LitRPG Podcast 017
Welcome to Episode 17 of the LitRPG Podcast. The only podcast dedicated to LitRPG.
I’m Ramon Mejia. I’m here to bring you the latest LitRPG news, reviews, and author interviews.
This week I’ll be telling you about the latest LitRPG News and LitRPG pre-orders coming up.
New Releases and Reviews:
(Play Music 2)
LitRPG News
Ascend Online gets Physical
Luke Chmilenko, author of Ascend Online, has put out a physical copy of his book through Createspace. If you haven’t read the novel, you’re missing out. It has over 185 reviews and an average rating of 4.8 out of 5. It’s the story of group of friends that enter the world’s best VR MMO together and not only find action and adventure, but a community they want to build and protect. This might be the perfect gift for the LitRPG lover in your life.
Blaise Corvin gets Secretive
Blaise Corvin, author of Delvers LLC., has started work on a new LitRPG story. Secret of the Old Ones.
Trent Noguero, a hard core gamer has been playing for a year and is about to get his big break, catapulting himself into the ranks of the most powerful players in the world.
However, power comes with a price, and celebrity creates enemies. Trent has the keys to massive success, but he also accidentally painted a target on his back... both in, and out of the game.
You can read the story as it’s being written on the Royal Road. It’s already better than some of the full novels I’ve read recently. Yes, Blaise is still working on the next book in the Delvers LLC. series.
http://royalroadl.com/fiction/9319
Nagant Wars head back to editing
Jayden Hunter, author of the Nagant Wars, has pulled his novel from Amazon’s digital shelves. In a statement on Facebook he states his reasons for doing this.
“Against the advice of Nicolas Lagrand who worked with me on editing, I prematurely took this work to market. The onslaught of negative reviews demonstrated to me the lack of maturity and wisdom I possessed as an author.”
He continues on in the post to state that he’s committed to creating the best version of the novel he can. He’s also working on book 2 in the series and plans to release them both about the same time and that he appreciates his fans support.
I personally, really enjoyed Nagant Wars, maybe not the title so much, but the story very much. I can appreciate how hard it must have been for Jayden to make this decision and am impressed by his determination as an creative person to put out the best novel he can.
You have my best wishes Jayden.
Upcoming LitRPG:
The Cadet (LitRPG. Squadcom-13. Book:1) (Dec. 5th)
The Way of the Outcast (Mirror World Book #3) (Dec. 19th)
Video Game Plotline Tester (The Dark Herbalist Book #1) (Jan. 3rd, 2017)
You're in Game! LitRPG Stories from Bestselling Authors (Jan. 20th, 2017)
The Beginning (Dark Paladin Book #1) LitRPG Series (Feb. 7, 2017)
(Play Music 3)
New Releases and Reviews
The Merchant of Tiqpa: The Bathrobe Knight's Sequel
Tiqpa, the first VRMMO to hit the markets, has become a world in and of itself with its own burgeoning political structure and growing strife between kingdoms and players. This unknown terrain, ripe with opportunities, becomes a new frontier which Locke, a blacksmith, tries to use to pay off real-world debts. But when he is betrayed by one of his business partners, he finds himself caught between his growing lust for revenge and his very real need for capital.
My Opinion: $3.99, not available on Kindle Unlimited.
While technically the 4th book in the Bathrobe Knight series, this story is told from a different protagonists perspective, Locke, a human blacksmith in the game working to provide for himself and his sister. Fans of the Bathrobe Knight series will get all the inside jokes but new readers won’t be lost. It has a fast pace and the story moves along between action and plot fairly quickly. Since it’s not available on Kindle Unlimited, I’d recommend downloading a sample before you buy.
The Merchant of Tiqpa: The Bathrobe Knight's Sequel http://amzn.to/2fCgKxS
The Phantom Castle (The Way of the Shaman: Book #4)
What can a game clan accomplish without a castle? The answer is obvious: nothing. Therefore, the main objective of any leader in a game world is to acquire a base of operations. Finding himself in exactly this position, High Shaman Mahan, leader of the Legends of Barliona, accepts an offer from the Emperor and the Dark Lord to vanquish the army of Phantoms that has inhabited Altameda, the phantom castle.
However, this seemingly ordinary quest sets in motion such a momentous chain of events that the Shaman can do nothing but resort to his intuition and act on instinct. After all, a player who is being hunted by the three top clans of the continent at once, can do little else...
My Opinion: 409 pages. $5.99, not available on Kindle Unlimited.
Mahan, our shaman hero, has faced a prison work camp, werewolves, dark spirits, a dark shaman, and even vampires. However the biggest danger to him and his newly formed clan are the other players. Book 4 pushes Mahan and his clan into the wild unknowns looking to establish a base of operations, away from all the player run clans looking to squash him and his upstart group.
In all honesty, I’m not done with the book. I’m about 33% into it. However, the novel has 26 reviews on Amazon so far and an average rating of 3.6 out of 5. This is a distinct shift from previous books. Book 1 has 4.7, book 2 has 4.8, and book 3 has 4.6 rating. Some of the more common complaints about the story include: the story pacing feels rushed, the romance in the story feels forced, the plot is erratic in places, and the ending is disappointing.
One of the things I’ve always been impressed by is Vasily Mahanenko’s ability to reset the epic-ness in each book. Every time I finish one of these books, it feels like it reaches the peak of what’s possible in this game world. Yet, the next book always seems to be able to reset the characters so that they feel like they’re still plenty of challenges for them to face. I realized that the author is sort of mimicking a chain quest. They start out slow, simple even, but ramp up the pace and epicness of the quest. Then you turn in the quest and reset the pace of your game play.
The Phantom Castle (The Way of the Shaman: Book #4)
Related
The Way of the Shaman Books 1-4 http://amzn.to/2gjame4
Strength Build Episode 4
My Opinion: 41 pages. $0.99 and available on Kindle Unlimited.
The conclusion to the Strength Build LitRPG serial. Nick Stanner’s reason for playing the game, his father, has died. Even though he feels the soul crushing pain of his passing, he’s being forced back in the game by the corporation for one last run. If his his character is killed, Nick will likely be turned into a NPC because he knows too many of the corporation’s secrets now. His only hope is for his character to survive and win the final pixel run.
A good, solid, conclusion to the serial. I was truly satisfied with the final story and the ending. The action is ramped up, the emotion the character feels when his father dies feels genuine, and the behind the scenes intrigue is engaging.
I especially like that all 4 parts of the serial have been compiled for readers for $2.99. I look forward to the next serial from the author, Dexterity Build.
Strength Build episode 4 http://amzn.to/2gjhaIV
Related
Strength Build episode 1 http://amzn.to/2fS64XQ
Strength Build episode 2 http://amzn.to/2gf1web
Strength Build episode 3 http://amzn.to/2gl3kne
Strength Build: Episodes 1-4 http://amzn.to/2fKCB1y
Difficulty: Legendary
In the world of Re:Fuze, anything is possible. Fortunes can be made, and the most unlikely people can find glory in a land of swords and magic.
With low Job Qualification (JQ) scores and 2 years of national service looming, Eric Templeton knows he is doomed to a life of poverty. When he is given a chance to enter the game, he knows he has the opportunity to save his family from their desperate situation.
But when he enters the game, Eric isn’t spawned into the newbie camp of Blundow. Instead he is sent to the darkest regions of the map, filled with creatures beyond his level. He stumbles across a conspiracy that no newbie should ever see, and he knows that he can’t hope to survive.
My Opinion: 123 pages. $0.99 and available on Kindle Unlimited. The author notes on the book page that book 2 is already being written and is expected to be over 300 pages.
The book description on Amazon is slightly misleading. It is accurate but is only relevant to the first bit of the story. After much whining, the main character, dies, whines some more, then gets a mysterious second chance to re-enter the VR game and vows to get his revenge against the level 109 player that killed his last character. Only he gets a premade character with a set class. He whines about that too.
There are interesting elements of the novel that I feel have potential. Overall, I found the story to be...unsatisfying. I wouldn’t mind the whiney main character if he had time to grow and mature. Unfortunately, the novel ends before anything really substantial happens, including character development.
Difficulty: Legendary http://amzn.to/2gjiQ5a
That’s it for the podcast.
Thank you for watching and listening. This podcast only exists because of your support, so thank you.
If you want to learn how you can support us you can find all the ways to do so at www.litrpgpodcast.com/support
Go read some LitRPG!
Music Credits
"Blip Stream" "Mighty Like Us" "Big Shift" "Vivacity"
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/