Proving Grounds

Annals of the Runeguard, Book 1 (The Annals of the Runeguard)

De: Tom Elliot

Narrado por: Giancarlo Herrera, Hannah Schooner

A heroic epic of one man and his fight for survival.

Dace Tolman’s life has been overturned. One moment he was in his apartment and the next, he and the rest of humanity find themselves in a strange world of monsters and magic.

A new world.

There is nothing benign about mankind’s new home. The Proving Grounds is a world seemingly designed to enhance those worthy of its gifts—and to kill off the rest. Every day is a struggle against the System and its creatures. Can Dace survive its challenges?

Endless opportunities for advancement and power.

Join Dace on his epic journey as he is forced to deal not only with the System, but humanity’s own internal conflicts.

The start of an exciting new epic portal fantasy!

This is a story not only of monsters and dungeons, but also of factional struggles, guild politics, and human foibles.

©2024 Tom Elliot (P)2025 Royal Guard Publishing LLC

interesting first entry

if you liked The Grand Game, also by Tom, then you should also enjoy this series. This novel basically entirely takes place in the "noobie zone" and is a good introduction to this new system. MC can be a little overly aloof and frustrating but I can already tell he's going to be a beast

Group interactions

Combat was good. Having a male and female voice was great for dynamic as well. Definitely a great mission faction is on.

Meh

Story was very mediocre in every sense the only really bad thing is the author falls into the trap of making the main guy unable to put 1 and 1 together

Great Start

I really love the grand game, and this has a similar feel. The different narrators do the story justice and I actually look forward to the rest of the story when normally I’m hesitant to read other stories from a writer until they finish the ones that catch my attention. I’m glad this is an exception.

Very good story

I didn’t care for his dependence on others specifically that asshole guild leader i assumed he would be a soloist given class. If ur going to make him have to party with a guild why not the moral one that was trying to help improve the lives of the townspeople instead of the selfish asshole guild leader?Any still good listen and I would recommend

Great for Litrpg

By the standards I have for litrpg this book is excellent. If you really care about pacing or proper world building, this isn’t for you.

Not Mage, Not Crafter: A Guardian Build Rises

This book is better than it appears. It portrays a world abruptly dragged into an intergalactic war, where inhabitants must endure the training grounds with scant guidance. Among those who pick combat builds, most opt for mage classes, while many others choose crafter roles. Defying the mage heavy combat trend, the protagonist goes for a fighter build, evolving into a protector like figure with abilities reminiscent of a paladin. He’s dominant in some scenarios yet exposed in others, setting the stage for compelling growth in future books.

Pushover

Midway and I'm frustrated and how much of a pushover the character is in regards to a certain party, or how much he seeks them out even though he's generally treated like dirt.

idiot mc

The m c is fairly stupid almost completely unable to see the blatantly obvious.

Not as good as The Grand Game

I gave this series a shot because I’m really enjoying The Grand Game so far. Unfortunately, this isn’t nearly as good.

I can’t get behind the protagonist, he has the personality and mannerisms of a knight (which I assume is what the author was going for) but it doesn’t make sense given he’s from the modern era. Nobody in this day and age talks this way. He’s annoying from chapter 1 and a bit of a crybaby.

That being said, I do enjoy the fact that he’s not afraid to do what needs to be done. And takes care of fights without wallowing for half a chapter. Nothing infuriates me more than a decent protagonist crying about having to take a life. So, bonus points for that.

The narration is also not for me, the system messages are a bit too grating and I find myself tempted to skip through them just to get past those parts.

All that aside, the world building has potential, I might continue with the kindle version, but the audible bit isn’t for me.