It was a night like any other: Danny was on the stage at a dive bar, very nearly earning his keep but ruining it by digging at customers who got on his nerves. Then, one of them decided to teach Danny a lesson, and…..he wakes up in a medieval-fantasy realm, where evidently he and all those around him have stats like he’s living in an RPG game. Whaaa?

That’s the setup for An Unexpected Hero, which is an adventure story that takes refuge in audacity by not trying to justify itself. Danny the struggling singer-songwriter is now a Level 1 Bard, penniless in a fantasy kingdom peopled by the usual suspects — haflings, orcs, elves — and guided only by a voice in his head that sometimes pushes into his visual view in the guise of a screen displaying his inventory and stats. “Screenie”, as Danny dubs the guide, is sarcastic, well versed in human pop culture, and fond of double entendres. Although happy to share with Danny facts about the species and places the lost and bewildered bard is encountering, Screenie offers no insight whatsoever as to how Danny was transported into this world of “Aethonia”. Being a weak human surrounded by much more dangerous species, and in a society where the wrong word can get a fella stabbed, Danny has to learn to navigate quickly, and fortunately for him stumbles into a friendship with a giant warrior named Curr who is remarkably sensitive despite being a professional crush-kill-demolisher. Driven on by hunger and official Objectives, Danny and Curr advance into danger and a fairly fun story complete with literal character growth — as Danny levels up his skills, he also genuinely bonds with the people he’s imperiled with.

I encountered this book almost entirely because I was looking for more Bruno and Castle collabs, having enjoyed their Black Badge (western + fantasy) books so much. It helped, too, that I’ve dabbled in LitRPG before, but this one is different in that it makes no effort whatsoever to explain itself. One moment Danny is in our world, the next he’s in this fantasy realm with a talking voice in his head. The story worked for me as a straightforward and light-hearted fantasy-adventure story, with lots of humor, though I was definitely intrigued by the behind-the-curtain background, and the fact that Screenie isn’t an all-knowing guide. No spoilers, but at some point Danny becomes involved in a fairly serious quest with an enchanted object, and things begin happening that Screenie can’t understand. Even funnier, there’s some hint that Screenie is aware it’s the narrator.

This was an unusual, but fun, book: litrpg is a niche genre in itself, but I think anyone interested in adventure novels would get some enjoyment out of it. I certainly did!

Highlights:

“There is nothing that makes a man relish living like being near death.” We were quiet for a bit, listening to clay and pewter banging around the tavern, the few patrons talking and laughing.
“And what if you happen to be terrified of dying?”
“Then get good enough at fighting that you do not fear death,” Curr said. “It is a simple solution to a complex problem.”

You’re just playing a song you’ve never played to a crowd of people you’ve never met in a place you’ve never been on an instrument you’ve never held. What could go wrong?

“I say we just charge at them,” Curr said. “That’s the opposite of a plan,” I said. “That is untrue. I have done that on countless occasions, and I am still alive. My foes are not.”

“Now you’re complaining after basically begging me to come?” I groused.
“I did not beg. I simply requested with style,” Garvis said. “All I’m saying is it could be fraught with danger.”