Anonymous

Average

Reviewed: 07-18-24

Wow…. My wife died a horrific death and now I must avenge her! Wow that woman is hot…

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

The story

Reviewed: 05-09-24

This is a truly interesting concept with a intriguing world. The narration is fantastic and the pacing is steady enough to keep you interesting. Getting a second chance on saving the world is not necessarily a new story element but I can't say I expected the hero to go about it in the most chaotic way possible. Telling everyone he was from the future would have had a far greater outcome. Instead of taking the city over because that's an option he decides to bring it down costing them years. If you don't understand this read the book and at the end you will be left scratching your head as well. In the end though, I'm still here for this chaotic ride and excited to see how much worse our MC can make things.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Needs work, has potential

Reviewed: 04-18-24

The first segment of my review is spoiler free and I will notate where I start spoiling some small things.

Firstly, the book has an interesting concept and the events of the world are executed well. It’s the apocalypse and bad shit happens so people have to band together. Problem is, everyone down to the children seems immune to trauma as traumatic things happen and people are okay immediately after the fact. The main character is a bit awkward yet people seem to respond how he wants him to. The world is in a bad way yet everything is really working out for our main character to the point he is on a constant winning streak where every event is positive for him. I’ve been waiting for this guy to struggle or arrive at some serious conflict yet he ends up fine and you might lose a random person of little significants who will be forgotten even by the people that have known this person shortly after.

The world feels like the characters are immune to lasting emotion, we lose someone and everyone’s sad… okay guys check this out!

Spoiler stuff will start here, it’s mostly detailed points to focus on where the issues are the most glaring. Early on the group is attacked by alien wolves in their base and a young child is mauled. You would think after the recovery this child would be an utter wreak and needing constant mental care? Nope she’s fine the next day acting as if there isn’t a care in the world. Her father isn’t dead, she hasn’t nearly died multiple times before this, and the world isn’t turned upside down as her fragile young mind struggles with making sense out of the apocalypse.

Our main character meets a group who is untrusting, shoots a guy terrorizing them within 2 minutes of being at their property and they decide to join him. You might say “well that guy terrorized them and killed their people.” This man just showed up and in the first few minutes, took the initiate to kill people. Would you not have concerns? Nope because everyone’s concerns end in mere moments.

We have an opportunity for a conflict character, soldier at a military base hates our main character because he’s a college kid made leader/baron. I can let that slide for early dislike, and other characters point out he’s an asshole. Our main character who is a college kid and social awkward believes that berating a man after deciding he doesn’t want him on his side “but will give him a chance” is a good idea. The soldier is naturally upset and ends of stewing over the situation. Yes there is a chance for opposition. In a world where main characters are perfect and completely agreeable we have opposition! Nope the guy is kicked out instead of playing along when he knows the rest of his people chose to go with this guy. As an adult you can read a room and tell when people agree with someone? Is this guy that unaware? He can’t tell the people cheering for him are on his side? This man would have been a perfect plant to spread seeds of doubt but no, he decides to try and stab him in the back and run for the door. How left field can you take something, it doesn’t even make sense that in a room of armed soldiers you would stab the leader and run for the door???? No one is doing that, I don’t care what you say, there isn’t a soldier who works at a missile silo making that decision. Do you realize the intelligence required for such a role? Yet this man’s lizard brain made that decision.

This book has a lot of potential but we need to see real conflict, someone has to question this guys leadership. The plot points go unexplained are kind of random, like how he can make a stronghold but no one else in his group could and he only met one other who was given the prompt? He knows about the invasion because of a message that was sent to everyone except people don’t know about it when the same prompt would have popped up worldwide? The perks are mostly ignored in their benefits to the point I have no real scale of his abilities. Yeah it’s mentioned early on but that’s it and he just spam heals himself to survive every situation. The most annoying thing though is the always right always smart, always better mc. It’s like how could others not understand attributes, so many people haven’t put points because they don’t understand it. Why not?? It’s not overly complex and I would have accepted people making poor decisions over, I don’t understand it… why not? What is strength??? Oh yeah it’s how strong you are. The mc just happens to do everything right and know everything because he plays video games.

I have 1 hour left and I don’t see this being remedied in an hour. It’s going to take a book to clean this up and I hope it’s simply early writing and the author just needs time to build some structure. The lack of character depth is what will be the death of this though, you can get by letting a lot fall to the wayside but paper thin characters who act as yes men don’t help the story progress and makes it a dull affair.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Awesome

Reviewed: 03-27-24

hurdle that has been in the making for several books is an almost perfect end. My only dislike is that it didn't let us see a glimpse of what he stepped back into when returning home.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

The journey continues

Reviewed: 01-04-24

The cast of interesting characters continues to grow and the story does seem to take a bit of time getting through a single extra quest. With the main characters life endanger we find ourselves rescuing someone from unpleasant engagements. I will say it felt as though not a lot happened with all the setbacks but we did get some interesting information and learned a great deal more about the world.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Fails to disappoint

Reviewed: 01-02-24

Excellent pacing and if your like me and only chose to read 1 series in this universe… you’re missing out, this series is meant to be read as a whole and in doing so you are given so much information on what is going on in the world. There’s a lot you learn about characters that can only be talked about briefly because they are not as deeply ingrained in the story of the other books yet. The narration, the story telling, and the over all world is fantastic.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Exceeded expectation

Reviewed: 12-28-23

What can I say, after reading Montana’s story I did not see myself getting interested in a new protagonist in this universe. I know can say that I was utterly wrong! This new story set in the same empire gives so much information about the events that without reading it would have left us in the dark. I am eager to continue and see what else I can find out about that’s been going on just outside of view.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

The developing plot

Reviewed: 12-26-23

The plot continues to build as people who were in the background of other books slowly find their way back into the story. This series continues to deliver on a thrilling and captivating adventure through what is honestly a fairly dark world. Our main protagonist goes through a lot and as he sees what is expected of him he only learns things will get harder. My only complaint and it’s been their since the beginning is the narrator needs to find his voice. A lot of scenes where the narrator imitates yelling when he should just yell. It kills the dramatics and shows how much better someone like Neil Hellegers can truly bring a story to life.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Excellent addition to the story

Reviewed: 12-07-23

This series continuous to get better as the world expands and the plot continues to grow. From fights to relationships and general world building, this series continues to hold my attention.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Setting

Reviewed: 11-20-23

It’s a interesting story that leaves me continuing for the sake of learning what’s going on but, nearly raped and murdered by goblins leads to befriending them? These pacifist protagonist stories are a bit wild.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!