Glenn Redwood, Town Guard, has steadily gained levels while protecting the Townsfolk of Wolfpine and its young adventurers from monsters.
The lives he has saved make his duty worthwhile, and fleeting visits from his childhood sweetheart Becka... now training as a Junior Blazer... makes standing watch a bit more bearable. Glenn is content living a good life among good people. Yet the Gods are far from done with him.
When Glenn’s old friend, Zack Silverstone, and the fugitive Soulseer, Anna Bronzelight, uncover an ancient threat that could destroy Wolfpine, Rebecca Coldbreaker and her fellow Blazers are called to action once more.
Circumstances arranged by the Gods will set Glenn, Zack, and the Blazers on a path that may end up costing all of them their lives. Even if they manage to save Wolfpine, none will ever be the same... and some may not survive.
Book 2 of a new action-packed LitRPG adventure with strong-to-stronger progression, strategic battles, endearing characters, and slice-of-life elements.
About the Join Glenn as he shows just how large a small town can be, making new friends and supportive allies as he gains experience for everything from 'Watching the Gate' Quests to 'Slay Attacking Monsters'. Have you ever wondered while playing Skyrim or other RPGs what the guards are up to when you're not around? Probably not. But maybe you should have...
I enjoyed the first in the series (which you definitely need to read first; there are a number of callbacks in this book to the first book which are not explained enough for someone starting here to know their significance), and I think this is at least as good, despite a similar lack of polish. The protagonist is a genuinely good person, which is the type of protagonist I prefer, and meets varied challenges with determination, courage and intelligence.
The editing needs a lot more work, for consistency and continuity, words missing or out of order, dangling modifiers, sentences that don't say what they mean or are oddly phrased, incorrect prepositions, plural/singular problems, apostrophe placement, outright typos, and badly thought-out names for things. I suspect, in fact, that it hasn't been past an editor at all (or if it has, it must have started out truly terrible). See my notes here. I know that the standard of editing in this genre is generally woeful to the point of being unreadable, and this is better than that, but it's still rough, and drags the book down to the lowest tier of my recommendation list.
I laughed at the previous book for saying "The old man was nearly 50," but here we have an "old man" who's 37. All going well, in the inevitable progression of time the author will eventually come to understand middle age.
The gamelike worldbuilding still feels, to me, awkward and obtrusive and somewhat over-explained, though I suppose that comes with the genre; at the same time, the rules seem to have a lot of loopholes to allow the plot to happen, and that can make them seem inconsistent. Also, as with the first book, the author makes a mistake on a stat sheet.
Still, as a story it did its job of entertaining me, and I will eventually read the next in the series.
I really liked book one of this series and book two is very similar as the plot finally comes together. Glenn Redwood is a town guard with special skills, weapons, and a uniform. The people he grew up with have left, including his friend Zack and his girlfriend Becka. Sure, he's making new friends but it's not the same. Even worse he's tempted by women who offer to comfort his loneliness.
The characters are strong and easy to identify with. The problem I had with the book is that Glenn finishes a huge quest. Instead of the book ending as it normally would, we then have maybe 12-15% of the book that focuses on leveling up an arctic wolf pup they found in a Gloamwolf cave.
It's such a letdown that I struggled to get through the rest of the book. I realize the wolf pup might be a necessary setup for book three, but it would have been better to put it at the beginning of book three instead of the end of book two.
I still like this series. The world building is fun and there is plenty of action. It's less fun when the characters become philosophical but that's okay. The editing is decent, and the stats are peppered throughout the book. I just hope book three manages the flow of the story a bit better.
It is the nature of Luxtera; some Adventurers fail the challenges they face beyond the walls of the citi nones and towns that provide small isles of safety for the human race in their dangerous world. Sometimes they fail, and die, because they made an error of judgement, or execution. Sometimes they succeed, and die, because they chose to take heroic actions. Sometimes, when they are knowledgeable, skilled, blessed, and lucky, they succeed, and live. Naturally, all Adventurers hope for the last result and those who achieve it often enough become legendary heroes. Glenn's goal is to become such a legendary hero. He's going to need a lot of luck!
This is an excellent read, however, you will want to read the previous novel first. So leave this book, for now, get and read Town Guard; then come back to this novel.
Glen just start a new life as a soulseer an give up his life to save woodpine .
Glen is given a job to unlock the locks on an old mine for the blazers to excess and do their job an mission for the blazers. Unfortunately there's a plaguecaster waiting to ambush them an stop them from completing their mission . Glen's best friend Zack is poisoned as he becomes the new soulseer in order to save woodpine from the plague Zack transfers powers to Glen to complete the mission an become the new soulseer an Glen's life changes forever from town guard to soulseer an his old life dies as well everyone must think he died in the mines . recommend reading excellent series .
I enjoyed the different skills outlined in this instalment. My favourite part of the LitRPG genre is the different magics and abilities the authors come up with. I also loved Ripper and would be keen to see how his skills develop in the next book. But while this one was a little better than the first in regards of the constant sex talk, it unfortunately it still being let down by the editing. It’s pretty bad. It desperately needs a few passes with a good editor. The writing issues and editing, the inconsistency in the rules. It’s a bit much and despite liking the general ideas of the story I think I’m finished with this series.
I know I should have expected it, but this book definitely went a different direction with Glenn's story than I expected. Brannigan had done a great job with his Follow-up to the first book in the series. I love the development of the world and it's conflicts, and the characters continued to be fascinating. I really enjoyed this and am looking forward to the next in the series!
It did a great job of moving the story forward while still keeping the same feel as the previous book. There were some really touching moments and some great moments between characters old and new.
I really enjoyed reading this book. Once I started reading I couldn't stop. It was fun and entertaining. The story and characters were interesting and engaging. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next. This book is definitely worth checking out.
Enjoyed this book more than the first in the series as the story took me in an unexpected direction to where I thought it would go. Plus, I love Ripper's description. Can't wait to read the next book in the series!
Good book really liked the world building and magic system. The characters are well developed and interesting and the story kept me engaged. Thanks for a great book, can’t wait for book 3
Loved this! It just gets better! Really enjoyed the class breakdown of progression and how Glenn analyzes the best options and tactics for leveling. Ripper is the best boy!! ❤️🐺
In the End it was the Multiple POV that got me. I probably would have finished this if it was single POV, but I really struggled every time the POV changed.
The first book was borderline readable so I decided to give the sequel shot. Unfortunately it just way too hokey the author really doubles down on all these ridiculous rules he's created to make a simple to write story. I just totally breaks the suspension of disbelief and it's very author and plot driven, not protagonist driven. That a lot of the hangups about sex. I just can't continue
This one had poor structure. The last third of the book consisted of nothing but grinding a new class and a new pet. Also, it's well past time to put a face on the antagonists.