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Proxy War #1
Proxy War Series 1, Drafted: Proxy War
When Peter finds himself on a strange planet, drafted into a war by alien abductors, his only goal is to be one of the few to survive the war and return home to Earth.
Peter is one of thousands who get abducted every year, as payment to the aliens. The aliens have given humans portal travel, healing serums, and other advanced alien technology. The quality of life has improved, but everything has a price.
Along with a group of strangers, Peter is trained for war by going up against literal monsters. The troll-like aliens won't give them modern weapons. Humans have to battle monsters with swords and shields, and that is just to get out of boot camp.
His only chance to survive is to use the alien device he is given. The device can increase his strength and speed to superhuman levels. It can even grant him powers that seem like magic. Complicating things is that the device's interface is written in an ever-changing alien language. He will have to figure out its secrets if he wants to keep himself and his team alive.
Peter is one of thousands who get abducted every year, as payment to the aliens. The aliens have given humans portal travel, healing serums, and other advanced alien technology. The quality of life has improved, but everything has a price.
Along with a group of strangers, Peter is trained for war by going up against literal monsters. The troll-like aliens won't give them modern weapons. Humans have to battle monsters with swords and shields, and that is just to get out of boot camp.
His only chance to survive is to use the alien device he is given. The device can increase his strength and speed to superhuman levels. It can even grant him powers that seem like magic. Complicating things is that the device's interface is written in an ever-changing alien language. He will have to figure out its secrets if he wants to keep himself and his team alive.
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First published September 13, 2019
162 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
About the author
Adam Sampson
5 books11 followersAdam has spent the last several years living in Utah with his wife and four kids. He works in telecommunications now, but used to be a English teacher, and uses those skills when writing.
He has a passion for writing and a deep and abiding love for his family. His hobbies include reading an obscene amount of fiction and the occasional small crafts, like origami. He has sold origami at local craft fairs.
Adam grew up traveling with his family and has been to dozens of countries all around the world. Since he grew up and got a job, his travels are strictly in his imagination. He really hopes you enjoy the journey you take in his books.
He has a passion for writing and a deep and abiding love for his family. His hobbies include reading an obscene amount of fiction and the occasional small crafts, like origami. He has sold origami at local craft fairs.
Adam grew up traveling with his family and has been to dozens of countries all around the world. Since he grew up and got a job, his travels are strictly in his imagination. He really hopes you enjoy the journey you take in his books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
November 26, 2021
I was excited when I saw this, because it is basically Military Sci-fi in a LitRPG environment. What's not to like?
Yeah, there are a few things. Peter is a normal twenty something who picks the wrong portal train and finds himself transported to a different planet, where he and everyone else on the train are put through the ringer as they're forced to fight the local fauna.
He and five other people manage to survive, but just barely. Then begins boot camp. Except boot camp is a civilians version, not a military version. People have plenty of time off, and while they are woken up early one day, there is nowhere near the usual level of harassments you would find in the military.
It's pretty sad, to the level that Peter, who is now the team leader, takes them out for extra hunting because they're not leveling up enough. And when they do level up, they deviate from the standard recommendations and no one seems to care.
I'm a big fan of military sci-fi, but this is the poor stepchild to that genre. The book itself isn't bad, but the pretense that this is military sci-fi is.
I won't spoil what the ending is, but I do think it was shortsighted, as they only have one broken ship at the end to travel the universe. Oh well.
4/5* It's heart is in the right place, but it doesn't deliver on the promise.
Yeah, there are a few things. Peter is a normal twenty something who picks the wrong portal train and finds himself transported to a different planet, where he and everyone else on the train are put through the ringer as they're forced to fight the local fauna.
He and five other people manage to survive, but just barely. Then begins boot camp. Except boot camp is a civilians version, not a military version. People have plenty of time off, and while they are woken up early one day, there is nowhere near the usual level of harassments you would find in the military.
It's pretty sad, to the level that Peter, who is now the team leader, takes them out for extra hunting because they're not leveling up enough. And when they do level up, they deviate from the standard recommendations and no one seems to care.
I'm a big fan of military sci-fi, but this is the poor stepchild to that genre. The book itself isn't bad, but the pretense that this is military sci-fi is.
I won't spoil what the ending is, but I do think it was shortsighted, as they only have one broken ship at the end to travel the universe. Oh well.
4/5* It's heart is in the right place, but it doesn't deliver on the promise.
January 29, 2025
A slow start lead to a terrific story that was then badly undermined by the abrupt ending.
Sampson does power-up stories very well. In this case Peter is one of a few Humans able to fully use the alien Cuffs to choose skill-paths. He and his loyal team are breaking all the rules and growing fast in strange and interesting directions. The true enemy is identified — Trolls. A race of over-powered aliens that are ruthlessly exploiting humanity to fight a galactic war. Will Peter's team level sufficiently to match the Trolls before Peter's plans of emancipation are discovered? It's great stuff.
And then the rug is pulled out from under the reader. With no warning the book is wrapped up in a way that makes all of Peter's plans pointless while shrinking the scope of the fight down to insignificant proportions. You weren't fighting a giant after all... it was just a midget's shadow on the wall.
Sampson does power-up stories very well. In this case Peter is one of a few Humans able to fully use the alien Cuffs to choose skill-paths. He and his loyal team are breaking all the rules and growing fast in strange and interesting directions. The true enemy is identified — Trolls. A race of over-powered aliens that are ruthlessly exploiting humanity to fight a galactic war. Will Peter's team level sufficiently to match the Trolls before Peter's plans of emancipation are discovered? It's great stuff.
And then the rug is pulled out from under the reader. With no warning the book is wrapped up in a way that makes all of Peter's plans pointless while shrinking the scope of the fight down to insignificant proportions. You weren't fighting a giant after all... it was just a midget's shadow on the wall.
October 8, 2019
I really didn't find much to like in this one. Flat characters, awkward dialogue, poorly developed gaming system, bland plot, painful action sequences, ... . Training consists of "go practice with your weapon that you've never seen before for 10 minutes." Skill selection and upgrades are basically "buy a bit of everything without any plan." Simple things go unanswered like if our MC can read people's screens then shouldn't he just have his team buy translation---it couldn't have cost much. The editing is professional (I didn't catch any horrible grammar/spelling/autocorrect errors), but I wouldn't recommend this one.
October 16, 2019
Book one
Mistakes: I found three missing words. Also a few contradictions.
Why would a gun not work, but a slingshot and crossbow do? Bullets just bounce off the monsters but a bullet from a sling will blow holes in them? If the replacement arm looks like the real thing why would he need to shine it? I kept putting this down and coming back to it.
Plot: Aliens randomly draft trains full of people to fight in a war.
Takes most of the book to learn what is really going on.
Characters: The interaction with people outside the squad seems forced at times, mainly with Flynn. Seemed to be a forced rivalry there. I did enjoy the other characters for the most part.
6/10
Mistakes: I found three missing words. Also a few contradictions.
Why would a gun not work, but a slingshot and crossbow do? Bullets just bounce off the monsters but a bullet from a sling will blow holes in them? If the replacement arm looks like the real thing why would he need to shine it? I kept putting this down and coming back to it.
Plot: Aliens randomly draft trains full of people to fight in a war.
Takes most of the book to learn what is really going on.
Characters: The interaction with people outside the squad seems forced at times, mainly with Flynn. Seemed to be a forced rivalry there. I did enjoy the other characters for the most part.
6/10
October 2, 2019
This book was weighed down by a very slow start and abrupt and disappointing ending (as if the author had lost interest) but offered an interesting take on LitRPG in the center. If you can look past the new author issues and the on-your-sleeve-politics, there's some fairly cool gaming moments. On the whole, this isn't a success but the good bits make me think that maybe the author has some spark for better work in the future.
January 9, 2020
Captivating story, weird choices
A fairly imaginative story, there's quite a bit of good here and I will enjoy the next book when it comes out.
Some of the explanations in the book that culminate in the ending that we see don't make much sense though, and that hurts the story the most.
3.5 rounded up.
A fairly imaginative story, there's quite a bit of good here and I will enjoy the next book when it comes out.
Some of the explanations in the book that culminate in the ending that we see don't make much sense though, and that hurts the story the most.
3.5 rounded up.
June 9, 2020
There seems to be a genre about there for book authors of books that take gaming and use that premise to develop a book series. One such author is Jamie Davis who has many books that takes gaming to develop fantasy series. I can say that Sampson's book is on par with Davis's series. When I say on par that perhaps is not good for a review.
Other authors have taken the idea of civilians being drafted voluntarily or involuntarily into wars that are fought for aliens. Take the Old Man's War as an example. Whereas John Scalzi understands how to use the idea of humans fighting in war and using scaled up technology for aliens and create characters and circumstances that we relate to, Sampson takes the same premise and make into a simplistic game.
Other authors have taken the idea of civilians being drafted voluntarily or involuntarily into wars that are fought for aliens. Take the Old Man's War as an example. Whereas John Scalzi understands how to use the idea of humans fighting in war and using scaled up technology for aliens and create characters and circumstances that we relate to, Sampson takes the same premise and make into a simplistic game.
March 21, 2020
This book caught me completely unawares. It was in the “New Release” area for Fantasy/Sci-fi and it was downright good.
The story was compelling, the characters were interesting, and it wasn’t totally predictable. In a rather crowded GameLIT - LitRPG genre, it distinguished itself as new and interesting.
Personally, I like the combination of space and RPG. The story built to an interesting albeit somewhat predictable crescendo and ended opening up to an expansive new universe.
I look forward to future installments.
The story was compelling, the characters were interesting, and it wasn’t totally predictable. In a rather crowded GameLIT - LitRPG genre, it distinguished itself as new and interesting.
Personally, I like the combination of space and RPG. The story built to an interesting albeit somewhat predictable crescendo and ended opening up to an expansive new universe.
I look forward to future installments.
July 12, 2025
I've read several other books by this author and you can tell that this is an early career work from him. It shows that his knack for creating interesting characters and cool magic systems. But it doesn't have the same maturity in the story. Specifically, there are spots where things were just told quickly and vaguely ("they had a great conversation") rather than fleshed out and shown in full color. And it's less creative in the world building than his later works (which are very good(. But I enjoyed the story. :)
January 21, 2020
Definition of pulp fiction. This is a really fun read that's got exciting aliens and technology and a battle for earth and humanitys existence that just sort of fizzles out. It reads like the author said "oh woops im at my page count, the end." which is sort of disappointing there were a lot of threads that could have taken the story in really fun directions.
Pretty much all of those threads are left untugged and it left me dissatisfied.
Pretty much all of those threads are left untugged and it left me dissatisfied.
April 30, 2020
I have to tell you this is a very good military science fiction book. It doesn't dwell so much on the technology as it does the story itself which is the way I like my books to read. Peter is conscripted on his way to a sales meeting via a portal. He and his fellow passengers have just become soldiers in a war with aliens. This is just the beginning of their story. I loved it! I highly recommend it.
January 25, 2020
Pretty good book. It started out almost exactly like another book in this genre, though unfortunately, I can't remember the title, but it turned into it's own book, and actually took the story directions I didn't expect, and even had an ending I couldn't have guessed from the beginning. Very nice to see titles like that. It's one of the LitRPG books where orbs are used, (I know some folks like those, and some don't, so there's the warning), but overall, it's a decent showing in the LitRPG genre, so I expect most fans will enjoy it.
February 6, 2020
Ending felt rushed
It felt like the author hit a word count that he was looking for and then wrapped up the novel as quickly as possible. Really enjoyed the story but can’t give it more than a 3 star based on the wrap up.
It felt like the author hit a word count that he was looking for and then wrapped up the novel as quickly as possible. Really enjoyed the story but can’t give it more than a 3 star based on the wrap up.
March 23, 2020
Salesmen as soldiers?
Traveling on a train to a job, Peter and all the people on the train are pulled to another planet as draftees in an intergalactic war. Training and leveling up and breaking the rules. Not everything is as it seems. Interesting and enjoyable.
Traveling on a train to a job, Peter and all the people on the train are pulled to another planet as draftees in an intergalactic war. Training and leveling up and breaking the rules. Not everything is as it seems. Interesting and enjoyable.
December 22, 2019
Brilliant
I really enjoyed this book, please hurry and bring book two out. The book is well written and fun. Xx
I really enjoyed this book, please hurry and bring book two out. The book is well written and fun. Xx
January 3, 2020
Cant wait for the next one
A decent read, I like Peter, the main character and I'm excited for the next book in this interesting series.
A decent read, I like Peter, the main character and I'm excited for the next book in this interesting series.
January 28, 2020
Good book
Enjoyed the story and the development of the mc. Different plot twist at the end of the book. Looking forward to seeing where the next book goes.
Enjoyed the story and the development of the mc. Different plot twist at the end of the book. Looking forward to seeing where the next book goes.
February 24, 2020
No bad
Yeah it was okay. The ending seem pretty rushed but overall kept me interested the whole way throughout
Good job
Yeah it was okay. The ending seem pretty rushed but overall kept me interested the whole way throughout
Good job
December 20, 2021
Story is nice but about 2/3 in the author realized he needs to end this and bullshits his way to a quick ending. Disappointing.
February 16, 2023
What a fun story! Along with the development of skills/powers/relationships this book has it all! We have lots of action and lots of ways the characters are trying to improve themselves.
December 11, 2019
Pretty good
Pretty good story, guy gets involuntarily drafted to fight an alien war, earns points for kills and levels up. Would like to read a sequel and see where the story goes.
Pretty good story, guy gets involuntarily drafted to fight an alien war, earns points for kills and levels up. Would like to read a sequel and see where the story goes.
December 9, 2019
Good start to an interesting series!
Interesting premise and good mc development really liked the way "magic" was brought in and the interesting abilities it provided.
Interesting premise and good mc development really liked the way "magic" was brought in and the interesting abilities it provided.
December 9, 2019
Aliens abusing the puny humans!
Enjoyed it. Game mode slash army training. With the human element mixed in. Magic, monsters and aliens. All the ingredients for a fun story.
Enjoyed it. Game mode slash army training. With the human element mixed in. Magic, monsters and aliens. All the ingredients for a fun story.
December 5, 2019
LitRPG system that makes sense
A common failing of LitRPG is a numerical point system that lacks references. A character gets a Strength point...what does that tell me? It's nice how when the characters in Drafted get upgrades there's a "I'm twice as fast" statement. Not your usual plot culmination (read it no spoiler here) just enough description for a clear vision without bogging the plot. Can't wait for book #2. Enlist now!
A common failing of LitRPG is a numerical point system that lacks references. A character gets a Strength point...what does that tell me? It's nice how when the characters in Drafted get upgrades there's a "I'm twice as fast" statement. Not your usual plot culmination (read it no spoiler here) just enough description for a clear vision without bogging the plot. Can't wait for book #2. Enlist now!
December 1, 2019
Lovely
Would read the second one right now if it was out, and that's why I'm wrighting this. I hope you five your time to read this wonderful work of art.
Would read the second one right now if it was out, and that's why I'm wrighting this. I hope you five your time to read this wonderful work of art.
November 30, 2019
Solid first entry into a series.
Decent MC if not a little bland.
Enjoyable read.
Interesting twist on sci-fi litrpg.
I guess we'll see where the author takes the series next.
Decent MC if not a little bland.
Enjoyable read.
Interesting twist on sci-fi litrpg.
I guess we'll see where the author takes the series next.
November 27, 2019
Good read
Well written. Story flowed well and did not lag. I look forward to the next book. Creative use of tech\magic.
Well written. Story flowed well and did not lag. I look forward to the next book. Creative use of tech\magic.
November 22, 2019
Fantasy novel with a slight sci-fi twist
Very interesting read! A great standalone novel. Classified as a sci-fi but more of a fantasy with a few science-fiction elements… what would humanity do with billions showed up… Offered advance acknowledges amazing way to save lives increase transportation production and all the way around Quality of living. Would we sacrifice of you to make the rest happy?
Very interesting read! A great standalone novel. Classified as a sci-fi but more of a fantasy with a few science-fiction elements… what would humanity do with billions showed up… Offered advance acknowledges amazing way to save lives increase transportation production and all the way around Quality of living. Would we sacrifice of you to make the rest happy?
November 23, 2019
Entertaining and well writen
Easy to understand and follow will be looking out for the next one
Characters well rounded with a love interest and a enemy in the making
Easy to understand and follow will be looking out for the next one
Characters well rounded with a love interest and a enemy in the making
November 22, 2019
Nice read
I enjoyed the story and the plot twists. It was a short book but I enjoyed the characters. Rex was the best. I wish you well in your writing endeavors!
I enjoyed the story and the plot twists. It was a short book but I enjoyed the characters. Rex was the best. I wish you well in your writing endeavors!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews