Clara’s Verdict
The ninth instalment of Ryan Rimmel’s Noobtown LitRPG series, The Noob Returns arrives with all the mayhem its predecessors have trained readers to expect: an Elder Demon restarting the War in Heaven, a trapped protagonist, a world fracturing at its seams, and – in what is clearly a Noobtown series-wide running joke – crimes against chickens that must finally be answered for. This is not a series that takes itself seriously, and that self-awareness is its greatest asset. For those already invested in Jim, the Mayor of Windfall, this is the continuing adventure they’ve been waiting for. For newcomers, book nine is emphatically not the place to start.
About the Audiobook
The setup continues directly from the previous book: Jim has defeated the Dark Overlord, only to discover that the Dark Overlord was merely a pawn for Michael, an Elder Demon who has more ambitions than a simple world domination. Jim himself has been trapped in the Walker Orb with his War Badger, Shart – a sentence that makes perfect sense if you’ve been following the series, and absolutely none if you haven’t. His allies are scattered across Ordinal, a death cult has occupied Windfall, a Faceless Queen is running the Castle, and Badgelor (the War Badger) has a cardiac issue requiring urgent attention.
The LitRPG framework – game mechanics layered into an epic fantasy narrative – is well-established by book nine, and Rimmel uses it with the confidence of someone who knows exactly what his audience wants. The class-rebuilding element and the tactical challenges of reclaiming Windfall give the plot shape and direction, whilst the ensemble comedy provides the relief that keeps the stakes from becoming oppressive. The chicken subplot is, by series tradition, funnier than it has any right to be.
At 17 hours, this is the longest entry in the series so far, which reflects both the ambition of the storyline and, some readers have noted, a certain amount of padding.
The Narration
Johnathan McClain has been the voice of the Noobtown series throughout, and his commitment to the material is evident. He handles the comedy, the action, and the occasional genuine emotional beat with equal competence, and his characterisation of Jim’s particular flavour of beleaguered competence has become one of the series’s constants. LitRPG audiobooks live or die by how the narrator handles the game-mechanics sequences – the stat-blocks, the level-up announcements – and McClain navigates these without making them feel like interruptions.
What Readers Say
Rated 3.0/5 from 2 early listeners – a small sample size, and split directly between a five-star review (“Another great book in the series – keep it up”) and a one-star review that cited an excess of juvenile humour as the series’s current direction. The mixed response reflects a genuine tension in the book: long-running comedy series must evolve, and where that evolution lands depends entirely on whether the individual reader’s tolerance for a particular kind of joke has limits. The majority of the series’s larger audience has rated earlier books considerably higher.
Who Should Listen?
Exclusively for existing Noobtown readers who have followed the series from the beginning and want to see where Jim’s story goes next. If you are a LitRPG enthusiast who hasn’t encountered the series, start with book one. Adult fantasy comedy listeners who enjoy Xanth-style puns and game-mechanic humour will find Noobtown congenial territory, though the series requires a significant time investment across nine volumes. Also available on Kobo, Scribd, and Storytel.
