Fresh off their victory over Graves and his followers, Marcus and his friends have managed to enjoy a few weeks of relative calm and peace as they continue to build Aldford, preparing the town for a new wave of settlers coming from Eberia. But as the days wear on with no new arrivals in sight, they begin to fear the worse, eventually setting out to search for their promised reinforcements and soon realizing that they weren’t as alone on the frontier as they thought they were.
Just managing to rescue a caravan of settlers in the nick of time from a horde of bandits, Marcus and the rest of Virtus barely have a chance to catch their breath before they find themselves thrust into the middle of Eberian politics, revealing a plot that threatens to not only take away their hard-won independence.
But to destroy Aldford completely.
My Opinion: 731 pages, $6.00, Available on Kindle Unlimited
Full disclosure: The author sent me an advanced copy for review. I purchased the novel when it came out.
*Page count seems off. It’s likely at least 1,000 pages.*
A great 2nd book in the Ascend Online series. There is some good action, adventure, and leveling in the novel. Yet, what always makes this series stand out for me is the author’s gift with dialogue. Each time I read the conversations and banter between Lyrian and his group I always feel like I’m hanging out with old friends. It’s like I’m there, worried for the town and I’m invested in these character’s success.
There’s also a huge variety of interesting fights, some old enemies return, and new threats abound. Book 2 also introduces some political intrigue to the story. There are also some very interesting developments for the town as more Players (a few from another Ascend Online book) finally arrive. Some of whom are not very nice people.
Besides a maybe too long dungeon run in the middle of the story, I loved reading this novel and only wish book 3 was ready.
Score: 8 out of 10