The Butcher of Gadobhra

I started with "tunnel rat" then came back and read this work. I'm loving it!

I think it's a good mix of slice of life with combat and finding ways to cheat the system. The novel does have multiple POVs, which I usually dislike, but I feel it is necessary for the story.

Man, my son suggested this. He has read me bits and pieces. I have been an Audible subscriber for several years, and was extremely disappointed this isn't available there. My son had to show me this app "novelmuser.coms" and it has been downloaded, just so I could go on these adventures!!

The characters and story line is quite captivating in so many aspects! There's love, adventure, twists, and all sorts of fun! 

I love the little quips and fun and twisted stories in every chapter. 

I am definitely hooked!!

Love the premise and the splashes of outside the vr.  Great so far with lots to explore and even could easily add other tales from same universe. Always looking forward to new chapters and never disappointed. I don't think I've really written a review of a story or rate them usually. This one is worth it 

Disclaimer: This is a "in progress" review, meaning that I'm still in the early parts of the story and will update this review as I progress further to reflect that.

Style: A few issues here.

 1. The author uses the top and bottom "Author Notes" sections to tell part of the story. While this isn't necessarily story breaking, I feel like it would be better to try and find a way to include that information within the storytelling.

 2. It's stated that this is a slow roll-out, slow burn story. My favorite!!! However, it hasn't felt that way so far, and there are instances in the early chapters where it feels rushed, rather than slow and steady.

 3. There's an instance or two so far where the method of story-telling or setting up of paragraphs becomes a bit confusing. An example of this is blending day skips into a single paragraph.

4. As I've slowly progressed in my reading so far, one of the elements of the story telling style that I noticed bothering me is that, while the story elements and world building become more intricate and interesting and there's a great thought out plan being laid out, the storytelling becomes more cartoonish. It's a bit like trying to read Bladerunner with a comedic twist - and not quite hitting the mark. There's something about the style that doesn't match up.

Story: I quite like this story so far. The plot, though not fully fleshed out nor backgrounded, is solid, and I'm interested to see where it goes and how it evolves. Two issues I do have so far are:

 1. Some of the story elements don't seem to add up (at least to me). There's a feeling that the author is inserting "plot armor" elements that detract from the authenticity of the world he's created.

 2. Story fidelity. There's a few times where the author himself seems to forget where he is in the story timeline. Example: a character complains of having done something "every evening so far", and yet it's only morning of the second day.

Grammar: To me, this is the story's major failing point - but while I am giving it a low grammar score, I don't take this into consideration for the overall score of the story. I'm picky when it comes to grammar, and I acknowledge that.

 1. Spelling isn't bad, but it's not great either. So far, there have been quite a few spelling mistakes I've noticed in every chapter (and in the Author Notes). Nothing story breaking, but it does make me feel like I'm reading a rough draft.

 2. Syntax is another aspect here where I feel this story could benefit from an extra set of eyes or an editor. 

 3. Subject - verb agreement and verb tense consistency errors are what I find the most issue with, as they can throw the rhythm of reading off. 

Characters: Solid here. So far, the characters are very well set up for the time that I've had with them. I personally would have liked to see a tiny bit more background on some of the players, but the way the story has been devoping, I feel like I might get some of that later on.

Overall, so far, I think this is potentially a really good story, but one that perhaps needs the attention of an editor. There are elements of the storytelling that are great, and some that feel like they miss the mark.

So this is for sure one of the best books on novelmuser.com. All four of the MCs are absolutely engaging and I would read a standalone book on any of them. The world building is top notch, truly an amazing world where I feel like we have only seen a small part of it. The side characters are also fantastically done and really fleshed out. No wallpaper npcs here. It starts out a bit slow but once the MCs get their classes it felt like the author found another gear and this book really took off for me. 

Love the story, style and the characters. I think they are all very fleshed out with good personalities. I've really enjoyed getting to know these characters, their strengths and flaws and everything imbetween.

Story is a slow burn but I am here for it, and i've liked it as i get more into it and read more chapters. Very little spelling errors and gramatical errors, though i am not looking, and reading this story doesn't make me dizzy, so thats a good thing! I would say it's a great read! Love the authors work as well, 

the one thing that sort of bothers me about the story is all the references, sometimes they feel forced and i find myself rolling my eyes at some of them, but others do fit in smoothly and make me laugh, so there's that.

I would reccommend this book, I've loved it so far and I'm only about half way through what's posted. I'm trying to avoid spoilers so I didn't read too many reviews before getting into it, but I think that's ok, its been a good read so far. Also sorry for any of my spelling or grammar in this review, english is my second lang. Thank you author! Great work so far!

Have started reading it out. And it looks like it has a lot of potential and I imagine it will go a long way.

It easily hooked me to the story with looking for more. Had started reading with the plan to just check it out but definitely will read a lot more.

Like th game mechanics and the world building. Specially the usage of blue screens and skills.

Would definitely recommend everyone to give it a try

Cards on the table, I do not like VR LitRPGs. I tend to find the sub-genre too low stakes and too much wish fulfilment even for a genre defined by it. For that reason 'The Butcher of Gadobhra' very much took me by surprise for how swiftly it grabbed my interest and how easily it kept it.

Much like its sister story (Tunnel Rat), Butcher is a story of two parts. With one eye focused on the Workers vs Corporation side of the world, while the other is focused on the Workers vs The VR World itself, with the arcs basically going back and forth and sometimes intertwining.

Speaking of the sister story, as of time of writing, the two are undergoing a crossover between the two that also persuaded me to finally read both so I could fully understand what was happening.

The four main characters each have their own arcs for all they have a shared objective, and I will always want Rolly and Squirmie to be the main/POV characters for all that I like Ozzy.

Our titular butcher is the archetypical gentle giant, until roused to anger at least. Affable, a lot smarter than he lets on, and very good at corralling the bag of cats that is the rest of the cast.

Gotten past the big battle and ending, and so far it's been great. Good writing, interesting characters, cool setting, and plenty funny (even there's a dark bite to much of it.) Will recommend if you like this kind of story. I'm hoping as it continues we get to see a bit more about the background world as well.

Took me a week to get caught up. It is a great read!

Take a look here and then go to the writers other fictions and read Milo’s story. Both eventually catch up time wise and have robots here and there interlinked. But Milo’s focused on one character while we have a number of interwoven character stories going on here.