LitRPG Podcast 243 - Pyresouls Apocalypse, Fragment of Divinity, Second life Ranker
LitRPG Podcast 243 - Pyresouls Apocalypse, Fragment of Divinity, Second life Ranker
Sept. 11th, 2020
Hello everyone, welcome to episode 243 of the LitRPG podcast. I’m Ramon Mejia.
I’m here to bring you the latest LitRPG news, reviews, and author interviews. We have 3 new reviews just for you.
New Releases and Reviews:
Pyresouls Apocalypse: Rewind: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG Series (Pyresouls Apocalypse, Book 1) (12:08)
If you like Dark Souls, you’ll like this more than me
Score: 6 out of 10
Fragment of Divinity: A Litrpg Adventure (Defying Divinity Book 1) (18:19)
Has 1st novel issues, but good monster anatomy details
Score: 7.2 out of 10
Second life Ranker (30:48)
Good action oriented tower climbing webcomic
Score: 7.6 out of 10
(Play Music 2)
LitRPG News
S.L. Rowland sent out a message to readers this week.
“I ordered a new cover that better reflected the tone of Path to Villainy. Hopefully, more people will give it a chance now.”
Michael Chatfield, author of the Emerilia series, the Ten Realms series has given an update about his release schedule.
Hey everyone,
I wanted to share a bunch of updates!
- The Trapped Mind Project audiobook is on sale on Kobo right now: https://readerlinks.com/l/1427381
- The Sixth Realm part 1 will be available on Amazon on September 18 and a week earlier for people in the ‘I want MOAR’ and above tiers on Patreon: http://bit.ly/2tNWDRv
- I don’t have a release date for part 2 yet, but should be within a few months, at most
- Possessor of the Heart, the second Death Knight audiobook, is now available on Audible and most audiobook stores: https://readerlinks.com/l/1427487
- I’m starting to share chapters from the Fifth Realm audiobook on Patreon. The first one is free and the rest are available for people in the ‘Ahead of the curve WITH AUDIO’ and above tiers. I don’t have a release date for Audible yet, but hoping it’s done within a few months: https://bit.ly/3lDuiYu
More Plagiarized stories
Even claim copyright. All these stories are abandoned which makes them targets of this kind of theft.
A Fantastic World is stolen from the Web Novel story, “Peaceful” Life in a Different World
Original: https://www.webnovel.com/book/%22peaceful%22-life-in-a-different-world_17285112706341205
Fake: https://amzn.to/32kEQUA
Andromeda Quest is stolen from Web Novels from the story Searching for Andromeda written by Chainslock.
Original: https://www.webnovel.com/book/searching-for-andromeda_16703804805901905
Fake: https://amzn.to/35vEhcS
Steel Titan is stolen from the Royal Road from the story Titan of Steel.
Original: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/26480/titan-of-steel
Fake: https://amzn.to/2Fmx2Jp
Retrograde Gaming is stolen from Web Novels and is a translated novel of the same name and posted by Flamboyant May.
Original : https://www.webnovel.com/book/retrograde-gaming_16465699806151305
Fake Book: https://amzn.to/3ij3FG6
Out Now!
A Snake's Path (A Snake's Life Book 2)
Something (Full Murderhobo Book 1)
Dungeon Worlds: A Reborn Online LitRPG Adventure
PrimeVerse: Trial by Magic: A GameLit/ LitRPG Adventure
Fragment of Divinity: A Litrpg Adventure (Defying Divinity Book 1)
Sandqueen (Rise to Omniscience Book 7)
The Realm Between: God of Land: A LitRPG Saga (Book 7)
Blasphemy Online Volume 2: Occult Place to Die
The Rift Hopper: A LitRPG Adventure (The Game Book 1)
New LitRPG Audiobooks
Crimson Queen: A Fantasy LitRPG Series
Mephisto's Magic Online, Book 2
The Mechanical Crafter - Book 2
Level Up: Update - The Knockout, Book 2
Save Point: Reload - Sci-Fi litRPG Series, Book 2
A LitRPG Fantasy Series (Adventures on Brad Omnibus, Book 2)
Upcoming LitRPG:
Glory to the Brave (Ascend Online Book 4) (Sept. 15th, 2020)
Stolen Lives: A LitRPG/GameLit Novel (The Underhill Chronicles Book 1) (Sept. 15th, 2020)
The Guild Core 1: Dragon Bourne (A Dungeon Core LitRPG/Cultavation Epic) (Sept. 16th, 2020)
Claimed (Olympus Reborn Book 3) (Sept. 18th, 2020)
Labyrinth to Tartarus: The LitRPG Saga Continues (The Eternal Journey Book 3) (Sept. 21st, 2020)
Tycoon - Trudging the Path to a Modest Life in a Fantasy World: A Fantasy LitRPG Series (Book Two) (Sept. 29th, 2020)
Zero.Hero 2: A Super Powered LitRPG Adventure (Sept. 29th, 2020)
The Great MacGuffin: A LitRPG Adventure (Beta Tester Book 1) (Sept. 30th, 2020)
Sovereign (The Gods' Game, Volume IV): A LitRPG novel (Sept. 30th, 2020)
Seas the Day: A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure (The Bad Guys Book 5) (Oct. 1st, 2020)
Final Odyssey: A LitRPG Journey (Legends Online Book 7) (Oct. 1st, 2020)
Dungeon Crawler Carl (Oct. 2nd, 2020)
Awaken Online: Inferno (Tarot #3) (Oct. 3rd, 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)
The Fallen God: A LitRPG Adventure (Eternal Online Book 3) (Oct. 27th, 2020)
The First Peak of the Force: A LitRPG Wuxia Series (The Heavenly Throne 3) (Nov. 10th, 2020)
Dungeon Seeker: A Reborn Online Book 2 LitRPG Adventure (Nov. 23rd, 2020)
*Note Update to listing, used to be another series.*
Biomedical Self-Engineering : Book 2 (Nov. 23rd, 2020)
The Twilight Hatchling: A LitRPG Adventure (Dream Stream Reality Book 2) (Dec. 1st, 2020)
In Service of the Pharaoh (League of Losers Book #2): LitRPG Series (Dec. 3rd, 2020)
The Tribute (Project Stellar Book 3): LitRPG Series (Dec. 10th, 2020)
The Dark Champion (Interworld Network Book #3): LitRPG Series (Dec. 16th, 2020)
Small Unit Tactics (Volume #2): LitRPG Series (Dec. 28th, 2020)
Spear of Destiny: A LitRPG Dragonrider Adventure (The Archemi Online Chronicles Book 5) (Dec. 31st, 2020)
Onto New Releases and Reviews
(Play Music 3)
New Releases and Reviews
(Picture 1)
Pyresouls Apocalypse: Rewind: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG Series (Pyresouls Apocalypse, Book 1)
When Pyresouls released, it was a brutal new virtual reality game with a twist: be the first to beat the game and win billions of dollars. But after the Burgon Beast couldn’t be defeated, Pyresouls turned very real and unleashed an apocalypse of undead, monsters, and a System of levels and stats onto the world.
For many years since, Jacob Windsor has fought with sword and shield to survive Post-Collapse Earth where only ancient, Guilt-soaked weaponry can harm the monsters from Pyresouls.
While defending his bunker with some of the last refugees of humanity, yet another friend loses his life to secure one final hope. An enigmatic artifact capable of sending one person through time.
In a cruel twist of fate, Jacob becomes humanity’s best chance for survival. He takes the plunge into the past of the terrifying, fractured realm of Pyresouls, where every player is out for blood, and the monsters are more vicious than anything on Post-Collapse Earth.
Armed with knowledge of game mechanics, secret loot and enemy weaknesses, along with well-honed swordsmanship from years of battle, Jacob has every possible advantage against the competition. But the choices he makes have long-reaching ripple effects on the timeline.
Can Jacob beat the clock while grinding out Levels and manage to avert the apocalypse, or will his every action darken the timeline even further?
My Opinion: 500 pages, $4.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
This is a regression story mixed with Dark Souls game style. The main character (MC) goes back to the time when he just started playing a new VR game and tries to avert the apocalypse when the big boss escapes the game and all the Dark Souls like systems come out into the real world. To save everyone, he’ll have to use all his foreknowledge of the game to speed run through the game and beat the big boss. That’s sort of it. I mean, there’s lots of faithful Dark Souls mechanics in the story as the MC goes through the various stages, upgrades equipment and stats with collected souls. The end was a bit disappointing and was a cliffhanger, but I won’t spoil how. Overall, the story just didn’t work for me. There’s nothing wrong on a technical writing level, it’s just that the Dark Souls game mechanics weren’t particularly entertaining for me. The pacing was a bit too slow, and the power gain felt insubstantial and incremental, which is very faithful to the Dark Souls system but not my favorite kind of RPG system. Additionally, the popping back to the future thing didn’t really add anything for me, it was just distracting.
If you love Dark Souls and want to read a novel based on that game play style and system, you’ll like this more than me.
Score: 6 out of 10
Pyresouls Apocalypse: Rewind: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG Series (Pyresouls Apocalypse, Book 1)
Fragment of Divinity: A Litrpg Adventure (Defying Divinity Book 1)
A paramedic turned arcane warrior.
An unforgiving world that weeds out the weak.
A secret that will bring the Gods to their knees.
James has no idea why he was ripped from his life as a paramedic and transported to a strange new world with rules like those of a video game. But he knows he has to adapt quickly, as ending up in a spider’s belly was never high on his to-do list
With only a vague quest, a mysterious brand, and promises of help from a cantankerous old lady to guide him, James must level up into the warrior this strange, yet beautiful world so desperately needs. New allies join him on his journey, as they venture to the Dwarven City high in the Crimson Mountains in pursuit of the first clue.
Can James figure out the rules of this land in time to save it from its prophecy? Or will the dark secrets contained in his mysterious brand consume him?
My Opinion: 331 pages, $4.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
Full Disclosure: I received an advanced copy for review. I purchased a copy when it became available.
A slice of life, transported to a fantasy RPG world story.
The story feels like someone's first novel. In the version I got, there were a few formatting issues, occasional technical writing errors, and story and progression details weren’t properly tracked for consistency. Like the bridges that are part of the directions given to a location but when the main character (MC) eventually gets there, there are no bridges in the city, or the MC getting stat gains but them not showing the next time you see a character sheet. Also, there were some sudden shifts in the story and real wand wavy moments in the mid and end show the story is something someone wrote for fun over a period of time. Now that doesn't mean the story isn't entertaining, just that it is more of a slice of life story.
You follow the MC as he gets sent to the fantasy RPG world, fights monsters, harvests parts, learns spells and skills, and explores and learns about the world. There's a subplot about him completing a quest with the hope of being sent home, but it's just a way to get him to explore.
About 33% into the story it shifts from casual exploration and training to more intense scenarios and shifts again abruptly towards the 60%. It honestly felt like the author got a little bored with the casual start and wanted to try a more serious plot chase or he just had story points he wanted to hit and kinda rushed his character to get there. I'll admit the tension increased but the shift also felt a bit random.
One of the main things that sets the story apart in a positive way would be the detailed description of anatomy, healing, and medicine in the story. It shows the authors medical knowledge and does add something to the story when precise description of monster anatomy is used to harvest monster parts, or human anatomy is used to describe how a broken rib and punctured lung is healed. There's also a sense of humor that pokes fun at LitRPG and RPG tropes. But the gamer mentality and fun of RPG playing comes through well.
The RPG mechanics are fairly standard. Levels, XP, classes, skills, notifications. The MC gets an early boost to get him to level 10. While that rapid level gain was supposed to end there, the author just shifts to letting the MC beat much higher level monsters/enemies to continue the MCs rapid leveling. There are a few classes that are neat, though how the MC gets them is a bit wand wavy.
One of the things that lessened my enjoyment of the story were some seriously wand wavy moments towards the end. With the MC facing enemies and traps 30 times his level, but still coming out alive and virtually unharmed. Or serious consequences for bad decisions that were said to be permanent (which I liked), then magically erased (which disappointed me).
Overall, I have a good enough time reading the story, especially liking the casual tone of the first ⅓ of the novel. It does have some mid and late story issues, but distinguishes itself by adding in realistic anatomy and medical knowledge to healing and monster harvesting.
Score: 7.2 out of 10
Fragment of Divinity: A Litrpg Adventure (Defying Divinity Book 1)
Second Life Ranker
Yeon-woo had a twin brother who disappeared five years ago. One day, a pocket watch left by his brother returned to his possession. Inside, he found a hidden diary in which was recorded “By the time you hear this, I guess I will be already dead….”
Obelisk, the Tower of the Sun God, a world where several universes and dimensions intersect. In this world, his brother had fallen victim to betrayal while climbing up the tower. After learning the truth, Yeon-woo decided to climb the tower along with his brother’s diary.
“From now on, I am Cha Jeong-woo.”
My Opinion: 68+ chapters, Free, No official English licence
*Note: There’s also a fan translated light novel version of the story but the review is for the webcomic
This is a tower climbing story that starts off strong and gets the main character (MC) to the RPG elements quickly. From the get-go the MC is strong, not overwhelmingly, but strong enough that he’s kind of a badass and uses the advantages he’s given to maximize the bonuses he gains as he goes through the tower. There’s also regular action and the pacing is well done. The revenge theme is a recurring motivator for the MC but it doesn’t detract from the logic and cool headedness of the MC. The social and physical conflicts between the MC and other players is also a nice break from the monster fights.
The RPG stuff is normal. Stats and abilities mostly with items that can be purchased, won, or found that may boost those abilities or stats. Lots of notifications.
The artwork was decent but did a good job of conveying emotions and action.
Overall, this is an action filled webcomic that I read in almost a single sitting.
Score: 7.6 out of 10
https://zeroscans.com/comics/188504-second-life-ranker
Light novel: https://www.scribblehub.com/read/128568-second-life-ranker/chapter/132994/
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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/