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Halcyon Rising #1
Breaking Ground
My skill set brings all the girls to the yard. And by yard, I mean, the temple of a young goddess who's using me to build a fortified city around herself before the god of war can finish slaying every deity in the heavens. He'd better not find us before we're ready. We're far from ready. But hey, I get a cool skill out of it. The goddess allows me to view anyone's strength, vivacity, and other attributes as though they were numbers on a menu, and then use their life experiences to make them stronger. I can unlock their special skills too, and it's all stuff no one else can see. Hence the A beastkin builder, a negotiatrix made of slime, a half-elf gypsy that charms snakes — and more — seeking safe refuge and a place to belong. Think our ragtag group can survive a divine onslaught of apocalyptic proportions? I know what I think. Come on in and find out.
251 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 26, 2017
328 people are currently reading
150 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
December 28, 2017
I rather liked the book. It's a litRPG, so if you don't like those, stay clear of this one. If you do. Pick this up. You wont be disappointed. I guess I'm just a sucker for books where the MC is someone who's humble enough not to be egotistical, but has the balls big enough to take on challenges to save his friends. It's the typical layout of any story like this, but that does not diminish this book at all. It's the first in what's supposed to be a series, and I will be looking forward to reading the rest of them.
December 31, 2017
This is a litRPG book. Do be prepared for some stat work on characters in the novel. On the plus side, the protagonist is not someone summoned from our world, not someone reincarnated from our world, and is not someone stuck in a virtual reality MMO. Don't get me wrong, I like stories with those settings, but it is nice when we get something a touch different.
The protagonist is an orphan living in a temple. The head priest tolerates him...barely.
Oh, this is a world with a large pantheon of gods. Gods who manifest and commune with their head priests.
Something Bad (tm) happens to the town, temple, and god leaving our protagonist the sole survivor running away through the forest. He saves a goddess from the local wildlife and becomes her head priest. The rest is the build p of the goddess, himself and companions he comes across.
The litRPG element comes into play because a head priest has a special ability to update someone's stats based on the XP. Most people rarely get this done more than 3 times in their life because the head priests normally charge a large sum for their services.
The protagonist is an orphan living in a temple. The head priest tolerates him...barely.
Oh, this is a world with a large pantheon of gods. Gods who manifest and commune with their head priests.
Something Bad (tm) happens to the town, temple, and god leaving our protagonist the sole survivor running away through the forest. He saves a goddess from the local wildlife and becomes her head priest. The rest is the build p of the goddess, himself and companions he comes across.
The litRPG element comes into play because a head priest has a special ability to update someone's stats based on the XP. Most people rarely get this done more than 3 times in their life because the head priests normally charge a large sum for their services.
December 29, 2017
I've read this and it's like The Builder series of J. A. Cipriano. But the world is original and it's well written, the only thing I have against it is that it's too short. I will continue to read the series just to see where the author is going with the bread crumbs he has sown, lot of things were left unexplained.
December 3, 2017
Not bad!
An enjoyable read. A little.. abrupt at times, but whatever. I liked it! Thank you for doing the work to wrote this!
An enjoyable read. A little.. abrupt at times, but whatever. I liked it! Thank you for doing the work to wrote this!
August 12, 2019
Rating 3.0 stars
This was enjoyable, I just wish the author went a little further with everything. The LitRPG part of the book was okay but not very complicated. The story and world building were okay but were kind of simple. This book was a Harem story, but again the author could have taken it a little further. It was a lot of eye candy with descriptions of the female anatomy, but skipped over the hot and heavy parts. I did like the MC. He came from humble beginnings and wasn't always very confident, but he stepped up when it was needed.
This was enjoyable, I just wish the author went a little further with everything. The LitRPG part of the book was okay but not very complicated. The story and world building were okay but were kind of simple. This book was a Harem story, but again the author could have taken it a little further. It was a lot of eye candy with descriptions of the female anatomy, but skipped over the hot and heavy parts. I did like the MC. He came from humble beginnings and wasn't always very confident, but he stepped up when it was needed.
December 3, 2019
Sorry this one is a DNF. 2 maybe 2.5, found this one all over the place and below standard for a book of this type. May not be all bad if you give it more time than I did, but I was just not enjoying it and had to move on.
September 2, 2018
What I liked about this story:
Stone Thomas, as constructed a very compelling world. The history, background and races are unique enough to be very engrossing. The Story arc is also building in a very nice way, you instantly Sympathize with the MC, and the initial love interests are unique and sexy, Fox girl and Slime Girl ( wow ). Further the Antagonist is menacing, as well as other secondary threats that appear throughout the story.
The story ended with my wanting to know more about the world and the characters.
What I did not like ( hoping will improve )
#1 no graphic depictions of sex. This is in essence a Harem story, as well as a fantasy epic. Maybe it’s more of a commentary on our current culture that views Violence as AWSOME, but Sex as… Disturbing. But man; that just honks me off. This story would benefit greatly from some juicy sex scenes, we get the build up from MC’s interactions with his “followers” but fade to black when something good will happen. Leaving the reader feeling ripped off.
#2. Pages and Pages of Character Sheet Data. I get it. He is in a living game and his role in that game is to train up skills for others. But all the character stat data is distracting from the story, and gets very tedious after about the third time it comes up. I would prefer it greatly if you really want that meta gamer feel, just describe the sheet once or twice at most, or once per new character, but then just verbally describe the change without all the math and game mechanics that no one cares about. Knowing slime girl is has enough xp for Flirt +1 and that it will give her bonuses is by far enough if not too much.
#3 Dialog choices, I think someone else said it in another review, the periodic use of modern language really breaks suspension of disbelief and throws the reader out of the story. I will take this a step further and also suggest that some characters use vocabular and speech pattern choices that feel like the same character speaking.
#4 Seriously! It’s a Harem story, give us some sex man!.. Sexual fantasy is by far healthier than violence fantasy…
I apologize to the author for this review seeming more negative than positive. Truth is I really liked the story or I would not bother writing a review. This is worth reading if you like Fantasy RPG games Computer or Tabletop, and if you like high fantasy stories. And descriptions of sexualized women, without the sex itself LOL.
Stone Thomas, as constructed a very compelling world. The history, background and races are unique enough to be very engrossing. The Story arc is also building in a very nice way, you instantly Sympathize with the MC, and the initial love interests are unique and sexy, Fox girl and Slime Girl ( wow ). Further the Antagonist is menacing, as well as other secondary threats that appear throughout the story.
The story ended with my wanting to know more about the world and the characters.
What I did not like ( hoping will improve )
#1 no graphic depictions of sex. This is in essence a Harem story, as well as a fantasy epic. Maybe it’s more of a commentary on our current culture that views Violence as AWSOME, but Sex as… Disturbing. But man; that just honks me off. This story would benefit greatly from some juicy sex scenes, we get the build up from MC’s interactions with his “followers” but fade to black when something good will happen. Leaving the reader feeling ripped off.
#2. Pages and Pages of Character Sheet Data. I get it. He is in a living game and his role in that game is to train up skills for others. But all the character stat data is distracting from the story, and gets very tedious after about the third time it comes up. I would prefer it greatly if you really want that meta gamer feel, just describe the sheet once or twice at most, or once per new character, but then just verbally describe the change without all the math and game mechanics that no one cares about. Knowing slime girl is has enough xp for Flirt +1 and that it will give her bonuses is by far enough if not too much.
#3 Dialog choices, I think someone else said it in another review, the periodic use of modern language really breaks suspension of disbelief and throws the reader out of the story. I will take this a step further and also suggest that some characters use vocabular and speech pattern choices that feel like the same character speaking.
#4 Seriously! It’s a Harem story, give us some sex man!.. Sexual fantasy is by far healthier than violence fantasy…
I apologize to the author for this review seeming more negative than positive. Truth is I really liked the story or I would not bother writing a review. This is worth reading if you like Fantasy RPG games Computer or Tabletop, and if you like high fantasy stories. And descriptions of sexualized women, without the sex itself LOL.
March 11, 2019
This book has a very similar setup to other like it. Fantasy world with RPG elements, divine partners giving power (In fact this is an almost identical setup to the Anime "DanMachi, vol. 1. Light Novel".) It even goes the harem rout as these things tend to.
What helps, though, is having a very likable and straightforward protagonist. Most of the books that I've read that are similar to this always end up with a self insert author as the main character and/or a main character that epitomizes "r/niceguys". In this, he's just kind of sweet. The choice of supporting characters is also really good, with a nice variety of races that doesn't just use Human, pointy eared human, short human, very short human. There is a little of that, but Thomas is being more creative which makes me interested in who he will end up meeting next.
So, ya, one of the rare gems in this genre.
What helps, though, is having a very likable and straightforward protagonist. Most of the books that I've read that are similar to this always end up with a self insert author as the main character and/or a main character that epitomizes "r/niceguys". In this, he's just kind of sweet. The choice of supporting characters is also really good, with a nice variety of races that doesn't just use Human, pointy eared human, short human, very short human. There is a little of that, but Thomas is being more creative which makes me interested in who he will end up meeting next.
So, ya, one of the rare gems in this genre.
August 7, 2018
A decent story.
The fun parts for me (city building) were too rushed, and the parts that had heavy focus felt like they had to take place for the plot to work, not the other way around.
I'll be picking up the next one though.
The fun parts for me (city building) were too rushed, and the parts that had heavy focus felt like they had to take place for the plot to work, not the other way around.
I'll be picking up the next one though.
January 6, 2019
A decent read for how short it was. More of a short story than a book to be honest. 300+ pages is a book people!! lol OK for what there was to it. Even with the overused cliche of a male not knowing anything about women.
December 5, 2017
Well, I said I would try a book in this kind of sub-genre and... Well… I’m not sure what to think about it at first glance or even the second. The book was a quick three hour read, and it says something that I put those three hours in order from start to finish. To review the work is something else. Breaking it into a few areas might be best, so as an early warning, there will be spoilers but I will be keeping it spoiler-light.
What I liked is probably the most important aspect for me when it comes to reading. I liked the entire idea behind the plot. Kratos is no longer the only god of war and things have gone to hell in a hand basket as our main character’s only known home is ravaged by dark magic and the deity of his master’s temple, the goddess of beautiful sound, is murdered before his eyes. He manages to escape, almost get eaten and is chosen as an act of convenience to be the head priest for a new minor deity. It opens him up to being a skillmeister and the RPG aspects of the story truly begin. On the surface, it’s a pretty simple, easy to follow plot with progression done in a way that you’d expect in YA with some very non-YA elements. The plot moves along at a decent pace and there isn’t much downtime. However, this brings me to the start of the problems I had with the novel/novella.
I couldn’t really enjoy a lot of what the story was trying to give out because it feels rushed. The female characters were shallower than I’m used to, and the male characters were also sorely undeveloped. That’s not to say the potential wasn’t there. For almost all of them, the backstories were there and had a great potential, but not enough time was taken for any of what was teased to come to fruition. One character in particular, Vix, talked about being hunted by her arranged husband to be, and not only did nothing come from it, it seemed completely glossed over when the character was left to fend for herself for multiple days in the story while she was in a very vulnerable state. She seemed like the most realistic of the four main cast women due to her more fleshed out backstory and drive to better herself, but it bothered me to see it literally go nowhere after the initial few chapters. This brings me to the one part about the story I truly had a problem with, a harem aspect. I saw it coming from the blurb, but it was so much worse than I imagined. Now, I’m really not one for the romantic angle of this story. To me, it just didn’t make sense in any aspect. So many issues... maybe I just hated the more unrealistic characters?
Plot holes and things like out of context phrasing continued to press my buttons in ways that I honestly can’t explain properly. For example and as a major spoiler to the end, the big bad general kept the giant lighting stone he stole from the last city, worth a countless amount of gold for its size and its ability, on him during the last battle and didn’t use it. In my mind, this means he literally stole it just to steal it and had no intention of using it. Since the author goes to great lengths to explain that the energems (magical soul stones that hold actions rather than souls) can’t be changed once their power is set, I fully expect this to either be a major defense in the next story or a major weakness.
What I am about to say next may be the most important part of this review.
With all that said, with all my issues with the story, I still finished it. There were enough unpolished and polished gems in it that I felt like I wanted to finish it. My feelings went in this order: I hated the way that the romance worked and mostly felt, I liked the RPG aspect and how XP was accrued, the cast system and priestly disconnect felt very real in the world, and I liked the world that was presented if not always the people in it. It was still an average story, and in all honesty, I was expecting a different reveal at the end with what was implied.
Overall, it is a hard sell at two and a half out of five rounded up because of how responsive the author was to the issues I had. Hours after contacting him, many of the worst grammar mistakes were fixed. In addition to this, HR had a lot of issues that could have easily let it crash and burn, but it didn’t. It had enough promise and heart to make me finish. In that regard alone, it deserved better than the two. I have tried to force myself to read better and worse things, so the fact I didn’t have to force myself says something about the author’s love for his work. Hopefully not in a literal sense.
When it comes right down to it, HR has a lot of issues and needs some more TLC, but I am willing to overlook what was there to say there is a story with plenty of threads to explore. However, I shudder to think where the ‘romance’ in this story is going to go if the characters stay as shallow as they currently are.
What I liked is probably the most important aspect for me when it comes to reading. I liked the entire idea behind the plot. Kratos is no longer the only god of war and things have gone to hell in a hand basket as our main character’s only known home is ravaged by dark magic and the deity of his master’s temple, the goddess of beautiful sound, is murdered before his eyes. He manages to escape, almost get eaten and is chosen as an act of convenience to be the head priest for a new minor deity. It opens him up to being a skillmeister and the RPG aspects of the story truly begin. On the surface, it’s a pretty simple, easy to follow plot with progression done in a way that you’d expect in YA with some very non-YA elements. The plot moves along at a decent pace and there isn’t much downtime. However, this brings me to the start of the problems I had with the novel/novella.
I couldn’t really enjoy a lot of what the story was trying to give out because it feels rushed. The female characters were shallower than I’m used to, and the male characters were also sorely undeveloped. That’s not to say the potential wasn’t there. For almost all of them, the backstories were there and had a great potential, but not enough time was taken for any of what was teased to come to fruition. One character in particular, Vix, talked about being hunted by her arranged husband to be, and not only did nothing come from it, it seemed completely glossed over when the character was left to fend for herself for multiple days in the story while she was in a very vulnerable state. She seemed like the most realistic of the four main cast women due to her more fleshed out backstory and drive to better herself, but it bothered me to see it literally go nowhere after the initial few chapters. This brings me to the one part about the story I truly had a problem with, a harem aspect. I saw it coming from the blurb, but it was so much worse than I imagined. Now, I’m really not one for the romantic angle of this story. To me, it just didn’t make sense in any aspect. So many issues... maybe I just hated the more unrealistic characters?
Plot holes and things like out of context phrasing continued to press my buttons in ways that I honestly can’t explain properly. For example and as a major spoiler to the end, the big bad general kept the giant lighting stone he stole from the last city, worth a countless amount of gold for its size and its ability, on him during the last battle and didn’t use it. In my mind, this means he literally stole it just to steal it and had no intention of using it. Since the author goes to great lengths to explain that the energems (magical soul stones that hold actions rather than souls) can’t be changed once their power is set, I fully expect this to either be a major defense in the next story or a major weakness.
What I am about to say next may be the most important part of this review.
With all that said, with all my issues with the story, I still finished it. There were enough unpolished and polished gems in it that I felt like I wanted to finish it. My feelings went in this order: I hated the way that the romance worked and mostly felt, I liked the RPG aspect and how XP was accrued, the cast system and priestly disconnect felt very real in the world, and I liked the world that was presented if not always the people in it. It was still an average story, and in all honesty, I was expecting a different reveal at the end with what was implied.
Overall, it is a hard sell at two and a half out of five rounded up because of how responsive the author was to the issues I had. Hours after contacting him, many of the worst grammar mistakes were fixed. In addition to this, HR had a lot of issues that could have easily let it crash and burn, but it didn’t. It had enough promise and heart to make me finish. In that regard alone, it deserved better than the two. I have tried to force myself to read better and worse things, so the fact I didn’t have to force myself says something about the author’s love for his work. Hopefully not in a literal sense.
When it comes right down to it, HR has a lot of issues and needs some more TLC, but I am willing to overlook what was there to say there is a story with plenty of threads to explore. However, I shudder to think where the ‘romance’ in this story is going to go if the characters stay as shallow as they currently are.
March 10, 2019
Review – Halycon Rising: Breaking Ground by Stone Thomas
Disclaimer I as given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
I am a big fan of what Andrew Rowe has termed “Progression Fantasy” and LitRPG in general and this book seems like a good starter for someone who hasn’t read it before. I listened to the story on audible audiobook and the narrator was Chris Graves.
Summary: The story starts with Arden a novice in a temple just before it is attacked by an enemy army. The novice runs away and stumbles onto the temple of a new goddess called Nola (the goddess of clever insight) who makes him her new head priest and “Chosen One” in that she chose him as he was the only one around. Nola needs worshippers and help to defend herself against the god of war who is trying to kill off all the other gods. As her new head priest Arden can now adapt and upgrade himself and other people using their experience points which most people gain by killing monsters etc (Arden has some XP from killing rats in his original temple!) and can now help people specialise their skills and adapt etc. Arden and Nola’s followers soon specialise in defence building for Nola’s temple which begins to rapidly develop into a small town.
The story is interesting and I enjoyed the base building elements of the story which I had not seen In a LitRPG before but are quite familiar to me after years of playing Command and Conquer.
Good points:
Progression and Stats are well done in the story and I particularly like that only head priests can manipulate other peoples stats. The reason Arden gets ahead is that he does not charge gold for this service where other gods and goddesses priests do. This is a Short audiobook (only 5 hours or so) and I listened to it in an afternoon. The narrator is good and there is a few humorous scenes to keep you entertained.
Bad points:
This is a harem novels with a protagonist with “no experience with women” who proceeds to sleep with every female character introduced in the story. It is not the worst Harem novel I have read but as I can’t stand these types of books it reduced my enjoyment. I have read reviews of the later books and it appears to be something that is worked on later in the series so I will reserve judgement until I ready further.
As I listened to this book on Audio and the stats for the “upgrades” can be a bit much when you are trying to figure out what actually is being upgraded, if there was a supplementary PDF with this information that you could download or an appendix it would make things a bit easier.
Overall I would recommend the book to read and if the audiobook was bundled with the Ebook or you can get both for a reasonable price I would definitely recommend getting the Audio too. I would give the book 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Disclaimer I as given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
I am a big fan of what Andrew Rowe has termed “Progression Fantasy” and LitRPG in general and this book seems like a good starter for someone who hasn’t read it before. I listened to the story on audible audiobook and the narrator was Chris Graves.
Summary: The story starts with Arden a novice in a temple just before it is attacked by an enemy army. The novice runs away and stumbles onto the temple of a new goddess called Nola (the goddess of clever insight) who makes him her new head priest and “Chosen One” in that she chose him as he was the only one around. Nola needs worshippers and help to defend herself against the god of war who is trying to kill off all the other gods. As her new head priest Arden can now adapt and upgrade himself and other people using their experience points which most people gain by killing monsters etc (Arden has some XP from killing rats in his original temple!) and can now help people specialise their skills and adapt etc. Arden and Nola’s followers soon specialise in defence building for Nola’s temple which begins to rapidly develop into a small town.
The story is interesting and I enjoyed the base building elements of the story which I had not seen In a LitRPG before but are quite familiar to me after years of playing Command and Conquer.
Good points:
Progression and Stats are well done in the story and I particularly like that only head priests can manipulate other peoples stats. The reason Arden gets ahead is that he does not charge gold for this service where other gods and goddesses priests do. This is a Short audiobook (only 5 hours or so) and I listened to it in an afternoon. The narrator is good and there is a few humorous scenes to keep you entertained.
Bad points:
This is a harem novels with a protagonist with “no experience with women” who proceeds to sleep with every female character introduced in the story. It is not the worst Harem novel I have read but as I can’t stand these types of books it reduced my enjoyment. I have read reviews of the later books and it appears to be something that is worked on later in the series so I will reserve judgement until I ready further.
As I listened to this book on Audio and the stats for the “upgrades” can be a bit much when you are trying to figure out what actually is being upgraded, if there was a supplementary PDF with this information that you could download or an appendix it would make things a bit easier.
Overall I would recommend the book to read and if the audiobook was bundled with the Ebook or you can get both for a reasonable price I would definitely recommend getting the Audio too. I would give the book 3.5 out of 5 stars.
September 27, 2019
This review is based on an audio-book that I received. It is an honest review and the complimentary receipt of it in no way affected my review or rating.
'Breaking Ground' by Stone Thomas is the story of Arden.
'Breaking Ground' is officially the start of the series 'Halcyon Rising'. But to be honest I have the feeling that this book more of a prelude is for the series. The series contains 3 books.
This audiobook is about 5hours and 20minutes long. This book has a semi closed end. But there is a lot of room for more to come.
The narrator, Chris Graves has a nice and clear spoken voice and with pacing that makes the story easy understand and follow. Chris Graves his pronunciation is very good and the sound quality is also good.
This book is super funny, light hearted and absolutely worth the read. I really like this dry humor that the writer applies. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was definitely surprised and ecstatic how the storyline flowed.
Stone Thomas does a fantastic job of bringing each character to life. Then there are plenty of moments of unique humor that Stone Thomas nails, keeping you laughing throughout the book.
Arden an orphan living in a goddess's temple watches as the god of war kills his goddess Laranj.
He is able to get away. He stumbles upon a young goddes Nola who needs rescuing. She asks him to be her head priest.
As Nola's head priest, he is able to adjust the skill levels of whoever he wishes as Skillmaster.
In protecting Nola, he gathers several women whom he protects and who help him. I like the humor, romance, action and game vibe.
He gathers a lot of women around him and later on also men. I like it that there is a harem element in this book. It has the perfect balance of harem (without being erotica) and a great adventurous storyline.
Will Arden be able to protect all those dear to him?
I would definitely recommend this book if you like LitRPG genre you will enjoy this book. It's a good, solid listen and a promising start to the series.
I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher for an honest review.
'Breaking Ground' by Stone Thomas is the story of Arden.
'Breaking Ground' is officially the start of the series 'Halcyon Rising'. But to be honest I have the feeling that this book more of a prelude is for the series. The series contains 3 books.
This audiobook is about 5hours and 20minutes long. This book has a semi closed end. But there is a lot of room for more to come.
The narrator, Chris Graves has a nice and clear spoken voice and with pacing that makes the story easy understand and follow. Chris Graves his pronunciation is very good and the sound quality is also good.
This book is super funny, light hearted and absolutely worth the read. I really like this dry humor that the writer applies. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was definitely surprised and ecstatic how the storyline flowed.
Stone Thomas does a fantastic job of bringing each character to life. Then there are plenty of moments of unique humor that Stone Thomas nails, keeping you laughing throughout the book.
Arden an orphan living in a goddess's temple watches as the god of war kills his goddess Laranj.
He is able to get away. He stumbles upon a young goddes Nola who needs rescuing. She asks him to be her head priest.
As Nola's head priest, he is able to adjust the skill levels of whoever he wishes as Skillmaster.
In protecting Nola, he gathers several women whom he protects and who help him. I like the humor, romance, action and game vibe.
He gathers a lot of women around him and later on also men. I like it that there is a harem element in this book. It has the perfect balance of harem (without being erotica) and a great adventurous storyline.
Will Arden be able to protect all those dear to him?
I would definitely recommend this book if you like LitRPG genre you will enjoy this book. It's a good, solid listen and a promising start to the series.
I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher for an honest review.
December 5, 2017
Entertaining
This was a short, fun jaunt into the LitRPG genre. If this were most other books, I would have given it three stars instead of four, but I really want to encourage the author, because this was a good first book.
This book could totally be a young adult or even tween book. I say this because it is simply written, not too many big words, and had a very silly vibe to it. However there is some non graphic sex and non graphic fighting which might not make it appropriate for some tweens, but I would have loved it when I was that age!
Between the simple writing and some of the overly silly chants that some of the characters let loose compounded with the grammatical errors I found I might have given this book a 3 normally. But as I said before I really want to encourage the author because I felt like this is a great start.
Get some beta readers to find your missing and dropped words and you'll have a solid story. The grammar was fine; it was the missing words that were the biggest problem.
This was a short, fun jaunt into the LitRPG genre. If this were most other books, I would have given it three stars instead of four, but I really want to encourage the author, because this was a good first book.
This book could totally be a young adult or even tween book. I say this because it is simply written, not too many big words, and had a very silly vibe to it. However there is some non graphic sex and non graphic fighting which might not make it appropriate for some tweens, but I would have loved it when I was that age!
Between the simple writing and some of the overly silly chants that some of the characters let loose compounded with the grammatical errors I found I might have given this book a 3 normally. But as I said before I really want to encourage the author because I felt like this is a great start.
Get some beta readers to find your missing and dropped words and you'll have a solid story. The grammar was fine; it was the missing words that were the biggest problem.
December 6, 2017
Amusing harem litRPG
A bit silly (not quite Warscapia), a bit sexy(off screen). Halcyon Rising is a quick easy read of an adventure. Fun and not much thinking required. Pretty much reads like a fantasy harem anime, except here the MC goes for it instead of agonizing over picking one.
A bit silly (not quite Warscapia), a bit sexy(off screen). Halcyon Rising is a quick easy read of an adventure. Fun and not much thinking required. Pretty much reads like a fantasy harem anime, except here the MC goes for it instead of agonizing over picking one.
December 12, 2017
I always hate to begin a new book after reading a really incredible book. This one fell in that position. I have to say it didn't suffer for that. It was able to hold its own. I really enjoyed it.
December 14, 2017
Great job
I love the book i look to continuing strugel your character in lead is likeable and the danger is interesting i would love too see more about goods a odd ball monsters give them the role to real me in.thanks again for a good book
I love the book i look to continuing strugel your character in lead is likeable and the danger is interesting i would love too see more about goods a odd ball monsters give them the role to real me in.thanks again for a good book
December 18, 2017
New and interesting
An interesting fantasy novel, quite entertaining, very quick read. Some events, especially the end seemed to rush through. Greatly looking forward to the next book in the series.
An interesting fantasy novel, quite entertaining, very quick read. Some events, especially the end seemed to rush through. Greatly looking forward to the next book in the series.
December 21, 2017
Good Read.
Fantasy harem story. Quick read. Interesting characters. Character sheets take up a lot of space. The changes could have been summarized in the story and then the character sheets added at the end of the book.
Fantasy harem story. Quick read. Interesting characters. Character sheets take up a lot of space. The changes could have been summarized in the story and then the character sheets added at the end of the book.
January 2, 2018
Just plain fun!
Kindle Unlimited - Thank you!
I smiled and chuckled and outright laughed through a lot of this book. There were "aw gee" and "that's precious" mutterings. At the end, I was smiling. That's gotta be worth 5 stars.
Kindle Unlimited - Thank you!
I smiled and chuckled and outright laughed through a lot of this book. There were "aw gee" and "that's precious" mutterings. At the end, I was smiling. That's gotta be worth 5 stars.
January 20, 2018
Good Start
The ideas put forth are pretty good. It seems like he is a first time author, since the story feels rushed. I'll wait for the second book, and hope he grows in his storytelling.
The ideas put forth are pretty good. It seems like he is a first time author, since the story feels rushed. I'll wait for the second book, and hope he grows in his storytelling.
October 9, 2019
A LitRPG story with a tower defense feel. An enjoyable short, albeit a little short. Great beginning to a new series, and I will be reading the next book.
Disclaimer: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
Disclaimer: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
April 7, 2022
Yes, this one was a pretty fun listen. The story and the characters were very interesting. It kept me engaged throughout. The author did a great job with the pacing for the story. It just felt right.
Chris Graves was totally marvelous. I was really impressed with his female voices. Bravo!
Chris Graves was totally marvelous. I was really impressed with his female voices. Bravo!
March 31, 2018
Still long way
Sorry but you just can't put a guy who was having problems killing a bat with a brom in a church to fight in a war and win just like that.
Sorry but you just can't put a guy who was having problems killing a bat with a brom in a church to fight in a war and win just like that.
July 30, 2018
One can change the world
Starting small and working hard has benefited that one dose not realize. So began this tale of growing and mystery.
Starting small and working hard has benefited that one dose not realize. So began this tale of growing and mystery.
September 14, 2018
it took a few chapters to get into the series. awkward opening. it gets much better and finishes nicely.
March 12, 2019
I do not play video games so this did not strike my fancy. It was also way too teenage boy mind set.
April 29, 2019
An alright book, but short and slightly perverted.
Good if you enjoy this style of story, but not to everyone's taste.
Good if you enjoy this style of story, but not to everyone's taste.
September 19, 2019
Great Reading
Had been putting off reading the book for a long time. When I got a copy of the 1 and 2 Audiobook for free I just had to read and listen. Well worth the wait!!
Had been putting off reading the book for a long time. When I got a copy of the 1 and 2 Audiobook for free I just had to read and listen. Well worth the wait!!
September 26, 2019
It was a fun little story, but the pacing was a little janky and the characters felt very flat. Entertaining, but not very engaging.
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