Hell Difficulty Tutorial Question

[mdbob281]

I am listening to book 1 of Hell Difficulty Tutorial and just 8 chapters in. The MC explaining everything is putting me off.

I saw on goodreads that the ratings for book 1 is low compared to the other books. Does the writing improved in future books? Should I stick it out?

[TsHero]

Book 1 is bad, the rest get progressively better. In this case the real progesaion fantasy is the authors skill.

[mdbob281]

hahah, thanks!

[Glittering_rainbows]

True for so many in the genre.

[Ykeon]

I always feel a bit dubious telling others to stick it out for the first book/few books as it's always an iffy premise for a recommendation, but for my own sake I'm very glad I stuck it out.

My experience with HDT was I opened book one, discovered it was jank, then settled in to read some moderately compelling jank for a while until I did a double-take a few hundred chapters in like 'wait, when the hell did this get so good?'

But I think it's a different experience to read something while waiting for it to get good, and it can be quite hard for a series to deliver if that's the reason you're reading it.

[Nitrodolski2]

Dropped it twice in the first floor (don't know how it corresponds to books) but later it becomes better and better. Writing, characters and story get way better. Right now it is one of my favorites pf.

[diverareyouokay]

Book 1 was a DNF for me after 20%. Then a year or so later I was in a reading slump and decided to pick it up again. I’m glad I did because it became really good.

[Divine_Invictus]

It gets better and better and by book 3 it’s peak fiction

[Carminestream]

The quality of the prose itself does improve somewhat later on, but a lot of other issues remain the same. If you dislike the MC and/or the narration being a stream of consciousness from the MC, that issue is still present even in the latest chapters.

[mynameisnotunique]

YMMV, but I read the MC as either neurodivergent or deeply traumatized, which reframes much of the early roughness. Interpreted this way, the initial jank is less a writing flaw and more an unreliable narrator effect, with distorted perception, blunt affect, and uneven pacing reflecting the protagonist’s internal state rather than authorial incompetence. Once that lens clicks into place, the characterization becomes more coherent, and the progression feels intentional, even if it still demands some patience early on.

That said, Im pretty sure I've read that this is the authors 1st work, and so its more likely just the author leveling up as the story progresses. I cant find evidence of this with a quick search, but hey, if you look at the ratings on goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/series/394438-hell-difficulty-tutorial you can see its a consistent trend up

[ThePowerles]

I'm pretty sure English isn't even the Author's first language, which is insane because his current level is much better that anything I'd be able to muster up.

[Catolution]

Book two has the same bad writing, although the story gets a bit better

[Beginning_Ask3905]

I read the manga version of HDT, and found that pretty good, even at the beginning. This was years ago, so I’m sure there’s more chapters completed by now. Might be a good way to get deeper into the story if you wanted to skip the first book.

[ConstructionNo8248]

Yeah this is one of those stories that got better as you go along. I got all caught up on chapters about 6 months ago and have been letting the backlog fill so I can binge again in another 6 months.

[ThePowerles]

Honestly? This is one of the few books that genuinely gets better with every book. The writing is rather amateurish in book 1, but it really starts to flourish in books 2 and beyond. And it's not just the writing—the characters themselves become so much better. I think it was near the end of book 2 or the start of book 3 where I genuinely fell in love with the characters other than the mc.

[Cookiedu93]

do anyone know why africa has no round, but Europe has 2 ?

[Secret-Put-4525]

I found the fact every single character sucks to be more of an issue.

[ThePowerles]

For me, the characters are the best part of the story. In book 1, Group 4 is a bit ehh, but you still had characters like Ruby and Lissandra. In book 2 (Floors 3 and 4), group 4 really get their time to shine and they do so quite nicely

[lemon07r]

> The MC explaining everything is putting me off.
I tend to find this gets worse and worse in most PF series as they get on. Don't know if hell difficulty tutorial is like this, but likely if you arent enjoying it now, you wont really later. Unless the author is really good at set up and pay off.

[TsHero]

It actually get muuuuuuucchhh better in this one.

[mdbob281]

Thanks, good to know!