LitRPG Podcast 031
LitRPG Podcast 031
Feb. 3rd, 2017
Hello everyone, welcome to episode 31 of the LitRPG podcast.
I’m Ramon Mejia. I’m here to bring you the latest LitRPG news, reviews, and author interviews.
New Releases and Reviews:
We’ll begin with LitRPG news
(Play Music 2)
LitRPG News
Delvers LLC book 2 cover art
Blais Corvin, author of Delvers LLC and Secrets of the Old Ones, has released the cover art for the second book in the Delvers series. Delvers LLC: Obligations Incurred. The author has also posted that he expects the book to be ready in March.
On his blog, Cosimo Yap has released a statement that he’s still working on the second book in the The Gam3 series. While he doesn’t have an estimation when it’ll be complete he did release the cover art for the book, titled The Gam3: Earth’s Gambit. You can read the early chapters on the author’s website.
https://thegam3.com/2017/01/31/another-update/
Edward Castle, author of the Unbound Deathlord, has been M.I.A for awhile but recently posted on facebook that he’s back to writing. He’s working hard on the 2nd book in the series, Warmonger, and tentatively planning on a March or April.
Level Zero, a good LitRPG story is out as an audiobook. I forgot to announce it last week. The early part of the story definitely has a cyberpunk feel and once you get into the game world it’s really pretty cool. The narrator for the audiobook sounds a little older than I pictured the main character but it does a good job with the story.
Full disclosure, the author sent audiobook to me to consider. But I’d already purchased and reviewed the e-book version.
Dungeon Madness Pre-Order
Dakota Krout has put the 2nd book in the Divine Dungeon series, Dungeon Madness, up for Pre-Order. It is $3.99 and will be available Feb. 15th.
Upcoming LitRPG:
Questing (Feb. 15th, 2017)
Viridian Gate Online: Crimson Alliance (Feb 17th, 2017)
Spetsnaz: A Permadeath LitRPG LitFPS (Feb 28th, 2017)
The Crystal Sphere (March 10th, 2017)
Awaken Online: Precipice (March 31st, 2017)
Delvers LLC: Obligations Incurred (March 2017)
Onto New Releases and Reviews
(Play Music 3)
New Releases and Reviews
The Land: Raiders: A LitRPG Saga (Chaos Seeds Book 6)
The time of hiding has passed. The Mist Village will make itself known. Goblins have invaded Richter’s lands. Though the first incursion has been defeated, the anger of Chaos Seed remains. Those who challenge Richter’s power will learn there is a reason all creatures fear the mist… it is the home of monsters.
For the first time, Richter takes the battle to his enemies. He will live up to his name, and the very Land will shake with this power. With his allies, the Wood Sprites of Nadria, the army of the Mist Village marches to war. Richter has been a healer, an enchanter, a dungeon diver, and a killer. Now he becomes something more. He becomes a RAIDER!
This is a world of wonder and horror.
This is a world of pain and joy.
This is the world of monsters… and the brave men who battle them.
My Opinion: 447 pages, $5.99, Not available on Kindle Unlimited
Departing from the last couple of books, The Land: Raiders is an action fest from beginning to end. There’s minimal crafting and village development. Most of the novel is devoted the awesome battles with a horde of goblins that are sacrificing people to power an evil artifact. If you’re looking for a good old fashion slug fest then this is the book for you. Oh, and we finally get to learn something about the other chaos seeds in the world. I give it a 8 out of 10.
The Land: Raiders: A LitRPG Saga (Chaos Seeds Book 6)
Spawn Campers: A LitRPG Adventure (The Crucible Shard Book 2)
Castle Sardonis is surrounded by enemies on all sides and dangerously short of supplies. When a needed shipment goes missing the party finds themselves on the high seas beset by pirates and seeking the Goddess of the Sea. New loot, new levels, and new mysteries to unravel as more is learned about the world.
Immediately following the story from Dungeon Crawl the focus remains with the same group and focused on their struggles within the Crucible Shard. Bonds of friendship continue to grow but they each find themselves pushed in new ways by this world.
My Opinion: 193 pages, $3.99, available on Kindle Unlimited
A bit overpriced at over 2 cents a page. That’s normally double the price I look for but it’s also on Kindle Unlimited.
I want to first mention that there are a lot of sex jokes in this novel. Quite a few more than I remember the first book having. For some people that’s a major turn off, for others it’s a plus. Just letting you know up front.
The story takes the three main characters onto the high seas to fight pirates, gain resources for the kingdom they won, and kill a water goddess.
Unfortunately, only a few of those things happen. I’ll admit that I’m slightly biased against pirate stories. It’s not that I think they’re bad, I just don’t find them that interesting. In the great debate of Ninjas versus Pirates, I’m firmly team ninja.
There’s a lot of sea battles and pirate recruiting. However, I found myself at the 90% mark of the story and realized that the main characters hadn’t really done anything. They’d recruited some pirates, fought some battles, lost most of them or just broken even. Yet, most of the story advancement happens because of newly introduced characters and not the three VR players.
While I liked the expansion of the game mechanics, the story felt a little unfocused. The first book in the series was a lot tighter. It focused on three VR players and their dungeon crawl. Simple. It just appealed to me more than this one. If you like pirates and naval battles, or if you just have Kindle Unlimited, then you might like the story more than me. I give it a 5 out of 10.
Spawn Campers: A LitRPG Adventure (The Crucible Shard Book 2)
Nagant Wars: The Pawn's Dilemma
When Rhith Corp releases Nagant Wars, its latest VR-MMO, Dale Brown cannot wait to put on his Rhith-Suit and experience the most vivid, full-immersion world ever created.
With pleasure and pain set to mimic reality, Dale must navigate the dangers of war, face his personal failings, and learn who his friends truly are.
Set on the planet Almaach, the swords and sorcery aspect of the game is starkly contrasted to the potential dystopian nature of Dale's real life, which in 2040, contains the ever-increasing chance of global disaster.
My Opinion: 602 pages, $5.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
Full disclosure, the author sent me an early copy of the novel for review. I have since picked up the novel on Kindle Unlimited.
This is the re-release of the Nagant Wars. It was originally published on Amazon in 2016 where it did really well. The author decided to pull the novel from the digital shelves when he realized the work wasn’t as good as he wanted it to be.
If you’ve never read the Nagant Wars, it’s story about a future where a virtual reality game takes the place of real war. Soldiers still feel pain when they are harmed or die in game but there’s no real loss of life, property, or resources. This has been done before in stories like the Gam3, but this a fantasy setting for the VR game parts. There’s action, adventure, magic, and even a little romance. There’s also a speculative thread about what consequences there are for this type of war could have on the human mind, with conscripted VR soldiers getting PTSD. Good story.
If you’ve read the previous version of the Nagant Wars, the author has put some serious work into streamlining the story. It is a lot less erratic in places, some entire portions have been removed, and other have been added. It’s a lot more clear which parts of the story are in the VR game and which are in the real world. The princess has some added scenes.
The author has a message for people that may be considering re-reading Nagant Wars:
“Something magical happened in the re-writing, the characters became alive to me in a deeper and more significant way.
I think anyone that enjoys a large cast epic fantasy story will enjoy the new book even having read the first version. There is more dialogue, banter and joking around, and deeper interactions between the characters...I believe the experience of receiving such strong criticism (much, if not all, justified) and actually taking it to heart and reworking the book has been one of the most powerful learning experiences I've undertaken as a writer....”
I liked the first edition of the story and I like this one even more. There are still a few lingering game mechanic issues, like a odd mention of ‘rounds’ that don’t get explained. However, it gets a recommendation from me. I’d rate it a 7 out of 10.
Nagant Wars: The Pawn's Dilemma
That’s it everyone!
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Thanks for hanging out with me today. Until we can hangout again, remember to 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/