Guy

Generic Power Fantasy

Reviewed: 05-11-25

It has an interesting concept, but doesnt use it well. The basic formula is: MC is shows up, is strong but hides his strength, gets underestimated and insulted by figure of authority, humiliates figure of authority. It repeats the trope over and over. Oh, and the stand in for the catholic church is laughably evil. Very original.

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2 people found this helpful

Middling

Reviewed: 03-13-25

Some parts of the story were well written and had me invested in the plot. At other points there was needless exposition and a boring side character PoVs that distracted from the main character. The main character's story is far more intriguing than the side characters, and even if they later meet up and form a lesbianic sexual relationship, I dont really care for them. In the beginning of the book, the plot framed itself as a monster evolution. That was completely ignored. Towards the end, it becomes very slice of lifey with brief moments of action.

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1 person found this helpful

Great Start of a Series

Reviewed: 11-20-24

The world is evocative and horrifying, with themes of gore, war, treachery, and existentialism. The main character's journey is a grim tale to follow, but is fine for people used to darker fantasy. The biggest issue the book has is that many of demons described are eldritch in form and hard to imagine. When combined with obscure demonic names that sound like random syllables stringed together, it can be hard to keep a mental image of who's who. There are light litrpg elements such as a stat system and skill evolutions, but they take up very little of the book.

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Copy and Paste Plot

Reviewed: 11-16-24

It reads like any one of dozens of cultivation books typical of the genre. Boy gets orphaned. Finds a talisman/item/ring/weapon that has a spirit. Spirit teaches them overpowered techniques. Boy uses techniques to get revenge on people that wronged him. They even included the trope of an overweight sidekick. It's all very banal.

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Strong start, boring ending.

Reviewed: 06-14-24

The beginning of the book was absolutely brutal and gore filled. That pace did not last the whole book. It became more of an adventure story with a mix of horror rather than a horror story with a mix of adventure. Towards the end it was pretty typical litrpg novel pacing and combat. It was very light on character development or witty dialogue with too much of an emphasis on 30 minute fight scenes. Overall it was fine, I guess, just not what the first few minutes had lead me to believe it would be.

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1 person found this helpful

Lovely, Dark, And Brutal

Reviewed: 06-04-24

A great story of an antihero necromancer pursuing vengeance, power, and hegemony. I greatly enjoyed that the MC was neither a mustachio twirling villain or an edgelord, but a cynic who lost their faith in the world. It makes their actions and motivations more believable.

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Genuinely one of the best audiobooks I've heard

Reviewed: 03-26-24

You sort of need to know basic cultivation tropes to understand what's going on, but if you do the story opens up to you and offers you something completely refreshing. I've sometimes wondered why traditional cultivation novels never go into cultures outside of chinese, why there is no "east meets west". This story wonderfully goes into an alternate version of cultivation while allowing room other cultures to be added in the future. Also, the audio is really is amazing. The actors/actresses (yes, there are multiple) did a great job.

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I just wanted to read a dungeon core book.

Reviewed: 12-14-23

Lots of lgbt sexualization and innuendo in a book nominally about a walking dungeon core. I ended up returning it a few hours in so I cant say if it's a constant theme throughout.

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6 people found this helpful

Grimdark Monster Evolution

Reviewed: 12-06-23

I tend to like monster evolution so I might be a tad biased but I found this book intriguing and innovative. It's major theme is pollution, waste, and loneliness. Being the last of his kind Fleabag tries to make his way in a world that seems determined to kill him with it's antipathy and exclusion, but survives, grows, and most importantly learns. I'm interested to see where the author takes the story in book 2.

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Fresh take on genre

Reviewed: 09-05-23

An interesting perspective on fantasy fiction. I enjoyed reading it and hope the author writes a sequel quickly.

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