A love letter to RPGs with its own unique story

"How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps" is an immensely enjoyable and fresh take on the LITRPG genre, full of enjoyable characters, great comedy and well-placed references to classic RPGs. Rowe manages to perfectly encapsulate the idea of “No plan survives first contact with players” when running a tabletop RPG. The unconventional solutions to puzzles and combat are immensely enjoyable and the comedy is on point throughout. The story maintains a light-hearted tone while being highly engaging, playing off tropes of the genre while staying unique with plenty of unexpected twists and turns. Rowe manages to mix and blend some of the best elements of each of the series he references. There is the multiclassing from games like Pathfinder, allowing the characters to build their classes in a unique and interesting manner. The dungeons have a very Zelda-like feel to them, making it all the more satisfying when the main characters find their own unique ways to deal with them. The class system itself offers a ton of fun variety, taking cues from series like Final Fantasy and Bravely Default, with everything from traditional white and black mages to the fashionista. There are even villains that would fit right in with those from the Dragon Quest series, managing to stay somewhat goofy as well as threatening. Throughout all of these elements, as well as plenty of Rowe's unique additions, the world he creates is deeply interestingly. I found myself wanting to see a lot more of it, and really hope there is some form of continuation in future. Of course, the characters we follow in their exploration of this world are also very well written, the main character in particular making for a very fun protagonist with her rather unique and untraditional viewpoint. The colourful collection of other characters that she meets along her journey all stand out quite well too, each one memorable in their own way while often being humorous representations of the classic RPG NPCs and party members. The narration is also very well done, the narrator bringing life to each of the characters. It was an interesting choice to use a seperate narrator for the notifications, but it works extremely well and has me wishing more books would do the same. I highly recommend "How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps" to anyone who enjoys fantasy and RPGs in general. The story is short and sweet, never dragging and staying engaging throughout. It will likely leave you wanting more, to which I would definitely suggest checking out Rowe's other works. The theme of solving puzzles and dungeons in unexpected and unique ways is one he does extremely well in them.