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The Crucible Shard #2
Spawn Campers
Leveling up on the high seas
Castle Sardonis is surrounded by enemies on all sides and dangerously short of supplies. When a needed shipment goes missing the party finds themselves on the high seas beset by pirates and seeking the Goddess of the Sea. New loot, new levels, and new mysteries to unravel as more is learned about the world.
Liam, Walt, and Ashley return
Immediately following the story from Dungeon Crawl the focus remains with the same group and focused on their struggles within the Crucible Shard. Bonds of friendship continue to grow but they each find themselves pushed in new ways by this world.
Castle Sardonis is surrounded by enemies on all sides and dangerously short of supplies. When a needed shipment goes missing the party finds themselves on the high seas beset by pirates and seeking the Goddess of the Sea. New loot, new levels, and new mysteries to unravel as more is learned about the world.
Liam, Walt, and Ashley return
Immediately following the story from Dungeon Crawl the focus remains with the same group and focused on their struggles within the Crucible Shard. Bonds of friendship continue to grow but they each find themselves pushed in new ways by this world.
217 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 31, 2017
151 people are currently reading
74 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 19, 2017
The first book in this series was entertaining, not a lot of emotional depth, but tolerable considering how short the book was.
The second book on the other hand at times felt like work to finish. The biggest issue for me was that the author was trying way too hard to be funny, and failing miserably. I don't understand why every other paragraph we needed to be beaten over the head with a slutty sex joke. In a lot of ways it felt like we were experiencing the words of a hormone addled 14 year old girl trying to imagine what a horny guy must think and feel like. It was so exhausting to endure page after page of this.
I would have given the book 3.0-3.5 stars if not for this.
The only way that the writing could possibly get a higher rating is if the author added some believable emotional depth to the characters, but I don't see that happening any time soon (which is to say ever) in this series. As it is, the characters are all cookie cutter stereotypes with no backgrounds, and nothing about their life, actions, or personalities to make us care about what happens to them.
Add to this that there are no stakes in this novel if the characters fail in their objectives, and we're left with a great big pile of meh. Someone dies, so what? They come back again. Doesn't help that the characters themselves don't seem to care much about their personal safety. What happened to the objectives outlined in the first book - trying to hack into a pro-virtual reality gaming competition. That was somewhat interesting. In this book, it's almost totally forgotten. The characters, once again, don't seem to care that this objective is no longer on the table.
At this point they've been in the virtual world for 2 straight books. Not a single one of these people have expressed concerns about their real bodies. There are points where it makes it sound like they've been in the game world without logging off for over a week if not more. No one is concerned about starvation? How about soaking in a VR pod with their piss and crap all this time? It's a bit of a plot hole.
Bottom line, the series started so-so, and has gone down hill from there.
The second book on the other hand at times felt like work to finish. The biggest issue for me was that the author was trying way too hard to be funny, and failing miserably. I don't understand why every other paragraph we needed to be beaten over the head with a slutty sex joke. In a lot of ways it felt like we were experiencing the words of a hormone addled 14 year old girl trying to imagine what a horny guy must think and feel like. It was so exhausting to endure page after page of this.
I would have given the book 3.0-3.5 stars if not for this.
The only way that the writing could possibly get a higher rating is if the author added some believable emotional depth to the characters, but I don't see that happening any time soon (which is to say ever) in this series. As it is, the characters are all cookie cutter stereotypes with no backgrounds, and nothing about their life, actions, or personalities to make us care about what happens to them.
Add to this that there are no stakes in this novel if the characters fail in their objectives, and we're left with a great big pile of meh. Someone dies, so what? They come back again. Doesn't help that the characters themselves don't seem to care much about their personal safety. What happened to the objectives outlined in the first book - trying to hack into a pro-virtual reality gaming competition. That was somewhat interesting. In this book, it's almost totally forgotten. The characters, once again, don't seem to care that this objective is no longer on the table.
At this point they've been in the virtual world for 2 straight books. Not a single one of these people have expressed concerns about their real bodies. There are points where it makes it sound like they've been in the game world without logging off for over a week if not more. No one is concerned about starvation? How about soaking in a VR pod with their piss and crap all this time? It's a bit of a plot hole.
Bottom line, the series started so-so, and has gone down hill from there.
May 31, 2017
A little disappointing. The story starts off a week after the end of the last one, but apparently they spent the entire time in the game. At no point during the story it's self do they leave either. Skyler Grant has done such a good job of setting up the outside world that it's a real shame not to take advantage of it.
Still, he does manage to maintain the interest in the external world with the introduction of a mystery. I only hope he does start mixing in time outside the games into future books.
The story it's self was passable if somewhat messy. There were too many different antagonists and events for short story. The whole thing felt rushed and unfocused. It really could have used a couple of more drafts before publishing.
I'll continue to read the series, but I'm a little worried he's going to fail to capitalize on his excellent setup.
Still, he does manage to maintain the interest in the external world with the introduction of a mystery. I only hope he does start mixing in time outside the games into future books.
The story it's self was passable if somewhat messy. There were too many different antagonists and events for short story. The whole thing felt rushed and unfocused. It really could have used a couple of more drafts before publishing.
I'll continue to read the series, but I'm a little worried he's going to fail to capitalize on his excellent setup.
January 8, 2018
Mediocre writing and incomplete editing once again combine to make a great story only a decent one. Almost nothing is included that addresses the shortcomings of the first book. The story is decent enough, it just doesn't fit with the information we've been given to this point. If you read the book as a stand alone story then it works well, but if you try to make it fit what little framework we have from the first book then it all falls far short of a coherent whole. I like it well enough to continue reading, but this series might be better served if it is read as a collection of related stories rather than as a complete work.
May 24, 2018
Monty haul campaign brought to life
I understand that lead characters have to have something to make them interesting or unique. However, thrusting newbs into world-altering plots, where they wield unique artifacts and interact directly with multiple deities, with no effort earning this reward, in an anathema to what is great about RPGs, and makes this a disappointment as a LitRPG novel.
One thing that will keep me reading is that some of the quips are genuinely LOL moments.
And of course, who can resist a pirate with a flying ship.
Liam continues to be identified as the ultimate evil, despite a very neutral at worst approach to most challenges he faces. Walt doesn't develop much, and pretty much maintains his scholarly-nerd painful stereotype. Ashley gets her own goddess, and despite previously claiming to be Liam's moral compass, trying to steer him away from his goddess, makes only a token resistance to this turn of events.
I understand that lead characters have to have something to make them interesting or unique. However, thrusting newbs into world-altering plots, where they wield unique artifacts and interact directly with multiple deities, with no effort earning this reward, in an anathema to what is great about RPGs, and makes this a disappointment as a LitRPG novel.
One thing that will keep me reading is that some of the quips are genuinely LOL moments.
And of course, who can resist a pirate with a flying ship.
Liam continues to be identified as the ultimate evil, despite a very neutral at worst approach to most challenges he faces. Walt doesn't develop much, and pretty much maintains his scholarly-nerd painful stereotype. Ashley gets her own goddess, and despite previously claiming to be Liam's moral compass, trying to steer him away from his goddess, makes only a token resistance to this turn of events.
March 29, 2019
Three stars mean I read the book, I liked the book, but I am unlikely to read the book again in the future.
What did I like about the book? The characters and the stats.
What didn't I like about the book? There wasn't anything about the book that I disliked, just nothing about the book that I loved to make we want to read it again in the future.
What did I like about the book? The characters and the stats.
What didn't I like about the book? There wasn't anything about the book that I disliked, just nothing about the book that I loved to make we want to read it again in the future.
June 26, 2017
good stuff
August 27, 2017
Enjoyable again. Love the snarky quests. :) Very enjoyable story. Flat characters but the story is quite entertaining.
December 15, 2017
This feels like somewhat of a ripoff of Play to Live, but not quite as well done. However, it's still interesting enough for me to continue with at this point.
January 22, 2018
Still short
I'm sorry, I can't call this a book. It's just short, and seriously if you're going to publish something that is only around 200 pages, could you please edit it better?
I'm sorry, I can't call this a book. It's just short, and seriously if you're going to publish something that is only around 200 pages, could you please edit it better?
March 23, 2018
Too short, but so good. A fantastic pirate adventure, with new friends and enemies. On to the next book!
March 15, 2019
I could have done with less stats screens. The author also abruptly ended this book.
I will try the sequel sometime in the future. It's entertaining enough.
3/5 Stars
I will try the sequel sometime in the future. It's entertaining enough.
3/5 Stars
May 1, 2017
Witty
I like your banter, I like the complex relationship s between the characters, I like the feeling that the characters are growing in both a regular and litrpg fashion. All in all this was fun.
I like your banter, I like the complex relationship s between the characters, I like the feeling that the characters are growing in both a regular and litrpg fashion. All in all this was fun.
April 20, 2019
This is weird but I like the length it feels just right. The main character is an idiot and this is a serious annoyance that always puts it at the back of my tbr list but I still get to it eventually. It is mostly waiting for THE LitRPG series which will probably drop the next instalment sometime next year :(
If you aren't a fan of unlikable protagonist I would stay away from this seriously the lead is an idiot. If you're a little more flexible than go for it, this is super weird as fantasy/tech Litrpg goes.
If you aren't a fan of unlikable protagonist I would stay away from this seriously the lead is an idiot. If you're a little more flexible than go for it, this is super weird as fantasy/tech Litrpg goes.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews