Roger Ebert once concluded that video games can't be art, later walking back (though never refuting) that claim as he admitted that he hadn't really engaged the medium.
At the risk of repeating Ebert's mistake, I will Bayesian 40% go on the record as saying that LitRPG can't be art either. This is my first litRPG book.
I think this is just about perfect travel reading. It is fast paced and funny, in a mean spirited "life is cheap" sort of way. There is almost nothing of depth or thought here. Upon completing it, I was surprised to see that there are people who are genuinely offended by this series. It is a story about a world that from the beginning makes absolutely no logical sense. It is at best a parody of a caricature of DND, bro, and pop culture. It is supposed to be fun like comic books and bubblegum, an almost Freudian Id level character running through an adventure with barely a thought for what he is experiencing.
My biggest curiosity of the series basically boils down to questions of whether the whole setting will make more sense (a civilization that can transform an entire planet is insanely advanced, which the aliens in this book do not seem to be) and whether some of the almost "socialist lite" bends that I sort of read will be highlighted in future books?
Consume it like you consume bodice rippers, pulp mysteries from the 50's, or Jason Statham films. I likely won't continue the series unless I do more travel and want something to read poolside, but I think it is fine as breezy entertainment.