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Jake's Magical Market #1
Jake's Magical Market
Meddling gods. A magical card system. An apocalypse no one could have predicted.
Jake is working at the neighborhood market under his apartment when the world ends. He expected nuclear war, a computer virus, or even climate change burning everyone to a crisp to bring about the downfall of civilization. But cruel and arbitrary gods from another world? Who would have guessed that?
When these cruel gods shuffled Earth like a deck of cards, nothing was in the same place anymore. Monsters, dungeons, and magical items appear scattered across the globe. And suddenly, everyone has access to a new, strange magical card system that gives them magical powers.
Jake, wasting his day slacking off in the cooler, as he usually did, found himself alone in a completely new and very dangerous world. Can he learn to survive? Can he collect enough cards and create a good enough deck to fight back against the monsters that have overtaken his former home? And why are these strange people that look a lot like elves knocking on the door of the market he is hiding in and asking to buy some of his goods?
The gods may have stacked the deck against him, but Jake just might have a few cards up his sleeve that will help him survive.
Jake is working at the neighborhood market under his apartment when the world ends. He expected nuclear war, a computer virus, or even climate change burning everyone to a crisp to bring about the downfall of civilization. But cruel and arbitrary gods from another world? Who would have guessed that?
When these cruel gods shuffled Earth like a deck of cards, nothing was in the same place anymore. Monsters, dungeons, and magical items appear scattered across the globe. And suddenly, everyone has access to a new, strange magical card system that gives them magical powers.
Jake, wasting his day slacking off in the cooler, as he usually did, found himself alone in a completely new and very dangerous world. Can he learn to survive? Can he collect enough cards and create a good enough deck to fight back against the monsters that have overtaken his former home? And why are these strange people that look a lot like elves knocking on the door of the market he is hiding in and asking to buy some of his goods?
The gods may have stacked the deck against him, but Jake just might have a few cards up his sleeve that will help him survive.
773 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 6, 2021
1191 people are currently reading
2549 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 686 reviews
October 8, 2021
First of all I liked the book quite a bit. My biggest issue with this book is that it didn’t do enough with the premise it started with. The cards, the shop, etc were a neat idea that made for a interesting content in the first act, but both rapidly declined in importance after that. While the world it built was also good, it didn’t exactly fulfill the expectation. The only other issue was pacing. The first third is a slow growth, touching on slice of life style story. It soon explodes and toward the end is just too rushed. The last third probably could have been it’s own book, followed by the very end which only amplified that.
February 13, 2024
Everything about this book screams "whimsy". The cover, the blurb, the title, all of it. And the narrative, with a strict single PoV, continues that with Jake's wry observations, sly wit, and self-deprecation making for a fun romp.
Until the tone completely changes at 44% in. It's such an abrupt shift that I noted, and remember, the turning point. The story never gets back to that light tone and goes from torture to grim oppression to betrayal and murder. And I'm particularly chafed that it got there with author manipulation, making Jake do stupid things (like ). I counted three author intrusions that ended up .
And let me just say that the card-based powers worked well-enough as a system. That was always going to be a bit weird, but I think the author pulls it off interestingly enough for worldbuilding. And I was pleasantly surprised to find a robust sub-rosa cultivation-like understory that fit in seamlessly as well.
I finished the book because of my initial attachment to Jake and the strong pace with interesting worldbuilding. And that's saying something because half the book is the same size as a complete normal novel should be. During that time, Jake's character alters with the excuse of the bad things that happen to him. Which would be fine if it were consistent, but it just isn't.
And then, it ends on a cliffhanger. I was headed for three stars because the worldbuilding remained interesting and the pace is excellent and the plot held together and I still had hope the author could pull back to the good stuff. A cliffhanger is an automatic star deduction, however (when it isn't so bad that I drop to one), so this ends up with two stars. And the longer I consider, the closer I come to going down to one.
A note about Chaste: Jake has one hookup and another rushed "romance" that includes a night alone together where they obviously do sex stuff. But there isn't anything more than some kissing on page. So this is fairly chaste.
Until the tone completely changes at 44% in. It's such an abrupt shift that I noted, and remember, the turning point. The story never gets back to that light tone and goes from torture to grim oppression to betrayal and murder. And I'm particularly chafed that it got there with author manipulation, making Jake do stupid things (like ). I counted three author intrusions that ended up .
And let me just say that the card-based powers worked well-enough as a system. That was always going to be a bit weird, but I think the author pulls it off interestingly enough for worldbuilding. And I was pleasantly surprised to find a robust sub-rosa cultivation-like understory that fit in seamlessly as well.
I finished the book because of my initial attachment to Jake and the strong pace with interesting worldbuilding. And that's saying something because half the book is the same size as a complete normal novel should be. During that time, Jake's character alters with the excuse of the bad things that happen to him. Which would be fine if it were consistent, but it just isn't.
And then, it ends on a cliffhanger. I was headed for three stars because the worldbuilding remained interesting and the pace is excellent and the plot held together and I still had hope the author could pull back to the good stuff. A cliffhanger is an automatic star deduction, however (when it isn't so bad that I drop to one), so this ends up with two stars. And the longer I consider, the closer I come to going down to one.
A note about Chaste: Jake has one hookup and another rushed "romance" that includes a night alone together where they obviously do sex stuff. But there isn't anything more than some kissing on page. So this is fairly chaste.
May 31, 2022
The book had potential, and a few interesting things going for it, especially in the beginning. By the end, it had gone completely off the rails and escalated wildly.
Spoilers.
I have a few gripes with this story, many of which have likely been echoed all across this page. There are many instances of repetitive word choice and information, which I could ignore initially but got progressively more annoying as time went on. The main character goes through multiple different sets of abilities as the story progresses, with very few elements remaining consistent in his kit, but even those get less and less screen time as time passes.
He has busted magic time stopping powers, which he uses in interesting ways initially. He can also see into the future, but to my memory damn near never does this actively, despite having the abilities to do so from near the beginning. He accumulates a few different powers, kills a deer person, gets more cards, etc.
At some point, he decides he wants a vacation, and to hopefully find more humans. He goes on a quest, gets a giant power, and finds the city full of non-humans that are clearly enslaving the humans. This doesn't seem to bother MC, as he happily waltzes into the city. After, in a completely shocking twist, has guards try to steal his cards and force him into compliance, he goes underground, foments a revolution, leads a group of humans to freedom, then challenges the city leaders to a fight. Somehow, despite his opponent having god only knows how much of an age, wisdom, and card advantage on him, MC manages to win by going giant and punting the bird into the city.
This comes back to bite him when later, the city tracks him down, captures him, and tortures him. His initial set of powers get ripped away once a month while he's imprisoned, during which time he spends his time meditating and practicing his forms in a jail cell (Why does nobody notice the guy in his cell practicing martial arts with magic glowing claws? As it turns out, this is the standard level of security in this series.) after which he goes on to have magic stabby claws for most of the rest of the book, but use progressively less of his time abilities.
Shortly after this, he goes to a different universe/planet improves his ability t0 use magic without cards, then joins a massive organization of magic rune users, passes their exam, joins their order, undermines a magic ritual that binds him by an oath (why does nobody even consider this is possible and have failsafes or even just checks in place? What the MC can do isn't uncommon, do they just not care about infiltration? With security like this, how has rune magic not been leaked to the entire world?) then carves a rune into himself (learned perfectly in very little time/another timeskip so he can get powers without having to actually go through the process).
Following his indoctrination into the rune knights alongside his new deer-human friend, he gets shipped off to war, is immediately places in a special ops team, given mind control cards ("It's fine" his mentor thinks. "I've known this individual for like, days at most. I'm sure he won't do anything suspect with magic mind powers that have proved problematic in the past.) He's then handed extremely potent Illusion powers to yet again completely change how he fights, at which point he doesn't use his time powers for a looooooooooong time. So he's now invisible. (Again, security must be SHIT if nobody has any kind of anti-invisibility scouts who can see magic or something.)
Shortly thereafter, he begins experimenting with spatial magic via a teleportation card, and then strikes a deal with the locals that gets him an evolved spatial card that by all rights should make him damn near untouchable. Coincidentally, he's rarely ever in much danger. Also, he starts digging around in people's minds progressively more often. Admittedly, by now i'm checking out more and more, so things are blurry. Here are the highlights.
Goes digging around in people’s skulls for more information on portals, and somehow manages to perfectly interpret and memorize the memories of a portal master, then shortly thereafter successfully replicates their ability to open portals between worlds.
Sets up an interdimensional smuggling ring.
Steals a 10 griffin eggs.
Fakes his death, basically by walking away and hoping nobody really questions anything too much. By the end of the book, and the complete lack of anyone seeming to look into his disappearance, evidence suggests they didn't. (Assuming this timeline still exists, but I digress)
Goes to find his Deer person friend, who he then proceeds to realize he's in love with and is kissed by (It's basically this abrupt, yes). He proceeds to casually render the other trainee in the tent comatose with his mind magic, which Deer person barley blinks at. Following this, he near completely unveils his entire plan to deer girl, invite her to another universe with him, get rejected, then fuck for a day and a half (while continuing to keep the other person asleep with the highly suspect mind magic, again with no concern at all from deer girl.) I'll admit, I was imagining this individual with a literal deer head, so this may have influenced me to assume it wasn't going to be a romantic relationship and ignore any sighs, but it felt REALLY. RANDOM. AND. FORCED. Like every one of the other very brief romantic relationships in this book.
Anyway, with no consequences at all that we see in book 1, the natives have the Rune Knights leave their planet, use MC as a teleporter gate to kill off the enemy army, then performs an infiltration of the Rune Knights main base of operations on their world because, again, their security is shit. The only reason he gets caught is because he basically takes a mental blender to the runes locking his target’s door. There is no other indication that he was detected. After managing to kill the knight and escape with their world rune book, bag of holding, and magic rune sword, MC escapes.
Taking a small break from doing things, MC then has a small aside about being depressed, which is resolved within a minute of reading. The best way I can describe much of the character development in this book is the author telling the audience that it happened, and leaving them to fill in the gaps. Jake felt bad about killing a bunch of things. Then he went and killed a few things with minimal issues despite feeling bad about killing things. Later, he is still feeling bad about killing things, and this needs to be restated because few to none of his actions really conveyed that much about him feeling bad about killing things. He sadly loots the bag of holding, finding a portrait that made him feel bad about killing the angel, a bunch of fruit that wracked his body with agony, and a bunch of books on runes.
Anyway, he gets over his depression (with just about that much fanfare and time on the subject), hatches a baby griffin, and finishes the portal to earth. He tries to go through, but one of the oft mentioned but never actually seen gods pops up because the angel was his child, wants to punish MC, and takes a REALLY long time to actually get going on that. MC uses mind magic to successfully burrow into the mind of the god so deeply that he sees one of the core memories of the individual who would become that god, then manages to escape said god via a portal it opened and left open to a failed earth.
On failed earth, MC is sad for a while. He and his griffin eat a bunch of the pain fruit to survive for half a year, wander around, and MC decides he’ll use his temporal energy to teleport. This fails. MC gets angry, then for no reason perfectly holds the image he saw within the mind of the god, because that memory was in third person for some reason and gave him enough information to work with, and MC time travels to the location and time in the past just before the god ascended to godhood. Once there, the griffin kills and eats the soon-to-be god, MC becomes a god of time by stealing the core of power that would have ascended the now digesting would-be god, and is informed by a god dragon that the rest of the gods (not the gods that would happen, their predecessors, I think?) want to kill him. He is able to become god because, what a happy coincidence, the fruit he was eating just happened to be some kind of divine purging fruit meant to prepare someone for ascension. What luck!
This book let me down in many ways. I assumed his abilities would end up being something space-time related given his cards, and the moment he started trying to teleport with time magic I assumed time travel was on the menu. Foolishly, I assumed it would end up involving him going back to pre-transition times to try and rally the planet or something, but the one-two punch of “Oh, he can time travel all the way back to the birth of this god” and “The god is dead, MC is god” mercilessly executed any desire to continue reading this book series.
The fact that it was only within the last 1-2 hours of the audiobook that MC even got to failed earth made me think that maybe that was where book 2 would start, with him trying to survive, maybe find enough resources to upgrade his time card enough to eventually rewind back to before he was kicked into failed earth. But the sheer speed of the escalation from then on was ridiculous and rushed.
This has been a long, rambling rant. To those who read it, I’m sorry, and I hope it helped in some way if you were trying to determine if you should read this book. You may like it, and if you do I’m happy for you, but it drove me just about up a wall by the end.
All else aside, every organization in this entire book needs to SERIOUSLY rethink their security measures. How nobody before this has thought to just max out an invisibility domain and wander into places is a glaring hole in anything this series may have tried to offer.
Spoilers.
I have a few gripes with this story, many of which have likely been echoed all across this page. There are many instances of repetitive word choice and information, which I could ignore initially but got progressively more annoying as time went on. The main character goes through multiple different sets of abilities as the story progresses, with very few elements remaining consistent in his kit, but even those get less and less screen time as time passes.
He has busted magic time stopping powers, which he uses in interesting ways initially. He can also see into the future, but to my memory damn near never does this actively, despite having the abilities to do so from near the beginning. He accumulates a few different powers, kills a deer person, gets more cards, etc.
At some point, he decides he wants a vacation, and to hopefully find more humans. He goes on a quest, gets a giant power, and finds the city full of non-humans that are clearly enslaving the humans. This doesn't seem to bother MC, as he happily waltzes into the city. After, in a completely shocking twist, has guards try to steal his cards and force him into compliance, he goes underground, foments a revolution, leads a group of humans to freedom, then challenges the city leaders to a fight. Somehow, despite his opponent having god only knows how much of an age, wisdom, and card advantage on him, MC manages to win by going giant and punting the bird into the city.
This comes back to bite him when later, the city tracks him down, captures him, and tortures him. His initial set of powers get ripped away once a month while he's imprisoned, during which time he spends his time meditating and practicing his forms in a jail cell (Why does nobody notice the guy in his cell practicing martial arts with magic glowing claws? As it turns out, this is the standard level of security in this series.) after which he goes on to have magic stabby claws for most of the rest of the book, but use progressively less of his time abilities.
Shortly after this, he goes to a different universe/planet improves his ability t0 use magic without cards, then joins a massive organization of magic rune users, passes their exam, joins their order, undermines a magic ritual that binds him by an oath (why does nobody even consider this is possible and have failsafes or even just checks in place? What the MC can do isn't uncommon, do they just not care about infiltration? With security like this, how has rune magic not been leaked to the entire world?) then carves a rune into himself (learned perfectly in very little time/another timeskip so he can get powers without having to actually go through the process).
Following his indoctrination into the rune knights alongside his new deer-human friend, he gets shipped off to war, is immediately places in a special ops team, given mind control cards ("It's fine" his mentor thinks. "I've known this individual for like, days at most. I'm sure he won't do anything suspect with magic mind powers that have proved problematic in the past.) He's then handed extremely potent Illusion powers to yet again completely change how he fights, at which point he doesn't use his time powers for a looooooooooong time. So he's now invisible. (Again, security must be SHIT if nobody has any kind of anti-invisibility scouts who can see magic or something.)
Shortly thereafter, he begins experimenting with spatial magic via a teleportation card, and then strikes a deal with the locals that gets him an evolved spatial card that by all rights should make him damn near untouchable. Coincidentally, he's rarely ever in much danger. Also, he starts digging around in people's minds progressively more often. Admittedly, by now i'm checking out more and more, so things are blurry. Here are the highlights.
Goes digging around in people’s skulls for more information on portals, and somehow manages to perfectly interpret and memorize the memories of a portal master, then shortly thereafter successfully replicates their ability to open portals between worlds.
Sets up an interdimensional smuggling ring.
Steals a 10 griffin eggs.
Fakes his death, basically by walking away and hoping nobody really questions anything too much. By the end of the book, and the complete lack of anyone seeming to look into his disappearance, evidence suggests they didn't. (Assuming this timeline still exists, but I digress)
Goes to find his Deer person friend, who he then proceeds to realize he's in love with and is kissed by (It's basically this abrupt, yes). He proceeds to casually render the other trainee in the tent comatose with his mind magic, which Deer person barley blinks at. Following this, he near completely unveils his entire plan to deer girl, invite her to another universe with him, get rejected, then fuck for a day and a half (while continuing to keep the other person asleep with the highly suspect mind magic, again with no concern at all from deer girl.) I'll admit, I was imagining this individual with a literal deer head, so this may have influenced me to assume it wasn't going to be a romantic relationship and ignore any sighs, but it felt REALLY. RANDOM. AND. FORCED. Like every one of the other very brief romantic relationships in this book.
Anyway, with no consequences at all that we see in book 1, the natives have the Rune Knights leave their planet, use MC as a teleporter gate to kill off the enemy army, then performs an infiltration of the Rune Knights main base of operations on their world because, again, their security is shit. The only reason he gets caught is because he basically takes a mental blender to the runes locking his target’s door. There is no other indication that he was detected. After managing to kill the knight and escape with their world rune book, bag of holding, and magic rune sword, MC escapes.
Taking a small break from doing things, MC then has a small aside about being depressed, which is resolved within a minute of reading. The best way I can describe much of the character development in this book is the author telling the audience that it happened, and leaving them to fill in the gaps. Jake felt bad about killing a bunch of things. Then he went and killed a few things with minimal issues despite feeling bad about killing things. Later, he is still feeling bad about killing things, and this needs to be restated because few to none of his actions really conveyed that much about him feeling bad about killing things. He sadly loots the bag of holding, finding a portrait that made him feel bad about killing the angel, a bunch of fruit that wracked his body with agony, and a bunch of books on runes.
Anyway, he gets over his depression (with just about that much fanfare and time on the subject), hatches a baby griffin, and finishes the portal to earth. He tries to go through, but one of the oft mentioned but never actually seen gods pops up because the angel was his child, wants to punish MC, and takes a REALLY long time to actually get going on that. MC uses mind magic to successfully burrow into the mind of the god so deeply that he sees one of the core memories of the individual who would become that god, then manages to escape said god via a portal it opened and left open to a failed earth.
On failed earth, MC is sad for a while. He and his griffin eat a bunch of the pain fruit to survive for half a year, wander around, and MC decides he’ll use his temporal energy to teleport. This fails. MC gets angry, then for no reason perfectly holds the image he saw within the mind of the god, because that memory was in third person for some reason and gave him enough information to work with, and MC time travels to the location and time in the past just before the god ascended to godhood. Once there, the griffin kills and eats the soon-to-be god, MC becomes a god of time by stealing the core of power that would have ascended the now digesting would-be god, and is informed by a god dragon that the rest of the gods (not the gods that would happen, their predecessors, I think?) want to kill him. He is able to become god because, what a happy coincidence, the fruit he was eating just happened to be some kind of divine purging fruit meant to prepare someone for ascension. What luck!
This book let me down in many ways. I assumed his abilities would end up being something space-time related given his cards, and the moment he started trying to teleport with time magic I assumed time travel was on the menu. Foolishly, I assumed it would end up involving him going back to pre-transition times to try and rally the planet or something, but the one-two punch of “Oh, he can time travel all the way back to the birth of this god” and “The god is dead, MC is god” mercilessly executed any desire to continue reading this book series.
The fact that it was only within the last 1-2 hours of the audiobook that MC even got to failed earth made me think that maybe that was where book 2 would start, with him trying to survive, maybe find enough resources to upgrade his time card enough to eventually rewind back to before he was kicked into failed earth. But the sheer speed of the escalation from then on was ridiculous and rushed.
This has been a long, rambling rant. To those who read it, I’m sorry, and I hope it helped in some way if you were trying to determine if you should read this book. You may like it, and if you do I’m happy for you, but it drove me just about up a wall by the end.
All else aside, every organization in this entire book needs to SERIOUSLY rethink their security measures. How nobody before this has thought to just max out an invisibility domain and wander into places is a glaring hole in anything this series may have tried to offer.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 14, 2025
I think this book is objectively bad, and yet… I liked it.
There are themes I’m always going to appreciate, even when the presentation is lacking: general optimism, magic, morally/ethically upright characters, etc.
The writing was bloated and surface level. What bugged me the most was the repetition of throw-away phrases. I would be interested to know how many times the useless phrase “a number of” appeared in the story. Or when the author was feeling particularly descriptive, “a large number of.” My guess: these phrases must have been used at least seven million times.
There are themes I’m always going to appreciate, even when the presentation is lacking: general optimism, magic, morally/ethically upright characters, etc.
The writing was bloated and surface level. What bugged me the most was the repetition of throw-away phrases. I would be interested to know how many times the useless phrase “a number of” appeared in the story. Or when the author was feeling particularly descriptive, “a large number of.” My guess: these phrases must have been used at least seven million times.
October 17, 2021
I was having trouble getting through the LitRPG Purgatory The Devil's Game book and wanted a break, so I picked up Jake's Magical Market.
I'm glad I did.
The book starts simply enough. The Earth goes through an apocalypse, except this one has no bells and whistles, no shops, but plenty of other races showing up.
Honestly, it's a pretty underwhelming apocalypse. The world now has mana and magical cards, and that's about it. A messenger was sent to tell the world to prepare (we're told -- we don't really know if that is true), but it doesn't matter since no one is prepared.
Jake was working for a small corner market when the apocalypse struck. Just as in They Called Me Mad, this version of the apocalypse changes the landscape by mixing everything up until it is unrecognizable. A haunted forest is behind the shop now, and a series of mountains stretch out on the opposite side of town.
While all this is going on, different races start showing up. Some are helpful like the elves and the lone minotaur, and others are standoffish like the orcs. Pretty much what you would expect. Jake is trained how to run dungeons, how not to rely on the magical cards which permeate this universe, and how to practice his sword forms.
The minotaur likes to travel, so he comes back and tells Jake about a town to the south that has a lot of humans. Leaving his shop in the care of the minotaur, he takes off to explore the area around him, fighting monsters along the way as he gets stronger and levels up his cards.
I'll stop the recap here and mention that I really enjoyed the card aspect of the story. It's not the first time I've read of cards being used in lieu of magic, but it's also not that common. The artwork in the book shows many of the early cards, which could be out any card based game you can think of.
It might be cool to have the cards made up as collectors items. Just a thought.
Although I won't explain what happens next, this is really a book of two distinct parts. The first is set on Earth as Jake struggles to grow and learn while helping others.
The second book starts when he gets portaled to another, slightly dystopian world. Once he gets there he's lost, but he manages to find work and from there elevate himself enough to join an order of knights. It's on this path that he finds out the horrifying truth about the newly integrated apocalypse worlds.
In summary, I really enjoyed this. The stats are all contained in the cards, which takes away from the endless stat tables and should make narration that much easier. The pictures of the cards only populate the first half of the book, and it would have been nice to see what some of Jake's advanced cards looked like in the second half.
The editing is solid, and the only error I caught was early on when I noticed one of the level 1 cards was shown in the picture as level 5. Not a big deal.
I'm excited to see where this story will go. I had the feeling that the author has a lot of fun writing this, and that came through in spades.
Highly recommended 5/5*
I'm glad I did.
The book starts simply enough. The Earth goes through an apocalypse, except this one has no bells and whistles, no shops, but plenty of other races showing up.
Honestly, it's a pretty underwhelming apocalypse. The world now has mana and magical cards, and that's about it. A messenger was sent to tell the world to prepare (we're told -- we don't really know if that is true), but it doesn't matter since no one is prepared.
Jake was working for a small corner market when the apocalypse struck. Just as in They Called Me Mad, this version of the apocalypse changes the landscape by mixing everything up until it is unrecognizable. A haunted forest is behind the shop now, and a series of mountains stretch out on the opposite side of town.
While all this is going on, different races start showing up. Some are helpful like the elves and the lone minotaur, and others are standoffish like the orcs. Pretty much what you would expect. Jake is trained how to run dungeons, how not to rely on the magical cards which permeate this universe, and how to practice his sword forms.
The minotaur likes to travel, so he comes back and tells Jake about a town to the south that has a lot of humans. Leaving his shop in the care of the minotaur, he takes off to explore the area around him, fighting monsters along the way as he gets stronger and levels up his cards.
I'll stop the recap here and mention that I really enjoyed the card aspect of the story. It's not the first time I've read of cards being used in lieu of magic, but it's also not that common. The artwork in the book shows many of the early cards, which could be out any card based game you can think of.
It might be cool to have the cards made up as collectors items. Just a thought.
Although I won't explain what happens next, this is really a book of two distinct parts. The first is set on Earth as Jake struggles to grow and learn while helping others.
The second book starts when he gets portaled to another, slightly dystopian world. Once he gets there he's lost, but he manages to find work and from there elevate himself enough to join an order of knights. It's on this path that he finds out the horrifying truth about the newly integrated apocalypse worlds.
In summary, I really enjoyed this. The stats are all contained in the cards, which takes away from the endless stat tables and should make narration that much easier. The pictures of the cards only populate the first half of the book, and it would have been nice to see what some of Jake's advanced cards looked like in the second half.
The editing is solid, and the only error I caught was early on when I noticed one of the level 1 cards was shown in the picture as level 5. Not a big deal.
I'm excited to see where this story will go. I had the feeling that the author has a lot of fun writing this, and that came through in spades.
Highly recommended 5/5*
January 29, 2022
Amazing and delightful story!
The cover and title are misleading, this is abgrwat epic journey, easily enough for 2-3 books, of a young man growing on a transitioned world. Jakebis likeable, believable character and its an amazing experience watching him grow both in power and as a person. Highly recommended!
The cover and title are misleading, this is abgrwat epic journey, easily enough for 2-3 books, of a young man growing on a transitioned world. Jakebis likeable, believable character and its an amazing experience watching him grow both in power and as a person. Highly recommended!
November 4, 2021
Interesting book.
This book was pretty good at times and at other times really made me want to skip ahead to see if he ever gets back home. The world building was interesting but at times the story just seemed to blindly stumble from one thing to another. Without it having a real reason for it to happen. The book was interesting but it has several hue plot holes that detracted from the story.
This book was pretty good at times and at other times really made me want to skip ahead to see if he ever gets back home. The world building was interesting but at times the story just seemed to blindly stumble from one thing to another. Without it having a real reason for it to happen. The book was interesting but it has several hue plot holes that detracted from the story.
July 3, 2022
That is a very nice draft… now when the real three volume book will be released?
Allow me … i read somewhere that you said you are currently engaged in a book and will Continue the Jake story after!!
Continue is not the right word to use… there is a great need to re-write the whole thing and make this good story into a proper novel
A novel with a narrator and that narrator is not Jake!!
Let me explain
The difference between hiking in an open space and peeking from a very tiny window to a faraway forest is exactly the same between what needs to be written and what is written
I understand that this is a Jake story, but this is not a story you are telling to your friend while hanging out or a game that you are playing and will finish in a couple of day
It is a novel … with loads of new worlds and creatures … stories stories and more stories and backgrounds and history and side stories and sub stories are needed
It is a beautiful piece but being hasty will not do it justice… it deserves more
Allow me … i read somewhere that you said you are currently engaged in a book and will Continue the Jake story after!!
Continue is not the right word to use… there is a great need to re-write the whole thing and make this good story into a proper novel
A novel with a narrator and that narrator is not Jake!!
Let me explain
The difference between hiking in an open space and peeking from a very tiny window to a faraway forest is exactly the same between what needs to be written and what is written
I understand that this is a Jake story, but this is not a story you are telling to your friend while hanging out or a game that you are playing and will finish in a couple of day
It is a novel … with loads of new worlds and creatures … stories stories and more stories and backgrounds and history and side stories and sub stories are needed
It is a beautiful piece but being hasty will not do it justice… it deserves more
September 21, 2023
An entertaining read that is super busy. This feels like it should have been 2 books instead of one. So many sub genres mashed together that it gets to be a bit much.
When this book works it really works and after the 4th genre change I just wanted to be done.
When this book works it really works and after the 4th genre change I just wanted to be done.
November 29, 2021
Premise =
The world as we know it has been destroyed. It's an RPG now with a card trading system for abilities, magic and skills. Our MC, one of the few survivors, happens to be a part-timer in a grocery store.
Execution =
For the first quarter this was well executed. The system a little different but still familiar to any DnD or video games fan. Jake explores his surroundings and adds to his little store little by little while meeting other friendly (and not so friendly) characters along the way.
The Rest of the Book? =
Unfortunately the whole thing is dropped about a quarter of the way in for a rather generic (solo leveling) plot with Jack going on and on about his abilities and upgrades while glossing over the actual fights.
Issues =
1. The premise that is in the title itself seems tacked on after the initial set up. Jake starts out trying to bargain and barter to get better cards and protect himself but only at first. After that the shop is forgotten unless it's to give him something.
2. There is some character inconsistency going on and the MC stops to question his morals at very odd moments. Makes it seem more like lip service to excuse something he did or is going to do but, again, that doesn't happen so it feels weird.
3. Generic. You get the sense that the author himself thinks some things are so generic and tropey that he either looks down on his characters for it or completely glosses over these encounters and interactions as meeeeeeh. This includes boss fights, you get the minions and pre-boss ones but the boss fights are skipped over as, in the authors words, boring. That was just too weird.
4. Me and I. This is a personal pet peeve of mine. Everything in this world revolves around the MC to where the most common words you see on the page is (I) and (me). So much so that strangers are graded by how much they benefit the MC or what he could get from them. Normal for a power fantasy but honestly this did not start as one.
Overall =
It's ok. I wish the story continued with the initial premise because that was something different. As is, it's an ok Litrpg.
The world as we know it has been destroyed. It's an RPG now with a card trading system for abilities, magic and skills. Our MC, one of the few survivors, happens to be a part-timer in a grocery store.
Execution =
For the first quarter this was well executed. The system a little different but still familiar to any DnD or video games fan. Jake explores his surroundings and adds to his little store little by little while meeting other friendly (and not so friendly) characters along the way.
The Rest of the Book? =
Unfortunately the whole thing is dropped about a quarter of the way in for a rather generic (solo leveling) plot with Jack going on and on about his abilities and upgrades while glossing over the actual fights.
Issues =
1. The premise that is in the title itself seems tacked on after the initial set up. Jake starts out trying to bargain and barter to get better cards and protect himself but only at first. After that the shop is forgotten unless it's to give him something.
2. There is some character inconsistency going on and the MC stops to question his morals at very odd moments. Makes it seem more like lip service to excuse something he did or is going to do but, again, that doesn't happen so it feels weird.
3. Generic. You get the sense that the author himself thinks some things are so generic and tropey that he either looks down on his characters for it or completely glosses over these encounters and interactions as meeeeeeh. This includes boss fights, you get the minions and pre-boss ones but the boss fights are skipped over as, in the authors words, boring. That was just too weird.
4. Me and I. This is a personal pet peeve of mine. Everything in this world revolves around the MC to where the most common words you see on the page is (I) and (me). So much so that strangers are graded by how much they benefit the MC or what he could get from them. Normal for a power fantasy but honestly this did not start as one.
Overall =
It's ok. I wish the story continued with the initial premise because that was something different. As is, it's an ok Litrpg.
December 31, 2021
The main character Jake has no history, no ties to anything. Before the start of the book, he has no friends, no family, no hobbies, no pets. He is just a blank canvas of a generic 20 something guy for the purpose of self-insertion. As such his reactions are meaningless and shallow because they aren't grounded into anything understandable and don't say anything interesting about his psychology. Since I know literally nothing about him and he has barely any personality the characterization is, in summary, very shallow. The few character interactions there were came off as exposition between NPC's and not as actually a conversation between two people
Next is the problem of the writing itself. The wording of the book is extremely basic. Now, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but there is a constant overuse of certain words. The word, 'creature' is used at least 20 times in two to three pages and it bugged me to no end.
The few character interactions there were came off as exposition and not as actually a conversation between two people. The book lacks any sort of tension for the first like 20% and Jake is rapidly given an overpowered spell and then he rapidly gets a flora of other spells that combines well with his first one, rendering every conflict after that a breeze. On top of that, he is situated in a store, which is apparently a very good thing, in a very fortunate location that houses more than one dungeon and natural resources galore. Giving a character so many boons this early and removing all tension makes the book quickly boring. And instead of keeping me on my toes to guess what challenge the mc has to deal with next, it turns a battle log of a guy going through a checklist, almost on the level of reading a Wikipedia article. I dropped it at about 20% maybe it gets better later on. Maybe it gets worse. I don't really care. I'm done with wading through books that bore me.
Next is the problem of the writing itself. The wording of the book is extremely basic. Now, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but there is a constant overuse of certain words. The word, 'creature' is used at least 20 times in two to three pages and it bugged me to no end.
The few character interactions there were came off as exposition and not as actually a conversation between two people. The book lacks any sort of tension for the first like 20% and Jake is rapidly given an overpowered spell and then he rapidly gets a flora of other spells that combines well with his first one, rendering every conflict after that a breeze. On top of that, he is situated in a store, which is apparently a very good thing, in a very fortunate location that houses more than one dungeon and natural resources galore. Giving a character so many boons this early and removing all tension makes the book quickly boring. And instead of keeping me on my toes to guess what challenge the mc has to deal with next, it turns a battle log of a guy going through a checklist, almost on the level of reading a Wikipedia article. I dropped it at about 20% maybe it gets better later on. Maybe it gets worse. I don't really care. I'm done with wading through books that bore me.
November 18, 2021
The concept of the book is really interesting. I haven't read many LitRPG, but I heard having a card system is somewhat unique. I also like the concept of running a store as one aspect of the character's main tasks rather than all about dungeon diving. The story and worldbuilding is fascinating and keeps throwing more surprises of the world at you as you peel off one layer after another.
Jake certainly has a lot of growth happening in the story. However, the biggest problem that makes it hard to connect with him is the writing. The narration sometimes gets bogged down and you feel like you're watching scenes playing out on a screen rather than feeling the character's emotions and feeling those changes. There's a lot of telling and not enough showing.
Characterisation is somewhat lacking. His interaction with other characters is disappointing in how little time in invested in building the connection between him and his friends. I don't quite see why everyone's helping him, and that romance spinoff is extremely unbelievable. No foreshadow. No warning. It'd have been better if it was written off altogether. The only character who has convincing characterisation is the minotaur.
If this is written right, it'd have been a 5 star book. If it's written right, this single book would have spanned 2 books.
I'll continue reading any future sequels as the story and worldbuilding are fascinating. I hope the execution of the story and characterisation can improve.
Jake certainly has a lot of growth happening in the story. However, the biggest problem that makes it hard to connect with him is the writing. The narration sometimes gets bogged down and you feel like you're watching scenes playing out on a screen rather than feeling the character's emotions and feeling those changes. There's a lot of telling and not enough showing.
Characterisation is somewhat lacking. His interaction with other characters is disappointing in how little time in invested in building the connection between him and his friends. I don't quite see why everyone's helping him, and that romance spinoff is extremely unbelievable. No foreshadow. No warning. It'd have been better if it was written off altogether. The only character who has convincing characterisation is the minotaur.
If this is written right, it'd have been a 5 star book. If it's written right, this single book would have spanned 2 books.
I'll continue reading any future sequels as the story and worldbuilding are fascinating. I hope the execution of the story and characterisation can improve.
September 14, 2024
2024/09/14 Notes:
Reading again before diving into #2 & 3.
The last half felt more awkward on re-read and easy to lose interest.
🤞
Hope the next two books are fun!
2022/02/24 Notes:
I liked it! The writing needs to be cleaned up. There are repeated words, phrases and awkward transitions, but there's a solid character build and interesting story elements for the magic card system & immortal threat.
Hopefully, the next book will be out sooner vs later. =)
Narration by Travis Baldree was great.
Reading again before diving into #2 & 3.
The last half felt more awkward on re-read and easy to lose interest.
🤞
Hope the next two books are fun!
2022/02/24 Notes:
I liked it! The writing needs to be cleaned up. There are repeated words, phrases and awkward transitions, but there's a solid character build and interesting story elements for the magic card system & immortal threat.
Hopefully, the next book will be out sooner vs later. =)
Narration by Travis Baldree was great.
October 18, 2021
Unlikable MC and Strange Plot Progression
I only made it about 20% of the way through hoping the MC would snap but his annoying personality made reading this book a chore. Then he suddenly goes from a barely functioning store clerk to the leader of the town. I just didn't believe it.
I only made it about 20% of the way through hoping the MC would snap but his annoying personality made reading this book a chore. Then he suddenly goes from a barely functioning store clerk to the leader of the town. I just didn't believe it.
October 27, 2021
Book one
Mistakes: Very well written and edited. A lot of f bombs in the first few chapters.
Plot: A world destroyed, A stock boy turned shopkeeper turned adventure, turned hero.
Characters: The MC questions his own morals to often and at the wrong times. This was a real turn off and cost the book a star.
6/10 Interested in seeing where book two will go.
Mistakes: Very well written and edited. A lot of f bombs in the first few chapters.
Plot: A world destroyed, A stock boy turned shopkeeper turned adventure, turned hero.
Characters: The MC questions his own morals to often and at the wrong times. This was a real turn off and cost the book a star.
6/10 Interested in seeing where book two will go.
March 2, 2022
How this ever got such high ratings is being me, the magic system was interesting but the rest left much to be desired.
The magic system was inconsistently used
The magic is poorly used by the MC,
The prose are almost all ‘tell, not show’
No real struggle for the MC
The MC goes from newb to God without much effort
The magic system was inconsistently used
The magic is poorly used by the MC,
The prose are almost all ‘tell, not show’
No real struggle for the MC
The MC goes from newb to God without much effort
January 23, 2025
4 Stars
Series Review:
This series took me on quite the journey over three quite long books. All of the reviews that say these books are chaotic and all over the place are correct. However, it really worked for me here. The journey Jake takes us on is whacky and ever evolving. What I loved about this series was the personal evolution and growth Jake experiences. This is a world where insane things happen and anything is on the table, but Jake is just a normal guy trying to find his way. He desperately holds on to people and things that hinder his daily life. He is forced to learn to let go of the past in order to make the most of the present. I think this was a lesson I needed to hear from this book at the time I read it. If you are willing to let a book take you on a journey, even when it goes off the rails, then I highly recommend this! Book 3 gave me a good cry and has the sweetest messages about friendship and trust for those of us that struggle with self isolation. Depression is a major theme of this series and something I thought was very accurately depicted and dealt with in a way that made me give much thought to the relationships in my own life. All in all, if you want a story about a guy running a magical market this may not be for you. However, if you are open to a thematic journey discussing depression, relationships, and loss, give this story a try. It was quite beautiful :)
Series Review:
This series took me on quite the journey over three quite long books. All of the reviews that say these books are chaotic and all over the place are correct. However, it really worked for me here. The journey Jake takes us on is whacky and ever evolving. What I loved about this series was the personal evolution and growth Jake experiences. This is a world where insane things happen and anything is on the table, but Jake is just a normal guy trying to find his way. He desperately holds on to people and things that hinder his daily life. He is forced to learn to let go of the past in order to make the most of the present. I think this was a lesson I needed to hear from this book at the time I read it. If you are willing to let a book take you on a journey, even when it goes off the rails, then I highly recommend this! Book 3 gave me a good cry and has the sweetest messages about friendship and trust for those of us that struggle with self isolation. Depression is a major theme of this series and something I thought was very accurately depicted and dealt with in a way that made me give much thought to the relationships in my own life. All in all, if you want a story about a guy running a magical market this may not be for you. However, if you are open to a thematic journey discussing depression, relationships, and loss, give this story a try. It was quite beautiful :)
January 9, 2023
Rating 3.5 stars
This probably would have been a 4 star book for the first 1/3 of the book but then went in a direction that I wasn't expecting. The world is brought into the system and Jake finds himself alone. Magic is now real. Cards are used for the magical powers and Jake has a Legendary one that affects time. How is that going to help him stay alive though. He was sort of lost prior to the system. He didn't do much with his life. He worked at the same shop since his mother passed away. Now, that same shop seems to be all that he has left. He ends up getting attacked and survives but doesn't want to fight. He stays in the shop until a group of elves come buy and want to do business with the shopkeep. He sells them some novelties and gets some information. He ends up meeting some more magical creatures and finds out he just wants to run his shop. He goes out with some his new friends and fights in dungeons to get items for his shop and more cards. He also gets trained to fight by the elves.
This probably would have been a 4 star book for the first 1/3 of the book but then went in a direction that I wasn't expecting. The world is brought into the system and Jake finds himself alone. Magic is now real. Cards are used for the magical powers and Jake has a Legendary one that affects time. How is that going to help him stay alive though. He was sort of lost prior to the system. He didn't do much with his life. He worked at the same shop since his mother passed away. Now, that same shop seems to be all that he has left. He ends up getting attacked and survives but doesn't want to fight. He stays in the shop until a group of elves come buy and want to do business with the shopkeep. He sells them some novelties and gets some information. He ends up meeting some more magical creatures and finds out he just wants to run his shop. He goes out with some his new friends and fights in dungeons to get items for his shop and more cards. He also gets trained to fight by the elves.
January 16, 2022
Enjoyable, but rushed.
I'm conflicted here, because I really did enjoy reading this. My problems are that the author has essentially finished an entire trilogy of events in the space of one long book, and it feels almost hollow because of that. Much of the setup and cool worldbuilding feels wasted when you have no downtime. For instance, the whole Earth/human liberation saga could've been its own entire book. The same goes for the story of the Tellus legions, the Runic Knights, and Jake's stranding on a failed integration planet. If I had one piece of advice for the author, it would be to slow down, and give us more character interaction. Let us see some conflict between Jake's Runic comrades when he [SPOILERS] betrays them to help the Legion, let us see more setup and planning amongst the humans in the Naga town, give us more time in Ambrosia to see the crushing weight of the Gods flaws system, instead of rushing away to training, etc. You're not doing your in depth world building any favours by not allowing Jake, or the reader, to grow truly attached to the characters. It feels like a whole books worth of setting and plot is quickly thrown out and abandoned every couple hundred pages. Jake is the main character, but he doesnt need to be only thing that matters in the entire book.
I'm conflicted here, because I really did enjoy reading this. My problems are that the author has essentially finished an entire trilogy of events in the space of one long book, and it feels almost hollow because of that. Much of the setup and cool worldbuilding feels wasted when you have no downtime. For instance, the whole Earth/human liberation saga could've been its own entire book. The same goes for the story of the Tellus legions, the Runic Knights, and Jake's stranding on a failed integration planet. If I had one piece of advice for the author, it would be to slow down, and give us more character interaction. Let us see some conflict between Jake's Runic comrades when he [SPOILERS] betrays them to help the Legion, let us see more setup and planning amongst the humans in the Naga town, give us more time in Ambrosia to see the crushing weight of the Gods flaws system, instead of rushing away to training, etc. You're not doing your in depth world building any favours by not allowing Jake, or the reader, to grow truly attached to the characters. It feels like a whole books worth of setting and plot is quickly thrown out and abandoned every couple hundred pages. Jake is the main character, but he doesnt need to be only thing that matters in the entire book.
March 18, 2024
I don't understand how an author can write about a post-scarcity society and still complain about income inequality. There is quite literally an infinite source of shards and cards yet access to one fallen world is going to up-end an entire world's economy?
That pet peeve aside, I was not ready for the manic nature of this book. Whimsy post apocalyptic story turned grimdark turned... whatever that last ten percent is supposed to be.
I'll give the next book a try but I hope the author finds a story and sticks to it.
Edit: after reading book two, I've got to downgrade my rating. It seems using the cards gives the gods power. I don't understand why gods would allow worlds (worshipers) to die out.
That pet peeve aside, I was not ready for the manic nature of this book. Whimsy post apocalyptic story turned grimdark turned... whatever that last ten percent is supposed to be.
I'll give the next book a try but I hope the author finds a story and sticks to it.
Edit: after reading book two, I've got to downgrade my rating. It seems using the cards gives the gods power. I don't understand why gods would allow worlds (worshipers) to die out.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 18, 2021
very interesting story
This is two books. Part 1 is a fairly standard hero survive magic apocalypse story. There are two badly written chapters at the end to set up part 2. It works better if you honk of he main character as literally insane for most of that transition, though it is not expressly written as such.
Part 2 is a very different story about a conflicted person doing evil acts for good ends. It mays one think about the nature of evil vs good. I could see the protagonist ending as evil incarnate, or becoming the hero he wants to be. Looking forward to a sequel.
This is two books. Part 1 is a fairly standard hero survive magic apocalypse story. There are two badly written chapters at the end to set up part 2. It works better if you honk of he main character as literally insane for most of that transition, though it is not expressly written as such.
Part 2 is a very different story about a conflicted person doing evil acts for good ends. It mays one think about the nature of evil vs good. I could see the protagonist ending as evil incarnate, or becoming the hero he wants to be. Looking forward to a sequel.
February 13, 2022
I struggled between setting this to a 3 star or a 4, ultimately deciding on 4*s.
The book is a chonker, and while most of the time this is a plus, this time it works towards the detriment of the story.
I kinda wished that the story was split up into two separate books, where the first part, where he is establishing his market, had received it's own book, with more opportunity to spend more time in that mechanic. Unfortunately, there's a mid-book pivot that while very entertaining, doesn't fit with the premise of the story.
Nonetheless, the fact that I keep checking to see if #2 has shown up on the release calendar speaks volumes on its own.
The book is a chonker, and while most of the time this is a plus, this time it works towards the detriment of the story.
I kinda wished that the story was split up into two separate books, where the first part, where he is establishing his market, had received it's own book, with more opportunity to spend more time in that mechanic. Unfortunately, there's a mid-book pivot that while very entertaining, doesn't fit with the premise of the story.
Nonetheless, the fact that I keep checking to see if #2 has shown up on the release calendar speaks volumes on its own.
December 17, 2021
This is just boring.
I got a little over halfway through before I quit. This is a classic case of a protagonist that does not drive the story. It is just a bunch of things happening to him. His refusal to learn from his mistakes or to control his path toward makes this monotonous to read. The constant shifts without proper narrative description add to the boring nature of the story. At no point do you become invested in the MC or in the story, so there really is no point in continuing to read the book.
I got a little over halfway through before I quit. This is a classic case of a protagonist that does not drive the story. It is just a bunch of things happening to him. His refusal to learn from his mistakes or to control his path toward makes this monotonous to read. The constant shifts without proper narrative description add to the boring nature of the story. At no point do you become invested in the MC or in the story, so there really is no point in continuing to read the book.
October 5, 2025
Real shitshow. The main character at the end of the day is a zoophilic cunt, probably as portray of the author Philias. Can’t believe he thought it was a good idea for the main character to fall in love with a deer, this author’s computer should be audited ASAP.
Even when the story was promising, the main character is just a portrait of the zoophilic and probably pedophilic author. Never in my life will I ever read whatever the fuck redditlards believe is a good “book”.
Did I mention the author believed it was a good idea to have the main character fall in love with a deer?
Next time you write a fucking book, stupid author, avoid portraying yourself intercoursing with animals. Fucking cunt gfy.
Even when the story was promising, the main character is just a portrait of the zoophilic and probably pedophilic author. Never in my life will I ever read whatever the fuck redditlards believe is a good “book”.
Did I mention the author believed it was a good idea to have the main character fall in love with a deer?
Next time you write a fucking book, stupid author, avoid portraying yourself intercoursing with animals. Fucking cunt gfy.
August 2, 2025
What...did I just read? It sounded like a cozy fantasy story. It had Travis as the narrator. Half way through, it turned into a crazy, world hopping, adventure tale with tons of action! Honestly, it has great humor and a fun story. I really enjoyed it. Just.....was not what I was expecting!
December 3, 2021
Well, you can tell it's a web novel
The story, past what is really a couple hundred pages of prologue(which should be its own book with this title since the entire rest of the book has nothing to do with the original premise), very quickly spirals, including very shoehorned power loss.
What i think people coming to this novel need to understand most is that when you write web novels and post them on sites, you basically are writing a fundamentally different type of story than a normal book. You typically wont revise a part you messed up, you'll just account for it in the next chapter. Main guy too powerful or have an ability you need to remove because you wrote yourself into a corner? Well, turns out someone can steal powers. And you're randomly going to a new world.
If drawing a straight line is a skill, a proficient artist could simply draw from A to B, whereas an amateur will make a series of shorter lines because of a lack of control. These lines will be smaller, curved, and imperfectly function in the piece as a whole. An apt metaphor, i think.
That being said, it's almost 800 pages and it was interesting enough for me to finish it. I think the second half was sunk cost, now that i think about it though.
The story, past what is really a couple hundred pages of prologue(which should be its own book with this title since the entire rest of the book has nothing to do with the original premise), very quickly spirals, including very shoehorned power loss.
What i think people coming to this novel need to understand most is that when you write web novels and post them on sites, you basically are writing a fundamentally different type of story than a normal book. You typically wont revise a part you messed up, you'll just account for it in the next chapter. Main guy too powerful or have an ability you need to remove because you wrote yourself into a corner? Well, turns out someone can steal powers. And you're randomly going to a new world.
If drawing a straight line is a skill, a proficient artist could simply draw from A to B, whereas an amateur will make a series of shorter lines because of a lack of control. These lines will be smaller, curved, and imperfectly function in the piece as a whole. An apt metaphor, i think.
That being said, it's almost 800 pages and it was interesting enough for me to finish it. I think the second half was sunk cost, now that i think about it though.
December 7, 2021
*audiobook review*
I have read a lot of apocalyptic litrpg; some are harsh and focuses on the doom and gloom. Jake's magical market has some of that, but it fun and I really like it. However, all amazing works have flaws. One being, he spends more time out and about adventuring, creating political alliances, freeing slaves, bringing down governments and clans and dealing with godly beings. It makes the title of the book, a little confusing. Don't get me wrong, he does have a magical goods for sale, owns a shop and deals with mercantile situations. In fact, I loved the parts when he goes from selling novelty to aliens to selling weapons to people. I just wish, there was more of that. However, he ends of traveling to different dimension and time. I was expecting clerks 2 and what I got was bill and ted. Still good, just a little misleading. What I am really amazed with is the magic system. I heard a lot magic system, but boy do I love this card system the author cooked up. I will not get to into it, but I love how in fact the card system is part of the economy and how it's all a big trap. Anyways, Jake's Magical market is a something you need to pick up.
I have read a lot of apocalyptic litrpg; some are harsh and focuses on the doom and gloom. Jake's magical market has some of that, but it fun and I really like it. However, all amazing works have flaws. One being, he spends more time out and about adventuring, creating political alliances, freeing slaves, bringing down governments and clans and dealing with godly beings. It makes the title of the book, a little confusing. Don't get me wrong, he does have a magical goods for sale, owns a shop and deals with mercantile situations. In fact, I loved the parts when he goes from selling novelty to aliens to selling weapons to people. I just wish, there was more of that. However, he ends of traveling to different dimension and time. I was expecting clerks 2 and what I got was bill and ted. Still good, just a little misleading. What I am really amazed with is the magic system. I heard a lot magic system, but boy do I love this card system the author cooked up. I will not get to into it, but I love how in fact the card system is part of the economy and how it's all a big trap. Anyways, Jake's Magical market is a something you need to pick up.
January 27, 2024
Meandering and purposeless
I enjoyed some parts but the more you read, the more you realize the author gets bored and moves on before ever finishing anything. Characters are constantly introduced but suddenly disappear, complicated mechanics explained but quickly forgotten and conflicts started but never finished. Overall this "book" contains the beginnings of at least a dozen stories but no conclusions or payoffs.
What really made me lose faith that it's going anywhere interesting is the lack of attention to detail. It's little things that prove no forethought is put into planning out the story. The book is full of them from the obvious (e.g. 25 shards per day being starvation wages one page and then 50 shards per month being a lot of money for a trusted expert the next) to the somewhat more subtle (e.g. cards being the main currency when the character quickly realizes they're useless to anyone with real power).
I enjoyed some parts but the more you read, the more you realize the author gets bored and moves on before ever finishing anything. Characters are constantly introduced but suddenly disappear, complicated mechanics explained but quickly forgotten and conflicts started but never finished. Overall this "book" contains the beginnings of at least a dozen stories but no conclusions or payoffs.
What really made me lose faith that it's going anywhere interesting is the lack of attention to detail. It's little things that prove no forethought is put into planning out the story. The book is full of them from the obvious (e.g. 25 shards per day being starvation wages one page and then 50 shards per month being a lot of money for a trusted expert the next) to the somewhat more subtle (e.g. cards being the main currency when the character quickly realizes they're useless to anyone with real power).
November 2, 2025
11/1/25 - (3rd read) Generally I try to avoid rereading books, as I know I’ll be unable to read everything I want to in a single lifetime, but Jake’s Magical Market checks all the right boxes for enjoyment and good quality story-telling. I’ll likely come back to it again in a couple years!
2/20/24 - (2nd read) I absolutely adore this book and author! JMM was an introduction to LitRPG, which is my new favorite genre. JMM has a second book, recently released, so I HAD to re-listen to the first novel of Jake’s adventure.
2/20/24 - (2nd read) I absolutely adore this book and author! JMM was an introduction to LitRPG, which is my new favorite genre. JMM has a second book, recently released, so I HAD to re-listen to the first novel of Jake’s adventure.
April 3, 2023
From the look of the reviews people have already covered how I feel about this book. I really enjoyed the first portion... But the rest is quite frankly a different book (or 2). It was still decent enough but honestly is just downhill from there.
To me it really feels like halfway through writing the author decided he wanted to write a different book but didn't feel like restarting? It doesn't make sense but neither does the way the plot unfolds.
It doesn't feel like it was a well thought out plan to take the plot in these directions, I don't know what else to say. I didn't hate the other parts of the book but it definitely wasn't what I enjoyed and felt much less special. In fact I ended up getting pretty invested in the second part just to have it... No longer relevant either. Props for addressing some of this later but it felt more perfunctory than anything else.
I don't want to get into specifics or spend too much time writing this but all in all I enjoyed the story. I may have made it sound worse than I felt but it's just a case of being more disappointed since I really liked the beginning so the rest felt even worse after. The second half could (and should) have been a different book and I'd probably have enjoyed it a lot more in comparison, though it's clearly still the weaker part.
Also I usually only address the plot since that's what matters most to me but the writing quality overall was above average for a litrpg. It's pretty light overall on the rpg mechanics and pretty much drops them too after halfway, if that matters. The characters are written adequately, with some effort to having personalities and appearances. The main character in particular actually has a personality and is unpleasantly relatable lol...but he's a good dude and actually has emotions, motivations, and actual morals for the most part.
I don't know why I'm still writing.
To me it really feels like halfway through writing the author decided he wanted to write a different book but didn't feel like restarting? It doesn't make sense but neither does the way the plot unfolds.
It doesn't feel like it was a well thought out plan to take the plot in these directions, I don't know what else to say. I didn't hate the other parts of the book but it definitely wasn't what I enjoyed and felt much less special. In fact I ended up getting pretty invested in the second part just to have it... No longer relevant either. Props for addressing some of this later but it felt more perfunctory than anything else.
I don't want to get into specifics or spend too much time writing this but all in all I enjoyed the story. I may have made it sound worse than I felt but it's just a case of being more disappointed since I really liked the beginning so the rest felt even worse after. The second half could (and should) have been a different book and I'd probably have enjoyed it a lot more in comparison, though it's clearly still the weaker part.
Also I usually only address the plot since that's what matters most to me but the writing quality overall was above average for a litrpg. It's pretty light overall on the rpg mechanics and pretty much drops them too after halfway, if that matters. The characters are written adequately, with some effort to having personalities and appearances. The main character in particular actually has a personality and is unpleasantly relatable lol...but he's a good dude and actually has emotions, motivations, and actual morals for the most part.
I don't know why I'm still writing.
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