The Magic Academy… An institution shrouded in mystery and secrets. People from all over the different empires want nothing more than to enroll, get their hands on the knowledge stored there, become those most respected in the world—mages. Tailyn Vlashich was one of the lucky few admitted without going through the entrance exams. And once inside, he had training, the arena, lessons, and an interesting take on what had happened three thousand years to look forward to, all capped off by a dynamic labyrinth that came with a chance to sit down with the provost. After all, that’s who holds the key to the secret of the dragon’s blood.

But how are you supposed to find time to study when your mentor has a problem he can’t handle on his own? Once again, Tailyn faces a road very much unlike the noisy halls of the academy, life itself reprising its role as his trusty teacher.

My Opinion: 320 pages, $6.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited

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

Another really good novel from the author. I thought the story was going to turn into some magical academy arc and while some of the story does take place at an academy the main character (MC) doesn’t spend semesters peacefully learning. Instead there are new adversaries, new threats, and lots of action. I never really knew where the story was going to go, what twists and turns were ahead. But I was always entertained right up till the very last words of the story.

Score: 7.8 out of 10

Tears of Alron (The Alchemist Book #3): LitRPG Series

https://amzn.to/3fGBZtH

Legendary Dungeon Seed (Book 1): A Dungeon Core Monster Girl Fantasy

Craft Dungeons ...

Cultivate Monster Girls ...

... Become A King?

Osman Spar just made a very dangerous bargain ...

To try and cheat death, he agrees to play a new VR-based fantasy roleplaying game. However, Osman won't be playing as a warrior or a wizard, but as a dungeon core.

Now he must build an underground labyrinth of tunnels and chambers formidable enough to withstand any and all attacks.

But, in order to do that, Osman needs to learn dark magic, summon powerful minions, and cultivate gorgeous monster girls to be his loyal level bosses.

WARNING: This story contains dungeon building, harem building, lewd content, foul language, and explicit scenes ... plus: epic brawls, video game violence, mana cultivation, LitRPG stats and level progression, and a little corgi dog who thinks that he is a dragon!

My Opinion: 150 pages, $2.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited

Full disclosure, I got an advanced copy for review. I purchased a copy when it became available.

The opening first pages almost made me put the novel down. It's a quick jump into the game world, which is good, but the main character (MC) comes off as a bit whiny and the start is on a storytelling level a bit confusing.

After a sort of whiney freak out by the MC over finding himself a dungeon core, you get a bit of rushed character backstory identifying a rival, a love interest, and a semi-plausable reason why he may be stuck in game if not why he's suddenly a dungeon core and not the paladin character he had been playing. Also, why he'd play, so his love interest can find him. Which wasn't a bad summary and hits the major points needed for the story.

Then the story goes backwards in time a few hours to describe two recent events. 1) The last fight the MC had as a paladin. Which felt like it was more about being in the friend zone with the lady he loves. Plus a sex scene. 2) A scene about meeting a dungeon fairy who offered to make him a dungeon core and a fight with a monster. Neither scene was badly written, but they really felt out of place after that good succinct summary which gave all the information needed to proceed with the story. It wasn’t till the end of the story that the scenes made a little more sense, but even then I didn’t see the point of doing flashbacks of events that had only happened a few minutes or hours before the start of the story. It would have made more sense if they were just given chronologically.

The first 36% of the story is the MC just recalling things out of chronological order. Stuff that has nothing to do with being a dungeon core but sets up characters seen later.

It's not really till the 40% mark you get even the barest start to the dungeon core/dungeon master aspect, when the MC gains mana from absorbing one of three mushrooms. But then the second mushroom gives him a weapon and the third gives him the ability to cultivate mana, a spell, and oddly a new level. So, some of the game mechanics just don't make sense.

But then at the 48% mark, when there was a list of possible dungeon minions, I realized the story might be a parody or at least be trying to be humorous. I mean what else could be meant by a minion like: a corgi with a dragon complex? It's a fun character that provides some levity and good dialogue.

Despite the funny Corgi character, on the whole the story just didn't work for me. There are a couple bland sex scenes but they detracted from the story. Also, this wasn't really a Dungeon Core story, maybe the start of a Dungeon Lord one since the MC got two minions and one fight scene but never even started to build a dungeon. But it had such a rough start that it was hard to come back from it.

Score: 6 out of 10

Legendary Dungeon Seed (Book 1): A Dungeon Core Monster Girl Fantasy

https://amzn.to/2OpRwln

Redemption : A LitRPG Space Adventure (The Last Enclave Book 2)

Hordes of alien monsters are breeding on Pluto. The shield protecting Sol is failing. Can Jake save Earth from infestation and annihilation?

After his triumph on Pax, Jake returns home to Earth. In far northern Canada his grandfather hid an outpost that may have the solution.

The town sheriff thinks he's an imposter, unnamed government agencies would love to vivisect him, and powerful forces lurk in the shadows.

Even with his grandfather's powerful legacy, will Jake have what it takes to stop the threat to Earth?

My Opinion: 341 pages, $4.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited

This is a light LitRPG story that has even less direct progression than book one did. The story starts as space sci-fi with a good fight. But about 15% in, it shifts to a smaller buddy adventure on earth. For me, it was a great turn from the space battles, and helped ground the story in something relatable. It's one thing to have a vague desire to save earth, but the author made you care about the people, whether they were jerks or not. The sci-fi space opera stuff is more prominent at the beginning and end of the book with aliens, space battles, and some crafting.

However, what I found a bit lacking was the RPG progression. There's some crafting and resource gathering but nothing nearly as interesting as what happened in book one.

Overall, a good entertaining story that loses a little bit for me, because of just how little RPG progression there was.

Score: 7.4 out of 10

Redemption : A LitRPG Space Adventure (The Last Enclave Book 2)

https://amzn.to/3eqSQPp

Apocalypse Hero: A Dark Fantasy Gamelit (The Adventures of

Dan Book 1)

One man, one bat, one adventure.

A suburb full of the undead.

A city full of monsters.

And Dan.

Dan was just an average guy, overworked, underappreciated, and down on his luck. Until the end of the world came and gave him a system and with it a chance to be what he had always wanted to be. A Hero. But first, he needs to learn how to help himself stop dying until he can git gud.

My Opinion: 172 pages, $2.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited

The main character (MC) of the story is kinda an idiot who makes bad decisions after bad decisions during the RPG apocalypse. Thankfully he has the ability to respawn or he'd have died permanently long ago. After some leveling up he is forced into a fighting tournament, which also doesn't go well for him. Yet despite, or maybe because of, the underdog tone, you can't help but root for the guy. There's an enjoyable self deprecating dark humor to the story that is entertaining.

The game mechanics are fairly standard. Levels, stats, abilities. It was only slightly annoying to see the MC hoard ability points he could have used to better survive without any good reason. But other than that, fairly good stuff.

Score: 7.4 out of 10

Apocalypse Hero: A Dark Fantasy Gamelit (The Adventures of Dan Book 1)

https://amzn.to/30beUbW

Mind Games: A LitRPG Apocalypse (RealRPG Book 1)

Eight Internet friends have an "IRL" meeting in a mountain cabin. But instead of the long weekend get-together they planned, they're suddenly caught up in the end of the world as they knew it!

They just met for the first time in real life last night, and today's group wake-up call is strange messages floating in the air telling them that something called a "System Start" has just happened. Now magic works, and technology doesn't. Cell phones won't work, cars won't start, and it's ten miles to the nearest town. Some of them have families to worry about. Some of them don't even believe this is real. And all of them have secrets they'll have to overcome if they're going to work together and make it back to town alive.

On the way, they'll meet other survivors, also confused, scared, and questioning what's happening. Ten miles doesn't seem that far, but by the end of it, they'll have faced some of the worst that the System can throw at them.

And then things really get interesting.

The small Tennessee town they're trying to reach is isolated, cut off, and surrounded by a new and terrifying world. Outside the town, ordinary creatures are becoming things out of nightmare. And inside the town, legends are coming to life...

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

This is an RPG apocalypse story that does a really good job of hitting all the right notes for the sub genre.

It tackles the apocalypse part well, making the end of the world feel dangerous not only because of the monsters but the people that are jerks or prone to violence. There are natural conflict points with electricity and water systems failing and food being scarce. Plus all the monsters roaming the streets and woods. It doesn’t get grimdark and is relatively light on people getting murdered or other things you may see in more gritty apocalypse stories.

On the LitRPG side, the game mechanics feel very solid with a familiar core system of levels, XP, stats, classes, etc. But there’s a unique class in the story, a mental mage like Mesmer class that brings a little originality to the system. It's not used much in the front half of the story but once the group reaches more people it becomes an asset.

While the action is good, the part that really makes the story better is the character development between the main character (MC) and the group members. No one is a one dimensional character, each has an interesting and flawed personality, and even with some internal conflicts there’s still good group cohesion against the outside threats.

I will point out a few things other reviewers were bothered by, but honestly weren’t any issue for me. There are unconventional relationships in the story, including: the starting group who uses hypnotism for adult fun among consenting adults, a dom/sub relationship. There is no sex in the story or any harems or anything. But there are references that people are in relationships and have been intimate. Plus some sex jokes. There are other reviews that give valid criticism of the location chosen for the story or a realistic attitude of the locals, but I had no issue with this either since I’ve never been there.

Overall, this is a really good story that gets better as it unfolds.

Score: 7.7 out of 10

Mind Games: A LitRPG Apocalypse (RealRPG Book 1)

https://amzn.to/3fwAlui

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