to used to him and was overall a joy to listen to.

I can't wait for the rest of the books in the series to be released and I will definitely be picking them up. ♥

Surprisingly entertaining

Boringly mundane life meets delightfully entertaining RPG situations
The casual development a non-traditional relationship was given enough focus to enhance character development without being a distraction

I liked the overall concept, but it dragged on before the final cliffhanger

The title says it all for me. Cool idea, but it took too long in the middle, I would have appreciated some kind of time jump to arrive at the end later. probably cut off about 5 hours, maybe.

Lack of Pacing

This novel caused me to suspect that it was written haphazardly by an author who added little bits to a webseries without figuring out the plot structure before starting the narrative because the pacing is intolerable. It might be fine if you were reading one or two chapters/week, but if you're reading this story in order than there is barely any character progression or story progression through Chapter 19 (about half the book - where I stopped). In most litrpgs, the heroes would have figured out the systems and started exploiting them to the best of their ability by now as well as working toward the first act finale that would capstone their progress while adding significant complication. This just meanders along.

I'm more upset by this than I would be by another novel that is paint-by-number litrpg despite this being much better than those because the ideas have promise and ingenuity. The author understands humor and writes friendships well such that the two main characters are likeable. With some study of plot structure to outline chapters before beginning the web series and some editing to remove filler and replace it with summary to increase the pacing when the narrative is repetitive, this could have been excellent. This is like watching a baker with extraordinary imagination and decoration skills ruin a cake because they've failed to study the basics.

It isn't terrible; in fact, it is even better than just okay. It's slightly above average in a new genre that is becoming increasingly competitive and thus it is good enough to succeed as a niche title. I suspect that fans of this series will correctly applaud it for being innovative and having great new ideas - and they should because most writers understand plot structure, but few are able to imagine and capitalize on new ideas. Having said that, it is still just above average. There are better places to spend your credit and, more importantly, your time based on the writer's current level of skill and love given to this project.