Book three starts out quickly. There's a war going on and Hal and his team are in the middle of it. The action keeps ramping up as they face one challBook three starts out quickly. There's a war going on and Hal and his team are in the middle of it. The action keeps ramping up as they face one challenge after another.
Then... someone gets kidnapped. My enjoyment of the book dropped a bit then, and I struggled to make progress. The banter between all the characters plus the ever-present danger is what makes this series a fun read, but once the banter disappears and Hal is on is on own it's just not the same book. It does get better at the end, and I'm hoping we don't have a repeat of this in book 4.
The editing is very good, and there are plenty of stats. There are characters from the original System Apocalypse series that pop up from time to time, but other than that the book is unique and a mostly stand-alone series. I'm looking forward to book 4. 5/5*...more
Levy joins a group of people his age who plan to go through a short dungeon so they can level up. EveThis is the first book I've read by this author.
Levy joins a group of people his age who plan to go through a short dungeon so they can level up. Everyone else is in a group of three to enhance their chances of success, and while he would love to team up with someone else no one wants to team up with him since he is an enchanter.
That's the setup for the book. After the dungeon is over, he does manage to join a group, and they search the wilds surrounding the city to kill monsters and take quests. The book flows easily and there are plenty of stats, item descriptions, spells, and much more for those who enjoy that sort of thing. The editing is okay but not great, but it didn't detract from the story. Levy has a unique skillset that I won't explain so as not to spoil it.
At first, I was confused because the book seemed to lack a plot, but that became apparent later on. Book one really is a training montage including a dungeon that takes up the last third of the book. There are a number of terms explaining magic and related things that made things slightly more confusing than they needed to be early on. I eventually got used to them.
I enjoyed this. Levy is a unique character, and while the rest of his group are mentioned frequently, I didn't feel as connected to them. 5/5* and looking forward to book two....more
Ole is fifteen. His older brother Neil is a big shot in some guild, but all he wants is to marry his This is the first book I've read by this author.
Ole is fifteen. His older brother Neil is a big shot in some guild, but all he wants is to marry his sweetheart once the system lets them and then adventure together. When Ole's fifteenth birthday occurs, Neil comes back to celebrate with him and take him into a portal to fight monsters.
The only problem is that Ole's unique skill (every person gets one) is too strong. Once they enter the portal Neil blinds his brother before leaving him for dead.
The rest of the story continues from there. Ole doesn't die, but he does a lot of other things. I think the post apocalyptic tag is a bit misleading as the world Ole comes from hasn't had an apocalypse. Instead it is the land the portals lead to who experienced the apocalypse.
The editing is a bit rough at times, and I can see people getting frustrated or annoyed at how long it takes Ole to get back to his planet. Still, I enjoyed the book and that's what matters most to me. The setup for book two is strong but I hope it doesn't take anywhere near as long to address the problem of Neil. As an antagonist he is poor, because he comes across as ego personified and nothing else. Most people aren't just one thing and that detracts from the story.
The secondary plot with the love of his life is fine, but again the antagonist has no dimension.
I am looking forward to book two and hope that it is both shorter and tighter in regards to the plot. A light 5/5* ...more
Ronan wants to be a cultivator but just can't seem to get there. He sticks with it as long as possiblThis is the first book I've read by this author.
Ronan wants to be a cultivator but just can't seem to get there. He sticks with it as long as possible, but nothing seems to help. A merchant's son and his friends bully Ronan, and after taking a beating he decides enough is enough. He taps into something unusual and throws the merchant's son into a wall.
James Pierce is a noble who fancies a woman studying the history of what came before. He's a thief but also a sumar, which means he is a cultivator of the second degree. Last but not least we have Laran, a sumar as well who prefers the woods and wilds to people.
I won't spoil how those three people come together or what happens next. This is a short but solid fantasy book that kept me interested to the end. I do think the book would have done well with a secondary plot to break up the action, but that is the author's decision. I will say the book is very linear.
The editing is fine which was a nice change of pace. I am looking forward to book two to see how the story develops. A bit more world building would be nice but I'm not complaining. 5/5* ...more
Book two starts with Larek and his friends leaving the college they spent book one in and moving to a new one. The big change this time is that the deBook two starts with Larek and his friends leaving the college they spent book one in and moving to a new one. The big change this time is that the dean is a proponent of Larek's instead of hating him for being a fusionist.
The big problem I had in book two was the very thick plot armor. Larek consistently gets in trouble for various reasons (sometimes not his own fault), but nothing really comes from it. This is a very light fantasy story on enchanting and while book one was decent enough, book two just didn't work for me as much. I'm stopping the series here to move on to different books.
The editing is fine as are the stats, and if you can get past the plot armor you may find this enjoyable.
Book two starts with Jake fighting gods. Or more specifically, Jake getting trampled by gods. I did struggle with the first 10% of the book because ofBook two starts with Jake fighting gods. Or more specifically, Jake getting trampled by gods. I did struggle with the first 10% of the book because of this, but once the story begins it gets better.
Jake is on a proto-Earth before everything that happened in book one occurred. He wants to destroy the nine gods who destroyed Earth (and all other Earths in the multiverse) but to do that he needs to get stronger. Jake is strong, but not god strong.
I won't spoil what comes next. The editing is fine but not great, and the stats are plenty and detailed for people who enjoy them. Jake is very reactive in book two, which isn't usually how most adventure stories go. Stuff happens and then Jake has to figure out how to deal with it, and it might take him two or three times before he does.
As some other reviewers have mentioned, book two isn't as good as book 1. Book two comes across as more polished, but it looses the charm and creativity book one had. I hope we get that back in book three. 5/5*...more
I realize this series has been out for a while now but I'm only just getting to it.
Larek lives in the Northwoods where he and his family, his neighboI realize this series has been out for a while now but I'm only just getting to it.
Larek lives in the Northwoods where he and his family, his neighbors, and everyone else chop down magical trees. He's good at it too. One day he is sent to market where he has a run in with the headman's daughter, who instead of telling the truth decides to lie when she is injured. Larek is taken away from everything he knows.
That's the setup for the book. He eventually ends up at a magical academy, where he learns a couple of things. Being a seven foot tall freak isn't helping him any, and the one thing he's good at is something the dean of the academy hates.
The magical academy is a bit of a letdown. Larek is introverted and normally shy, so he doesn't interact with anyone except his roommate and a few others. There are no power dynamics like we usually see at academy's, and most of the focus is on Larek's work being a fusionist.
The editing is fine and the stats are fine without showing up too frequently. I've already picked up book two and plan to read it. 5/5*...more
Zaren is a former soldier trying to find his path in life. He's stuck in a small town acting as the muscle in a tavern in case anyone gets out of lineZaren is a former soldier trying to find his path in life. He's stuck in a small town acting as the muscle in a tavern in case anyone gets out of line. One day he sees someone sitting in the tavern with his sword on the table. Someone else enters the tavern and Zaren gets a bad feeling about him. He takes action.
As the title hints at, the man sitting at the table is a Queen's Blade. And he thinks Zaren could be one as well, with some training. I thought there was a slight discordance between who Zaren was in the tavern versus the nervous nelly he is with the Queen's Blade. It passes quickly, though, and they head to the capital. When they get there they find unusual things are happening.
I'll stop the recap there. The last half of the book is taken up with Zaren honing his magical resistance abilities, while they try to figure out what is happening. I will admit that I didn't figure it out until near the end.
This is a fairly short book and an easy, enjoyable read. I had fun with it and will read book two when it comes out. The editing is very well done. I didn't notice any errors. 5/5*...more
Once again Earth is hit with an apocalypse. This times it involves alien races that closely match up This is the first book I've read by this author.
Once again Earth is hit with an apocalypse. This times it involves alien races that closely match up with Tolkien characters taking over quadrants of Earth. Eric, the MC, doesn't see any of this. He's underground with his sister and about to go into a goblin pod to hopefully survive and be able to select a class and level up. He does, but there are problems.
This is a long book with a lot of twists and turns. The first twenty percent of the book is hard to get through. Eric questions every decision, does mental pros and cons list of every possible decision he could make, and much more. It gets tedious at times, and this happens further on in the book as well. I freely admit to skipping pages when we have to read about his thought process, not stopping until we get to level ups or action.
I will say the action is good, and it gets the better the further the book goes on. Humanity is barely surviving so Eric and the other members of the team do what they can to help. Sometime that means bringing food. Other times it means taking out enemies that threaten level zero people.
There is good amount of plot armor for Eric. No matter what crazy idea he tries (and there are a lot of them) he always comes out well. There were times when I could only shake my head at what he was trying to pull off, knowing of course that he would succeed.
Having said all that, I do like the setup for book two when we'll be free of the underground (I hope) and orcs, who are Eric's primary focus for wrath and destruction. They destroyed his city and he wants payback.
The editing is okay but not great. This is a long book, so there are plenty of errors and misspelled words. The stats are extensive (3 to 4 pages each time if not longer near the end). I skipped them the further I got in the book.
Because of how many pages I skipped, I can't give this five stars. I do think the author is onto something however, if he can clean things up and focus on the story more. 4/5*...more
The story starts on the streets of a small town surrounded by wilderness. Sen lives on the street andThis is the first book I've read by this author.
The story starts on the streets of a small town surrounded by wilderness. Sen lives on the street and is constantly picked on by the minor nobles in the town. He's their punching bag. He manages to survive by taking food from dumpsters or wherever he can find it. When he happens to find enough he knocks on Grandmother Lu's door, where they share the food and he is allowed to sleep on a mat.
A cultivator comes to town unannounced. He's looking for a disciple to train. The noble's children all vie for the position, but the cultivator selects Sen for reasons he doesn't know yet. That only angers the nobles further.
The story is broken into three parts. First is Sen being selected and then being taken to where he will train (the first 15%). He knows nothing about cultivation or cultivators. He doesn't know how to read or do mathematics. Next we have the training, which takes up most of the book. The last section involves Sen leaving as a wandering cultivator where he goes back to the town he left to visit Grandmother Lu.
I struggled with the first part but after that I really enjoyed the book. The book hints at wuxia but doesn't go so far to say that is what they're doing. The cultivation is detailed.
The editing is fine as far as I noticed. There are no stats but they're almost implied as there are levels of progression. The ending is satisfying as well.
Silas is an eighteen year old who graduated from high school and is ready to go to college. Then his father dies and the family is strapped for money.Silas is an eighteen year old who graduated from high school and is ready to go to college. Then his father dies and the family is strapped for money. A distant uncle also dies shortly after, and he is willing to give the family his inheritance with one stipulation: that the oldest male of the household live in the shed behind the house.
That's the setup for the book. In the shed Silas finds a portal device, books on various topics, and much more. He discovers that Earth is in a fight for it's very life. Four other worlds are being inducted into the system, and right now we're in third place. The first place world gets to stay as they are with no loss of life. Second and third place will become dungeon worlds, with 90% loss of life and new dungeons coming into being.
Fourth and fifth place have it the worst. On those planets everyone dies and the worlds are turned into massive mines.
I enjoyed this, but with a few caveats. Silas comes across as an eighteen year old fairly well. He gets his start by adventuring and dungeon diving on another world, where he builds his team. The other forerunners, because that's what he is, all come over to check him out.
There are a lot of good parts of this book, but I didn't feel the story matched the gravity of what could happen to Earth in the future until the very end. I do plan to read book two as Silas levels up and gets better at what he's doing.
The editing is fine and there are plenty of stats for people who enjoy those. For me this book comes in just shy of five stars. 4/5*...more
In book two Damon and his mimic are sent as far away from Eslant (the town he was adventuring in book 1) and ends up in the middle of a lake on a largIn book two Damon and his mimic are sent as far away from Eslant (the town he was adventuring in book 1) and ends up in the middle of a lake on a large rock with a monster circling around. Once he and his partner escape from that, they end up in the town of Arrdean where four nobles representing different races lead the city. Just knowing that is enough to tell you what happens next.
Book two is less focused on plain adventuring and more on a new problem that has cropped up: corrupted dungeons. There are a lot of pieces at play in book two, and the plot is more complex than in book one.
Having said that the editing is not as good. It is rough around the edges and there are wrong words and misspellings. The group is much bigger now (I'm not going to explain that) which means more characters to keep track of. I think that is also going to be a theme for book three.
The city nobles wasn't as exciting of a story line because we could see it coming a mile away. It was inevitable. The rest of what happens is a lot of fun, and once again Chester (the mimic from book one who now has a name and some independence) provides comic relief. There is less worry in book two about people finding out about the mimic and eventually Chester just does what he wants.
I'm still giving this 5/5*. I enjoyed it, and book two is less of a guilty pleasure and more of a full on LitRPG adventure. I'm hoping that holds true for book three....more
Damon is a scout. He's weak and doesn't get hired very often, but a team of noble and semi-noble adveThis is the first book I've read by this author.
Damon is a scout. He's weak and doesn't get hired very often, but a team of noble and semi-noble adventurers take mercy on him and hire him to lead them through an easy dungeon. Everything is fine to start, but then things take a turn. An elf girl is seen and the noble puts her in coral cuffs, which make her effectively a slave who has to follow the master's commands.
Damon wasn't supposed to see that happen, but he does. He's shot in the chest by an arrow and is slowly dying. A nearby mimic decides to become his symbiote, and the two become attached. Damon gets better and heals, but they're not out of the woods yet. They still need to escape the dungeon and the nobles within.
I'll stop the recap there. The primary benefit of having a mimic attached to a person is that when they eat a person or monster, they gain essence, skills, and stat points. Damon goes from a weakling to a fairly strong adventurer, although not the best.
The plot definitely steers the story in a certain way. When a bounty is taken out on Damon because the noble kids died, he just happens to find exactly the right way to defend against it. The editing is fine and the system has plenty of stats, skills, abilities and number to keep people happy. The system is a bit odd in that you have to visit an adventurer's guild building to level up skills.
All in all I enjoyed this. The mimic acts as comic relief a lot of the time, and watching Damon get stronger is fun too. I've already read book two and can recommend that book as well. 5/5*...more
In book two we have Joey once again adventuring, but with a twist. He connected with a dragon spirit in book one and now people are ominously talking In book two we have Joey once again adventuring, but with a twist. He connected with a dragon spirit in book one and now people are ominously talking about the 'dragon's price'. He will soon come to find out what that means.
Meanwhile, he sets a bounty on himself once he's reached land in hopes of meeting a quest set by the war princess. The bounty quickly escalates, and he keeps escaping by the skin of his teeth. He discovers what part demons play in this world, and he enters a dungeon with a number of questlines.
Both book one and two are a lot of fun. The action is fast, and that keeps the story ever moving forward. He does have a level of snark that may or may not annoy certain people, but for me it was fine. The editing is okay but because the story moves so quickly I didn't care as much as I might have.
What we have here is a portal fantasy. Joey is suctioned off to a new world and lands in the ocean, wThis is the first book I've read by this author.
What we have here is a portal fantasy. Joey is suctioned off to a new world and lands in the ocean, where he meets the war princess (underwater at her castle) along with her many war maidens. This is the set up for much of what happens in books one and two. The issue? There is a dread whale, level 300 that needs to be killed. That's going to require a lot of adventures so he best get started.
It also happens that Joey is a great adventurer. Below him are standard adventurers and then commoners, each one less powerful. That means that Joey learns faster and gives him an excuse to be OP compared to everyone else. If he dies even once, he'll be reduced to a standard adventurer.
That's the setup. This is a fast paced portal fantasy that almost turns into a harem novel (I was positive it was going to) but doesn't, thankfully. There is a bit of plot armor to make sure Joey gets to where he needs to go, but that's fine.
The editing is fine and the story moves at a quick pace. Everywhere he looks he faces conflict, sometimes for what he is and for other reasons. I enjoyed this and I've already read book two as a write this. Both books are 5/5*...more
Book 11 is the ending of the series. Truestrike is gone (he was taken out in book 10), so now all that's left is to find the huntsman and keep the twoBook 11 is the ending of the series. Truestrike is gone (he was taken out in book 10), so now all that's left is to find the huntsman and keep the two queens happy.
I won't spoil what comes next. If you've made it this far just read the book. It's enjoyable, and a nice wrap up for what was a very good series. I still don't know each and every character (there are dozens and that's just the wives!), but so what? I do wish we would get book on what's happening after this book wraps up but I doubt that will happen.
I do still struggle with all the lovey dovy talk. To me it feels forced, but if it works for you that's fine. The editing is fine. Since I started reading this author, I've left a couple of series. I'm still looking forward to the next Aether's Guard, but that's it. 5/5*...more
Verdan Blacke is a wizard. He was fighting a war when a witch hexed him with dark magic. He scrabblesThis is the first book I've read by this author.
Verdan Blacke is a wizard. He was fighting a war when a witch hexed him with dark magic. He scrabbles together a stasis spell and puts himself to sleep. When he wakes up he renews the spell and goes back to sleep.
When he eventually wakes up with no pain, it's a new age. The old world he knew is gone, and it has been replaced with ruins. People are still living, but it's not as easy as it used to be back in his time.
That's the setup. Verdan meets other people, including a sorcerer, a witch, an alchemist, and others. He struggles to compare what he knows from an age lost to what is happening currently. I think that is what makes the book work. He's also the kind of person who works to help those around him who need it most.
The editing is very good. I'm giving this 5/5* and looking forward to book two....more
Book 3 continues the story of Jin Rou and the Fa Ram along with all the spirit animals.
Tig'uerr heads off to compete in a dueling competition along wBook 3 continues the story of Jin Rou and the Fa Ram along with all the spirit animals.
Tig'uerr heads off to compete in a dueling competition along with the girl who recuperated at the Fa Ram. There they meet lots of other people and other sects. Jin takes a new cart to meet the Azure Trading Company with his new rice and maple syrup. There is at least another half dozen or more storylines going on as well.
On top of that book 3 feels also like a reboot. The world when the book begins is not the same when the book ends, much to the detriment of Jin. There is a lot packed into this book and I'm not sure what direction book 4 will take.
The editing was fine for a Xiansia novel, which is to say I have no idea if the names and places were spelled correctly. I took them at face value. I'm looking forward to where the story goes. Book 3 isn't as funny as the first two books but makes up for it in other ways. 5/5* ...more
Now we're on book 4 and I will say that there is less in the way of inventions and more action and adventure. James is an Earl after facing off againsNow we're on book 4 and I will say that there is less in the way of inventions and more action and adventure. James is an Earl after facing off against the Franks in medieval Europe.
There are battles and other problems for James to deal with. Life is progressing quickly in England, and Ireland even becomes involved. This is a fun, light, read that is easy to digest. The editing is better (not great, just better).
I do plan to read book 5 when it comes out. It feels like the author has hit his stride now and I'm on board until the end. 5/5* ...more
Rowan is a thief in the city of Taureen in the south, where he takes what he can to stay alive and feThis is the first book I've read by this author.
Rowan is a thief in the city of Taureen in the south, where he takes what he can to stay alive and fed. A gang moves in and tell him to move along. Even though he does he ends up with a knife to the chest. Two adventurers find him bleeding out in the street and heal him, putting him in their wagon. Darm leads the wagon and Tethis is an elf who teaches him to fight.
He's given a choice: become a city guard, live a good life and get married. Or take the test at Faebrook to become an adventurer. It's really not a surprise once you start reading that he chooses the latter.
I'll stop the recap there. Rowan is a commoner in an academy packed with nobles. He gets beaten often, and he was to work twice as hard as everyone else just to get a passing grade. Life isn't easy.
I really enjoyed this. Yes, there are a lot of magical academy stories out there but this one ranks up with the best of them. The editing is solid with only a few notable errors, and while there aren't any stats per se, there are implied stats. Mana is measured in manalenths and adventurers are graded by brass, silver, gold, and platinum.
The story progresses well but does take a sharp and slightly unexpected turn at the end. I can see some people being put off by this but I didn't mind. There are clues throughout but it comes to a head at the end of the book. 5/5* Recommended....more
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