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Space Knight #2
Space Knight 2
To protect the crew against betrayal, Captain Cross sends the Stalwart on a training mission to Ecoma, a gas giant populated by evolved humans with dangerous empathic abilities.
The journey was supposed to be easy: Acquire training from the evolved humans, negotiate the use of magical devices that can protect the knights from mind control, and get a bit of R&R.
Of course, nothing is ever easy with the Stalwart, and Squire Nicholas Lyons soon finds himself battling for his life against sensual mind readers, hordes of bloodthirsty Grendels, enemy kingdom warriors, and a berserker knight named Olav.
The journey was supposed to be easy: Acquire training from the evolved humans, negotiate the use of magical devices that can protect the knights from mind control, and get a bit of R&R.
Of course, nothing is ever easy with the Stalwart, and Squire Nicholas Lyons soon finds himself battling for his life against sensual mind readers, hordes of bloodthirsty Grendels, enemy kingdom warriors, and a berserker knight named Olav.
719 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 1, 2017
366 people are currently reading
151 people want to read
About the author
Michael-Scott Earle
76 books1,590 followersNYT and USA Today bestseller of fiction. Top 100 Amazon best selling author.
You can buy my novels on my website. www.michaelscottearle.com
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You can buy my novels on my website. www.michaelscottearle.com
I DON'T ANSWER QUESTIONS ON GOODREADS ANYMORE. IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION, JOIN MY FACEBOOK GROUP OR MAILING LIST.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/15622...
http://www.michaelscottearle.com/subs...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
November 5, 2017
Sigh...
I generally wanted to like this book. The story and plot is awesome. But my problem is the main character! There are times when he behaves like a teenager. Fumbling the moment he sees a pretty face. And he's so naïve and easily manipulated. Maybe its my age, but some of these quirks really annoy me. In my opinion, he is the most unlikeable character in the series. The author has done a excellent job at world building, and the action satisfied my inner gamer. I just wish the protagonist would grow some balls.
I generally wanted to like this book. The story and plot is awesome. But my problem is the main character! There are times when he behaves like a teenager. Fumbling the moment he sees a pretty face. And he's so naïve and easily manipulated. Maybe its my age, but some of these quirks really annoy me. In my opinion, he is the most unlikeable character in the series. The author has done a excellent job at world building, and the action satisfied my inner gamer. I just wish the protagonist would grow some balls.
November 5, 2017
Good YA litRPG
This is another of MSE's litRPG books. The basic story is good but it tends to get bogged down with all the analyses of the various weapons that they find. Once again MSE's love of the hero having multiple love interests comes to the fore. Empath or not, PM Treyin was halfway to controlling Nick through his own hormones. Not to say that he would voluntarily helped her. Not as good as book one as Nick's naïveté can only be excused for so long. As adult fiction it only deserves a 3 star rating but as YA fiction I'll be generous and give it 4 stars.
This is another of MSE's litRPG books. The basic story is good but it tends to get bogged down with all the analyses of the various weapons that they find. Once again MSE's love of the hero having multiple love interests comes to the fore. Empath or not, PM Treyin was halfway to controlling Nick through his own hormones. Not to say that he would voluntarily helped her. Not as good as book one as Nick's naïveté can only be excused for so long. As adult fiction it only deserves a 3 star rating but as YA fiction I'll be generous and give it 4 stars.
January 21, 2019
The first book was cheesy but fun, this book was a mess. The female characters seem to exist only as a means to describe "attractive" women to be "desired" by Lyons. None of the story arcs were at all interesting, and I was tired of both Lyons' whining, and Olav's incessant "traitor" remarks. Why take the least interesting and most irritating character of thr first book and devote so much time to him? All I wanted was more looting and killing. All I got were juvenile fantasies of women with no personality. Gross.
March 19, 2020
This book featured a type of story I absolutely hate; the one where all of the side characters in a book hate the protagonist for something that isn't the protagonist's fault. Here are my top reasons why this kind of story sucks:
1 - Good guys become antagonists.
An antagonist is a character who opposes or is hostile to the protagonist. Normally this role falls to the villain because that makes the most sense. However, it's sometimes fun to play with this by having antagonists be characters who really shouldn't be antagonists. There are great stories about enemies who become perfect partners by playing with this formula. In fact, almost every story has this in a minor way, usually in the form of characters who don't get on but overcome their differences to work towards a common goal, but those are more minor antagonists.
For every great story of a major antagonist turned ally, there are a hundred bad ones because, at the end of the day, we as readers normally cheer for the protagonist. Therefore we tend to dislike anyone working against them. It takes a special story to overcome this sort of imbalance, and I have never read a successful version where there are multiple good guys who follow this arc.
This story tries just that and you know right from the beginning it won't work because as a reader I don't want it to work. It's like the trope of a kid making friends with his bully for one reason or another. It's never satisfying because we don't want to make friends with that arsehole, we want to see him punished. Multiply that feeling over multiple characters and suddenly you have a whole lot of dissatisfaction heading your way.
2 - It's not just, and therefore it's not satisfying.
Being with the protagonist for the entire journey means that we know his reasons for his actions and how events unfolded. Therefore we know when other character's actions are unjust.
Justice is important in writing (as I hinted at earlier with my bully analogy). Sure, sometimes it's a powerful move to see justice thwarted because it serves the story to have it happen that way. Again, here it takes a special kind of story to pull this off because above all else, readers want to be satisfied. The easiest way to satisfy a reader is to show them justice happening to people they dislike. If you are going to thwart justice, then you need to make the story satisfying in some other way.
The animosity shown to the main character throughout this book was unjust and we know that because...
3 - The conflict could be solved with a few sentences
Yep, that old chestnut. If a conflict can ever be solved by someone getting the chance to speak a few sentences in self-defence, then it is not a strong enough conflict to drive a novel. The conflict in this novel is constantly driven by characters refusing to listen to the protagonist's side of a story, even when it makes obvious sense for them to listen to it. Whenever that happens, it's always because an author is trying to write themselves out of the whole they have written themselves into by following this sort of plot. It never ever works!
So overall, this wasn't an enjoyable book and it is only my respect for one of the two authors that I have kept reading. I notice that Mr E Green's name drops off the cover for the next books and I will try one more just to see if that makes a difference. I haven't read anything else by that author whereas I am a big fan of Michael Scott Earle's work. I hope that maybe a lot of what is wrong with this series will be cleaned away in book 3.
1 - Good guys become antagonists.
An antagonist is a character who opposes or is hostile to the protagonist. Normally this role falls to the villain because that makes the most sense. However, it's sometimes fun to play with this by having antagonists be characters who really shouldn't be antagonists. There are great stories about enemies who become perfect partners by playing with this formula. In fact, almost every story has this in a minor way, usually in the form of characters who don't get on but overcome their differences to work towards a common goal, but those are more minor antagonists.
For every great story of a major antagonist turned ally, there are a hundred bad ones because, at the end of the day, we as readers normally cheer for the protagonist. Therefore we tend to dislike anyone working against them. It takes a special story to overcome this sort of imbalance, and I have never read a successful version where there are multiple good guys who follow this arc.
This story tries just that and you know right from the beginning it won't work because as a reader I don't want it to work. It's like the trope of a kid making friends with his bully for one reason or another. It's never satisfying because we don't want to make friends with that arsehole, we want to see him punished. Multiply that feeling over multiple characters and suddenly you have a whole lot of dissatisfaction heading your way.
2 - It's not just, and therefore it's not satisfying.
Being with the protagonist for the entire journey means that we know his reasons for his actions and how events unfolded. Therefore we know when other character's actions are unjust.
Justice is important in writing (as I hinted at earlier with my bully analogy). Sure, sometimes it's a powerful move to see justice thwarted because it serves the story to have it happen that way. Again, here it takes a special kind of story to pull this off because above all else, readers want to be satisfied. The easiest way to satisfy a reader is to show them justice happening to people they dislike. If you are going to thwart justice, then you need to make the story satisfying in some other way.
The animosity shown to the main character throughout this book was unjust and we know that because...
3 - The conflict could be solved with a few sentences
Yep, that old chestnut. If a conflict can ever be solved by someone getting the chance to speak a few sentences in self-defence, then it is not a strong enough conflict to drive a novel. The conflict in this novel is constantly driven by characters refusing to listen to the protagonist's side of a story, even when it makes obvious sense for them to listen to it. Whenever that happens, it's always because an author is trying to write themselves out of the whole they have written themselves into by following this sort of plot. It never ever works!
So overall, this wasn't an enjoyable book and it is only my respect for one of the two authors that I have kept reading. I notice that Mr E Green's name drops off the cover for the next books and I will try one more just to see if that makes a difference. I haven't read anything else by that author whereas I am a big fan of Michael Scott Earle's work. I hope that maybe a lot of what is wrong with this series will be cleaned away in book 3.
June 1, 2021
This series so far is very disappointing.
The MC in this series feels like a doormat. He just lets everyone trick him, fool him and manipulate him to do whatever they want. I hate reading stories where the MC just lets people walk all over them. It's not fun to read. Plus Nic's IQ in this series so far is -189. Dumb High! The fact that we have to follow this naïve person in an adult fantasy book is a fucking bore. All the squires in these books, are far worse. They are even more boring. The only saving grace are the knights, with their over the top personalities. (Olav is too funny at times!) This book reads as if its target audience was aimed for middle schoolers or young teens rather than a fantasy book for adults. Take away the excessive violence and sexual elements and this would actually be a decent book for that demographic but as a mature fantasy book for adults it fails in both story and enjoyment. No exciting or intriguing plot, the worlds that we visit are kind of bare and undeveloped, and the relationships that are formed are a joke.
Also I hate it when people say you have to read more books in order for the story to get good. Most of the time you just end up wasting money. Books should have its own compelling story. Not just a bare bones story to set up one or two things with the expectation that you by more. That should not be the way authors write books. As a reader its a strain on the wallet when authors do this. Instead of writing a compelling story in 3 or 4 books they stretch it out to 8 or more books by filling the pages with glorified filler.
If the story is intriguing enough people would gladly buy the books, but when you write books to only set up a few things and give the reader a half ass story its feels scumy.
PS I hate reading a story that has a MC not using their brain and has blind loyalty to something/someone without cause.
The MC in this series feels like a doormat. He just lets everyone trick him, fool him and manipulate him to do whatever they want. I hate reading stories where the MC just lets people walk all over them. It's not fun to read. Plus Nic's IQ in this series so far is -189. Dumb High! The fact that we have to follow this naïve person in an adult fantasy book is a fucking bore. All the squires in these books, are far worse. They are even more boring. The only saving grace are the knights, with their over the top personalities. (Olav is too funny at times!) This book reads as if its target audience was aimed for middle schoolers or young teens rather than a fantasy book for adults. Take away the excessive violence and sexual elements and this would actually be a decent book for that demographic but as a mature fantasy book for adults it fails in both story and enjoyment. No exciting or intriguing plot, the worlds that we visit are kind of bare and undeveloped, and the relationships that are formed are a joke.
Also I hate it when people say you have to read more books in order for the story to get good. Most of the time you just end up wasting money. Books should have its own compelling story. Not just a bare bones story to set up one or two things with the expectation that you by more. That should not be the way authors write books. As a reader its a strain on the wallet when authors do this. Instead of writing a compelling story in 3 or 4 books they stretch it out to 8 or more books by filling the pages with glorified filler.
If the story is intriguing enough people would gladly buy the books, but when you write books to only set up a few things and give the reader a half ass story its feels scumy.
PS I hate reading a story that has a MC not using their brain and has blind loyalty to something/someone without cause.
June 14, 2018
A great second book
A great balance of imperfections in the main character, Lyons, without them being overblown. And he learns!
The developing romances in this book seem the least plausible part of the story.
Polgar is a great nemesis, an evil character acting behind the scenes, tricking the inexperienced squire into being his puppet.
The relationship between Olav and Lyons seems to develop in a reasonable way. Olav does seem very derivate of a certain warhammer dwarven slayer, down to the orange mohawk, but maybe that is just me?
The alien lifeforms introduced, and the arc ship/creatures providing habitation around the gas giant were creative and interesting, if not explained in too much detail. Empathy and mind control are challenging subjects which were handled well enough, although its always uncomfortable to have the protagonist acting without volition.
On to the next book in the series.
A great balance of imperfections in the main character, Lyons, without them being overblown. And he learns!
The developing romances in this book seem the least plausible part of the story.
Polgar is a great nemesis, an evil character acting behind the scenes, tricking the inexperienced squire into being his puppet.
The relationship between Olav and Lyons seems to develop in a reasonable way. Olav does seem very derivate of a certain warhammer dwarven slayer, down to the orange mohawk, but maybe that is just me?
The alien lifeforms introduced, and the arc ship/creatures providing habitation around the gas giant were creative and interesting, if not explained in too much detail. Empathy and mind control are challenging subjects which were handled well enough, although its always uncomfortable to have the protagonist acting without volition.
On to the next book in the series.
November 20, 2017
As with many of the others I really wanted to like this book and did finish it but am really having trouble with the juxtaposition of him being really shy and now chasing 3 different women. In the first book I had issues with him being a fighter and yet when his mother is threatened, rather than moving to personally assure her safety he betrays his friends. Either he has a core of ethics or not but the ping ponging between taking on all comers and flipping to full on passive mode makes the series painful to read. So, OK, I got through it, but this may be the last in this series I read.
November 8, 2017
Enjoyable, Very Good, Cross-genre Sword and Sorcery/Dynastic Space Opera
This series is just so much fun to read! This second episode of the "Space Knight" series follows the spaceship Stalwart and it's crazy crew into an extremely bizarre world. It is a gas giant planet, but modified humans live within giant cyborg animals that fly and float through the gas giant's thick atmosphere. Partially gutted, with added generators and engines, the giant animals still live...in some fashion.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED AS BOTH AN INDIVIDUAL BOOK AND AS A SERIES
This series is just so much fun to read! This second episode of the "Space Knight" series follows the spaceship Stalwart and it's crazy crew into an extremely bizarre world. It is a gas giant planet, but modified humans live within giant cyborg animals that fly and float through the gas giant's thick atmosphere. Partially gutted, with added generators and engines, the giant animals still live...in some fashion.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED AS BOTH AN INDIVIDUAL BOOK AND AS A SERIES
November 15, 2017
Outstanding
I thought that the first book was good, the Second was none Stop Action and Intrigue. As far as which Woman, I don't know, but I think he should hook up with either the Dr or Point clerk and the Casey and him fall in Love. As far as which Knight speciality, with his mutation and others to come I'm sure lol. I think possibly more than one, I have always liked a good Assassin or you could have them find a Marksman knight to train him. Although I know Olav will be disappointed that he doesn't become a Berserker.
I thought that the first book was good, the Second was none Stop Action and Intrigue. As far as which Woman, I don't know, but I think he should hook up with either the Dr or Point clerk and the Casey and him fall in Love. As far as which Knight speciality, with his mutation and others to come I'm sure lol. I think possibly more than one, I have always liked a good Assassin or you could have them find a Marksman knight to train him. Although I know Olav will be disappointed that he doesn't become a Berserker.
March 20, 2018
This is one continuous space battle. If space operas had arias, this would rank as one of the finest. Many people may not appreciate the style of Michael-Scott Earle, but I do, intensely. His plots are straightforward and his characters are clearly defined.
This is clearly a FUN read. It makes no attempt to challenge the reader to solve some esoteric mystery. What we do have is a slow maturation of the characters as individuals, and the storyline pointing to an event somewhere in the future within the series.
This is clearly a FUN read. It makes no attempt to challenge the reader to solve some esoteric mystery. What we do have is a slow maturation of the characters as individuals, and the storyline pointing to an event somewhere in the future within the series.
November 21, 2017
Epic tale
Epic tale with more to come from this fantastic authors and this series has so much to do and see. As for who our space knight
should be with surprise us, and for his specialty I think he needs more time to see what he really wants to do maybe he can set up a new specialty. I mean he can teleport and raise the power of jump gates he needs to learn to control his powers.
Epic tale with more to come from this fantastic authors and this series has so much to do and see. As for who our space knight
should be with surprise us, and for his specialty I think he needs more time to see what he really wants to do maybe he can set up a new specialty. I mean he can teleport and raise the power of jump gates he needs to learn to control his powers.
March 23, 2018
Nicholas has redeemed himself in the eyes of most of the crew but a few holdouts remain angry about his treachery. The crew find themselves on a world full of empaths and Nicholas once again causes some of the rifts to grow in size because of his mutation. He also continues to win over the crew including the berserker Olav as they have to join forces to save the day. An interesting read and Nicholas seems to have removed his head from his posterior enough to make some better decisions.
July 11, 2018
I ended up really liking this one. I was determined to not because I am annoyed with the weird sexual tension constantly being built up between the main character and pretty much every single female character he comes across, even though there is nothing in the story to really support that trait in him. But, outside of the, the action was good and tense and I felt myself anxious for the characters.
November 3, 2017
Awesome book in a great series!
I absolutely love this series, I waited for book two just hoping it would be as good as book one and it didn't disappoint maybe even better! Space battles,love triangles and a great mixed bag of characters make for a fun book and I could not put it down. Don't miss this series its worth reading!
I absolutely love this series, I waited for book two just hoping it would be as good as book one and it didn't disappoint maybe even better! Space battles,love triangles and a great mixed bag of characters make for a fun book and I could not put it down. Don't miss this series its worth reading!
November 17, 2017
Good But Fast
The series thus far has been good but feels a bit rushed. This second book expands on a lot of things and helps with the rush issue, as well as add some much-needed character growth.
Although good work, I’m still not drawn to it like I’ve been with other LitRPG works. I’ll read the next book for sure, but it won’t be on top of the pile.
The series thus far has been good but feels a bit rushed. This second book expands on a lot of things and helps with the rush issue, as well as add some much-needed character growth.
Although good work, I’m still not drawn to it like I’ve been with other LitRPG works. I’ll read the next book for sure, but it won’t be on top of the pile.
February 11, 2018
A very good continuation
Squire Lyons adventures continues in this second volume of Space Knights. This time they arrive on a planet outside the borders of the kingdom and stumbles across secrets and political plots.
Since Michael asked, I think Lyons should stay with Elle. She is the best. And maybe he should take either Tower Shield or Berseker class.
Squire Lyons adventures continues in this second volume of Space Knights. This time they arrive on a planet outside the borders of the kingdom and stumbles across secrets and political plots.
Since Michael asked, I think Lyons should stay with Elle. She is the best. And maybe he should take either Tower Shield or Berseker class.
March 14, 2019
Do you know those sit-coms that rely on the central characters not communicating to extend a conflict/misunderstanding? That's stretched out for 90% of this book. It gets old.
There are also way too many grammar and vocabulary errors for my taste. It's just lucky that the setting and story are good, otherwise, I'd have given up.
There are also way too many grammar and vocabulary errors for my taste. It's just lucky that the setting and story are good, otherwise, I'd have given up.
November 5, 2017
More fun with the former space cadets
I would have rated higher but the ending felt rushed. I had fun with the battles. It felt to me like a good episode of the star gate tv show. A bit campy but a fun ride.
I would have rated higher but the ending felt rushed. I had fun with the battles. It felt to me like a good episode of the star gate tv show. A bit campy but a fun ride.
November 7, 2017
Another amazing book
after this buying this book I could not put it back down, I seriously had to reread it! It's just one of those stories, extremely action packed!
You start to find out a lot more about the main and minor characters specially our favorite berserker!
after this buying this book I could not put it back down, I seriously had to reread it! It's just one of those stories, extremely action packed!
You start to find out a lot more about the main and minor characters specially our favorite berserker!
November 7, 2017
Like every other book Michael-scott Earle touches it was pure gold!
If you like Sci-fi/Fantasy go no further this is the book for you. I have been hooked on this series and every other book MSE has touched. Do yourself a favor and buy them all now.
If you like Sci-fi/Fantasy go no further this is the book for you. I have been hooked on this series and every other book MSE has touched. Do yourself a favor and buy them all now.
November 9, 2017
Enjoyable
My only problem was with how fast the MC goes from being hated as a traitor by one of the crew to being best of friends.
Just didn't seem to give a solid reason for it.
Other than that I can recommend this book and was glad it was on KU.
My only problem was with how fast the MC goes from being hated as a traitor by one of the crew to being best of friends.
Just didn't seem to give a solid reason for it.
Other than that I can recommend this book and was glad it was on KU.
November 10, 2017
I started it but didn't finish. I just couldn't get into it enough to care about finishing it even half way in. part of the problem was I couldn't get a fix on what this was. was it science fiction, litrpg or gamelit. it kept throwing me.
November 11, 2017
Career path
Keep him on the knights path headed toward supreme knight capabilities. All the girls have career paths and are strong minded could possibly work out a timeshare system? Next ships captain for the queen? Enjoyed both books thanks.
Keep him on the knights path headed toward supreme knight capabilities. All the girls have career paths and are strong minded could possibly work out a timeshare system? Next ships captain for the queen? Enjoyed both books thanks.
November 19, 2017
4.5 stars. The D&D aspect wherein the protagonist reviews weapons stats gets a bit distracting (and too in depth), but once one starts to just gloss over those parts , the story is very interesting, the writing engaging, and the character interactions excellent.
December 3, 2017
Excellent follow up
This is a really fun series to get into the lit rpg genre. I had a lot of fun reading this book and its predecessor. This book made me laugh out loud a few times. Great series. I read this on Kindle Unlimited.
This is a really fun series to get into the lit rpg genre. I had a lot of fun reading this book and its predecessor. This book made me laugh out loud a few times. Great series. I read this on Kindle Unlimited.
January 19, 2018
This was a great book i could not put it down. It felt like it was a little short but all great books feel that way. The world was developed in a way that made me feel like imwa s a part of it. I can’t wait for the next book!
February 11, 2018
The series continues to entertain
What's not to like. Spaceships, battles, beautiful strong women warriors, noble men with swords, and plenty of enemies to kill. In addition, a mystery. Why does it seem like an arcade game?
What's not to like. Spaceships, battles, beautiful strong women warriors, noble men with swords, and plenty of enemies to kill. In addition, a mystery. Why does it seem like an arcade game?
March 19, 2018
Do I want another saga? Silly question Michael!!!
As for who the squire dates next etc? You are doing an amazing job with the story line and I always love a good surprise. Keep 'email comin!
As for who the squire dates next etc? You are doing an amazing job with the story line and I always love a good surprise. Keep 'email comin!
April 22, 2018
Not as good as the first book but worth a read
I thought to much time was spent on the phoney hatred of the Knights to the main character. The story gathers pace in the second half of the book marking it worth a read.
I thought to much time was spent on the phoney hatred of the Knights to the main character. The story gathers pace in the second half of the book marking it worth a read.
June 26, 2018
Very disappointing
Poor characterization. I stopped reading when i asked myself why I'm reading about a foolish gullible idiot as the MC. Even the author seems to have delved into one in order to write this. Very disappointing. I'll rather wait for Star Justice
Poor characterization. I stopped reading when i asked myself why I'm reading about a foolish gullible idiot as the MC. Even the author seems to have delved into one in order to write this. Very disappointing. I'll rather wait for Star Justice
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews