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Past Life Hero #1
Past Life Hero
Reborn as a nobody, he must become a Hero again... then save everybody.
Living on Earth as a recent college graduate, Max can still perfectly recall his past life on the fantasy world of Albion before he was murdered. He'd been hailed as the "Hero of the World" after crawling his way up from poverty, eventually enjoying great fame and luxury.
But reborn on mana-starved Earth, he's just a guy.
However, when Earth is suddenly attacked, changing the natural laws of the world and threatening all life on the planet, Max will get a new opportunity to regain some of his lost power...and then some. He discovers an entire system of multi-dimensional colleges created for those gifted with a Path.
The universe is much larger than Max had even known ever during his first life. Max is not the Hero of Albion anymore, but the drive to excel is still part of his nature. And the more power he has, the easier it should be to save his world.
...Right?
Welcome to this unique twist on isekai fantasy in the next LitRPG Adventure by bestseller Blaise Corvin, author of Delvers LLC and Apocalypse Cultivation.
Living on Earth as a recent college graduate, Max can still perfectly recall his past life on the fantasy world of Albion before he was murdered. He'd been hailed as the "Hero of the World" after crawling his way up from poverty, eventually enjoying great fame and luxury.
But reborn on mana-starved Earth, he's just a guy.
However, when Earth is suddenly attacked, changing the natural laws of the world and threatening all life on the planet, Max will get a new opportunity to regain some of his lost power...and then some. He discovers an entire system of multi-dimensional colleges created for those gifted with a Path.
The universe is much larger than Max had even known ever during his first life. Max is not the Hero of Albion anymore, but the drive to excel is still part of his nature. And the more power he has, the easier it should be to save his world.
...Right?
Welcome to this unique twist on isekai fantasy in the next LitRPG Adventure by bestseller Blaise Corvin, author of Delvers LLC and Apocalypse Cultivation.
490 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 1, 2024
1098 people are currently reading
358 people want to read
About the author
Blaise Corvin
30 books635 followersBlaise Corvin served in the US Army in several roles. He has seen the best and the worst that humanity has to offer. He is a sucker for any hobby involving weapons, art, or improv.
He currently lives in Texas, in a house full of enough geeky memorabilia to start a museum.
He likes talking about himself in 3rd person and posting pictures of himself holding tarantulas. Sometimes, he pretends he is not an idiot with a terrible sense of humor.
It's all very eccentric.
Blaise currently writes mostly in the GameLit genre and LitRPG subgenre, exciting new classifications of fiction where characters either play a game (usually VR), or live in a world with game-like elements.
Delvers LLC is GameLit, lightly LitRPG, mostly a Fantasy/SciFi Adventure. Secret of the Old Ones is hard LitRPG, complete with XP and leveling...plus has Lovecraftian and steampunk elements (because why not?).
He currently lives in Texas, in a house full of enough geeky memorabilia to start a museum.
He likes talking about himself in 3rd person and posting pictures of himself holding tarantulas. Sometimes, he pretends he is not an idiot with a terrible sense of humor.
It's all very eccentric.
Blaise currently writes mostly in the GameLit genre and LitRPG subgenre, exciting new classifications of fiction where characters either play a game (usually VR), or live in a world with game-like elements.
Delvers LLC is GameLit, lightly LitRPG, mostly a Fantasy/SciFi Adventure. Secret of the Old Ones is hard LitRPG, complete with XP and leveling...plus has Lovecraftian and steampunk elements (because why not?).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews
January 14, 2025
DNF 40%
I feel like someone is playing a prank on us. This is not Blaise Corvin's writing... at least it's nothing like his prior books. The writing gets bogged down in the boring details of daily life. It's as if the author fails to understand what parts are interesting and is thus unable to focus.
The characters are paper thin and not believable, not even the protagonist. For example, he's had memories of a prior life as a global hero since the age of nine. Despite this he completes a bog standard business degree and takes on a dull and low paying nine to five job. What?
Then the book segues into a magic academy style story and it's bad! Paint by numbers bad! The story drags, is repetitive, tropey, and 100% predictable. When one of the teachers expounds something like "warfare is the same everywhere... it's about killing the enemy." I just gave up.
If someone works out who wrote this and why it was published under Blaise's name, please let me know.
I feel like someone is playing a prank on us. This is not Blaise Corvin's writing... at least it's nothing like his prior books. The writing gets bogged down in the boring details of daily life. It's as if the author fails to understand what parts are interesting and is thus unable to focus.
The characters are paper thin and not believable, not even the protagonist. For example, he's had memories of a prior life as a global hero since the age of nine. Despite this he completes a bog standard business degree and takes on a dull and low paying nine to five job. What?
Then the book segues into a magic academy style story and it's bad! Paint by numbers bad! The story drags, is repetitive, tropey, and 100% predictable. When one of the teachers expounds something like "warfare is the same everywhere... it's about killing the enemy." I just gave up.
If someone works out who wrote this and why it was published under Blaise's name, please let me know.
October 2, 2024
Eh not for me
Not written badly just really boring. I find this happens a lot with books that stared out as web novels. The plot is really slow, there is a lot of exposition (tell not show), and a lot of concepts get repeated multiple times.
I think the overall story has merit and could have been great, it just couldn't hold my interest.
Not written badly just really boring. I find this happens a lot with books that stared out as web novels. The plot is really slow, there is a lot of exposition (tell not show), and a lot of concepts get repeated multiple times.
I think the overall story has merit and could have been great, it just couldn't hold my interest.
October 21, 2024
Not bad but a bit jumbled
So I enjoy the story and it's kind of an interesting take stats aren't really a thing it's more of a progression type approach which isn't my favorite but you know.
Really my biggest qualm is really bad pacing things just move way too quick for reality. My other complaint would be how jumbled everything is The author seems to get an idea and go down that storyline but then he gets another idea and we leave that storyline for a new storyline and we just keep jumping all around and never getting anything completed.
So I enjoy the story and it's kind of an interesting take stats aren't really a thing it's more of a progression type approach which isn't my favorite but you know.
Really my biggest qualm is really bad pacing things just move way too quick for reality. My other complaint would be how jumbled everything is The author seems to get an idea and go down that storyline but then he gets another idea and we leave that storyline for a new storyline and we just keep jumping all around and never getting anything completed.
December 30, 2024
kinda brainless
This book is 3 different stories about the main character, but only 2 are interesting. Monsters invading Earth - interesting. Past life where the MC was powerful but betrayed - might have been interesting but wasn’t explored. Goddess giving the MC power in exchange for his soul - could be very interesting. However, the majority of the book is a “high school” bully revenge story that is mostly a waste of time. The idea was already cool and full of potential without the MC being whisked away to magic school and making stupid decisions.
This book is 3 different stories about the main character, but only 2 are interesting. Monsters invading Earth - interesting. Past life where the MC was powerful but betrayed - might have been interesting but wasn’t explored. Goddess giving the MC power in exchange for his soul - could be very interesting. However, the majority of the book is a “high school” bully revenge story that is mostly a waste of time. The idea was already cool and full of potential without the MC being whisked away to magic school and making stupid decisions.
November 16, 2024
Audiobook review.
This one started out VERY slow (4hrs into the audiobook there no real action). And that kind of threw me off for a bit, especially for a book with a post apocalyptic plot. Initially, I also wasn’t too sure about the academic trope and the magic system, but it kind of reminded me of ‘something: full murderhobo by Dakota Krout’, each person goes to a separate world catered to thier class, where they will be trained under a slower subjective time to become OP before returning back to the real world.
The MC is very reasonable, he doesn’t have any stand out trait that makes him likeable; nevertheless, I still enjoyed his perspective. He is a reincarnated hero so he retains the skills and instincts of his past life, and of course the MC gets assigned the weakest ‘summoner’ class even though he was a magic swordsman in his past life. Every class has 3 main branches of their skill tree (paths). In this book we barely got a taste of what his summoner class could become.
About half way through, the story really picked up the pace. The MC gets contracted to a resentful dead summoner student that turned into a ghost/summoned spirit. She was coincidentally from his original past-life world. From her he obtained solid utility summons
Of course we have the douchebag antagonist prince from a rival class who kills the MC, the MC goes all scotched earth and kills a bunch of students and essentially incites a war with the rival class. This is also all in preparation for an upcoming tournament arc in the next book.
We also got a surprise easter egg, the Morigan from Blasie Corvin’s other books made an appearance. Smh, this makes want to re-read his other series in the shared universe.
Overall, a solid 3.7/5. This might not be for everyone, and my review might be a bit skewed because the audiobook format definitely helped with the slower portions of the book, but regardless I ended up eventually enjoying the book. A wonderful narrative performance by John Skelley, and I’m looking forward to the next instalment. I’ll probably read it on royalroad straight away.
This one started out VERY slow (4hrs into the audiobook there no real action). And that kind of threw me off for a bit, especially for a book with a post apocalyptic plot. Initially, I also wasn’t too sure about the academic trope and the magic system, but it kind of reminded me of ‘something: full murderhobo by Dakota Krout’, each person goes to a separate world catered to thier class, where they will be trained under a slower subjective time to become OP before returning back to the real world.
The MC is very reasonable, he doesn’t have any stand out trait that makes him likeable; nevertheless, I still enjoyed his perspective. He is a reincarnated hero so he retains the skills and instincts of his past life, and of course the MC gets assigned the weakest ‘summoner’ class even though he was a magic swordsman in his past life. Every class has 3 main branches of their skill tree (paths). In this book we barely got a taste of what his summoner class could become.
About half way through, the story really picked up the pace. The MC gets contracted to a resentful dead summoner student that turned into a ghost/summoned spirit. She was coincidentally from his original past-life world. From her he obtained solid utility summons
Of course we have the douchebag antagonist prince from a rival class who kills the MC, the MC goes all scotched earth and kills a bunch of students and essentially incites a war with the rival class. This is also all in preparation for an upcoming tournament arc in the next book.
We also got a surprise easter egg, the Morigan from Blasie Corvin’s other books made an appearance. Smh, this makes want to re-read his other series in the shared universe.
Overall, a solid 3.7/5. This might not be for everyone, and my review might be a bit skewed because the audiobook format definitely helped with the slower portions of the book, but regardless I ended up eventually enjoying the book. A wonderful narrative performance by John Skelley, and I’m looking forward to the next instalment. I’ll probably read it on royalroad straight away.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 11, 2025
Part of the Eternal Struggle Universe
This is the first book, of the third series set in the same "System Apocalypse" metaverse.
Almost as good as Apocalypse Cultivation (JAKE aka Heavenly Grim) and better than Sponsored Apocalypse (Miles "Shrug" Lindstrom), this one is the most "interesting" in that the MC was a fantasy world Hero who got isekaied to earth to be an average joe before all hell broke loose.
This one is very engaging and I pretty much binge read this thing and I'm only holding back book 2 to write this review.
I liked this book, but once again... I just can not fathom why we didn't just stay with Jake?
This is the first book, of the third series set in the same "System Apocalypse" metaverse.
Almost as good as Apocalypse Cultivation (JAKE aka Heavenly Grim) and better than Sponsored Apocalypse (Miles "Shrug" Lindstrom), this one is the most "interesting" in that the MC was a fantasy world Hero who got isekaied to earth to be an average joe before all hell broke loose.
This one is very engaging and I pretty much binge read this thing and I'm only holding back book 2 to write this review.
I liked this book, but once again... I just can not fathom why we didn't just stay with Jake?
January 20, 2025
Okay, but ...
It would have been nice if there had not been several missing pages-especially at the end of the book. That reduces its star count as I assume it was a glitch in uploading that should have been rectified by the author.
It would have been nice if there had not been several missing pages-especially at the end of the book. That reduces its star count as I assume it was a glitch in uploading that should have been rectified by the author.
October 5, 2024
Well written characters.
By the end of the book I was surprised at the depth and completeness of the main character. There were also many incidental observations and statememts that were astute and I applauded.
This is less of a complaint and more of a warning. This is less a system apocolypse and more of an action packed slice-of-life magic college story. Anyone eagerly waiting for him to open a can of well deserved deserts will be potentially disappointed with this book.
If anything that's my complaint. It feels like a little bit of a bait and switch. However, I was expecting otherwise and I found myself enjoying the character and story. I don't regret reading this book. Now to wait for book 2.
By the end of the book I was surprised at the depth and completeness of the main character. There were also many incidental observations and statememts that were astute and I applauded.
This is less of a complaint and more of a warning. This is less a system apocolypse and more of an action packed slice-of-life magic college story. Anyone eagerly waiting for him to open a can of well deserved deserts will be potentially disappointed with this book.
If anything that's my complaint. It feels like a little bit of a bait and switch. However, I was expecting otherwise and I found myself enjoying the character and story. I don't regret reading this book. Now to wait for book 2.
January 19, 2025
I do not recommend, morally very dirty.
Seemingly a second life, after 200 years of being a hero he was killed. But when in his second life he creates problems for himself, flaunts his acquired weapons as if to say to everyone “See how great I am and better than you” in the end he is persecuted by the more powerful, then, instead of getting back at those who wronged him, he argues that terrorist methods are justified. He kills an innocent dozen people to draw attention to his problem, acts like a teenager in a tantrum rather than a warrior experienced by life. When he runs out of money, he comes up with the idea of extorting dueling money from random people.
It's hard to cheer for such a person. I do not accept such behavior
Seemingly a second life, after 200 years of being a hero he was killed. But when in his second life he creates problems for himself, flaunts his acquired weapons as if to say to everyone “See how great I am and better than you” in the end he is persecuted by the more powerful, then, instead of getting back at those who wronged him, he argues that terrorist methods are justified. He kills an innocent dozen people to draw attention to his problem, acts like a teenager in a tantrum rather than a warrior experienced by life. When he runs out of money, he comes up with the idea of extorting dueling money from random people.
It's hard to cheer for such a person. I do not accept such behavior
December 26, 2024
I actually enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. Even though the author is using an academy setting (which I feel is the laziest plot device to be used in recent books in the fantasy genre).
I will pick up the sequel to see where this goes.
I guess this couldn't be a Blaise Corvin book without a cliffhanger. I hope book two is as loaded with events as this one, and I don't have to experience seven years of academy. I also hope that the protag gets even with all who betrayed him in this book for money, by the end of book two.
3/5 Stars
I will pick up the sequel to see where this goes.
I guess this couldn't be a Blaise Corvin book without a cliffhanger. I hope book two is as loaded with events as this one, and I don't have to experience seven years of academy. I also hope that the protag gets even with all who betrayed him in this book for money, by the end of book two.
3/5 Stars
January 8, 2025
Feels like a bait and switch
It's not really a isekai or litrpg apocalypse novel it's a magical school novel... think Harry potter but 20 year old who act like the 11 year old from Harry potter, just no where near as good.
Why so many adults want to return to middle school ill never understand. It's basically training montage the novel without any real plot or anything interesting to write about.
It's not really a isekai or litrpg apocalypse novel it's a magical school novel... think Harry potter but 20 year old who act like the 11 year old from Harry potter, just no where near as good.
Why so many adults want to return to middle school ill never understand. It's basically training montage the novel without any real plot or anything interesting to write about.
October 12, 2024
Broken hero in a broken system
So the system control is skewed to h.......... Stopped reading when the schools idea to punish murdering students was demerits and of course the Royal abused all the rules without consequence. Tired old story and too dark for my enjoyment.
So the system control is skewed to h.......... Stopped reading when the schools idea to punish murdering students was demerits and of course the Royal abused all the rules without consequence. Tired old story and too dark for my enjoyment.
March 13, 2025
The story has promise but I decided not to read the next book in the series because this book has too much swearing.
November 10, 2024
Not my cup of tea, here's why.
This book felt really bloated, so much so that I just used 2x speed in the fight's because there was sooooo much internal monologue it got frustrating. The book also feels disjointed due to unfinished storylines, MC just moves on to something else when we start to get invested and we're just sitting here wondering the point of it? Dojo abandoned, friends in new academy abandoned, douchebag bully gets away with being douchebag bully because storyline abandoned, tournament abandoned... ffs please stop. Hopefully in the next book he'll somehow go back to academyland and wrap things up? No idea.
Lastly, this guy is the worst reincarnator ever. After being a god of his OG world, he gets backstabbed, dies and reincarnated on earth, he then ends up being a phone salesman filled with college debt and no real plan. Later on the world gets invaded and he can now use his old skills, cool, instead the gods troll him for some reason and instead of giving him his old class they give him the "worst" class. He's cool with it though and decides to become a gym bro and get in shape again, but instead eats junk food all day...lol. I do like that he's a bit hotheaded and doesn't let people bully him, unfortunately that opens him up to getting ambushed later on because he doesn't listen to his senses; the bully has no repercussions for casual murder (you can respawn weeks later in academyland) because somehow there's enough people in academy land for his prince status to matter, even though there's supposed to be thousands upon thousands of different worlds getting sent there? The system is also basically trash and barely does anything as long as you have currency to cover the small fines....
All in all, it honestly had the potential to be something great, and it's sad it just...wasn't. 2/5
This book felt really bloated, so much so that I just used 2x speed in the fight's because there was sooooo much internal monologue it got frustrating. The book also feels disjointed due to unfinished storylines, MC just moves on to something else when we start to get invested and we're just sitting here wondering the point of it? Dojo abandoned, friends in new academy abandoned, douchebag bully gets away with being douchebag bully because storyline abandoned, tournament abandoned... ffs please stop. Hopefully in the next book he'll somehow go back to academyland and wrap things up? No idea.
Lastly, this guy is the worst reincarnator ever. After being a god of his OG world, he gets backstabbed, dies and reincarnated on earth, he then ends up being a phone salesman filled with college debt and no real plan. Later on the world gets invaded and he can now use his old skills, cool, instead the gods troll him for some reason and instead of giving him his old class they give him the "worst" class. He's cool with it though and decides to become a gym bro and get in shape again, but instead eats junk food all day...lol. I do like that he's a bit hotheaded and doesn't let people bully him, unfortunately that opens him up to getting ambushed later on because he doesn't listen to his senses; the bully has no repercussions for casual murder (you can respawn weeks later in academyland) because somehow there's enough people in academy land for his prince status to matter, even though there's supposed to be thousands upon thousands of different worlds getting sent there? The system is also basically trash and barely does anything as long as you have currency to cover the small fines....
All in all, it honestly had the potential to be something great, and it's sad it just...wasn't. 2/5
November 11, 2024
I am not always very comfortable when I read people’s comments about editing a book. I don’t claim to be good enough to judge… except here. I think this book should have been reworked, especially at the beginning.
To avoid any disappointment like I experienced, and even if it’s a spoiler: most of the story is set in a SCHOOL context.
Max was a hero in his world before being reincarnated in ours and discovering the joys of the North American education system: debts! So we see him trying to get by in a modern world where sword fighting is not at the heart of civilization.
This is about the first 15% of the book. My first question is “Why?” To justify his strong combat skills… But 15% where he doesn’t use them? No. It’s too much!
Once this part is over, Max will go through 100% of the clichés you can find in this kind of story/manga.
The author will stand out a bit later, but as the expression goes: too little too late.
However, in my opinion, he still makes many writing mistakes: repeating the same things over and over, and projecting too far into the future. Let me explain: He was a sword hero who becomes a summoner. So he has the advantage that “no one” has with 2 Paths. Very good. But he is already thinking about wanting to integrate a third one while he is at the beginning of his former Path, discovering his Summoner… It’s too early to engage in the theme of a third one.
I am at 80%. I force myself to finish it because I still feel that the author is exaggerating and trying to artificially lengthen the story. Stalling stalling stalling… I still give it a 3, hoping not to be disappointed.
To avoid any disappointment like I experienced, and even if it’s a spoiler: most of the story is set in a SCHOOL context.
Max was a hero in his world before being reincarnated in ours and discovering the joys of the North American education system: debts! So we see him trying to get by in a modern world where sword fighting is not at the heart of civilization.
This is about the first 15% of the book. My first question is “Why?” To justify his strong combat skills… But 15% where he doesn’t use them? No. It’s too much!
Once this part is over, Max will go through 100% of the clichés you can find in this kind of story/manga.
The author will stand out a bit later, but as the expression goes: too little too late.
However, in my opinion, he still makes many writing mistakes: repeating the same things over and over, and projecting too far into the future. Let me explain: He was a sword hero who becomes a summoner. So he has the advantage that “no one” has with 2 Paths. Very good. But he is already thinking about wanting to integrate a third one while he is at the beginning of his former Path, discovering his Summoner… It’s too early to engage in the theme of a third one.
I am at 80%. I force myself to finish it because I still feel that the author is exaggerating and trying to artificially lengthen the story. Stalling stalling stalling… I still give it a 3, hoping not to be disappointed.
November 11, 2024
I do indeed recommend this book
I have read some of this author's past works and enjoyed his storytelling. I had heard a lot of good things about this specific book and so I decided to give it a shot. The writing was solid all the way around. That said I don't know that it's quite to my liking. The author in his last couple of books have been expanding upon the character and the environment he's in prior to the apocalyptic event. In my experience quite a few authors either skip that step or make it as short as possible. Then the story appears to separate from what is outlined in the blurb. The ending is fantastic however it would be all the better of an experience if the sequel was already out. For the record book to a slated for January 15th. The reason I bring this up is that the story felt like three beginnings in one book has opposed to a beginning middle and end. That is to say that by the end of the book I really wasn't satisfied with the story. I have no doubt that it will be amazing once there's two or three books in the series, but right now it's just not to my taste. The reviews were really positive though so it's probably just me, but that's how I felt. With that said I still think that everybody who had a hand in bringing the story to us, Amazon readers deserves a round of applause. I am interested in the sequel.
I have read some of this author's past works and enjoyed his storytelling. I had heard a lot of good things about this specific book and so I decided to give it a shot. The writing was solid all the way around. That said I don't know that it's quite to my liking. The author in his last couple of books have been expanding upon the character and the environment he's in prior to the apocalyptic event. In my experience quite a few authors either skip that step or make it as short as possible. Then the story appears to separate from what is outlined in the blurb. The ending is fantastic however it would be all the better of an experience if the sequel was already out. For the record book to a slated for January 15th. The reason I bring this up is that the story felt like three beginnings in one book has opposed to a beginning middle and end. That is to say that by the end of the book I really wasn't satisfied with the story. I have no doubt that it will be amazing once there's two or three books in the series, but right now it's just not to my taste. The reviews were really positive though so it's probably just me, but that's how I felt. With that said I still think that everybody who had a hand in bringing the story to us, Amazon readers deserves a round of applause. I am interested in the sequel.
January 27, 2025
(Spoilers)
I enjoyed this book. Its basically a reverse isekai that transitions into a multiversal system apocalypse. The protagonist dying to his opposition (albeit temporarily) in the quartet was a good decision. It adds stakes to what I assumed would be your typical power fantasy. Most stories featuring experts who regress or reincarnate are usually power fantasies with fast paced progression. The protagonists mastery as a blade sorcerer does give him an edge but its not enough for the higher level students. Granted his progression compared to other blade sorcerers is very fast and that's despite the low mana density environment. The protagonist also seems well grounded and likable.
Although my impression of this first volume partially soured when Morrigan appeared. Because I realized this multiverse was connected to your other books. Listen, I found volume 1 of system apocalypse amazing. Regression, magic, cultivation and monster evolution all tied together into a fast paced progression fantasy. You even had a train segment. But the second book sucked ass and briefly referencing the events of that story in this book kinda put me off. Not enough to prevent me from trying the second volume of past life hero. But still, I also doubt your rewriting Savage Webs since your referencing it in your other books. Looks like System apocalypse is doomed.
I enjoyed this book. Its basically a reverse isekai that transitions into a multiversal system apocalypse. The protagonist dying to his opposition (albeit temporarily) in the quartet was a good decision. It adds stakes to what I assumed would be your typical power fantasy. Most stories featuring experts who regress or reincarnate are usually power fantasies with fast paced progression. The protagonists mastery as a blade sorcerer does give him an edge but its not enough for the higher level students. Granted his progression compared to other blade sorcerers is very fast and that's despite the low mana density environment. The protagonist also seems well grounded and likable.
Although my impression of this first volume partially soured when Morrigan appeared. Because I realized this multiverse was connected to your other books. Listen, I found volume 1 of system apocalypse amazing. Regression, magic, cultivation and monster evolution all tied together into a fast paced progression fantasy. You even had a train segment. But the second book sucked ass and briefly referencing the events of that story in this book kinda put me off. Not enough to prevent me from trying the second volume of past life hero. But still, I also doubt your rewriting Savage Webs since your referencing it in your other books. Looks like System apocalypse is doomed.
October 18, 2024
Well. This was an unexpectec delight
The MC was a battle hero on his world before being murdered by trusted comrades. He was reborn on earth, a low mana, hi-tech world where he grew up until at about 8 years of age he remembered his past life as a mana warrior. Struggling in America, a relatively safe place, he needs extra money so decides to teach martial arts. Not long after, portals open and fantasy creatures attack. After killing a goblin, he gets invited to a mage academy in a pocket dimension, but of course people are people and some of the worst monsters are... you guessed it, people.
An intruiging adventure with lots of action, but also some thought provoking insights into human nature. Duels with young masters, betrayals, midnight raids, developing allies, dungeon diving, more betrayals. Even the worldbuilding of the pocket dimension was intruiging in that the residents really didn't know how everything actually worked. Still greed, selfishness or cowadice was able screw things up royally. I will immediately go on to read the next in this series. Once again, this was just an awesome adventure.
The MC was a battle hero on his world before being murdered by trusted comrades. He was reborn on earth, a low mana, hi-tech world where he grew up until at about 8 years of age he remembered his past life as a mana warrior. Struggling in America, a relatively safe place, he needs extra money so decides to teach martial arts. Not long after, portals open and fantasy creatures attack. After killing a goblin, he gets invited to a mage academy in a pocket dimension, but of course people are people and some of the worst monsters are... you guessed it, people.
An intruiging adventure with lots of action, but also some thought provoking insights into human nature. Duels with young masters, betrayals, midnight raids, developing allies, dungeon diving, more betrayals. Even the worldbuilding of the pocket dimension was intruiging in that the residents really didn't know how everything actually worked. Still greed, selfishness or cowadice was able screw things up royally. I will immediately go on to read the next in this series. Once again, this was just an awesome adventure.
March 31, 2025
Ambitious
Overall this book was well written and enjoyable to read. It does have several editorial typos, however.
The preview / synopsis is a bit misleading. The MC is a reincarnated Blade Sorcerer who has lived a mundane life on earth for that last 20ish years (i.e. student loans are his biggest problem now). Then monsters invade earth and rather than fight them, he kills one with a tire iron and gets whisked away to magic school to learn how to do all new magic. But magic school is not as altruistic as it seems!
Overall, the constant twists and layers of "The Plot Thickens" moments leaves you with an Over Powered Main Character who also wins all his social endeavors. The guy really has no flaws, even when he's "not good with people" he manages to instantly size up individuals and push their buttons into the exact scenario he wished. There is challenge and conflict but no actual risk. The character is portrayed too flawless to be relatable but if you want an OP fantasy it's a good read.
Overall this book was well written and enjoyable to read. It does have several editorial typos, however.
The preview / synopsis is a bit misleading. The MC is a reincarnated Blade Sorcerer who has lived a mundane life on earth for that last 20ish years (i.e. student loans are his biggest problem now). Then monsters invade earth and rather than fight them, he kills one with a tire iron and gets whisked away to magic school to learn how to do all new magic. But magic school is not as altruistic as it seems!
Overall, the constant twists and layers of "The Plot Thickens" moments leaves you with an Over Powered Main Character who also wins all his social endeavors. The guy really has no flaws, even when he's "not good with people" he manages to instantly size up individuals and push their buttons into the exact scenario he wished. There is challenge and conflict but no actual risk. The character is portrayed too flawless to be relatable but if you want an OP fantasy it's a good read.
October 27, 2024
4.9 stars. I really enjoyed this book. It was exciting to follow the MC’s journey and see him fight. I loved his confidence and strong determination to push forward.
The side characters were meh. While I liked how supportive, loyal, and complex some of them were, there wasn’t much to them overall. I wish the MC had more of a connection with them.
My main problem with this book was the jumping around—it gave me whiplash at times. Just when I was getting used to a setting or situation, something would happen, and the story direction would change. While it kept me guessing, I wish the storyline wasn’t so spread out and jumbled.
Overall, this was a fun read, and I’m excited to read the rest of the series when it comes out.
The side characters were meh. While I liked how supportive, loyal, and complex some of them were, there wasn’t much to them overall. I wish the MC had more of a connection with them.
My main problem with this book was the jumping around—it gave me whiplash at times. Just when I was getting used to a setting or situation, something would happen, and the story direction would change. While it kept me guessing, I wish the storyline wasn’t so spread out and jumbled.
Overall, this was a fun read, and I’m excited to read the rest of the series when it comes out.
January 15, 2025
LitRPG and Progression fantasies have started diverging into tropes, to certain plot lines that explains how and why the main character lives in a world that's closer to a game.
So, what if some writer decides to take a whole bunch of those tropes and just push them together to a single story? It will surely be ridicules and feel very forced, and we can't except any room to be left to a good plotline, right?
...Well, I guess not if you're Blaise Corvin.
Like his other new works in the genre, I am kept amazed by how Blaise manages to keep me enthralled by his books despite revisiting tropes I am already way tired of. His books are just full of fun, passion, and heart warming moments, and I keep finding myself looking back on them, and looking forward to their sequels.
So, what if some writer decides to take a whole bunch of those tropes and just push them together to a single story? It will surely be ridicules and feel very forced, and we can't except any room to be left to a good plotline, right?
...Well, I guess not if you're Blaise Corvin.
Like his other new works in the genre, I am kept amazed by how Blaise manages to keep me enthralled by his books despite revisiting tropes I am already way tired of. His books are just full of fun, passion, and heart warming moments, and I keep finding myself looking back on them, and looking forward to their sequels.
April 20, 2025
Interesting, with some gaps
This reborn/isekai/apocalypse/litrpg certainly has a lot of ingenuity in it. The plot is well paced and sparks the creativity. The MC is OP but has to work his way there and is met with plenty of challenges to allow for some good dramatic tension.
That being said, the dialogue is a bit basic at times and there are some easily avoidable typos throughout. Add to that, the rebirth portion is a bit forced (although, without spoilers, does resolve a good amount towards the end of the book).
All in all, while the story-line takes some random twists and turns that can leave a little whiplash, the book itself remains entertaining and I look forward to reading the next one!
This reborn/isekai/apocalypse/litrpg certainly has a lot of ingenuity in it. The plot is well paced and sparks the creativity. The MC is OP but has to work his way there and is met with plenty of challenges to allow for some good dramatic tension.
That being said, the dialogue is a bit basic at times and there are some easily avoidable typos throughout. Add to that, the rebirth portion is a bit forced (although, without spoilers, does resolve a good amount towards the end of the book).
All in all, while the story-line takes some random twists and turns that can leave a little whiplash, the book itself remains entertaining and I look forward to reading the next one!
October 2, 2024
Surprisingly engaging read
When I started reading, I expected the inverse-Isekai Protagonist. I wasn't expecting the swerve into a magical boarding school, but somehow it works. While I wish it went into more depth on what exactly Blade Sorcerers can do, I was rather intrigued by the grand mysteries surrounding why the Summoners are weaker than they should be, the nature of the rift incursions, and why Max retained the memories and Mana sense from his past life. Overall, I'm definitely looking forward to further titles in this series, and have already preordered the second one. Cheers!
When I started reading, I expected the inverse-Isekai Protagonist. I wasn't expecting the swerve into a magical boarding school, but somehow it works. While I wish it went into more depth on what exactly Blade Sorcerers can do, I was rather intrigued by the grand mysteries surrounding why the Summoners are weaker than they should be, the nature of the rift incursions, and why Max retained the memories and Mana sense from his past life. Overall, I'm definitely looking forward to further titles in this series, and have already preordered the second one. Cheers!
November 9, 2024
The first thing that I did when I finished the book was googled ROYAL ROAD PAST LIFE HERO. As I suspected, this started as a Webnovel. I really enjoyed the concept and the story but it had some of the faults of webnovels: abrupt ending and a story that jumps around too much. Most webnovels need a lot of content editing to make the story easier to follow. The main character is cool but he has too much stuff going on with his skills. This is marketed as a LitRPG but I didn’t see a single element of LitRPG in there. This being said, I am off to read the story on Royal Road because overall I liked the book and the ending really was not a satisfying stopping point.
November 11, 2024
Another new adventure series from Blaise Corvin
Alternate universe, parallel worlds, reincarnation, LitRPG, hero's journey
A lot to unpack here, but I won't discuss things because spoilers can be rude. Max is a man with a complex past, and with ties to two worlds. He also wants to learn how to make friends, something he's always had trouble with in the past. All while reclaiming part of his past skills. Great read!
Been a fan of this author's fiction for years now. He gets things right - world building, memorable characters, character development, pacing, story arc, dialogue, and it meshes together beautifully. His stories also feature above-average editing. Enjoyed!
Alternate universe, parallel worlds, reincarnation, LitRPG, hero's journey
A lot to unpack here, but I won't discuss things because spoilers can be rude. Max is a man with a complex past, and with ties to two worlds. He also wants to learn how to make friends, something he's always had trouble with in the past. All while reclaiming part of his past skills. Great read!
Been a fan of this author's fiction for years now. He gets things right - world building, memorable characters, character development, pacing, story arc, dialogue, and it meshes together beautifully. His stories also feature above-average editing. Enjoyed!
October 6, 2024
this book deserves five stars, an excellent page Turner.
Really well sorted out and written story. Excellent MC but don’t particularly care for his Canadian sidekick, the ghost girl summoned is excellent though. Love to take on what a summoner supposedly is in this storyline. The book really takes off when the MC leaves planet earth and travels to a different reality or as most of us known college. Really good book now unfortunately I have to wait for the next one. Read this book. It says good as the authors other books and other series.
Really well sorted out and written story. Excellent MC but don’t particularly care for his Canadian sidekick, the ghost girl summoned is excellent though. Love to take on what a summoner supposedly is in this storyline. The book really takes off when the MC leaves planet earth and travels to a different reality or as most of us known college. Really good book now unfortunately I have to wait for the next one. Read this book. It says good as the authors other books and other series.
October 16, 2024
An exceptional story. One of this author's best.
This is actually the 2nd time that I have read it.
Once on Royal Road and once on Kindle Unlimited.
It was worth savoring twice.
My only regret is the wait for the 2nd, 3rd and hopefully 4th books in this series.
Here is hoping that my old ass lives long enough for the author to pen/type those expected releases.
:-)
*Please write fast author. Covid has kicked my butt once, my age cohort doesn't often survive a second round in the fight pit with that monster. Thanks!
This is actually the 2nd time that I have read it.
Once on Royal Road and once on Kindle Unlimited.
It was worth savoring twice.
My only regret is the wait for the 2nd, 3rd and hopefully 4th books in this series.
Here is hoping that my old ass lives long enough for the author to pen/type those expected releases.
:-)
*Please write fast author. Covid has kicked my butt once, my age cohort doesn't often survive a second round in the fight pit with that monster. Thanks!
October 16, 2024
Brilliant tale.
Terrific story , Max the MC is an interesting character who has memories of his previous life in which he was incredibly powerful and died badly !!! He has resolve to simply be normal and struggle like everyone else then the system arrived and he grabbed the opportunity to go to a training tutorial where he is surprised by the skill he receives and his old skills reawaken, the tutorial is a cutthroat place and Max manages to antagonize some powerful factions but he isn't capable of just sitting quietly and fights back.
Terrific story , Max the MC is an interesting character who has memories of his previous life in which he was incredibly powerful and died badly !!! He has resolve to simply be normal and struggle like everyone else then the system arrived and he grabbed the opportunity to go to a training tutorial where he is surprised by the skill he receives and his old skills reawaken, the tutorial is a cutthroat place and Max manages to antagonize some powerful factions but he isn't capable of just sitting quietly and fights back.
October 30, 2024
An honest review.
(Kindle Unlimited)
A great book on Kindle Unlimited. I look forward to the second book.
Pros: a slightly new take on the genre. The MC isn’t someone you hate, or who has so many things going on you can’t keep track of it all.
Cons: back story(sub plot?) not much in the way of MC’s previous life, only a few actual mentions of it beyond setting the stage for his abilities.
Would like to have more context.
I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for an enjoyable read. Just be aware it moves slow and book one ends when things start to get going.
(Kindle Unlimited)
A great book on Kindle Unlimited. I look forward to the second book.
Pros: a slightly new take on the genre. The MC isn’t someone you hate, or who has so many things going on you can’t keep track of it all.
Cons: back story(sub plot?) not much in the way of MC’s previous life, only a few actual mentions of it beyond setting the stage for his abilities.
Would like to have more context.
I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for an enjoyable read. Just be aware it moves slow and book one ends when things start to get going.
March 24, 2025
Not quite a 5-Star book, but I enjoyed it enough to want to 'promote' it.
Notes:
A huge focus on the problem of student debt. He talks about this a LOT.
A VERY slow start. The story is barely started by the end of this book.
Can be a bit repetitive. For example, He'll make a decision, then explain his reasoning. But in the next chapter, he'll repeat his reasoning for his decision. I think this is an artifact if it having originally been a web serial and some time with an editor could smooth this out.
That being said, I've already read the second book and was disappointed that the 3rd is not available until later this year. I wouldn't call this a favorite new series, but I would rather be reading the 3rd of this series right now than the book that I am currently reading. :D
Notes:
A huge focus on the problem of student debt. He talks about this a LOT.
A VERY slow start. The story is barely started by the end of this book.
Can be a bit repetitive. For example, He'll make a decision, then explain his reasoning. But in the next chapter, he'll repeat his reasoning for his decision. I think this is an artifact if it having originally been a web serial and some time with an editor could smooth this out.
That being said, I've already read the second book and was disappointed that the 3rd is not available until later this year. I wouldn't call this a favorite new series, but I would rather be reading the 3rd of this series right now than the book that I am currently reading. :D
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