There are books that I will never understand. One is Ready Player One - a book that you could boil down to a incessant series of references to the 80s. I think there's some inclusive shenanigan contribute to the success of a book, like in He Who Fights with Monster's case. Ready Player One is the prime example, something like an experiment that proves me right. It's a book with a bland narrative that gets covered by the insane amount of winking left and right to other pop material.
What this proves is that people love to feel included; people love to see a reference to their favorite book because that makes them feel part of the book. Everyone loves to see their favorite book or show referenced somewhere, hinting that they are not the only ones liking it, and therefore justified in their behavior.
We all know how mothers often say 'well, would you jump of a bridge if your friends did?' adage. There's some deeper truth in that statement that is, in my humble opinion, the reason why Defiance of the Fall is less famous than He Who Fights with Monsters. And you could sum it up with a single reference.
The one above is the opening paragraph of the book, with the first hint to popular nerd culture's beloved Star Wars. This one is a bland example. And not everything has to point to a show or a movie, it can just be some popular belief, something common you can build a joke upon.
Jason is familiar, funny, and the whole book is written in a way that conveys that. The author disappears to leave space to Jason. You can clearly tell that there's no amateurish attempt to just sound smart with a long-ass description of some deep ravine or something like that. Shirtaloon is in the shadows, behind Jason. And that's the main quality of the book.