Returner's Defiance 5

by Bruce Sentar

Bran has been thrust into the Trial of Kings before he was prepared, but even without his memories, he’s still the Bran who passed it once before.
However, this time he won’t just do the trial once but twice, with the second time being even more dangerous than the first to ensure he can pull all of his companions through the trial with him.
He finds himself shackled and imprisoned by a Simone who leads the Mul Branova within the trials, but she doesn't recognize him. Can he win her over a second time?

Genres: Harem, Fantasy, Time Travel

415 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 8, 2025

About the author

Born and raised in the agricultural midwest, I moved every year after school even as far as Shanghai before settling down with my wife in Chicago.

I have always enjoyed Wuxia stories and became thrilled when I discovered harem stories spreading to western books. I've written down my day dreams for years as an idle hobby. Inspired by the harem genre I'm finally fleshing them out into full blown novels.

I'm excited to share my stories with you as I turn them into novels and series.

Connect with me on Facebook for updates on my latest books.
https://www.facebook.com/Bruce-Sentar...

Reviews

[GrumpyOldMan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, we've reached the usual "This book is such a disappointment" point of a Bruce Sentar series, and it landed with a whimper as it failed to hold my interest.

The MC continued and escalated his streak of "I must do it all, and treat my LIs like they are babies that must be swaddled at all times" in this one. I had hopes that because many of his LIs had entered the Trial of Kings, which forces an individual to prove themselves on their own, that we would get to see the LIs function well and prove they can fly with their own wings.

Instead, we get the MC going through his own lackluster trial that was so boring I put the book down a half dozen times. And as soon as he's done, he's asking the System to let him go back and help his LIs. The system argues with him for a while, but eventually the MC forces his way back, and has to get the 4 women to "submit" (not sexually, much to his chagrin with one of them) to his leadership without having access to any memories of him. This was both tedious to read, and shows that the MC thinks his women aren't capable of handling anything on their own.

So, it looks like I am done with this series. And I've now reached the point where going into any new series Sentar creates, I can expect that I'll quit it before it's completed.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah, as much as I thought this was a better series than some of the author's other ones, but it lost it here. Just couldn't go the MC's stupid decisions and gave up early.

[Leather · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite a promising first half in the Trial of Kings, this novel is much like its predecessors: far too many scenes utterly devoid of interest. A few good ideas stand out, like the rubber ducks, but it's all so slow and tedious!
I'll stop there, as it's clear the author has decided to milk this potentially endless series for all it's worth.

[slugbiscuit · Rating 2 out of 5]

For something that had been built up for awhile, the Trial of Kings was incredibly low effort. Not only were the objectives vague and uninteresting, but Bran undermined the testing of the other candidates. So far, the rewards seem completely unremarkable (just a general stat power-up), and their necessity almost unwarranted. Also, why is the seemingly all-powerful system’s avatar written so naive and gullible? Princess Almeria ended up being a bundle of silly tropes despite previously being presented as cunning. The other major plot point for this volume involved getting an eccentric dude laid. As the dude in question is functional enough to run a business and is not in fact a cave-dwelling hermit, I felt his reaction to the subject of his desire was too extreme to be believable. This volume contributed very little to the story’s overall progression. At this point, it feels like the story has become a bit shallow, but we'll see how he handles the "tournament arc" next.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book but the startup was a bit of a slow progression because of a plot design flaw that a good editor would have caught and removed.

Had to take off one star because of the main character spending the first part of the book in a 'VR type equivalent' instance with one-off ephemeral characters that have no relevance to the story and really should have been cut. It really feels like "It was all a dream," type of sequence. I skipped to the end of that part. This section could have been skipped right to where he talks his new win with Syssy and how to use the backdoor entry and change the trial for the women. A cut there does not lose any plot development and would have provided a tighter story. The plot takes off after that and is much better.

The rest of the book is a similar level of excellence in the story progression and character growth as well as harem growth.

[Elliot Gay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starts slow, gets much better

I felt the first ~20% or so of the book was a bit slow and didn't hook me. Bran's challenge didn't seem too hard for a character like him, and I felt we spent a bit too much time on the characters in his trial as in my head I couldn't shake the idea that none of them mattered as they aren't real within the story world. Bran is also not a strong enough character to carry the story alone.
However, once the other characters return to the story things immediately picked up for me. This series is fun because of the way Bran and his ladies interact, I think that's one of this author's great strengths. The dynamic between Mr and Mrs. Ducky ended up being great too, hope to see a little more of them in the next book!

[Steve Naylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating 2.0 stars DNF

I made it about 20% in before I gave up. I am just glad I didn't go out and by the audiobook for this one. I don't know what happened. I liked the first 3 books. Now Bran is in the trial of kings and loses his memory. For the most part that is such a lazy trope for a writer. It is just nonstop fighting against a demon horde. I don't understand the purpose of this. I would have held on longer, but I read some other reviews that made it clear I would be upset with the rest of the story, so I decided to pull the plug.

[Jennifer King · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's good

If you like the previous books in the series, you're going to enjoy this one. I don't know how to tell you much else without ruining the plot for you. This good fight scenes. Good characterization. You get to explore more of the world, more fun interactions. A crazy Craftsman it's a lot of fun stuff going on and hope this helps. I'm writing this review with voice to text. I apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors

[Ben Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great one

This one contained a very small arc or the trial of kings and some lighter action/down time in the second half. I enjoyed the pacing and plot points greatly. Unfortunately not a lot happened with our MC relationships developing/spice but that doesn't need to be a major focus in every book but I do hope it doesn't go to the wayside.

[Vishal Patel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great scenarios used well

This book is a good time. The character work is very well done. The Trial of Kings is a great opportunity for character exploration, enough so that I wish we got more of it. The aftermath and follow up on Merlin and Circe's rivalry is also fun and interesting.

I'm definitely looking forward to the next one.

[Michael Baez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great trial and epic set up

The trial itself is an amazing roller coaster of character growth. Glad he got the new waifu and hopefully the ice maiden thaws enough to try living again. I can't wait to see what sneaky moves the demon king is planning. Hope to see more shenanigans in the next novel, definitely keeping me at the edge of my seat as I wait for more.

[Ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another cracker

As usual with Bruce’s work, another well rounded book. As mentioned in the afterword, and something I think was done well, was not breezing through the trial of kings arc, but also moving at a reasonable pace too. Twas indeed slightly more epic than fast but it works well for that point.
Anyway good stuff and looking forward to more.

[Thorsten · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 50%. This whole series has been a three-star effort for me so far, and this one just felt entirely pointless and contrived. I wasn't fond of the direction the author chose for Bran's trial. Still, fine, but then, another bothersome interaction with Syssy and a ridiculous "secret option" reveal ... I've just had enough. This entire series is a homage to missed opportunity.

[Jacob Kehr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exhilarating

I can’t get enough of this series! I love the fact that Sentar is able to bring so much to Bran’s story and incorporate each character in a way that really builds off one another. Another amazing read! Look forward to the next one!

[Tracy S McCoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what an awesome series!!!

Action, adventure and unique magic from beginning to end in this ever expanding world!!! The world building is ever expanding and character development is top notch as always with this ever expanding series!!! More more more!!!!

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want more!

I love to follow Bran’s adventures, the trial of kings sure was something, now I can’t wait to see how the tournament goes and the next time Bran and Vidar get to settle their scores

[Haretic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

As soon as I see a new book of yours I always end up reading it way too fast. Always enjoy your stories.

[Edward Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

Go Bran go

Bran is finally making plans to take on the Demon King and the rest of his minions in the tournament he organized

[oladele kuti · Rating 5 out of 5]

can’t wait for the next one

good book, loved the way trial of kings went my only hope is that the next one is longer because i didn’t wanna stop reading haha

[Dp2k · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing of consequence happened in this book except at the very end with the crafter, and even that doesn't seem all that important. I was very disappointed in this one.

[Mr Carl Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cliffhanger

Book 5 is amazing. Ended on a cliffhanger. Really nice story arc. Looking forward to the rest of the series

[Mike Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

seems trials don't always go as planned but that is part of a trial.