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Ink Mage: A Deck Building LitRPG Adventure
Time is running out.
Alexander Boleyn—his dearest friend, surrogate brother, and heir to his noble house—is dying. House Boleyn is on the verge of collapse and has allied with the corrupt House De Lawney, who Diya suspects are responsible for the incident that left Alexander in his current state.
All hope is not lost. A fix for Alexander’s condition is within reach, and Diya also has leads on the mystery of his brother's disappearance. But, he needs to hurry.
House Boleyn’s new heir wants Alexander dead and Diya out of the way. The De Lawneys intend to capture and enslave the only companion Diya can trust. Staying step ahead of the rest is the only road to success.
Book 2 in the TOWER OF CARDS Series from Bestseller J Pal. This is Progression Fantasy utilizing a runic card-based magic system with tons of deck building customization. Perfect for fans of All the Skills and Towers of Heaven, as well as games such as Slay the Spire, Hearthstone, and Gwent.
Alexander Boleyn—his dearest friend, surrogate brother, and heir to his noble house—is dying. House Boleyn is on the verge of collapse and has allied with the corrupt House De Lawney, who Diya suspects are responsible for the incident that left Alexander in his current state.
All hope is not lost. A fix for Alexander’s condition is within reach, and Diya also has leads on the mystery of his brother's disappearance. But, he needs to hurry.
House Boleyn’s new heir wants Alexander dead and Diya out of the way. The De Lawneys intend to capture and enslave the only companion Diya can trust. Staying step ahead of the rest is the only road to success.
Book 2 in the TOWER OF CARDS Series from Bestseller J Pal. This is Progression Fantasy utilizing a runic card-based magic system with tons of deck building customization. Perfect for fans of All the Skills and Towers of Heaven, as well as games such as Slay the Spire, Hearthstone, and Gwent.
- GenresFantasy
430 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 27, 2024
133 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 10, 2024
ending was rushed
Was a good story over all with some minor world building oddities but ok,
However starting around page 300 it felt like the book was tripping over its own feet to end the story in a neat bow.
I also feel like there was not nearly enough time on each floor.
Was a good story over all with some minor world building oddities but ok,
However starting around page 300 it felt like the book was tripping over its own feet to end the story in a neat bow.
I also feel like there was not nearly enough time on each floor.
September 4, 2024
Just not for me
This book and the prior really need some editing. Misplaced paragraphs, a lot of homophones (there is one in the first chapter I think in book one. Taught instead of taut). I forgave it in the first book because I enjoyed the plot well enough but this one wrapped up in a way that didn't feel like it really... wrapped a narrative. There's a whole lot of repeating the same thing 3 times any time someone is getting paid or wanting to do a favor that undercuts the tension of honor versus friendship that is at least very briefly set up as a potential conflict within the party. Now, if this is where the series ends I'll admit - ending serviceable. In fact, continuing would feel weird. But more so as I feel like this review book two lost... cohesion so to speak. There are several times I almost stopped reading but I kept hoping that there was something about this book that felt different. It almost felt like there were stakes. But for the only stake to be an unavoidable offscreen loss to tie off a narrative thread in a way that allows for a swift exit without an actual exploration of the grief inherent in said stake? I feel like I might come back and put this back to 3 at some point just for the vision of what could have been that it felt like this story kept striving towards but contained itself away from.
This book and the prior really need some editing. Misplaced paragraphs, a lot of homophones (there is one in the first chapter I think in book one. Taught instead of taut). I forgave it in the first book because I enjoyed the plot well enough but this one wrapped up in a way that didn't feel like it really... wrapped a narrative. There's a whole lot of repeating the same thing 3 times any time someone is getting paid or wanting to do a favor that undercuts the tension of honor versus friendship that is at least very briefly set up as a potential conflict within the party. Now, if this is where the series ends I'll admit - ending serviceable. In fact, continuing would feel weird. But more so as I feel like this review book two lost... cohesion so to speak. There are several times I almost stopped reading but I kept hoping that there was something about this book that felt different. It almost felt like there were stakes. But for the only stake to be an unavoidable offscreen loss to tie off a narrative thread in a way that allows for a swift exit without an actual exploration of the grief inherent in said stake? I feel like I might come back and put this back to 3 at some point just for the vision of what could have been that it felt like this story kept striving towards but contained itself away from.
August 29, 2024
Ohhhh man you can't believe how surprised and delighted I was to see that J Pal released book 2 in the Tower of Cards saga and as you can tell it's a deck building litRPG... I simply adore this type of story and that deck building books are seemingly few and far between but for me picking this book up also was kinda a jackpot moment 'cause this was the 5th deck building litRPG that I've read in the last couple of months! Yay!!! I started with Harmon Cooper's Battledeck Academy, and of course All the Skills by Honour Rae, and now this, and I recommend that you read them all. Ink Mage is Diya's and Gwyneth story as they climb tower to power-up. They're soon joined by Oss (and hey I learned that you don't hafta use cards to be powerful.) Oss has some really great ideas to help his new team inorder for them to get even stronger than they would've on their own... by finding a really powerful monster and a puzzle. So yeah dungeons within tower floors keeps everyone on their toes...
So go ahead and grab the book to see where Diya and Gwyneth end up! In fact grab all the books mentioned in my review, if you haven't already read them!!!
So go ahead and grab the book to see where Diya and Gwyneth end up! In fact grab all the books mentioned in my review, if you haven't already read them!!!
August 30, 2024
Fast paced and well-concocted gem
A hidden gem among progression fantasy, the worldbuilding on this is well-developed and fully fleshed-out. Continues the ticking clock from book 1 and manages to wrap up numerous loose ends and a decent amount of progression tidily along with interesting character dynamics. Could use a finer eye towards copy editing and it’s a fine line between the fast pace and some character development that seems more rushed than ideal, the duology finishes on a strong note and follows through with the excellent worldbuilding of book 1.
A hidden gem among progression fantasy, the worldbuilding on this is well-developed and fully fleshed-out. Continues the ticking clock from book 1 and manages to wrap up numerous loose ends and a decent amount of progression tidily along with interesting character dynamics. Could use a finer eye towards copy editing and it’s a fine line between the fast pace and some character development that seems more rushed than ideal, the duology finishes on a strong note and follows through with the excellent worldbuilding of book 1.
November 3, 2024
A strong wrap up of the duology. It turns out you don't need 10 or more books in LitRPG to still have plenty of floors, power ups, secrets to be learned and mysterious disappearances to be explained. I liked the characters and there was some development as well as plenty of action. And it turns out that using decks isn't the only way to get power in this world. It is always nice to see that there is more than one way to beat the system (or system equivalent).
September 11, 2024
never would have guessed that ending
Awesome story. I enjoyed the continued story progression and where the author took the story. I think it will make the next book super interesting. The author was struggling with too many abilities and I think this will help with that fact. Loved it.
Awesome story. I enjoyed the continued story progression and where the author took the story. I think it will make the next book super interesting. The author was struggling with too many abilities and I think this will help with that fact. Loved it.
September 9, 2024
Not how I expected the story to progress
I didn't expect the story to go the way it did, but that's not a bad thing. I look forward to seeing what happens in the next book.
I didn't expect the story to go the way it did, but that's not a bad thing. I look forward to seeing what happens in the next book.
September 1, 2024
I liked it, but seemed a very abrupt and rushed end to a series.
November 3, 2024
5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews