I read this book as part of SPFBO 8, but this review is my individual opinion, and not the opinion of the panel I am part of.
The Crypt Lord’s Call has an interesting take on the LitRPG genre, but It doesn’t go far enough. What if, instead of clearing dungeons, you feel sorry for the mobs and feel that the game/system/life is unfair to them.
I liked the setting as well as the side characters. Many of these supporting characters are interesting, with decent character development throughout. The main character feels generic - think Roddy Piper from They Live, the template for almost all action heroes in video games and urban fantasy ever since. There is some conflict in him - the desire to protect his people vs the need to commit violence to protect the peace. But, this isn’t enough to make us root for him. I wouldn’t mind reading a book in the same setting with the above-mentioned side characters, concerning a certain schism among the skeletons, but without the main character.
The LitRPG elements can also be quite dense at times. The issue with the game system is one that most LitRPG stories struggle with - the correlation between the main character’s stats and the difficulty of battles. There are several instances where the main character takes down enemies who are at much higher levels, and this completely negates the value of having a stat-based system. The action, though, compensates for this oversight, and there is plenty of it.
I think the author should have pushed the boundaries on the main premise and, maybe, even pushed for a kind of conflict between the Afterlifers and the mobs, even if it is a bit predictable. I am certain that conflict will come in later books, but it might be too little too late.
In conclusion, the Crypt Lord’s Call is a decent read. I enjoyed it, but I will not be reading the sequel.