The next books of the series! Breaking Point (Last Life Book #10): Resistance (Last Life Book #11):
A new ruler is ascending to the throne of Vintervald, and his army is heading to the North to give battle to the Frost Knights. And meanwhile, Princess Astrid is desperate to find new allies.
The King of Astland dreams of an Imperial Crown, and he's waiting for the right moment to hurl his legions into Vestonia.
In Atalia, a shift in the balance of power is already well underway, and the Golden Lion is hungry for revenge.
The King of Claron, Olgerd III the Proud, has fixed his eyes on Bergonia and the Margraviate de Valier.
Carl III's illness seems to have subsided temporarily, leaving him frantically trying to collect new legions.
The Duke de Bauffremont is returning to Herouxville from Atalian captivity, while his rival the Duke de Gondy continues to strengthen his influence.
Meanwhile, Max is returning to Fort de Gris, after vanquishing one of the Elder Hrimthurs. His actions have thrown a wrench into the plans of the Dark Ones, who aim to destroy the world beyond the Barrier.
This world is home to everyone Max holds dear, and he can't let them destroy it. Whether his appearance in this world was Predestination at work, or the result of some sort of complicated web of intrigue, is still a mystery. But one thing is defending his loved ones will require him to act quickly and decisively...
Alexey Osadchuk was born in 1979 in the Ukraine. In the late 1990s his family moved to the south of Spain where they still live today.
Alexey was an avid reader from an early age, devouring adventure novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jack London and Arthur Conan Doyle. In 2010 he wrote his first fantasy novel which was immediately accepted for publication.
He also used to be a passionate online gamer which prompted him to write the story of a man who joins an MMORPG game hoping to raise money for his daughter’s heart surgery. The first book of Mirror World was published In 2013. The English translation of the series is now available on Amazon in its entirety, prompting a reviewer to call Alexey “one of the best LitRPG authors to date”.
I’ll start by saying that Alexey is one of my favorite authors. I’m a big fan of his Underdog series, and I’ve really enjoyed this one as well. This is the weakest book in the series so far. Not terrible, but only decent. At this point there are too many Barons, Counts and Dukes to keep up with. It’s beginning to detract from the story. More importantly, this story didn’t feel very satisfying. It felt more like a side quest with a little bit of main plot progression. The Verena storyline was quite frustrating. 1) it required Max to be incompetent which is completely out of character. 2) It felt like a huge distraction. 3) The fact that she, who is naive at best, easily manipulated idiot at worst might be an Auring is very disappointing.
More on this last point. In general, it’s really annoying when author builds up an MC and then part way in the series starts giving the abilities that make him special to everyone else. It’s a great way to ruin a series. Additionally, the fact that Astrid who is actually competent fighting for her country ends up partnering with the demons, and Verena who has accomplished less than zero - She has actually been a better negative for the only person who helped her - is getting the special powers doesn’t make much sense.
A brilliant edition to the series, and one of my favorites so far. It does a great job of balancing worldbuilding, action, mysteries, magical exploration, and ever-evolving politics as the series progresses. We witness Max's return to the capital of Vestonia, Herouxville, but frankly, there are many other important perspectives in this book, across continents, from allies to enemies. Sometimes, Max's POVs may almost seem in the minority, which may irritate some people, but didn't truly bother me; the fact that Max is just one of several powerful players with their own schemes makes the world feel more real and fleshed out. He's finally gotten to a state where most of the continent's major players and several powerful beings have their eyes set on him, for better or for worse, but our wily fox isn't so easily outmaneuvered. There's a long list of enemies he'll have to deal it before he can finally finish off the Hrimthurs, and he makes a great deal of progress in this book. Many loose ends are tied up as new plotlines open and antagonists reveal themselves... And that ending... Can't wait for the next book!
Always takes me a little while to get back into these books. The release dates are pretty far apart and there are a bunch of characters that I have to get reacquainted with. The political maneuvers are also different from one book to another. In the last book, the MC was a hero. In this one, not so much.
This story is starting to drown in the increasingly complex politics and the many POVs. I may have reached the end of my journey in this world, and I'm sad about it.
love the story, needs recaps or at least a character guide.
If you are not reading straight through and actually waiting for the next book, it can be a little hard to remember who everyone is right away. Each story is literally just the next chapters. No recaps, no prologue, just start next chapter of a web series.
I have been waiting anxiously for book 9. Have to say I am disappointed it is a Hot Mess,.Oh so complicated. And the author doesn’t say if there is another several books on the series or if when they will be published sigh.. It’s a great series. It’s also very East European as it has so many different plots outside of the MC’s actions. I was excited to read this book but it simply is full of the different storylines and has little of the MC and more of all the convoluted plots going on around him. I am hoping that the author will try to tie up some of this mess and go with the storyline. It is too complicated to read much more of it. I have mostly stopped reading most of the East European, Russian fiction because they cannot stop themselves from writing massive complicated stories they want War and Peace I think.Tolstoys dead get over it.
I have devoured this series. But this one had too much political machinations. The humor, one-up-man-ship, and MC’s cleverness, not to mention the first born and other characters predominant in previous books was missing. This book seemed too much like filler. I paid $9 for this and should have gotten better for my money. It’s already a bit short, so I’m left a bit disappointed. I will continue the series, but I’ll not be preordering this time, and worse, won’t be waiting in anticipation as before.
The book had a slow start, an okay middle part and a twist and acion packed finale. While i as usual love the intrigues and twists I would have preferred more emphasis on the sabotage part and a less anticlimactic castle defense and main fight.
In my opinion the MC should have dealt with the complete bandit problem as he easily could have done. Allowing it to continue felt cold and wrong. Not showing Legrand's perspective at a critical junction was a missed opportunity.
The king and Iko disappointed me in this book.
Given the complexity of the plot, the books desperately need maps in my opinion! Vestonia has so many neighbours and i have no clue where this bloodlord resides.
The book has several translation and editing issues such as "enemy lines" instead "energy lines"..
Got caught up in bait and switch, (first book Kindle Unlimited) now I'm in $60 odd and hooked. All the other authors in Osadchuk's little Cabal seem to be Russian and use the same "marketing bait and switch" tool. Amazon appears okay with this "slight" deception because it sells books at a higher commission for them. So bottom line, Amazon again throws its customers under the bus with a wink, wink, nod, nod. All the good words PR spewing towards fair commercial ethics and healthy goodwill towards people (customers)... fluff covering old fashioned corporate greed. And that eventually is Predestination. :-) ps At least Temu tells it as it is. $$ pss Amazon won't publish a review like this
I think the story overall is still moving properly and the book overall met expectations. This one dealt more with the politics of the world and some level of character development so don’t expect too much action. However, considering the authors tendency to go into excessive scene detail at times, I really don’t like how short the books are. It can be read in a day which considering the price is a bit annoying. Guess I’m too used to series like Defiance of the Fall and Hell difficulty tutorial which are almost 3 times longer. A lot of cliff hangers in the end but that is par for the course for series books.
Sophia really pissed me off in the book and I’m glad Max left. What kills me she was shock at his reaction like girl you living in your own fantasy. Max never pursue or insinuate anything romantic, honestly he’s barely been around to even develop such connections. Also as soon she finally got some attention or felt important she immediately start changing her tune but of course that’s Carl manipulating her, even though I would like to she truly what to do better and stop being a coward. Idk I just feel like she really jeopardized Max and despite his warnings blaming her moment of weakness over her feeling of him 😭
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Let me start with that this is a well written book with good editing. That’s the pro. The cons is that the tempo is slow and it’s dedicated to bring us some future events without any passion or excitement on the way. It feels more like a coast to coast greyhound than a cruise through the Caribbean, you can sleep on the way because you will not see any spectacular sights on your journey and the food consists of a stale sandwich and tepid water instead of dinner at the captain’s table.
I have read all nine books and love all of them. Well written tale, it flows. No bumps, no hiccups. A good series, I have read each book, at least twice.
Max heads back into the lions den that is Herouxville stopping to take out some trash on the way ,once there he finds it a cauldron of intrigue where his opportunities for mischief are limitless and he settles a few scores and has to alter his plans somewhat.
I’m very happy to say that this series continues to surprise and entertain! So many series seem to lose track of the overarching storyline and loose their readers. I’m so glad this series has been awesome start to book 9. Keep up the great work.
I've been following this series for 2 years now, and as much as I enjoy the plot, magic and the likes, it's too short for almost a year's wait. I demand books 10 and 11 to be out before the end of this year Sir Alexey!
I get that how paranoid the king is an everything but he should have some trust with him and talk to him and told him of a little bit of what's going on or show that his loyal or something. It just makes things unnecessary complicated
I really enjoy that book. I think I need a little touch of editing here and there but overall it's like a 5+ enjoyed the characters and the way he writes the story.