The unlikely hero of Fanwath prepares to take things to a whole new level in the action-packed sixth installment of this thrilling fantasy adventure.
When he was first torn from his Earthly home, Victor Sandoval was as good as dead, alone and powerless in a reality where kills equal skills and losing a fight means losing your life. But he’s much more than who he used to be.
Now a warrior of near-legendary status and strength, Victor is leading his very own army into the Untamed Marches, where countless hordes of horrors await. This means more Energy and treasure for him and his allies when they go up against a slew of undead, reavers, and good old-fashioned bloody vampires.
And that’s the fun part. Because Victor is about to face an opponent who already claims the Marches as his Prince Hector of Heart Rot. And while his name may seem silly to Victor, the prince’s desire to slaughter him along with his entire army is about to become all too serious . . .
The sixth volume of the hit LitRPG adventure series—with more than 750,000 views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!
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.
Narration: Robb Moreira's performance is exemplary. Unique and distinguished voices for men and women. A level of depth to Victor's emotions that I've not heard in another audiobook. His performance was nuanced enough to hear the differences in Victor's voice based on his size. :Chef's Kiss:
This book was exciting. Adventure and battles that were fun. There were a few moments when I was just itching for the story to move on so I could see what happened next.
Most importantly, I think, is Plum's characterization of Victor. Victor is his own person, through and through. Even when you think it's obvious Victor should do something, Plum holds true to his character. The nature of Victor's thoughts when he is in his various states of mind are shown consistently.
As always amazing progression and advancements while keeping tension high and the stakes up
Victor and the Legion have to duke it out with the undead horde, and things get dicey! There’s also the threat of what the system is up to, and then there’s the lady problems in Victors life. He’s got a lot on his plate, and a lot of undead killing to do while he deals with it! Also really have to say that I loved the progression here, felt extra satisfying!
Another great book to the series. The story is coming along and it is very easy to be drawn into the character with the amazing writing. I can’t wait for more from Victor. Settlement building and more off world adventures? Yes please!
Hell yeah this book was great! So many interesting facets and storylines. Even a twist that makes your breath catch while reading. A good mix of crazy mythical action, affectionate love story, and emotional waters. A titanic read in a very fun series.
Well, if you are this far in the series you know it is good. If you have t liked it, it is a good place to discover something else. Myself I will continue with the life of Victor and his friends.
The worldbuilding is great and Victor and crew are growing in power and as a people and making mistakes that while frustrating feel genuine. Great book.
One of my all time fav series.... Stand tall Son. Show them what it is to corner a Titan... Highly recommend JD Glasscock Author of the Series Blood Brothers and Nocturne
I am a little worried that these are going to turn into one of those ‘shouting arseholes’ series where the characters spend the whole time blowing things up and bellowing about power, but it hasn’t happened yet. Keep it up!
This book is more of a boilerplate progression episode and fails to capture the superior quality of other books in this series.
This is the first book in the series that, to me, felt more like a book from any other series. It felt less intimate. I don’t mean that in any erotic manner, but in the close connection with the MC readers feel with the other books in this series. This, coupled with numerous contextual issues in the story as well as a giant plot hole, are why I’ve rated this the worst book in the series thus far.
What we have is a system quest to conquer some lands to establish a new nation, get land, experience, and juicy rewards. On the surface this makes perfect sense for most of the people involved to want to be apart of this quest. For the average troops, its potential for their own land in a new country ideally free of the corruption and gatekeeping of the Empire. They also get rewards and experience. However, what about the ones that died? Their families get nothing? Seems like a HUGE gamble for the average grunt. For the elites, they have less fear of dying, thanks to their strength, and the same other benefits, just to a higher degree of rewards.
But why does Victor, MC, care? I have never once understood any context for why he wants to get involved in this from the beginning. I have never understood why it is that he’s given such a position of authority, in the context of the story. I say that because when it’s offered to him, he’s mid second tier. He’s a nobody who can certainly punch up two or three tiers, but barely. He brings nothing to the table at the beginning other than that, no allies, no wealth, no armies, nothing. But of course, by the time we get to the quest, he’s tier five and definitely the most powerful member of the expedition, how convenient because otherwise they would have all died.
The foundations for this quest make no sense. Added to the context issues for why these elites involved him when they did, the other issue is why does he care? Even in this book, he’s clearly not interested in hanging around after it’s over, so doesn’t care about the land really. Why is he involved at all? It’s never made clear, much like we’ve still yet to establish the source for MC’s rage affinity.
Next issue, where is the context in this story for how Victor is such a natural leader and tactician? It would have made way more sense for him to learn to lead as he went, to make mistakes and then overcome his deficiencies instead of just making all the right decisions from the beginning. They win literally every battle and engagement with the enemy forces. I know he falls for a trap at the end of the book, but turning that around, thanks to a plot device, ends the quest in success. With the losses they took due to his “mistake”, wouldn’t those still have been significantly less than assaulting each prepared citadel on the mountain all the way to the top? So it wasn’t a mistake really.
Wouldn’t the undead forces establishing a foothold in this world create a problem for the other nations and races? So wouldn’t it make sense for them to be part of this quest? To me the empire meddling because of the fear of rebellion or whatever or even of a new nation on their borders makes way less sense than trying to stop anyone attempting to complete the quest because to fail means forces from another world establish a foothold.
And here is my biggest complaint, a GIANT plot hole. I don’t understand how it is the undead got to these lands and established themselves in defensive positions BEFORE the conquest expedition. I’ve been saying quest, but really they only have a writ of conquest, which isn’t activated and didn’t trigger an actual system quest until they crossed into the contested territory. What if their army was stopped or disbanded before they did so? Then how is it another world’s force is already in place? That doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.
I HATED that the only character to die in the entire episode was the one guy who shouldn’t have. And he didn’t even die on page. I can’t remember his name, but it’s the disgraced noble MC met in the first book who mentored him in the slave pits. The man who took revenge, righteous revenge, on some evildoers and lost everything for it. When MC bought his freedom, he made him a tribune, the commander of the Ninth Cohort. This man is the perfect kind of noble to have in this new nation, and the author just killed him off, off page mind you. The worst part though is MC just sadly shrugs it off. At a minimum it should be used to fuel his rage.
This lack of killing of characters is becoming a burden on this series. I feel like the Guts-style nature of a berserker story deserves a darker tone, not only to keep feeding the rage of the MC, but also because it’s just better storytelling. But the author never kills off anyone after the first book. I think it would have been perfect for Vala to die in this book for not only the impetus to leave the planet, but to feed the rage anew. THAT, coupled with the injustices of the people used as livestock, should be the reason why Victor and his gang invade Dark Ember, not to save the soul of some side character from book 2. I don’t even remember her name, that’s possibly because all the women’s names sound the same in this series, but mostly because I couldn’t care less about this character. Kill off these people, not the one side character worthy of being in this story.
Finally, I’m annoyed at the relationship drama. Tired of rehashing the same drama over and over again. I’m also tired of rehashing the “I’m responsible for every death.” spiral MC always goes in only to be convinced he’s wrong every time. That’s getting old.
I will thank the author for finally adding a male side character who apparently will be a party member moving forward. Finally. Was that so hard?
Overall, I still think the fundamentals of this series are very strong in relation to the rest of the genre, but the execution in this book is sloppy and falls short of the original quality of the other books in this series. Contextual errors, a giant plot hole, and the general tropey unfolding of the plot (with a plot device even), are why I’ve rated this the least favorite book of mine in the series so far.
The MC's horny relationship with his semi-sentient axe goes to weird places when the MC introduces a semi-sentient spear to the relationship. I don't really understand it but it goes on throughout the book and I can't finish this.
I like the characters in this series, I really like the setting, and the constant feeling of adventure and wonder make it so much fun, when it can get out of its own way it is one of the better LitRPG books i’ve read. This book was built up to for so long, and I’m glad we finally get to this part of the story, and there is a lot of action from the start to the end of the novel. Though it is good, the return of out of character moments pushing the plot forward made a big appearance again. This return of heavy handed authoring forcing twists makes it fall down to good not great. On top of that there are points in the book where things are repeated like they were earlier in the series, and this never fails to eject me from the story. There’s also some weird backpeddling on character abilities that are suddenly acting differently than they did in earlier books, and I’m confused why this is. When taken all together it makes what would be a really awesome setting and plot fall pretty flat. This is the first time since book two (where the same issues were happening) that I’m not really looking forward to the next book. I’m hoping that maybe it was just a rush to write the story, and that’s why it was so roughly put together with all the mistakes, but I’ll find out soon enough.
We have reached the point at which many of these types of books lose me. The MC grows to far to be relatable. We want the world, people’s, animals, etc to be fantastical, but the MC needs to stay relatable in those surroundings. A problem with this genre is getting the reader to invest in a place and it’s people and then having the MC outgrow those connections of the reader, leaving me disinterested. Of course the MC will and should gain power but this one has stoped feeling like a natural progression. He has abilities barely used, to point of irrelevance. Abilities that would have been a great idea to put to use at certain points but it doesn’t happen. I want to lay out an example very frustrating for me but for the sake of spoilers I won’t. I will say the ability is imbue ally with your spirit. Speaking of that his spirit core was great but his class refinements are a place where natural progression has failed (imo). The plot, for me, has wondered outside the scope of interest. I also hate the crutch of the undead! It’s become a cliche in this genre.
As Victor’s power grows, so do the challenges the system throws at him
However, Victor is not aware that the system has made him a quest target for an assassin of sorts. Meanwhile, Victors forces are carving through the undead forces almost too easily in some areas. Victor’s easy trusting nature will turn into a weakness that may cost him more dearly than he can afford. Magma heart will take on a new meaning by the end of this book as Victor pushes beyond the known yet again. Fighting the undead is quite different than monsters or the Ridonne, but Victor’s rage does have a limit and he will find that limit at the worst time and in the worst place. A trap he shouldn’t have walked into.
A well done book if you like berserker characters.
If you like books with berserkers, you will enjoy this book. I myself don’t particularly care about characters who lose all common sense when they’re fighting, I prefer those who have power sophistication class extra strategic abilities to get the job done. The story is very well done and the world building is excellent. The MC makes in my opinion, a silly mistake as well as a tragic one causing the loss of many lives. I believe that aspect of the MC should’ve been explored more. Besides that it’s a good book if you like this type of character.
Ok it's official this is one of the series in my could not finish section. Between the main character excessive cussing in either English and or Spanish also the way the story just did not flow. It read more like a cross between a tech manual, a how to cuss alike a man child and a guide on how to throw the kitchen sink into a novel. Oh and the constant part of when people say something surprising the other person usually asks are you serious.... Really just too common . I really tried to read it to the end but I just couldn't.
this book, and the previous one upon a second read, feel like they're drifting closer to 4 stars than the 5 that the first books definitely deserve. I'm not quite sure why I feel that way, the plot was a bit haphazard in the last one but was quite good in this one and the magic system has always been well done (if a bit convenient at times), but my guess would be something character related. I'm definitely going to continue and just hope this feeling falls away as we move into brand new plot points.
If you’re this far into the series then you know what you’re in for. This book delivers and continues to grow the characters within. Awesome battles. New lands. And evil to be slaughtered. If you enjoyed the series up to this point you won’t be disappointed with this book
I think every reader needs to start doing this to force authors to write a quick Recap chapter, which readers can skip if they remember, and those who don't won't stop reading the series.
This series is exactly what I needed post Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson. A barbarian raging with his axe through battlefields, conquering keeps and leveling up. It was a perfectly fun and exciting pallette refresher!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I still say the overall writing and twist was best in book 4. But this book had some great moments, but I feel like Victor should have been punished more. As a litrpg fan, the progression is handled very well.
This book took me through every emotion you can think of. I laughed, I cried, I raged against the system. That’s how you know it was an awesome read. I was and continue to be completely invested in Victor’s journey and I can’t wait to see what happens next
Another good op story. Victor struggled but ultimately overcomes treachery and conflict. Some of the limited romance is immature sounding but overall doesn’t detract from the story.
Combined review for books 4-6. Moving along well, and the scope of Victor's world expands, contracts and expands again. He has lots of balls in the air, but catches most of them by the end of book 6. Of course there is always something pulling him forward, so I'm following it to book 7.