John is enslaved. Taken by the Valda—Dark Elves—and forced to fight for them with other slaves in dark dungeons on a hideously dangerous jungle island.

The island is a mystery, a two kilometer high stone tower of ancient dwarven make in the center. Overgrown with jungle, it’s infested with demonic creatures and filled with the ruins of dwarven facilities.

With his new friends—fellow slaves—he must fight and delve into the island’s secrets.

Dead Gods is a LitRPG/Gamelit novel. There are no harems in this book, and no sex.

My Opinion: 286 pages, $2.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited

Full disclosure: I received an advanced copy for review but purchased the novel when it became available.

Overall the writing and storytelling has improved over book 1. There’s action, adventure, good dialogue, banter, and some improved world building.

The game mechanics however have retained the same issue from book 1. While there is consistent progression of both levels, stats, and improvement of magical abilities and spell, the game world feels more like portal fantasy with a decent helping of RPG. There’s still a feeling that even though on his character sheet, the MC is more powerful and improving his stats/powers, that growth isn’t always felt during the adventures. That’s mostly due to the lack of quantifiable connections to combat from the stats or skills since there are no damage notifications, levels for monsters, health pools, stamina pool, or mana pools. So there are no numeric points of reference.

The in-game story is essentially a long dungeon crawl, with some nice monsters to beat, and dungeon puzzles to solve. My favorite part of the dungeon crawl is likely the water level, because of the many gamer jokes about water levels. The IRL story steps away from the big need for the main character (MC) to earn a living, he literally forgets about an item worth $5K at one point, and instead focuses on beginning the reconciliation story between the MC and his comatose father. The use of VR for therapy is interesting, though I wish I could have read more about how that worked. Still, the author gives the MC a reason to continue gaming.

Overall, I had a good time going on a dungeon crawl with these characters and seeing how the real life storyline played out. Sure there are still flaws, but it’s an entertaining dungeon crawl.

Score: 7.2 out of 10

Dead Gods (Land of Dreams Book 2)

https://amzn.to/2wL25ae

(Picture 2)

Galactic Badlands: A LitRPG Space Western

There are cowboy boots on his feet, pop-up hints appearing in his vision, and, oh yeah, there’s a mariachi band in his head.

The world's not going to slow down and let him catch up though, no, it's going to throw a chrome hover car at him and hope he gets the picture.

Charles isn't what you'd call inept though, and before long he's proving himself as a quick shooter, fast learner, and more than willing to immerse himself in his pseudo-digital reality full of cruel crimelords, dangerous wild animals, and all manner of fun allies in this, the first novel of the Galactic Badlands saga.

My Opinion: 209 pages, $3.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited

This is basically a slice of life novel. The main character (MC) finds himself in a custom afterlife where he can’t die or he’ll go hell. So, like anyone else, he goes on life threatening adventures as a sci-fi cowboy collecting bounties, herding cattle, and building a team. That’s all there really is to the story, a string of adventures and lots of dialogue. Unfortunately, the adventures aren’t that good and there’s little direction to the story. A lot of the story is the MC wandering around.

The game mechanics in the story are very minimal and while the MC levels up, thus making the novel LitRPG technically, the RPG parts are really light and relative to the page count not a big part of the story.

Overall, even though there are some neat characters, the story was just kind of boring for me.

Score: 5 out of 10

Galactic Badlands: A LitRPG Space Western

https://amzn.to/2MQF8fN

(Picture 3)

Guild Master: A LitRPG adventure (Tower of Power Book 1)

A second chance at life on a new world.

Morgan used to be a pretty normal guy. He went to college by day and played online games by night, leading his guild into new conquests—until he got hit by a car, and a dude wearing a wetsuit appeared in front of him. The man offered him a new chance at life in a world that he had created, a world with similar rules to the games that Morgan loved to play. There is the promise of great rewards and power, he says, if Morgan manages to complete the Tower of Power. Stupid name, I know.

Morgan didn’t usually trust strangers who seem to have god complexes, but he was in a pinch. There’s a crazy-looking dude saying that he is technically not a god on one end of the tunnel, and a blinding light on the other end—and he was really not digging the light.

So he accepted the offer from the surfer god-not-god.

Getting dropped into a strange new world with no idea what the rules are was not something that Morgan was a fan of; and in this strange world, it seems like everything is out to eat his face. It was a good thing, then, that he stumbled onto two half-elf twins willing to help him get the hang of this strange new world.

Now, all he needs to do is survive long enough to reach this Tower.

My Opinion: 286 pages, $3.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited

While initially skeptical of the novel with its Delvers LLC premise of a man that’s transported to a world with RPG mechanics to aid in some experimental testing, the novel proves to be sort of original and definitely entertaining. I say ‘sort of’ because every author is inspired by others and I can see influences from multiple popular LitRPG novels here. The premise from Delvers, the hot redhead companion and dungeon diving, and the town building/imminent raid aspect from Greystone Chronicles. However, the author pulls these aspects together and combines them with a unique sense of humor, a few original game mechanics, an unusual class for the MC to make something new-ish.

While most of the game mechanics are standard D&D stuff, there is the inclusion of multiclassing and an inherent need to kill monsters and consume a special crystal they drop to extend an adventurer’s (aspect’s) life. This adds a little variety and keeps the reader interested in how the classes develop. There’s lots of information that the author provides about all the game aspects and it’s relatively crunchy and thorough.

On the story side, it’s pretty simple. It’s a transported to fantasy game world story, a dungeon dive, and then kingdom building story. There’s good action and adventure, RPG progress, and town building.

Minor gripes would include a semi-forced relationship that feels like it will turn harem in book 2, and a unique sense of humor that won’t land with everyone. Additionally, for some reason in the middle of the story, the main character (MC) suddenly turns whiney and starts acting like a petulant child, even going so far as to start yelling randomly when he doesn’t get to get his revenge against someone that wronged him. It may be an attempt at humor that I don’t get, but was a little odd and off putting. Thankfully, it’s mostly isolated to that section.

Overall, this is will feel familiar to LitRPG readers but it’s still an entertaining and crunchy LitRPG story that many people will enjoy.

7.3 out of 10

Guild Master: A LitRPG adventure (Tower of Power Book 1)

https://amzn.to/2wJnRdH

(Picture 4)

A Clan's Honor: A LitRPG Adventure (Rogue Realms Book 1)

To break free, you'll need to break the game

In the virtual realm of Honorus, Ronin Ironclad is a Paladin forced to fight for his real-world coalition. Drafted players are constantly summoned to battle in-game to resolve political disputes. This was meant as a safe way for the governments to settle their differences, but it's turned into a way to control the populace.

The wonder and magical beauty of Honorus has been consumed with pointless warring, destroying the true lore of the game.

Everything changes when Ronin joins a top-level clan that fights to return Honorus to the epic fantasy game that was meant to unify the world.

Abandoning his coalition puts his real-world life in danger, but what he learns about the game and this clan, exposes him to something much greater.

My Opinion: 341 pages, $3.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited

OMG, this story doesn’t make any sense and there are plot holes large enough to drive a truck through. On the plus side, the combat scenes are well written and there are lots of nods to MMO’s of the past. Unfortunately, not only does the fundamental premise of the story not make sense the plot twists in the story are not setup at all and are wand wavy as all heck.

The premise of the story is that the main character (MC), Ronin, is recruited by the First Clan who want to return the game they all play to its original purpose, fun and sharing of ideas. How is the game currently used? To solve global conflicts without real life war and instead have virtual wars between nation and factions. Sure, the author makes the setup sound as unappealing as possible with mandatory drafts for players and financial penalties for losing battles, but seriously no more war? Why try to stop that? It just doesn’t make sense.

Added to that just about every single plot twist in the story just doesn’t make sense. How do any of these rebels stay off the entire world government’s radar? Oh, some mod has magic code that hides them, even though all draftees live at government facilities and use government controlled internet and VR rigs. How does this group plan to change the game? Stop every single battle between governments using never before seen spells and abilities with no setup in the story. The government’s response to this? Use never before seen or described spell that reset players to level 1 and then eventually unleash server wide demon hordes and permadeath. None of which would actually accomplish any kind of goal.

The description of the game world is good. Lots of MMO goodness here. Though actual leveling done by the MC has little impact on the story other than meeting prerequisites for some spells needed to advance the story. But most of the mechanics are going to be familiar to anyone that’s played an MMO and you can tell that the author has gaming experience.

While I can appreciate that some aspects of the story are written very well, like some world building, combat, MMO/gamer humor, and character relationships, there was just too much that didn’t make logical sense in the story for me to enjoy it.

Score: 6 out of 10

A Clan's Honor: A LitRPG Adventure (Rogue Realms Book 1)

https://amzn.to/2K93VWo

(Picture 5)

Nightmare Keep (Euphoria Online Book 2)

I've managed to survive my first week in Euphoria Online. But I couldn't have done it without my new friends. Lotharia. Falkon. The Green Liver goblins.

But now Lotharia's gone missing. Swallowed by that nightmare keep. Lost to the darkness.

Everyone's telling me that going after her is madness. That I don't have a chance in hell.

But I'm not the kind of guy to turn my back on my friends.

Damn the odds.

I'm going to find her.

My Opinion: 265 pages, $4.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited

Full disclosure: The author sent me an advanced copy for review. I purchased a copy when it became available.

A good follow up to Death March, this novel focuses on the action adventure aspects of story. Not only does the main character (MC) and his fledgling group have to fight off a band of higher leveled player mercenaries, and a malevolent intelligence, but he has to deal with the machinations of a crazy ex-girlfriend.

The game mechanics are the same, with slightly more information about monsters and players since one of the secondary characters has the ability to read their levels. There’s also an added castle building aspect as the MC claims part of the keep and has his goblin allies rebuild them.

The only complaint I’d have is that the MC doesn’t really earn any of the wins he gets over his higher leveled opponents. Instead, he gets twinked out, or is given powerful gear from an outside source that lets him win his fights. It’s makes all the fights feel a little less fun when you know the MC has wand wavy magic gear like a sword that ignores the armor of his opponents. Especially since he didn’t earn any of that gear.

Overall, though is a good story with lots of good action, good RPG leveling, interesting builds, and finally some resolution with that ex-girlfriend.

Score: 7.3 out of 10

Nightmare Keep (Euphoria Online Book 2)

https://amzn.to/2woHBmE

(Picture 6)

Tales And Schemes: L

Goodmen, beware,

L is no hero. Some spun tales of his deeds benefiting one circle or another, but in the end, his actions benefit none but himself, for any particular occasion where his farce contributes something of substance, it would be nothing but a false, perpetual coincidence, hiding naught but the blatant desire of chaos and depravity. There is no heroism in his dark deeds, to his twisted lies and fabricated truths. We have seen his kind before, have felt the typhoons they are born within. He, through and through, to the smallest pieces of his wretched blood cells, is a lecherous entity which does not care for the world, his, ours, or the people that reside within it--if he even considers them to be so. My unreliable sources have shown otherwise.

This is not a heroic tale, yet I hesitate to deem it villainous either, for his intentions are incomprehensible. I retrieved his history from the fires he laid behind him, from the ruination of his tongue and sword, but his House is a subject in which even I do not dare to tread about. Let a different dolt ravage their mind in separating their fictions from their sins. I repeat, foolhardy learners, that this is a tragedy about an extremely patronizing human-like figure, who seems to account for naught but his own whimsical, impetuous, sinister desires; no matter the unfortunate outcome, for him, or for others.

Yet there, within the tribulations, lies a wicked lesson. It is hence I sacrificed my clear-mindedness in inscribing this, in an attempt to whisk the ramifications from the muck and excrement.

I have failed.

Goodmen, stay away, for insanity beckons his footsteps. They reside within his words, within his acts, and within his story. It is here, on these rotten pages in this very tome of misery.

Goodmen, I beg of you: Beware and begone.

My Opinion: 509 pages, $2.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited

Oh my gosh this is such a wordy story. The beginning has such long winded dialogue and monologues that it drove me a little crazy. I mean, do you really need to have 35 pages for character creation because you’re talking to the game A.I.? The rest of the novel suffers from similar issues. Anytime there’s any dialogue it seems like it lasts at least 5 pages per conversation.

The game mechanics in the story are fine, nothing fancy. The main character gets a unique race and title, and he learns lots of skills from experimentation and killing stuff. But there’s really no point to the story. The combat doesn’t start till sometime about the 20% or about 100 pages into the story, which is way too long. But from there on fights happen fairly regularly. But again, there’s just no reason for it, especially some of the darker scenes. They don’t add anything. Story-wise, there just isn’t one to speak of. There is some good dark humor and decent fights, but it all seemed without purpose.

Overall, I was generally just bored with the novel.

Score: 5 out of 10

Tales And Schemes: L

https://amzn.to/2wPLh1T

(Picture 7)

A Demon Lord's Virtual [Magic Life]: Tutorial Zone

This is the story of 20 year old Lucas Rollin. Orphaned at the young age of 10, his life is filled with struggles as a Superhuman, a genetically enhanced human. Living a life of poverty in the 23rd century, he could only barely sustain himself with his genetic differences compared to a normal human and survived by gaining money in virtual reality to pay for his food and survival.

Now his final break came with a less then popular game [Magic Life] which features a special auto character creation process. During this process, he ends up with the Race Demon Lord and the class of the same name. Follow him as he plays in the virtual world that changed his life as the Demon Lord Akor as he trains in the tutorial zone facing countless choices in his [Magic Life].

My Opinion: 208 pages, $4.40, Available on Kindle Unlimited

Warning: There are several issues including technical writing stuff that may make this story unenjoyable for some readers. This includes an abundance of tables (like one every other page), tense mixing, redundant sentences, and misspelled words. These are not rare issue, but occur on almost every page of the story.

Ie: “The current year was 2275.” “...they traveled to by space travel.” If either of those sentences bothers you, please don’t read this as it will likely drive you nuts. However, I’ll say that many of these issues become smaller after the 50% of the story.

This is a RTS LitRPG story with base building, town development, resource management, tech trees, and minor amounts of group combat. If you love games like Warcraft or Age of Empires, then you might enjoy this story. There’s lots of passages about the thought process of the main character (MC) and how he decides to develop his town. Which is interesting game theory. But there’s also a good portion of the novel that is the MC giving out orders for things to get done. Stuff like building farms, houses, or herding goats. Combined with the unusually large number of tables and info dumps in the early parts of the story, things can get a little tedious early on.

However, there’s loads of info for anyone that loves that kind of stuff. Lots of details about resource management, building upgrades, tech trees for combat, crafting, and culture and so much more. Minions and the MC all level and have upgradeable stats, which is where the RPG aspects come in. It’s actually a tactic the MC uses in the story, managing XP and leveling as a way to stop higher level players from invading his city by keeping it in the tutorial section. Rather smart game theorizing.

On the story side, it’s mostly focused on the RTS game aspects. Though there are minor story threads about the MC trying to make a living on gaming, the game company vying for control with the A.I., and some IRL interactions between the MC and other players. There are also a few fights in the story too. It’s enough to provide breaks from the RTS stuff, which admittedly can get a little tedious if it goes on for long stretches.

Overall, if you can get past the many technical issues with the story and you already like RTS games, you might find the story entertaining. I admittedly did.

Score: 7.1 out of 10

A Demon Lord's Virtual [Magic Life]: Tutorial Zone

https://amzn.to/2wOYIyu

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/

Some of the panels some authors with be on.

Michael Chatfield

Title: Social Media as an Effective Tool for Authors

Description: Social media can launch your career--or kill it. What's effective? What isn't? Learn how to navigate the tricky waters of social media.

Time: Fri 01:00 pm Location: Embassy CD - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

(Tentative Panelists: Tyra A Burton, Denise Baker Camacho, Michael Chatfield, Jean Marie Ward, Lee Martindale, Aleron Kong)

-------------------

Title: Cyberpunk and Technology in YA

Description: Calling fans of "Ready Player One" and "Warcross"! Our panelists will be discussing their favorite YA featuring futuristic technology, hackers, video games, and cyberpunk worlds.

Time: Fri 02:30 pm Location: A707 - Marriott (Length: 1 Hour)

(Tentative Panelists: Mari Mancusi, Aleron Kong, Michael Chatfield, Carole E Barrowman)

Out Now!

Dan the Adventurer: A Gamelit Harem Fantasy Adventure (Gold Girls and Glory Book 2)

https://amzn.to/2KXSEbE

How To Train Your Kaiju: A LitRPG Kaiju Thriller (Kaiju Wars Offline Book 1)

https://amzn.to/2KK1GJd

Steamtown Chronicles 1: The Dark Market (An NPC Gamelit Novella)

https://amzn.to/2ohnt27

Taint Team (Caverns and Creatures)

https://amzn.to/2PNRkvZ

Maelstrom Book 2 - A Portal LitRPG Novel

https://amzn.to/2ojtrQg

New LitRPG Audiobooks

Adventures on Brad, Books 1 - 3 (A LitRPG Boxset)

https://amzn.to/2BWdYPF

Upcoming LitRPG:

Coast on Fire (The System Apocalypse Book 5) (Sept. 1st, 2018)

The Path (Just Cause Universe Book 14) (Sept. 3rd, 2018)

https://amzn.to/2LHHGwc

Limitless (Project Chrysalis book 4) (Sept. 4th, 2018)

https://amzn.to/2OJ9Tjn

Nightmare Keep (Euphoria Online Book 2) (Sept. 4th, 2018)

https://amzn.to/2woHBmE

The Song Mistress: A LitRPG Journey (Uniworld Online Trilogy Book 2) (Sept. 8th, 2018)

https://amzn.to/2MZFj82

Eburnean Passage: A LitRPG Mystery (Sept. 15th, 2018)

https://amzn.to/2Lvl4u4

Game Changer (Reality Benders Book #3) LitRPG Series (Sept. 24th, 2018)

https://amzn.to/2uMPCSi

Freehaven Online: Lady Thunderlord, Into Hades (Book 2)

(Sept. 26, 2018)

https://amzn.to/2ID8Kq4

Couch Potato Chaos - Gamebound (Sept. 28th, 2018)

https://amzn.to/2uEJ4Fj

Kingdom of the Dead (An NPC's Path Book #2) LitRPG Series (Oct. 8th, 2018)

https://amzn.to/2NMOPca

A Clan's Honor: A LitRPG Adventure (Rogue Realms Book 1)

(Oct. 25th, 2018)

https://amzn.to/2K93VWo

A Song of Shadow (The Bard from Barliona Book #2) LitRPG series (Nov. 19th, 2018)

https://amzn.to/2Ph0Dn1

Freehaven Online: Winter Dungeonland (Book 3) (Nov. 21st, 2108)

Onto New Releases and Reviews

(Play Music 3)

New Releases and Reviews

(Picture 1)

Faithful Defender: A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure Novel (Aelterna Online Book 2)

He's found his new home. Now he has to defend it.

Denel's goddess has granted him the title of Paladin, and with it, the responsibility of protecting the people of his village, both reptilian and otherwise. The threats facing the faithful of Goddess Watch are numerous, and the last thing Denel wants to do is sit and wait for the enemy to come to him. Isolated and far from player civilization, Denel must forge bonds and friendships with races that view his friends as nothing more than monsters to be culled. Unbeknownst to him, he's no longer the only digital resident of Aelterna Online, and the newcomers are out to destroy everything he's worked to create! What he's become is more than the system is prepared to accept; what will he be forced to do to survive?

My Opinion: 335 pg, $3.99, Not Available on Kindle Unlimited

The cover art for this whole series does not do it justice, so please don’t judge it based on that. Book 1 did a good job of setting up a world in which the main character (MC) becomes the first digitized citizen of a fantasy VRMMORPG. It described not only an interesting magic and RPG system, but also did some good world building. Book 2 in the series builds and expands on that.

The scope of the story expands past the lizard person village the MC became apart of, to the larger game world. One of the things I like most about the series is the clear effort put into creating the cultures in the story. There are clear, distinctive, rules, social norms, rich histories for each race and community. It adds a subtle layer of depth to the world and an opportunity for some interesting storytelling.

There is still some good RPG progression and action too. In particular I liked how the MCs barrier magic is developing and how it was used in the story not just to protect but to give the MC an ability a story conflict could be shaped around. Crafting also returns in the story progresses in its own RPG way.

Overall, I had a good time reading the story and am always impressed by the author’s efforts to not only create rich characters but full cultures for them.

Score: 7.5 out of 10

Faithful Defender: A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure Novel (Aelterna Online Book 2)

https://amzn.to/2N3y8sh

(Picture 2)

I Am Gamer

Lawrence is having a shitty day. His girlfriend is not only cheating on him but she’s cheating on him with his best friend. He had the added benefit of finding out about it firsthand. To make matters worse a legendary Native American God has sent him back to North America circa 1400 AD. What’s a Gamer to do?

From the creator of the hilarious Eryth Online and the action packed Warrior Academy series comes I AM GAMER!

This is the first book in a series that will span continents. Join our hero on his journey to unify the Americas and fight back against its foreign invaders. Using skills and knowledge from the future all revealed in a game type format, Lawrence Lawrence Wrath will save the world… or die trying…

Here is the attached musical playlist, it's available on Spotify and YouTube.

My Opinion: 406 pg, $3.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited

**Note: There are small uses of marijuana in two small parts of the story. It’s not used any differently than drinking alcohol is but I also understand that some folks don’t like it in the stories they read.**

The beginning is a good setup for slice of life alternate fantasy history story. It shifts a bit from what I expected. It’s a little awkward after the MC is transported to this meshed up past. The MC is definitely OP with scaling weapons, clothing, and a bag of holding. But once the MC reaches the Native American tribe the story finds its pace. This is mostly because you get to see the world building at that point, not as recalled histories but as more fleshed out cultures, myths, and traditions. The pace of the action also picks up about there too with the MC fighting a range of beasts from prehistory and monsters from Native American legend.

The game mechanics aren't great, but they’re not bad either. They’re going to be familiar to most LitRPG readers and are consistent throughout the story. The MC levels, gains stat points her assigns, and learns/ levels many skills and abilities. But the MC starts out overpowered and his stat increases aren't as impactful as they could be. There are also RTS and crafting elements as the MC uses his OP ‘Total Recall’ ability that lets him perfectly remember anything he’s learned from the modern world to advance the technological state of the tribal society he is in.

Overall, it’s a fun slice of life story that has a lot of potential. Of the works the author has published, this likely has the widest appeal. Good action, good adventure, good community building and crafting too.

Score: 7.4 out of 10

I Am Gamer

https://amzn.to/2NiOygf

(Picture 3)

Hunter's Bond: Apex Chronicles Book 1

When Simon immerses himself in the game world of Apex as Arheis the Guardian, he finds a living, breathing ecosystem that feels more real than anything he’s ever experienced before. The creatures that inhabit Apex are cunning, ferocious, and a massive challenge for even the most experienced hunter.

In order to rank up in the Hunters’ Guild and participate in the most prestigious hunts, Simon will have to slay increasingly more threatening creatures and use what he gathers to craft powerful armor and weapons.

But a fearsome beast stalks the jungle, untouchable even by the Guild. To have any hope of stopping her, Simon won’t just have to level up and hone his skills--he’ll have to put his trust in his fellow hunters.

And for a lifelong soloer, that’s no easy feat…

My Opinion: 357 pg, $4.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited

Full disclosure: I received an advance copy for review. I purchased the novel after it was released.

The novel is heavily inspired by the Monster Hunter video game franchise. It’s not a copy but you can tell the author has a great love of the video game series and puts a lot of effort into incorporating the aspects of that franchise that are interesting and beloved.

The game mechanics: There’s a familiar MMO character sheet, levels, stats, skills, and special abilities. The only stat that feels new is the morale stat, which is supposed to add an element of loss to player death. Morale lowers after a death and reduces health regen, skill growth, etc. It’s essentially a debuff that can only be removed by learning from the last death.

Other game mechanics that are imported from the Monster Hunter games include the emphasis on gathering monster parts for crafting powerful and sometimes very specific weapons and armor for more challenging hunts. Monsters require research and observation before the main character (MC) in the story can even learn the monster’s name, much less the monster’s weaknesses or particular behaviors that will allow for a successful hunt. Like the game it’s inspired by, if a hunter does not do their due diligence and research, hunting powerful monsters just leads to repeated deaths.

The story: After the brief real life setup of who the MC is and how he can play a video game long term, the rest of the story stays in the VRMMO. This is essentially a slice of life novel that focuses around a series of monster hunts where the MC learns a new class and comes to appreciate just how realistic the game world is. There’s just enough story to tie together all the action scenes, provide enough character development to make the reader care about the characters, and there’s even a minor romance arc. However, most of the novel revolves around the hunts, so it’s noticeably action focused.

Overall, this is a good, entertaining action LitRPG novel that lots of folks will enjoy. Though, fans of the Monster Hunter games will hopefully appreciate all many notes and references to that franchise in the story.

Score: 7.4 out of 10

Hunter's Bond: Apex Chronicles Book 1

https://amzn.to/2Nsbdac

(Picture 4)

The Second Realm (Ten Realms Book 2)

When Erik and Rugrat entered the ten realms they didn’t know what was going on. They only knew that they had contracted the two week curse.

When entering the second realm they came to understand their character sheets, and part of the system that is called the ten realms. A place that the strong make the rules and the weak cling to them for protection and hope that they might be left in peace.

They passed through the trials of the Beast Mountain Dungeon, taking control of it and becoming the leader of nearly two hundred people.

Now in command of the Alva Dungeon and looking to forge a new future, they need more power, mana stones, dungeon cores, monster cores, if not then the Dungeon will stop functioning and they will need to relocate once again.

As they ascend to the second realm, Erik and Rugrat need to grow their skills, gain information and find a dungeon. It’s hardly ever that easy.

My Opinion: 696 pages, $4.99, Not Available on Kindle Unlimited

Full disclosure: I received an advanced copy for review. I purchased it when it became available.

A good second book in the Ten Realms series. This culvivation portal fiction LitRPG emphasis crafting, action, adventure, and community building.

The early parts of the book 2 focus on crafting and personally I really enjoy the realistic crafting combined with fantasy magical theory. But I also know other reader don’t love crafting as much as me, but no worry, the action and adventure seriously pick up after that section.

There isn’t much that can be said about the plot, it’s mostly slice of life and follows multi narrative perspective of several groups. The community established in book 1 works hard to push their communities development, trade, training, and networks. Then the two main characters work to not only improve their respective crafting, but cultivate their bodies and mana systems and of course go on fun adventures and kill lots of stuff to level. The multi-narrative structure provides some nice diversions during some sometimes long scenes with the main characters.

Overall, this is a good novel. Though it does feel like a collected serial story, with book 2 almost feeling like a direct continuation of book 1. It’s has a great page count for the price and because of it’s slice of life format, is easy to pick up and put down, and enjoy the many small adventures in the novel.

Score: 7.5 out of 10

The Second Realm (Ten Realms Book 2) (Aug. 30th, 2018)

https://www.kobo.com/lt/en/ebook/second-realm (UK)

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/second-realm (US)

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/

Some of the panels some authors with be on.

Michael Chatfield - Panels

Title: Social Media as an Effective Tool for Authors

Description: Social media can launch your career--or kill it. What's effective? What isn't? Learn how to navigate the tricky waters of social media.

Time: Fri 01:00 pm Location: Embassy CD - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

(Tentative Panelists: Tyra A Burton, Denise Baker Camacho, Michael Chatfield, Jean Marie Ward, Lee Martindale, Aleron Kong)

-------------------

Title: Cyberpunk and Technology in YA

Description: Calling fans of "Ready Player One" and "Warcross"! Our panelists will be discussing their favorite YA featuring futuristic technology, hackers, video games, and cyberpunk worlds.

Time: Fri 02:30 pm Location: A707 - Marriott (Length: 1 Hour)

(Tentative Panelists: Mari Mancusi, Aleron Kong, Michael Chatfield, Carole E Barrowman)

Aleron Kong, author of the Chaos Seeds series, and finalist for the Dragon Award for best fantasy series has modified his month long celebration giveaway. The original rules were meant to encourage voting in the Dragon Award. But some folks took it that Aleron was trying to buy votes and reported it to the Dragon Con officials.

Having asked Aleron about this he denies ever buying votes or making a vote for him a requirement of the contest. Personally I don’t think he’d ever meant to either but I also see how the wording of the posts might lead people to think so.

According to Aleron, the DragonCon officials and he talked and agreed that he hadn’t done anything to break the rules but that he’d modify the contest to a straight giveaway to remove any hint of an appearance of impropriety. Aleron also asked that I note that because the awards are fan driven, the rules encourage author’s to get their fans to vote. Link for those rules are in the show notes.

http://awards.dragoncon.org/faq/candidate-faq/

Out Now!

Faithful Defender: A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure Novel (Aelterna Online Book 2)

https://amzn.to/2N3y8sh

Bitter: Book Four

https://amzn.to/2O1gaaF

---

Gaia's Gambit: Evolution Online I (A LitRPG)

https://amzn.to/2ORpSvE

Special Thanks to Gene for catching this one.

World Keeper: Precursor (book 3)

https://amzn.to/2vUPe4O

Listed at 1769 pages, seems off. But still good length novel.

Keeper's World: Hell's Game

https://amzn.to/2MWt7l5

New LitRPG Audiobooks

Warden: Nova Online, Book 1

https://amzn.to/2P1GUro

Our review of the ebook: 6 out of 10

http://litrpgpodcast.com/litrpg-database/2018/3/22/warden-nova-online-1

Time of Change - Emerilia, Book 7

https://amzn.to/2PxX7pe

Our review of the ebook: 7 out of 10

Valley of Death: Apocalypse Gates Author's Cut, Book 2

https://amzn.to/2MHuEib

Our review of the ebook: 7.4 out of 10

http://litrpgpodcast.com/litrpg-database/2018/7/5/valley-of-death-apocalypse-gates-authors-cut-book-2

New Eden Royale: An Apocalyptic LitRPG Series

https://amzn.to/2wljo0G

Our review of the ebook: 5 out of 10

http://litrpgpodcast.com/litrpg-database/2018/3/1/new-eden-royale-an-apocalyptic-litrpg-series

Accidental Duelist: Accidental Champion Trilogy, Book 1

https://amzn.to/2OXXsk0

The Legacy Builder: The Chronicles of Lincoln Hart: Barakdor, Book 1

https://amzn.to/2o3ffdZ

Our review of the ebook: 7 out of 10

http://litrpgpodcast.com/litrpg-database/2018/3/22/the-legacy-builder-the-chronicles-of-lincoln-hart-book-1

Upcoming LitRPG:

Dan the Adventurer: A Gamelit Harem Fantasy Adventure (Gold Girls and Glory Book 2) (Aug. 26th, 2018)

https://amzn.to/2KXSEbE

I am gamer (Aug. 26th, 2018)

How To Train Your Kaiju: A LitRPG Kaiju Thriller (Kaiju Wars Offline Book 1) (Aug. 27th, 2018)

https://amzn.to/2KK1GJd

Hunter's Bond: Apex Chronicles Book 1 (Aug. 28th, 2018)

The Second Realm (Ten Realms Book 1) (Aug. 30th, 2018)

Coast on Fire (The System Apocalypse Book 5) (Sept. 1st, 2018)

The Path (Just Cause Universe Book 14) (Sept. 3rd, 2018)

https://amzn.to/2LHHGwc

Limitless (Project Chrysalis book 4) (Sept. 4th, 2018)

https://amzn.to/2OJ9Tjn

Nightmare Keep (Euphoria Online Book 2) (Sept. 4th, 2018)

https://amzn.to/2woHBmE

Game Changer (Reality Benders Book #3) LitRPG Series (Sept. 24th, 2018)

https://amzn.to/2uMPCSi

Freehaven Online: Lady Thunderlord, Into Hades (Book 2)

(Sept. 26, 2018)

https://amzn.to/2ID8Kq4

Couch Potato Chaos - Gamebound (Sept. 28th, 2018)

https://amzn.to/2uEJ4Fj

Kingdom of the Dead (An NPC's Path Book #2) LitRPG Series (Oct. 8th, 2018)

https://amzn.to/2NMOPca

A Clan's Honor: A LitRPG Adventure (Rogue Realms Book 1)

(Oct. 25th, 2018)

https://amzn.to/2K93VWo

Freehaven Online: Winter Dungeonland (Book 3) (Nov. 21st, 2108)

Onto New Releases and Reviews

(Play Music 3)

New Releases and Reviews

(Picture 1)

The Ambrosia Quest: A LitRPG Novel (Omniverse Book 1)

What Does A Girl Have To Do For A Drink?

Elite MMO Gamer Alex Mills Is About To Find Out.

When UC computer science student, Alex Mills, suggests in a class assignment a programming change to the Omniverse, the world's most popular Massively Multiplayer Online Network, her professor and co-founder of the Omniverse shocks her by agreeing to implement it. To beta-test the new program, he offers a quest for unprecedented wealth and power awards to Alex and ten other of the most elite gamers in the world.

The Ambrosia Quest is a five-stage competition that takes place in a virtual alternative version of the United States. The final stage consists of identifying and consuming a drink that will bestow millions of real-life dollars and godlike virtual powers within the Omniverse.

A serial killer practicing her dark arts within the virtual U.S. sidetracks Alex's quest. Soon, the game evolves beyond merely solving clues for money and virtual powers to a life and death struggle between her and a brilliant, sociopathic opponent, The Highwayman.

To win the Ambrosia Quest, Alex must defeat The Highwayman in virtual reality. To survive, she must defeat the deadly serial killer in the real world.

My Opinion: 441 pages, $2.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited

Author has lots of novels in a variety of genres. This one seems like an attempt to either to write to a market the author doesn’t understand or it’s just possibly innocently mismarketed. It might be considered VR suspense, but it is most definitely not LitRPG. Not even close.

There is a competitive VR combat game in the story but it’s not very game like, more realistic simulated combat with rankings. There is also a VR contest set in an alternate normal world where a small group of players have to travel around the US to solve clues, puzzles, and find items. However, no matter the setting there are no RPG mechanics or RPG progression. There are some brief poorly described sex scenes and some real life story with suspense elements. The main character Alex, is actually an interesting character but the story is just not LitRPG like it says it is.

Score: 4 out of 10

The Ambrosia Quest: A LitRPG Novel (Omniverse Book 1)

https://amzn.to/2MAGNFm

Loot Lord: A Gamelit Fantasy Novel (Dungeon Land Book 1)

Idon and his friends are in the adventure shop business—and business is terrible. The dungeon boom of decades past is sorely dead. The economy is in the outhouse. And the Guild has a stranglehold on any remaining riches to be gleaned from the tapped dungeons in the area.

They’ll be lucky to keep their heads above water for another week, and that’s only if the Guild doesn’t break their legs to recover mounting debts. Things are looking pretty bleak, when Idon finds a rather peculiar sword during a last ditch effort to scrounge up some valuable loot to sell.

Armed with a secret that could solve all their problems, the three friends know they can’t let anyone find out about the amazing new dungeon levels and the undiscovered loot therein.

But where there is loot…

There is always lurking death. Maybe the violent thugs from the Guild will end up being the least of their problems. Find out if they can live long enough to become the lords of loot!

My Opinion: 177 pages, $2.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited

Mostly just a dungeon dive story and a small plot that’s suppose to connect the next book. Good action, RPG leveling basic but consistent. A slice of life dungeon dive. An entertaining read for what it is.

Score: 7.1 out of 10

Loot Lord: A Gamelit Fantasy Novel (Dungeon Land Book 1)

https://amzn.to/2MOGCGV

ERDE ONLINE - INSIDE: A LitRPG/GameLit Novel

Enter to play, win to escape.

It seemed like harmless fun at first, when Justin entered the world of ERDE Inside. He quickly discovers that the real game is trying to save his own reality.

Justin Schwartz is obsessed with ERDE, one of the most popular franchises in the world. The most recent iteration of the game has been in development for a decade, and is called ERDE: Inside, a virtual world that lives and breaths independent of its creators.

As part of a massive PR campaign, OMEGA-DEGA starts a contest for people to join the open beta of ERDE: Inside. Obsessed with getting in, Justin exploits the system to win a slot in the beta, but his actions don't go unnoticed. A hacker called Pnutxebra spotted Justin's exploit and blackmails the leadership of OMEGA-DEGA. Either they allow Justin into the game and trap him there until he finishes the Son of Schwarzvald questline, or Pnutxebra destroys ERDE: Inside so thoroughly they can't recover a decade of work.

Let the game begin.

My Opinion: 323 pages, $3.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited

This is technically a LitRPG novel. It is set in a game world, and there is a small amount of RPG progression. But those elements are relatively minor. If you want a crunchy RPG action story, this isn’t it. Instead, this is a novel with some interesting characters, pop culture world building, and lots of dialogue. There is a minor amount of action but the story is basically this big philosophical narrative about the nature of reality and what it means to be alive.

It's all couched in a very outlandish premise of forcing the main character (MC) to play a full immersion fantasy game and trapping him there unless he finishes this game scenario to become king. But within that are some interesting adventures, and a lot of talking.

That’s one thing that will either push readers away or delight them, the amount of talking in this story. The dialogue is humorous sometimes, but a lot of is in the form of philosophizing and debate. So, if you’re into that you’ll enjoy this story. If you aren’t or just want something more action oriented, this may not be a good fit for you.

Overall, even though the debating got to be a little repetitive for me sometimes, it was a good read. I appreciated the philosophical themes, the sense of humor, and the pop culture references.

Score: 7.1 out of 10

ERDE ONLINE - INSIDE: A LitRPG/GameLit Novel

https://amzn.to/2wfh7nz

The Lost City: The Realms Book Two (An Epic LitRPG Adventure)

The sequel to the bestselling LitRPG epic Barrow King.

“I cannot believe that idiotic plan worked.”

The only thing Gryph wanted when he entered the Realms was to find his missing sister. Then he pissed off a power-hungry god, got stuck in the undead hell dungeon known as the Barrow and nearly had his soul consumed.

Then things trended upwards, and with the help of a ragtag group of companions, Gryph escaped to a verdant paradise of magic and wonder. But when his exposed secrets lead to betrayal and murder, Gryph is forced to accept an insane quest or his new friends will face the headsman's axe.

Now, to stop a world-conquering zealot from capturing an ancient weapon of incredible power, Gryph must become the one thing he never wanted to be, a leader. Standing in his way are a group of crazed cultists, an army of deadly magical machines, and friends who no longer trust him.

And he is still no closer to saving his sister.

The Lost City, the sequel to the breakout hit Barrow King, is an overflowing cauldron of leveling, world building, humor, and action.

My Opinion: 616 pages, $5.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited

This is the 2nd book for the main character (MC) and the 3rd book in the series, it starts just after the end of book 1.

The game mechanics in the story are the same as last time, though there are larger periods where the story feels more fantasy than litrpg, mostly outside combat. Books 1 and 2 of the series had lots of RPG goodness and while they started as trapped in the game, they shifted to transported to a fantasy world with RPG rules. Still, book 3, has the least game vibe with most of the RPG stuff seen during combat situations, quest notifications, and lulls where the MC or another character levels.

Fights in the story are wonderfully described and rather epic. But much like they were in book 1, they get a bit wand wavy, with the main character sometimes seeming to have a near infinite supply of mana, stamina, and health and having access to skills or knowledge never described before. He really should have died during some of the fights, but that would have derailed the storyline a bit.

Storywise, none of the trapped in the game or the save the sister storyline exists. Instead, the novel’s storyline seems to mesh The Fellowship of the Ring, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, and some Cthulhu lore. There is some really good world building and epic struggles between the various forces in the story.

Overall, despite the few issues I had, this was a really good story that brought some epic scale to the series.

Score: 7.6 out of 10

The Lost City: The Realms Book Two (An Epic LitRPG Adventure)

https://amzn.to/2vtKoLA

Guardians Of The Round Table 2: Goblin Boots

When all actions have repercussions, it isn't really a game.

Returning to Inadon, Mallory and her companions are determined to level up, gain better gear and learn new abilities. They soon discover it might be more difficult than they realise when they encounter members of the dark forces. Will their actions have the wrong consequences or will they have time to gain the experience points they need before they become a target of the dark forces?

This story was written by Australian authors using Australian spelling.

My Opinion: 244 pages, $2.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited

The novel is almost entirely slice of life adventuring. There’s not much else to it. Combat descriptions are mostly just ok. It’s fine if you just want something to pick up and put down. But I was a little disappointed that the big Guardians of the Roundtable thing wasn’t developed really at all, especially after all the time that went into that plotline at the end of book 1.

Score: 6 out of 10

Guardians Of The Round Table 2: Goblin Boots

https://amzn.to/2vJD66I

Anomaly (Somnia Online Book 2)

As Murmur reels in the wake of the secret her friends tried to keep, her grip on what is real and what is virtual begins to slip. What's more, she's no longer sure who she can trust.

Stalked across the continent by a rogue with a vendetta, Murmur is forced to dig deep and develop her abilities before she finds a knife in her back.

Suspicion surrounds the AIs as well. Their behaviors are too human, their reports too perfect. Shayla and Laria must uncover the truth before the system raises concerns and Murmur is lost forever.

My Opinion: 354 pages, $4.99, Not Available on Kindle Unlimited

There are a lot of things I enjoyed about book 1 in the series but book 2 has lost me. It’s not a bad story, though there are noticeably more technical writing errors than in book 1. There’s just a shift in the story that made it less interesting to me.

Book 2 makes the game and RPG progression feel like secondary or even tertiary concerns. You can tell this is the case because of a couple things: less leveling on the part of the main character (MC), and the sheer number of POVs. In book 1, the MC and her group level like crazy, they earn about 17 of them. In book 2, the MC levels up 8 times. Some of that can be explained by levels being harder to get, but most of it is just that the author chose to spend less time on that aspect of the story. In book 1, there were some really neat flashbacks that helped build suspense and lead to a neat real world storyline. Now though, those flashbacks are replaced with numerous POV shifts between the MC, MC’s mom, MC’s friends, enemies, AI individually, AI together, and Game company people. The many POVs develop the new non-game oriented focuses on emotional exploration, intrigue, and cyber thriller elements.

The emotional exploration comes in the form of lots of talking and thinking from lots of characters. There really is a good portion of this done not only for the MC but what feels like most of the characters, through POV shifts. Cyber thriller elements include questions about emerging AI, intrigue, questions about what the game developers are using the tech for, what is really happening with the MC, and the shady goals of the AI. There’s still some MMO action adventure, with the MCs group doing some leveling and class progression but not as much as was in book 1 and it definitely feels relegated to a less important place in the story.

Overall, I just didn’t have as good a time with book 2 as I did with book 1. I’m just not as into all that emotion, intrigue, or cyber-thriller stuff as I am into just good gaming stories with lots of action. I think folks that like those elements more, will actually like book 2 more.

Score: 6 out of 10

Anomaly (Somnia Online Book 2)

https://amzn.to/2MH4aKu

Underworld - Through the Belly of the Beast (Underworld Book 2)

Surviving Lord Darius's attack has put Elorion's level over the top. He must soon leave the Mistress's Labyrinth for the unknown dangers of the Underworld.

There are three paths that stand before him. Should he absorb all the Blue Magic he can find, power level his fellow captives, or take on the bone palace alone?

The Underworld is waiting...

My Opinion: 352 pages, $4.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited

A good sequel to Level Up or Die, this time Elorion and the gang are on the run from a dangerous enemy that’s sending minion after minion to kill them. It’s action scene after action scene with good lulls in between for RPG leveling, magical theorizing, and a bit of character development. But let's be honest, the best thing about the series is the action and power leveling, which returns in spades. There’s even a little bit of dungeon creation this time to add a little variety.

Overall, a good action oriented LitRPG novel that flies by.

Score: 7.7 out of 10

Underworld - Through the Belly of the Beast (Underworld Book 2)

https://amzn.to/2L5OLS4

That’s it everyone!

You can follow us on

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