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Portals of Infinity #1
Champion for Hire
William is just your typical engineer fresh out of college with a stressful job, a boring life, and not a lot of prospects of anything better in the future. Until one weekend while hiking in the woods he stumbles across a portal to another time, or perhaps another place. The more he investigates this new world the more he realizes that it may just be able to offer him a lot more than the one he's been living in. However, there are forces at work beyond anything that Will has ever come across before and the local Goddess seems to have taken a liking to him. Will may soon find himself getting an offer and cannot afford to refuse.
162 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 9, 2014
502 people are currently reading
918 people want to read
About the author
John Van Stry
48 books364 followersI've had a very varied life. I grew up in New York, on Long Island.
I went to school to become an Engineer, then joined the Air Force.
After that I worked first in Robotics, then in Aerospace as a Flight Test Engineer. I moved into the medical fields, then into more Technical markets working for a number of high tech companies where I became a Contractor.
I used to own and raise big cats. I love motorcycles and old cars. I'm a pilot and former martial arts instructor. I'm a fan of the Reno Air Races.
Then there's the stuff I'm not supposed to talk about, but that's another story.
I've seen a lot of interesting stuff go by, met a lot of interesting, wonderful, strange, or sometimes just psychotic people. I've had the opportunity to work on some truly game changing technologies. And while I've had some very bad things happen to me in my life, I've never let it stop me.
Keep smiling.
-John
I went to school to become an Engineer, then joined the Air Force.
After that I worked first in Robotics, then in Aerospace as a Flight Test Engineer. I moved into the medical fields, then into more Technical markets working for a number of high tech companies where I became a Contractor.
I used to own and raise big cats. I love motorcycles and old cars. I'm a pilot and former martial arts instructor. I'm a fan of the Reno Air Races.
Then there's the stuff I'm not supposed to talk about, but that's another story.
I've seen a lot of interesting stuff go by, met a lot of interesting, wonderful, strange, or sometimes just psychotic people. I've had the opportunity to work on some truly game changing technologies. And while I've had some very bad things happen to me in my life, I've never let it stop me.
Keep smiling.
-John
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 137 reviews
February 22, 2015
It's not bad. But it's not good.
The main character is a one-dimensional author surrogate, who gets superpowers and has sex with lots of hot women, who are all fine with him having sex with other women. He's supposed to be an engineer, but I only know that because of the promo copy. I cannot think of a single time he had to think his way out of a situation.
The female characters have no dimension at all, other than giggling when the hero pinches their butts and then wanting to have sex with him. A few of them have names, but little else in the way of description. What little we know about them - or the world - is what the main character tells us, and he doesn't tell us much.
Van Stry rarely uses details that evoke a sense of place, choosing instead to simply tell the reader what's going on. Late in the book, we learn of two neighboring kingdoms, which are not given names, have no culture and no personality - they're simply a bigger neighboring kingdom and a smaller one.
There are misspelled words on most pages - consistently using "yea" for "ye" is one that happens whenever there's some faux-medieval dialogue from one of the cartoon outline characters.
It was 99 cents, and a couple of hours of my time. I don't regret it, but I won't be bothering to read any more of the series.
The main character is a one-dimensional author surrogate, who gets superpowers and has sex with lots of hot women, who are all fine with him having sex with other women. He's supposed to be an engineer, but I only know that because of the promo copy. I cannot think of a single time he had to think his way out of a situation.
The female characters have no dimension at all, other than giggling when the hero pinches their butts and then wanting to have sex with him. A few of them have names, but little else in the way of description. What little we know about them - or the world - is what the main character tells us, and he doesn't tell us much.
Van Stry rarely uses details that evoke a sense of place, choosing instead to simply tell the reader what's going on. Late in the book, we learn of two neighboring kingdoms, which are not given names, have no culture and no personality - they're simply a bigger neighboring kingdom and a smaller one.
There are misspelled words on most pages - consistently using "yea" for "ye" is one that happens whenever there's some faux-medieval dialogue from one of the cartoon outline characters.
It was 99 cents, and a couple of hours of my time. I don't regret it, but I won't be bothering to read any more of the series.
August 1, 2024
This is straight-up power fantasy from a male-centric perspective. We see Will do the work to be great at things, so it feels earned and that's enough to sit back and enjoy the creativity inherent in giving Will access to portals that take him to different worlds, each with their individual challenges and backgrounds.
He starts as a tech nerd with a martial arts hobby on our world and that focused, practical nerdery informs his character. So when he finds himself on a new world with medieval tech and some divine magic, he gets to work enhancing his martial skills and digging into what makes the magic work. And he jollies along from there.
Oh, and given that he visits various worlds he establishes himself a base of operations on each—complete with separate women who are happy to have his children and the comfort of the power base he sets up for them. So this is also a bit of a twist on the whole "harem" genre in that Will's women occupy their own space fully, knowing that their time with him is limited and accepting the compromise offered (including knowing he has families on different worlds from theirs). And yes, they are weirdly fine with that because he is so great. Power. Fantasy.
I enjoyed the creativity of the worlds Will is exploring. And the author keeps the pace strong with new things to learn and adapt to. I particularly like Will's practicality in each new situation, looking for ways to exploit the differences to his advantage, with gleeful acquisition of economic, skill, and power advantages. And it doesn't hurt that he gets to mow down bad-guys along the way.
I'm going to give this 3½ stars that I'll round up on the strength of the creativity and fast paced exploration. Yeah, I'm a sucker for power fantasy and this hit the right spot in many ways and Will is a romantic sweetie even if he is easily distracted by the next challenge...
A note about Chaste/Steamy: Interestingly for a "harem" story, the author pulls the curtain before we get any details. There's just barely enough that I can't fully call this chaste, but there is nothing prurient about Will's relationships. Which I actually appreciated because it let me continue seeing Will as a romantic sweetie despite his attachment to multiple women.
He starts as a tech nerd with a martial arts hobby on our world and that focused, practical nerdery informs his character. So when he finds himself on a new world with medieval tech and some divine magic, he gets to work enhancing his martial skills and digging into what makes the magic work. And he jollies along from there.
Oh, and given that he visits various worlds he establishes himself a base of operations on each—complete with separate women who are happy to have his children and the comfort of the power base he sets up for them. So this is also a bit of a twist on the whole "harem" genre in that Will's women occupy their own space fully, knowing that their time with him is limited and accepting the compromise offered (including knowing he has families on different worlds from theirs). And yes, they are weirdly fine with that because he is so great. Power. Fantasy.
I enjoyed the creativity of the worlds Will is exploring. And the author keeps the pace strong with new things to learn and adapt to. I particularly like Will's practicality in each new situation, looking for ways to exploit the differences to his advantage, with gleeful acquisition of economic, skill, and power advantages. And it doesn't hurt that he gets to mow down bad-guys along the way.
I'm going to give this 3½ stars that I'll round up on the strength of the creativity and fast paced exploration. Yeah, I'm a sucker for power fantasy and this hit the right spot in many ways and Will is a romantic sweetie even if he is easily distracted by the next challenge...
A note about Chaste/Steamy: Interestingly for a "harem" story, the author pulls the curtain before we get any details. There's just barely enough that I can't fully call this chaste, but there is nothing prurient about Will's relationships. Which I actually appreciated because it let me continue seeing Will as a romantic sweetie despite his attachment to multiple women.
May 6, 2016
Don't bother. It's a power fantasy story where the MC gets superpowers so he can slaughter lots of enemies and he has sex with lots of beautiful woman who are all subservient and don't mind all the other woman. There are entertaining power fantasy stories but this isn't one of them, give your characters a character at least. (Also, it really could use a better MC.)
January 7, 2016
Fun book
I love books where ordinary people are allowed to become extraordinary. The only problem I have with this book is a rather large one. I'm rather sick of this double standard where the wife must be monogamous and the husband gets to sleep with anything that moves. I won't support that message so I won't be reading any more in this series.
I love books where ordinary people are allowed to become extraordinary. The only problem I have with this book is a rather large one. I'm rather sick of this double standard where the wife must be monogamous and the husband gets to sleep with anything that moves. I won't support that message so I won't be reading any more in this series.
May 22, 2021
Rating 4.5 stars
Re-read August 2019- Initial review below.
I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. First off, I think this is the same author as the Valens legacy under a different name. I think the main thing I like about both this book and the Valens series is the practicality of the main characters. In the beginning of this book, the main character Will, falls through a portal to another world. Does he freak out? Nope, he just goes about trying to figure out what is going on and then make the most of his situation. In other similar types of books, the main character spends most of the book second guessing himself and telling himself "I can't believe this is happening"; the type of character who covers himself up when he is naked, even after having sex with the woman that is seeing him naked multiple times. Now, is it normal for someone to go through a magic portal to another world and not freak out? Of course not, but given the choice between reading about a character that gets straight down to business and one that freaks out about everything new the entire time, I will take option number 1. I have read some reviews that felt this story started off a little slow, and I can see that. We don't find out the what/why/how that Will found the portals until the end of this book. I didn't mind it much though as I like stories where the journey is more important than the destination. I was more interested in what he was doing instead of why it was happening to him.
Some of these "Harem" type books focus mainly on describing the sex and fall flat on the story. This book didn't go into that much detail about the sex (there was no "blow by blow" description of the sex scenes, if you will) but instead focused more on the story and the relationships.
There is a note that I posted on this book that said that women are more practical than men
Re-read August 2019- Initial review below.
I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. First off, I think this is the same author as the Valens legacy under a different name. I think the main thing I like about both this book and the Valens series is the practicality of the main characters. In the beginning of this book, the main character Will, falls through a portal to another world. Does he freak out? Nope, he just goes about trying to figure out what is going on and then make the most of his situation. In other similar types of books, the main character spends most of the book second guessing himself and telling himself "I can't believe this is happening"; the type of character who covers himself up when he is naked, even after having sex with the woman that is seeing him naked multiple times. Now, is it normal for someone to go through a magic portal to another world and not freak out? Of course not, but given the choice between reading about a character that gets straight down to business and one that freaks out about everything new the entire time, I will take option number 1. I have read some reviews that felt this story started off a little slow, and I can see that. We don't find out the what/why/how that Will found the portals until the end of this book. I didn't mind it much though as I like stories where the journey is more important than the destination. I was more interested in what he was doing instead of why it was happening to him.
Some of these "Harem" type books focus mainly on describing the sex and fall flat on the story. This book didn't go into that much detail about the sex (there was no "blow by blow" description of the sex scenes, if you will) but instead focused more on the story and the relationships.
There is a note that I posted on this book that said that women are more practical than men
May 3, 2018
I really did try to muddle through, hoping it would get better, since the premise had a lot of promise. But when the “hero” ordered his troops to kill all males from teens on up when taking over a city so that they couldn’t ever fight back, than began doling out the freshly made widows as war brides to his own men, I was just completely done.
Fuck this book, fuck William, and fuck this author. Never fucking again.
Edit: Because apparently I’m a masochist, I went back and finished, on the slim hope there was some redemption. I raised it to two stars, because there was a shred of a token of improvement in William. He’s still a misogynistic asshole though, so I still stand by my “fuck William” statement. Also he got stabbed to death while thinking with his dick, so that was cathartic. He can’t die permanently though, so that was a downer.
Fuck this book, fuck William, and fuck this author. Never fucking again.
Edit: Because apparently I’m a masochist, I went back and finished, on the slim hope there was some redemption. I raised it to two stars, because there was a shred of a token of improvement in William. He’s still a misogynistic asshole though, so I still stand by my “fuck William” statement. Also he got stabbed to death while thinking with his dick, so that was cathartic. He can’t die permanently though, so that was a downer.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 3, 2015
I was given a copy of this book by the author, in return for an unbiased review. OK, that being said, I really enjoyed the book. It has got a nice pulp sensibility to it, Like something an early Roger Zelazny or Jack Chalker would have written. unabashedly unpolitically correct, it is as subtle as a dagger to the ribs, in a good way. in a genre that has gotten so PC, the author has decided to write a fantasy that Doc Smith or RE Howard would have been proud to call their own. The story involves, Will, a young engineer on vacation with his friends when he stumbles through a portal to another world. The natives are human, and society seems to resemble the middle ages. He quickly assimilates, and determines on a course he can make money on, by transporting bows of each world to the other, where the handcrafted bows of the fantasy world sell for big money here, while fiberglass bows sell for high prices in the fantasy world. He meets a woman in the Inn he stays in, and starts a relationship with her. He starts taking sword lessons from a local swordsman, and keeps traveling between the worlds, until one day he comes back to earth and can't get back. He ends up at a Ren Faire as a performer, learning different skills, until he is called upon to fulfill his true Purpose. A god calls upon him to be a Champion, and he takes up the Mantle in yet another world, where he meets a queen, fights a war, beds some women, including the Queen, and finds out his true purpose, which is much grander than he knew. I wont say what that is, but it seems to be one I'll be reading the rest of the series to find out. Lots of battle action, solo fights and adventures in this book. The characters are fun, with actual masculine make characters and some actually feminine female ones, as well as some badass women warriors too. There is also magic, Gods that manifest, and a nicely developed set of world, with lots of room to expand the story. I recommend this book to any fans of old Zelazny and Chalker stories, as well as some of the older Heinlein stories, such as Glory Road.
July 10, 2019
Rape and genocide are normalized in this book and that is horrible. The main character conquers a city, kills all the boys and men and the allows any soldier to force any of the women to marry them, no matter how unwilling. Just because she is your wife does not mean that it isn't rape. I had to stop reading at that point. I don't understand why this book got so many good reviews. I cannot say this enough; rape and genocide are bad. Bad. Don't make it seem okay.
October 12, 2017
2.5/5
It was a comfortable read, guy goes to fantasy world, becomes tool for the gods(more than he knows) and becomes super powerful and gets lots of sexy girls. Cool.
Problem is the same with much of the genre though. He is an asshole, he gets some power and starts growling at everyone, speaking in low threatening voices, and being sarcastic for no reason. Even when he gets a small reality check it gets done in a way that makes one angry at the one giving him the reality check, making him the victim and sympathetic one.
I also can't suspend my disbelief for some things. He reads some books about alexander the great and other war tactics and then he is able to implement it, with people who don't understand the concept!?
after that he orders that every male able to hold a sword in the city is killed and the women all taken as wives and concubines. He is unsympathetic(he actually says he does not care) to the plight he puts the women in, and tries to explain it away by saying if she is a good wife her husband will be good to her. while such slaughter is common in that time period in this world it does not make sense; the gods in the book get power from their believers, now what will a population of women whose sons, fathers, husbands, and brothers have been slaughtered do to their new spouses if there god commands it, with human sacrifice being a thing. Realistically in this world kill them all.
To be clear I don't have any problem with the subject matter; authors can write what they want, mass violence, rape, whatever, but if it does not even make sense in even in a authors own made fantasy world then its just embarrassing.
Another thing that was silly is when this inexperienced champion of the gods fights another champion he wins quite easily, yes his god has been powered up, but he was facing a attacker who had more backing and experience and skill.
So why did i give this book a 2.5 when i have so much bad to say? cause many like this type of character, and in reviews finding good things to say is easy, people should know the pitfalls. Also unlike other books in the genre it does not try to be too epic(aka confusing), even though multiple worlds are a thing. He does lots of casual stuff that does not feel like filler. He sells stuff to make money hangs out with his friends, date his multiple girlfriends, he enjoys himself.
It was a comfortable read, guy goes to fantasy world, becomes tool for the gods(more than he knows) and becomes super powerful and gets lots of sexy girls. Cool.
Problem is the same with much of the genre though. He is an asshole, he gets some power and starts growling at everyone, speaking in low threatening voices, and being sarcastic for no reason. Even when he gets a small reality check it gets done in a way that makes one angry at the one giving him the reality check, making him the victim and sympathetic one.
I also can't suspend my disbelief for some things. He reads some books about alexander the great and other war tactics and then he is able to implement it, with people who don't understand the concept!?
after that he orders that every male able to hold a sword in the city is killed and the women all taken as wives and concubines. He is unsympathetic(he actually says he does not care) to the plight he puts the women in, and tries to explain it away by saying if she is a good wife her husband will be good to her. while such slaughter is common in that time period in this world it does not make sense; the gods in the book get power from their believers, now what will a population of women whose sons, fathers, husbands, and brothers have been slaughtered do to their new spouses if there god commands it, with human sacrifice being a thing. Realistically in this world kill them all.
To be clear I don't have any problem with the subject matter; authors can write what they want, mass violence, rape, whatever, but if it does not even make sense in even in a authors own made fantasy world then its just embarrassing.
Another thing that was silly is when this inexperienced champion of the gods fights another champion he wins quite easily, yes his god has been powered up, but he was facing a attacker who had more backing and experience and skill.
So why did i give this book a 2.5 when i have so much bad to say? cause many like this type of character, and in reviews finding good things to say is easy, people should know the pitfalls. Also unlike other books in the genre it does not try to be too epic(aka confusing), even though multiple worlds are a thing. He does lots of casual stuff that does not feel like filler. He sells stuff to make money hangs out with his friends, date his multiple girlfriends, he enjoys himself.
January 23, 2018
So this book started off slow. The MC is a bit of a middle average person that just happens to end up in a crazy world. Some of the pacing in the book is a bit fast and the relationships between a lot of the characters does feel kinda flat. I mean it's there, but it's a bit ho-hum, but as you start to get to the end of the book, things start adding up and eventually the MC get's a bit of a wake up call for being such a dick at times. A lot of his aggression is explained as "magic", but no reason as to WHY things were done to him. As stated, the book does pick up towards the end, enough that I've gone and purchased the second book and I'll start on that to see if it grows or just levels out. There's some potential crazy stuff on the horizon, and if the author gets it right, this could grow into an interesting series.
October 17, 2021
I'm blown away. My socks are knocked off
This review is is rewritten after reading the entire series, and is for this book and the entire series.
-I was impressed with and greatly enjoyed this book. But I wasn't nearly as impressed with the premise as I should have been. This series has infinite possibilities and has only scratched the surface by book 10. (where it stands as of 2021)
-I'm a big fan of Jan Stryvant. I love the valen's Legacy. Wile waiting for the next book in that series I found out that he also writes under a different name but that those books have no sex scenes. I very foolishly assumed that meant that those books were not "Sexy". Wile I absolutely intended to get around to reading them all, I wanted to get through all of his sexy books first. Well I did that, I read everything by Jan Stryvant and very happily started on the Portals of Infinity because they were so highly recommended. Imagine my surprise and delight when I found out just how very sexy these books are indeed. When the story is rocking and going full blast, I often skip the sex scenes for a later reread to keep going on the story to find out what happens next. This series does that for me, and thank god because if Mr. Van Stry descried every sexual encounter in this book it would be the size of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. I think I like this better.
-So what is the premise that I was referring to above? Why just one of the greatest strokes of literary genius since George Lucas penned "A long time ago..."
William (please just call him Will) is a champion of a god. He is a kind of paladin or jedi knight. He is like a warrior monk with super powers and no vow of celibacy. In fact Will's god encourages physical intimacy among his followers, they are cat people on a different planet and are held to a different standard than humans. William can sense portals that lead to other realities. He is a portal jumper and a fairly crafty guy all on his own. After pledging to the god Feliogustus (one righteous deity I could get religion for) Will's body is remade and he is put to work traveling the infinite worlds to do the lord's work, like James Bond with healing spells and meta-human endurance. The absolute genius of this series is that each world is different and can be a different genre: Fantasy, medieval military, steam punk, heist, western, spy thriller, action adventure, You name it! and it all works together. No one book has to be all one thing and rarely is. It can start out Conan sword & sorcery, jump worlds to crime drama, and smoothly segway into a lost legion fight for survival and it works so smoothly that I can't believe no one thought of this before.
-I enjoyed the hell out of these books! This reads a bit like a Daniel Schinhofen book what with the transported to another world to be the champion of a god, also with touches of Herald of Shalia -Tamryn Tamer(bow chicka wow wow), but all of it very much Mr. Stryvant / Van Stry's own furry shifter loving style. Since those are some of my favorites, this is a best of both worlds situation.
Lastly a shout out the the big guy who makes it all possible, Feliogustus. I really love this character. John Van Stry has written a god that I actually admire. What a lovable guy. None of this series works without him or someone as solid at the center of it all. I get strangely sentimental for this deity, I really wish he existed like I wish I could live in the United Federation of Planets. It's almost biter sweet and I'm rooting for him all the way. I love Will all the more for being faithful and that is a strange feeling for an otherwise atheist to feel.
So yeah, I do heartily recommend this series to any and all Harem and fantasy erotica readers, and fantasy adventure readers who aren't bothered by the idea of Heinlein style polygamy.
This review is is rewritten after reading the entire series, and is for this book and the entire series.
-I was impressed with and greatly enjoyed this book. But I wasn't nearly as impressed with the premise as I should have been. This series has infinite possibilities and has only scratched the surface by book 10. (where it stands as of 2021)
-I'm a big fan of Jan Stryvant. I love the valen's Legacy. Wile waiting for the next book in that series I found out that he also writes under a different name but that those books have no sex scenes. I very foolishly assumed that meant that those books were not "Sexy". Wile I absolutely intended to get around to reading them all, I wanted to get through all of his sexy books first. Well I did that, I read everything by Jan Stryvant and very happily started on the Portals of Infinity because they were so highly recommended. Imagine my surprise and delight when I found out just how very sexy these books are indeed. When the story is rocking and going full blast, I often skip the sex scenes for a later reread to keep going on the story to find out what happens next. This series does that for me, and thank god because if Mr. Van Stry descried every sexual encounter in this book it would be the size of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. I think I like this better.
-So what is the premise that I was referring to above? Why just one of the greatest strokes of literary genius since George Lucas penned "A long time ago..."
William (please just call him Will) is a champion of a god. He is a kind of paladin or jedi knight. He is like a warrior monk with super powers and no vow of celibacy. In fact Will's god encourages physical intimacy among his followers, they are cat people on a different planet and are held to a different standard than humans. William can sense portals that lead to other realities. He is a portal jumper and a fairly crafty guy all on his own. After pledging to the god Feliogustus (one righteous deity I could get religion for) Will's body is remade and he is put to work traveling the infinite worlds to do the lord's work, like James Bond with healing spells and meta-human endurance. The absolute genius of this series is that each world is different and can be a different genre: Fantasy, medieval military, steam punk, heist, western, spy thriller, action adventure, You name it! and it all works together. No one book has to be all one thing and rarely is. It can start out Conan sword & sorcery, jump worlds to crime drama, and smoothly segway into a lost legion fight for survival and it works so smoothly that I can't believe no one thought of this before.
-I enjoyed the hell out of these books! This reads a bit like a Daniel Schinhofen book what with the transported to another world to be the champion of a god, also with touches of Herald of Shalia -Tamryn Tamer(bow chicka wow wow), but all of it very much Mr. Stryvant / Van Stry's own furry shifter loving style. Since those are some of my favorites, this is a best of both worlds situation.
Lastly a shout out the the big guy who makes it all possible, Feliogustus. I really love this character. John Van Stry has written a god that I actually admire. What a lovable guy. None of this series works without him or someone as solid at the center of it all. I get strangely sentimental for this deity, I really wish he existed like I wish I could live in the United Federation of Planets. It's almost biter sweet and I'm rooting for him all the way. I love Will all the more for being faithful and that is a strange feeling for an otherwise atheist to feel.
So yeah, I do heartily recommend this series to any and all Harem and fantasy erotica readers, and fantasy adventure readers who aren't bothered by the idea of Heinlein style polygamy.
February 9, 2015
van Vogt Ptah reborn
Good book. A fresh romp across parallel universes where our hero is a champion of a god Fel (official name Felaugustus) who wants him to fight for him and repulse an enemy God encroaching in his domain.
A young man, barely twenty three and still prey of his hormones fights his funny way across two different worlds with two different women, usually unclad as in the best traditions of pulp science fiction, but hey, it is funny and amusing. It is not the usual 500 pages of long description and complex situations, it is fresh and linear as it used to one. Van Vogt would have been proud of this author and of this hero. Go for it, it won' t cost you much and you can spend a few relaxing hours
Good book. A fresh romp across parallel universes where our hero is a champion of a god Fel (official name Felaugustus) who wants him to fight for him and repulse an enemy God encroaching in his domain.
A young man, barely twenty three and still prey of his hormones fights his funny way across two different worlds with two different women, usually unclad as in the best traditions of pulp science fiction, but hey, it is funny and amusing. It is not the usual 500 pages of long description and complex situations, it is fresh and linear as it used to one. Van Vogt would have been proud of this author and of this hero. Go for it, it won' t cost you much and you can spend a few relaxing hours
November 4, 2017
I do enjoy male escapism once and a while so I am not offended by the contents, but the details and execution leaves something to be desired. The details and description of the settings and events are scarce and iffy. For example, I don't remember the author even describing the physical traits of the main character's first wife other then she is beautiful. Other important things like training and such have a few sentences at best. The description of the big battles are pretty lacking also. It might be each books length or something else.
There is no real struggle or tension either. The main character really just wonders around and kicks butt. Hopefully the other books in the series are better b/c the foundation or the overall backstory is set.
There is no real struggle or tension either. The main character really just wonders around and kicks butt. Hopefully the other books in the series are better b/c the foundation or the overall backstory is set.
January 8, 2015
Very good read
I flew thorough this book and stayed up too late to finish it. It's a really cool story and I liked that the main character wasn't a complete wimp like in a lot of other similar novels.
I flew thorough this book and stayed up too late to finish it. It's a really cool story and I liked that the main character wasn't a complete wimp like in a lot of other similar novels.
July 8, 2021
Interesting world building. Numerous realities with their own pantheons recruiting Champions. Each god having power commiserate with the number of followers and their faith. Would love to see more build up of the secondary characters a bit in future books in the series.
March 3, 2016
How does this book get such good reviews? The worst thing I have read in a long time.
October 20, 2017
Wouldn't recommend.
Iffy writing, and even worse character development.
And there was a lot of unneeded sex, and girls.
Read more like a cheap fan fiction then an actual story.
Iffy writing, and even worse character development.
And there was a lot of unneeded sex, and girls.
Read more like a cheap fan fiction then an actual story.
July 12, 2018
Solid book
I enjoyed this book very much. To me it had a good mix of both character development and action to keep you excited.
I enjoyed this book very much. To me it had a good mix of both character development and action to keep you excited.
November 24, 2021
Good book, I am actually berating myself for taking so long into getting this. A good balance betwee our MC effort and given perks. Nice action and interesting story.
February 14, 2023
William finds a portal to another world (which seems to resemble Renaissance-era England but isn’t quite), and he’s able to amass a fortune by trading American currency for their precious metal coins. Thankfully, nobody cuts any of those coins in half to learn that they’re only copper plated and made of zinc. Also he sells manufactured bows to the townspeople, buys their authentic bows, sells those back home for a few grand, trades that money for their currency, and so forth.
What does he do with his fortune? He buys a prostitute and an Inn and plans to make this trading thing a permanent occupation. How very American. So he’s a rich man in this new world while he’s a laid off nobody on Earth. He and Darlene don’t really talk or have any relationship outside the bedroom, but he gets it in his mind to make her his. She goes along with it because, as one guy puts it:
Apparently she lets him take possession of her only because he’s buying things for her. Being provided for is all this man thinks women want? Affection is not part of the equation? She only cares about being provided for, and he does this in exchange for sex? It’s a transaction? She tolerates him sleeping with other women, too, but Will expects her to remain chaste for him.
She’s awfully cool with the double standard...
So she begs him to give her a child while he goes away on business (back to Earth to get more bows and rolls of dimes), and he sleeps with her during “that time.”
Then the gate closes, leaving him stranded on Earth. He continues to sleep around with other women, despite his marriage to Darlene and his yearning to go back to his wife and child and his love for her.
It’s then that he receives a call from a god. This god, Fel, agrees to send him back to Darlene’s world if Will does him a favor. He wants Will to help win a battle for his people.
Fel sends Will through a portal (or gate or door or something; these things are not described visually), and now he’s a muscular humanoid-cat able to slaughter men of opposing armies by the hundreds.
His behavior after becoming a cat-man made my jaw drop. After he rescues the queen, Rachael, from being sacrificed to an opposing god, he fucks her on the altar while she’s still tied up. Doesn’t speak to her. Doesn’t ask. Apparently she gets off to it, too, but wow.
She says no many, many times, but she obviously wants it. Riiiiiight...
Armed with Fel’s favor, Will takes control of their military and helps these cat people (Hilanders. Yes, really.) repel an army of invaders (Mulanders) who are not described visually either, though someone mentions they have been living in this land long before the Hilanders, so I have to wonder who the badguys really are. Will does not question why he’s slaughtering people by the hundreds. He doesn’t care. In fact, he decides to pursue the retreating enemy to their capital city. Fel speaks to him about it.
Holy shit. Just holy fucking shit. 1) Fel realizes he made a mistake, he admits he has turned Will into a monster, and he doesn’t do anything about it? 2) Will finds out he’s a monster, and he doesn’t care? He’s not at all concerned. 3) It gets worse. Will gives this order to the army commander:
Holy shit. Fel did not order Will to do this! This is Will’s idea! He learned about the effectiveness of genocide from a friend of his back on Earth, and now his idea is to inflict what happened to his friend onto other people because, apparently and objectively, that’s how to win a war. He wasn’t at all moved by what happened to his friend; his first thought was wow, what a great idea. This is entirely Will’s plan, not Fel’s. You can’t blame Fel for creating this monster; Will was already like this! Giving him power just gives him the ability to act on it. What’s stopping Fel from bumping back Will’s aggression, and would that even matter?
Some might argue the book is taking place from an unreliable narrator’s POV, but there’s just so much of this kind of stuff going on, and everybody is so nonchalant about it, I am convinced this is an author’s Mary Sue living a power fantasy.
The way it treats war is awful. Everyone seems perfectly fine with genocide. Especially Will. If he had shown even the slightest bit of self-awareness for what he had become, I might have been curious if he had a character arc, but there is none. Will rises to power at about the one-quarter mark, and he stays there, all is well as far as the narrative is concerned.
There’s a certain banned-from-youtube video called “How Women Destroy Civilizations.” (Bear with me; I’m going somewhere with this.) It advances the misogynist theory that women are biologically inclined to seek out the most powerful men to protect their offspring, and this behavior does not inspire “loyalty to the tribe” because given half a chance a woman will bed with the enemy if she thinks he will be a better provider. This book very much gives me the vibe that this is how some men view women: only interested in being provided for, sees men as nothing but worthy or unworthy providers, so that’s how women should be treated: as creatures who are only seeking men to provide for them and will abandon you if you show the slightest weakness. The video does not mention any instincts men have, but I think this book illustrates clear as fucking day that men are the ones who have the instincts that do not inspire “loyalty to the tribe”: deep down inside, guys want to be Zeus, free to impregnate as many women as they want and to skip out on any obligations this brings, and so powerful no lesser males can stop them from doing so.
I say this with confidence because after Will’s mission is accomplished, Will goes to the high priestess and sleeps with her, making sure to leave her with a child before buggering off to be with his first wife, Darlene (remember her?), and the queen is perfectly fine with this. No care for raising the child. No “loyalty to the tribe.”
Yeah, this book is a power fantasy, and the way it treats women is repulsive. It starts off questionable and by the midpoint I had to take breaks every few paragraphs to gasp at what I was reading.
The number of times he picks up the queen and carries her made me wish Will would start talking like a caveman; it would have at least made the moments funny. And if this is some other universe, why is the queen named Rachael? Why is the barmaid named Darlene? Nobody is described visually, and there is very little description. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as there’s something to be said for being direct and moving things along, but a few cues here and there would have been nice. Honestly the book is not a bad read. John Van Stry can write, but wow, the story he tells reeks of misogyny, and even as a fellow possessor of testicles, I was repulsed by how both men and women are portrayed here.
Anyway, is this what “guys” want? Women who are okay with the double standard of faithfulness, knowing their husband is sleeping around planting his seed everywhere while they are left behind to raise his children? Will was doing this before Fel upped his stats, so I don’t blame Fel for creating a monster. Will already was one, and for some reason Fel cannot revoke the power he gave Will. A Champion of a god has to quit on his or her own. What kind of rule is that?? Will can commit any atrocity he wants in any universe he wants, and the gods can’t stop him, even though they gave him the power.
True to his word, Fel allows Will to go back to the other world and be with his first wife, Darlene. What kind of father is Will?
That tells you all you need to know about Will.
A few months after returning to Darlene, he leaves his wife and son behind and travels to find the god’s Champion of this realm, and on the way he sleeps with yet another woman, making his previous declarations of how much he loves Darlene/Rachael more than anything and wants to be with them null and void. Increased aggression doesn’t account for all this. Will is a horrible protagonist, and an even worse reader proxy. I’d rather play Advent Rising again than read this book; at least that power fantasy treated women with some dignity.
Aryanna (goddess of Darlene’s world) and Stephanie (Aryanna’s champion) are the only women in the story who are treated with any kind of respect, as both have actual power over Will. I liked them, and the last 10% or so of the book advances the worldbuilding and gives some more context for the action and is genuinely interesting. To my surprise, they give Will incentive to cool his balls and stop sleeping around so much, and he actually calms down at the end of the book, shows some humility, and has to listen to a couple of women. This is a nice touch but hardly balances out the genocide and rape and his absolute disregard for the children he’s leaving behind. The last 10% almost makes me forget the horrific, jaw-dropping things I read about in the previous 90%. Almost.
The narration tells us several times that he loves his wives and adores his children, but William’s actions say otherwise. This book’s conclusion leaves me curious if Will comes around and develops as a character later in the series, but I have a feeling the rest of the series is just violence and adventure and Will gaining new powers, possibly claiming new prostitutes and wives on other worlds and leaving them to raise his children.
The book is about Will spreading his seed everywhere he can while facing no consequences for doing so, not even the burden of child-rearing, and becoming so powerful and rich and admired that nobody can stop him from doing whatever he pleases. Slaughtering hundreds of enemy soldiers makes him horny, and all the women in this book seem incredibly turned on by the idea of him sleeping around while he’s covered in the blood of his enemies. They actually like the idea of being loved and left. They want to be knocked up and then abandoned to raise his child alone. Is this really what guys want? Someone is getting off to this, and not just to the sex scenes.
What does he do with his fortune? He buys a prostitute and an Inn and plans to make this trading thing a permanent occupation. How very American. So he’s a rich man in this new world while he’s a laid off nobody on Earth. He and Darlene don’t really talk or have any relationship outside the bedroom, but he gets it in his mind to make her his. She goes along with it because, as one guy puts it:
“Sure. Ye buy her things, ye spend money on her, and I suspect ye give her money when her family needs it. Her folks are dirt poor, yet ye treat her like a person even though ye could buy and sell her whole family. Ye don’t rub your affairs with other women in her face and have gone as far as to make it clear that those others don’t matter.”
Apparently she lets him take possession of her only because he’s buying things for her. Being provided for is all this man thinks women want? Affection is not part of the equation? She only cares about being provided for, and he does this in exchange for sex? It’s a transaction? She tolerates him sleeping with other women, too, but Will expects her to remain chaste for him.
“... you haven’t let her sleep with anyone but yourself since you got here.”
She’s awfully cool with the double standard...
So she begs him to give her a child while he goes away on business (back to Earth to get more bows and rolls of dimes), and he sleeps with her during “that time.”
Then the gate closes, leaving him stranded on Earth. He continues to sleep around with other women, despite his marriage to Darlene and his yearning to go back to his wife and child and his love for her.
It’s then that he receives a call from a god. This god, Fel, agrees to send him back to Darlene’s world if Will does him a favor. He wants Will to help win a battle for his people.
Fel sends Will through a portal (or gate or door or something; these things are not described visually), and now he’s a muscular humanoid-cat able to slaughter men of opposing armies by the hundreds.
His behavior after becoming a cat-man made my jaw drop. After he rescues the queen, Rachael, from being sacrificed to an opposing god, he fucks her on the altar while she’s still tied up. Doesn’t speak to her. Doesn’t ask. Apparently she gets off to it, too, but wow.
“Correction,” I purred darkly, “you’re my woman. Behave or you’ll get spanked!”
...
“I said you’re my woman. I claimed you on that altar, in front of your god and all the other gods. They came to see a sacrifice, they got three, and then I got you.” I turned my head and smiled at her. “You did seem to return my affections rather enthusiastically after all.”
“I’d just been saved from having my heart cut out and my entrails removed! What the hell did you expect me to do? Turn you down? Of course I enjoyed it! I just found out I was going to live!”
She says no many, many times, but she obviously wants it. Riiiiiight...
Armed with Fel’s favor, Will takes control of their military and helps these cat people (Hilanders. Yes, really.) repel an army of invaders (Mulanders) who are not described visually either, though someone mentions they have been living in this land long before the Hilanders, so I have to wonder who the badguys really are. Will does not question why he’s slaughtering people by the hundreds. He doesn’t care. In fact, he decides to pursue the retreating enemy to their capital city. Fel speaks to him about it.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” Fel was thundering at me across the table.
“Wiping out the enemy. What do you think I’m doing?” I said, shocked.
“I brought you here to win a battle, not to wipe them out!”
“You said they were going to wipe you out. That if you lost, they were going to eradicate you and your followers. Did you lie to me?” I growled at him.
“No, I didn’t lie to you. But you can’t do this!”
“Turn about is fair play! When I’m done here, there isn’t going to be a temple, priest, or follower of their god left! And that city will belong to Rachel, and your priests will have a temple there.”
“You’re going to do this no matter what I say, aren’t you?”
...
Fel sighed. “I should never have upped your aggression levels.” ... “Do you have any idea how many you’ve killed in the last twenty-four hours?”
“Don’t know, don’t care. It’s war. But you know my mind and you know my reasons. I know it hurts more than it helps in the long run.”
Holy shit. Just holy fucking shit. 1) Fel realizes he made a mistake, he admits he has turned Will into a monster, and he doesn’t do anything about it? 2) Will finds out he’s a monster, and he doesn’t care? He’s not at all concerned. 3) It gets worse. Will gives this order to the army commander:
“Gentlemen, this is now our city. We are going to go in there and eliminate every male old enough to know what a sword is, or older. Every priest, every priestess, and we will tear down, but not burn! We will tear down every temple. Every sign of their god is to be erased, broken, and destroyed. We are going to give this city to our queen as a gift for their attempt to murder her. Understood?”
... “What about the women?” one of them asked.
I smiled. “Well you see, it’s like this. We’re kind of short on citizens, what with this war and suddenly having this new city with no men left in it at all. So, I got to thinking that every man on this campaign, and that includes those who only fought at the first battle that started this war, could probably use a second wife or concubine. And, of course, each man stands to take over whatever property his new wife or concubine has once he takes her. Okay?”
“Umm, what if she’s not interested?”
“That’s your problem,” I said with a smile, and the others all laughed.
“We still have a lot of the men from the city who came out to help,” the general’s aide said. “A good deal of the married men went home, but all the single men came. I think a lot of them will be interested in this.”
Holy shit. Fel did not order Will to do this! This is Will’s idea! He learned about the effectiveness of genocide from a friend of his back on Earth, and now his idea is to inflict what happened to his friend onto other people because, apparently and objectively, that’s how to win a war. He wasn’t at all moved by what happened to his friend; his first thought was wow, what a great idea. This is entirely Will’s plan, not Fel’s. You can’t blame Fel for creating this monster; Will was already like this! Giving him power just gives him the ability to act on it. What’s stopping Fel from bumping back Will’s aggression, and would that even matter?
There were marriages going on around the clock after that, and I know most of the women weren’t happy, but I didn’t care. I looked at one who was crying and told her rather bluntly that if she made her new man happy he would undoubtedly do the same for her, and wasn’t that a whole lot better than being dead?
...
By the end, it turned out that comparatively few of the marriages were forced. As soon as a lot of the women figured out the score, a bunch killed themselves and the rest decided to do the picking before they themselves got picked. Women are far more practical and realistic than men. Or maybe I was just feeling rather cynical after all the carnage I’d released. I didn’t know.
Some might argue the book is taking place from an unreliable narrator’s POV, but there’s just so much of this kind of stuff going on, and everybody is so nonchalant about it, I am convinced this is an author’s Mary Sue living a power fantasy.
The way it treats war is awful. Everyone seems perfectly fine with genocide. Especially Will. If he had shown even the slightest bit of self-awareness for what he had become, I might have been curious if he had a character arc, but there is none. Will rises to power at about the one-quarter mark, and he stays there, all is well as far as the narrative is concerned.
There’s a certain banned-from-youtube video called “How Women Destroy Civilizations.” (Bear with me; I’m going somewhere with this.) It advances the misogynist theory that women are biologically inclined to seek out the most powerful men to protect their offspring, and this behavior does not inspire “loyalty to the tribe” because given half a chance a woman will bed with the enemy if she thinks he will be a better provider. This book very much gives me the vibe that this is how some men view women: only interested in being provided for, sees men as nothing but worthy or unworthy providers, so that’s how women should be treated: as creatures who are only seeking men to provide for them and will abandon you if you show the slightest weakness. The video does not mention any instincts men have, but I think this book illustrates clear as fucking day that men are the ones who have the instincts that do not inspire “loyalty to the tribe”: deep down inside, guys want to be Zeus, free to impregnate as many women as they want and to skip out on any obligations this brings, and so powerful no lesser males can stop them from doing so.
I say this with confidence because after Will’s mission is accomplished, Will goes to the high priestess and sleeps with her, making sure to leave her with a child before buggering off to be with his first wife, Darlene (remember her?), and the queen is perfectly fine with this. No care for raising the child. No “loyalty to the tribe.”
“You know what this town could use?” I said to her as we were strolling around one evening a few weeks later.
“What?”
“Public bath houses.”
“Hmmm, don’t get to ogle enough naked women?” She grinned, and then squeaked as I pinched her. I enjoyed pinching her, and sometimes I think she did too. I was probably the only one around who treated her like a woman; too many others were afraid to because of her status.
Yeah, this book is a power fantasy, and the way it treats women is repulsive. It starts off questionable and by the midpoint I had to take breaks every few paragraphs to gasp at what I was reading.
“You know the priestess down at the temple sent up a note requesting your presence again.”
I sighed.
“What? I think she’s cute!”
“She wants me to bed her.”
“So?”
“Let me be more specific, she wants me to put my cubs in her.”
“And?”
I smiled, “I want to put my cubs in you first.”
She pondered that a moment and was quiet. “You’re serious, aren’t you?” she said softly.
I nodded. “Yes. The problem is, I can’t be here all the time with you. I have other commitments, and I have to be somewhere else at least some of the time.”
“You have another woman, don’t you?”
“Yes, and a child. But while I love her, I love you more than anyone I’ve ever met in my life. I’m not lying when I say you’re my woman or that I want you to have my children. I’d like you to be my wife as well.”
“And you’re telling me all of this because?” she said, looking up at me.
“Because I won’t lie to you. I don’t want hidden secrets, because of who you are and who I am, someone is likely to try and use them against us. Telling you I already have one wife may screw this up for me, but Rachel, I want you as my wife too. And as much as I want to drag you down to the temple and force it on you, this is something that I know I can’t force you into. I need to hear from you.”
The number of times he picks up the queen and carries her made me wish Will would start talking like a caveman; it would have at least made the moments funny. And if this is some other universe, why is the queen named Rachael? Why is the barmaid named Darlene? Nobody is described visually, and there is very little description. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as there’s something to be said for being direct and moving things along, but a few cues here and there would have been nice. Honestly the book is not a bad read. John Van Stry can write, but wow, the story he tells reeks of misogyny, and even as a fellow possessor of testicles, I was repulsed by how both men and women are portrayed here.
Anyway, is this what “guys” want? Women who are okay with the double standard of faithfulness, knowing their husband is sleeping around planting his seed everywhere while they are left behind to raise his children? Will was doing this before Fel upped his stats, so I don’t blame Fel for creating a monster. Will already was one, and for some reason Fel cannot revoke the power he gave Will. A Champion of a god has to quit on his or her own. What kind of rule is that?? Will can commit any atrocity he wants in any universe he wants, and the gods can’t stop him, even though they gave him the power.
True to his word, Fel allows Will to go back to the other world and be with his first wife, Darlene. What kind of father is Will?
Having a son was interesting. But Travis was just a baby, so I couldn’t relate to him much. Just knowing he was my son was, like I had said, interesting.
That tells you all you need to know about Will.
A few months after returning to Darlene, he leaves his wife and son behind and travels to find the god’s Champion of this realm, and on the way he sleeps with yet another woman, making his previous declarations of how much he loves Darlene/Rachael more than anything and wants to be with them null and void. Increased aggression doesn’t account for all this. Will is a horrible protagonist, and an even worse reader proxy. I’d rather play Advent Rising again than read this book; at least that power fantasy treated women with some dignity.
Aryanna (goddess of Darlene’s world) and Stephanie (Aryanna’s champion) are the only women in the story who are treated with any kind of respect, as both have actual power over Will. I liked them, and the last 10% or so of the book advances the worldbuilding and gives some more context for the action and is genuinely interesting. To my surprise, they give Will incentive to cool his balls and stop sleeping around so much, and he actually calms down at the end of the book, shows some humility, and has to listen to a couple of women. This is a nice touch but hardly balances out the genocide and rape and his absolute disregard for the children he’s leaving behind. The last 10% almost makes me forget the horrific, jaw-dropping things I read about in the previous 90%. Almost.
The narration tells us several times that he loves his wives and adores his children, but William’s actions say otherwise. This book’s conclusion leaves me curious if Will comes around and develops as a character later in the series, but I have a feeling the rest of the series is just violence and adventure and Will gaining new powers, possibly claiming new prostitutes and wives on other worlds and leaving them to raise his children.
The book is about Will spreading his seed everywhere he can while facing no consequences for doing so, not even the burden of child-rearing, and becoming so powerful and rich and admired that nobody can stop him from doing whatever he pleases. Slaughtering hundreds of enemy soldiers makes him horny, and all the women in this book seem incredibly turned on by the idea of him sleeping around while he’s covered in the blood of his enemies. They actually like the idea of being loved and left. They want to be knocked up and then abandoned to raise his child alone. Is this really what guys want? Someone is getting off to this, and not just to the sex scenes.
April 14, 2021
Ok. First off ignore the usual suspects carping about misogyny. That criticism of this series is way overblown. This series has problems and that is not among them. I got halfway into book 3 before I couldn't take it anymore, and had to bail. Book 1 is like a 4.5, but book 2 and three are maybe 3.0
First of all. What is good? The author must have been an amazing D&D DM. This series feels like he took the best D&D campaign world he created and turned it into a book. The Portals gimmick lets let the author create wildly different worlds for the MC to travel through.
The book starts off with so much promise! The first half grabs you. You think you are in for something really different. The MC travels to this new world and doesn't immediately go off to slay monsters and do other typical litRPG stuff, instead, he does what a person who could travel between worlds and had half a brain would do: He starts up a trading business!!
Brilliant! The adventure he has just getting his goods from the "portal", to market in a bigger town and then his goods going the other way back to earth were really interesting. You would not think that a book about a trader would be any good, but this is! It has almost a slice of life feel. Getting oriented in the small village he arrives in, figuring out how to get coin, surviving long enough on his way to the bigger city, getting a room in an inn, selling his goods. It was all interesting. And the setting was different enough from the standard fantasy RPG setting that it was really interesting. Book 2 has a world where music is the highest form of art. In fact, city-states go to war with each other via music. John Van Stry is definitely good at creating unique worlds. Yes, I am sure he started out as a DM.
Now, the problems. He stays away from his unique trader story by the end of the first book. Such a shame. The MC going from city to city, from portal to portal, building up a city-portal spanning empire: Such a different series. Unfortunately, as he headed into book 2, John Van Stry abandoned this very different series premise and instead went along a very typical "MC as a kick-ass fighter". And yes he joins with several other kick-ass fighters with special abilities to go on a portal spanning quest. It really does feel like he just wrote up a D&D campaign he DMed where the MC and group were the players in his campaign.
Other issues include the lack of descriptions. You sometimes get descriptions of people that amount to "very beautiful" and not much else. Hair color? No idea. Long or short? no idea. Fat? bald? Bearded? who knows? The town, the city? What did they look like? What did the temple look like? Who knows! He definitely isn't into descriptions.
Also, the names. How is everyone basically given English names? Make that 20th century English names. (Well except for a few exceptions that have to do with Homer). In book 2 there is a girl named Alice. Yes at one point we meet a girl named Alice. Really? Please at least explain this away with some technobabble.
And the other book 2 headscratcher where the MC and party go to music world, and the world totally uses 20th-century western instruments. Yes. Electic guitar, bass, and drum set etc. Really? come on. I want to suspend my disbelief as much as the next person, but it is hard to take. At least come up with a plausible reason to explain it away.
And some of the dialogue. It can get pretty bad in some places. The whole book reads like a first draft
I wanted to love this book. I really did. It had such an interesting take. Half way through I bought book 2 and 3 before I finished book 1. Too bad, it didn't turn out.
First of all. What is good? The author must have been an amazing D&D DM. This series feels like he took the best D&D campaign world he created and turned it into a book. The Portals gimmick lets let the author create wildly different worlds for the MC to travel through.
The book starts off with so much promise! The first half grabs you. You think you are in for something really different. The MC travels to this new world and doesn't immediately go off to slay monsters and do other typical litRPG stuff, instead, he does what a person who could travel between worlds and had half a brain would do: He starts up a trading business!!
Brilliant! The adventure he has just getting his goods from the "portal", to market in a bigger town and then his goods going the other way back to earth were really interesting. You would not think that a book about a trader would be any good, but this is! It has almost a slice of life feel. Getting oriented in the small village he arrives in, figuring out how to get coin, surviving long enough on his way to the bigger city, getting a room in an inn, selling his goods. It was all interesting. And the setting was different enough from the standard fantasy RPG setting that it was really interesting. Book 2 has a world where music is the highest form of art. In fact, city-states go to war with each other via music. John Van Stry is definitely good at creating unique worlds. Yes, I am sure he started out as a DM.
Now, the problems. He stays away from his unique trader story by the end of the first book. Such a shame. The MC going from city to city, from portal to portal, building up a city-portal spanning empire: Such a different series. Unfortunately, as he headed into book 2, John Van Stry abandoned this very different series premise and instead went along a very typical "MC as a kick-ass fighter". And yes he joins with several other kick-ass fighters with special abilities to go on a portal spanning quest. It really does feel like he just wrote up a D&D campaign he DMed where the MC and group were the players in his campaign.
Other issues include the lack of descriptions. You sometimes get descriptions of people that amount to "very beautiful" and not much else. Hair color? No idea. Long or short? no idea. Fat? bald? Bearded? who knows? The town, the city? What did they look like? What did the temple look like? Who knows! He definitely isn't into descriptions.
Also, the names. How is everyone basically given English names? Make that 20th century English names. (Well except for a few exceptions that have to do with Homer). In book 2 there is a girl named Alice. Yes at one point we meet a girl named Alice. Really? Please at least explain this away with some technobabble.
And the other book 2 headscratcher where the MC and party go to music world, and the world totally uses 20th-century western instruments. Yes. Electic guitar, bass, and drum set etc. Really? come on. I want to suspend my disbelief as much as the next person, but it is hard to take. At least come up with a plausible reason to explain it away.
And some of the dialogue. It can get pretty bad in some places. The whole book reads like a first draft
I wanted to love this book. I really did. It had such an interesting take. Half way through I bought book 2 and 3 before I finished book 1. Too bad, it didn't turn out.
February 28, 2019
John Van Stry tends to bring his books to market a couple of drafts too early. This novel is based on an idea with a lot of potential. Gods choose champions to act for them in both their own realms and in those of their allies and enemies. Worlds are connected by a series of portals which champions can use to move between them. Van Stry’s protagonist, Will, stumbles into one of these portals and starts down the path to becoming a champion. Along the way he beds a lot of women and kills a lot of the followers of his god’s enemies. Unfortunately, this potential is often squandered through what feels like excessive haste on the part of the author. The problems fall into three primary areas: weak characterization, weaker settings, and a failure to develop good battle tactics.
There are no multi-dimensional characters in this novel starting with the hero and continuing through the entire cast. As a result, no one is particularly likeable. Some modest efforts are made with Will. For example, he likes to marry the women he has children with and he doesn’t like human sacrifice. These are good things but not enough to form the basis of a robust protagonist. The women who throw themselves at him have no personality above the “I want to have sex with you and lots of children” level—which is to say, none at all. There are a couple of guards and a general who’s basic purpose is to be around so Will can talk to somebody. Even the gods lack distinctive character. After reading the book, I don’t know what Will’s god, Fel, is the god of or what he stands for. This is a major weakness that may be resolved in future books but remains a problem in this one.
Van Stry deals with his settings in a similar fashion. They are places without character. He takes the time to describe a large castle toward the end of the book and he talks about some locks in the river, but again, in a book where the hero moves between worlds it would be nice if the settings and the cultures were more distinctive than cats live here and humans live there. That’s only a slight exaggeration.
Finally, the best part of this book is the battles, but again Van Stry doesn’t give us much by way of tactics. It is just Will, enhanced with his Champion Powers, killing people. It was a much appreciated change of pace from the earlier novel, but on reflection it was like eating a lot of cotton candy when what you really wanted was a full meal.
I’ve read several of Van Stry’s novels and know that he is capable of writing a much better book. I didn’t check the copyright date, but I’m assuming that this was a very early one for him and that the future books will get better. So even though I was disappointed in this one, I will probably end up reading the next book in the series.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
There are no multi-dimensional characters in this novel starting with the hero and continuing through the entire cast. As a result, no one is particularly likeable. Some modest efforts are made with Will. For example, he likes to marry the women he has children with and he doesn’t like human sacrifice. These are good things but not enough to form the basis of a robust protagonist. The women who throw themselves at him have no personality above the “I want to have sex with you and lots of children” level—which is to say, none at all. There are a couple of guards and a general who’s basic purpose is to be around so Will can talk to somebody. Even the gods lack distinctive character. After reading the book, I don’t know what Will’s god, Fel, is the god of or what he stands for. This is a major weakness that may be resolved in future books but remains a problem in this one.
Van Stry deals with his settings in a similar fashion. They are places without character. He takes the time to describe a large castle toward the end of the book and he talks about some locks in the river, but again, in a book where the hero moves between worlds it would be nice if the settings and the cultures were more distinctive than cats live here and humans live there. That’s only a slight exaggeration.
Finally, the best part of this book is the battles, but again Van Stry doesn’t give us much by way of tactics. It is just Will, enhanced with his Champion Powers, killing people. It was a much appreciated change of pace from the earlier novel, but on reflection it was like eating a lot of cotton candy when what you really wanted was a full meal.
I’ve read several of Van Stry’s novels and know that he is capable of writing a much better book. I didn’t check the copyright date, but I’m assuming that this was a very early one for him and that the future books will get better. So even though I was disappointed in this one, I will probably end up reading the next book in the series.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
January 25, 2018
154 pages
This is a short story, not a book.
It was edited, but all corrections are in red and where left in the story.
MC was never shocked or surprised by anything really. Turn into a giant cat man, no problem. Knock up two of the locals.
Fell through a portal, no problem! Hook up with a barmaid, knock her up, make some money from the town.
Learn all about warfare in an afternoon and lead an army to victory, no problem!
This story has need of a decent rewrite to make the MC more believable.
Read on KU, not worth spending money on.
This is a short story, not a book.
It was edited, but all corrections are in red and where left in the story.
MC was never shocked or surprised by anything really. Turn into a giant cat man, no problem. Knock up two of the locals.
Fell through a portal, no problem! Hook up with a barmaid, knock her up, make some money from the town.
Learn all about warfare in an afternoon and lead an army to victory, no problem!
This story has need of a decent rewrite to make the MC more believable.
Read on KU, not worth spending money on.
March 23, 2017
I love love loved this book! What made it great for me was that he actually used his imagination and had his characters travel to different worlds while keeping the world building simple and fun. The second one was also a journey for me I didn't know there were others and I can't wait to download them! The writing wasn't overbearing, in fact I thought it was simple yet convincing. I hate reading epic fantasy books that have beautiful writing but diddly sheit happens!!
January 18, 2018
Wow
This was a great book.
Plot was spot on. There was enough variance that you felt feels at times. Several deep emotions were explored. Author was fair as well. When you are done, you are left with a great segway to the next boom and a good understanding of this universe without spoiling anything.
Totally recommend. Worth your time.
Minimal grammatical and formatting mistakes did not take away from the immersion.
This was a great book.
Plot was spot on. There was enough variance that you felt feels at times. Several deep emotions were explored. Author was fair as well. When you are done, you are left with a great segway to the next boom and a good understanding of this universe without spoiling anything.
Totally recommend. Worth your time.
Minimal grammatical and formatting mistakes did not take away from the immersion.
January 19, 2022
I won't waste my time, but everything written in the negative reviews is true, so you read at your own peril.
The Main character becomes a disgusting person
The Main character becomes a disgusting person
January 27, 2017
I enjoyed the whole 'champion' aspect of these books (as im up to date on them all) and enjoyed the relationship build between champion and they're god. I had a feeling this series would be a diamond amongst pebbles
April 14, 2019
This is a wish-fulfillment story. While not as overtly misogynistic as full-blown harem novels, it does have that whiff about it.
The tone is light and breezy, and the plot is interesting. I hope the characters get more detailed in subsequent books.
The tone is light and breezy, and the plot is interesting. I hope the characters get more detailed in subsequent books.
April 1, 2018
Started good, but progressively lost momentum
September 22, 2018
3 to 3.5 star, pretty good start to a series and I will continue with it.
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