John Doc Henry had been on the shortest, crappiest end of the stick since the first day of his life; no parents, bad foster parents, and abysmal luck at every turn.

The day his life changed started out exactly like he had come to expect. His car died on a rarely traveled road and he broke his toe shortly after dodging the one other car on the road. When it stopped and backed up to him, the license plate read “LADYLUK,” adding insult to injury.

Now, he has a new name, a new life, and a purpose. The odds are still stacked against him, but the newly-named Doc Holyday has Luck herself on his side. With newfound confidence, he's ready to face the strange new world he has been sent to; a world similar to the “Wild West,” but with magic and supernatural creatures.

(This book contains adult situations, including but not limited to: sex, gambling, abuse, drug use, harem, and murder. It also contains graphic sex scenes, which portray elements of BDSM. You’ve been warned.)

My Opinion: 400 pg ??, $4.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited

This is a slice of life story with very light RPG elements where the main character (MC) is transported to a fantasy Old West setting. The MC chooses his race and some nice game perks/abilities in a character creation scenario before he’s sent to his new world. The MC is easy to root for and he uses his new found luck to carve out a place for himself in the town he starts out in. The world building in the story is well done and I recognized many elements from Old West movies, gambling, and realistic outlooks from cultures and fantasy races vying for resources and power.

The game mechanics are a bit light with most of the number elements appearing at the beginning of the story. Though the MC has special abilities that he uses fairly regularly and when he eventually progresses in power, via faith points, he chooses new powers. There are other game elements, but they mostly relate to real gambling games in the story.

Be warned there are adult elements, including graphic sex scenes, but they are skippable and don’t take away from the entertaining action-adventure that is in the story.

Overall, it’s an entertaining read and while I would have wished to see more full fledged RPG notifications and other elements, I appreciated the change in setting to the old west.

Score: 7.5 out of 10

Voice of Luck (Luck's Voice Book 1)

https://amzn.to/2X99jCB

Poor Cultivation (The Slayer of Heaven Book 1): A LitRPG Wuxia Series

A top-secret game for training superheroes. Hostile locals and unfortunate kids, fighting each other to get power and save their skins. A man willing to master this new force by drawing the power of his inner demons.

When Nick entered the top-secret project Lost, his consciousness was connected to the combat neural network, awakening the hidden powers of his body and mind. Now, it's up to him to decide whether he'll follow the path of martial arts or focus on achieving something bigger - and whether he'll choose to be a lone wolf or join his new friends.

On an island hidden from the world, players are given access to a system that allows them to learn the ways of the force. They're engaged in mortal combat, but Nick is the only one in possession of a unique artifact with a very strange name - Cultivator.

Will the artifact help him win and get off the island? What secrets does this mysterious place hold?

My Opinion: 315 pages, $3.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited

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

A lot of the story felt random. This story is supposed to be a battle royale LitRPG with cultivation/wuxia elements. While the dark battle royale elements are definitely there, the RPG elements are less frequently seen and I’m not sure if it really is a wuxia/cultivation story. Though I’ll admit I don’t read that last genre as much as LitRPG.

A good half of the story is setup for why the main character (MC) is being sent to this battle royale island and the seemingly random events that happen to the characters in their first days there. Once the story hits the halfway mark, you get some training, and some PvP action as the people on the island fight over resources. However, until the very very end, you don’t get any kind of explanation about why anyone is there other than they’ve agreed to it so everything feels purposeless.

On the game mechanic side of things, this is LitRPG. There’s character sheets, stats that are increased, classes with particular power sets, and items with special powers. Though I’ll point out that you don’t see those elements very often. One of the big things that I enjoy about LitRPG is understanding the game mechanic rules and mentally creating my own characters or speculating about what abilities or skills I’d take. Frankly there isn’t enough information about this system to do that. Often the game rules would be established and then they would change for no discernible reason other than to create an obstacle for the MC. Other aspects of the game stuff were never explained and didn’t make sense.

The cultivation/wuxia aspects don’t really exist. At least not as I understand the genre and I admit freely it’s not a genre I’ve delved as deeply into. The MC does have a ‘cultivation bracelet’, but it just seems to give him early access to some of the game elements. There’s no meditating or pulling and refining of mana/qi from the world or monsters to advance his mind or body elements. At most there’s a corruption aspect he uses to fuel some special abilities.

Story wise, the most interesting elements of the story, the dark brutal nature of the Island and that characters are killed off, is overshadowed by the kind of randomness to the events of the story. Part of that feeling comes from a lack of explanation early in the novel about what was happening in the world, why it was happening, or what the rules were. This left me feeling confused and eventually uninterested with what happened to the characters. Additionally, I just didn't connect with any of the characters as they were setup to be a bit unlikable, so the threat to their lives and deaths as they trained and fought did not have much impact.

Frankly, for a good part of the story I was either rooting against the MC or just bored.

Score: 5 out of 10

Poor Cultivation (The Slayer of Heaven Book 1): A LitRPG Wuxia Series

https://amzn.to/3bYZ9Zy

Animal Eye: A GameLit Adventure (Animal Instinct Book 1)

In Animal Eye, the newest AI-controlled VR-RPG from Horizon Systems, Khin May and Jake sign on as testers for a game that lets them play as animal companions to human NPCs. In a world that seems Renaissance-era, with swords and muskets, strange beasts lurk in the wilderness, pressing their attacks harder into civilized lands, laughing maniacs that can’t be killed by ordinary means.

Khin May as a sassy crow named Ahva and Jake as Nagheed, a Nethanyan mountain shepherd, along with their humans, learn the history of the game world and set out to stop the twisted mastermind behind the attacks…

My Opinion: 400 pg ??, $4.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited

This is a fairly family friendly LitRPG story with gamers playing a new VRMMO where players can be animals instead of people. The multi narrative story has one player as a dog with the Protector class, another as a crow, and a bear companion. It's a fairly slice of life story, where you follow the characters as they play their animal characters, get quests and become immersed in the game world, and go on adventures. It's kinda like if the animals from that movie Homeward Bound went on an RPG adventure.

On the game mechanic side of things, the characters gain XP and level for learning their appropriate animal behaviors, solving quests like finding an owner, and problem solving using their limited animal skills and abilities. There are levels, skills, stats, HP, and all the normal stuff. There is also an interesting use of morale in the story. With the animals able to lower or raise a target's morale with growls or other actions. Morale impacts a target's behavior and their ability to fight effectively. There are also notifications and XP rewards based on what an animal would perceive or do. The story does a good job of gamifying what it would be like to play as an animal.

Overall, a decent read if you feel like reading about animal main characters or want something you can read with your kids.

Score: 7.1 out of 10

Animal Eye: A GameLit Adventure (Animal Instinct Book 1)

https://amzn.to/2AkZRTy

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