Henry and Jason somehow survived being kidnapped to Ludus, a monster-filled sword-and-sorcery world. They managed to make friends, pay their rent, and they even founded their own adventuring business, Delvers LLC.
Unfortunately, by overcoming the odds and creating a reputation for themselves in such short time, monarchs and nobles have taken notice of the two men from Earth. Foreign, deadly struggles may be unavoidable for Delvers LLC.
Henry and Jason are about to discover something even more dangerous than murderous monsters on Ludus: Politics.
My Opinion: 468 pages, $5.98, Not available on Kindle Unlimited
Last 8% of the novel is a sample of the author’s other LitRPG story Secrets of the Old Ones, Luck Strategy
Henry and Jason were whisked away from Earth by a powerful entity and given powers so that they could be part of an upcoming experiment/contest. Just as they think they’re getting the hang of how things work in this new world everything is turned upside down. Their friend is murdered and now they’ve been conscripted by the local government as agents. They’ll still get a chance to get revenge for their friend’s murder but now they also have to deal with larger nation spanning issues. Oh, and they have a boss now too.
Like:
The cultural consistency of the Mo’hali. The group of cat-people have a full rich culture with their own ways of viewing the world. I’m a big fan of how much detail the author puts into making this group feel real and not just making them a flat stereotype.
Includes so many different types of people. Some of whom are very different culturally. About 40% into the story there’s a section where **Spoilers** Delvers LLC rescues two people who were recently transported to earth by Dolos, one of whom is a hysteric hispanic woman and the other a man in drag. Instead of taking the easy path of having everyone magically accept the person in drag, the author shows a variety of logical reactions to the character. Each reaction is explained not only from an alien cultural perspective but also from the viewpoint of the main characters. Some people may not like this part of the story and I agree that it may go on a little too long. However, it makes sense within the context of the world that people pulled from different worlds would not have the same views. It doesn’t make anyone bad or good but there’s an inherent culture gap that has to be crossed if all these people are going to work together.
Great action scenes. They’re brutal, interesting, and chaotic.
Don’t Like:
New intelligence agency introduction is a little forced but I’ve read worse ways to give the main characters the information they need to advance the story. Otherwise they’d spend an entire book trying to find out who was responsible for killing their friend.
Not much happens. The main characters expand their powers a bit, we’re introduced to a few new people, there’s a section on cultural relativism, and one really big awesome battle. There are some interesting plot twist that I won’t spoil but that’s pretty much it. I was hoping for a few more battles and for the group to get a little farther than they did.
Overall, I had a good time reading Obligations Incurred. While I’d hoped for more advancement in the story it was still a good action filled read.
Score: 7 out of 10.