LitRPG Podcast 233 - The Heroic Villain 3, The Boneless Dungeon: Rebirth, Underworld - Vampire Gate, Battleborne
LitRPG Podcast 233 - The Heroic Villain 3, The Boneless Dungeon: Rebirth, Underworld - Vampire Gate, Battleborne
July 3rd, 2020
Hello everyone, welcome to episode 233 of the LitRPG podcast. I’m Ramon Mejia.
I’m here to bring you the latest LitRPG news, reviews, and author interviews. We have 4 new reviews just for you.
New Releases and Reviews:
The Heroic Villain 3 (09:15)
Good ending
Score: 7.4 out of 10
The Boneless Dungeon: Rebirth (12:10)
Misses on several levels for me
Score: 6 out of 10
Underworld - Vampire Gate: A LitRPG Series (21:08)
Powering up before the next arc
Score: 7.7 out of 10
Battleborne (24:05)
So much really good action
Score: 7.8 out of 10
(Play Music 2)
LitRPG News
The Realms Boxed Set Volume 2 and to celebrate the author is putting both boxed sets on sale. tGrab The Realms for cheap, with these two Boxed Sets featuring all six books in The Realms. On sale for $2.99 each for the next few days. Always FREE with Kindle Unlimited.
Boxed Set Volume 1: https://amzn.to/2ApdaTq
Boxed Set Volume 2:https://amzn.to/3eWcWCp
(video 0)
The audiobook for The Mechanical Crafter - Book 1 is out and I just wanted to play a tiny sample for you.
https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Mechanical-Crafter-Book-1-Audiobook/B08BG8WWZR
Out Now!
Respawn: Blade of the Ancients (Respawn LitRPG series Book 5)
Greenfire: (Sky Realms Online Book 4): A LitRPG Series
A Cat and His Human (League of Losers Book #1): LitRPG Series
Sovereign Rising (The Gods' Game, Volume III): A LitRPG novel
Stars Asunder: Book 9 in The System Apocalypse
Reincarnation: (A Litrpg/Gamelit Novel) (Last Born of Ki'Darth Trilogy Book 1)
Orc Spawn: Betrayal: A LitRPG/GameLit Story
Source Gate: A GameLit LitRPG Adventure (Lyseria Online)
Beastborne: Mark of the Founder
New LitRPG Audiobooks
Beast Queen: A LitRPG/GameLit Action Adventure - Monster Slayer Online, Book 2
Noa in the Flesh: World of the Changed Series, Book 3
Dragon Heart: Blood Will - Dragon Heart Series, Book 3
Greenfire: A LitRPG Series - Sky Realms Online, Book 4
Clan Dominance: The Sleepless Ones, Book 1
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Reborn
Upcoming LitRPG:
Mind Games: A LitRPG Apocalypse (RealRPG Book 1) (July 6th, 2020)
The Path of Faith: A Dystopian GameLit Adventure (Project Chrysalis Book 6) (July 7th, 2020)
Redemption : A LitRPG Space Adventure (The Last Enclave Book 2) (July 7th, 2020)
The Enchanter (Project Stellar Book 2): LitRPG Series (July 8th, 2020)
Dragon Seekers: A LitRPG Journey (Legends Online Book 6) (July 9th, 2020)
Watcher's Question: A LitRPG Saga (Life in Exile Book 2) (July 14th, 2020)
Tears of Alron (The Alchemist Book #3): LitRPG Series (July 14th, 2020)
4X Four Hex: A LitRPG Strategy Series (Avila Online) (July 15th, 2020)
The Ruined Temple: A LitRPG Adventure (Eternal Online Book 2) (July 28th, 2020)
Arrow of Justice - A LitRPG Novel: (Book 1 of the Vindication 2.0 LitRPG Universe) (July 31st, 2020)
Autumn Infernos: A LitRPG Sci-Fi Adventure (Space Seasons Book 4) (July 31st, 2020)
The Hidden Paladin (The World of the Undead Force Book 1): A LitRPG Wuxia Series (Aug. 4th, 2020)
Lord of the Dead (The Eternal Journey Book 2) (Aug. 5th, 2020)
War of the Posers (The Bad Guys Book 4) (Aug. 8th, 2020)
The Way of the Force (The Heavenly Throne Book 2): A LitRPG Wuxia Series (Aug. 11th, 2020)
Intellectum [RealRPG series] Book 1 (Aug. 18th, 2020)
The SyStem: Multiverse: Book 2 (Aug. 23rd, 2020)
Small Unit Tactics (Volume #1): LitRPG Series (Aug. 27th, 2020)
Holy War (Disgardium Book #5): LitRPG Series (Sept. 4th, 2020)
Dungeon Worlds: A Reborn Online LitRPG Adventure (Sept. 9th, 2020)
Sovereign (The Gods' Game, Volume IV): A LitRPG novel (Sept. 30th, 2020)
Dungeon Crawler Carl (Oct. 2nd, 2020)
Watcher’s Fate: A LitRPG Saga (Life in Exile Book 3) (Oct. 6th, 2020)
City of Goblins (In the System Book #1): LitRPG Series (Oct. 7th, 2020)
The Otherworld (Underdog Book #4): LitRPG Series (Oct. 26th, 2020)
Onto New Releases and Reviews
(Play Music 3)
New Releases and Reviews
(Picture 1)
The Heroic Villain 3
After a night of drunken debauchery following the defeat of the academy's headmistress, Lucas awakens to trouble on all fronts. The steady balance of power within the Imperium has been shaken by his presence, and the resulting aftermath is a town full of heavily armed and well-staffed enemies that seek Lucas's death. Lucas must not only survive their assault but also manage his own slowly crumbling internal affairs when his party begins to fracture. Angered by Lucas's increasingly selfish actions, some of his closest allies are tempted to turn against him.
Follow our protagonist while he tries to grow his influence within the empire, survive the daggers in his back from Imperium traitors, and restore the relationship he truly wants with the woman he has slowly fallen in love with in this epic litrpg adventure from Charles Dean.
My Opinion: 383 pages, $3.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
Full disclosure: I received an advanced copy for review. I purchased a copy when it became available.
The novel delivers exactly what it promises, a good story with a good conclusion to this arc of the series. The fights and character development continue to satisfy. The only thing I thought was missing was more story. I wanted it to continue another couple hundred pages of new powers and to see even more of the hurt the main character (MC) would bring.
Score: 7.4 out of 10
The Boneless Dungeon: Rebirth
In a world of sword and sorcery, Breck died and was reborn as a dungeon core, a specialized living gem in charge of creating and managing a dungeon. Unlike most dungeons, he was handicapped with the inability to create bones, the very building blocks that comprise most living creatures. Breck just wants his life back, his humanity, and will do whatever it takes to achieve his goal. Even if that means killing the hordes of adventurers that want to plunder his depths so that he can gain the power to transcend.
Zach, a new adventurer, is given the quest to find the source of new cosmic energy that has made itself known, the same cosmic energy that creates dungeon cores. It’s the lucky break he’s been waiting for his whole life. But he’ll face opposition that will see him dead before they let him complete his quest.
Despite his inability to create monster’s with bones, can Breck gain enough essence to rank up and become human again or will he be forever trapped as a dungeon? Will Zach be able to live long enough to complete his quest while other guild members are hunting him? What happens when Zach’s and Breck’s paths collide? Find all this out and more in this exciting GameLit, The Boneless Dungeon: Rebirth.
My Opinion: 204 pages, $3.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
This story is actually two stories. Split about equally between a dungeon core and an adventurer. The game mechanics are limited to essence ranks and a soft cultivation system.
The dungeon side of things starts slow with a little too much time explaining how the core can extend his essence a few inches. One of the small things that bothered me was how in experimenting with essence and getting patterns, the dungeon would have to be told everything from his assistant. Anytime there was something new to learn, it would repeat. It just felt like the dungeon wasn't growing on his own. Which was a bit annoying since the character had all of his memories from a lifetime on a future earth. It was touted in his human backstory how good he was at analyzing data, which implies more than a basic education.
Also, the dungeon theme is supposed to be anything boneless, but kinda defaults to insects for most of the story, which is one I'd read about before so it didn't feel fresh. You also don’t get your first minor fight till about 20% in, and the dungeon isn’t made till near 30% in. So it has a pretty slow opening. It gets a bit more interesting and diverse later in the story, but even that felt forced to a degree.
The other half of the story is about a newb adventurer and while it's not a bad setup it does feel a bit forced. The adventurers guild detects a burst of magic and puts out a quest for a group to explore it. It's urgent and pays really well. Yet for some reason, instead of requiring an experienced team with scouts or some speed, the quest is left open to anyone and the first person to claim it. Which just happens to fall into the hands of the guild's most inexperienced member.
The guild conflict, where the other more powerful members want to get in on the high paying quest, seems like it could have been resolved easily by actually forming a party with higher level members. I just didn't understand why they would want to kill him. It wouldn't give them the quest and no one knows in advance that he'll run across a dungeon.
While I liked the world building done on the adventurer half of the story, he doesn’t actually interact with the dungeon for most of the novel. Even that contact with the dungeon is really brief. It ends up feeling a bit slice of life and almost a separate story up till the end.
Overall, the story isn’t poorly written and it has its funny moments. But it just didn’t click with me. The dungeon side took a bit too long to get going and didn’t bring anything new to the dungeon core genre. The adventurer side barely interacted with the dungeon, which is what I came to read.
Score: 6 out of 10
Underworld - Vampire Gate: A LitRPG Series (Book 6)
After surviving Mistress Nava’s wrath, Elorion is banished from Sanctuary and everything he holds dear. He finds himself on an impossible quest to retrieve something from Lord Darius’s vault for the Head Mistress in hopes of bringing everyone back together.
My Opinion: 263 pages, $4.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
Full disclosure: I received an advanced copy for review. I purchased a copy when it became available.
This large novel has all the action the series has become known for and adds a new dimension to the RPG progression with a touch of cultivation. It was easy to sit back and binge on the action oriented story. There’s not a lot of plot development, more leveling up for the next book where the main character (MC) will finally deal with the vampire quest he’d been given so long ago. That doesn’t mean the story is only action though. There’s good power progression, magical theorizing, character development for the MC and one of his friends, and a surprisingly interesting lich that joins the group. Enjoyable read if you’re ok with the slice of life story and action adventure.
Score: 7.7 out of 10
Underworld - Vampire Gate: A LitRPG Series
Battleborne
Max was a professional soldier, and extremely good at his job. Right up until it killed him.
At the moment of his death, he meets Hildi the Valkyrie, and is given three options. Serve Odin in Valhalla as one of the Einherjar, fighting each day and celebrating each night until the battle of Ragnarok. Accept his death as final, and end his existence. Or be reincarnated as a Battleborne on a random unknown world.
Max chooses to gamble! To live a new life, whatever that might entail. Favored with a blessing of the Valkyries, who gift him with an unusual bloodline, he is reborn on a world of magic and monsters. In fact, his own new body is half monster!
Thrust into the world with nothing but a canvas diaper, sharp teeth, and claws, Max must use his skills as a soldier to improvise and survive. There are no respawns, and at level zero, nearly everything can kill him.
With his new status as one of the Battleborne, much is expected of Max. Dangerous and difficult quests are presented to him, and the loot ranges from filthy goblin loincloths to epic weapons!
Join Max as he learns to navigate his new life, struggling with the instincts of his monster bloodlines, and taking advantage of them at the same time.
My Opinion: 428 pages, $3.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
Full disclosure: I received an advance copy for review. I purchased it when it became available.
This new story from the author does not disappoint. It is full of action and adventure with a main character (MC) that isn't’ another boring human. At least not fully. The MC chooses reincarnation instead of Valhalla after dying in battle and is transported to a new fantasy RPG world where he is given a uniquely powerful body that is a mix of several races, including some monsters. From there it’s an action-fest with him killing monsters left and right, and learning an interesting mix of spells and skills that lets him over power higher level enemies. Like all of the authors stories, the game mechanics are well thought out and apply to the entire story world. There’s a little crafting and kingdom building, but the big draw is going to be all the good fights. That’s not to say there isn’t anything besides the fights, there is also good character development, world building, and some good side character...moments. (Sorry, no spoilers)
Overall, it was such a good story I almost read it in a single sitting and look forward to seeing where the series goes in the future. Oh, also, bonus points for the Fibble cameo, it made me laugh out loud.
Score: 7.8 out of 10
That’s it everyone! Thank you for watching/listening.
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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
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/