Warning!
This description contains spoilers for Warlock: Reign of Blood.
Mark isn’t the only player in Reign of Blood. Arix the Damned has been torn from his real life as a celebrity gamer and enslaved by a reiver Inquisitor.
His agile, axe-wielding Executioner class fits him like a gauntlet, but Arix is helpless to escape the Inquisitor’s collar as she forces him to explore The Barrens in search of three sacrificial altars with apocalyptic powers.
All that changes when his flight from a boss fight puts him in the path of Mark, Vari, Braemar and Citadel. But while the Warlock strives to complete the Chasms of Corruption quest and protect Garland from Inquisitor Karina’s cataclysmic designs, the Executioner has other plans.
Arix just wants to go home. Capturing Karina is the key to that. And though Mark seems determined to live and die in the fantasy land of Reign of Blood, Arix wants him to wake up from his digital delusion. He’s going to make Mark face reality whether the Warlock likes it or not.
If you love…
Visceral combat
Lovecraftian monsters
‘Indiana Jones’ style artifact hunting
Epic loot!
A fresh batch of original spells
...then Executioner: Reign of Blood is for you!
Executioner is Book 2 in the Chasms of Corruption duology. Although more books are planned for the Reign of Blood world, Executioner marks the end of this particular arc.
My Opinion: 330 pages, $4.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
The novel on the whole is enjoyable, though I liked it less than book 1. The story has good character interactions, a separate villain narrative, action, adventure, and RPG progression that you may have liked. However there were a couple of things that just made it less enjoyable than book 1.
1) No recap at the beginning made it hard to remember who everyone was and why I should care about them. This was especially the case with a death in the story. I know it was supposed to be sad but I didn't remember enough about the character for it to have the desired impact. 2) The new character is very hard to like in any way and his arc does not end satisfyingly, especially considering what he does in the story. 3) The ending in general just wasn’t satisfying. The bad guys, while a very dark and bad people, didn’t get the ending that was equal to all the bad stuff and betrayals that occurred. I get that the ending is meant to wrap up this major arc so that the next can start, but it felt forced.
Still, overall it’s a good story. While it took a little while to reconnect with the story and I honestly never remembered some things, eventually the well written characters and general adventuring were enough to keep things entertaining and the RPG progress was detailed enough to keep my interest, if barely.
Score: 7.1 out of 10
Executioner: Reign of Blood: A LitRPG Novel (Chasms of Corruption Book 2)