Butler to a Core Lord: A Litrpg Apocalypse

De: Paul Perk

Narrado por: Jason Vu

Time Core versus Mind Core. See the future—or steal it.

Danny Taylor thinks he's just the butler. Then, his eccentric employer's apocalyptic predictions, impossibly, come true. In an instant, the Earth transforms into a ruthless world of magic governed by an unforgiving System. His master gains land and authority, but an unexplained afflictions renders him unable to rule his new kingdom.

Now the realm's fate rests on Danny's shoulders.

His master, Danny learns, is fleeing a mind-devouring demon from the future. Danny must find and kill this elusive enemy before it consumes them all, armed with a nascent but rare Time Core. Among his powers is the ability to return to the past and retrace his steps. But foreknowledge is a double-edged sword against a foe who can steal thoughts.

Danny must navigate a web of secrets, master his growing powers, and turn from prey to predator in a deadly cat-and-mouse chase across time and back.

Butler to a Core Lord is a litrpg apocalypse story featuring time loops and deck drawing mechanics. It is inspired in part by those rare science fiction and fantasy thrillers such as Death Note and Primer. This story contains fantasy violence but no adult content. Join Danny's rise from servant to savior!

©2024 Paul Perk (P)2024 Paul Perk

Unique and Well Written

I adore audio books and pry listen to around 100/yr

this series is looking to be a new gem 💎 for me

I love the unique card/core system so far and the enemy makes for great paranoia

A smörgåsbord of systems that comes together nicely.

My review is a bit of a stream of conciseness ramble, but I tried to group the thoughts a bit.

TLDR: The book tries to hit a lot of different angles. For the most part the author pulls it off. I enjoyed the story but it could be a deeper in places.

Cores, cards, classes, dungeons, and time loops. There are many different litrpg systems that play a role in the novel but it doesn't bog down the plot. Instead each aspect actually plays a pretty big role in providing a piece of the puzzle that drives the story.

The MC seems a bit timid and depressed in the beginning of the story which leads to a few frustrating decisions when it comes to his interactions with other characters and how he handles his time looping power. The MC does exhibit character growth throughout the novel and becomes more of a leader and settled in his role.

The supporting cast feels like its not fully fleshed out. For a system apocalypse novel there never really seems to be anyone that actually questions their new reality or freaks about it. After the first 8 hours or so of gaining magic powers and being attacked by monsters a few hundred people just act like it's business as usual.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story. Every time a portion of the plot was resolved I expected it to be the end of the story but there was always something more. The story is interesting but the world building could be a bit deeper. It feels like there is enough plot points for 2 or 3 books.

Who has Time?

The story is better than expected. I was a little concerned with any story with time travel. And this book has a lot of time travel. It's really busy and can be a bit overwhelming, but still told a decent story with an intriguing conclusion. Worth a read. A good standalone story, I think a sequel would ruin this.

Good Deck building Apocalypse book

The author kept me engaged in the story with a good pace/action and I liked the card system. I will be coming back for the 2nd book for sure.

That damn ending...

I had many issues with this story and the MC, still do to be honest, for much of the latter half of this book I would've been hovering somewhere around a 3.5~4 star rating...but that damn ending. Ok so there where many moment in this book where obvious solutions cropped up and while this is explained away eventually the fact that the MC never even consider a few of them had me banging my head against the wall. Honestly the actions of most of the primary characters annoys me even now, and even the final resolution was a bit off to me. And yet I find myself almost begrudgingly loving the conclusion to the story, once everything is out there and the whole picture is laid bare you see a masterful win along with a significant amount of character development from the MC along with a good ol' dose OPness that honestly hit me in a spot I'm a bit uncomfortable with. Objectively this is a slightly better than average LitRPG story....but I'm bias so I'll sing it's praise and say it's awesome.

Card time loop story.

The book was well written and well performed, but it wasn't for me. There is a constant state of being on the back foot and struggling for any advantages. Some folks may like this but it seemed like the whole book was consistently 'there's no way to win'.

Fun

A butler to an eccentric billionaire survives the apocalypse. He learns that his employer is embroiled in events far greater than he can ever expect and is using him as a secret tool to control events. He winds up having to jump backwards in time multiple times to try and get a handle on the situation. Ultimately, each jump in the past brings more and worse enemies. Seeing no true escape, he seeks to end this Cycle in a final climatic clash. He wins, but now must live, knowing that he isn’t who he thought he was, and that he will honor who he isn’t.

It’s an interesting listen with a great narrator. It’s got a unique world, magic system, and some interesting resting characters. I liked the book, please enjoy.

Genuinely disliked this book, because it's entirely without joy, fun, or hope.

I really genuinely disliked this book, because it's entirely without joy, fun, or hope.

This book was competently written, but it was over 20 hours of literally non stop self hate, self doubt, paranoia, depression, anxiety, and hopelessness. Every seeming victory, or progress, was in fact just another defeat. Literally hundreds of them. Thousands of them in the story, at least a hundred actually fully fought out in the text.

There was nothing whatsoever to relieve that at all... every moment of hope or victory was utterly dashed. there's was no humor, no honor, no joy, no light... nothing. Even at the very last, out of 20 someodd hours, there was about 90 seconds of... not even joy of victory, or real hope... not even satisfaction... just exhaustion, and MAYBE a little relief... punctured by doubt.

To quote Joss Whedon: "Make it Dark, Make it grim, make it tough, but then, for the love of God, tell a joke."

If I wanted that unrelieved darkness and misery, I'd read a much better book... Something by Cormac McCarthy for example.