LitRPG Podcast 191- LOST in Space, Abduction Chronicles GENESIS, Towers of Heaven Bk 2, Rise of the Necromancer, Blasphemy Online
LitRPG Podcast 191- LOST in Space, Abduction Chronicles GENESIS, Towers of Heaven Bk 2, Rise of the Necromancer, Blasphemy Online
Sept. 26th, 2019
Hello everyone, welcome to episode 191 of the LitRPG podcast.
I’m Ramon Mejia. I’m here to bring you the latest LitRPG news, reviews, and author interviews. I have 5 new reviews just for you.
New Releases and Reviews:
LOST in Space [A LitRPG Space Opera Adventure] (14:47)
On the fence most of the story, end ruined it
Score: 6 out of 10
Abduction Chronicles GENESIS: Book 1 (23:00)
Great military stuff, ok RPG stuff
Score: 7.4 out of 10
Towers of Heaven: A LitRPG Adventure (Book 2) (34:05)
So fun
Score: 7.7 out of 10
Rise of the Necromancer: A LitRPG Series (36:00)
Too many POVs, not enough necromancer
Score: 5 out of 10
Blasphemy Online Volume 1: Dragon Hack (40:21)
Dark real world, interesting twists
Score: 7.5 out of 10
(Play Music 2)
LitRPG News
I wanted to announce that several LitRPG authors will be attending the Fantasy Book Fest APRIL 17-19, 2020 in Anaheim, CA. The schedule of authors and events is still being formed but it already includes writer and reader panels, including a LitRPG panel. LitRPG Authors attending include: James A. Hunter, Apollos Thorne, Domino Finn, and R.A. Mejia
Amazon killed the preorder for Ruins of Majesta Vol. 2.1. The Author has resubmitted the novel and the book is now live but you likely lost that pre-order so remember to buy it.
Also, to help promote the book, Taj is holding a contest and giving away 5 free copies of book 2. Just post what you liked about book 1 in the comments of the podcast or wherever it’s shared and you’ve entered.
Michael Scott Earle has launched the kickstarter to fund the next novel he is publishing. It only took hours to reach the initial $15K goal to produce an ebook, audiobook, and signed physical copies of the whole series. As is, it has over $44K in support for the project, showing that MSE does not need Amazon to make money. The project has become one of the 'most backed' fiction projects on the platform. Although the $1,000 pledge has been snagged, there is still the $5,500 one that will get you a weekend to hangout with MSE.
Out Now!
God of Gnomes (God Core #1) - A Dungeon Core LitRPG
Ruins Of Majesta: Vol. 2.1 - Creatures and Cupcakes
Gladiators of Warsong: A Hundred Halls LitRPG and GameLit Novel (Gamemakers Online Book 2)
*9 dungeon core stories, some LitRPG, others not, but is does include a story from our very own LitRPG Audiobook Podcast host, Ray Johnson.*
New LitRPG Audiobooks
A Second Chance: Invasion Series, Book 1
Starter: A Monster-Battling LitRPG (Djinn Tamer - Bronze League, Book 1)
Home, Siege Home: A LitRPG/GameLit Novel
The Completionist Chronicles, Book 3
Endless Fantasy Online: The Phoenix Kingdom
Upcoming LitRPG:
Death’s Mantle (Sept. 27th, 2019)
Shadow Sun Rebellion (Shadow Sun series - Book 3) (Sept. 30th, 2019)
Darkness Found (dARkness: Online Book 2) (Sept. 30th, 2019)
Dark Legacy [Transformation. Book III] LitRPG series (Sept. 30th, 2019)
The Crafter's Defense: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 2) (Sept. 30th, 2019)
First Song 2 (Sept 2019)
Fairyed: A LitRPG Adventure (Monsters, Maces and Magic Book 4) (Oct. 1st, 2019)
Quest for Power: A LitRPG Saga (Hero Online Book 2) (Oct. 3rd, 2019)
Dungeon Dive: A LitRPG short story (Tales from the Gods' Game Book 1) (Oct. 16th, 2019)
Second Story Man: A GameLit/LitRPG Adventure (The Bad Guys Book 2) (Oct. 17th, 2019)
Universe ICS: Keymaster. LitRPG Series. Book 2 (Oct. 17th, 2019)
Deadman's Retinue (An NPC's Path Book #3): LitRPG Series
(Oct. 21st, 2019)
A Jump into the Unknown (Reality Benders Book #5): LitRPG Series (Oct. 23rd, 2019)
Silver Peak: (Sky Realms Online Book 2): A LitRPG Series (Oct. 29th, 2019)
Varnoth: The Black Blade: Book Two (A LitRPG Story) (Oct. 31st, 2019)
A Dark Path: Grimdark LitRPG (Forsaken Talents Book 1) (Nov. 1st, 2019)
RiftWorlds Online: Book 2 - Raiding Fantasy: a LitRPG Fantasy Adventure (Nov. 1st, 2019)
The Way of Deception (World of Karik, Book #2, Part 1): LitRPG Series (Nov. 4th, 201)
Avatar of Light (Interworld Network Book #2): LitRPG Series
(Nov. 7th, 2019)
The Last Time Loop, Book #1: LitRPG Series (Nov. 11th, 2019)
Dragon Heart: Blood Will. LitRPG wuxia series: Book 3 (Nov. 22nd, 2019)
Level Up: Update (The Knockout Book #2): LitRPG Series
(Dec. 9th. 2019)
The Wastes (Underdog Book #2): LitRPG Series (Dec. 23rd, 2019)
Onto New Releases and Reviews
(Play Music 3)
New Releases and Reviews
(Picture 1)
LOST in Space [A LitRPG Space Opera Adventure]
Viktor LOSt Maksimov is one of the top competitors in the popular computer game Star Sky. He, along with his team, is set to become one of the global champions. Just when fame and fortune appeared on the horizon, everything began to fall apart. The transfer of Nikita HiG Ostrovskiy to the team forces the management to let one of their players go. The “lucky one” happens to be Victor. He loses his game account and is banned from playing professionally. He looks to his girlfriend for support, only for her to leave him for another man. Viktor personal and professional lives have come to an end.
Meanwhile, an alien force threatens the human population. They have devised a plan to enslave humanity and indenture them to the service of mercenaries, used to scout the galaxy, pillaging and murdering on their way. All while under the guise of playing a computer game. Viktor resists, fighting on both fronts, as the enemy takes command of Earth’s Special Forces.
The deeper he plunges into this conspiracy plot, the more he realizes that cheating and treachery never cease.
My Opinion: 317 pages, $3.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
This is a light LitRPG story that focuses more on the conspiracy aspect of the story than action adventure. The story revolves around a main character who has ‘a woe is me’ start losing his place on a competitive VR gaming team. He gets a chance to work with the government as a beta tester on a new game and most of the mid story is him going on various poorly described missions, many of whose actual details get skipped later, fighting aliens and them working his way up to being a pilot with an amazing ship. This part of the story is more about him figuring out how to balance work and home life while maximizing his gaming efforts to do well on his missions. Lots of upgrades to his ship as details about the game becoming better with better missions and a fleshed out game universe. Then the story shifts to one of conspiracy, as he gets access to information that changes the way he looks at the game. I won’t spoil things, but it’s a well done aspect that makes up for the poorly described missions that are skipped entirely and just shown as being completed without any info about what happened.
The RPG aspects of the story are pretty light, with levels gained for completing missions and skill points given to specialize. The money/credits awarded for completing missions is more important to the story than the XP to be honest as it ties back into decision making about real world bills versus ship upgrades and impacts his social life. Other progression aspects like upgrades to the MCs ship are more important and fleshed out better.
For most of the story I was on the fence. On one hand, there’s a distinct and purposeful lack of details in the novel. It was frustrating to see many missions just summarized or just told that they succeeded and that the MC had new credits to spend. However, it was still entertaining to see the real life versus gaming aspect go through and I kept waiting for the story twists to make it worth the wait. Eventually some story twists did make it worth it with added layers to what was really happening with the game.
However, where the novel really lost me was at the end. The end was just so frustrating. There’s this big conflict setup at the beginning of the novel with the MC losing his pro gaming spot.
Without spoiling things, he gets a chance to get payback and resolve things but instead of the resolution being told from his POV and seeing his feelings, actions, and strategies, it’s all told from the POV of some gaming announcers. The last like 15% of the novel switches POV and is told mostly from these gaming announcers perspective. Not only that there’s a last minute twist that comes out of nowhere and just sort of ruins the story for me. Some readers will like that twist and being surprised, but I didn’t. It made a bunch of the progress in the story meaningless.
Overall, much of the story was on the fence between a 6 and 7 for me. But the end pushed it right into 6 territory for me.
Score: 6 out of 10
LOST in Space [A LitRPG Space Opera Adventure]
Abduction Chronicles GENESIS: Book 1
Col. Petros Arkansas (Ret.) is abducted from his comfortable home by aliens and his life changes forever.
The aliens begin experiments on him with tests in harsh computer generated environments and expect him to survive without modern equipment.
The Colonel teams up with a core group of Spec-Ops operatives to survive, but first he has to learn what his new situation is, what enhancements he has available in these game-like simulations and how to ramp them up.
He begins a wild adventure of self-discovery, self-enhancement, and in some rare instances self-awareness.
Will he survive the unfamiliar idea of grinding out levels for enhancement and who will come to his aid?
The path he chooses is often dark, filled with fantastical creatures and outlandish beings, and the steps he takes are wracked with pain and far less traveled. Along the way he discovers that humanity’s existence is on a knife’s edge and the road to salvation lies in his hands. Together with the team he has to face down some of the scariest horrors in existence.
Despite all these obstacles, Petros digs deep into that dogged Spec-Ops persona, and meets the road he treads with a hard, determined step and a willingness to run.
Will he run away or towards the challenges?
The subtle combination of Military Sci-fi, Fantasy, GameLit, and LitRPG ensures there is plenty of action and intrigue for followers of any of these genres.
Embark on this journey and discover the answers in the Abduction Chronicles:GENESIS.
My Opinion: 357 pages, $4.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
The cover art for the story and the do not do justice to the story and if not for the last line in the novel description, I wouldn’t have thought the story had anything to do with LitRPG.
In the forward to the novel the author identifies three genres that his story uses: Fantasy, LitRPG, and Military fiction. While it’s true that the novel hits all three, there’s definitely a priority for which is fleshed out the most and matters to the story. Unfortunately, the LitRPG sections are the least of the three.
The story starts off with the main character (MC) being abducted by aliens and injected with nanites that transform his potential. He then finds himself dropped in a simulations where he has to survive and reach some locations. The first 12% of the novel really focuses on some well written survivalism with small does of gamelit like notifications that are mostly used to convince the MC that he’s in a simulation. After the 12% mark, is where the RPG stuff comes into play with the MC finally gaining levels, the ability to increase his stats and skills, and the ability to choose a class. From there it’s really a bunch of good world building as the MC comes to understand the situation he’s in and why aliens have abducted humans to fight for them. He’ll have to decide which side he’s on and if he can work with the situation he’s in. There’s lots of training, both magical and physical, as well as a clear threat that’s presented to the MC to oppose.
The biggest highlight of the story is definitely the military aspect. From the survival aspect to the comradery between abducted former military personnel, there’s just such rich details that it’s hard not to be impressed. The world building done to create the fantasy universe and the two main factions is rather well done too. There are lots of nice little details that flesh things out and make you believe this universe exist.
However, where the story loses points is with the LitRPG aspects. The RPG elements in the context of the story are imposed by the abducting aliens as a way for the humans to improve themselves. Humans are awarded experience for completing simulations and achieving training goals. However, what’s awarded has no consistency. The beginning simulations the MC goes through get him 5 levels, and later ones where he’s doing less to accomplish the quest goal get him 10 or even 20 levels. Thus the experience given for completing scenarios and simulations is completely arbitrary and intentionally without detail. The entire ‘Leveling’ aspect actually doesn’t matter to the story and is used as an artificial marker to power up the MC at regular intervals. Other progression aspects feel more relevant with skills increasing as the MC trains and him getting new ones as he learns them. There’s also a magic system, but that’s completely fantasy based with the MC willing spells into existence or learning incantations and theory from books. Even though the MC applies spell points to level up spell groups, it has no actual impact on the story.
Overall, while the military and fantasy elements are well thought out and impactful, the RPG stuff isn’t. Still, it’s an entertaining story and I liked it. I loved the early survival aspects and really enjoyed the military comradery and action. Those two aspects alone would get the story an 8 out of 10. But the RPG aspect would get a 6 out of 10. So, I’ll split the difference on the final review score.
Score: 7.4 out of 10
Abduction Chronicles GENESIS: Book 1
Towers of Heaven: A LitRPG Adventure (Book 2)
...Champion of Aros, God of Battle...
...Bearer of foreknowledge...
...A mythical third realm expert...
Jason had it all, and yet he still couldn't prevent his father's death. He didn't even have time to grieve as his mission took precedence over all else. Pressing onward was the only path. But did he possess enough strength to clear the tower, even with Roy and Olivia at his back?
The answer was obvious: only with humanity's best could he stand a fighting chance.
Yet as his actions influenced the world, the more things changed. Worse, his secret identity, Index, was in the spotlight for releasing knowledge that couldn't possibly be known. If the major powers of the world found him, they'd no doubt use torture to obtain his secrets.
A single mistake would cost everything.
He already got a second chance.
He won't get a third.
My Opinion: 234 pages, $2.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
A good sequel that takes all the things I liked about book 1 and pumps them up. The slice of life action adventure increases as the group goes through multiple levels of the tower. There’s a new kingdom building level that was a nice break from the action, but also a slight change that made the MCs foreknowledge a bit less overpowered. The novel flew by.
Score: 7.7 out of 10
Towers of Heaven: A LitRPG Adventure (Book 2)
Rise of the Necromancer: A LitRPG Series
Cast spells, have fun, bring the dead back to life. Being a necromancer has its perks.
Jakub Russo recently graduated from the Queen's Academy of Magic. He is a necromancer - a wizard who can bring the dead back to life - and he's still trying to prove himself.
Disaster strikes while he and his friends are traveling through a desert, and he wakes up alone in a land where danger lurks in every shadow. Using his necromancy magic and survival grit, he needs to save his friends and get to safety.
Can he pull off this impossible rescue when he finds himself up against a band of not-so-nice slavers, ridiculously giant insects, and an old warrior bear looking for revenge?
Well, if a necromancer can't cheat death then nobody can.
My Opinion: 255 pages, $2.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
The first half of the novel is a bit of a departure from the series. It kind of starts over, with the MC fleeing his home country on a desert caravan. Only a good portion of that story is told from the caravan leaders perspective. Only after a huge dust storm separates the the Mc from the group do you get his POV.
The MC only casts a few necromancer spells in the first half of the story as it focuses on him surviving in the harsh desert. The other POV now shifting between the MC and the slavers that captured the rest of the caravan.
Till about mid story, I was kind of bored. There's no real action and no RPG progression besides a few words about the MC gaining small experience from casting those few spells. Plainly put, I was a bit bored for the 1st half of the story.
The action picks up a little after that as the MC comes into contact with the slavers. But there are other POVs: The various prisoners, the slavers, a hunter, a bear. So many that the MC is actually the minority story and his mainly focuses on him surviving the desert.
There is a minor amount of RPG progression with the MC gaining experience for using his spells and he does level up once in the story. So it is still technically LitRPG but that aspect is not a big part of the story.
Overall, the story isn't poorly written and there's nice character development for secondary characters, and a couple good action scenes. However, this novel felt like it was only minorly about the necromancer I came to read about and overall I was just bored.
Score: 5 out of 10
Rise of the Necromancer: A LitRPG Series
Richard Royal has a hard life.
He lives in a corrupt, church-controlled dystopia, his family is soon broken, and the only joy to be had comes from the escapism of his full-immersion gaming.
Introduced to a new and very illegal game, he finds himself in the body of a dragon, on a quest to find a dark and evil power to serve. But the game is more than it seems, and the dragon is more than a beast. Soon Rich's life is far, far more complicated than he ever expected. And the threats against him grow, both in-game and in realspace.
There is no path that will not lead to blasphemy. And the dark secrets revealed will change two worlds, before all is done...
A new litrpg saga, set in Threadbare's world of Generica Online.
My Opinion: 379 pages, $4.99, Not Available On Kindle Unlimited
This is another story set in the Threadbare Universe, but told from the perspective of the players. So in a lot of ways it feels totally different than that series. You will recognize the game elements if you’ve read that series but if not, this does a good job of explaining things.
The story is also much darker than anything I’ve read from the author, especially the dystopian real life part. It’s so harsh that the author has several disclaimers that he’s not poking fun at any real religion or group. It’s also a bit more of slow burn with a lot of character development in the firs part of the novel, but the main character (MC) is in the game world by the 11% mark.
Once in the game world, the system will feel familiar to anyone that’s read the Threadbare or Small Medium series. It actually expands on many RPG elements giving you more notifications, class and race abilities, and player only aspects that you wouldn’t have seen before. It’s all very nicely thought out and is explained very naturally.
There are several aspects to the story and how the MC explores the game world while it seemingly explores him that I enjoyed. I won’t spoil things, but it’s a neat exploration. The in-game time is a bit slice of life, but always relates back to the dark real world.
Overall, I liked the novel. It’s a bit different and darker than what the other’s written before and some people will find elements of dystopian real world a little controversial. But it’s an entertaining read.
Score: 7.5 out of 10
Blasphemy Online Volume 1: Dragon Hack
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(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