Dawnfall

My Best Friend is an Eldritch Horror #5

by Actus

Not even the Void could hold Damien.

Damien’s return to Blackmist was victorious – but it wasn’t without price. Traces of the Void linger on, interwoven through his being. He learned much in his time spent within the space beyond time, but still ended up leaving with more questions than answers.

Henry’s former compatriots continue to advance their plans on the Mortal Plane, and Second’s power grows with every passing day. Everyone seems to have their own agenda, but the only thing Damien truly cares about is protecting himself and his friends.

When one of those friends goes missing in Mountain Hall, one of the other Mage Colleges within the kingdom, Damien decides that he’s done being a bystander. With Void magic pumping through his veins, he’s far from the scared student that first arrived at Blackmist.

And now, Mountain Hall is about to find out just how powerful he’s become.

Genres: Fantasy, Magic, Audiobook, Role Playing Games

380 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 25, 2023

About the author

Actus has been writing fantasy stories since the age of twelve, and he's been telling them since he could talk. He's currently working on three main series - Morcster Chef, Steamforged Sorcery, and My Best Friend is an Eldritch Horror. You can find his works on RoyalRoad & Patreon as well as on Amazon.

In addition to his passion for writing, Actus is capable of clearing a two story building with a single jump. That isn't true, but writing about himself in third person gives Actus delusions of grandeur.

Reviews

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This didn’t feel like a penultimate book, but I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing…

3.7🌟

[Roberto Flores · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is just a fast, fun ride.

It was over before I even realized. You just keep reading, the pace and the story beats just match perfectly. This might be a set up book, but you would never know by how engrossing it is.

[Michael Calvin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Significant step down in quality

This whole book was an anime filler episode about a revenge fantasy. The main character became an insufferable cocky asshat overnight, and spends the entire book beating up people weaker than him constantly and for no reason. I won't be reading the next one, and I'm glad I got this on Kindle unlimited because I would kick myself if I paid for this book.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is an enjoyable book, but it has many flaws as well. Specially in the beginning. For one, the author is not good at making his characters feel alive. At giving emotions or a personality. They feel one dimensional. Even the main characters do. They are just all too similar. Same humor, same reactions. It all blends together. I would suspect that Actus has projected a lot of his own humor and character into the book, but failed to create diversity. A sign for fading interest of the author for his story… maybe. That being said. It certainly is still very entertaining and I like the humor (that everyone shares). The plot is good and still hooks you and the hype moments didn’t let ip one bit. Maybe at this point I only keep reading cause Im invested. I‘ll have to see in the next book.

[Cassandra Lenzini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story progression, but could use another round of editing

Continuing the story and building on the list of characters, this book felt similar enough for continuity, but added to the protagonists growing power and abilities.

My only complaint (if you can even call it that) was that it lacked a final round of editing. Some grammatical errors, words in the wrong place and just random extra words sometimes all kind of broke the spell of reading here and there, but it wasn’t catastrophic.

Still worth the red and I’m looking forward to the next one!

[Cmoore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love the main characters, Damien and Selth. They make a great pair as they both continue to increase their power. And as for Henry the Eldritch Horror well he's actually a Hoot, strong yes, but a hoot in a weird twisted sorta way. In this story Damien and Selth go to different schools as exchange students to hopefully learn new techniques, strengthening their own ability as battle mages.
With plenty of action you'll wanna grab this audiobook to enjoy, as Peter Berkrot tells you a story!

[David Brideson · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you don't think about it too much it's a good book. However, the moment u start thinking about the interactions between students and teachers' things start getting really weird. You sort of have this situation where student hate teachers, teachers literally hate students. Then u get other situations where Kat acts differently almost friendly. Then u have situations where MC is super overpowered but acting lesser... but wait guys he's still training. It just all feels superficial, super fake, super weird. I can tell the series is taking a nosedive. in my opinion the student training arc is feeling really forced, just take him out of school have him join the military or something.

[George Rokkos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book, from an amazing author! One of the best books in the series, really enjoyed it. Damien and Sylph as usual were great. The world building of this book was awesome. The magic was super cool and really interesting. The other characters were great too! Great book can’t wait for the next one!

[David Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've only been getting the audio books so I'm glad to have finally gotten to this one! It was a little disappointing that the writing seemed to have been rushed or just lower quality overall for a good part of the book. It did finish strong and I just love the relationship style of Sylph and Damien.

[Sundeep · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a pleasant surprise that the book didn't have a climatic fight. We got to see more of the academies than I expected, even if Mountain Hall teaching methods were reprehensible. Sylph's task was really fun to read about and Henry's new form was cool! Damien losing important memories was unexpected, hope he gets them back or at least adds new ones.

[aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book five of this series was just as good as the prior four! Damien and Sylph end up going to some different colleges to get some different perspectives/training. While at Mountain Hall Damien is able to help a friend and meet an acquaintance of Delph who helps him grow even more during his time there. Another fun read!

[Scott Wozniak · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book slowed down, compared to the other books. The characters had a lot more side adventures, but there was very little progress on the overarching plot and thanks to their power growth very little that threatened them. So the stakes were lower and there for the book didn't have the same punch. Still fun.

[Flarpu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yjg

Gnkff hbdf hjlm jhfd bfdtk. Ik. Good hbdruu dsd should have been asked to be cleaned each day Frozen and the WHY not the Samsung is a priority for me to get to breast and buy a few things that 3

[Albert Pulido · Rating 5 out of 5]

a friendly cthulu and universe ending threats endured amongst friends

Just read it, you will not be disappointed.

Now, I’m just filling in the word count so my review gets posted… read it already

[Tom Petersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Angst

Plenty of teenage angst to go around. Fortunately the final25% or so was largely angst free. In my opinion the MCs are becoming too powerful, but rapid improvement of MCs if part and parcel of the genre. Tom out

[Richin109 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoy this series

I am really enjoying this series. This was more of a background type of book cleaning up a few points and setting up the next book, but it was enjoyable.

[MyDoRyS · Rating 1 out of 5]

Voice: 4 stars - Decent job, but some of the voices just sound the same.

Story: The idea was good but poorly developed. Too many segmented storylines, too much unnecessary convolution. Pitiful adults behaving like spoiled immature brats. Onto my next adventure, Happy Readings!!!

[Cari · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this one was quite a bit more enjoyable than the previous few. The plot didn't advance much, but I liked all of the new characters introduced. The writing quality remains to be pretty iffy, but it was easier to ignore in this book specifically.

[Johnie C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good read

I enjoyed reading this book very much and I recommend this book to anyone who likes LitRPG and progression type of books with lots of action

[Ray Ritchey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun!

Delightful read. Not much advancement in the arc, but setting the stage for major events. Lots of action and adding details to the back story / world.

[Scottt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book! I think this is my favorite in the series so far. A very fun read that flew by.

Is it just me, or are Sylph and Damien starting to resemble Yerin and Lindon?

[Bernard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing but short

I love thus series and can not wait for the next book. Shame it's short but still good. 5 stars

[Elatum D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the book as always.

It was a nice change of pace and continued the build up. Can wait for the next one

[Bim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good expansion of the story. Can't wait to read the next

[Nick Rizzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very OP and very comical my favorite

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story continues to be fun, but it does pretty quickly run into the problem of college age protagonist exhibiting more skill and power than century old teachers, which does annoy me.

[Ties · Rating 4 out of 5]

Appreciate this one slightly less, MC seems overpowered so there seem to be few actual stakes. Still entertaining.

[David Phipps · Rating 4 out of 5]

See my review for book 1 for my thoughts on the series as a whole.

[Nagendra Kumar Yadav T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed it

I thoroughly enjoyed it. One more book to go in this series. Looking forward to it. By this point, I will read anything Actus puts out.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

visiting other schools for a bit, slight change in narration