LitRPG Podcast 097
LitRPG Podcast 097
Feb. 23th, 2018
Hello everyone, welcome to episode 97 of the LitRPG podcast.
I’m Ramon Mejia. I’m here to bring you the latest LitRPG news, reviews, and author interviews. This week I have 4 new LitRPG reviews for you. Now, that might be the fewest reviews I’ve ever done but to be fair, one of those novels is over 2,200 pages long.
I’ll also have our first winners of the LitRPG Podcast Giveaway in LitRPG News.
New Releases and Reviews:
The Trash Tier Dungeon (10:58)
(Play Music 2)
LitRPG News
Big congrats to Aleron Kong, he finally released book 7 in the Chaos Seed series and it’s done wonderfully. It’s a been in the top 50 of all Amazon novels all week and #1 in multiple categories, and it has over 250 reviews. Congrats man!
Luke Luke Chmilenko, author of Ascend Online, released a gorgeous map of part of Lower Aurelia from Ascend Online. Thank you man for commissioning something special like this. I love it and I’m sure a lot of your other fans do too.
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LitRPG Podcast is running a contest to celebrate 100 episodes
1st winners - James Roberts, James lee, Philip Holt; Each of them gets to choose between a free ebook or an Audible credit.
R.A. Mejia - Adventures on Terra, Project Alpha;
Apollos Thorne - Codename Freedom, Underworld: Level Up or Die;
Daniel Schinhofen - Alpha World, Apocalypse Gates, Last Horizon;
Dave Willmarth- The Greystone Chronicles
Ways to get a chance to win:
Sign up for our LitRPG Podcast newsletter. http://litrpgpodcast.com/litrpg-newsletter
Like/follow our Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube pages
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/litrpgpodcast/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LitRPGPodcast
Send us an e-mail (litrpgpodcast@gmail.com ) or post on our Facebook/Twitter page with your favorite LitRPG Podcast story: maybe it’s a particular review, or a LitRPG news story, or anything else.
Each one of those things that you do will get you a chance to win our prizes. Which include:
Audible codes,
an ebook from me or another LitRPG author,
Signed Print editions of either Project Alpha, Adventures on Terra, or another LitRPG authors work.
Grand Prize: A $100 Amazon gift card which will be given out on episode 100 of the podcast.
I’ll be giving away prizes each week until episode 100.
Out Now!
Into the Black (A Sci-Fi LitRPG Story): Book VIII: War Stories
New Eden Royale: An Apocalyptic LitRPG Series
Soulstone: Oblivion (World of Ruul Book 3)
Chrysalis: The Crucible of Immortality Book 2
New LitRPG Audiobooks
The Builder's Throne: The Legendary Builder, Book 5
Desert Storm - Puatera Online, Book 3
Our review of the ebook: http://litrpgpodcast.com/litrpg-database/2017/12/14/desert-storm-puatera-online-book-3?rq=Desert%20Storm
Redeemer of the Dead: A LitRPG Apocalypse (The System Apocalypse, Book 2)
Our review of the ebook: http://litrpgpodcast.com/litrpg-database/2017/11/2/redeemer-of-the-dead-a-litrpg-apocalypse-the-system-apocalypse-book-2?rq=Redeemer%20of%20the%20Dead
Upcoming LitRPG:
Unbound Deathlord: Obliteration (Feb. 25th, 2018)
The Lionheart: a LitRPG Novel (No Respawn Book 1) (Feb. 27th, 2018)
Kingdom Level Four: LitRPG (Feb. 28th, 2018)
Dragon Seed: A LitRPG Dragonrider Adventure (The Archemi Online Chronicles Book 1) (Feb. 28th, 2018)
Avatars Rising: SILOS I (Feb. 28th, 2018)
Duel Reality 2071: A Dystopian LitRPG Cyberpunk War Novel (Feb. 28th, 2018)
Restart (Dark Paladin Book #3) LitRPG Series ( March 6, 2018)
Outpost: A LitRPG Adventure (Monsters, Maces and Magic Book 1) (March 7th, 2018)
The Crown and the Key (Epic LitRPG Adventure - Book 8) (Fayroll) (March 12th, 2018)
Perma-Death Online: A LitRPG adventure: Book 2 (March 15, 2018)
Akillia's Reign (Puatera Online Book 4) (March 16th, 2018)
Ghost in the Game (Dream State Saga book 3) (March 19th)
Mightier Still: A LitRPG/GameLit Novella (Enter The louVRe Side Quest) (Becoming Death Book 1) (May 10, 2018)
Blind Gambit: A GameLit LitRPG novel (May 10, 2018)
World of Karik 2: (The First Crusade) The LitRPG series (May 17th, 2018)
Onto New Releases and Reviews
(Play Music 3)
New Releases and Reviews
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Trolls Traps and Treachery: A LitRPG Thriller (Kings and Conquests Book 2)
Simple review. This isn’t LitRPG. It wasn’t LitRPG when the author originally published it. It isn’t LitRPG after the author pulled that copy down and put this one up with some added content and a new cover art.
Score: 4 out of 10
Trolls Traps and Treachery: A LitRPG Thriller (Kings and Conquests Book 2)
(Picture 2)
The Trash Tier Dungeon
For these two, getting along means life or death.
Minette, the lowest ranked sentient dungeon in Bellstrang, deserves her Trash Tier title. She's more interested in playing with her cats and having fun than being a proper dungeon.
Scorned by recent experiences, Arden the Dungeon Pixie doesn't have time for fun. The only thing she likes on her schedule is beheading her enemies.
Following a treacherous act against her last dungeon, the Overseer of Dungeons reassigns Arden to work with Minette. If she fails to lift Minette to the Overseer's standards within a month's time, he'll smite her.
Complicating things further is a revenge-seeking rogue who wants Arden dead.
My Opinion: 279 pages, $3.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
The Trash Tier Dungeon is a mashup of other dungeon core stories. It takes the sarcastic fairy guide from the slime dungeon chronicles, the tech tree from Futuristic Dungeon, and the town relationship from the Divine Dungeon and combines it with a smart sense of humor and lots of snark.
The author freely acknowledges these influences. There is even a passage referencing them. “Every dungeon has their humble origins, whether they’re soul stealing, slime-based, divine, science-focused, classically focused, or any permutation of all of the above.” One of the dungeon minions is even named Daccota.
While the author doesn’t bring anything new to the genre in terms of game mechanics, that doesn't mean the story isn’t interesting. The relationship between the the female dungeon Minette and the dungeon pixie Arden is initially goes through several phases of dysfunction, emotional outbursts, and then eventual reconciliation to the two becoming BFFs. It’s a dynamic you’ll either enjoy or hate.
Beyond that you still have the room building, trap building, minion spawning, and adventurer fighting. Good stuff, though things get a bit repetitive later in the story because of a lack of variety of both minions defending the dungeon and adventurers trying to beat it.
One of the few complaints I have with the story is that is sometimes ignores it’s resource mechanic. Initially, it’s made a big deal over. That resources are finite and take time and some luck to find. But for most of the story, anytime anything needs to be build or purchased, there’s no shortage of resources needed. Even to the point of some magic wand waving to get the duo out of trouble a few times.
Overall, I had a good enough time reading it. The sense of humor, the snarky characters, and the cat themed dungeon made it interesting enough. Though don’t expect the depth of either game mechanic or world building that you’d find with the other dungeon master stories mentioned.
Score: 7 out of 10.
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IMMORtAL_Kalika Episode 1 (LitRPG): The Speedrunner (Episodic Kalika)
Genre Bending LitRPG, RPG GameLit with an emphasis on its Grimdark tone, active combat, and protagonist skill building and power acquisition. Features a no-nonsense protagonist with a tragic past and a reason to want to live in a videogame, even one as gritty and dark as the demon and revenant infested Project_DH.
You've previously known of her accomplishments as the #1 player of the death game Project_DH. To many, her gameplay stats and skill have made her an enigma to the hundreds of alpha testers imprisoned in the game as well as the developers assisting them. Now, you'll get to see the player behind the infamous avatar of IMMORtAL_Kalika, a determined young woman who carries the burden of a great tragedy within her, a tragedy that gives her strength, but one that also threatens to crush her from the inside out.
IMMORtAL_Kalika Episode 1 features an Alchemist class playthrough with spellcraftes utilizing the power of man and nature in tandem.
My Opinion: 195 pages, $2.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
First, you need to know that the main character in this story (MC), Ximana/IMMORtAL_Kalika, is a side character in the author’s other series Hell’s Glitch. This is supposed to be set in the same universe with this character playing an alpha build of that same game. If you’ve read that series, much of what occurs in this story will feel familiar and that’s a big problem.
This story, even though it has a completely different beginning, feels like it’s recycled material from Hell’s Glitch. It’s technically not. It’s more like two different people playing the same Dark Souls game and making different game choices. However, because there are so many similarities, it feels like a recycled story.
Both characters are game testers. Both play the same Dark Souls inspired game. Both character go through the same land and fight the same monsters. They both go on the same quests and meet the same NPCs. Both characters get to use the same weapons and the game mechanics are the same in both stories.
The differences come with the choices the two characters make. In this story, the MC, chooses a different starting class and uses magic. Though she eventually chooses a different build. She also makes different quest decisions, aligning with a different faction than the MC in Hell’s Glitch did. Also, the character in this story is kind of boring. Everything comes easy and there’s almost no challenge for her, which means there aren’t really any stakes. So, not that interesting.
Because of both the feeling that I’ve read this story already, and also that even those things that are different don’t provide any kind of character growth, I just didn’t have a good time with the story. It was predictable since I’d read Hell’s Glitch and there were no stakes with the character since I knew she’d always win.
Score: 5 out of 10
IMMORtAL_Kalika Episode 1 (LitRPG): The Speedrunner (Episodic Kalika)
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The Land: Predators: A LitRPG Saga (Chaos Seeds Book 7)
In The Land:Predators, the Mist Village has harnessed its power. Core buildings, Professional fighters and now, their own Dungeon, the settlement is primed to grow into a kingdom of true power and magic. The path to power has not been without risk, however. The Mist Village has been noticed.
Evil nobles from the Kingdom of Law, bloodthirsty goblins from the Serrated Mountains, an undead lord with a penchant for human sacrifice and fanatical kobolds from the Depths, all plot the village's destruction. The predators are circling. Richter's people are horribly outnumbered by foes whose own power has been entrenched for thousands of years.
Richter and Sion need to be stronger than ever before. Luckily, they are. New skills have been learned, stronger enchantments have been wrought and the hundreds of villagers have answered the call to adventure. The Companions do not stand alone. While many eyes have turned towards the mists, wanting to take the treasures within, the Mist Village stares back with a simple message.
Come and get it!
My Opinion: 2202 pages, $8.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
This novel may seem a bit on the expensive side at $8.99 but per page it’s really at a cost of 4/10th of a cent per page. Another way to look at it is that this is seven 300 page books long.
That’s more than all the other novels on the podcast added together.
The review: This is a fun novel in line with the rest of the series. It’s roughly broken in half between kingdom building and action adventure.
One thing that is a common comment in the reviews, the beginning has a lot of upkeep. A bunch of notifications (like pages and pages worth), dealing with the results of the last battle of book 6, there’s the introduction of a dungeon and a bunch of new info on that. There is upkeep with town building stuff, crafting, and managing citizens.
Starting around 20%, the action starts again as Richter and his companions explore the new bloody chaos dungeon. After that the story just switches regularly between the action-adventure and kingdom building.
Some cool things that I was really glad to finally see: Finally get to meet another Chaos Seed, more info on how many there are and why they were all sent there from earth. You get some resolution to some outstanding quests, including some pretty epic fights. The dungeon is a great add on that provides local monster hunting without having to go traipsing off into the forest.
Overall, a good read. I personally think there is easily enough content in the story to have broken it up into 3-4 novels. It took me 3 solid days of reading to finish this guy.
Score: 7 out of 10
The Land: Predators: A LitRPG Saga (Chaos Seeds Book 7)
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 4)
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/