A heroic young Earthling continues his adventures beyond the realm of the living in the thrilling third installment of this action-packed fantasy series.
Victor has seen better days. He just barely survived a savage showdown with the lethal warrior woman Rellia, which left her minus a foot and apparently cost him the life essence of his trusted magical axe, Lifedrinker. Then, much to Victor’s surprise, Rellia asks him to visit her. And she does so not as an enemy but as an honorable opponent who owes him for sparing her life. Rellia wishes Victor’s aid in claiming her family’s land stake in a dangerous far-off realm. In return, he’ll receive his own land and a place among the elite.
But first, Victor must become even more powerful than he already is. To that end, he ventures into the wilderness, battling foes of every conceivable stripe in both the mortal and the spiritual realms in a never-ending storm of blood, and eventually uncovers a shocking truth. It turns out, he didn’t simply stumble into the world of Fanwath. He was deliberately brought there by a cabal of magic users with their own sinister plans.
Now, Victor must find the cabal, learn why they stole his former life away from him—and make them seriously regret it . . .
Plum Parrot is the pen name of author MC Gallup, who grew up in Southern Arizona and spent much of his youth wandering around the Sonoran Desert, hunting imaginary monsters and building forts. He studied creative writing at the University of Arizona and, for a number of years, attempted to teach middle schoolers to love literature and write their own stories. If he's not out walking his Airedale Terrier, you can find Gallup writing, reading his favorite authors, or playing D&D with friends and family.
Spirit Hunter offers a thrilling instalment in the series, filled with intense action and surprising alliances. As Victor's story unfolds, it's clear that this arc is winding down while hinting at an exciting new arc in the next book. The addition of spiritual elements adds depth, and the revelation of Victor's purpose in Fanwath sets the stage for future intrigue.
This series really hit its stride with this book. I do have a couple of annoyances here and there, but overall I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more.
I really enjoyed the nomad arc. The author paints a really interesting and engaging world with the spirit realm, the people, the culture. I thought the spirit quest was excellent. I love that element of the series.
The progression in this book was solid, not just magically, but also with the MCs character. Though I am still unsure as to why Victor would so easily agree to be a pawn in this conquest scheme, I do feel better about understanding why he wouldn’t just settle down in the admittedly pretty content life of the nomads and those he loves there. My only annoyance with this aspect of the story was the overly drawn out flirtmance with the hunter woman. Sure, understandable he’s not the kind of guy to start a relationship with someone who doesn’t do flings and whose real feelings are involved if he simply intends to leave at some point. But Lord, I got that after the first conversation they had, didn’t need the half dozen subsequent ones. Made this whole episode seem juvenile.
Though I really appreciate finally getting around to settling old scores with the necromancer, the summoners, the noble guy who crushed his core, and the pit fighter guy, I don’t appreciate how some of those played out.
For one, again in the story, we understand why Victor doesn’t take out the pit fighter guy because he needs to be able to legally free his slaves and this plays into Victor’s character arc of being in control of his urges, but I still felt underwhelmed and disappointed by that. I think the author could have served the logical aspect of the story, served the progression of the MC’s character, and also given us the payoff by simply having Victor buy out the guy’s debt then put him under contract and then put him into a pit fight. That would have been epic.
With the necromancer, it seems like Victor stumbled into it. The original plan was to assault the dungeon with a powerful party to deal with him and his minions. But after taking out that guy in the spirit realm instead, he then gets upset about it when people still want to go ahead with the plan. I have no comprehension why MC was upset here. The author threw a line during the spirit walk where the necromancer was killed, that MC was tired of not being able to do things on his own. I think this was meant to be the motivation as to why he gets upset. To me, it doesn’t make sense still. There’s still the minions in the dungeon and at this point he doesn’t even know if he actually did kill the necromancer. So he gets mad and leaves for the nomads with his friends, and then stumbles upon one of the minions and by this encounter ensures it’s all settled. I hate when authors do this. This only worked out because the author knew what he planned to write, he had two points and drew a line between them. But it doesn’t make sense MC would do what he did without knowing this threat was truly dealt with.
This pattern continues with the core crushing noble. The guy had already sent assassins to kill him. The guy has proven any pieces of MCs core he still may have, can be used to track MC. It is so risky, logically, to then take his friends to the nomads and possibly lead powerful assassins to them. But again, the author knows how he’s going to deal with this noble (and throw in the summoners) later in the book, so it’s not a problem. But it is logically inconsistent.
Despite all I said there, that doesn’t come close to changing my overall perception of the book as great. That’s what five stars to me is, great.
The magic system is fantastic in its simultaneous simplicity and complexity. It’s relatively simple with a core with one or more affinities, likely no more than four, and the few spells for each of them you can learn. But what’s so cool is that you can then use these spells with power from other affinities for different effects. You can even weave the power of more than one affinity to create new spells and uses for the magic. This platform allows the author to have a system we can all easily follow and understand and yet use it in imaginative directions. It’s truly one of the most impressive magic systems I have seen yet. It’s also bolstered by not being top heavy, with the gaps between tiers being strong but not god versus bacterium strong, more like a billionaire and homeless dude.
The characters might be a weakness to a degree. Though I think the author is top tier in their ability to write interpersonally, and to bring genuine smiles to my face, I think Victor’s motivations are still too vague. I have a guess as to why that may be, I’ll get into that in a moment. But also the women in his life seem to be all interchangeable to a degree, basically different versions of the same character repeated over and over with even the same progression of interpersonal interactions. Seriously we have the pit fighter girl who died, the pit fighter girl who replaced her, then the mine captain woman and mine girl, then Talia, then the hunter girl, and now the second captain woman. Like, let’s give MC a male friend please? The whole First Ax dude from last book was awesome, but MC was around him for one single day. This issue has the potential to undermine the series if it’s not addressed.
As for what I hinted at before, I think the biggest hole in the MC’s character build and background is his motivation for his rage core. What is in him that is the source of that rage? Something to do with his mother perhaps? But what about his father who I don’t believe has ever been mentioned a single time? In this book, we hear that the summoners used a flesh sample from some person in an academy to summon Victor. Presumably a powerful instructor, and that they were disappointed with what they summoned, being a magicless Victor from Earth. I think the reason the author hasn’t explored these obvious gaps in Victor’s story, such as the source of his rage and what happened to his parents, is that the author is saving this for a big reveal down the line. That this sample came from Victor’s father. I just don’t know if it’s a mistake to withhold the motivation part so much as I’ve pointed out the problems that’s raised with me with regard to MC’s decision making.
I said in my earlier reviews that this book had the foundations to be great, and with this book, I feel like we stepped into that potential. I can only hope it continues.
Somewhere along the way during this book I came to the realization that Victor is a genuinely kind person.
Sure he has to kill, and maim his enemies, but he's a victim of circumstances. What I meant is that Victor goes out of his way to see the good in people, and give them his trust where they haven't shown any reason to be untrustworthy. Not to say that Victor is naive, as he definitely seems more wary after having been burned in the past; but he WANTS to form strong, trusting relationships.
Add on to that the fact that Victor has a strong sense of Justice which is built upon in this book with his actions. For instance; spoiler, but not really... he finds a way to free the slaves from the pit he was forced to fight in as of book 1. He didn't NEED to help those people, but he knew it was the right thing to do. He went out of his way to get it done. When things weren't so black & white as far as "kill the person in charge"; he found a way to make sure the people in question were truly FREE free, and even offered them employment, or some money to help get back on their feet.
That's one of the driving factors that keeps me SO invested in this series thus far. Victor is a good person, and he tries his darndest to stay that way. I really enjoy [astronomically!!] a Latino main character, and as a Latino myself it's nice to finally get some representation.
The second book was significantly worse than the first. I wrote that off, and apparently I made a huge mistake in doing that. This book was even worse than the second. First of all, this is clearly not a litrpg at all anymore. Seriously, how much did that play a part in this book? Exactly. Next, our big bad immortal lich just gets killed out if nowhere. All that plotline buildup and unnecessary disappointment. It's so clear the author had no idea what to do with that, and the story suffers. If you were going to kill off the necromancer, you should have done it when they entered the second dungeon. Instead, you annoyed your readers by delaying that and then "corrected" it after you realized your mistake by offing your big, built up antagonist out of nowhere and with no build up or anything.
The rest of this has just been.... unsatisfying. No vengeance. All that effort and build up from book one, just washed away as if it doesn't matter. I won't be reading anything more from this author. So much potential wasted. Feel bad.
The last 2 books were okay, 3.5 stars each I thought i would tough it out and continue on but this book was just so boring.
The skills and levelling don’t make any sense, is it a cultivation novel or a LITrpg, why doesn’t he cultivate only when he has to? What skills does he even have? .
Not only did the author kill off one of the main villains early. it was the most ridiculous piece of lazy writing I’ve read in a while. He literally killed him in a dream because some old lady said he could? Just a complete waste of time building the arc up in the previous iteration’s to have him die like that.
I really wanted to continue to see if the author improved but I guess I just don’t like his style of writing; not to put anyone off they might enjoy it; sadly it wasn’t for me
A spirit walking juggernaut of titanic rage is making waves
Victor has stubbornly continued to push forward, growing in strength, will, reputation, skills, wealth, and power but it’s the friends who love him and that he loves that truly motivate him. He’s more than just a mad berserker in love with battle and fighting, right? This was a great arc of Victor’s story as his knowledge and levels grow as he explores his bloodline and this world further as a free man. Never forgetting those that brought him and so many others here only to sell as slaves to be killed in pit fights. Every time he dwells upon these thoughts his rage grows, a rage that he gladly aims at him enemies.
Honestly I get tired of all the f this or that and his other cussing, it's not that he does it but it's like he is unable to speak without cursing in English or Spanish. The main character is basically a child who was abducted before finishing high school so he's like 17 at most and not exactly a very mature one to boot. Next there is so much stupid in the books, the plot holes and the way people speak for example someone asks vic "what he is called and then in the same sentence say that his companions call Victor is this so ...." Also if you look at the book as if it were maybe a movie script and visualized people actually saying the things they do, you would wonder too what was going on and why they are well mental :)
Spirit, hunter, Victor Tucson, book 3, good book with some issues.
Enjoy the book very much. The only problem I still have is that the author seems that the street kid cannot learn as fast as others. He forgets and drops back into his street lingo more often than I personally think he should. He’s not incapable of learning. And I believe, slipping back into that street lingo is just stereotyping the character. besides that I enjoy the world building and the storyline and will read the next book.
Not as good as book 1 and 2. A lot of talking with very little fighting or progression, and the fighting that was in the book was the exact same every time. Victor walks in uses none of his abilities, get his ass kicked and injured, pops berserk and one shots them… every fight felt copy pasted except the last one.
Hope it gets back to quality of the first 2 as I kept putting this down while trying to read it, almost dropped this one since it was so boring.
An okay read, but nothing much happened, and some stuff that happened hasn't been as satisfying as I hoped. Well, and I hope the protagonist develops some better fighting style than simply Hulk-smash everything after triggering berserker. Also, that street talk stuff is kinda getting old. It's okay when he's agitated or so and curses some, but not like for every random situation. Makes the protagonist feel less real and like a caricature. The first book is my favorite so far.
Enjoyable continuation of the story . Victor just keeps on beating his enemy's to death and then moves on to the next disaster his total lack of awareness and common sense leads him into , you'd think by now he'd have learned to keep his mouth shut and engage his brain.
Underdog story with surprisingly deep emotional moments
First series I’ve read in a while that has not only kept my interest but made me excited for each book in the series. MC is only sometimes OP but gets his ass kicked plenty and has to survive hardcore stuff to continue. Love this series keep the books coming!
A continuing story with extremely nuanced believable characters and a week developed system of litrpg and Cultivation.... Enjoying it and highly recommend JD Glasscock Author of the Series Blood Brothers and the Dream
Have really enjoyed this series so far. Fast paced with an interesting overpowered mc. Series goes really lite on the litrpg elements, which works for me. Get tired of authors so in love with their "system" that they spend half a book explaining it.
This is an excellent series. The protag is the most relatable character I've read in some time. The magic is unique and the story and world building have great depth. The book didn't even need the game mechanics. If you like fantasy don't miss this one.
Love this series. The cultivation system and they way people can merge different core affinity types to produce new and unique spells and other add types of energy is super fun. I also love his spirit carver class. I would love to see more of a focus on that and his journeys in the spirit world.
I’ve enjoyed the storytelling very much. The hero is flawed but capable. He isn’t. Constantly doing stupid things and having them turn out ok. His actions have co sequences.
This is probably one of the best series in this genre. A realistic MC with strengths and weaknesses. Very well written characters that feel alive. Can’t wait for the next.
Absolutely love this series. I can’t get enough of it. The progression of character development and the pace at which the story evolve along with the surprises make this one of my favorite series I’ve read this year
Lost track of this series for a bit, but it's on the right track as I pick it back up. Good pacing, the MC is developing well, and it holds my attention. I've got 6 more books because I left it fallow for a while, so I'll keep reading those unless something goes off the rails.
What can I say....very easy to read, good characters and a good story line. I find it hard to put the book down because I'm thirsty for what's coming next
Good but dragged in places. I think he is building up to bigger battles so the narrative dragged here. He is adding new characters and increasing depth to his characters also.