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Monster Girls In Space #1
To Valor's Bid
Desmond McLaughlin was just getting through his life and trying to survive. A 9-5 job and a hobby that cost more than it earned left him just enough money to afford a crappy apartment and time to dream of something better. He was expecting to spend most of his life like this.
He hadn’t expected to be greeted by a CIA agent waiting inside his house one evening. He wasn’t expecting that CIA agent to tell him that he was being drafted for a special mission. And he really wasn’t expecting to basically get kidnapped.
But most of all, he wasn’t expecting to be told two important things. One, aliens were out there. And two, they wanted to take him as the first of the locals drafted from his planet to go to one of the few super-dreadnought class starships in the Hegemony and learn magic.
Join Desmond as he learns to manipulate mana — a source of power that exists beyond the reach of most people in the universe — meets vastly different alien species, risks life and limb, all while trying to pass classes. If he’s lucky, he will find someone he can trust out here amongst the weird. If he's very lucky, maybe someone he can love.
*** Monster Girls In Space is a Sci-Fi, fantasy, semi-military, men’s romance, progression fantasy about a man becoming a space-wizard amongst a universe full of monster girls (it’s in the title, you should have expected that part). Expect adventure, mischief, magic, fighting, and unconventional relationships in a galaxy that is curious what sort of mischief Humanity will get up to.
He hadn’t expected to be greeted by a CIA agent waiting inside his house one evening. He wasn’t expecting that CIA agent to tell him that he was being drafted for a special mission. And he really wasn’t expecting to basically get kidnapped.
But most of all, he wasn’t expecting to be told two important things. One, aliens were out there. And two, they wanted to take him as the first of the locals drafted from his planet to go to one of the few super-dreadnought class starships in the Hegemony and learn magic.
Join Desmond as he learns to manipulate mana — a source of power that exists beyond the reach of most people in the universe — meets vastly different alien species, risks life and limb, all while trying to pass classes. If he’s lucky, he will find someone he can trust out here amongst the weird. If he's very lucky, maybe someone he can love.
*** Monster Girls In Space is a Sci-Fi, fantasy, semi-military, men’s romance, progression fantasy about a man becoming a space-wizard amongst a universe full of monster girls (it’s in the title, you should have expected that part). Expect adventure, mischief, magic, fighting, and unconventional relationships in a galaxy that is curious what sort of mischief Humanity will get up to.
603 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 9, 2024
477 people are currently reading
270 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
July 25, 2024
This is an okayish book, especially if you're a genre (HaremLit or HaremLit adjacent) fan and you're lenient with authors who write in that/those genres. It's a space-esque based situational-slice-of-life story. Meaning, that the story is primarily about the everyday life of MC and the cast until a random event/encounter occurs that forces MC and company to take action and develop a temporary goal for the situational temporary plot. So, with that said, no, the story doesn't have an overarching plot nor goal. Which brings me to some of my criticism.
There were a few opportunities for Tress, despite this being situational-slice-of-life to latch on to a goal for the MC (Desmond) and the MFC (Main Female Character: Chloe) to work towards. The first, and obvious one was around Chloe and her debt. Unfortunately Tress ignores that after introducing it in favor of continuing the situational-slice-of-life meandering plot. The other opportunities were around Desmond and maybe giving him milestone goals to work toward in his training.
This is an academy story that has many academy/school story tropes. Bullies, MC is an outcast of the social hierarchy, etc. However, it lacks the coming of age aspect those stories tend to focus on giving their setting and time in the MC's life. This is a military academy story and has the usual trope of it's-a-military-academy-that's-just-college/high school. But it's not as a egregious as other stories that do that. Tress actually includes a military atmosphere into the academy. The only time you get the feeling of the trope is when the characters aren't interacting with an instructor.
For me, those were tolerable issues, but these following ones are the more irritable to me at least.
I could tell Tress is from the UK or Europe. This would've been otherwise fine, but Tress chose to write about a MC from the U.S. I'm only nitpicking on this here because Tress also had the MC use a a variety of UK and/or European slang. When I resolved myself to get over it, Tress went on to have the aliens (through translation that's supposed to be based on MC's knowledge and experience with the English language) also use UK and/or European slang. I felt it would've been better for Tress to just have made the MC come from UK or Europe since it seemed to be what Tress was familiar with.
With that said, that brings up the other issue that this carries the trope that aliens-are-just-humans-in-cosplay-bro. Aside from some welcomed made up alien slang, they mostly sounded like humans. Yes, a lot of this, as I said came by way of MC's automatic translation in his head, but still.
Also, given the focus of the romance in this story, the fact that the love interest is significantly larger than the MC (per the cover), Tress also seemed to forget about scale and size often. This happened by way of Tress explaining Chloe as being significantly larger than you're expecting to the degree that even if she knelt in front of MC to try to get to eye-level, she was still far larger than previously described. Also, per cover example for those who need a visual, you see that MC's shoulder comes up to her hip. Often Tress would have MC hip check Chloe, hip to hip, which is impossible given the fact Chloe's hip should be at his shoulder and not at his hip level.
This brings me to my second to final complaint that I'll post here. I find often in these gender role reversal stories where the male MC is surrounded by somewhat more masculine female characters, that the authors of those stories tend to either directly or indirectly write the MC with some feminine traits. It's always jarring to me as they have the male MC's do things that, at least, where I grew up, I don't know of any men doing. For example, in the US, the gender that primarily uses the pet name "hon" are females. Often as a pleasantry if they're working in customer service of any kind. It's not something that men tend to get away with when directing it to a female and so we men don't do it. Tress kept having Desmond call Chloe that and while it's not that serious, it had me constantly imagining him as some female retail clerk or older woman. The other thing is as I said, the hip bumps. They'd be mid conversation and he'd just hip bump her. Again, where I grew up, that's not something men do. Women do it and a man will react and do it back playfully or something. While these two examples aren't the worse I've seen in gender role reversal stories, it's still there. Makes me wish for a story where the male MC (from Earth) acts like a male MC (from Earth) and has to interact with female aliens who are aggressive in their pursuit of him and all that.
Lastly, as usual for these gender role reversal stories, the authors can't help but include some social commentary about gender issues, among other things. Whether it's subtle or direct social commentary. This has an entire scene somewhere near the end where the MC is supposedly put in a situation that a woman would be put in IRL (in the real world) and harassed by a male clerk or something. Always in these types of stories the authors force the MC (and by extension the reader) to ponder "Uh...I wonder if that's what it's always like for women or something" off an an extreme situation where the person (male or female) should definitely and most likely would get in trouble if reported. To be fair to Tress, in this situation in the story Tress at least also had the "bad" character in this situation exhibit toxic feminine qualities as well (gaslighting, being deceptive, trying to manipulate authorities to her side with crocodile tears, making herself the victim when she was the one in the wrong, etc.)
Overall, like I said. This isn't a horrible story. Most will chalk everything up above as personal pet peeves. I just put them here as a warning to others that may not have high mileage as your mileage may vary on this. I did finish the story and went on to get the second book. I gave it three stars because I felt the author, yes even if it's situational-slice-of-life, could've better weaved in a goal, some character development (which I didn't get into), etc.
There were a few opportunities for Tress, despite this being situational-slice-of-life to latch on to a goal for the MC (Desmond) and the MFC (Main Female Character: Chloe) to work towards. The first, and obvious one was around Chloe and her debt. Unfortunately Tress ignores that after introducing it in favor of continuing the situational-slice-of-life meandering plot. The other opportunities were around Desmond and maybe giving him milestone goals to work toward in his training.
This is an academy story that has many academy/school story tropes. Bullies, MC is an outcast of the social hierarchy, etc. However, it lacks the coming of age aspect those stories tend to focus on giving their setting and time in the MC's life. This is a military academy story and has the usual trope of it's-a-military-academy-that's-just-college/high school. But it's not as a egregious as other stories that do that. Tress actually includes a military atmosphere into the academy. The only time you get the feeling of the trope is when the characters aren't interacting with an instructor.
For me, those were tolerable issues, but these following ones are the more irritable to me at least.
I could tell Tress is from the UK or Europe. This would've been otherwise fine, but Tress chose to write about a MC from the U.S. I'm only nitpicking on this here because Tress also had the MC use a a variety of UK and/or European slang. When I resolved myself to get over it, Tress went on to have the aliens (through translation that's supposed to be based on MC's knowledge and experience with the English language) also use UK and/or European slang. I felt it would've been better for Tress to just have made the MC come from UK or Europe since it seemed to be what Tress was familiar with.
With that said, that brings up the other issue that this carries the trope that aliens-are-just-humans-in-cosplay-bro. Aside from some welcomed made up alien slang, they mostly sounded like humans. Yes, a lot of this, as I said came by way of MC's automatic translation in his head, but still.
Also, given the focus of the romance in this story, the fact that the love interest is significantly larger than the MC (per the cover), Tress also seemed to forget about scale and size often. This happened by way of Tress explaining Chloe as being significantly larger than you're expecting to the degree that even if she knelt in front of MC to try to get to eye-level, she was still far larger than previously described. Also, per cover example for those who need a visual, you see that MC's shoulder comes up to her hip. Often Tress would have MC hip check Chloe, hip to hip, which is impossible given the fact Chloe's hip should be at his shoulder and not at his hip level.
This brings me to my second to final complaint that I'll post here. I find often in these gender role reversal stories where the male MC is surrounded by somewhat more masculine female characters, that the authors of those stories tend to either directly or indirectly write the MC with some feminine traits. It's always jarring to me as they have the male MC's do things that, at least, where I grew up, I don't know of any men doing. For example, in the US, the gender that primarily uses the pet name "hon" are females. Often as a pleasantry if they're working in customer service of any kind. It's not something that men tend to get away with when directing it to a female and so we men don't do it. Tress kept having Desmond call Chloe that and while it's not that serious, it had me constantly imagining him as some female retail clerk or older woman. The other thing is as I said, the hip bumps. They'd be mid conversation and he'd just hip bump her. Again, where I grew up, that's not something men do. Women do it and a man will react and do it back playfully or something. While these two examples aren't the worse I've seen in gender role reversal stories, it's still there. Makes me wish for a story where the male MC (from Earth) acts like a male MC (from Earth) and has to interact with female aliens who are aggressive in their pursuit of him and all that.
Lastly, as usual for these gender role reversal stories, the authors can't help but include some social commentary about gender issues, among other things. Whether it's subtle or direct social commentary. This has an entire scene somewhere near the end where the MC is supposedly put in a situation that a woman would be put in IRL (in the real world) and harassed by a male clerk or something. Always in these types of stories the authors force the MC (and by extension the reader) to ponder "Uh...I wonder if that's what it's always like for women or something" off an an extreme situation where the person (male or female) should definitely and most likely would get in trouble if reported. To be fair to Tress, in this situation in the story Tress at least also had the "bad" character in this situation exhibit toxic feminine qualities as well (gaslighting, being deceptive, trying to manipulate authorities to her side with crocodile tears, making herself the victim when she was the one in the wrong, etc.)
Overall, like I said. This isn't a horrible story. Most will chalk everything up above as personal pet peeves. I just put them here as a warning to others that may not have high mileage as your mileage may vary on this. I did finish the story and went on to get the second book. I gave it three stars because I felt the author, yes even if it's situational-slice-of-life, could've better weaved in a goal, some character development (which I didn't get into), etc.
December 16, 2025
Ревюто на български отдолу.
Male-targeted romantasy that kicks off with the whiniest, most insufferable main character I could ever imagine, and tragically doesn’t even end with him banging alien babes. His attempts at romance with them are as pathetic as the author’s brains — and the brains of the thousands of fans who somehow eat this stuff up.
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Роментъзи за мъже, което започва с най-дразнещия главен герой-мрънкач който някога съм можел да си представя и за съжаление не завършва със секс с извънземни мацки, защото опитите на дразнещия мрънкач за някакъв романс с тях са толкова нефелни, колкото явно и акълът на автора и на хилядите му фенове.
Male-targeted romantasy that kicks off with the whiniest, most insufferable main character I could ever imagine, and tragically doesn’t even end with him banging alien babes. His attempts at romance with them are as pathetic as the author’s brains — and the brains of the thousands of fans who somehow eat this stuff up.
---------------------------
Роментъзи за мъже, което започва с най-дразнещия главен герой-мрънкач който някога съм можел да си представя и за съжаление не завършва със секс с извънземни мацки, защото опитите на дразнещия мрънкач за някакъв романс с тях са толкова нефелни, колкото явно и акълът на автора и на хилядите му фенове.
August 20, 2024
Blue collar guy with exceptional morales must represent Earth as he is trained to use magic so he can protect his fellow cadets and glactic civilization from rift monsters, all while being snubbed by several bigoted mean girl racist cadets.
Oh, and this universe has a low percentage of men so the girls chase the guys.
Oh, and this universe has a low percentage of men so the girls chase the guys.
December 27, 2024
No spoilers, but this story gave me incredibly mixed feelings. On the one hand, it very cringely (an adverb I’ve made up) feels like it’s been written using AI; just slightly off. For instance, there is perfect grammar until suddenly plural words use an apostrophe S. Idioms are either dead on or slightly off. Also, there is often repetitive use of an adjective within a description, but almost always a different one each time.
Additionally, there are times that the storyline feels like it goes on and on with no particular goal. We see the characters day-to-day and there are things happening, but it doesn’t feel ”efficient.” I sometimes found myself wondering what the point of the long description(s) were for. Then other things that were hyped up and I felt were more important or interesting were mentioned in passing.
On the other hand, the world building is pretty good. The grand storyline seems to liberally use elements from the LitRPG genre. And if you can ignore the awkwardness of the writing errors and some of the plot, it’s an exciting story with nice character development.
Due to the errors I can’t love it, but it has some redeeming qualities that cause me to still kind of like it.
Additionally, there are times that the storyline feels like it goes on and on with no particular goal. We see the characters day-to-day and there are things happening, but it doesn’t feel ”efficient.” I sometimes found myself wondering what the point of the long description(s) were for. Then other things that were hyped up and I felt were more important or interesting were mentioned in passing.
On the other hand, the world building is pretty good. The grand storyline seems to liberally use elements from the LitRPG genre. And if you can ignore the awkwardness of the writing errors and some of the plot, it’s an exciting story with nice character development.
Due to the errors I can’t love it, but it has some redeeming qualities that cause me to still kind of like it.
September 8, 2024
Dumb start even worse ending
The book opens up with the MC being g threatened in his own home by an agent and no apologies just hey you've been chosen and the MC goes right along like a good boy. Utter trash garbage vomit stain. The ending isn't much better. Don't waste your time on this weak beta make snooze quest. Very HARD pass!!!!!!!!
The book opens up with the MC being g threatened in his own home by an agent and no apologies just hey you've been chosen and the MC goes right along like a good boy. Utter trash garbage vomit stain. The ending isn't much better. Don't waste your time on this weak beta make snooze quest. Very HARD pass!!!!!!!!
August 17, 2024
Mc
The first bkok.was interesting ,the American CIA treated the MC as expected but turned me.off was just how soft the MC has become. When he tries to make.a refugee a part of.His system . That's the dangerous part and his guard has warned him and he isn't !listening In truth the MC is not the right person for the job . He's a nice guy and in the business he's in ,nice peop!e.have a tendency to.get hurt or die because they might just pic the wrong person that kills the entire team .He is t listening to his
Guard .He has Already done zo.e.really b stupid Things and put his team in a position they should not have had to.be.in and that was saving g his butt. After . 1.5 years in Viet nam I saw people get killed because others made bad decisions . I know ,its just a book ,just fantasy ,its the wrong message . there is a fine line between being a hero and making bad decisions . The MC was really forced to make the decision he did. A it is some what of an Interesting story but I am finding another story that may fit my taste . read on
The first bkok.was interesting ,the American CIA treated the MC as expected but turned me.off was just how soft the MC has become. When he tries to make.a refugee a part of.His system . That's the dangerous part and his guard has warned him and he isn't !listening In truth the MC is not the right person for the job . He's a nice guy and in the business he's in ,nice peop!e.have a tendency to.get hurt or die because they might just pic the wrong person that kills the entire team .He is t listening to his
Guard .He has Already done zo.e.really b stupid Things and put his team in a position they should not have had to.be.in and that was saving g his butt. After . 1.5 years in Viet nam I saw people get killed because others made bad decisions . I know ,its just a book ,just fantasy ,its the wrong message . there is a fine line between being a hero and making bad decisions . The MC was really forced to make the decision he did. A it is some what of an Interesting story but I am finding another story that may fit my taste . read on
November 13, 2025
Kinda boring
The concept is very interesting but just as lacking in story telling. The world building is excellent. However the characters are almost all cookie cutter NPC types with zero character development. Sticking to single digit stats also homogenized the characters even more. What wrecked any relationship viewpoint for me was the MC finding a cows tail, bulls horns and a giant mans body with breasts to be peak levels of attractive. Weird and creepy. Having every character embody a single personality characterstic gets old.
The concept is very interesting but just as lacking in story telling. The world building is excellent. However the characters are almost all cookie cutter NPC types with zero character development. Sticking to single digit stats also homogenized the characters even more. What wrecked any relationship viewpoint for me was the MC finding a cows tail, bulls horns and a giant mans body with breasts to be peak levels of attractive. Weird and creepy. Having every character embody a single personality characterstic gets old.
July 22, 2024
This was an interesting start to a series. Not great, but definitely interesting. Earth has found itself joining it's galactic fraternity out of nowhere, and they need someone to be the first person to join the Adept program. After researching genetics to find someone who could manipulate mana, the MC is selected somewhat against his will. Off to a spaceship/academy to learn.
The MC is decent, but because he's a "Terran" from a "primitive" system, he basically gets a lot of bigotry and high school level stupidity he has to deal with. This is sadly typical of any academy style book, and the hassle of dealing with that level of dumb wears on me as a reader.
The harem is only one, which is a pleasant surprise in a book nearly 600 pages long. The relationship builds slowly. She's nice, and he's a bit of a "goody two-shoes" type, which helps explain why things take so long. A little too much "white knight" stuff overall, but that's fine.
I will try the next book in this series, but I'm hoping to see some improvement from the MC and less high school antics from those around the MC.
The MC is decent, but because he's a "Terran" from a "primitive" system, he basically gets a lot of bigotry and high school level stupidity he has to deal with. This is sadly typical of any academy style book, and the hassle of dealing with that level of dumb wears on me as a reader.
The harem is only one, which is a pleasant surprise in a book nearly 600 pages long. The relationship builds slowly. She's nice, and he's a bit of a "goody two-shoes" type, which helps explain why things take so long. A little too much "white knight" stuff overall, but that's fine.
I will try the next book in this series, but I'm hoping to see some improvement from the MC and less high school antics from those around the MC.
January 4, 2025
Can’t read the terrible editing
I only read about 20 pages before giving up. A small number of ordinary words were made plural with an apostrophe-s construct, which is both bad English and very stupid looking. So I shan’t be finding out what happens to the MC and the magic purple aliens and their spaceships.
Interesting premise, though.
I only read about 20 pages before giving up. A small number of ordinary words were made plural with an apostrophe-s construct, which is both bad English and very stupid looking. So I shan’t be finding out what happens to the MC and the magic purple aliens and their spaceships.
Interesting premise, though.
January 3, 2025
Every fantasy or sci fi book requires some suspension of disbelief, but most authors try to minimise what's required; to make the world feel natural and coherent.
This book (and series) appears to be the result when an otherwise skilled writer decides to try and *maximise* the amount required. The setting is just absurd, not in an impossible way like "hey, there's magic" or "dragons are real" or whatever (although there's plenty of that too!) but in a "nothing is consistent or plausible" way.
The is a story of first contact with aliens. Who all look, inexplicably, like elves, dwarves, goblins, and orcs. And all breathe the exact same atmosphere and are sexually compatible with each other and humans. Also magic is real. There's a magic translation spell, which is nice, but it understandably isn't perfect - for example, at one point it fails to translate an idiom ("falling off a turnip truck") - but then it smoothly translates a thousand others without a hiccup, and then *manages to translate puns and clever wordplay*, which...isn't even possible between Earth languages. And speaking of, although the aliens have a very obviously non-Earth-like (...well, more like non-American) culture at a macro level, there's literally hundreds of examples of implausible overlap, right down to how the alien military has concepts like standing for a superior officer, coming to attention, at ease, etc. that again, aren't even common to all Earth militaries.
In one of the more jarring examples, one alien character joins the alien military to pay off some medical debts () because an insurance payout wasn't large enough to cover the full cost. This is, again, something any American alive today would be able to understand and sympathise with, but it's a bit remarkable an utterly alien and extremely advanced alien empire would have the same system of health care funding that America does as, again, that's extremely rare even on Earth! (I'm not saying that any advanced civilisation would have something better - although that's a very plausible argument! - but rather saying that there's so many forms that it could take, it's implausible it would take this one. Although compared to every sentient race evolving on planets with Earth standard atmospheres and gravity, it's not even that improbable!)
And yet...this is actually a good story. Not *great* (the characters are a touch two dimensional; there's not a lot of character progression; it veers a bit randomly between being a slice of life and being plot driven), but really very pleasant. And the bizarre setting could have entirely faded into the background if the author had just made it a "standard" isekai or immersive VR game or whatever. As readers, we don't *need* a reason to justify the protagonist flirting with a orcish cat girl with Evil Dead references, especially if - as here - it's done in a really polished and heartwarming way. But if you're going to try and justify it, just...don't try and make it into some sort of hard science thing. Every scintilla of effort to make a coherent setting is literally counterproductive when it's this screwball.
If you're willing to utterly suspend your disbelief and want a story of, basically, some guy who somehow ends up in a sort of Mass Effect-with-magic world and and flirts with monster girls and has a great time, this series is highly, highly recommended. Just...do not think about any of the details, whatsoever.
This book (and series) appears to be the result when an otherwise skilled writer decides to try and *maximise* the amount required. The setting is just absurd, not in an impossible way like "hey, there's magic" or "dragons are real" or whatever (although there's plenty of that too!) but in a "nothing is consistent or plausible" way.
The is a story of first contact with aliens. Who all look, inexplicably, like elves, dwarves, goblins, and orcs. And all breathe the exact same atmosphere and are sexually compatible with each other and humans. Also magic is real. There's a magic translation spell, which is nice, but it understandably isn't perfect - for example, at one point it fails to translate an idiom ("falling off a turnip truck") - but then it smoothly translates a thousand others without a hiccup, and then *manages to translate puns and clever wordplay*, which...isn't even possible between Earth languages. And speaking of, although the aliens have a very obviously non-Earth-like (...well, more like non-American) culture at a macro level, there's literally hundreds of examples of implausible overlap, right down to how the alien military has concepts like standing for a superior officer, coming to attention, at ease, etc. that again, aren't even common to all Earth militaries.
In one of the more jarring examples, one alien character joins the alien military to pay off some medical debts () because an insurance payout wasn't large enough to cover the full cost. This is, again, something any American alive today would be able to understand and sympathise with, but it's a bit remarkable an utterly alien and extremely advanced alien empire would have the same system of health care funding that America does as, again, that's extremely rare even on Earth! (I'm not saying that any advanced civilisation would have something better - although that's a very plausible argument! - but rather saying that there's so many forms that it could take, it's implausible it would take this one. Although compared to every sentient race evolving on planets with Earth standard atmospheres and gravity, it's not even that improbable!)
And yet...this is actually a good story. Not *great* (the characters are a touch two dimensional; there's not a lot of character progression; it veers a bit randomly between being a slice of life and being plot driven), but really very pleasant. And the bizarre setting could have entirely faded into the background if the author had just made it a "standard" isekai or immersive VR game or whatever. As readers, we don't *need* a reason to justify the protagonist flirting with a orcish cat girl with Evil Dead references, especially if - as here - it's done in a really polished and heartwarming way. But if you're going to try and justify it, just...don't try and make it into some sort of hard science thing. Every scintilla of effort to make a coherent setting is literally counterproductive when it's this screwball.
If you're willing to utterly suspend your disbelief and want a story of, basically, some guy who somehow ends up in a sort of Mass Effect-with-magic world and and flirts with monster girls and has a great time, this series is highly, highly recommended. Just...do not think about any of the details, whatsoever.
October 21, 2024
DNF'd at something like 7%, but I don't want to be too harsh: it might just be a "me" thing.
I was drawn to this book, primarily, because I thought the "Transition into Monstergirl-land" seemed interesting, having it be handled as the CIA needing to extract a particular person to send over to the monstergirls.
The book largely flops this opening transition.
A ludicrously short time-limit is put onto the transition, for no discern-able reason other than to justify everything happening so fast.
The CIA ends up being portrayed as incompetent bad-guys who fail at their one job; almost as if the book is trying to set them up as future enemies for the rest of the book(s).
A character is introduced, has a story-beat that demonstrates her as "the only one in the room who cares about making sure Informed Consent is freely given", and yet she fails to properly inform before doing an irreversible procedure that threatens the Main Character's life.
That alone kills most of my enthusiasm for the book: So I was left considering the book by it's more conventional merits, to see if I wanted to continue reading, since I already had it downloaded.
The main character is written with "Axe-throwing" as most of what we know about his personality. He's also a strange mixture of aggressive and restrained, knowing off the top of his head when he's legally allowed to kill a man. This feels very awkward to me, and I end up struggling to relate or sympathize with this character.
There is a scene where "men opening doors for women" is brought up apropos of nothing, and the following discussion leads me to suspect that the book's political views on gender are going to be awkward for me as well, if for no other reason than how clumsily it's handled.
The "Monstergirls", as far as I can tell, are very much "woman with differently colored skin and pointy-ears". I skipped forward to the "Species Index", or whatever it was called. Disappointed is an understatement.
At least once-per chapter there are typos, along the lines of "And he wend with her to the ship" or "She moved quiet quickly, despite her short legs".
So, the book was disappointing on nearly every front I cared about.
I'm still vaguely interested in the premise, but I don't think I can stand to read this book until my expectations have had time to sufficiently lower themselves.
I was drawn to this book, primarily, because I thought the "Transition into Monstergirl-land" seemed interesting, having it be handled as the CIA needing to extract a particular person to send over to the monstergirls.
The book largely flops this opening transition.
A ludicrously short time-limit is put onto the transition, for no discern-able reason other than to justify everything happening so fast.
The CIA ends up being portrayed as incompetent bad-guys who fail at their one job; almost as if the book is trying to set them up as future enemies for the rest of the book(s).
A character is introduced, has a story-beat that demonstrates her as "the only one in the room who cares about making sure Informed Consent is freely given", and yet she fails to properly inform before doing an irreversible procedure that threatens the Main Character's life.
That alone kills most of my enthusiasm for the book: So I was left considering the book by it's more conventional merits, to see if I wanted to continue reading, since I already had it downloaded.
The main character is written with "Axe-throwing" as most of what we know about his personality. He's also a strange mixture of aggressive and restrained, knowing off the top of his head when he's legally allowed to kill a man. This feels very awkward to me, and I end up struggling to relate or sympathize with this character.
There is a scene where "men opening doors for women" is brought up apropos of nothing, and the following discussion leads me to suspect that the book's political views on gender are going to be awkward for me as well, if for no other reason than how clumsily it's handled.
The "Monstergirls", as far as I can tell, are very much "woman with differently colored skin and pointy-ears". I skipped forward to the "Species Index", or whatever it was called. Disappointed is an understatement.
At least once-per chapter there are typos, along the lines of "And he wend with her to the ship" or "She moved quiet quickly, despite her short legs".
So, the book was disappointing on nearly every front I cared about.
I'm still vaguely interested in the premise, but I don't think I can stand to read this book until my expectations have had time to sufficiently lower themselves.
August 4, 2024
The series title "Monster Girls In Space" while true is also misleading. This series (I've now read both books) is not simple genre fiction. It's a genuine epic story telling. The first 100 pages introducing the MC and getting him off planet earth is Book of the Year material. The characterization of the MC and his associates is well developed. There are unique aspects of world and civilization development that are detailed and logically consistent. Many life challenges and lessons. For those on the political left is speaks to diversity and racism issues. It also speaks to right grounded economic necessity and harsh reality. The relationships are loving and show the value of honor, trust and caring for others. There are sexually explicit scenes, but they are there to enhance and not dominate. Only 5 total in the ~1000 pages of the two current volumes. Without that small taste of smut making it unsuitable for a juvenile audience this story line would be Honor Herrington worthy. Trials, tribulations and self development. A tip of the hat to you M.Tress
September 22, 2024
A good Read!!!!!
I very seldomly reviews for any authors. But I felt that I had to leave a review for this Indy author because they deserve five stars from me.! And I'm going to be buying All of their books. This offer has developed a character in this work that deserves a rating from me. And if you give him a chance on reading this. You will find out the same thing that I did. I could hardly put the book down to sleep after I started reading it the other day, and would recommend this for any person that's like science fiction and books about outer space. It makes you think about what could be out there in the world of outer space, because if you think about it, we haven't even really scratched the surface of it by getting outside of our planet. And I think that if they would have a way to go in outer space and explore that we would find out that maybe we are not really alone like everybody thinks we are. So again, my recommendation is that you read this and give this author a chance.! And kudos to the author. I am waiting on your next work. Well done!!!!
I very seldomly reviews for any authors. But I felt that I had to leave a review for this Indy author because they deserve five stars from me.! And I'm going to be buying All of their books. This offer has developed a character in this work that deserves a rating from me. And if you give him a chance on reading this. You will find out the same thing that I did. I could hardly put the book down to sleep after I started reading it the other day, and would recommend this for any person that's like science fiction and books about outer space. It makes you think about what could be out there in the world of outer space, because if you think about it, we haven't even really scratched the surface of it by getting outside of our planet. And I think that if they would have a way to go in outer space and explore that we would find out that maybe we are not really alone like everybody thinks we are. So again, my recommendation is that you read this and give this author a chance.! And kudos to the author. I am waiting on your next work. Well done!!!!
January 10, 2025
Very well done coming of age/progression story with dungeon delving in a sci-fi universe
The MC is a Terran from a newly discovered planet being incorporated into the hegemony. Only a small percentage of people (of all species), mostly female are adepts who can manipulate mana. Since the MC is considered a rube and prim, or primitive, the entitled look down on him. Some even try to cause him harm as do a few miscreants to their chagrin.
The story is well written and constructed with consistent and creative worldbuilding. The rifts that form and spawn advesaries are just another form of dungeons in a blended sci-fi and tech universe. The characters are realistic, from the annoying female friend who loves to talk about sexy matters, to the tough instructor, to the arrogantly bigoted elven nemesis. The MC's girlfriend however is rather unique in the meet-cute, the relationship development and her backstory. Then there's her species and physical endowments... off the charts!
All told this was a quite interesting story that I look forward to continuing.
The MC is a Terran from a newly discovered planet being incorporated into the hegemony. Only a small percentage of people (of all species), mostly female are adepts who can manipulate mana. Since the MC is considered a rube and prim, or primitive, the entitled look down on him. Some even try to cause him harm as do a few miscreants to their chagrin.
The story is well written and constructed with consistent and creative worldbuilding. The rifts that form and spawn advesaries are just another form of dungeons in a blended sci-fi and tech universe. The characters are realistic, from the annoying female friend who loves to talk about sexy matters, to the tough instructor, to the arrogantly bigoted elven nemesis. The MC's girlfriend however is rather unique in the meet-cute, the relationship development and her backstory. Then there's her species and physical endowments... off the charts!
All told this was a quite interesting story that I look forward to continuing.
January 11, 2025
A good fun read.
This is basically a magic based dungeon crawl academy book but done in space, on a giant space ship. One thing that annoyed me was not explaining why he never experienced weightlessness in any space craft he was in. But as this is not really science fiction but more a human in a magic fantasy setting learning magic and how to defeat Dungeons aka rifts while being the first human, and the prejudice that brings. Also with the male to female ratio being heavily unbalanced he is receiving sexual harassment from the females. I didn’t sweat the lack of details I might have liked to have in a more traditional sci-fi book. I.e how gravity is faked and how everyone is happy with the same gravity where different sized planets would have different gravity densities. This seems to be a slow burn harem series, which I prefer to one where the MC adds girls early and often. Really enjoying the story, rushing off to read book 2.
This is basically a magic based dungeon crawl academy book but done in space, on a giant space ship. One thing that annoyed me was not explaining why he never experienced weightlessness in any space craft he was in. But as this is not really science fiction but more a human in a magic fantasy setting learning magic and how to defeat Dungeons aka rifts while being the first human, and the prejudice that brings. Also with the male to female ratio being heavily unbalanced he is receiving sexual harassment from the females. I didn’t sweat the lack of details I might have liked to have in a more traditional sci-fi book. I.e how gravity is faked and how everyone is happy with the same gravity where different sized planets would have different gravity densities. This seems to be a slow burn harem series, which I prefer to one where the MC adds girls early and often. Really enjoying the story, rushing off to read book 2.
July 22, 2024
Fantastic 1st installment, beefy length AND well written
The writing in this book was great! No 6ft 4" alpha Chad mc here and I love it.
The worldbuilding here is so neat it makes me wonder how other team comps and adept builds would work in different scenarios. Could definitely see a wider universe with other characters taking the stage like Pinwheel by snekguy. The scifi element was done so well. I kept being torn to wanting to see the relationships develop vs the progression of other elements.
This book felt much longer than other similar titles I've read recently and I mean that in a good way. Much more happens and develops with the increased length and doesn't detract from the story AT ALL. Nothing feels drawn out.
Also have to say, I absolutely LOVE Chloe. Can't wait to read more from this author.
The writing in this book was great! No 6ft 4" alpha Chad mc here and I love it.
The worldbuilding here is so neat it makes me wonder how other team comps and adept builds would work in different scenarios. Could definitely see a wider universe with other characters taking the stage like Pinwheel by snekguy. The scifi element was done so well. I kept being torn to wanting to see the relationships develop vs the progression of other elements.
This book felt much longer than other similar titles I've read recently and I mean that in a good way. Much more happens and develops with the increased length and doesn't detract from the story AT ALL. Nothing feels drawn out.
Also have to say, I absolutely LOVE Chloe. Can't wait to read more from this author.
May 1, 2025
Some flaws but an interesting story
Overall I liked it. Had some interesting set up and world building. The author kind of kept it simple with names and foods, but tried to in world explain some, and that's preferable to doing that added stuff poorly.
My main gripe is "Terrans heal fast." No, wet really don't. We heal better than most animals because of medical intervention. What little studies I've seen we may even heal slower than most animals. So that kind of shoots the justification for the MC's ace in the hole to crap. Like, just have it a weird quirk, don't inaccurately science it.
Some typos as well, but not too many. The gripes almost led me to giving it 3 stars but it's still got potential, even if that did sour things some.
Maybe I'll still read the next one.
Overall I liked it. Had some interesting set up and world building. The author kind of kept it simple with names and foods, but tried to in world explain some, and that's preferable to doing that added stuff poorly.
My main gripe is "Terrans heal fast." No, wet really don't. We heal better than most animals because of medical intervention. What little studies I've seen we may even heal slower than most animals. So that kind of shoots the justification for the MC's ace in the hole to crap. Like, just have it a weird quirk, don't inaccurately science it.
Some typos as well, but not too many. The gripes almost led me to giving it 3 stars but it's still got potential, even if that did sour things some.
Maybe I'll still read the next one.
August 9, 2025
After our lumbersexual MC's unnecessary introduction to WATL and a Men in Black-esque inciting incident, this story heads to a "space wizard" academy, where our protagonist was not "too old to begin the training". Overall, I liked it and flew through it. So far, there isn't really any "villains" unless you count the mean girls either picking on or sexually harassing our MC. These space marines are being trained up to clear "rifts", which are basically space dungeons that will go supernova if left to destabilize (overkill as far as consequences go). The central relationship was slow to get going and there was a bit too much blushing and pet names. I do like the military academy theme going on here, and the action was pretty entertaining in my opinion. I will definitely continue on with this one and see where it's going.
July 22, 2024
The author does an amazing job of introducing really neat and interesting concepts, and then goes above and beyond in building the universe with them. It's not everyday that someone can take futuristic technology and seamlessly combine it with space magic. All while having monster girls kicking ass!
Lots of good character interactions, and characters to love and the hate, plus fantastic moments of humor.
I'm going to be reading this one many times over, and I am so excited to keep on reading the series!!
And I also look forward to the several other series they are working on. For anyone who likes web novels, check out their Summoned by a Sorority on Royal Road.
(As the editor, I might be a little biased)
Lots of good character interactions, and characters to love and the hate, plus fantastic moments of humor.
I'm going to be reading this one many times over, and I am so excited to keep on reading the series!!
And I also look forward to the several other series they are working on. For anyone who likes web novels, check out their Summoned by a Sorority on Royal Road.
(As the editor, I might be a little biased)
August 6, 2024
Don't sleep on this book!
It's absolutely great from beginning to end. For a new author's first foray into writing harem, I can't say enough good things about it. The setting is compelling and well-developed, with nods to all your favorite science fiction franchises, but borrowing lightly enough from each that it doesn't feel like a pastiche or copy of any particular one.
The romance is nice, paced reasonably, and avoids the pitfall of throwing too many girls at the MC too fast for me to care about them. Chloe is written wonderfully.
Another review mentions editing issues, and while there are a couple of those, I didn't find them so distracting that they prevented me from enjoying the story.
I'm hoping we get an audio version soon.
It's absolutely great from beginning to end. For a new author's first foray into writing harem, I can't say enough good things about it. The setting is compelling and well-developed, with nods to all your favorite science fiction franchises, but borrowing lightly enough from each that it doesn't feel like a pastiche or copy of any particular one.
The romance is nice, paced reasonably, and avoids the pitfall of throwing too many girls at the MC too fast for me to care about them. Chloe is written wonderfully.
Another review mentions editing issues, and while there are a couple of those, I didn't find them so distracting that they prevented me from enjoying the story.
I'm hoping we get an audio version soon.
September 20, 2024
A Macho fantasy indeed
Kidnapped, confused and let loose upon the greater galaxy! Desmond is swept up in becoming an adept and has the temperament of an everydayman. Just trying to make it. Joins a galactic magical military with cute alien monster girls and learns on the fly how to survive in his new reality. Every scenario Des has been placed in sees him react and learn almost as if he was a real person. no over theatrical heroics....just hard work and even harder lessons learned. As a fantasy character, Des is as bland as it gets but the supporting cast make up for it and even drag him out of his shell a bit. I'm looking forward to seeing how he and his team mesh in book 2
Kidnapped, confused and let loose upon the greater galaxy! Desmond is swept up in becoming an adept and has the temperament of an everydayman. Just trying to make it. Joins a galactic magical military with cute alien monster girls and learns on the fly how to survive in his new reality. Every scenario Des has been placed in sees him react and learn almost as if he was a real person. no over theatrical heroics....just hard work and even harder lessons learned. As a fantasy character, Des is as bland as it gets but the supporting cast make up for it and even drag him out of his shell a bit. I'm looking forward to seeing how he and his team mesh in book 2
July 19, 2024
Good start to a new series
Slow burn romance, very minor litrpg, not-yet but possibly impending harem (situation almost requires it, but doesn't happen in the book, yet.)
Bit of a fish-out-of-water story wherein a modern human man gets suddenly pulled into a magically active, technologically advanced society where women of various semifamiliar races (elf, orc, dwarf, beastkin, etc.) drastically outnumber the men.
I really look forward to a long run of the series, and can't wait for the next book.
Slow burn romance, very minor litrpg, not-yet but possibly impending harem (situation almost requires it, but doesn't happen in the book, yet.)
Bit of a fish-out-of-water story wherein a modern human man gets suddenly pulled into a magically active, technologically advanced society where women of various semifamiliar races (elf, orc, dwarf, beastkin, etc.) drastically outnumber the men.
I really look forward to a long run of the series, and can't wait for the next book.
August 4, 2024
Unique Story, editing sucked
I had so much fun with this book, it’s a shame that the editing was not up to the same quality. Whoever edited this wonderful book seriously needs to learn how commas and the apostrophe are supposed to work. I’ve already got the sequel in my library and can’t wait to see what happens next. Seriously great use of the chapter quotes and the characters are incredibly well rounded. Reviewed specifically to encourage the writer to keep up the good work!
I had so much fun with this book, it’s a shame that the editing was not up to the same quality. Whoever edited this wonderful book seriously needs to learn how commas and the apostrophe are supposed to work. I’ve already got the sequel in my library and can’t wait to see what happens next. Seriously great use of the chapter quotes and the characters are incredibly well rounded. Reviewed specifically to encourage the writer to keep up the good work!
September 30, 2024
This book was pretty good. I'm tagging it HFY because it feels like it could fit into Reddit's r/HFY subreddit pretty comfortably. The first part of the book was good, but it started showing elements of gender-swapping towards the end. FMC is 8 feet tall and strong, MC gets sexually harassed be a woman while clothes shopping, side character woman turns out to be gay just because. Overall, the universe feels like a take on the Sexy Space Babes stories from BlueFishcake, human man gets drafted into the army of a predominantly female alien galactic empire and mayhem ensues.
November 16, 2024
This is another interesting take on the Magic and Technology troph
What I like is magic with limits on how much power you can expend before recharge/renewal. When there are no apparent limits it ruins any plot because you can blow right past the resistance.
Stars don't twinkle in a vacuum.
The love is graphic and beautiful.
The center piece of the plot is a struggle against "nature" but many of the forces of nature turn into individual attacking monsters. Some are more like black holes or Novas.
This is a first contact novel.
Enjoy.
What I like is magic with limits on how much power you can expend before recharge/renewal. When there are no apparent limits it ruins any plot because you can blow right past the resistance.
Stars don't twinkle in a vacuum.
The love is graphic and beautiful.
The center piece of the plot is a struggle against "nature" but many of the forces of nature turn into individual attacking monsters. Some are more like black holes or Novas.
This is a first contact novel.
Enjoy.
April 8, 2025
unexpectedly fun and binge worthy
Honestly I still don’t know what Men’s Romance means which almost put me off reading it. Mostly because I was expecting shades of ‘GOR’ and not in a good way.
I was unexpectedly captivated by the storyline, the world build and the characters.
Reminds me of the best parts of 80s sci fi adventure stories. Like Christopher Stasheff or Gorden Dickson, Joel Rosenberg. Fun, witty and adventurous. Quite thoroughly enjoyed it. Who wouldn’t want to be a Space Wizard? Sign me up! On to book 2.
Honestly I still don’t know what Men’s Romance means which almost put me off reading it. Mostly because I was expecting shades of ‘GOR’ and not in a good way.
I was unexpectedly captivated by the storyline, the world build and the characters.
Reminds me of the best parts of 80s sci fi adventure stories. Like Christopher Stasheff or Gorden Dickson, Joel Rosenberg. Fun, witty and adventurous. Quite thoroughly enjoyed it. Who wouldn’t want to be a Space Wizard? Sign me up! On to book 2.
July 5, 2025
This book makes no sense. Women supposedly go after men, except that never seems to happen. Apparently the MC, surrounded by women, doesn't try and have sexual relationships with any of them. A real man would be trying for it after a week. This is written by someone who doesn't understand men and it's frustrating reading it.
The MC is supposedly 5'7" or something short like that, and the narrator makes him sound like a 6'5" ogre. Male narrator sounds like he has slobbery shit in his mouth. Female narrator is great, but the male narrator is not my preference.
The MC is supposedly 5'7" or something short like that, and the narrator makes him sound like a 6'5" ogre. Male narrator sounds like he has slobbery shit in his mouth. Female narrator is great, but the male narrator is not my preference.
July 10, 2024
Holy Space Girls!
This was one awesome book! I love Chloe so much!
We are definitely not alone in the universe, now just take the first human chosen to interact with everyone in space and make him flip all of the expectations from everyone on their heads, now add in a good sprinkling of mischief and some love along the way and you’ve got Desmond’s tale. Things do seem to go pretty well, so far at least but who knows what school will bring and anyone who doesn’t like is always free to test their theories at their own convenience. 20/10 am going to read over and over again!
This was one awesome book! I love Chloe so much!
We are definitely not alone in the universe, now just take the first human chosen to interact with everyone in space and make him flip all of the expectations from everyone on their heads, now add in a good sprinkling of mischief and some love along the way and you’ve got Desmond’s tale. Things do seem to go pretty well, so far at least but who knows what school will bring and anyone who doesn’t like is always free to test their theories at their own convenience. 20/10 am going to read over and over again!
July 20, 2024
Wow, where did this book come from!?!
First of all, forget what genre this book is in. It is an amazing read, period. The story of a young man drafter to be a cadet in space, mixed with magic and slice of life in an academy on a giant spaceship. Pretty cool. Add on top of that amazing characters, beautiful slow burn romance, and well written dialogue. This might be one of the best reads all year for me.
First of all, forget what genre this book is in. It is an amazing read, period. The story of a young man drafter to be a cadet in space, mixed with magic and slice of life in an academy on a giant spaceship. Pretty cool. Add on top of that amazing characters, beautiful slow burn romance, and well written dialogue. This might be one of the best reads all year for me.
July 25, 2024
great story and can’t wait to see more of this galaxy
I loved Desmond’s introduction into the adept school though would like more story on overall empire like the empress and how she views new species inducted and do earthlings make a splash besides Desmond? Also would love Desmond’s guard(s) reactions to Rom-Coms to see if they get popular in the wider galaxy would be even funny if Throneblood got addicted.
I loved Desmond’s introduction into the adept school though would like more story on overall empire like the empress and how she views new species inducted and do earthlings make a splash besides Desmond? Also would love Desmond’s guard(s) reactions to Rom-Coms to see if they get popular in the wider galaxy would be even funny if Throneblood got addicted.
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