Warmaster 9: Stormwatch Citadel: A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure

Warmaster #9

by Melissa McShane

In returning to the north, Aderyn leaves behind the horrors and personal nightmares she suffered in the Southlands. But going north has its own challenges, because the new Fated One’s Destiny quest says only that they must bring peace to the Northlands. With little information about this mysterious, uninhabited place, Aderyn’s imagination conjures up dread monsters, terrible environmental hazards, and dungeons no one has ever seen.

In short, it’s the most exciting quest Aderyn’s had yet.

Accompanied by an old, dear friend, and joined by four unexpected strangers, Aderyn and her friends travel farther north than humans have in centuries. As the truth about their quest unfolds, and their assumptions about the Northlands unravel, they discover that nothing they have ever faced will threaten their team like the sacrifice demanded of them by Stormwatch Citadel.

Genres: Fantasy

474 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 16, 2025

About the author

Melissa grew up a nomad, following her family all over the United States, and ended up living in the shadow of the Wasatch Mountains with her husband, four kids, and three very needy cats. Her love of reading was always a constant during those uncertain years, and her love of writing grew out of that. She wrote reviews and critical essays for many years before turning to fiction, and was surprised at how much she liked it. She loves the fantasy genre and how it stretches the imagination.

Reviews

[Sherwood Smith]

Another satisying adventure! Though this is still not my favorite subgenre, this series has three things going for it that draw me on: I like the characters and their complexity and growth. This time it was Isold.

I like the inventiveness. This time it was the giants and the river otters in particular.

And I love the System voice, in particular its interaction with Aderyn. I think my favorite description of this book, and one of the top five for all (maybe top three) was the Tempest Moth. A cool idea in the first place, but how the System tells it then that last line . . . so intriguing!

Looking forward to the next!

[Melissa McShane]

I had so much going on at the end of last year I didn't realize I hadn't written a review for this book. Belatedly, I can only say this is among my favorites not only of this series, but of all my books. It was satisfying to see Aderyn and her friends becoming powerful, but I also like the challenges in this volume.

I didn't realize until I was most of the way through that the actual main plot belongs to the giant younglings our team takes along with them on the journey to Stormwatch Citadel, and that if I had made them the POV characters, this would have been a young adult coming of age story. As it is, it's one of those books that focus on the side characters (read it with that in mind, and you'll see what I mean). I'm told that nowadays this kind of story is a "lower decks" story, named by TV Tropes as a reference to episodes of SF/spaceship shows that deviate briefly from the main plot to show things through the POV(s) of a side character. To me, it's Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, or possibly the episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer called "The Zeppo." So the story is older than the named trope, but I lack a better descriptor for it. (If you know it, please let me know below.)

Anyway, despite this, it's still solidly Aderyn's story, because the focus remains persisting in the quests the system gives them. For the "Eye of the Storm" quest, the system is remarkably vague, but it turns out that's because this is more a Create Your Own Quest Tree quest. I originally intended them to have to complete all four of the quest tree possibilities, continuing the quest into book 10, but this turned out to be really boring. (And made me waste a lot of time trying to wrestle book 10 into submission. Ugh.)

A familiar and unexpectedly popular side character makes a reappearance--well, she shows up at the end of the first chapter, so it's not a spoiler to reveal that Jessemia returns, having leveled up some and become a strong character in her own right. The story picks up her relationship with the team where it ended in book 4, and I enjoyed having her back. It also meant developing her connection, suggested at the end of Sorrowvale, with Isold.

Okay, so Jessemia and Isold's romance was really satisfying to write. Because it depends on the tedious and reader-insulting cliche of Why Won't They Just Communicate, I knew it couldn't be foregrounded. They have good reasons for not communicating, but that doesn't make it less annoying to the reader. So I thought, what if their conflict is just hinted at, and the depth of that lack of communication comes out in one big explosive fight at the end? I hope it was successful.

In this book, more than the others, justifying the timing of the team's leveling up to 20 was important and also difficult. While I don't make their experience gains explicit or tied to an absolute number for advancement, I do actually keep track of how much experience they gain and have a target number they need to hit. In this case, I fudged it a bit more than usual because I had specific reasons for them leveling when they did. I wanted Isold's acquisition of Song of Exchange to be miraculous for happening exactly when it was needed, so there was no moment of "hey, you can bring her back, right?"

I also was a coward at first. Isold's aging was originally cosmetic. It took a couple of readings back through the manuscript and some good questions from my first readers for me to realize that no, he actually had to have given up years of his life or there was no cost to using that skill. Part of me didn't like cheating him out of his long-term romantic relationship, I guess. But, no. He really is in his early 70's now.

What else? The giants were a fun race to create. They balance the orcs, who are irredeemably evil because I'm tired of orcs who are basically humans with green skin. Giants are not universally good, obviously, but I wanted another intelligent race that wasn't alien (the kobolds) or, as mentioned, evil. If I ever get around to writing the sequel series to Warmaster, I want the giants to have some role to play.

The cast of characters is huge, and narrator Talon David more than rose to the occasion, especially with the effective size of the team doubling. Five humans, four giant younglings, and a dire otter named Whiskers! He's so cute! I can't remember why I thought he was a good idea as an animal companion for Jessemia, but she's effectively a ranger... I know it was a huge team because I kept forgetting Whiskers was there and having to go back and insert him into the action.

So, we're almost to the end of the series. Book 10, Winterforge, will see the culmination of the Fated One quest they've pursued since the beginning. I like where things are going.

[Kaitlyn Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is one of my favorites! I can't wait until book 10!

Nine books in, at this point I'm heavily invested in the characters and relationships. This book brought back some old friends and covered a lot of ground to get our adventurers in a position to complete Owen's Fated One Quest Chain

After defeating the Orc army, Aderyn and her friends are prepared for bigger and badder enemies, but also allies. Each of the books so far has had a unique experience for our adventurers. This books stays true to the LitRPG genre and gives the reader new challenges and ideas.

To avoid spoilers, I'll just say that across the series each book has truly unique and continuously building challenges for the adventurers. I appreciate the thought put into each level, dungeon and boss battle to give the real RPG feel to the story.

If you've never tried LitRPG, this is a great series to start with. The world building is fantastic, characters and challenges are unique but realistic, and it is just fun to read.

[Book Geek Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series. It was great to see a character from the past show up. And Isold is finally getting his life sorted. Very interesting take on Giants. Really liked this one.

[June Calvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stormwatch Citadel is the 9th book in the Warmaster Series by Melissa McShane. I enjoyed following all the characters now as if they are old friends, and the reintroduction of a previous character whom I had found intriguing and had actually wished would be added to the team.
They had an unusual quest this time - in fact quests within quests. First of course the vast Citadel which they initially expected to be a mere rumor. Then what seemed more like a natural phenomenon not a foe to be defeated. Along the way were, I kid you not, zombies. Not exactly like earth zombies but near enough to be terrifying. And giants and - oh! An absolute favorite of mine, the giant river otters that were formidable foes if attacked but easily made into pets like big dogs. It was another swift-paced, fascinating adventure and I am eagerly awaiting the next installment! Highly recommended!

[Doreen Brady · Rating 2 out of 5]

Going Down in Rating

The series starts off well but somehow morphed into some teen romance. The MC is not very likable, she naive, opinionated, and nosy; although, the author tries to describe her as compassionate and wise. Also, as the series continues I'm starting to wonder if removing the level cap should be anyone's goal I don't see any upsides to it. Overall, not the worst story but it seems in order to extend the story into numerous books the author lost the plot.

[Anne V · Rating 5 out of 5]

great distraction

A fun read and much appreciated distraction from this world. As usual, my only complaint is that it ended too soon. Not that it was a bad place to stop, just that I would have liked more.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome

I’ve enjoyed the series the pace of the story and character development is great. I can’t wait for the next book!