Solo Leveling by Gi So-Ryeong & Jang Sung-Rak
Series: Solo Leveling (Season #1)
Genre: Fantasy, LitRPG, Progression Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
Petrik’s Review: 5 of 5 stars
I will level (pun fully intended) myself with you; this was by far the most badass and engaging LitRPG I’ve ever read. …
ARC provided by the authors in exchange for an honest review
The Once King by Rachel Aaron and Travis Bach.
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Series: FFO (Book 3 of 3)
Genre: LitRPG fantasy
Publication date: 12th November 2019 (Independently published)
Gripping and thoroughly satisfying, The Once King, concluded the FFO trilogy with yet another compulsive read.
The entire series has been incredibly fun and addictive with lots of action and humour, while packing some solid emotional punches at the same time. Tone and style-wise, FFO is similar to Aaron’s earlier series like Heartstriker, Eli Monpress, and Paradox; they tended towards being lighthearted and hopeful. While Aaron and Bach had worked together on every book she has written, this was the first time that they shared the writing process, and the result was fantastic. So much so that I finished reading The Once King in one day, I just didn’t want to put the book down.
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ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
God of Gnomes by Demi Harper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Series: God Core (Book #1 of ?)
Genre: LitRPG, Dungeon Core
Pages: 485 pages (Kindle edition)
Published: 26th September 2019 by Portal Books
Harper’s LitRPG debut combines the resource management of Real-Time Strategy Games and the moral system of The Good Place into a fun, exciting, and wholesome reading experience.
God of Gnomes, the first book in God Core series by Demi Harper isn’t my first experience reading Harper’s work. Demi Harper is a pseudonym for Laura M. Hughes; a freelance editor, and also the author behind the dark fantasy novella: Danse Macabre. I loved Danse Macabre, and also enjoyed the two short stories written by her that I’ve read so far. I have always wanted the author to write a full-length novel, and as far as I know, God of Gnomes is the author’s first take on a full-length novel and the LitRPG genre. As expected, I enjoyed it; the novel which was written in a very different style compared to the author’s past work didn’t change the quality of her work. The story follows Corey as he finds himself reborn as a God Core that must protect and guide his worshippers—gnomes—to escape extinction. The story started off very light-hearted at first, and it gets more serious as the story progressed; I’m thankful for this. Although I do like reading light-hearted stories, a few serious and tense moments are necessary for me to enjoy a book.
“What you were before doesn’t matter. What matters is who you are now.”
I received an advanced reading copy from the authors in exchange for an honest review.
Last Bastion by Rachel Aaron and Travis Bach.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“Bastion was supposed to mean safety.”
It seemed, however, that Rachel Aaron and Travis Bach decided that safety will be a bit boring for the fictional characters and the readers. Hence, they gave us a heart-pounding, fast-paced, action-packed and dangerously addictive MMORPG-style adventure in the world of Forever Fantasy Online with a great cast of characters.
The story picked up immediately from the ending of the first book. Our main characters, James and Tina, arrived at the city of Bastion to seek refuge and find some answers after the world of FFO was suddenly released from the Nightmare. A term used by the NPCs who are supposedly real people to describe their entrapment in the game environmen, the Nightmare is so named for the dreadful never-ending cycle ofreliving the quests the players undertake, oftentimes dying a painful death over and over again. What greeted the player characters, however, was a city on fire and laden with corpses. Not exactly their idea of a safe haven from the constant danger and fighting they’ve encountered in the past few days.
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I received an advanced reading copy from the authors in exchange for an honest review.
Forever Fantasy Online by Rachel Aaron and Travis Bach.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Excellent characters, an engaging story and geek humour. What more can one ask for?
Forever Fantasy Online is one of my first LitRPG novels, but thanks to the powerhouse couple of Rachel Aaron and Travis Bach, it will not be my last. I will start by talking just a bit about my experience with RPGs as this will provide some context for my review. While I had been quite a geek during my younger days, my RPG days (via books and PC) ended over two decades ago, and I did not have any exposure to multi-player online RPGs. Neither have I been in the anime scene to appreciate the inspiration of this trilogy, which is a hugely popular anime series called Sword Art Online.
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Review copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Six Sacred Swords by Andrew Rowe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Continuously fun and light-hearted in tone, Six Sacred Swords was a great beginning to a new spin-off series by Andrew Rowe.
Six Sacred Swords is the first book in Weapons and Wielders series by Andrew Rowe. It is unknown at the moment how many books are planned for this series, but one thing for sure that you should know is that this series serves as a prequel to Rowe’s Arcane Ascensions series; a series I highly enjoyed. Some of the most dominant elements in Arcane Ascensions are the intricate magic system, the magic school setting, the tests, and the dungeon crawlers. Six Sacred Swords is both different and similar to Arcane Ascension by excluding the magic theory and magic school setting; focusing the narrative on the fun adventure, video games dungeon-crawler aspect, and anime-esque battle scenes. At the same time, this series serves also as a sequel series to Rowe’s War of Broken Mirrors; I haven’t read this one. That being said, rest assured that you can definitely start your journey into Rowe’s imagination by starting with this book. …