LitRPG Podcast 284 - Master of the Hoard, He Who Fights with Monsters 5, Blessed Time 3, The Second Coming of Gluttony, Red Mage Book 3
LitRPG Podcast 284 - Master of the Hoard, He Who Fights with Monsters 5, Blessed Time 3, The Second Coming of Gluttony, Red Mage Book 3
April 16th, 2022
Hello everyone, welcome to episode 284 of the LitRPG podcast. I’m Ramon Mejia.
I’m here to bring you the latest LitRPG news, reviews, and author interviews. We have 5 new reviews just for you.
New Releases and Reviews:
Master of the Hoard: A Reincarnation LitRPG Adventure
(Dragon Core Chronicles Book 1)
An entertaining dungeon core story with a dragon as dungeon master.
Score: 7.5 out of 10
He Who Fights with Monsters 5: A LitRPG Adventure
Monster waves on earth
Score: 7.8 out of 10
Blessed Time 3: Dakkora's Legacy: A LitRPG Adventure
Loses the elements I liked
Score: 6 out of 10
Gula's Chosen: Book 1 of The Second Coming of Gluttony
More details than the webcomic, full series available
Score: 7.3 out of 10
Fracture: An Apocalyptic LitRPG Series (Red Mage Book 3)
An enjoyable read
Score: 7.6 out of 10
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LitRPG News
Tao Wong is crowdfunding the last audiobook for his System Apocalypse series. Go back it if you want to get the audiobook up to 3 months earlier than anyone else or if you just want to support an author you like.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/systemfinale/the-system-apocalypse-the-system-finale-audiobook
Out Now!
Behemoths Beneath (Challenger's Call Book 8)
Mafioso Online: A Fantasy Organized Crime LitRPG Adventure
Summoned! To an RPG World: Isekai - LitRPG
Celestial Citadel: A litRPG Adventure (The Rogue Dungeon Book 6)
He Who Fights with Monsters 5: A LitRPG Adventure
Grimspire Ascension: A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure
Master of the Hoard: A Reincarnation LitRPG Adventure (Dragon Core Chronicles Book 1)
Relic Tamer (True Calling LitRPG Book 2)
The Raid on Inferno (The Range Book #4): LitRPG Series
Flex in the City: A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure (The Good Guys Book 13)
King Minos: Master of the Minoans (A City-Building LitRPG Series)
Easter Core: A Holiday Dungeon Core Novella
Way of the Wolf, The Grand Game, Book 2: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG Adventure
The First Viking: A LitRPG Series (Saga of the Seer Book 1)
Kairos: A Greek Myth & Pirate LitRPG (The Last Gods Book 1)
Tiny Souls: A LitRPG Portal Fantasy
Virgil's War: A Portal Fantasy LitRPG (Dr. Druid Book 3)
Into the Fire: A LitRPG Fantasy Cooking Adventure (Morcster Chef Book 2)
Half a Mimic - The Cutthroat Chronicles (A LitRPG Series)
New LitRPG Audiobooks
Into the Fire - A LitRPG Fantasy Cooking Adventure (Morcster Chef, Book 2)
Virgil's War - Dr. Druid, Book 3
Brambles and Thorns - The Infinite World, Book 4
Mardis Dane - A LitRPG/GameLit Series (World of Magic Series, Book 3)
The Archon - Project Stellar, Book 5
A Dungeon Core Novel (Serious Probabilities, Book 3)
Dragon Core Chronicles, Book 1
A Greek Myth LitRPG (Kairos, Book 1)
Gates of Thunder - Loner, Book 1
A LitRPG Adventure (He Who Fights with Monsters, Book 5)
God of Life (Realm Between Series, Book 8)
Upcoming LitRPG:
The Hybrid War (Alpha Rome Book 4): LitRPG Series (April 18th, 2022)
Inferno: A LitRPG Adventure (Elemental Mastery Book 2) (April 18th, 2022)
Avatar of Pain (Dead Dungeon Book 7) (April 19th, 2022)
The Way Ahead: A LitRPG Adventure (April 19th, 2022)
Heroes of the Final Frontier (Book #2): The World of Waldyra LitRPG Cycle (April 20th, 2022)
Equatorial: A Post-Apocalyptic LitRPG (Ether Collapse Book 4) (April 20th, 2022)
The boy who killed God 2: An Epic Fantasy LitRPG Duology (April 21st, 2022)
Field of Valor: A LitRPG Adventure (Realms of Power and Fury Book 3) (April 21st, 2022)
The First Step: A LitRPG Cultivation Series (Cultivator vs. System Book 1) (April 26th, 2022)
Mastering Magic: An Epic LitRPG Series (Jeff the Game Master Book 3) (April 26th, 2022)
Third Apocalypse (Regressor Book 1) (April 26th, 2022)
Viridian Gate Online: Perdition: A litRPG Adventure (The Heartfire Healer Series Book 3) (April 26th, 2022)
Rating Zero (Alpha LitRPG Book 5) (April 27th, 2022)
Mana Harvest 2: A Light Novel Farming LitRPG (Sword to Ploughshare Duology)
(April 30th, 2022)
Arise: Alpha: A Dark LitRPG Adventure (May 2nd, 2022)
Wizard's Tower: A LitRPG Adventure (May 3rd, 2022)
The Houndsman 3: A Base-Building LitRPG Adventure (May 3rd, 2022)
EndGame (Unfrozen Book #5): LitRPG Series (May 9th, 2022)
Natural Twenty (Tomb of Malevolent Evil Book 3) (May 9th, 2022)
Trickster's Tale: Is That a Lute in Your Pocket?: (A LitRPG Adventure) (May 10th, 2022)
The Crow Cycle Book #2: LitRPG Series (May 10th, 2022)
Unbalanced: A LitRPG Adventure (Class Shift Book 2) (May 10th, 2022)
Running the Edge (Interworld Network Book #4): LitRPG Series (May 11th, 2022)
Master of the Mountain: A Reincarnation LitRPG Adventure (Dragon Core Chronicles Book 2) (May 11th, 2022)
Renegade (Underdog Book #8): LitRPG Series (May 12th, 2022)
A Brutal Clash and A Bitter Rival: A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure (Bone Knight Book 8) (May 13th, 2022)
Steamforged Sorcery: A LitRPG Adventure (May 17th, 2022)
The Forgotten Core (The Dungeon of Stories Book 4) (May 17th, 2022)
Darktown Funk: A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure (The Bad Guys Book 9) (May 19th, 2022)
Cowboy Necromancer 3: Infinite Dawn: (A Post-Apocalyptic LitRPG/GameLit Adventure) (May 20th, 2022)
Crafter's Fate 2: A LitRPG Adventure (May 23rd, 2022)
Sentenced to Troll 5 (May 31st, 2022)
Domestication: A LitRPG Adventure (Battle Mage Farmer Book 1)
(May 31st, 2022)
Alpha Physics! Book 5 - Dungeon: A Post Apocalypse Progression Fantasy (May 31st, 2022)
Condition Evolution 7: A Litrpg / Gamelit Adventure (June 1st, 2022)
Defiance of the Fall 5: A LitRPG Adventure (June 2nd, 2022)
Chrysalis: The Antventure Begins: A LitRPG Evolution Series (June 7th, 2022)
The Hedge Wizard: Crypt of the Wolf Dragon: (A GameLit/LitRPG Adventure) (June 14th, 2022)
Dreadfortress: A LitRPG Adventure (Badges of Dorkdom Book 2) (June 14th, 2022)
The Primal Hunter 2: A LitRPG Adventure
(June 16th, 2022)
Tokens and Towers 2: (A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure)
(June 23rd, 2022)
The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound 3: A LitRPG Adventure
(June 23rd, 2022)
Apocalypse Knights 3: A LitRPG Fantasy (June 27th, 2022)
He Who Fights with Monsters 6: A LitRPG Adventure (June 28th, 2022)
Kairos II: Legacy of Hades: A Greek Myth & Pirate LitRPG (June 30th, 2022)
Onto New Releases and Reviews
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New Releases and Reviews
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Master of the Hoard: A Reincarnation LitRPG Adventure (Dragon Core Chronicles Book 1)
A new world of magic and violence. One crazy starting bonus. Major downside: No thumbs!
Carl was a regular construction foreman. Not the worst, not the best, and definitely not the thinnest. Even so, he didn't deserve that heart attack! He really didn't deserve being reborn into a magic-filled, dog-eat-dog world as a dragon.
To be fair, it’s nice to be at the top of the food chain. Now Carl just needs to learn how magic works, which monsters are safe to eat, and why his hoard is so important to him. Dealing with everything changing is hard enough, but he has enemy dragons incoming, hostile environments, and foes constantly trying to get bragging rights by taking down a dragon.
At the end of the day, Carl needs to learn how to build a life worth living in a world where might makes right.
My Opinion: 471 pages, $4.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
This is a transported to a fantasy RPG world story where the main character (MC) ends up as a newly hatched dragon. It develops into a dungeon core story, except there’s no core but a dragon hoard.
The story gets into the RPG fantasy world immediately and the first 10% just follows the MC around as he fights the creatures trying to kill him and gets his bearings on this new world and with his new body. Then about 15% in, the story takes a sharp turn into kingdom and dungeon building and stays firmly there. The MC gains minions, helps them move into a new lair, gets a hoard that unlocks his kingdom/dungeon building and the game mechanics shift to this type of building. With traps, illusions, and deception being the biggest themes of the dungeon that the MC and his minions have to defend. As the treasure hoard grows so do the options for buildings in the dungeon.
With a monster MC, there’s a fine balance between keeping the monster aspects so as to be interesting and making the character relatable by humanizing them. In this instance, the story definitely leans a lot more towards humanization and the MC is basically human with occasional body control issues and a newfound taste for uncooked flesh. The MC’s powers are definitely dragon bases as are his racial evolutions. But his thought processes, actions, morals, and internal monologues are very human.
The RPG side of things is well done. There are lots of levels for the MC to gain and he increases his stats, gets new dragon powers, and upgrades his racial evolutions. There are also dungeon and kingdom-building mechanics in the story. All done well with the author providing enough information that the reader can speculate about what they’d do to build the ultimate dungeon.
Overall, it's a pretty good dungeon master story with fun and interesting RPG progression for the MC and his minions.
Score: 7.5 out of 10
Master of the Hoard: A Reincarnation LitRPG Adventure
(Dragon Core Chronicles Book 1)
He Who Fights with Monsters 5: A LitRPG Adventure
Jason has discovered that his homeworld is not what he thought. What’s more, the rest of the planet is on the precipice of sharing his revelation.
With magic on the rise and forces pulling him in multiple directions, Jason is faced with challenges greater than ever before.
Even as his power reaches new and incredible heights, he is faced with the realization that going beyond his best is still not enough.
My Opinion: 795 pages, $6.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
The RPG Apocalypse finally hits earth in the latest entry in the series. Monster outbreaks push the main character (MC) and his allies to the breaking point and beyond as they fight massive waves of high powered monsters and have to deal with politics between the powers on earth. This only gets worse when they realize that the MC has something that would let them get an edge on the competition and he wants to use it to cut off the source of some new power.
The story has several nice arcs that detail all the woes associated with such a monster outbreak, explorations of how the MC is growing as a leader, and lots and lots of very good fights. The MC even finally ranks up and improves his power.
Personally, I wasn’t a huge fan of some of the time spent with the political aspects, but they did provide a break from fights and were a source of a different kind of conflict in the story.
Overall, a very good story. Though I actually listened to it as an audiobook and the voices were wonderful.
Score: 7.8 out of 10
He Who Fights with Monsters 5: A LitRPG Adventure
Blessed Time 3: Dakkora's Legacy: A LitRPG Adventure
A New Threat Arises, And Time Itself May Not Be Enough
Retirement or polite exile. Whatever you want to call it, it had been kind to Micah Silver. He had saved his home of Basil's Cove at the cost of his reputation, leaving the country to avoid further complications and settling into the comfortable life of a guild master, running a small but elite adventurer's guild.
When war and nefarious forces split the realms, Micah dives into the breach once more, confident in his stupendous magical power and time magic will keep him and his friends safe. It won't.
He fails, and a new enemy with a familiar face has followed him back into the past, wreaking havoc on the timeline. Now Micah's only chance comes in the form of a map, guiding him halfway around the world to the laboratory of the greatest wizard that ever lived. If he's going to have any chance in the coming confrontation, he will need to arm himself with the powerful artifacts she left behind.
But his enemy knows the location of her laboratory as well, turning his quest into a deadly race with consequences for all life on Karell.
My Opinion: 388 pages, $4.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
The third book in the series really loses the regressor aspect that I’d enjoyed. The main character (MC) gets a divine quest to find a special tower that may help him defeat some bad demon lord. He goes back in time once to start this quest and then that’s it for that regressor aspect. He still uses his smaller time powers, but it's never a big reset again. From there he has some very random feeling side adventures that just felt like filler until he finally gets to the special tower and works to conquer that. That's kinda it. I mean, the side journey’s each have their own arcs, but none of it felt particularly challenging for the MC and even the story point with the tower ended a bit flat as it doesn’t lead directly to any big conflict with the new bad guy and instead just trails off.
Overall, the story just wasn’t satisfying. I’m sure there are other readers that really liked the book, the new characters, and while the fighting was regular and well written, it wasn’t enough to keep me interested.
Score: 6 out of 10
Blessed Time 3: Dakkora's Legacy: A LitRPG Adventure
Gula's Chosen: Book 1 of The Second Coming of Gluttony
Seol had everything – a loving family, a beautiful girlfriend, and an instinct for danger that let him navigate through life safely. Unfortunately, an addiction to gambling cost him everything. Seol was at the lowest he had ever been, and had decided to end his life... but instead, he received a second chance to make things right – a chance of redemption – in a different world called Lost Paradise, where danger abounded at every step. Wanting to escape reality, and guided by his dream, Seol decided to take a leap of faith and entered Paradise.
In this new world, where gods are able to bestow powers upon humans, will Seol be able to redeem himself? Will he find the meaning of his vivid dream? Join Seol as he embarks on an epic adventure, creating new legends in his search for answers in this new world of Lost Paradise…
My Opinion: 649 pages, $4.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
I come to this story as a fan of the manhwa (webcomic) version of the story, so I can’t help but compare the two.
The basic storyline is a slice of life transported to a fantasy RPG world. The main character (MC), a person with unique visual powers dies somewhere in the future at the end of earth and because he’s one of the last survivors gets a chance to get part of his memories and feelings sent back to the start of his adventures. From there, it follows the MC as he hits the low point in his life and is then given a chance to go to a new world where he can gain power and enough money to pay off all his considerable debts. It’s really just an excuse for a slice of life adventure where the MC goes through a brutal survival urban setting tutorial, uses advantages, fights monsters, trains, completes quests, and eventually connects with other people in a new fantasy game world for even more adventures.
The novel follows the same storyline but you get more dialogue, internal monologue, and thoughts from the main character (MC). I enjoyed the extra layer of information and some of the more graphic descriptions of combat. I’ll also note that there are some issues that are pretty normal when something is translated. There’s some phrases that are lost, though there’s an appendix with definitions, and some dialogue just translated oddly. Additionally, some of the descriptions in the novel just aren’t as vibrant as the color panels in the manhwa.
As LitRPG, this very much hits all the points like notifications, levels, special skills, and equipment descriptions. It actually has even more notifications than the comic and there’s more internal thoughts from the MC about those game systems and progression.
Overall, other than a couple small things, the story is just as good as what I’d already seen in the webcomic and even better there are a full 10 novels out that outpace the online comic storyline. It’s a good read, as long as you understand and are ok with some of the issues that come with a translated story. Though some might like the webcomic version for the added visuals.
Score: 7.3 out of 10
Gula's Chosen: Book 1 of The Second Coming of Gluttony
Fracture: An Apocalyptic LitRPG Series (Red Mage Book 3)
Humanity to save. Alien threats to annihilate. Aim your spells accordingly.
Drew and his team are the entire counter offensive plan against the Naga. He knows that the serpents must be dealt with, but watching the Sidhe forces take the nodes near his old home and turn them violet is weighing on him. Even worse than the external threat is the pressing fact that the gathered humans are beginning to fracture into factions with competing desires.
The mana shield over the stadium was supposed to solve every one of their problems. The Naga disagreed, and their frequent skirmishes are ramping up into a constant drain on resources. Drew’s only possible response to the humans, the aliens, and the strange urban jungle appearing across the Potomac is to increase the count of his own red nodes and build up his strength; all in a race to save humanity.
As tensions rise, Drew wonders more and more if he can solve everything with a well-placed fireball.
My Opinion: 352 pages, $5.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
This is an enjoyable continuation of the adventures of Drew as he leads his group in the RPG Apocalypse. There are lots of fights, characters progress their powers, and there are some good goofy conversations. The plot progression is a little uneven in places and the end in particular feels a little rushed compared to what happens in the rest of the novel. But it’s still a fun read.
Score: 7.6 out of 10
Fracture: An Apocalyptic LitRPG Series (Red Mage Book 3)
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