Sammy struggled through college until she's magically transported to another realm. In this new world, she's been transformed into the wholly (holy?) different form of a goddess. Now she has to acquire followers to appease the ever-helpful System while avoiding the blades of those who despise deities. To make matters worse, a certain god hungers for war, bringing a fated showdown closer with each passing day. And while her adjustment is challenging, the most intriguing part is that her powers have something to do with mirrors.With the odds stacked against her, Sammy will struggle to take over the world, one follower at a time and in doing so, save more than herself.
So in the first three percent (as far as I made it) we have gratuitous tripping, flinging a tiara away in denial, many inane questions/whining about "can't I go back" and a request to speak with a manager. So much thrash. Worse, it all felt performative. Like the author thought that's what a person might act like if whisked away to a peaceful setting where you have your own throne and fountains and glistening mirrors. Maybe she's right. I had a hard time taking it seriously. So I stopped. Mostly I figured that a character with that little volition isn't going to make for an interesting protagonist as she'll be forever acted upon (reactive) rather than working for anything she cares about.
If most LitRPGs are like Dungeons and Dragons or role-playing video games, Goddess Reborn is a board game. Sammy's initial followers are whoever happened to be speaking in front of a mirror when she was looking around. They're scattered around several countries where an anti-religion group called the Dominion hold sway. Sammy tries to keep her pawns on the board, gain new ones, and move the pieces closer together, all while avoiding the notice of the Dominion and more powerful gods.
Sammy the isekai protagonist is a college student who's into Tarot and swears a lot. I'm not a Tarot enthusiast so I can't say if the Tarot elements are well done, but at least some of it is intentionally bad. The system running this world didn't bother getting it right and Sammy gets annoyed it's so simplistic here.
Sammy also has her public persona as Samantha, Virgin Goddess of Mirrors. This persona has a soothing voice and comes off as sweet and innocent. In spreading her influence and hiding her identity, she develops even more personas, all very different.
The system messages are very repetitive. Every time Sammy gains a new follower, there are four lines of system text. When she gets daily faith points for followers, a message is given for each one until she fixes it to just give a total. I suspect this book would be an hour or two shorter if the system messages were pruned down.
The audiobook has two readers. The female reader voices all female characters and all general narration. The male reader voices all male characters as well as the system messages. They both do a wide variety of accents/voices. Some characters are a little quieter than others but mostly the production is solid and even.
The pace is very slow in the first half. It never seems to have a proper direction. The main character lack drive, the choices seem haphazard. The story never really comes together.
Good story, unique perspective and ability's. Interesting world. Character sheet is replicated to0many time though, especially since each replication of the whole involved either no change or in most cases a single line change (out of ~40). Still its a really good read if you gloss over the character sheet padding. ( Yes it's litRPG so a character sheet and system explanation is expected but those element are still secondary to a well written story. go back and re-read the 1st two sentences.)
Sammy gets taken to be a goddess in a System run magic world. She starts from nothing and must face an anti-deity empire and a warmongering god of war. She wins some loses others and builds her followers. She ends with her flock half assembled and gaining new power.
It’s a fun series already, interesting world, great pacing, neat characters. Not a standalone, so don’t expect a conflict-climax-resolution cycle or plot in the book, but only in the overall series. Enjoy
This book achieved that most difficult writing goal of actually being amusing. As a neophyte Goddess deposited without instruction or knowledge of the world, Samantha has her work cut out for her. The result is hopeful, inspiring, and amusing. Terrific MC, and great new magic system. I'm looking forward to further books in this series.
I lov3d this book it grabbed me right frome the start. I got invested in the Mc and the others too, I sure hope there is the next one is out already. I liked it so much I got the audiobook also and it was well done. A full five stars!
This author absolutely on follow! I have been so bored of this genre lately. But this is new and fresh, I am truly enjoying it. Recommended to all cannot wait for the next book!
Definitely a trippy beginning, but very interesting (in the "interesting times" manner). Sammy is awesome. She's amusing and her antics just drew me in. I love a powerful woman. The book was so much more and better than I expected. I loved the climactic end too.
Okay folks this one fooled me. I thought that it was going to be a harem off the cover alone. I guess the saying is true, never judge a book by its cover. This was a good read. At times whimsical, other times sad, and some times joyful. Maybe you will be moved by an old man with dementia who gave his life to protect his wife who was long dead, but that he saw in a servant. Maybe you will laugh as you see a pirate floating in an empty sea tell a god to piss off. Maybe you will enjoy the cuteness of the cabbit. Either way pick up a copy and find the moment that moves you. Second book is already published. Third book is finished on Royalroad. The mistakes I found will be on Goodreads. I didn't go looking for any for once.
I really wasn't a fan of the MC in the beginning but I grew to like her. This book made me outright chuckle which I don't normally do. Can't wait to read the next one!
I'm updating my review after reading the second book. I'll leave book one at 4-stars, because I did enjoy it, but with the change in book two, I feel like people reading book one need a warning.
The quality has definitely dropped on the second installment.
We've gone from a story about an earth woman who is in over her head in a new world as a newborn goddess, to something more like So, now she has something like multiple personalities that just show up occasionally, when needed for the plot. Also, she has "connections" with all of the people who are loyal to her, seemingly for no reason. It all feels like a retcon to explain why so many people have reactions to her like she's a "Mary-Sue" who can do no wrong in their eyes.
More annoying than that, she has so much gay panic about her 'girlfriend' and just freaking out about romance, in general. It isn't even a "will they or won't they" kind of romance. It is obviously will again, but not before she agonizes over it FOREVER." It was tiresome when it first started. It was exhausting and annoying as hell by the 75% mark. "But, I kissed BOYS in my life on Earth! SQUEE!!!" Thanks, I hate it. Also, to be clear, I don't hate the lesbian romance. I hate the wishy-washy thought patterns and apparent self-loathing that she keeps wallowing in.
The system prompts are repetitive as hell. Every time she converts a new follower, we have to first read a message about how she gains a point of FE, for their recognition, but they are not yet a follower. This is followed immediately by another message saying that she gains another FE for gaining another follower. Considering that she reached the 50 follower count about halfway through this book, that is nearly the 50th time this exact pair of messages has repeated at that point.
I read the first two books and even though the first one partially drew me in, certain flaws that I find too severe gradually made me put aside the second one until I completely stopped. I have my weaknesses (isekai, reincarnation, to name a few), but I also have themes that I find horribly insupportable (harem, arrogance, among others). I think it doesn’t get written, but even though my opinion wavered several times, I have the feeling that it was written by a woman with a strong masculine side wanting to subtly create a small harem of beautiful women, including herself. Added to this are elements that go against my ethics and morals, which were so insidious that it took me a while to realize what was bothering me: She is a compulsive liar. The second book completely lost me when destiny began to link the things that happen, including romantic feelings. Whereas everything that initially connects them is simply this physical attraction, which she wanted to justify metaphysically. Lies within lies… In short, I can't continue reading this, I'm not the target audience.
I could not finish this book 1st of all, so let me say that first. I don’t like tarot cards or tarot per se. It’s just too random. Second of all a mc who is stuck in a mirrored universe that she cannot leave. who can only react by using illusions, not much of a powerful MC. for a goddess, even a nascent one, you want her to have more flash or powers, such as lightning bolts, or other ways to smite the enemies of her followers. I did enjoy the secondary characters. They were somewhat interesting. There are those who may like this book but I was not one of them. I’m not going to tell you not to read it because if you like tarot cards and things like that you would probably enjoy this book, I did not.
The concept here is innovative: LitRPG through the eyes of a goddess.
This allows the author to shift around from the problems of one worshipper to another, giving an interesting view of the world and the various almost-viewpoint characters. Ultimately, however, the flaws of the book are not compensated-for by the interesting idea.
The writing is juvenile, especially the dialog, which is almost Saturday-morning-cartoon level writing. The characters don't react reasonably, lacking consistency and believablility. And the constant shifting of viewpoint often makes the overall narrative hard to follow.
With a more accomplished writer, this could have been good. As it is, I'm leaving this series behind.
Based on the cover, I was expecting a very different story, and boy am I glad it wasn’t. Sammy is a great character and while I sometimes wonder if the system is putting words into her mouth, I find her charming and adorable. Her annoyance at being a virgin Goddess is played for laughs and a hint that she may one day get that changed with experience. I loved the way the followers fill in the blanks for her as well. Can’t wait to get started on book two.
Just finished reading book 1. It was ok. It doesn't seem like she will be able to really kick butt with what her abilities. But I guess she can get some fighting, when she has her avatar. She can't do anything right now. Being stuck wherever she is would be lonely, after awhile (besides her dreams). Hope book 2 has more battles with the whole team leveling up & getting stronger.
It has good bones, but it fails at tension. Takes over halfway through the book for Sammy or her followers to suffer anything even resembling a setback in their goals.
Sammy's time processing her trauma or interacting with Redberry and whatever her whole deal is are probably the most interesting parts.
Fun concepts, but unfortunately it's ultimately just boring.
Personally, I’m not a fan of reaction videos—and starting to read this book felt quite similar. The goddess watches her followers’ "livestreams" from the mirrors and it created an additional layer of detachment that made it harder for me to feel interested with the story so much that I gave up half of the way.
Christ. Why do I keep reading so many progression fiction books. I have problems. At least they keep me entertained by being generally low level good. This one had a new idea -- leveling being a D&D deity. A little too into immature humor.
This was an interesting take on the isekai genre. It was a fun read and I enjoyed the different characters in the story. Overall, I recommend giving it a try.