What do you think?
Rate this book
Super Sales on Super Heroes #1
Super Sales on Super Heroes
In a world full of super powers, Felix has a pretty crappy one.
He has the ability to modify any item he owns. To upgrade anything.
Sounds great on paper. Almost like a video game.
Except that the amount of power it takes to actually change, modify, or upgrade anything worthwhile is beyond his abilities.
With that in mind, Felix settled into a normal life. A normal job.
His entire world changes when the city he lives in is taken over by a Super Villain. Becoming a country of one city. A city state.
Surprisingly, not a whole lot changed. Politicians were still corrupt. Banks still held onto your money. And criminals still committed crime.
Though the black market has become more readily available.
And in that not so black market, Felix discovers he has a way to make his power useful after all, and grasps a hold of his chance with both hands.
Warning and minor spoiler: This novel contains graphic violence, undefined relationships/partial harem, unconventional opinions/beliefs, and a hero who is as tactful as a dog at a cat show. Read at your own risk.
He has the ability to modify any item he owns. To upgrade anything.
Sounds great on paper. Almost like a video game.
Except that the amount of power it takes to actually change, modify, or upgrade anything worthwhile is beyond his abilities.
With that in mind, Felix settled into a normal life. A normal job.
His entire world changes when the city he lives in is taken over by a Super Villain. Becoming a country of one city. A city state.
Surprisingly, not a whole lot changed. Politicians were still corrupt. Banks still held onto your money. And criminals still committed crime.
Though the black market has become more readily available.
And in that not so black market, Felix discovers he has a way to make his power useful after all, and grasps a hold of his chance with both hands.
Warning and minor spoiler: This novel contains graphic violence, undefined relationships/partial harem, unconventional opinions/beliefs, and a hero who is as tactful as a dog at a cat show. Read at your own risk.
374 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 5, 2017
1139 people are currently reading
1864 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 514 reviews
June 2, 2017
So, I'm pretty sure I'm going to hell for enjoying this book. My feminist heart wants to condemn everything about it. But damn it, it's actually really good in spite of everything.
Felix is a sad little man with a sad little super power, the ability to upgrade anything he owns. When he accidentally buys himself a slave, he discovers that this applies to other people as well. So he goes on a slave buying binge. WTH? A book that aims to make the idea of slavery a fun and silly plot device? Slaves that are magically bound to him? Slaves that happen to be attractive women?
Is it supposed to make it better that as Felix and his slaves grow their business, it is the women who take over the building and operation of the company? That they are treated well and that supposedly they are getting far more out of the arrangement than they are giving up? What a load of bull, but that's what the story tries to convey. Okay, it's fantasy, and Felix can magnify their super powers, give them new ones, heal them, and more. So what? That doesn't make the concept of slavery okay.
Then there's the cannibalism angle. Oh no, that's not a major plot point. It's just what they do with the remains of their enemies. Toss them in the sausage maker. No one is forced to eat the sausage. It's all voluntary. So I guess that's supposed to be okay too?
What makes me angriest about this book... is that it's a really fun read. It's good. It shouldn't be good.
I don't know how many stars to give. Two stars is supposed to mean "It's Okay", but it's NOT okay. Nothing about it is "Okay." But I can't quite bring myself to give it one star, or three. So... I guess two will have to do.
*mutters angrily while posting review*
Felix is a sad little man with a sad little super power, the ability to upgrade anything he owns. When he accidentally buys himself a slave, he discovers that this applies to other people as well. So he goes on a slave buying binge. WTH? A book that aims to make the idea of slavery a fun and silly plot device? Slaves that are magically bound to him? Slaves that happen to be attractive women?
Is it supposed to make it better that as Felix and his slaves grow their business, it is the women who take over the building and operation of the company? That they are treated well and that supposedly they are getting far more out of the arrangement than they are giving up? What a load of bull, but that's what the story tries to convey. Okay, it's fantasy, and Felix can magnify their super powers, give them new ones, heal them, and more. So what? That doesn't make the concept of slavery okay.
Then there's the cannibalism angle. Oh no, that's not a major plot point. It's just what they do with the remains of their enemies. Toss them in the sausage maker. No one is forced to eat the sausage. It's all voluntary. So I guess that's supposed to be okay too?
What makes me angriest about this book... is that it's a really fun read. It's good. It shouldn't be good.
I don't know how many stars to give. Two stars is supposed to mean "It's Okay", but it's NOT okay. Nothing about it is "Okay." But I can't quite bring myself to give it one star, or three. So... I guess two will have to do.
*mutters angrily while posting review*
September 24, 2017
I had to take a break from Naked Empire for a few days to read a book that is aware of how ridiculous it is.
Simply described, this book is basically a harem anime on crack.
This book was rather entertaining. It's pretty much silly fun, with a fast food manager building himself a supervillian empire from scratch. It has some really entertaining characters in it, and a hero with a very sarcastic streak and little in the way of morals when it comes to protecting himself or his people. The author is very good at using profanity for comedic effect. Something that many authors try, but few ever really achieve. Although, this book is definitely not for everyone. Some people may be rather offended by the slavery aspect of the story, and Felix, the main protagonist, is something of an unscrupulous slimeball most of the time. Also, there is a reason I don't find harem anime series entertaining. My suspension of disbelief is usually pretty strained by an average guy surrounded by beautiful, smart, talented women, who all fall for him because he is the main character in the story and for no other real reason. I mean, of all the men out there, they fall for this shlub? I mean, come on, ladies, you're beautiful, smart, and talented. You could literally have your pick of any guy, and you fall for the one with no personality, no talent, no job, no money, no future, no social skills, and no likability? Yeah. No. Reality called, it's wondering where you are. I get the male fantasy aspect of those types of series. I understand where they come from. It's the same sort of thing in reverse from say, Twilight, for example. Where you've got two beautiful, powerful, frequently shirtless men, fighting over a girl who may have slightly more personality than a pile of dirt, but she hides it awfully well if she does. I have never really bought into that sort of thing. It doesn't entertain me, and I find it far too fantastical to believe most of the time. But this book does manage to avoid most of the problems I have with that sort of thing, so that aspect didn't annoy me too much. Also, the author gives people's tabletop RPG character sheets liberally throughout the book, and, well, that was pretty annoying to me, as I was listening to the audiobook, and the narrator read each and every one of them out. It got old pretty fast.
All in all, it was a fun read that went by pretty fast and easy. If you've got the right sense of humor, this book is pretty good for what it is. It's one of those books that's so wrong it's actually kind of right, if you know what I mean. It's one that you kind of feel like you really shouldn't be enjoying it, but you do anyway.
Also... PANCAKES!!!
Simply described, this book is basically a harem anime on crack.
This book was rather entertaining. It's pretty much silly fun, with a fast food manager building himself a supervillian empire from scratch. It has some really entertaining characters in it, and a hero with a very sarcastic streak and little in the way of morals when it comes to protecting himself or his people. The author is very good at using profanity for comedic effect. Something that many authors try, but few ever really achieve. Although, this book is definitely not for everyone. Some people may be rather offended by the slavery aspect of the story, and Felix, the main protagonist, is something of an unscrupulous slimeball most of the time. Also, there is a reason I don't find harem anime series entertaining. My suspension of disbelief is usually pretty strained by an average guy surrounded by beautiful, smart, talented women, who all fall for him because he is the main character in the story and for no other real reason. I mean, of all the men out there, they fall for this shlub? I mean, come on, ladies, you're beautiful, smart, and talented. You could literally have your pick of any guy, and you fall for the one with no personality, no talent, no job, no money, no future, no social skills, and no likability? Yeah. No. Reality called, it's wondering where you are. I get the male fantasy aspect of those types of series. I understand where they come from. It's the same sort of thing in reverse from say, Twilight, for example. Where you've got two beautiful, powerful, frequently shirtless men, fighting over a girl who may have slightly more personality than a pile of dirt, but she hides it awfully well if she does. I have never really bought into that sort of thing. It doesn't entertain me, and I find it far too fantastical to believe most of the time. But this book does manage to avoid most of the problems I have with that sort of thing, so that aspect didn't annoy me too much. Also, the author gives people's tabletop RPG character sheets liberally throughout the book, and, well, that was pretty annoying to me, as I was listening to the audiobook, and the narrator read each and every one of them out. It got old pretty fast.
All in all, it was a fun read that went by pretty fast and easy. If you've got the right sense of humor, this book is pretty good for what it is. It's one of those books that's so wrong it's actually kind of right, if you know what I mean. It's one that you kind of feel like you really shouldn't be enjoying it, but you do anyway.
Also... PANCAKES!!!
June 11, 2019
This story was a fun blend of superhero fiction and Gamelit. It leaned more towards Gamelit in style and tone but the world definitely had a superhero fiction feel to it. I liked the blend of the two genres and feel like Arand did a good job mixing fun elements from both types of story and ending up with a fairly compelling and enjoyable story.
The plot was interesting enough. Villains have overthrown the heroes and seized control of the city where our down on his luck lead character, Felix, lives. As well as legalising slavery again and all sorts of other vices the Cities mysterious villain overlord is still proving surprisingly popular with the people. Mostly due to getting the local economy booming again as well as getting down the crime rate and implementing a universal healthcare system for all under his rule. Not that any of that stuff really matters to Felix. He is just trying to survive in his job as fast food restaurant manager. His superpower of transmutation is a good one in theory but not so much in practicality as Felix is not powerful enough to do anything of worth with his gift! All that changes when a mix up in a black market deal results in Felix ending up in the possession of a badly injured superhero slave rather than the shipment of metal he was trying to buy. While trying to heal the injured superhero Felix realizes he can leech their powers to boost his own. Thus begins his new plan to enslave a bunch of superpowered individuals and create his own corporate empire!
The story ended up being a lot more fun than it sounds. Felix was more supervillain than superhero but despite his propensity for enslaving and murdering people he still managed to prove a weirdly likeable and easy to root for lead character. It helped that he mostly just wanted to use his powers to get rich and only really killed those that ended up opposing him. The other aspect of the story that made the whole slave lord thing more tolerable was the fact that his slave harem basically just walked all over him.
The big plus for this book was the fact that William D. Arand had a surprisingly engaging writing style. I was sucked into the story from the get go and both the action and the characters proved to be quite fun! The story itself has some cool magic, fun characters, and a nice mix of action and humour.
The world was a typical superhero one but the nature of Felix's powers gave the book a real LitRPG feel. That was mostly because Felix was a walking Dungeon Core! His powers displayed in stats from just like one would see in your typical LitRPG world and he had the ability to grow both his own powers and those of his people as well as upgrade his lair and other physical items. The blending of those elements of the story was done really well.
As with most LitRPG and superhero fiction there was a lot of wish fulfilment going on in this story. Levelling up for Felix was pretty easy and people, especially his harem of slave women, all just liked him or grew to like him pretty quickly. Normally I'd moan about that stuff but with Felix being more of a benign villain than hero I felt like that ended up helping him being more likeable than he could have otherwise have been if things had not worked out so smoothly for him. I'm no great fan of harems in my stories as I feel like they are a vastly overused trope in the LitRPG genre and just a harder sell than a regular romance in general but I will say that I felt like Arand handled this one quite well. Mostly because he let things develop slowly and because Felix was a lot less lecherous than your average LitRPG "hero" despite the fact that he was not at all heroic lol!
All in all I ended up pleasantly surprised by this one (my expectations were low going in) and really enjoyed the story for what it was. One of the better LitRPG stories I've read so far and a fairly fun superhero story as well.
Rating: 4 stars. It had a few flaws but was really quite fun and engaging despite them.
Audio Note: Jeff Hayes did a great job with the audio. The best performance I've heard from him so far. Such a pity the narrator is changing for the next two books in the series. I love Nick Podehl but I love consistency more would have preferred if they just stuck with Hays as he did a great job with this one!
The plot was interesting enough. Villains have overthrown the heroes and seized control of the city where our down on his luck lead character, Felix, lives. As well as legalising slavery again and all sorts of other vices the Cities mysterious villain overlord is still proving surprisingly popular with the people. Mostly due to getting the local economy booming again as well as getting down the crime rate and implementing a universal healthcare system for all under his rule. Not that any of that stuff really matters to Felix. He is just trying to survive in his job as fast food restaurant manager. His superpower of transmutation is a good one in theory but not so much in practicality as Felix is not powerful enough to do anything of worth with his gift! All that changes when a mix up in a black market deal results in Felix ending up in the possession of a badly injured superhero slave rather than the shipment of metal he was trying to buy. While trying to heal the injured superhero Felix realizes he can leech their powers to boost his own. Thus begins his new plan to enslave a bunch of superpowered individuals and create his own corporate empire!
The story ended up being a lot more fun than it sounds. Felix was more supervillain than superhero but despite his propensity for enslaving and murdering people he still managed to prove a weirdly likeable and easy to root for lead character. It helped that he mostly just wanted to use his powers to get rich and only really killed those that ended up opposing him. The other aspect of the story that made the whole slave lord thing more tolerable was the fact that his slave harem basically just walked all over him.
The big plus for this book was the fact that William D. Arand had a surprisingly engaging writing style. I was sucked into the story from the get go and both the action and the characters proved to be quite fun! The story itself has some cool magic, fun characters, and a nice mix of action and humour.
The world was a typical superhero one but the nature of Felix's powers gave the book a real LitRPG feel. That was mostly because Felix was a walking Dungeon Core! His powers displayed in stats from just like one would see in your typical LitRPG world and he had the ability to grow both his own powers and those of his people as well as upgrade his lair and other physical items. The blending of those elements of the story was done really well.
As with most LitRPG and superhero fiction there was a lot of wish fulfilment going on in this story. Levelling up for Felix was pretty easy and people, especially his harem of slave women, all just liked him or grew to like him pretty quickly. Normally I'd moan about that stuff but with Felix being more of a benign villain than hero I felt like that ended up helping him being more likeable than he could have otherwise have been if things had not worked out so smoothly for him. I'm no great fan of harems in my stories as I feel like they are a vastly overused trope in the LitRPG genre and just a harder sell than a regular romance in general but I will say that I felt like Arand handled this one quite well. Mostly because he let things develop slowly and because Felix was a lot less lecherous than your average LitRPG "hero" despite the fact that he was not at all heroic lol!
All in all I ended up pleasantly surprised by this one (my expectations were low going in) and really enjoyed the story for what it was. One of the better LitRPG stories I've read so far and a fairly fun superhero story as well.
Rating: 4 stars. It had a few flaws but was really quite fun and engaging despite them.
Audio Note: Jeff Hayes did a great job with the audio. The best performance I've heard from him so far. Such a pity the narrator is changing for the next two books in the series. I love Nick Podehl but I love consistency more would have preferred if they just stuck with Hays as he did a great job with this one!
December 31, 2018
“Super Sales on Super Heroes” is not lesfic, but it is a very entertaining, delivering a very detailed, graphically (aurally?) violent world of good people, bad people, amoral people and people who are just trying to survive regardless of moral intentions, labels or outcomes.
MC Felix accidentally acquires some nearly dead superheroes, and finds he can heal them as well as increase his own power after doing so. He can “fix” anything he owns…and in this world, or at least in this supervillain-controlled city, the nearly dead superheroes are his slaves…i.e….his owned property.
Felix is not a bad person, but neither is he worried about being a good person. He is kind and loyal to those he surrounds himself with…but yes, he is a slaveowner. Don’t read this looking for feel-good morality!
Surprisingly, at least based on the blurb “warnings” of other books in this genre (which is…hmmm…dark superhero, magical alternate worlds, epic fantasy…I’m not sure), Felix is not building a harem of nubile women or monster women to become an alpha-male as would be admired by teenaged boys.
The story focuses on what Felix and his “friends” must do to survive in a very violent world. It’s fantastically entertaining as they build alliances and their own private empire. There is an astonishing amount of detail, lots and lots of humor (much of it dark humor, but not all of it - Andrea in particular is frequently hilarious), lots of intense violence, and no sex for most of the book at all. Eventually, there is a bit of fade-to-black activity, but the occurrence is pretty funny as Andrea has no filter!
As odd of a book choice as this was for me (I was definitely in the mood for something different), I really enjoyed the story and the narration. 4.4* rounded to 4*
MC Felix accidentally acquires some nearly dead superheroes, and finds he can heal them as well as increase his own power after doing so. He can “fix” anything he owns…and in this world, or at least in this supervillain-controlled city, the nearly dead superheroes are his slaves…i.e….his owned property.
Felix is not a bad person, but neither is he worried about being a good person. He is kind and loyal to those he surrounds himself with…but yes, he is a slaveowner. Don’t read this looking for feel-good morality!
Surprisingly, at least based on the blurb “warnings” of other books in this genre (which is…hmmm…dark superhero, magical alternate worlds, epic fantasy…I’m not sure), Felix is not building a harem of nubile women or monster women to become an alpha-male as would be admired by teenaged boys.
The story focuses on what Felix and his “friends” must do to survive in a very violent world. It’s fantastically entertaining as they build alliances and their own private empire. There is an astonishing amount of detail, lots and lots of humor (much of it dark humor, but not all of it - Andrea in particular is frequently hilarious), lots of intense violence, and no sex for most of the book at all. Eventually, there is a bit of fade-to-black activity, but the occurrence is pretty funny as Andrea has no filter!
As odd of a book choice as this was for me (I was definitely in the mood for something different), I really enjoyed the story and the narration. 4.4* rounded to 4*
May 10, 2017
This was a great book
For a book about mass slavery and assorted dirty deeds this novel was fantastic. The main character was realistic in his goals and personality, being neither completely altruistic nor totally selfish. The supporting characters were also well written in whole though I would have expected more resistance to becoming slaves though that was handled well by the wage slave theme.
Character and plot development were both well matched and escalated nicely with a reasonable amount of breathing room which prevented the atmosphere of the book from becoming too pessimistic or claustrophobic.
A minor quibble is that the ending/climax felt somewhat rushed. While this matched the escalation of the plot I feel more could have been written on it. The ending and the epilogue were crammed into the last 5% and came out of a blue sky with no warning. This is mostly excused by the antagonists frequently used method of sudden vicious attack and the protagonists justified roaring rampage of revenge.
A good book either finishes with all or most of the loose ends tied up or with a "what happens next?"
This book definitely ends with "what happens next?"
Who and what is skipper?
Why were the antagonists so fixated on the protagonist?
Why did they need the person they kidnapped?
What happens next?
How will the world adapt or respond to skipper and it's city?
Will legion expand into other cities?
What happens with the side characters such as the adopted girl and her brother?
What happens next? I must know.
Please write a sequel.
For a book about mass slavery and assorted dirty deeds this novel was fantastic. The main character was realistic in his goals and personality, being neither completely altruistic nor totally selfish. The supporting characters were also well written in whole though I would have expected more resistance to becoming slaves though that was handled well by the wage slave theme.
Character and plot development were both well matched and escalated nicely with a reasonable amount of breathing room which prevented the atmosphere of the book from becoming too pessimistic or claustrophobic.
A minor quibble is that the ending/climax felt somewhat rushed. While this matched the escalation of the plot I feel more could have been written on it. The ending and the epilogue were crammed into the last 5% and came out of a blue sky with no warning. This is mostly excused by the antagonists frequently used method of sudden vicious attack and the protagonists justified roaring rampage of revenge.
A good book either finishes with all or most of the loose ends tied up or with a "what happens next?"
This book definitely ends with "what happens next?"
Who and what is skipper?
Why were the antagonists so fixated on the protagonist?
Why did they need the person they kidnapped?
What happens next?
How will the world adapt or respond to skipper and it's city?
Will legion expand into other cities?
What happens with the side characters such as the adopted girl and her brother?
What happens next? I must know.
Please write a sequel.
August 13, 2017
This is a hard one to rate...because...ohh god it's trash, it's gutter trash...but I liked it, because I too am trash.
So I'm an aficionado of webnovels both foreign and domestic, and there is a bit of a infamously bad trend that's popular in some of the Japanese ones and that is the infamous slave-harem tag, a tag well known for producing some of the trashiest stuff imaginable and should be avoided on site. Well this book is one of those and clearly has been influenced by a mix of those and the more western webnovels, the result is actually prettygood entertaining. It mostly falls into the main character has unique ability that seems bad BUT IS ACTUALLY BROKEN!!!(never heard that one before). Well his power is he can modify anything he owns so when his town gets taken over by supervillians who make everything illegal and he accidentally buys a superhero as a slave; they are now his property and ohh yeah you can see where this is going. Overall it's done well for what it is and keeps up the good balance of building/improving stuff, and threats to keep it entertaining, and when I finished this book I wanted to read the next one...and felt shame...lots of shame.
So I'm an aficionado of webnovels both foreign and domestic, and there is a bit of a infamously bad trend that's popular in some of the Japanese ones and that is the infamous slave-harem tag, a tag well known for producing some of the trashiest stuff imaginable and should be avoided on site. Well this book is one of those and clearly has been influenced by a mix of those and the more western webnovels, the result is actually pretty
August 11, 2017
This book was fun to read, but unfortunately the plot makes no sense at all. Three separate groups of enemies are targeting the main character, but somehow they are the same group or something? None of the three groups really have a reason to target the MC in the first place. None of this makes any sense.
The trust lawyers are gunning for the MC before he matters, but it is later revealed they were working for the heroes. Okay, I guess they started as greedy, and then they later colluded with the heroes to murder their client for some reason.
The heroes make no sense at all. They want to murder the MC so they can take over the city from its "evil" overlord. Okay. So the MC is probably the best equipped person in the world to potentially help them, and they gain absolutely nothing toward their goal by killing him (other than a chance to forcibly enslave his people, but if they are willing to turn innocents into slaves, there are millions of people they can target who aren't well defended instead). The MC isn't connected to the heroes' enemy, but they lose dozens of powered fighters trying to murder him for no reason, and then keep at it over and over. They even work with government officials who work for their enemy and blow up a school just to take down the random bystander to their goal who is the MC.
Finally we have the government tax office. Initially the tax official just wants to sleep with the MC's slaves showing that this is probably all a case of personal corruption. Latter, we are shown that the corruption goes to the first official's boss, who is working with his government's enemy, the heroes. This government official could have made way more money than whatever corrupt plans he had simply by turning the heroes in. It is worth pointing out that the tax office even has the police in their pocket. Multiple government agencies work together to freeze assets, coordinate strikes against a citizen with enemies of the nation who are somehow in the city, and cover ups of huge battles that would be noticed by tens of thousands of private citizens. There is no way that the city overlord is not in on the corruption at this point, but if that's the case, why is he so convoluted about it, and why is he working with the heroes.
Finally, the frozen funds thing makes no sense. So the MC needs money urgently to pay bills and salaries. Okay. So their funds get frozen, and pawn shops won't take their gold and undercut their prices. Okay. First of all, without appraising powers, how can the pawn shops even undercut the prices reliably. Second, who is creating and controlling these pawn shops? We are never told. It seems they would be a convenient paper and psychic trail leading to the enemies. Third, is the author really saying that no one in the city will buy gold from any of the people working for the MC? What if he sells at half price? What about setting up an arbitrage opportunity for some underworld people and sell the gold that way. The tax office would literally need to block all sales of precious metals and stones in the entire city by anyone, and to anyone to stop this. Note that I said block, which is much much harder than just making it illegal (which they didn't do either).
With the ability to create diamonds and gold in huge quantities daily, getting enough funds to get by is not even worth mentioning even if you have to sell at low prices to alternate vendors. Would the slaves even care if he paid them in gold, or temporarily suspended salaries in the emergency? That means he's just paying debt, food and utility bills since taxes aren't due yet. His inventor who can make a mysterious super power strengthening machine with no funds or special tools in a single night could probably do something about those utilities anyway.
Our story ends with a utility power using MC who is surrounded by fighters and can grant powers fighting a bunch of super powered heroes alone to save a damsel. Idiotic.
The trust lawyers are gunning for the MC before he matters, but it is later revealed they were working for the heroes. Okay, I guess they started as greedy, and then they later colluded with the heroes to murder their client for some reason.
The heroes make no sense at all. They want to murder the MC so they can take over the city from its "evil" overlord. Okay. So the MC is probably the best equipped person in the world to potentially help them, and they gain absolutely nothing toward their goal by killing him (other than a chance to forcibly enslave his people, but if they are willing to turn innocents into slaves, there are millions of people they can target who aren't well defended instead). The MC isn't connected to the heroes' enemy, but they lose dozens of powered fighters trying to murder him for no reason, and then keep at it over and over. They even work with government officials who work for their enemy and blow up a school just to take down the random bystander to their goal who is the MC.
Finally we have the government tax office. Initially the tax official just wants to sleep with the MC's slaves showing that this is probably all a case of personal corruption. Latter, we are shown that the corruption goes to the first official's boss, who is working with his government's enemy, the heroes. This government official could have made way more money than whatever corrupt plans he had simply by turning the heroes in. It is worth pointing out that the tax office even has the police in their pocket. Multiple government agencies work together to freeze assets, coordinate strikes against a citizen with enemies of the nation who are somehow in the city, and cover ups of huge battles that would be noticed by tens of thousands of private citizens. There is no way that the city overlord is not in on the corruption at this point, but if that's the case, why is he so convoluted about it, and why is he working with the heroes.
Finally, the frozen funds thing makes no sense. So the MC needs money urgently to pay bills and salaries. Okay. So their funds get frozen, and pawn shops won't take their gold and undercut their prices. Okay. First of all, without appraising powers, how can the pawn shops even undercut the prices reliably. Second, who is creating and controlling these pawn shops? We are never told. It seems they would be a convenient paper and psychic trail leading to the enemies. Third, is the author really saying that no one in the city will buy gold from any of the people working for the MC? What if he sells at half price? What about setting up an arbitrage opportunity for some underworld people and sell the gold that way. The tax office would literally need to block all sales of precious metals and stones in the entire city by anyone, and to anyone to stop this. Note that I said block, which is much much harder than just making it illegal (which they didn't do either).
With the ability to create diamonds and gold in huge quantities daily, getting enough funds to get by is not even worth mentioning even if you have to sell at low prices to alternate vendors. Would the slaves even care if he paid them in gold, or temporarily suspended salaries in the emergency? That means he's just paying debt, food and utility bills since taxes aren't due yet. His inventor who can make a mysterious super power strengthening machine with no funds or special tools in a single night could probably do something about those utilities anyway.
Our story ends with a utility power using MC who is surrounded by fighters and can grant powers fighting a bunch of super powered heroes alone to save a damsel. Idiotic.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 17, 2017
A great read. Approachable, well paced, solid story, actually been through the editing process
The headline says most of it, but I'll elaborate. First off, no spoilers.
And I'll clean up a problem I noted with some reviews. I took a chance on the novel only after reading the sample. "Harem" came up a lot more in blurbs and reviews than I wanted to see. Amine and manga that mention "harem" are very often well past bawdy and are even erotica. This piece is Not That!
Character design and growth was as realistic as is possible in the "super" genre, and especially enjoyable in the development of their interplay.
There was a plot, but it was organic and unobtrusive. Without leaning heavily on set characters everything develops at a strong pace.
It scored a 4, which is pretty much the best I give out.
Enjoy.
PS - I got nothing from anyone to read or review this novel.
The headline says most of it, but I'll elaborate. First off, no spoilers.
And I'll clean up a problem I noted with some reviews. I took a chance on the novel only after reading the sample. "Harem" came up a lot more in blurbs and reviews than I wanted to see. Amine and manga that mention "harem" are very often well past bawdy and are even erotica. This piece is Not That!
Character design and growth was as realistic as is possible in the "super" genre, and especially enjoyable in the development of their interplay.
There was a plot, but it was organic and unobtrusive. Without leaning heavily on set characters everything develops at a strong pace.
It scored a 4, which is pretty much the best I give out.
Enjoy.
PS - I got nothing from anyone to read or review this novel.
February 14, 2018
SUPER SALES ON SUPER HEROES has the slightly difficult hurdle to overcome of an appalling premise: the protagonist is a slaver. Slavery is one of those things which I give an automatic "okay to kill you for" in my fiction. The fact the majority of our anti-hero's slaves are attractive women also opens a lot of unfortunate implications. Nevertheless, I was willing to give the book a shot because I'd heard a lot of good things about it.
Felix is a pawn shop owner in a city taken over by supervillains who have killed all the superheroes in the city or hunted them down for torture. Slavery, drugs, prostitution, and other things have been all legalized with the purchase of people just now standard activity in the location. Felix purchases three comatose superheroes who have been horrifically disfigured and brutalized before using his unique ability to repair them. They're all geased to him and he can increase their power significantly with his own (which is essentially the ability to grant experience points to people) so they form a semi-consensual alliance to build themselves up while he makes a lot of money.
Overall, this is a pretty fun book with Felix being the nicest slave owner in the history of an evil institution. He's interested in money rather than exploitating them for anything else and is easily manipulated by his property. I'd also be an enormous hypocrite if I complained about the protagonist being a supervillain. Instead, my biggest complaint is Felix is a bit on the bland side versus his Pokemon-esque collection of superheroines and the fact his power to upgrade them seems unlimited.
In conclusion, it's a pretty good supervillain novel and LIT-RPG but not an absolute essential.
Felix is a pawn shop owner in a city taken over by supervillains who have killed all the superheroes in the city or hunted them down for torture. Slavery, drugs, prostitution, and other things have been all legalized with the purchase of people just now standard activity in the location. Felix purchases three comatose superheroes who have been horrifically disfigured and brutalized before using his unique ability to repair them. They're all geased to him and he can increase their power significantly with his own (which is essentially the ability to grant experience points to people) so they form a semi-consensual alliance to build themselves up while he makes a lot of money.
Overall, this is a pretty fun book with Felix being the nicest slave owner in the history of an evil institution. He's interested in money rather than exploitating them for anything else and is easily manipulated by his property. I'd also be an enormous hypocrite if I complained about the protagonist being a supervillain. Instead, my biggest complaint is Felix is a bit on the bland side versus his Pokemon-esque collection of superheroines and the fact his power to upgrade them seems unlimited.
In conclusion, it's a pretty good supervillain novel and LIT-RPG but not an absolute essential.
December 6, 2017
A series with an unusual premise.
In a world with superhumans, a city has been taken over by a villain, and becomes a city-state. Nothing much seems to change. In fact the economy improves somewhat.
A schlub with a minor super power seeks to make money. His power is that he can upgrade objects, but he can't do much of anything with it. He tries to buy some bismuth, to turn it into gold. Somehow, he ends up with a super hero slave instead. This really increases his power somehow.
He buys more slaves, gets more power, and sets up a corporation to make more money.
Meanwhile, people keep trying to kill him.
Very odd. A premise that supports slavery and corporations doesn't really go with today's sensibilities.
In a world with superhumans, a city has been taken over by a villain, and becomes a city-state. Nothing much seems to change. In fact the economy improves somewhat.
A schlub with a minor super power seeks to make money. His power is that he can upgrade objects, but he can't do much of anything with it. He tries to buy some bismuth, to turn it into gold. Somehow, he ends up with a super hero slave instead. This really increases his power somehow.
He buys more slaves, gets more power, and sets up a corporation to make more money.
Meanwhile, people keep trying to kill him.
Very odd. A premise that supports slavery and corporations doesn't really go with today's sensibilities.
August 15, 2017
My original Super Sales on Super Heroes audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.
What do you get when you smash a super hero story with a literary RPG? Well, that would be a newly released book by William D. Arand entitled “Super Sales on Super Heroes”. The story is a rather unique, dark, and humorous take on the super hero genre. As the saying goes, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Our character is dealt a super power which seems lame until he discovers a loophole in the system allowing him the ability to change not only his own life, but that of potentially hundreds if not thousands of others along the way. If this story sounds different and interesting, it is because of the author ability to deliver on what the book says it is about; with Jeff Hayes as the narrator of the audiobook edition, it only gets better. Let me say up front that this book is geared towards adult readers due to some subject matter and graphic violence. If you enjoy humor, twists, and the unexpected, you will find Super Sales on Super Heroes an enjoyable book. I will never look at pancakes or sausages in the same way after reading this book.
For every super hero one needs super villains to keep things interesting. A way of offsetting the balance of powers. In a world where villains rule the city and the main character has a super power that appears to be useless. All seems lost and hopeless. That is until he discovers he can change the attributes of things he personally owns by paying the stated credit; similar to experience or skill points. He learns that one can purchase tortured and nearly dead super heroes on the black market for a good price and because they become his property he is able to make modification to them. Not only do these super hero slaves gain him additional points to spend on upgrades, he can also use them to purchase additional slaves saving them from certain death. Here is where the story begins and a new corporation is born. What better way to shield yourself from the ruling villains than to set up a tax shelter corporation hiding your assets; a newly created army of super heroes. The book is full of pithy wit and satirical humor poking fun at the gaming and super hero genres.
Take all the above and add in a few extra elements such as nanotechnology, discussions around renewable energy, along with many pokes and jabs at our modern society woes such as healthcare and there is not much more that you can do but laugh. The book is light-hearted, at times over the top, and can be prone to meandering in places. But, the characters were likable, relationships were forged, and alliances were created. It truly felt like a super hero story. When you peal back the humorous veneer, there really is a well-written story under the covers. Because it is the first in a series, we will have to wait and see what becomes of our hero along with all of his companions.
Jeff Hays never fails to amaze me with the quality and professionalism found in his audiobook narrations. He knows and understands his material and assists the listener in better understanding the story. He is what I would consider the master of this genre when it comes to narration. The characters all had unique voices and personalities from one another. When listening the book seems so natural but it is all the little things Jeff adds that makes the book seem effortless. Subtle things like modifying the characters voice when having an inner dialogue, character accents, and inflection added the cream on top of the milk. There were no issues with the audio itself. It was clear, consistent, and even. No noticeable audio artifacts or issues were detected while listening.
For parents or younger readers, be aware this book is intended for mature audiences only. Even the author’s summary contains a warning because of some potentially objectionable content. Vulgar language is used, which can be strong and heavy at times. The book also contains a fair amount of adult subject matter including sexual references or innuendos. Additionally, there is a fair amount of graphic and excessive violence throughout the book. If this subject matter offends you, I would not recommend the book to you.
If you are looking for a light entertaining read, and you can put up with some mature subject matter, I believe you will enjoy Super Sales on Super Heroes. I have to give kudos to the author for wonderfully blending these two genres together into a fun tale. Not that it affects the story, but I also wanted to acknowledge the book’s cover art. I felt it mirrored the storyline and overall feel of the book. In a world that is upside-down, it will be interesting to see how our main character is able to overcome all the obstacles faced in the first book along with the books to come.
Audiobook was purchased for review by ABR.
What do you get when you smash a super hero story with a literary RPG? Well, that would be a newly released book by William D. Arand entitled “Super Sales on Super Heroes”. The story is a rather unique, dark, and humorous take on the super hero genre. As the saying goes, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Our character is dealt a super power which seems lame until he discovers a loophole in the system allowing him the ability to change not only his own life, but that of potentially hundreds if not thousands of others along the way. If this story sounds different and interesting, it is because of the author ability to deliver on what the book says it is about; with Jeff Hayes as the narrator of the audiobook edition, it only gets better. Let me say up front that this book is geared towards adult readers due to some subject matter and graphic violence. If you enjoy humor, twists, and the unexpected, you will find Super Sales on Super Heroes an enjoyable book. I will never look at pancakes or sausages in the same way after reading this book.
For every super hero one needs super villains to keep things interesting. A way of offsetting the balance of powers. In a world where villains rule the city and the main character has a super power that appears to be useless. All seems lost and hopeless. That is until he discovers he can change the attributes of things he personally owns by paying the stated credit; similar to experience or skill points. He learns that one can purchase tortured and nearly dead super heroes on the black market for a good price and because they become his property he is able to make modification to them. Not only do these super hero slaves gain him additional points to spend on upgrades, he can also use them to purchase additional slaves saving them from certain death. Here is where the story begins and a new corporation is born. What better way to shield yourself from the ruling villains than to set up a tax shelter corporation hiding your assets; a newly created army of super heroes. The book is full of pithy wit and satirical humor poking fun at the gaming and super hero genres.
Take all the above and add in a few extra elements such as nanotechnology, discussions around renewable energy, along with many pokes and jabs at our modern society woes such as healthcare and there is not much more that you can do but laugh. The book is light-hearted, at times over the top, and can be prone to meandering in places. But, the characters were likable, relationships were forged, and alliances were created. It truly felt like a super hero story. When you peal back the humorous veneer, there really is a well-written story under the covers. Because it is the first in a series, we will have to wait and see what becomes of our hero along with all of his companions.
Jeff Hays never fails to amaze me with the quality and professionalism found in his audiobook narrations. He knows and understands his material and assists the listener in better understanding the story. He is what I would consider the master of this genre when it comes to narration. The characters all had unique voices and personalities from one another. When listening the book seems so natural but it is all the little things Jeff adds that makes the book seem effortless. Subtle things like modifying the characters voice when having an inner dialogue, character accents, and inflection added the cream on top of the milk. There were no issues with the audio itself. It was clear, consistent, and even. No noticeable audio artifacts or issues were detected while listening.
For parents or younger readers, be aware this book is intended for mature audiences only. Even the author’s summary contains a warning because of some potentially objectionable content. Vulgar language is used, which can be strong and heavy at times. The book also contains a fair amount of adult subject matter including sexual references or innuendos. Additionally, there is a fair amount of graphic and excessive violence throughout the book. If this subject matter offends you, I would not recommend the book to you.
If you are looking for a light entertaining read, and you can put up with some mature subject matter, I believe you will enjoy Super Sales on Super Heroes. I have to give kudos to the author for wonderfully blending these two genres together into a fun tale. Not that it affects the story, but I also wanted to acknowledge the book’s cover art. I felt it mirrored the storyline and overall feel of the book. In a world that is upside-down, it will be interesting to see how our main character is able to overcome all the obstacles faced in the first book along with the books to come.
Audiobook was purchased for review by ABR.
June 25, 2017
This is an ok book. Oh, it had potential to be a *great* book...
BUT the author decided, nope, not me. You see, the difference between a good book and a great book is not exactly the writing style, but the appeal to the audience. And shockingly, half the audience is female.
The beginning was strong with a male protagonist (Felix) in a villain-world with a tiny special talent. Nice! Only then he started building up a harem which he pretty much entirely controlled, and defended himself of not being the nice guy.
And let's be honest, in a villain world Felix doesn't need to be the nice guy. He can have slaves. He can use the slaves. He can do whatever the hell he wants and think himself the good guy anyway.
Here is the thing - I expect more of the author. Is that unfair? Who knows, but this author didn't manage to write a book appealing to females. He didn't even try. And this kicks the book down and destroys all the potential.
Because the potential of great character development was there. The building of trust, learning to work together despite the power imbalance, the acknowledgement of his slaves' skill... that had potential.
Potential, that was willfully wasted.
Because the only thing that counted was that the slaves were female and that EVERYTHING they are is simply used as a reflection of Felix's desires, wants and needs.
And this point it doesn't come as any surprise that all of them are beautiful, strong, more or less happy with the slavery and like / love Felix. Or are lesbian.
Because of course neither of them had a husband or lover or anything resembling a life previously. They have no true history. No true wants. No desires for themselves. They are simply puppets strung along in an ego ride.
Truthfully, the only way to save this trainwreck of a plot would be to reveal that they all manipulated Felix.
Conclusion: A villain / harem book written by a male for males in which the main character can do no wrong by virtue of being himself. Not recommended for anyone without an Y-chromosome.
BUT the author decided, nope, not me. You see, the difference between a good book and a great book is not exactly the writing style, but the appeal to the audience. And shockingly, half the audience is female.
The beginning was strong with a male protagonist (Felix) in a villain-world with a tiny special talent. Nice! Only then he started building up a harem which he pretty much entirely controlled, and defended himself of not being the nice guy.
And let's be honest, in a villain world Felix doesn't need to be the nice guy. He can have slaves. He can use the slaves. He can do whatever the hell he wants and think himself the good guy anyway.
Here is the thing - I expect more of the author. Is that unfair? Who knows, but this author didn't manage to write a book appealing to females. He didn't even try. And this kicks the book down and destroys all the potential.
Because the potential of great character development was there. The building of trust, learning to work together despite the power imbalance, the acknowledgement of his slaves' skill... that had potential.
Potential, that was willfully wasted.
Because the only thing that counted was that the slaves were female and that EVERYTHING they are is simply used as a reflection of Felix's desires, wants and needs.
And this point it doesn't come as any surprise that all of them are beautiful, strong, more or less happy with the slavery and like / love Felix. Or are lesbian.
Because of course neither of them had a husband or lover or anything resembling a life previously. They have no true history. No true wants. No desires for themselves. They are simply puppets strung along in an ego ride.
Truthfully, the only way to save this trainwreck of a plot would be to reveal that they all manipulated Felix.
Conclusion: A villain / harem book written by a male for males in which the main character can do no wrong by virtue of being himself. Not recommended for anyone without an Y-chromosome.
May 27, 2017
This is shooting for the "protagonist builds an empire and gets a harem" fantasy genre (see also Conrad Stargard, Dungeon Keeper Ami, Daniel Black, Evil God Average, etc). But I liked those other books, and I didn't like this book.
I think part of the problem is the protagonist here was sort of callously evil: he's building his empire by buying slaves with magically-enforced contracts, and anyone he doesn't like gets fed to the "sausage machine" and eaten for powerups.
But another chunk of the problem is I didn't believe he could do it. His past job experience is working at a fast food place for ten years, and that does not train a person to become a CEO and build a fortress housing hundreds of slaves. Most of this work is aggressively glossed over.
Also the book ended with the villain left entirely unexplained.
I think part of the problem is the protagonist here was sort of callously evil: he's building his empire by buying slaves with magically-enforced contracts, and anyone he doesn't like gets fed to the "sausage machine" and eaten for powerups.
But another chunk of the problem is I didn't believe he could do it. His past job experience is working at a fast food place for ten years, and that does not train a person to become a CEO and build a fortress housing hundreds of slaves. Most of this work is aggressively glossed over.
Also the book ended with the villain left entirely unexplained.
August 23, 2018
Rating 2.5 stars
Through most of the book I was thinking about a rating of 3.0. I thought it was okay, not great, but I was willing to see where the story went. What happened at the end made me lower my rating. It made what came before seem kind of pointless. I feel the main problem with this story is that it is trying to be too much and not succeeding at any of it. There is a Harem in this story, but not really since the main character only has sex with one person. There is slavery, but again not really since wages are paid - the slaves have rights and they basically get anything they want. It is also trying to be a LitRPG story with upgrades and character points, except not exactly. There are heroes and villains, but the heroes don't act very noble and the villains don't act that bad. The story also does not make that much sense. In the beginning, Felix gets on the black market to buy material that he can turn into gold or some other precious metal. He has the power to upgrade anything he owns into something else, except he usually does not have enough power to do that much. The material he bought from the black market is not what he expected.
Up until about 1/2 hour left in the audiobook, I would have considered listening to the next book, but I can say for sure now, that's not going to happen.
Through most of the book I was thinking about a rating of 3.0. I thought it was okay, not great, but I was willing to see where the story went. What happened at the end made me lower my rating. It made what came before seem kind of pointless. I feel the main problem with this story is that it is trying to be too much and not succeeding at any of it. There is a Harem in this story, but not really since the main character only has sex with one person. There is slavery, but again not really since wages are paid - the slaves have rights and they basically get anything they want. It is also trying to be a LitRPG story with upgrades and character points, except not exactly. There are heroes and villains, but the heroes don't act very noble and the villains don't act that bad. The story also does not make that much sense. In the beginning, Felix gets on the black market to buy material that he can turn into gold or some other precious metal. He has the power to upgrade anything he owns into something else, except he usually does not have enough power to do that much. The material he bought from the black market is not what he expected.
Up until about 1/2 hour left in the audiobook, I would have considered listening to the next book, but I can say for sure now, that's not going to happen.
June 2, 2017
This was the first I have read from William Arand and it was great. One might quibble about the novelty of the plot setting, but it is certainly not common. What sets this apart is the clever writing and interaction of the protagonist with other major characters. It was fun and never seemed to hit a slow spot. Highly recommended to lovers of urban fantasy.
My rating system (* = star)
1* couldn't finish book
2* finished book, but didn't like it
3* a good read
4* a very good read often with a novel concept or unusual plot
5* an exceptionally good read, a prominent example of the genre
My rating system (* = star)
1* couldn't finish book
2* finished book, but didn't like it
3* a good read
4* a very good read often with a novel concept or unusual plot
5* an exceptionally good read, a prominent example of the genre
May 22, 2017
This book popped up on my Amazon, 'You might also like' offerings.
The premise was novel, the under-powered super hero, flourishes now that a Super Villain revamps how The City operates.
Arand's take on how 'Felix' operates almost like a GM in the story with his power to modify others that he owns makes for some interesting internal monologues.
What I didn't like is that the book feels underweight. It was a quick, fast read that felt like the fast forward button was hit just a few times too many. We watch Felix go from a couple early auctions and business building to a small empire almost overnight.
The attacks and assaults on the empire make for great action scenes with Felix using his power to boost others powers on the fly. Then the follow up on how to deal with those new powers feels a bit light. The repeated line is, 'it felt like a hole punched in my mind' and then dropped. More could/should have been offered vs. the way it seemed like just a character sheet re-write.
The ending needs some polish. The book is about Felix using his power to modify others to handle the situations at hand. The end is him going Rambo and somehow winning when he shouldn't have. That was far out of character even though there were some instances where he did step up and did get peripherally involved with the actual combat.
I give it 4 stars because I didn't end up putting it down and read it in a day. I am looking forward to the next installment.
The premise was novel, the under-powered super hero, flourishes now that a Super Villain revamps how The City operates.
Arand's take on how 'Felix' operates almost like a GM in the story with his power to modify others that he owns makes for some interesting internal monologues.
What I didn't like is that the book feels underweight. It was a quick, fast read that felt like the fast forward button was hit just a few times too many. We watch Felix go from a couple early auctions and business building to a small empire almost overnight.
The attacks and assaults on the empire make for great action scenes with Felix using his power to boost others powers on the fly. Then the follow up on how to deal with those new powers feels a bit light. The repeated line is, 'it felt like a hole punched in my mind' and then dropped. More could/should have been offered vs. the way it seemed like just a character sheet re-write.
The ending needs some polish. The book is about Felix using his power to modify others to handle the situations at hand. The end is him going Rambo and somehow winning when he shouldn't have. That was far out of character even though there were some instances where he did step up and did get peripherally involved with the actual combat.
I give it 4 stars because I didn't end up putting it down and read it in a day. I am looking forward to the next installment.
June 2, 2017
It's a pretty good light read with a story that doesn't really go anywhere or do any thing. There are a couple of characters that don't do anything except exist. Mia doesn't actually do anything even though she's repeatedly describes as "deadly", literally every scene she's in shes standing in a corner. Ionea is literally only there to be gay, as her role is replaced by Victoria randomly. Neat ideas poorly executed. The whole book is just a string of incidents that have no real relation to each other. The actual writing itself is fine, it's just the lack of structure or purpose that ruins the score I give the book.
July 1, 2017
I really liked this book it had such a great new take on the superheroes thing. Very unique and intriguing plot that was action packed. Truly felt like a hybrid between a manga and superheroes book but still very different. If the author could just have skipped the long listing of points as often as it was used this would have been a five star. Not often I read about harems in books but this one pulls it off great. Very curious if this will develop into a series or not? Would like too read more about this world. Big thanks to the author for this great work and to Jeff Hazy for reading it on audio.
December 4, 2017
If you read light novels like Death March or Shield Hero. This is akin to that. If you can laugh at dark satire, this book is for you. The book is very tongue in cheek and knows it and rides it all the way to the last page. I do like the way the MC grows throughout the story. or The author tells you. "This novel contains graphic violence, undefined relationships/partial harem, unconventional opinions/beliefs, and a hero who is as tactful as a dog at a cat show. Read at your own risk." He's not kidding. 15/10. Will read again! (^_^)b Just picked up the second one and tearing into it now.
May 11, 2017
Awesome but need editing
That's an interesting take on the superhero genre! But the tables to show the stats are all over the place and some parts of the story are missing because the tables are in the way. I don't know if my version of the ebook is corrupted or something but it should be taken care off.
I still hope to read more of that story and read more of Andrea's silliness.
That's an interesting take on the superhero genre! But the tables to show the stats are all over the place and some parts of the story are missing because the tables are in the way. I don't know if my version of the ebook is corrupted or something but it should be taken care off.
I still hope to read more of that story and read more of Andrea's silliness.
February 5, 2019
I really enjoyed this book. It was interesting, action packed, and had a unique premise.
I think my only real issue was the relationships. There was zero chemistry between Felix and any of the love interests. The ones he actually seemed to have chemistry with (imho, Victoria and Miu), were never even hinted at as love interests.
Felix was emotionally flat most of the time, which I guess is within his character, but it would have been nice to see something from him, some level of caring. The only person he seemed to really connect with was Eva, him seeing her as a little sister of sorts, and there were some very nice moments between them.
I think my only real issue was the relationships. There was zero chemistry between Felix and any of the love interests. The ones he actually seemed to have chemistry with (imho, Victoria and Miu), were never even hinted at as love interests.
Felix was emotionally flat most of the time, which I guess is within his character, but it would have been nice to see something from him, some level of caring. The only person he seemed to really connect with was Eva, him seeing her as a little sister of sorts, and there were some very nice moments between them.
February 16, 2019
Pretty good basic idea of the special superpower, though the potential to have an overpowered hero was just too great and didn't come to pass only due to lack of imagination on the main character's part. That said, with superheroes, we've all grown accustomed to them not using powers intelligently, as that would just make them too powerful and it would mean quick end to all problems, so I didn't consider this an issue.
The book was highly humorous, the author is playing a bit on the young teenage male's mind by making most of the secondary characters female and beautiful. Still, the dynamic there was funny and well executed.
The book was highly humorous, the author is playing a bit on the young teenage male's mind by making most of the secondary characters female and beautiful. Still, the dynamic there was funny and well executed.
May 15, 2017
Sometimes a little power is just enough
Unique perspective on super heroes and villains. Felix has a terrible job, almost no money, no friends, and very limited powers that allow him to change things, but not enough to do much good. His city has been taken over by a super villain; and now super heroes have bounties on them. He accidentally gets a super hero as a salvaged slave and that's where the fun begins! Great story line, and lots of fun and adventure.
Unique perspective on super heroes and villains. Felix has a terrible job, almost no money, no friends, and very limited powers that allow him to change things, but not enough to do much good. His city has been taken over by a super villain; and now super heroes have bounties on them. He accidentally gets a super hero as a salvaged slave and that's where the fun begins! Great story line, and lots of fun and adventure.
December 14, 2017
I can see how this book would get mixed reviews. I personally enjoyed it as its easy for me to take the perspective of the character, but I can see how others could revile it due to the fact that slavery is even involved. Even if he respects and treats his like family.
November 20, 2017
This book was truly well written. I like that the protagonist is a different sort of character then you would expect here. He allows the other characters to shine. I really enjoyed this as well as Wild Wastes, which took the same formula and ran with it as well.
July 26, 2017
2.5 Stars, This one is actually hard to rate. It's full of plot holes, forced scenes and down right non-sense but.... damn it! I still enjoyed it.
Any one that is even remotely aware of anime and JP games will recognize the Harem concept in this book.
Felix is our bland as can be MC, he "accidentally" buys a slave and discovers that just the ownership causes his own power to skyrocket. of course the next logical step is to start a harem! the more slaves he has the better.
As with most of stories in this sub-genre the "character" is more that of the people around the MC while he suddenly goes from a nobody that women don't notice to Adonis.
Now I'm actually fine with that troop, my main issue with the book is the slavery aspect, all the women (and the token male here and there) are not just ok with this, they're happy being slaves, they consider their lives better now!
Independent women that were previously either Super-heroines fighting for justice or power hungry villainess are fine being someone else's property.... and leaving their own super powers under his whim (yes his power is to treat them like video game characters and tamper with their status!) they are also fine with the threat of being made into meat sausage if they disobey and being eaten by the rest of the team -totally voluntary cannibalism, because that makes it better...-
Ok, Super heroes WILL do what's right regardless, it's in their job description, as for super villains.... they are the most motivated people on the planet to gain as much power as possible, by differentiation they will not be limited by anyone much less some greasy guy that works in a Mac Donald knock off.
The plot lacks an arc, the MC goes from serving burgers to owning a slave empire in no time at all, The antagonist is... there... yeah I have no idea who it is or why he's bothering to annoy the MC, it was never explained and had a "oh look, lets have an action scene here. oh we need to humanize the MC here, make it so he's more likeable over there!"
Also the sausage machine, was meat pies already taken? That was disturbing to just be disturbing...
I did like the sillness of the neko girl, having the soul sucking witch be a lawyer was a bit on the nose but made me smile none the less. over all it was a good idea that needed proper molding, by the end the MC was pretty much a god, he's power was whatever the plot needed which shows how easy it was to write yourself into a corner in this book.
Any one that is even remotely aware of anime and JP games will recognize the Harem concept in this book.
Felix is our bland as can be MC, he "accidentally" buys a slave and discovers that just the ownership causes his own power to skyrocket. of course the next logical step is to start a harem! the more slaves he has the better.
As with most of stories in this sub-genre the "character" is more that of the people around the MC while he suddenly goes from a nobody that women don't notice to Adonis.
Now I'm actually fine with that troop, my main issue with the book is the slavery aspect, all the women (and the token male here and there) are not just ok with this, they're happy being slaves, they consider their lives better now!
Independent women that were previously either Super-heroines fighting for justice or power hungry villainess are fine being someone else's property.... and leaving their own super powers under his whim (yes his power is to treat them like video game characters and tamper with their status!) they are also fine with the threat of being made into meat sausage if they disobey and being eaten by the rest of the team -totally voluntary cannibalism, because that makes it better...-
Ok, Super heroes WILL do what's right regardless, it's in their job description, as for super villains.... they are the most motivated people on the planet to gain as much power as possible, by differentiation they will not be limited by anyone much less some greasy guy that works in a Mac Donald knock off.
The plot lacks an arc, the MC goes from serving burgers to owning a slave empire in no time at all, The antagonist is... there... yeah I have no idea who it is or why he's bothering to annoy the MC, it was never explained and had a "oh look, lets have an action scene here. oh we need to humanize the MC here, make it so he's more likeable over there!"
Also the sausage machine, was meat pies already taken? That was disturbing to just be disturbing...
I did like the sillness of the neko girl, having the soul sucking witch be a lawyer was a bit on the nose but made me smile none the less. over all it was a good idea that needed proper molding, by the end the MC was pretty much a god, he's power was whatever the plot needed which shows how easy it was to write yourself into a corner in this book.
July 1, 2017
Ok So here is the thing, And I think it bares mentioning. This book is the ultimate guilty pleasure read.
I have seen alot of Reviews for this book low balling it, the readers who felt the need to give this book a lowscore did not do so for poor writing or unlikable characters. The 2 star scores all seem to be earned as a result of the readers ideology. They see the Slavery and the Harem and the minor cannibalism and cant even. YET all of those Reviews quickly include that they liked it regardless.
Is this book a master piece?
HELL NO!
But is it well written, surprising inventive and original. FUUUUUUCK YEAH IT IS! This is the story of a typical Salary man with the kind of ability that is both amaze balls and completely useless until the day he accidentally buys slave. Now he has discovered a method to drastically boost his power. The cynical bastard in me loved the world present one where the Villain not only one but then proceeded to build a mother fucking utopia. Their home city-state is in having an economic boom, and universal healthcare is a thing. You want a nice happy life? just fall in line. unless you wanna be a trouble making Dudley Do-right. Out Salary man doesnt take upon himself to go out and right all wrongs or reek havoc. He is just a guy who pragmatically puts his own happiness and success a the top of the todo list. Along the way he builds a harem of lovely talented women he treats with both respect and affection. He is not a nice guy and his not a door mat. He is also not a monster. Salaryman is just a dude. "The Goodguys" are every bit as deadly and devious as the Villains willing to go to any lengths to do what they decided is right.
Salaryman and his Haram are fun engaging and Fresh. YES they are his Slaves, no he is never going to free them they are to valuable to him and yes there is a world of fucked up in this book that is in your face with how icky it all is. Just wait till you get to the Sausage machine. But the thing is, and this is a big thing. Its good, this is not for every one but for someone well versed in Superhero tropes Anime tropes and is aware that humanity as a whole is terrible and we are 3 steps shy of poop flying animals then you love this book
I have seen alot of Reviews for this book low balling it, the readers who felt the need to give this book a lowscore did not do so for poor writing or unlikable characters. The 2 star scores all seem to be earned as a result of the readers ideology. They see the Slavery and the Harem and the minor cannibalism and cant even. YET all of those Reviews quickly include that they liked it regardless.
Is this book a master piece?
HELL NO!
But is it well written, surprising inventive and original. FUUUUUUCK YEAH IT IS! This is the story of a typical Salary man with the kind of ability that is both amaze balls and completely useless until the day he accidentally buys slave. Now he has discovered a method to drastically boost his power. The cynical bastard in me loved the world present one where the Villain not only one but then proceeded to build a mother fucking utopia. Their home city-state is in having an economic boom, and universal healthcare is a thing. You want a nice happy life? just fall in line. unless you wanna be a trouble making Dudley Do-right. Out Salary man doesnt take upon himself to go out and right all wrongs or reek havoc. He is just a guy who pragmatically puts his own happiness and success a the top of the todo list. Along the way he builds a harem of lovely talented women he treats with both respect and affection. He is not a nice guy and his not a door mat. He is also not a monster. Salaryman is just a dude. "The Goodguys" are every bit as deadly and devious as the Villains willing to go to any lengths to do what they decided is right.
Salaryman and his Haram are fun engaging and Fresh. YES they are his Slaves, no he is never going to free them they are to valuable to him and yes there is a world of fucked up in this book that is in your face with how icky it all is. Just wait till you get to the Sausage machine. But the thing is, and this is a big thing. Its good, this is not for every one but for someone well versed in Superhero tropes Anime tropes and is aware that humanity as a whole is terrible and we are 3 steps shy of poop flying animals then you love this book
October 27, 2017
What a terrible book. It might be the worst book I have finished. I kept going with it, because I figured that it would eventually try to make sense, but nope. Its a book about tortured and disfigured female super heroes (With no reason at all why they are tortured and disfigured.) who are made into slaves by some boring, poorly written protagonist. Theres your ENTIRE story, sorry for the spoilers. Is there a villain? Well I guess, but we dont get to meet him or her at all in this book. Is there a story? No. There are a series of unconnected events that the author slapped together to pad his page count, then sent it out for the easily entertained to lap up.
There is absolutely nothing redeeming about this book....not one single thing. Why it gets good reviews is just proof that the standards for books are at or below zero.
There is absolutely nothing redeeming about this book....not one single thing. Why it gets good reviews is just proof that the standards for books are at or below zero.
September 12, 2018
The audiobook is almost as interesting as reading the phone book. Here's a quote from the book (prepare to be riveted)
"strength thirty five, dexterity forty three, agility forty six, stamina fifty six, wisdom forty one, intelligence sixty one, luck eighty dour, primary power ninety one, secondary power two"
Four of the six hours is the narrator saying a noun followed by a number followed by a noun followed by a number followed by a noun followed by a number followed by a noun followed by a number followed by a noun followed by a number followed by a noun followed by a number followed by a noun followed by a number followed by a noun followed by a number. The I'm not sure what the second half of the book contains, possibly a twist like a verb followed by a number.
"strength thirty five, dexterity forty three, agility forty six, stamina fifty six, wisdom forty one, intelligence sixty one, luck eighty dour, primary power ninety one, secondary power two"
Four of the six hours is the narrator saying a noun followed by a number followed by a noun followed by a number followed by a noun followed by a number followed by a noun followed by a number followed by a noun followed by a number followed by a noun followed by a number followed by a noun followed by a number followed by a noun followed by a number. The I'm not sure what the second half of the book contains, possibly a twist like a verb followed by a number.
August 2, 2017
Supes not as expected
Character. This had character, the people feel real and expected tropes were called out and discussed. There are tons of strong women characters. The big issue for me was the central male character bears a strong resemblance to Heinlein main characters. And the harem image is also derivative even tho it is dismissed. Still, an exciting read and I am looking for a second installment
Character. This had character, the people feel real and expected tropes were called out and discussed. There are tons of strong women characters. The big issue for me was the central male character bears a strong resemblance to Heinlein main characters. And the harem image is also derivative even tho it is dismissed. Still, an exciting read and I am looking for a second installment
Displaying 1 - 30 of 514 reviews