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The Legendary Builder #1
The Builder's Sword
Arthur never expected to wind up in Hell. At least, not because he found an ancient sword in a pawnshop. To make matters worse, Hell isn't as he thought. It's a desolate wasteland under siege by an all-consuming void known as the Darkness.
Now, he's trapped with no way home, a ragtag army of women, and a sword whose only power is to modify the abilities of those around him. Not exactly winning odds.
Worse, if the Darkness isn't stopped, not only will it devour Hell, but Earth will be next on the menu.
Now, he's trapped with no way home, a ragtag army of women, and a sword whose only power is to modify the abilities of those around him. Not exactly winning odds.
Worse, if the Darkness isn't stopped, not only will it devour Hell, but Earth will be next on the menu.
9 pages, Audiobook
First published July 19, 2017
738 people are currently reading
471 people want to read
About the author
J.A. Cipriano
92 books585 followersWhen New York Times Bestselling author, J. A. Cipriano was in second grade, his teacher gave everyone in class a journal to write down whatever they wanted. Their first subject was to write about something they didn’t like. J. A. chose to write about why he didn’t like writing. His reasoning was simple. He had bad handwriting. Even then, he was destined to be an engineer due to his messy scrawl.
Unfortunately, he found through the course of this little adventure that he actually liked writing. That year was sort of the high point for his writing career because he won a writing contest for the state. He got to go to a big dinner and his teacher was all dressed up.
He kept writing little stories, year after year, and in sixth grade, won another contest. In seventh grade, he broke his arm and got the cast signed by both Dean Koontz and Stan Lee. It is, by far, the coolest cast he’s owned. That was about the time he found video games and anime. His writing turned mostly toward fanfiction until about ninth grade when he wrote his first novel, a small book about twenty thousand words called Revelations. In sophomore year, he wrote two more books to complete the trilogy because he saw Star Wars that year and learned trilogies were the cool thing to do.
He rewrote Revelations during his senior year, and his wife swears it is the best thing he’s written. J.A. is not so sure. Every time he reads it, he cringes, but then again, he hates everything he writes, so there is that.
It was about that time, he got heavily involved in a fanfiction writing group, but that isn’t one hundred percent accurate. It was a world based on a popular anime but everything was created especially for this world. It made it so that every story someone wrote was unique.
Imagine writing a Star Wars novel set 1,000 years after A New Hope, where everything that happened was a distant memory and you get the idea. You have the force, some distant memories of the past, and that’s pretty much it.
He wrote about a million words (863K to be exact) for them before he decided to do his own thing. He wrote another novel. He put it in a drawer. He wrote another one that eventually became the basis for The Hatter is Mad. His next novel was Kill It With Magic, his first real novel. It’s not bad, but it’s bumpy. This is unfortunate because the books get loads better as the series progresses.
Since then, he’s written six more novels, four of which are in the Lillim Callina Series, and one in the Abby Banks series. The other is stuck in a drawer for time undetermined. He’s writing his next book now which is about werewolves fighting mummies in Ancient Egypt. After that, he will move onto Abby Banks 2. The Spy Within will come out in June or July.
J.A. also has three chinchillas. Two of them are grey, and because of this, they are named Slate and Cadmium. The third is named Jet because he’s black, and Jet is old English for black. See, creative. He also has a cat named Turtle. This does pose problems for his two-year-old from time to time.
Unfortunately, he found through the course of this little adventure that he actually liked writing. That year was sort of the high point for his writing career because he won a writing contest for the state. He got to go to a big dinner and his teacher was all dressed up.
He kept writing little stories, year after year, and in sixth grade, won another contest. In seventh grade, he broke his arm and got the cast signed by both Dean Koontz and Stan Lee. It is, by far, the coolest cast he’s owned. That was about the time he found video games and anime. His writing turned mostly toward fanfiction until about ninth grade when he wrote his first novel, a small book about twenty thousand words called Revelations. In sophomore year, he wrote two more books to complete the trilogy because he saw Star Wars that year and learned trilogies were the cool thing to do.
He rewrote Revelations during his senior year, and his wife swears it is the best thing he’s written. J.A. is not so sure. Every time he reads it, he cringes, but then again, he hates everything he writes, so there is that.
It was about that time, he got heavily involved in a fanfiction writing group, but that isn’t one hundred percent accurate. It was a world based on a popular anime but everything was created especially for this world. It made it so that every story someone wrote was unique.
Imagine writing a Star Wars novel set 1,000 years after A New Hope, where everything that happened was a distant memory and you get the idea. You have the force, some distant memories of the past, and that’s pretty much it.
He wrote about a million words (863K to be exact) for them before he decided to do his own thing. He wrote another novel. He put it in a drawer. He wrote another one that eventually became the basis for The Hatter is Mad. His next novel was Kill It With Magic, his first real novel. It’s not bad, but it’s bumpy. This is unfortunate because the books get loads better as the series progresses.
Since then, he’s written six more novels, four of which are in the Lillim Callina Series, and one in the Abby Banks series. The other is stuck in a drawer for time undetermined. He’s writing his next book now which is about werewolves fighting mummies in Ancient Egypt. After that, he will move onto Abby Banks 2. The Spy Within will come out in June or July.
J.A. also has three chinchillas. Two of them are grey, and because of this, they are named Slate and Cadmium. The third is named Jet because he’s black, and Jet is old English for black. See, creative. He also has a cat named Turtle. This does pose problems for his two-year-old from time to time.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
February 23, 2018
"Middle school fantasy writing project."
If you are reading this book, then you probably have an idea of what you are getting into by the cover image alone. The entire story is a high schooler's fantasy written at middle school writing level. A lack of vocabulary or general awareness to prior sentences led to horrendous repetition of adjectives and phrases while dialogue was so full of forced overexplaination that I giggled on several occasions. Here is an example from late in the book, "I don't have to worry about how much I spend, because I'm rich." Now if this was a child's line I wouldn't care, but unless demons are complete imbeciles there is no way a tens-of-thousands-of-years old creature is going to say this. And while it's stated early on that none of the females of this realm are going to really care about the protagonist being the only male in the realm because most of them can hop over to the normal realm whenever they want, obviously they all end up trying to go for him (because he is "someone's" self-insert fantasy). On that topic, all of the males of the entire underworld were killed off to prevent the underworld denizens from winning against the darkness, but apparently this super powerful being just isn't quite powerful enough to finish off the job with all the females and so he has been fighting them for the last 10,000 years or something.
The main character is an idiot but every one of the book's millennia old females listens to him and acts like his bumbling plans are worthy of praise, all the while he continues to win in battles against deity-level super beings that have killed hundreds of his "reincarnations" before him just because he is the protagonist. Honestly his plot armor is so thick I'm surprised that his legs don't buckle in fear as they do every time someone mentions dragons throughout the entire book. But just throw in a few token side girls that express their undying love to Mr. Plot Armor moments before they are literally molecularized by the antagonist's power and I'm sure no one will notice the flaws.
If you are reading this book, then you probably have an idea of what you are getting into by the cover image alone. The entire story is a high schooler's fantasy written at middle school writing level. A lack of vocabulary or general awareness to prior sentences led to horrendous repetition of adjectives and phrases while dialogue was so full of forced overexplaination that I giggled on several occasions. Here is an example from late in the book, "I don't have to worry about how much I spend, because I'm rich." Now if this was a child's line I wouldn't care, but unless demons are complete imbeciles there is no way a tens-of-thousands-of-years old creature is going to say this. And while it's stated early on that none of the females of this realm are going to really care about the protagonist being the only male in the realm because most of them can hop over to the normal realm whenever they want, obviously they all end up trying to go for him (because he is "someone's" self-insert fantasy). On that topic, all of the males of the entire underworld were killed off to prevent the underworld denizens from winning against the darkness, but apparently this super powerful being just isn't quite powerful enough to finish off the job with all the females and so he has been fighting them for the last 10,000 years or something.
The main character is an idiot but every one of the book's millennia old females listens to him and acts like his bumbling plans are worthy of praise, all the while he continues to win in battles against deity-level super beings that have killed hundreds of his "reincarnations" before him just because he is the protagonist. Honestly his plot armor is so thick I'm surprised that his legs don't buckle in fear as they do every time someone mentions dragons throughout the entire book. But just throw in a few token side girls that express their undying love to Mr. Plot Armor moments before they are literally molecularized by the antagonist's power and I'm sure no one will notice the flaws.
December 16, 2017
A good read.
A LitRPG story. Boy finds sword and gets taken to hell to save it. Harem genre story. Crafting, Level Progression with new Skills purchased and other RPG mechanics.
A LitRPG story. Boy finds sword and gets taken to hell to save it. Harem genre story. Crafting, Level Progression with new Skills purchased and other RPG mechanics.
October 6, 2017
It was nice way to mix litrpg and fantasy without making it complicated or over the top. I kinda loved it.
September 8, 2017
What... Did I just read? This is basically a middle school boy's wet dream come true. I'm like any red blooded American man born in the midwest with a strong distaste for modern third wave feminism, but if this doesn't objectify women in the worst possible way, I'm not sure what does. The entire cast of only female characters are one dimensional and basically only live to please the male protagonist. The protagonist male character goes from being an absolute loser to an all powerful benevolent dictator. There will be an untold number of 14 year old boys sneaking this book into their kindles and hoping their parents don't find out. That said, I read the whole thing, so what does that say about me?
January 13, 2018
I picked this book up because I have read books by this author before and, while never anything great, they were at the least a lot of fun. This book was not fun, it was just tedious.
The allure of the LitRPG genre continues to elude me. I get there are people out there who love video games, but it seems really strange to take concepts custom built for that medium because it is the best solution for that particular platform, then transport them to a completely different medium that doesn't suit those concepts at all. Things like drop-down menus for character stats and user experience points works in a game because in a game you need to measure progress in order to complete an objective. A novel not only doesn't need that, but it actually weighs the story down.
Rather than reading like a cool new power for a fantasy character (the ability to be a near god in a video game world), it instead feels like someone is describing their experience playing a game, when the very nature of games make them more interesting when they are experienced directly by the user and not third hand.
The sacrifice to having character traits listed in drop-down form is that you end up with one-dimensional characters. Rather than building up their skills and deeds over the course of a novel in order to make readers understand the characters better, we are instead told about them in list format which is the least engaging way to learn about them.
Therefore, after a third of this novel has gone by I didn't care about a single character and I didn't care about this story.
1-star because it failed to do the basics of storytelling.
The allure of the LitRPG genre continues to elude me. I get there are people out there who love video games, but it seems really strange to take concepts custom built for that medium because it is the best solution for that particular platform, then transport them to a completely different medium that doesn't suit those concepts at all. Things like drop-down menus for character stats and user experience points works in a game because in a game you need to measure progress in order to complete an objective. A novel not only doesn't need that, but it actually weighs the story down.
Rather than reading like a cool new power for a fantasy character (the ability to be a near god in a video game world), it instead feels like someone is describing their experience playing a game, when the very nature of games make them more interesting when they are experienced directly by the user and not third hand.
The sacrifice to having character traits listed in drop-down form is that you end up with one-dimensional characters. Rather than building up their skills and deeds over the course of a novel in order to make readers understand the characters better, we are instead told about them in list format which is the least engaging way to learn about them.
Therefore, after a third of this novel has gone by I didn't care about a single character and I didn't care about this story.
1-star because it failed to do the basics of storytelling.
October 17, 2017
A bumbling, impulsive Slurpee monkey is teleported to a different world from his incompetence and clumsiness by a hot chick. She claims to be a demon and wanting his soul but seems to be as much of a demon as a Halloween 'slutty nurse' is a medical professional.
They are in some super small not really 'hellish' version of Hell where he is the only male and women shyly invite him to a threesome.
Throughout the book, 'the builder' (aka Slurpee monkey) is able to arrange people's abilities as though he were in a bad video game. Never once does he question whether he is in a delusional coma. Personally, I believe it is not unlikely that while cleaning his new sword he somehow managed to fall out of his apartment window onto his head and everything that follows is his subconscious. The story is poor enough that it wouldn't really make it any worse if it were true.
Later in the book he then goes on to win a battle. Not through being clever, having better gear, better tactics, better people or even the elusive 'high ground' - but through 'trying really hard'.
If this sort of novel appeals, good news!
They are in some super small not really 'hellish' version of Hell where he is the only male and women shyly invite him to a threesome.
Throughout the book, 'the builder' (aka Slurpee monkey) is able to arrange people's abilities as though he were in a bad video game. Never once does he question whether he is in a delusional coma. Personally, I believe it is not unlikely that while cleaning his new sword he somehow managed to fall out of his apartment window onto his head and everything that follows is his subconscious. The story is poor enough that it wouldn't really make it any worse if it were true.
Later in the book he then goes on to win a battle. Not through being clever, having better gear, better tactics, better people or even the elusive 'high ground' - but through 'trying really hard'.
If this sort of novel appeals, good news!
December 13, 2017
I really liked this book. Nothing crazy happens here. If your looking for intimate scenes, skip this. There is sex in the book, but it's more implied that actually expanded up. The story is solid and there is some character progression. There are no ground breaking moments and the story is pretty predictable. This is def a LitRpg in its fullest and it does have its quirky and fun moments sprinkled throughout the book. Some of the scenes feel shoehorned in to create tension and the pacing is pretty fast. But at the end of the day this is a rather enjoyable book. I bought the rest of the series after reading this.
September 17, 2017
Mediocre LitRPG
Pretty standard LitRPG mechanics are combined with a harem world setting and a destined one protagonist.
Recommended for experienced fans of the subgenres only.
Pretty standard LitRPG mechanics are combined with a harem world setting and a destined one protagonist.
Recommended for experienced fans of the subgenres only.
October 12, 2017
An interesting premise, terrible execution. It reads as if someone wrote down the actions in an RTS game mixed with a MMO raid leader's ventrillo transcript.
My issues with this book:
1) Every character other than the main character are female. There's no good reason for this other than writing down an adolescents wet dream where attractive women are clamoring to sleep with him. It's just childish.
2) The main character is a gamer that works at a 7-11. Yet, he's ordering about being that have thousands of years of experiences as if they had no idea what to do. It's one thing for him to decide on how to advance a character's abilities, it's quite another to act like a general to soldiers that have far more experiences.
3) The world isn't really explained at all. He's with a lot of demons that don't act like demons. Where did "The Darkness" come from? How long as it been there? Who were the other Builders? Why didn't the MC try to learn about them?
My issues with this book:
1) Every character other than the main character are female. There's no good reason for this other than writing down an adolescents wet dream where attractive women are clamoring to sleep with him. It's just childish.
2) The main character is a gamer that works at a 7-11. Yet, he's ordering about being that have thousands of years of experiences as if they had no idea what to do. It's one thing for him to decide on how to advance a character's abilities, it's quite another to act like a general to soldiers that have far more experiences.
3) The world isn't really explained at all. He's with a lot of demons that don't act like demons. Where did "The Darkness" come from? How long as it been there? Who were the other Builders? Why didn't the MC try to learn about them?
October 19, 2017
i'm not even mad ,it's no surprise when shit turns out to be shit
July 23, 2017
It's all fun and games until you go to hell.
It's all fun and games until you go to hell. Great story, only flaw was pacing. Things like buildings being built suddenly were done almost over night. Other than that it was a fun read.
It's all fun and games until you go to hell. Great story, only flaw was pacing. Things like buildings being built suddenly were done almost over night. Other than that it was a fun read.
Read
October 23, 2017Not finished and I don't know whether I will finish it but I wanted to say something before I forget it. To describe the book until now in one word I would call it lazy. Cramming a game system on a non game world is nothing I am a fan of (even if I still read some litrpgs) but can be excused as a genre conceit. Though I think it is done in one of the worse ways here. Also there are some game elements put into a real world that I am less tolerant off, an actual taunt skill just makes little sense though I guess it can be handwaved with magic and the item ranks and that the demotion can influence the item value like that are a tad weird. Anyway why I call it lazy? For instance Black smith lady says she was demoted to rank 6 next chapter his skill shows him a demotion to rank 5. Come on it has been one damn chapter. Then she says this when he wants to look at her stats "It probably doesn't seem like it but you are reducing me to ones at zeroes ". She touched her hand to her chest "I am more than the sum of my stats"" the demon world doesn't seem to be at the tech level for people to play games at pcs why would she bring up ones and zeroes, yes they have some connection to the human world but that is not enough for that to be a natural comment. Also she professes non knowledge of stat systems, skill trees and stuff. Of course she might be hiding knowledge but still.
Then the way the world was cleared from male demons. The darkness just creates a plague that kills all male demons and only the male demons? Seriously that is how you get rid of unnecessary elements for harem building? By giving your enemy the ability to just wipe out half the enemy species and for some reason only half? Maybe later a reason is given why they would not just use a plague that wipes out all their enemies, maybe I will see if I read on.
And then there is Gwen just giving him control of the village. So that he can use his ability might make sense at first glance as a reason. But the system already considered him sufficiently in control so there was no real reason to really declare him the leader. Just continue leading the village and if the skill stuff makes trouble later on because he isn't actually in control of the city handle it then. Her just shrugging and handing him control of the town she ruled a thousand years at least just seems lazy.
In general the world building and character interaction just seem low effort. Though looking at the number of books from the author he probably really is just mass producing stuff.
Then the way the world was cleared from male demons. The darkness just creates a plague that kills all male demons and only the male demons? Seriously that is how you get rid of unnecessary elements for harem building? By giving your enemy the ability to just wipe out half the enemy species and for some reason only half? Maybe later a reason is given why they would not just use a plague that wipes out all their enemies, maybe I will see if I read on.
And then there is Gwen just giving him control of the village. So that he can use his ability might make sense at first glance as a reason. But the system already considered him sufficiently in control so there was no real reason to really declare him the leader. Just continue leading the village and if the skill stuff makes trouble later on because he isn't actually in control of the city handle it then. Her just shrugging and handing him control of the town she ruled a thousand years at least just seems lazy.
In general the world building and character interaction just seem low effort. Though looking at the number of books from the author he probably really is just mass producing stuff.
September 29, 2017
I tried Cipriano's World of Ruul before and I did not like it. The synopsis feels like a totally ripped from various famous books/media. I listened to a bit of it and it did not change my opinion of it. So I didn't finish it. It sucked, plain and simple.
I read a review saying, "it's like a crappier version of Super Sales on Super Heroes" and so, I said to myself, "sure why not? let's test the poison." And, it was very poisonous.
Both Super Sales and the Builder revolves around a harem story. Super Sales have girls around the protagonist and the author bothered with writing up a background story for the girls and reasons why the girls would like the protagonist. The Builder has none of that. Girls just throw themselves at the protagonist like horny rabbits. It's literally a crappier version.
Super Sales has the protagonist with the ability to improve what he owns via a daily allowance from mana generated by what he owns. The Builder has the protagonist with the ability to improve what he owns via experiences gained by doing various actions by what he owns.
For example, in Super Sales, I own 3 slaves and each generates 100 mana. I have 300 mana to spend on improvements each day. And in the Builder, I own 3 slaves and they need to earn experiences so that I can use those experiences; otherwise, I get nothing. It's literally a crappier version.
The Builder even references Super Sales with the famous Pan Cake phrase. Not only is "The Builder" a crappier rip off of Super Sales, it even tells you that it's a rip off via a direct reference to it.
Aside from that, it draws on harem ideas from like Good Intentions (with the succubus and angel) or Daniel Black with the sex scenes but greatly toned down. It's more like Portals of Infinity level of harem and sex scenes.
This is also one thing I really hate about Americanized "LitRPG" or "light novel". If you are the Legendary Builder, you should be like the Legendary Moonlight Sculptor, being legendary and awesome and not a total noob and useless.
In short, this book is a smash up of many other books' ideas but executed poorly. The author doesn't bother with answering "why's" or loopholes or gaps in a logical development. Like it can jump from A to G without explaining what happened to B to F.
Coupling this book with his other LitRPG, I totally recommend you to stay away from this author. Well, pirated versions are fine, I guess. It's just time killer.
I read a review saying, "it's like a crappier version of Super Sales on Super Heroes" and so, I said to myself, "sure why not? let's test the poison." And, it was very poisonous.
Both Super Sales and the Builder revolves around a harem story. Super Sales have girls around the protagonist and the author bothered with writing up a background story for the girls and reasons why the girls would like the protagonist. The Builder has none of that. Girls just throw themselves at the protagonist like horny rabbits. It's literally a crappier version.
Super Sales has the protagonist with the ability to improve what he owns via a daily allowance from mana generated by what he owns. The Builder has the protagonist with the ability to improve what he owns via experiences gained by doing various actions by what he owns.
For example, in Super Sales, I own 3 slaves and each generates 100 mana. I have 300 mana to spend on improvements each day. And in the Builder, I own 3 slaves and they need to earn experiences so that I can use those experiences; otherwise, I get nothing. It's literally a crappier version.
The Builder even references Super Sales with the famous Pan Cake phrase. Not only is "The Builder" a crappier rip off of Super Sales, it even tells you that it's a rip off via a direct reference to it.
Aside from that, it draws on harem ideas from like Good Intentions (with the succubus and angel) or Daniel Black with the sex scenes but greatly toned down. It's more like Portals of Infinity level of harem and sex scenes.
This is also one thing I really hate about Americanized "LitRPG" or "light novel". If you are the Legendary Builder, you should be like the Legendary Moonlight Sculptor, being legendary and awesome and not a total noob and useless.
In short, this book is a smash up of many other books' ideas but executed poorly. The author doesn't bother with answering "why's" or loopholes or gaps in a logical development. Like it can jump from A to G without explaining what happened to B to F.
Coupling this book with his other LitRPG, I totally recommend you to stay away from this author. Well, pirated versions are fine, I guess. It's just time killer.
November 5, 2017
First of all I will address the complaints of misogyny and whatever. I believe the cover is unfortunate b/c it represents what the series is about. The book does have a harem (everyone except the main character is female), but it doesn't smolder you with it and the women are actually distinguished individuals (they are actually more interesting than the main character) and not classified by kinks and sex habits that many modern male fantasy novels I have read.
With that out of the way, the book is surprisingly good. The prose is good and easy to read which means the flow is great. The main character is not "overpowered" or anything and the books are are about long odds that the cast just manage to squeak by. This is great b/c the main character has great abilities and author managed to avoid the Mary Sue syndrome that many other similar novels suffer from. Many times it seems the cast takes two steps back for every triumph and it keeps the novels interesting.
I have read Cipriano novels and he has progressively gotten better. This series is a lot better than his early works which I had trouble finishing. However I am looking forward to more books in this series.
With that out of the way, the book is surprisingly good. The prose is good and easy to read which means the flow is great. The main character is not "overpowered" or anything and the books are are about long odds that the cast just manage to squeak by. This is great b/c the main character has great abilities and author managed to avoid the Mary Sue syndrome that many other similar novels suffer from. Many times it seems the cast takes two steps back for every triumph and it keeps the novels interesting.
I have read Cipriano novels and he has progressively gotten better. This series is a lot better than his early works which I had trouble finishing. However I am looking forward to more books in this series.
October 2, 2017
Don't believe the critics, no misogyny.
I almost didn't buy this because of all the "sexism." Hell is full of women, because the prophecy says the savior will be male, so the darkness kills all the males. The main character kisses his first girl 89% of the way through the book. Yeah, give me a break... not a lot of misogyny and "women only exist to give this guy all his fantasies" crap in this title.
It's cute, the skills are fun, the action is fast and savage. There is sex, it's not graphic and more of the 'fade to black' style. All in all, if your skin is tough enough to survive high school without life long trauma, this book is in the mix.
I almost didn't buy this because of all the "sexism." Hell is full of women, because the prophecy says the savior will be male, so the darkness kills all the males. The main character kisses his first girl 89% of the way through the book. Yeah, give me a break... not a lot of misogyny and "women only exist to give this guy all his fantasies" crap in this title.
It's cute, the skills are fun, the action is fast and savage. There is sex, it's not graphic and more of the 'fade to black' style. All in all, if your skin is tough enough to survive high school without life long trauma, this book is in the mix.
December 21, 2018
3 to 3.5 stars, I really like these type of world/civ building books. I will continue with this series, sorry but they are my junk food books.
February 19, 2018
The Legendary Builder is basically a fun paranormal fantasy romp with a slight nod to the LitRPG genre. Our protagonist Arthur, an everyday guy with a passion for swords, finds a magical (read: legendary) sword in a pawn shop. With another nod to Aladdin, a brief cleaning of the sword summons a succubus named Gwen. Through Gwen Arthur learns that there is a long-standing war in progress in Hell. Her outpost is the only thing stopping the evil, called The Darkness, from breaking out into the universe with Earth of course in its path. The succubus discovers that Arthur is an important legendary figure in destroying The Darkness. Compelled and convinced Arthur goes with Gwen and they are transported back to Hell. It is here where the fun begins. Arthur is stunned by the contents and condition of the outpost and can understand why they are in such a quandary. The sword is the nod to LitRPGs, which allow Arthur to see the stats of all the people err…demons, creatures and things at the outpost. As time goes by Arthur becomes more informed and comfortable with his role as Legendary Builder. The characters and dialog are fun and the story is more of a good vs. evil fantasy tale than anything else. I enjoyed the book and will look for the next volume in the series. This audiobook was given by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review via Audiobook Boom.
July 20, 2017
I am a huge of Mr. Cipriano’s, and really love his books, but I have to admit I am not a fan of LitRPG books. I don’t really like to read them for reviewing because I honestly believe if the reader isn’t a fan of the genre of the book, it’s very difficult to separate the book from the genre and give an honest review. This book did have a few minor gaming elements in this book; however, I didn’t really know that this book had that in it before I read it, or I would have missed out. Yes, I was slightly confused with upgrading the characters’ abilities/trees, etc. which really weren’t much, but I still really, really enjoyed the book. Mr. Cipriano really knows how to keep the reader interested with his well-written, fast-paced action sequences, and interesting plots which were all present in this book. I always know what a fun book I am going to get with this author, and this book fit the bill. If you are a fan of urban fantasy or even LitRPG, I think you will really enjoy this book. I can’t wait to see what is going to happen next in this series. Highly recommend! Thanks to the author for the e-copy which I voluntarily reviewed.
February 11, 2018
Not particularly well written and with some very dubious aspects where the main character is the only man in hell with a magic sword.
There was one idea I liked the fact that the main character initially had no direct power his only ability was that of being able to level up the various women around the place giving them access to more powerful skills. He had no fighting skills and couldn't directly attack.
Of course they later threw that one interesting part out the window (not sure if it was in this book or not may have been later in the series) and it just becomes a generic fantasy with the main character getting more and more powerful sleeping with the various attractive women around him who eventually form a lottery for who gets to have a go when and in terms of antagonist is attacked by "the darkness" (sort of generic d&d enemies not the early 2000's rock band of the same name ;) ) with a set of leading villains who are so uninteresting they mostly never get any lines.
I would have given it one star if not for the interesting idea but of course the dump that later so they never go anywhere with it.
There was one idea I liked the fact that the main character initially had no direct power his only ability was that of being able to level up the various women around the place giving them access to more powerful skills. He had no fighting skills and couldn't directly attack.
Of course they later threw that one interesting part out the window (not sure if it was in this book or not may have been later in the series) and it just becomes a generic fantasy with the main character getting more and more powerful sleeping with the various attractive women around him who eventually form a lottery for who gets to have a go when and in terms of antagonist is attacked by "the darkness" (sort of generic d&d enemies not the early 2000's rock band of the same name ;) ) with a set of leading villains who are so uninteresting they mostly never get any lines.
I would have given it one star if not for the interesting idea but of course the dump that later so they never go anywhere with it.
November 5, 2017
The story as a whole wasn't bad, and I give the author points for a (somewhat) original idea. It would have worked much better if the guy had been some sort of fencer, or someone who worked with or around weapons as part of his job. In this case, he's a 7-11 soda jerk for god's sake, and all of a sudden, he's got this urge to purchase this one particular sword? Really? That part is just bad planning, but the rest of the story is reasonable (if you cut out all the useless sex scenes. Someone who doesn't know the difference between plot building sex scenes, and gratuitous ones makes a really bad judge of what makes a story good. If it wasn't for that, this would have an excellent book, and even with that nonsense, I still enjoyed the story, so overall, it wasn't a bad read, but it sure could use the experienced hand of a good editor to solve some of it's issues.
I'd recommend it for those who can look past the nonsense, and just enjoy the story for what it is, a good story in the making.
I'd recommend it for those who can look past the nonsense, and just enjoy the story for what it is, a good story in the making.
February 20, 2018
This review is for the audiobook version of The Builder's Sword read by Gary Furlong.
This was my second foray into LitRPG and I was more entertained this time around. The storyline flows pretty well and used the mechanics and tropes of the Fantasy RPG PC-Game effectively. I thought the story was decent enough.
What stopped me from rating this higher was its portrayal of women (even demonic women). They are little more than objects (literally) to be acted upon and directed for (the protagonist) Arthur's pleasure and convenience. There was some unnecessarily sophomoric humor that I could have done without as well .
Gary Furlong does an adequate job with the narration. He seemed like he could be Arthur Curry (the titular Builder, not Aquaman).
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
This was my second foray into LitRPG and I was more entertained this time around. The storyline flows pretty well and used the mechanics and tropes of the Fantasy RPG PC-Game effectively. I thought the story was decent enough.
What stopped me from rating this higher was its portrayal of women (even demonic women). They are little more than objects (literally) to be acted upon and directed for (the protagonist) Arthur's pleasure and convenience. There was some unnecessarily sophomoric humor that I could have done without as well .
Gary Furlong does an adequate job with the narration. He seemed like he could be Arthur Curry (the titular Builder, not Aquaman).
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
January 15, 2018
we got a normal guy who stands by when others fight. All demons and angels are female, our protagonist does nothing but upgrade them (we need a tank, lets see what upgrades i could give the demoness with the shild... "Is agaeis a good defender ability?") By the way, we meet the first angel in the last chapter...
The most sad part is that the writing is rather good, no grama issues (lots of kindle book have that issue) but the action is badly made, the buildup seems to easy and you wont like the protagonist at all. I liked the protagonist from "Super Sales for Superheros" far more and he is a Slaveowner with authism (seems cracy? Good story anyways!)
Anyways, the best part of this series is the cover (I would by that for cash), so look into the series if you want a harem story with sexual banter (I suppose some people will enjoy that, poorly made as it is)
The most sad part is that the writing is rather good, no grama issues (lots of kindle book have that issue) but the action is badly made, the buildup seems to easy and you wont like the protagonist at all. I liked the protagonist from "Super Sales for Superheros" far more and he is a Slaveowner with authism (seems cracy? Good story anyways!)
Anyways, the best part of this series is the cover (I would by that for cash), so look into the series if you want a harem story with sexual banter (I suppose some people will enjoy that, poorly made as it is)
February 22, 2018
I liked the concept of the book but the Author is terrible at dialog. I hate the fact that I actually listen to all 5 of these books. I don’t understand why but I did. I listen to these on audible and the narrator was ok. I think he may have been the reason I could make it through these. There are so many inconsistencies with the series i can’t go over them all. I literally stopped the book so many times and rolled my eyes I can’t count. I swear there must be a list of terrible puns and cliches that this guy put in these books. All that being said, Im ashamed to say I did listen to all 5 of these. Cipriano should sell his ideas to someone who can write better....
Edit...
I’ve figured it out. Why these books are so bad but also ok. It’s when the Author tries to be funny. The jokes, the truely awful puns, and the cliches could be left out and these books would be so much better.
Edit...
I’ve figured it out. Why these books are so bad but also ok. It’s when the Author tries to be funny. The jokes, the truely awful puns, and the cliches could be left out and these books would be so much better.
July 20, 2017
Cipriano has a talent for writing aggressively stupid stories. Usually he manages to do this in a way that's entertaining. This book about a Radioshack wage peon who becomes the legendary Builder of Legend and travels to Hell to lead its denizens, all of whom are hot non-lesbian she-demons who haven't seen a man in eons, in their war against the encroaching Darkness, manages to build on that in spades. LitRPG is not what could generally be described as good or smart literature, but by having Hell function as an MMORPG filled with smoking hot she-demons Cipriano managed to put an unique and especially dumb spin on the genre.
Yeah I read it, and I'm going to keep reading it. But holy crap it's dumb.
Yeah I read it, and I'm going to keep reading it. But holy crap it's dumb.
November 19, 2017
I've tried to read this twice, since there are not many build books out there...
The first time I stopped when the grammar and punctuation for to a point where my eyes started bleeding... The second time when the simple math of upgrading one of his minions was done to create a negative number....
"No-nothing" is what made me stop reading the first time.
Blatantly idiotic math made me stop this time.
If you have 3000 exp in paragraph one, you can't spend 2000 exp on one ability and then 1500 exp on a second ability, plus some additional on stat points, in paragraph two. That leads to negative numbers.
I tried to overlook a lot of the simple plot gaps and bad punctuation, there are just say too many.
The first time I stopped when the grammar and punctuation for to a point where my eyes started bleeding... The second time when the simple math of upgrading one of his minions was done to create a negative number....
"No-nothing" is what made me stop reading the first time.
Blatantly idiotic math made me stop this time.
If you have 3000 exp in paragraph one, you can't spend 2000 exp on one ability and then 1500 exp on a second ability, plus some additional on stat points, in paragraph two. That leads to negative numbers.
I tried to overlook a lot of the simple plot gaps and bad punctuation, there are just say too many.
November 5, 2017
Man, I REALLY wanted to love this book.
It held the canon elements of LitRPG. Dislocated protagonist who must save a civilization.
This time, the civilization is comprised solely of women... and I expected this to slide into non-stop tropes of desperate women living without men.
BUT, for a long time, it maintained a balanced approach with empowered women who were community and family focused...
then in the very last pages it all kinda slid off track, or perhaps INTO the ruts of such.
It held the canon elements of LitRPG. Dislocated protagonist who must save a civilization.
This time, the civilization is comprised solely of women... and I expected this to slide into non-stop tropes of desperate women living without men.
BUT, for a long time, it maintained a balanced approach with empowered women who were community and family focused...
then in the very last pages it all kinda slid off track, or perhaps INTO the ruts of such.
October 24, 2017
Enjoyable
But for a book about a builder I expected much more....well, building.
I read this on KU and I suggest that you do the same.
The world needs to be fleshed out more, and like I said, more building.
To go from a dirt poor village to almost instantaneously creating wonders is a bit farfetched.
I'd have rather the author spent more time building up his infrastructure then running around like a chicken with its head cut off.
It felt rushed and it stole some of the pleasure from the story.
But for a book about a builder I expected much more....well, building.
I read this on KU and I suggest that you do the same.
The world needs to be fleshed out more, and like I said, more building.
To go from a dirt poor village to almost instantaneously creating wonders is a bit farfetched.
I'd have rather the author spent more time building up his infrastructure then running around like a chicken with its head cut off.
It felt rushed and it stole some of the pleasure from the story.
November 3, 2017
LitRPG, with harem, and poor proofreading.
I felt somewhat engaged with the story. The main character's voice is not really compelling, and his motivations seem random. All the other characters lack depth. I get the feeling the author wanted to write lots of explicit sex scenes, but tried to hold himself back somewhat. The result is weird, stilted, and kind of embarrassing.
Lots of incomplete sentences, missing words, etc. scattered throughout.
I give it three stars anyway, because in spite of all that, I didn't hate it.
I felt somewhat engaged with the story. The main character's voice is not really compelling, and his motivations seem random. All the other characters lack depth. I get the feeling the author wanted to write lots of explicit sex scenes, but tried to hold himself back somewhat. The result is weird, stilted, and kind of embarrassing.
Lots of incomplete sentences, missing words, etc. scattered throughout.
I give it three stars anyway, because in spite of all that, I didn't hate it.
November 19, 2017
This book was pretty good. It slightly reminded me of super sales on super heroes in that it was mainly about upgrading the other mainly female characters. I do feel like the author could have gone all the way in the sexy parts given the type of book this is however. The formula for this series goes as follows. Give the main character powers, give them stuff/people to upgrade, give them something to fight. It would be a 5/5 however it was riddled with cliches and I didn't really care for the cookie cutter female main love interest.
January 18, 2018
Good Idea, Terribly Executed
The story makes no sense, the main character doesn’t connect with readers because he doesn’t question anything or truly contribute in a meaningful way, spoiler alert, the plague that kills all males makes no sense, the story jumps a day to a week outta nowhere making everything seem like it’s inconsequential and easily attainable. The story is a good idea, but is terribly executed. If you want to read a version of the book that does this idea we’ll go read super sales on super heroes.
The story makes no sense, the main character doesn’t connect with readers because he doesn’t question anything or truly contribute in a meaningful way, spoiler alert, the plague that kills all males makes no sense, the story jumps a day to a week outta nowhere making everything seem like it’s inconsequential and easily attainable. The story is a good idea, but is terribly executed. If you want to read a version of the book that does this idea we’ll go read super sales on super heroes.
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