Save State Hero 1

Save State Hero #1

by William D. Arand

Have you ever woken up, rolled over, and thought to yourself, “I’m pretty sure I’m working for a Super Villain.”

If you haven’t, then maybe you’re not the type of person to work for a global corporation.

Edmund, however, is just such an individual.

He works for Legion. A corporation of unimaginable reach that he barely understands. A corporation that seems determined to put itself smack dab in the middle of a brewing civil war between Super Heroes and Super Villains.

That doesn’t even take into account the fact that the governments of the world don’t seem to be taking too keenly to Legion, either.

All of that is mostly irrelevant to Edmund though. He works for the company and does all he can to make sure they succeed.

From cleaning up after a bad operation and disposing of bodies, to providing hush money, getting rid of agents from opposing intelligence communities, or just helping an informant escape from a Super Villain. Edmund has done it all in the line of work.

That doesn’t fill up the entirety of his life, however.

The rest of it is trying to get a date with the woman he likes and looking out for his little sister, while hiding the fact he himself has a super power.

A super power that lets him save and load the world whenever he likes. As if it were a video game and subject to his personal whims.

At least, that’s what he thought in the beginning.

Genres: Fantasy, Harem, Urban Fantasy, Audiobook, Science Fiction, Artificial Intelligence, Superheroes

448 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 17, 2023

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the author's best book of the current generation of Runnerverse titles. The pacing was good, the MC has a bit of a stick up his butt, but it seems like a natural character trait.

Some of the repetitive relationship/weird talking to themselves things that these books are prone to is toned down, something that I found overdone to the point of filler in some recent books. I'm not certain where this book puts the series, as it's not final as of the end of this. I suppose it could be ended here, but that doesn't seem likely.

What's interesting is that the putative book that does finalize the Gotterdammerung doesn't necessarily need to center on Edmund and his power. On va voir.

[Dave Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

uninspired and unoriginal
I usually dislike William D. Arand books because they are morally repugnant. This one was just lacking in focus, direction, and a point.
It doesn't help that I'm still mad as hell about Super Sales on Super Heroes 5.
The main idea of this book has been done better.

**2 YEARS LATER**
Here's a funny thing. I remember liking this book and wanting to read the sequel, now the sequel is out. ...But when I started reading it, I couldn't remember ANY of these people.
No problem I'll just go re-read the first book, I liked it once didn't I?
But NO. This book is dull, so I checked my review at long-last... And I'd given it a TWO? Yup that's about what it deserves.
What made me remember it as a good book? That's the mystery haunting me.

[Jason Corinha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't like the MC

Couldn't bring myself to like the main character. The story was great if Very spoiler heavy (to be expected when he can turn back time I suppose). Good chunk of the book felt like you were in the theater to see a movie by a director you really enjoy and the fella sitting next to you spoiled the ending except it wasn't the ending it was in the middle because he does back to get a different ending. Then repeat and repeat before noticing you're only half way done with the movie.

[Matthew B. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Plodding, rambling, and ultimately pointless

There's not much to say. William Arand's books have been deteriorating ever since he decided to merge all his various stories into a single continuity. This one starts out with promise but Goes nowhere quickly, With an MC who, despite having the do over powers of a god, is unable to accomplish any of the goals with which he originally set out, most notably saving the popular characters Arand randomly killed off in his last novel. The plot veers wildly out of control multiple times as characters from other Novels drop in and lots of other characters die or have complete personality changes for no particular reason and at the end everyone who's still alive is much worse off than they were at the beginning.

[Jenn Pedersen-kahler · Rating 5 out of 5]

FINALLY!!!

The culmination of the Sovereign-verse is upon us! Woo-hoo!
You can tell Will put a lot of effort into writing this story.
He give us readers what we've been wanting for years. An answer to Runner's battle with Zeus!
So many favorite characters appear.

But at the same time Will weaves the story of Edmund minion of Felix from SSOSH 4&5. Edmund is a fantastic guy and it was so fun learning more about him.

Will somehow manages to balance both storylines and keeps Edmund engaging and interesting.
I'm so excited for the next in the series.

Thank you Will for the care you put into crafting and weaving this intricate conclusion series.

[Reiji · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to rate it higher but ...

In case you are new to the author, this is not a jumping on point or a new standalone series. If you think superficial namedrops and general outline of the overall conflict are good enough for you and you just want to see a guy do cool things via reload powers, this is still not the book for you.

Now on to the review.

We have a new protagonist and the new guys name is Edmund (last seen in super sales 5). Edmund is a pleasant enough fellow and I wanted to see more of his story. I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say Arand excels at setting up the premise and getting you interested and it might also be accurate to say the first book in the series is unfortunately often the best one.

When the book started I was kind of full of hope because it seemed like the author had decided to hunker down and actually craft something, dispensing with the mass produced feeling his works have been giving for the last couple of years. The feeling feeling faded fast.

It was mildly amusing to see the author get defensive and sock puppet characters to counter strawman criticisms of the 5th super sales book. Although not in the way the author intended.

Plot wise it's like if you started watching ironman 2 and midway it switched to avengers endgame or avengers grimm.
Oh and you can forget the summary : "He works for Legion. A corporation of unimaginable reach that he barely understands. A corporation that seems determined to put itself smack dab in the middle of a brewing civil war between Super Heroes and Super Villains."

There is not even a shadow of a civil war between sups in the book and "unimaginable reach" will have you rolling with laugher.

"That doesn’t even take into account the fact that the governments of the world don’t seem to be taking too keenly to Legion, either."

This amount to nothing beyond Edmund sitting in a car on standby. Felix might be fighting CIA or whatever but it's far in the background. Basically nothing happens that did not happen in book 5 of super sales and in that most of the world was eating out of Felix's hands.

"From cleaning up after a bad operation and disposing of bodies, to providing hush money, getting rid of agents from opposing intelligence communities, or just helping an informant escape from a Super Villain. Edmund has done it all in the line of work."

Edmund does non of that. There is only 1 instance of him picking up a body in a case and then on the next rewind he gives Faith enough info so the person in the case never ends up dead in the first place.

Edmund : like I said I was interested in seeing Edmund develop. He was bit too quirky but who would not be with his lifestyle. He starts out as a stubborn guy who feel like he has to go at everything alone. A bit of a daredevil who does not want to die but also won't seem to mind if it happened. He cares deeply about people around him until he judges them to no longer be "real" once he decide to reload. Basically slightly less extreme than your average GTA run, too bad author took him from us Around the halfway point Edmund has bunch of ecos dropped into him, ecos of lifetimes and experiences we never saw him live and while they are somewhat curtailed they still bleed into his life and have an affect on him, so the guy who got to know in the first half of the book is essentially gone/in danger of being overwritten. Im convinced it mostly exists to explain the characters eventual shift to polygamy.

The Relationships :

Edmund's sister Earlin likely the most unbelievable part of the whole thing. Earlin is stuck in a bad situation and Edmund has to crank up the lampshading to maximum to try to explain away why he the seeming master of time who works for legion and is friends with its leadership can't somehow take away his sister from this situation. The best they can do is stop school bullies. The explanation that is settled on is that she told him she wanted to go with him and would do so when the time was right and has been saying so for the last 4 years (so like since she was 8 or something) and instead of spending a lot of time digging into the cause of this or just saying "F this noise. I know whats best" he abides by her decision and leaves her in a Trailer Park with a crackhead mom and anger issues dad. Oh and by the end of the book she goes to prison because there is seemingly some conspiracy against her for some reason and not even legion can do anything unless Edmund is there to hold their hand. Now this story having a "time travel" aspect can mean Edmund himself told his sister to stay put so he can eventually get to the "true ending". you know like in cursed Childe where harry potter walks away as his parents are being killed (famously well received story decision /s ) but Edmund actions make no sense to me within the context of the book.
Rome: Romina is allegedly the main girl (at least in Edmund eye). She and Edmund are friends but when Edmund find the courage to ask her out she rejects him because she does not want to "damage their friendship". Edmund takes months to get over it, without really getting over it and then is assigned 2 consultants (wings and wizard) whom are obviously hot which makes Romina jealous because Edmund no longer priorities her in everything and she reevaluates her choice and since Edmund was not really over her he goes for it but since the multiversal war will be lost if he is not there to save scum, he reloads before they take the plunge and leaves for the missions.
Wings: Devan is the girl on the cover. She is also a vampire btw (the one from Right of Retribution) its never a factor and by the end she has her vampirism removed as a byproduct of dimension hopping. She is introduced as a hothead who rushes into a situation overwhelmed by her own power and dies bunch of times until she is saved. Then she drops out of the book until the final 30% were she becomes a main companion, kind of by default. Edmund saves her again but this time its extra special because according to the "grand plan" she was meant to die this type for real. Its also revealed she in general hopes to have kids but had doubts about it ever happing because of her undead nature.
Wizard: Dot instantly starts crushing on Edmund because I guess she sees him for the special boy he is and because he called her by the name he heard about in another reload. Wings starts aloof, always busy with something,etc but Wizard is there for Edmund and even confesses her feelings but he does not feel the same way so now the positions are reversed with him being in Romina' place. Dot dies on the secret mission in the "original timeline" which motivates Edmund to reset his happy ending even before he learns about battle of the "gods"
Vegetation: Vegetation is a girl Gaia and dryads throw at Edmund because "they know whats best" and like medieval lords they feel that friendship is good but bonds of marriage are better. He does not take the bait. The end. But in a lot of the Ecos it turns out they spend hundreds of years together and Edmund also takes a modified seed from her tree which stays with him throughout the reloads, gives him regeneration and suppresses his mental damage . So a non character, version of which brings high utility.

The power is interesting, in theory the character has to use his smarts because he is physically average and cant bench-press a car. Powers and plot in execution : WHY? It's a nice and simple power. He can save the state of things and then reload. He has limited slots and going too far into the past is damaging to his health. He gets tired with each save and reload so theoretically he can be cornered into an unwinnable situation. Why do you need so much more?

Let there be more said Arand and there was more.

Wild cards: Sometimes when MC reloads things play out differently without his impute. Don't think about it. It's used selectively and mainly one time to showcase the phenomena.

Storage issues and the others: If MC overuses his powers he ends up in a void where save states of all humanity are located and has to delete them to keep the server from overheating or he will burn for millennia (without ever dying). Also there are others with similar powers who will see him and come after him, if he overuses his powers. (The others never come)

Possession: He may load into other peoples save states. Never actually used in the book and also kind of selective since its said he won't be able to load into wing's save.

Ecos: Im not sure how Ecos work. Ecos are Edmund other lives, which he did not live. To my understanding Edmund is a singular existence like Felix and the other chosen. Ecos make sense if he lived those lives, reloaded too far and somehow lost his memory but if the story takes place in the "now" I don't get Ecos from the future.

Multiversal death: This one makes sense. MC power is not actually a time travel, rewind. He loads saves in a game. If you remove a texture file from the game, all loads will have the same issue.

Side note: He has a Felix in one save state where Felix lost more than Andrea and the one where Edmund saved the others, so in my understanding both Felix's are one Felix and his memories/location depend on if Edmund choses to load the save or not. In a way Felix in this state has unlimited points, he mods a seed for Edmund and Edmund decided to try to get unlimited seeds. Which turns the save red. Note: This does not actually prevent him from forming this exploit as many times as he wants with a relatively low cost because he can load a safe save state and lead it to the same point, he gets spooked by possibility of information loss.

Red/Blue/Gold saves/Unsavable zones/Information loss: Midway we get Red saves and information loss. Red saves are unstable saves loading of which can cause information loss and/or break the save so it can only be loaded once but once it loads he can instantly create a new save and it will be fine unless something is borked in the system (so whether the plot/author wills it or not).

Information loss is when after a reload not all things are reset, anything from small things to whole worlds gets lost during the reload and it generally depends on the scale of the things that had to be changed. Ok, so don't load red, right? Well around the 70% mark MC is fighting in a fight were both he and Runner might die for real and enemy attacks damage his perfectly fine saves and turn them Red. He also enters zones where no new save states can be added, which goes away in other area when the plot wants it.

Future sight ? : Also around the 70% mark MC out of nowhere (Claire gives it to him without explaining what it does or anyone knowing its there until he discovers it by accident) develops the ability to have future sight which tells him what will happen 5-10 seconds into the future, with slippage into minutes or days. He gains control of this ability and put the fear of Edmund into skipper.
He defeats Skipper and drags her mind into the "far future" months/so long he develops a split personality. Except in this future they are pinned in place, Devan moves in the background but they do not. When he starts the action he is so burned that his skull is exposed and he has a gunshot wound in his leg, it would be reasonable to conclude that if he does not move than he will die, so how does he have a future to see? It acts more like time time dilation but that is not how it acted before, so I guess another 11th hour power which he did not really need.
Now maybe like me you are wondering, why? Does the author intend to redeem Skipper via such torment or what? Nope, Edmund just stabs her once he comes out of it. Note he did not lose control of his new found power, he pushed to do it this way so why would he do it to himself? What was the point? Bit of catharsis for readers who have seen skipper in other books? K but how does it make sense from Edmund's POV?

At the end of the war Ryker is dead and Dot has switched sides. Plus Ryker was the only one who may have found a way to return Andrea so despite having won by a skin of his teeth, Edmund decides to reload. Pick up the next book where you may or may not see how that goes.


Ultimately I was left displeased with the story and its execution. Some of the things I spoke of can be explained away/fix by follow up books but Im not going to wait around for years for the story to become retroactively somewhat ok. Especially if the author drops the key aspects in some other series.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really hope this isn't a reskinning of the author's previous characters from his other series. Getting real fed up of that crap.

The author tried his hand at time looping. I didn't enjoy this much.
The author tried to stay away from the harem aspects as much as possible, and that is commendable, but it isn't the problem.

The problem is how all female love interests across different series are cardboard cutouts of each other. Who just have a different paint jobs. Then the protags are almost all the same person. The same female issue was kind of resolved, but the protag acting the same, and using almost the same dialogue and thought patterns as other protagonists in the other books are beyond annoying.

Will probably read the sequel. But with how things are going, I don't see these "multiverse" books ending smoothly.

2.5/5 Stars

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edmund Saves the World (repeatedly)

Edmund has a unique power: he can "Save" the state of the world and reload it later. Mostly he's just been using it to slowly build some wealth on the stock market, go on vacation, and fix little things for certain people in his life. His sister Earline for one, though she won't let him do much, and his not-girlfriend, Romina.

This is also an Avengers-style novel that brings together the author's other universes as we go after the big bad of the universe: Zeus.
If you haven't read any of the other series, this book might not mean as much to you.


Giant spoiler first: Srit is free and Zeus gets defeated! Woohoo! Except that the last of the book has our hero reloading an earlier save state to try to go from an "okay" ending to a great one. The final bit of the novel is him reviewing all the badness with Runner so he can go fix things.

Through the course of this novel, we learn that Edmund has a sister, Earline, who for some reason doesn't want to leave their abusive parents. Edmund is not-dating Romina a Legion Streamer. He is in the friendzone and finally asks her out, only to be rejected. He takes some time to himself (via save states) to try to get over it. Then the novel kicks into gear and Romina quickly finds herself missing him, potentially due to the large amount of beautiful women around him.

Ryker drops off Dot (from his Dungeon Deposed series) and Aline (from Right of Retribution series) to join him on some adventures. They quickly have one that requires Edmund to use many reloads to save them both from repeated deaths. Along the way, he learns things about them (such as their full names and nicknames), that help speed things along, since no one else has knowledge of these save states.

Saving the world too many times in a row ejects him from his body into a Save State nexus where he meets Oz who helps him learn about all this, and opens up more Save States for him. Oh he also explains that when Edmund reloads, sometimes there is "information loss" such as people, planets, and/or a universe being erased from existence.

Eventually we catch up to the events of Super Sales on Super Heroes 5 where Andrea dies/is erased from existence. When Edmund reloads prior to her death, she is dead there too. She is dead everywhere. Oz explains she is irretrievable. Felix is still distraught, but since Felix is Edmund's hero (having picked him up, given him a job, and gotten him moving in a better life in SSoSH 4-5), he is going to become Felix's hero and save Andrea - one of the big reasons to reload at the end.

After that battle, Dot and Aline warn him that THE mission is upon them and they might not see him again. He lets them go, meets up with Romina, they become a couple, get his sister out of jail, and then gets a call from Ryker. Mission was a failure, everyone dead or dying. Dot asked Ryker to tell Edmund thanks. There's an explosion and the line goes dead.
Edmund calmly spends a bit more time with Romina and Earline, then reloads and goes on THE mission instead.

He makes a difference, but now Ryker dies. Claire (Ryker's original wife who has been on Zeus' side forever) loses it, but after many reloads Edmund offhandedly tells her to chill out he's trying to save Ryker. She drops everything, comes to him and finds out about his powers, then upgrades them. He finds out what that means shortly when he and Aline proceed to the next stage of the plan (hunting down Zeus). At this point Srit (Runner's AI Wife who had previously been imprisoned by fighting with Zeus) steps in for Oz to help Edmund.
Edmund and Aline go through many portals and then while she is fighting Zombies, Edmund sees the future and tells her to move, which saves her from becoming Zombie chow. Srit and Edmund figure out he now has future vision. Edmund saves Aline a few more times, then they go toward a dark room that has... Skipper (Original Bad Gal from SSoSH and Zeus devotee). Skipper's power involved seeing into the future, so she could just not be wherever the bad things were, making her seem unbeatable. She starts freaking out since Edmund can see the future and the future is her getting killed over and over. Eventually, Edmund makes that a reality, by trapping her in a series of longer and longer future views, then snapping awake and stabbing her with her knife repeatedly, until Aline chops her head off.

Next up is a Rest Area (which is Felix's homeworld/server), but in the original plan Ryker assumed Aline would die while Edmund got away from Skipper. This is great for Edmund as he has someone to help him recover. Then he and Aline go on a bunch of silly seeming missions, but ultimately equip them with the tools to destroy Zeus. Edmund does the thing, but isn't happy about it.

When he gets back to everyone, he finds out that everyone went their separate ways and no one is really thrilled with Runner. They mostly want nothing to do with him now. Runner might have been the reason for the fight, but Ryker was the glue.

With all this in mind Edmund decides to reload and go for a better run.


I can't wait to see what comes next.

[Eva ~ Forgotten Daydreams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love this author's stories, be it under Arand or Darren name. But I struggled with this one. It both went too slow and too fast. If that makes sense?
I love Edward as a character, but I did not enjoy being in his POV. He is all side character energy to me. I love the concept of his power, but it was not the most thrilling tale in this universe. And while we saw Zeus defeated, nothing else ended well really?

I think this is the lowest star rating I have given an Arand/Darren book - but I did finish it, and at some moments I started to get into it.
Maybe the second book for this character will be better? I am holding out hope for that. Maybe it just needed a set-up book and the next one will be more entertaining and satisfying.

[Devan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow at first but gets good in the end

I struggled with this at first. My biggest hurdle is that I found Edmund’s powers lackluster and boring. All the other MCs in the multiverse have flashy intriguing powers, but Edmund’s was disappointing at first. The more I read the more I began to enjoy it. I’ll be honest the powers don’t really start to shine until the end. Which I loved.

What really made this cool was the intertwining of all the multiverse heroes and their stories. I loved how complex and nuanced the story was. Especially the different hells that Edmund briefly visits.

I give the first half 3 stars and the last quarter 5 stars.

[John E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very bizarre until story

Not really sure how to even to start to review this. Super powers, check. Super villains, possibly. Otherworldly beings, check. Confusing story, check. Overall, I feel like I am not sure what happened nor what will be next. The scene jumps are confusing and even the MC is confusing in that his super power is more complex than being able to reset the world to a saved state similar to having saved progress in a video game. The side characters and names and abilities, just as confusing. At this point, I sort of want to know what happens next but the story cohesiveness just didn't work for me.

[William Howe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the idea

And the execution isn’t terrible. But it’s a little too chaotic for me to follow.

It ties in with Super Sales on Superheroes without using most of the main characters.

I think that’s really the problem for me. Because it is inserting sideways into a different series, it feels more like shorthand. As if shortcuts are being taken. Not least of which, because many of the characters are already at global altering power levels.

This is just not a great place to start reading.

[Forrest · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars rounded down.

The MC keeps insisting he isn’t going to have a harem. He’s totally gonna have a harem.

The MCs powers change like Superman‘s. They are whatever the plot needs them to be for the moment and they don’t work whenever we need to add tension. Because reasons.

The last 20% of the book was so all over the place, I felt like I was reading a fever dream.

I considered rounding up to 3 stars, but 2 is my rating for books when I was able to finish, didn’t HATE it, but don’t intend to read the next one.

[Dannan Tavona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Final Arc

Alternate universe, portals gate travel, multiple realities, adult situations

Edmund, a supporting character in the Super Sales series suddenly becomes the MC. A lot of crossover with over a dozen stories all interconnected with the original trilogy. Missing pancakes. Definitely not done, so the start of a new trilogy? If you like any of the other books by Arand or his alter-ego, you should buy and read this, preferably after at least reading the majority of the trilogy sets already completed. Awaiting Save State Hero 2.

[Donny · Rating 3 out of 5]

i had fun with the beginning. But.

Then we got into the big fight all of the sovereign verse has been heading towards. Something i have come to care less and less about as the books continue on.

I just want that to be over. and from the end of this book, it is going to be dragged on more and more.

My enthusiasm has waned. Heck - i already put off reading this book for awhile after it was published. It just feels like the author has trapped themselves with the overarching story. I want them to finish it up to free their creativity,

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

very interesting power

I enjoyed the story, but very obviously much more to tell. I would like him to expand on some of his relationships though.

The save state hero power is very interesting- I hope he can find the perfect ending for everyone.

Looking forward to the next one in this series because he has a ton of stuff to save/fix

Girlfriends, family, friends etc.

Anyways hopefully the next installment comes quickly.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yipeeee

MORE!!! While I was surprised that Edmund was our MC for this series, it was a fun ride as always. The characters we've come to love have come together to bring it to a close. There were some who did not make an appearance, at least not yet maybe next time. I smiled, I laughed, I teared up. What more could you ask of your story teller. Thank you kind Sir you have become one of my all time favourite writers.

[John Vislosky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this author a lot but the issue here and what has made me miss a few books is the universe is connected and I can't remember all the plots and characters. This book combines them all with no backward reference. Do not read unless you have read or refreshed everything recently because the book will seem confusing and more hallow.

That being said character development is amazing. I just wish I found and read every series more recently.

[M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great writing, but I got motion sickness trying to follow the story.

So much was happening in this story that I think my brain melted as my Kindle Unlimited software indicated that I had made it 21% of the way through.

I have quit reading. I am now going to try and find some acetaminophen. :-)

*The author is a genius to be able to write a story like this. I am not a genius reader, unfortunately.

[Michael Longenecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know a book is awesome when...

Every answer leads to more questions. Every plot point pulls you deeper. As a gamer, I couldn't help but be engrossed in every moment of this book, constantly thinking about how I'd do things differently, only to read the same thoughts from the protagonist. Hard to put down, this book has risen to my top 5 of Will's works.

[James Riley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book, meh ending

I actually really liked this book. There are a few convoluted parts, but, all in all, it's quite good. That is until the ending. It's not bad per se, it's just unfulfilling. It left, me at least, with many questions. I hope there will a be a sequel that will clear up loose ends.

[Norman Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where's Alric?

Seriously, where's Al?
Is Ed the man in the space suit at the beginning of another book? Arggggg, this book needs to be retitled "The Reflex" because...
-Lonely child in the park? Check
-In charge of finding treasure in the dark? Check
-Bizarrely watching over lucky clover? In progress
it gave so many answers with question marks?? Check check check

[Oscar Robbins · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent and non standard for the genre..

This is a really good book by Eric. The MC’s secret ability to creat a ‘save state’ for the world is built up over time. What I really liked was that consequences can occur.. and he can’t save everyone all the time. I’ll be reading the next one!

[John #Audible · Rating 2 out of 5]

First off, Stephanie does a great job in the voice acting department for what she was given to deal with. Second, this MC is a total YA that needs to grow the hell up and no matter how many times he hits the reset button for a do over, he doesn't learn or grow. On top of this, you have the repetitiveness in the book you need to deal with.

[Bobby Nichols · Rating 4 out of 5]

Confusing

I usually enjoy Arand's books, though this one left me more confused than not. There isn't a happy ending. There isn't a bad ending. Just an... ending. A bit anticlimactic.
I do like the main character, though. He's interested. Jaded, hopeful, carrying, and resistant in a number of ways. It's very different than usual.

[Phil Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent for about 65% of the book

Starts well, carries on well, about 65% of the way through it all goes sideways hard like the author wanted to start writing another story and tried to mash them together. Massively disjointed, deus ex scenarios left right and centre and main char becomes a side character riding the plot.

[Laura Verderber · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Wild, Confusing Ride

It was really enjoyable getting to know Edmund more. And I loved seeing all the characters from the other books, especially Felix, Andrea, and Rene. Warning: Try to read all the books of the connected universe in order, not this one as your first offering of William D. Arand. Things will make a lot more sense.

[BrianD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome!

This was better than I even expected. I’m looking forward to all the convergences, but more than even that, there’s a growth to the MC I wasn’t quite expecting. Can’t wait for book 2!

[Mitchell kaiser · Rating 5 out of 5]

William doesn’t miss

In order to understand what’s going on in this book, you have to read all of his other books first. Once you do that this becomes a masterpiece and I hope for more! I can’t imagine how difficult it was to write something like this, bravo!

[Justin Chesnut · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well now...

The Sovereign-Verse endgame is just a stepping stone, and Edmond will pave the way.
Lore, cameos, things will happen.
Some characters are known, some are well known.
Catch up on Super Sales and you'll be ready for this keystone.