Publisher: Michael Joseph (Trade Paperback – 15 September 2026, originally published 18 May 2021)
Series: He Who Fights With Monsters – Volume Two
Length: 607 pages
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
After falling in love with the first book in Travis Deverell’s He Who Fights With Monsters series, I just had to check out the second volume, Adventurer, which proved to be just as fun, entertaining and addictive as the first entry.
Readers of this blog may remember a couple of months ago I became obsessed with the amazing first volume of the impressive He Who Fights With Monsters LitRPG series. Written by Australian author Travis Deverell (also known as Shirtaloon), the first volume of the He Who Fights With Monsters series was originally released several years ago but has since been republished in paperback by Penguin. This series followed an Australian protagonist, Jason Asano, who becomes a deadly fantasy adventurer after being pulled into an alternate version of Earth filled with magic, monsters and all manner of carnage.
The first volume of this series, recently titled Outworlder, served as an excellent introduction to the protagonist, multiple supporting characters, and Deverell’s fantastic fantasy world. I had a wonderful time with this initial book’s story, which saw Jason learn to become an adventurer as he gets involved with monster slaying, politics, local crime and larger conspiracies. While a little rough in places, I ended up absolutely powering through this first volume, and I found it to be an extremely fun and impressive piece of LitRPG. Due to how much pure enjoyment I got from the first He Who Fights With Monsters book, I made sure to grab a copy of the second volume when it was released, and boy was I glad that I did.
Plot Synopsis:
The path from retail middle management to interdimensional wizard adventurer wasn’t easy, but Jason Asano is settling into his new life.
Now, a contest draws young elites to the city of Greenstone, competing for a grand prize. Jason must gather a band of companions if he is to stand a chance against the best the world has to offer.
While the young adventurers are caught up in competition, the city leaders deal with revelations of betrayal as a vast and terrible enemy is revealed. Jason thinks he’s on the sidelines—until it becomes clear he’s already crossed the wrong path. With allies and enemies closing in, one thing is certain: this contest is only the beginning, and the coming conflict will change everything.
Now this was a very cool and relentlessly fun sequel. This second volume of He Who Fights With Monsters, titled Adventurer, ended up being a particularly addictive read as Deverell loaded it up with a great story, zany humour and clever fantasy LitRPG elements. I couldn’t stop reading Adventurer at times, and because I powered through all 600+ pages in only a couple of days (which is impressive even for me), I must give this second volume a full five-star rating.
I had an absolute blast getting through Adventurer’s fantastic story, which brings together a range of intriguing plot elements into one brilliant tale of adventure and action. Once again primarily set in the city of Greenstone, Adventurer’s narrative mostly focuses on protagonist Jason Asano, former Australian retail worker turned interdimensional badass, as he and his friends are still reeling from the death of one of their own at the end of the last book. Determined to become a better adventurer, Jason focuses on the latest complication in his unusual life, the captured thief Sophie, who, thanks to political intrigue and bad luck, has gained the protection she needs by becoming Jason’s indentured servant (in a mostly non-weird way). Needing to keep her safe, Jason works to make Sophie an adventurer, and much of the first half of Adventurer sees Jason and his friends training Sophie while also forming a new adventuring party. At the same time, Deverell works in a compelling side story that sees much of the supporting cast investigating the mysterious interdimensional army that attacked the Greenstone adventurer expedition at the end of Outworlder, revealing a large-scale conspiracy that could destroy the entirety of this magical world.
This first half of Adventurer really drags the reader in, and you are soon quite absorbed in the various ongoing storylines. The plot around Sophie and her attempts to become an adventurer matches Jason’s training in Outworlder, and it was nice to still get an outsider/trainee perspective on the rules of magic and adventuring. This training element worked well with the book’s entertaining personal dynamics as Jason forms a team with Sophie and some of their other friends and associates, brought together utilising Jason’s chaotic, yet persuasive manner. At the same time, Deverell also ensures that there are some storylines going for all the extensive supporting cast, and the separate exploits of several of these characters worked well alongside the main story focused on Jason. I appreciated how well the author fell back on elements from the first book, even some of the more obscure inclusions, and many of these previous hints are cleverly built into the overlying conspiracy that was a big part of Adventurer’s plot.
While I had a brilliant time with the first part of Adventurer, the second half of the book is where things really kick off and drag the reader in. Indeed, I read the entirety of this second half of Adventurer in a single day, I was that damn hooked. Much of this is because the main story follows Jason, his team, and several other major supporting characters as they enter a magical competition for rising adventurers. Essentially split up throughout a dungeon with many other aspiring adventurers, Jason and his team need to fight through an array of monsters and rivals to participate in the main trial of the competition. This keeps you extremely hooked, as you are drawn into an extended session of action, exploration and advancement, with some interesting combinations of supporting characters coming together into impromptu groups. This entire extended sequence was so damn good, and while the winner of the trials isn’t especially surprising, the journey to get there is so much fun and wraps up a lot of key storylines from this second volume. This proves to be a particularly awesome main plot sequence for this volume, and I loved how it turned out. I also enjoyed how there was still a little bit of Adventurer left after this dungeon sequence, with the author taking some time to showcase the gains following this major arc, while providing some build-up to the third novel. While this slightly slows the story down at the end, it ensures that the main cast have all their new abilities ready for the next entry, and this will very much appeal to those readers who enjoy the nuances of the LitRPG genre. Deverell does make sure to keep some intensity going with a big cliffhanger around a major supporting character, while other threats to Jason and the larger world continue to grow, and by the time you finish Adventurer, you are extremely ready for more He Who Fights With Monsters fun.
I had an amazing time with this second He Who Fights With Monsters book, especially as I felt that Adventurer was a better written novel than Outworlder, with Deverell improving as an author. The author did a great job building on the best elements of the first book, like the worldbuilding and cool fantasy elements, and there was once again a fantastic blend of adventure, personal growth and underlying intrigue to draw the reader in. I particularly love the effective way in which the LitRPG elements of the setting are incorporated into the story, and the resulting carnage from the distinctive magical system allowed for some intense scenes, especially in the well-structured and intense extended dungeon sequence, which really was a brilliant highlight of Adventurer. At the same time, most of the rough edges I noted in the first He Who Fights With Monsters novel where gone, allowing for a smoother read, especially as I was also more familiar with the author’s writing style. I was particularly happy that the weird formatting issues that bugged me in the first book were missing, which was a major relief.
Another thing I appreciated about Adventurer was how well Deverell set it up as a sequel to Outworlder. While LitRPG sequels tend to just be continuations of the first book without much variation, there was a clear plot delineation between the events of Adventurer and Outworlder, which ensures that it feels like an entirely separate novel. There is also a great continuation and expansion of many of the story elements, world building and the magical system throughout Adventurer, all of which expands in some compelling and intriguing ways. Naturally, this does mean that Adventurer is going to be a lot easier to read for those people who already checked out the first He Who Fights With Monsters novel, especially as this sequel starts right after the climactic battle of Outworlder. However, I did think that Deverell’s writing style in Adventurer would allow new readers to start exploring this series with the second book if they wanted to, especially as there are some recaps about the magical system and character arcs. Still, I would recommend reading Outworlder first, as it will allow you to enjoy the entire He Who Fights With Monsters series a lot more.
As with the first He Who Fights With Monsters book, Adventurer features a huge cast of characters whose adventures form the basis for the plot. Most of the attention of this book is once again on series protagonist Jason Asano, an Australian retail worker who was dragged to this world of magic and monsters thanks to a summoning ritual gone bad and is now making a new life as an adventurer. As I mentioned in my review of Outlander, Jason is a complex and unique protagonist who projects an outer layer of silliness and seeming insanity to everyone around him. However, deep down he is a far more collected and shrewd person who has not only already mastered adventuring but is thriving in this new world thanks to his unrivalled ability to empathise with and manipulate everyone he meets. His anti-authority streak also comes into play a lot in this novel, and it was fun to see him interact with fantasy beings who usually appreciate a hierarchy (although the amused reactions of several gods to this is quite entertaining). While I can see how some readers might not enjoy Jason as a character for being too over-the-top or a little preachy with his attitudes, for the most part he is great, and much of the book’s humour comes from his various crazy interactions. I enjoyed how Deverell provided a bit more of a look at Jason’s past in this novel, including how his feelings of inadequacy towards his brother resulted in his current persona. There was also some compelling focus on how Jason has finally found his calling and friends in this new world, and it will be interesting to see how future storylines that involve him returning to Earth will play into that.
While most of the book is focused specifically on Jason and his adventures, there are a huge number of additional supporting characters in this novel, including most of the cast of the first book, as well as several interesting new figures. While in some ways the cast of this novel is too big (I must admit that I sometimes lost track of who was who, especially as they all have normal names rather than memorable fantasy ones), it was fascinating to see the various interactions and specific storylines that emerged around them. Deverell expertly follows various cast members throughout the book, including Jason’s original companions, members of his new team, various key figures of Greenstone who Jason has interacted with, and even a few antagonists. The third-person perspective of He Who Fights With Monsters really helped to ensure that Deverell could effectively showcase storylines around these characters without Jason needing to be there. A good example of this occurred during the major dungeon arc of Adventurer, where most of the cast were across a large space and couldn’t communicate with each other. This resulted in the various members of Jason’s usual party and other supporting characters being forced to team up with other new adventurers, and it was interesting to see how each character was able to work with people they had never dealt with before.
Supporting cast highlights of this book included Jason’s student/indentured servant Sophie, who fills an important role as the rookie adventurer in this story. A generally untrusting figure, Sophie finds herself forced to work with Jason, and there was a good focus on her uncertainty about Jason’s motivations. This allowed for some intriguing interactions alongside the interesting examination of Sophie’s abilities as an adventurer, and I felt that she worked well as a serious foil to the usually silly Jason. The team that Jason and Sophie help form in this book were also a fun group of supporting characters from the first book, and it was interesting see their teamwork grow throughout the novel. Jason’s friend and mentor Rufus Remore also gets a compelling arc in this book, as he feels guilty for the death of his team member Farrah at the end of Outworlder, and spends much of the story determined to find the one responsible. These, and many other character storylines, ensured that a range of different plot points and bits of character growth in this novel, and it was fun following so many figures that had great introductions in the first novel.
The He Who Fights With Monsters series continues to impress me, with this second entry, Adventurer, proving to be a particularly addictive read. Travis Deverell did an exceptional job with Adventurer, and I had such a brilliant time getting through this novel. I really am not exaggerating with just how hard I found it to stop reading this outstanding novel, and I got through it so damn quickly. Due to this, I’ve pretty much committed myself to reading the entire He Who Fights With Monsters series in order as soon as I can (a big commitment considering that the 13th book just came out). Indeed, I’ve already ordered the third book in the series, titled Hero, and I will probably start reading it the second I get my hands on it next week, which really goes to show just how much I am enjoying Deverell’s amazing novels.
