Welcome to Planet Hero! Attention Civilians! In the event of Superhero on Villain battling, seek immediate shelter. And if a Villain decides to kidnap you, hold you hostage, or attempts to rob and/or kill you, please remain calm, Heroes will arrive shortly. Thank you for your support!
Dr. Davis Malory never planned to become a hero or a villain. He never planned on obtaining superpowers. He certainly never planned on being transported to a world filled with such people. And he most definitely never considered that he would have to become one if he ever wanted to find a way back to Earth.
But Planet Hero doesn't care about what Davis wants. If he wants to survive everything that is about to be thrown at him, he'll have to cultivate his superpowers and learn to navigate this new world or going home will be the least of his worries. Davis's days as a Civilian are officially over.
Disclaimer: This is a LitRPG or GameLit novel containing video game elements and rules.
My Opinion: 247 pages, $2.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
Full disclosure: I received an advanced copy for review. I purchased a copy when it became available.
This is a story that combines Super Hero powers with RPG progression elements based in cultivation. A good portion of the story is just a fun slice of life exploration of the world and some nice training of superpowers and cultivation. The end has a bit more story with a nice stream of action.
The RPG stuff amounts to Heroes cultivating or gathering nanos either from the environment or from their kills to increase their stats. The stats are broken up into physical and power related sections with subsections that can be increased to develop particular builds. The powers themselves feel a bit more limited. There aren’t skill trees that the characters have to develop, instead they ‘feel’ what the nanos say they can do or just experiment until a new power develops. Powers to become progressively stronger as they’re used and nanos are applied to their related stats.
The cultivation parts initially felt out of place in the nano infused superhero world. Why would you need to use cultivation, which to me has a mystic tone, with tech based nanites? I would have preferred to see some passive absorption with an opportunity to increase it with leveling or a tech upgrade. But eventually I got used to it. Especially after the big training section.
Storywise, its entertaining if you enjoy the super hero genre. There are jokes about hero culture, a little bit of world building explaining how this alternate dimension got super powers, and a hint at a darker world. There’s a lot of good action and dialogue and a main character (MC) that seems reasonable and not overly anxious to jump into life threatening situations. The villains when they're introduced after the halfway point, were a little disappointing. They weren't particularly villainous. They felt like disney villains. They don't really kill or even curse.
Overall, though a good read that I’d enjoy picking up a 2nd book in.
Score: 7.4 out of 10