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Mage Tank #3
Mage Tank: Book Three
This Delve has a price, and that price is time.
Escape before it’s more than you can pay.
When the party Fortune’s Folly slew a mountain-sized monstrosity of teeth and tendrils, the next obvious step was to go spelunking down its throat. When they found a foreboding portal within the corpse of said megafauna, they walked right through it. That’s just how they do things.
Don’t ask questions.
Level 10 has been reached. The challenges required to enter Deijin’s Descent have been conquered. Now, to bring the world one step closer to the second phase of System rollout, Arlo and crew must survive the legendary Delve itself. To have any hope against the avatar threat, the world’s Delvers need the tools this next phase will unlock.
Fortune’s Folly is willing to do whatever it takes.
Even if that means making deals with the enemy.
And even if the world outside is passing them by, faster, and faster, and faster…
Book 3 of Mage Tank, a new Isekai LitRPG adventure that features steady progression, intelligent characters who spend time making intentional build choices, and tons of laughs.
Escape before it’s more than you can pay.
When the party Fortune’s Folly slew a mountain-sized monstrosity of teeth and tendrils, the next obvious step was to go spelunking down its throat. When they found a foreboding portal within the corpse of said megafauna, they walked right through it. That’s just how they do things.
Don’t ask questions.
Level 10 has been reached. The challenges required to enter Deijin’s Descent have been conquered. Now, to bring the world one step closer to the second phase of System rollout, Arlo and crew must survive the legendary Delve itself. To have any hope against the avatar threat, the world’s Delvers need the tools this next phase will unlock.
Fortune’s Folly is willing to do whatever it takes.
Even if that means making deals with the enemy.
And even if the world outside is passing them by, faster, and faster, and faster…
Book 3 of Mage Tank, a new Isekai LitRPG adventure that features steady progression, intelligent characters who spend time making intentional build choices, and tons of laughs.
662 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 17, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
September 30, 2025
Overall, I found this one a bit of a slog to read. Not exactly bad, but also not really all that enjoyable.
The good: The story is still somewhat interesting. Character interactions are decent and somewhat funny more often then not.
The bad: About a third of this book was dedicated to skill descriptions and random conversations about skills. It's heavy-handed and not overly interesting imho. The tension seems to have evaporated and this book feels largely aimless after they get out of the dungeon. Including politics could have been done well, but the entire thing mostly felt like a gimmick (1-10 from talking with a god, cascading into all of the other stuff just "going his way").
I still will probably pick up the next book... But it's gonna be pretty low on my priority list.
The good: The story is still somewhat interesting. Character interactions are decent and somewhat funny more often then not.
The bad: About a third of this book was dedicated to skill descriptions and random conversations about skills. It's heavy-handed and not overly interesting imho. The tension seems to have evaporated and this book feels largely aimless after they get out of the dungeon. Including politics could have been done well, but the entire thing mostly felt like a gimmick (1-10 from talking with a god, cascading into all of the other stuff just "going his way").
I still will probably pick up the next book... But it's gonna be pretty low on my priority list.
October 18, 2025
I’m getting burned out on this series
It is only book 3 and I’m getting burned out on this series. I enjoy the overall story, but the repetitive jokes and skill descriptions are getting on my nerves. It took me too long to finish this one. I’m going to take a break from this series and maybe come back to it later.
It is only book 3 and I’m getting burned out on this series. I enjoy the overall story, but the repetitive jokes and skill descriptions are getting on my nerves. It took me too long to finish this one. I’m going to take a break from this series and maybe come back to it later.
November 25, 2025
DNF. Got like 85% through when suddenly there's a bunch of "they" characters. It's like nails on a chalkboard, trying to figure out if the author is talking about a single character, multiple characters or multiple things. I tried just bearing through it, but those characters aren't just a quick mention and gone. If the author is willing to do this for that long, clearly his material wasn't meant for me. I'm sure plenty of people will love that nonbinary characters were introduced, but I don't have the patience for it anymore.
July 28, 2026
Escalating still
All litrpgs have a struggle of escalation over time, but mage tank always feels like we're 2 seconds from disaster, and no matter how strong we get, a deus ex is needed to survive.
Still interested to see what happens, but its definitely more focuses on politics and math than my brain likes to focus on.
Great for those who follow, but I'll get stuck until something cool enough comes back up.
Strangeward was neat for sure, but so much time theorizing.
Its like the table talk behind a dnd screen, we get all of it.
All litrpgs have a struggle of escalation over time, but mage tank always feels like we're 2 seconds from disaster, and no matter how strong we get, a deus ex is needed to survive.
Still interested to see what happens, but its definitely more focuses on politics and math than my brain likes to focus on.
Great for those who follow, but I'll get stuck until something cool enough comes back up.
Strangeward was neat for sure, but so much time theorizing.
Its like the table talk behind a dnd screen, we get all of it.
October 23, 2025
Another excellent book in the series, can't wait for the next one!
July 7, 2026
Enjoyable read. I like the character building and story line of the series. Grotto also cracks me up as his character develops.
August 19, 2026
This continues to be one of my favorite series. I laughed more during this book than any of the other ones. At times, in public, laughing out of nowhere, loudly in a library. The story, characters, and humor continue to be great. I'm looking forward to the next.
April 28, 2026
The stakes continue to rise in the story. It feels like it's becoming more and more polished and the vision is becoming more and more clear for what the author is trying to do with his characters or their characters. I guess I don't want to make assumptions but it's a four-star book series in book three and it's moved up to a five-star book series. It is one that I will keep going and continue on as long as the author is going to go. It being Lit RPG, we could be looking at 10 to 12 books. I don't know that that's going to necessarily be the case but I mean it can still be.
Again one of the ones that I'm going to be looking to get into the store is a physical copy. Again highly recommend giving it a shot if Lit RPG is something you're looking to read.
Again one of the ones that I'm going to be looking to get into the store is a physical copy. Again highly recommend giving it a shot if Lit RPG is something you're looking to read.
September 22, 2025
Very cool
This book does a lot of very cool stuff. The new powers, new settings, and new enemies are all interesting and exciting. The action is very fun and varied, including fights, puzzles, detective, and politics sections.
In order to introduce so much new and complex stuff, it is more straightforward than previous books and explores the characters less. It's not completely one sided, but it's pretty severe. I thought it was worth it.
Overall, a bit of a departure from the previous books, but it created a lot of new and interesting ground for the series to explore in the future.
This book does a lot of very cool stuff. The new powers, new settings, and new enemies are all interesting and exciting. The action is very fun and varied, including fights, puzzles, detective, and politics sections.
In order to introduce so much new and complex stuff, it is more straightforward than previous books and explores the characters less. It's not completely one sided, but it's pretty severe. I thought it was worth it.
Overall, a bit of a departure from the previous books, but it created a lot of new and interesting ground for the series to explore in the future.
October 30, 2025
This book is meandering, dithering, dawdling, dallying, dilly-dallying, faffing, fiddling, floundering, flapping, flustering, fidgeting, fumbling, and generally ambling about in that grand parade of perpetual nattering about nothing in particular occasionally, almost accidentally, nudging the plot forward as if by clerical error.
While the intermittent rambling internal monologues added something to the first book. This entire book feels like it's trapped in these internal debates about skills, politics, whatever even combat is marred by almost chapters worth of internal dialogue between attacks.
Arlo doing napkin 4d math early was the least interesting thing I've read in a long time, that whole initial puzzle was a slogggg. It's an incredibly difficult read this time around.
Also most the book is jumping from evolution and spell descriptions to the next evolution and spell description. Might be interesting for some I guess.
This is a tough read. Honestly at best most of the chapters were skimmed. If this is indicative of where the series is heading I'm jumping off here.
While the intermittent rambling internal monologues added something to the first book. This entire book feels like it's trapped in these internal debates about skills, politics, whatever even combat is marred by almost chapters worth of internal dialogue between attacks.
Arlo doing napkin 4d math early was the least interesting thing I've read in a long time, that whole initial puzzle was a slogggg. It's an incredibly difficult read this time around.
Also most the book is jumping from evolution and spell descriptions to the next evolution and spell description. Might be interesting for some I guess.
This is a tough read. Honestly at best most of the chapters were skimmed. If this is indicative of where the series is heading I'm jumping off here.
August 11, 2026
This is a really interesting series. The first book especially was packed full of action, but this book is like 20% action and 80% philosophy, characters talking about their builds, and politics. This isn't an immersive story, it's more like sitting in with a group of friends as they go through their campaign. It's not experiencing an adventure, it's listening to the players discuss what's going on in the adventure and what they're going to do next.
That doesn't mean I don't like it, it's just not nearly as compelling as book 1, and to a lesser extent, book 2. I like the characters and the way they interact, I like the creativity in the story, I like the mechanics, but there is almost zero tension or pacing, which means this isn't a story you can lose yourself in, it's kind of one you have to endure a bit. Which I respect - the authors aren't trying to just make another run-of-the-mill litRPG, they're probably leaning in to the aspects of RPGs they find the most interesting. Oftentimes I find it interesting too, which is why I keep reading. I do think with an editor this series would be much better though. 3.5 stars.
That doesn't mean I don't like it, it's just not nearly as compelling as book 1, and to a lesser extent, book 2. I like the characters and the way they interact, I like the creativity in the story, I like the mechanics, but there is almost zero tension or pacing, which means this isn't a story you can lose yourself in, it's kind of one you have to endure a bit. Which I respect - the authors aren't trying to just make another run-of-the-mill litRPG, they're probably leaning in to the aspects of RPGs they find the most interesting. Oftentimes I find it interesting too, which is why I keep reading. I do think with an editor this series would be much better though. 3.5 stars.
February 23, 2026
Deus ex Machina the novel
so, most series wait a while to reveal the big bad. The protagonist and his party grows gradually, and faces foes beyond them, yet detestable within reason. In this series, our protagonist have no feasible way to beat their enemies. They are casually running into gods and demigods that cannot be defeated in a mundane way. As a result, every battle is won by a deus ex Machina! I mean, it's interesting, but nobody likes it when you need literal gods to solve all the characters challenges and battles! It's like playing Elden Rings malenia blade of miquella before the patch! All the Avatars are cool, but it's a bit tiring to keep running into characters that you can't hurt, can't escape, or even defeat constantly. Still, I enjoyed the book for the most part, just wish it would cut back on the invincible enemies and put challenges in the story that are achievable without outright divine intervention
so, most series wait a while to reveal the big bad. The protagonist and his party grows gradually, and faces foes beyond them, yet detestable within reason. In this series, our protagonist have no feasible way to beat their enemies. They are casually running into gods and demigods that cannot be defeated in a mundane way. As a result, every battle is won by a deus ex Machina! I mean, it's interesting, but nobody likes it when you need literal gods to solve all the characters challenges and battles! It's like playing Elden Rings malenia blade of miquella before the patch! All the Avatars are cool, but it's a bit tiring to keep running into characters that you can't hurt, can't escape, or even defeat constantly. Still, I enjoyed the book for the most part, just wish it would cut back on the invincible enemies and put challenges in the story that are achievable without outright divine intervention
September 6, 2026
I love this book, the audiobook narrator (Daniel Wisniewski) does a fantastic job of narrating voices for each character. He also started using sound effects for some of the voices, a very good choice. The story itself is still fun though I sometimes get a little exasperated with the discussions our hero Arlo will have with his team mates when they get into the minutiae of whatever is occurring at the time. I'm looking directly at the teleportation trap/loop scenario. Our hero is like that though, a bit verbose, so I can forgive him. Its a fun read, Arlo does a good job of following all the trails and even calls back to a couple of the previous books. It made me happy and I put off a lot of chores to finish this one.
August 2, 2026
b>NON-SPOILERS - ISH.
I like the series. The characters. The action. All of it has what I find intriguing, entertaining, and enjoyable in a book. Mage Tank is a series that I will continue with as long as it is available to consume.
SPOILERS-ISH. Book 3 has Fortune's Folly dealing with the repercussions of Deijin's Decent. And all the attention it brings the crew. Big time attention. And power ups. Good thing Avatars are around the corner, to provide a challenge to our loveable divers. The humor and action anticipated and expected in the series was not missing or overdone. Plus, we got a huge plot point!
Overall, another great story!
I like the series. The characters. The action. All of it has what I find intriguing, entertaining, and enjoyable in a book. Mage Tank is a series that I will continue with as long as it is available to consume.
SPOILERS-ISH. Book 3 has Fortune's Folly dealing with the repercussions of Deijin's Decent. And all the attention it brings the crew. Big time attention. And power ups. Good thing Avatars are around the corner, to provide a challenge to our loveable divers. The humor and action anticipated and expected in the series was not missing or overdone. Plus, we got a huge plot point!
Overall, another great story!
February 2, 2026
Really REALLY enjoyed this one. Every aspect of the dungeon was interesting and added something to the story, and Avarice is a pretty interesting character. To be honest I didnt care at all for Team Pio taking on the Delve aside from some of the more humorous aspects of the Void King's story. The last segment with Hysteria I am mixed on -simply because it became a bit too convoluted because of how OP Hysteria was-, but overall pretty positive since I was anxious to see how Fortune's Folly were going to tackle this huge challenge.
February 9, 2026
I'm loving the vibes of this series. The Audiobook narrator is excellent too! Very funny and a wild ride. I can't wait for the next audiobook release. I love the whole team (great female characters IMO) and the side characters are all interesting, A+ banter and snarky asides. I do wish there was a little more slice of life stuff in between the conflicts and fighting. I wouldn't mind a few more "normal" delves or shopping trips in-between the absolutely off the walls bonkers events. but overall I came for the weird pink octopus and I'm staying for the random acts of lawyerly aggression.
August 6, 2026
The Hysteria plotline as it was written just wasn't interesting.
I get some people want to struggle along with the characters and all that, but the tone thus far in this series was set up as a fun, don't take things seriously type of series and then it all changes...and it goes ON AND ON AND ON AND ON...like almost 50% of a book if I could the 30% of this book and the 25% in Book 4...
Could have been a lot more condensed to get the same thing and then it would have felt like the plot was moving along a lot faster, which the previous two books had that style of writing.
I get some people want to struggle along with the characters and all that, but the tone thus far in this series was set up as a fun, don't take things seriously type of series and then it all changes...and it goes ON AND ON AND ON AND ON...like almost 50% of a book if I could the 30% of this book and the 25% in Book 4...
Could have been a lot more condensed to get the same thing and then it would have felt like the plot was moving along a lot faster, which the previous two books had that style of writing.
August 25, 2026
Feels like it needs to step back and take a breath. Not even sure if the author has a plan for this other than crunching numbers and throwing the party into increasingly ridiculous fights they have no right being in but survive anyways because of plot.
That whole Hysteria bit feels so rushed and tacked on yet dragged out at the same time. Could have had some cool character and world building with that dinner party involving politics and catching up with friends. Instead it was just another barroom brawl that lasted way too long and ran out of steam halfway through.
That whole Hysteria bit feels so rushed and tacked on yet dragged out at the same time. Could have had some cool character and world building with that dinner party involving politics and catching up with friends. Instead it was just another barroom brawl that lasted way too long and ran out of steam halfway through.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 6, 2025
Another great installment. Cornman is in the top tier of LitRPG authors.
This series has a lot more voice and personality that most of the competition. Great MC. Interesting side characters. Unexpected plot twists. Cool worldbuilding. Epic Fights. Thought provoking internal monologue and amusing banter. Just a fun series in the vein of Dungeon Crawler Carl if you love LitRPG. Game nerd novels for the discerning connoisseur with an elevated palette for the genre.
This series has a lot more voice and personality that most of the competition. Great MC. Interesting side characters. Unexpected plot twists. Cool worldbuilding. Epic Fights. Thought provoking internal monologue and amusing banter. Just a fun series in the vein of Dungeon Crawler Carl if you love LitRPG. Game nerd novels for the discerning connoisseur with an elevated palette for the genre.
November 2, 2025
4.5⭐️
0🌶️
Read the ebook on Kindle and listened to the audiobook on Audible
I definitely love the first book and was slightly bored in the second. The third book was right up my alley. We watch Arlington go through a special delve and change the whole system. They have political strife and gods with secret intents. There is a new power who will bring the end of the world. This book is action packed with so many cool level ups!!!
0🌶️
Read the ebook on Kindle and listened to the audiobook on Audible
I definitely love the first book and was slightly bored in the second. The third book was right up my alley. We watch Arlington go through a special delve and change the whole system. They have political strife and gods with secret intents. There is a new power who will bring the end of the world. This book is action packed with so many cool level ups!!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 18, 2026
Kind of bloated compared to others in the series. I get that plot threads are sometimes planted books apart, but never a big fan of whole chapters being dedicated to side-parties for little / no reason in this book.
I appreciated tying up loose ends from previous works, but it was more like "then this happened, 1 page, then that happened 1 page"
The middle of this book really drags and then the end ramps up so damn much it's a cacophony of new Mary-Sue Powers.
I appreciated tying up loose ends from previous works, but it was more like "then this happened, 1 page, then that happened 1 page"
The middle of this book really drags and then the end ramps up so damn much it's a cacophony of new Mary-Sue Powers.
February 25, 2026
I continue to enjoy this series. Minimal romance, though that may change in later books, good action, decent methods to deal with overpowered characters. Decent amount of snark, hero makes mistakes but not incredibly stupid mistakes, and he learns from the mistakes, something that annoys me in other books. I'm having a lot of fun with this 5-book series. I'm on book 4 and it is still going strong!
July 31, 2026
Vol. 3: Superdelve Training Montage & Bug Defense Last Stand feat. Time-Go-Fastery, Avarice Phones MegaVoidGod and Finds Out, System 2.0 - Brought to You by Fortune's Folly, Everybody's in the Closet Being All Diplomatic 'n' Shit, Kingnapping & Runeduggery, Arlo Repeatedly Throwing Gods, Avatars, Systems and Monsters at Problems in Despair and Barely Getting Away With It.
3.5 stars rounded up
3.5 stars rounded up
August 1, 2026
The weakest of the series so far. Definitely a large chunk of writing in the middle that felt like self-indulgence. I kept going for the characters instead of the story but that will still enough for me to enjoy it, and it picked back up.
Having a fantastic narrator definitely helped. Is it weird if I say his dark chuckle is delicious?
Having a fantastic narrator definitely helped. Is it weird if I say his dark chuckle is delicious?
August 21, 2026
I don't know how to feel about this.
Some crazy out there problems, solved with some crazy out there solutions that still don't make sense.
Three books in and it felt like I was on autopilot. I probably will pick up the sequel, but everything is above their weight class. Don't see how this is going to work out.
3/5 Stars
Some crazy out there problems, solved with some crazy out there solutions that still don't make sense.
Three books in and it felt like I was on autopilot. I probably will pick up the sequel, but everything is above their weight class. Don't see how this is going to work out.
3/5 Stars
October 13, 2025
Another fun entry
If you've read the other books in this series then you know what to expect. Cornman does a good job weaving his fascinating world into crazy stuff that the nation characters get into. Another fun entry in the series!
If you've read the other books in this series then you know what to expect. Cornman does a good job weaving his fascinating world into crazy stuff that the nation characters get into. Another fun entry in the series!
March 6, 2026
Level 10 and the stakes have never been higher! Arlo and his crew have to solve Deijin’s Descent in order to gain access to the System's second phase and give Delvers a chance against the avatars. The nonbinary characters are great and make the world feel cool!
April 19, 2026
these books are a delight
I have to say i consider my vocabulary pretty big its rare that i have to reread something or look up a word. But this book is awesome for many of the new words I’ve leaned. Its hilarious.
I have to say i consider my vocabulary pretty big its rare that i have to reread something or look up a word. But this book is awesome for many of the new words I’ve leaned. Its hilarious.
April 20, 2026
Fun read
Love this series and the use of rarely used words. I’m well read and still needed to look up a random word or two. Story plot is fun with a good group, humor, and interesting magic system.
Love this series and the use of rarely used words. I’m well read and still needed to look up a random word or two. Story plot is fun with a good group, humor, and interesting magic system.
May 23, 2026
Worse and worse
I am writing here because a written review is required to leave a review, but this is definitely the final book I am reading in this series. For myself, not enjoyable and only brings irritation.
I am writing here because a written review is required to leave a review, but this is definitely the final book I am reading in this series. For myself, not enjoyable and only brings irritation.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews