Martin’s efforts to unite the people of Copsis against the imminent coming of the invaders continue. With more pyramids, generators, obelisks and specialized units under his control (as well as the ability to absorb the souls of the fallen and drain the chi from his surroundings), Martin is getting more powerful than ever. However, he’s still a long ways from achieving the mission for which he was transformed into a core.
If he thought that the hardest part was done when he managed to protect the Emirate of Ma’an from the cartels and keep the Ren Empire from destroying him, he’s sorely mistaken! No sooner has he made peace with the League of Merchants than two even bigger threats emerge. Martin now has to deal with a bloodthirsty Shogun who possesses an army of powerful samurai, as well as a Maharaja with an equally impressive force made of prana-enhanced warriors.
The new techniques Martin will discover as he engages these new foes, suffers heavy losses and ultimately learns from them could make all the difference in the end. But he has to remain careful. As he keeps absorbing more souls to fuel his power, his own soul is getting increasingly more tainted. Martin starts to behave differently and to lose touch with his humanity.
To become powerful enough to defeat the invaders, will Martin have to become the very monster he intended to repel?
The first book was a little bogged down by world setting, but now that is out of the way, the author is stretching out into the story they want to tell. It is a good story, more military sci-fi like David Weber's Safehold books than your standard dungeon core book, like Amazon advertised it to me. There are dungeon core elements, but really I feel there should be a genre that includes dungeon core which is primarily about people who are now machines of some sort with expansion imperatives. The Bobverse is another similar example, closer to what this book is than the standard dungeon core.
I liked this book. I liked the first book. Read them. :-)
This story is definitely different for a dungeon book. It's interesting in how the different "magics" work and am really looking forward to how the MC can integrate it all. Though I was really wanting to see more lore from the ppl that made him and more upgrade stuff. Also, it was a fairly linear storyline in issues the MC was handling, unlike the first book where he was having to juggle so many things and it was a struggle, here there was less struggle and I kinda missed it. Looking forward to to the next one, as long as there's more explanation, lore, and magic/schematic upgrades involved. 7.3/10
The politics, characters etc were all quite decent. The reason I'm giving it a bad rating anyway is because of the MC. He's starting to become grating, annoying and irritating.
He's incredible self debasing, subservient, naive, gullible and despite having in theory the best spy network ever he does not utilize it at all and is completely taken by surprise over and over again.
He's not a "good guy trying to do the right thing" anymore at this point. He's actively sabotaging himself and doing no one any favours. Given the real enemy hasn't even arrived yet. He's being backstabbed, exploited and taken advantage of over and over and over again. He keeps shrugging it off and then runs right into the next betrayal.
This might be intended as him "soldiering on", "holding true to his convictions" and "winning people over". But, if anything it reminds me more of someone putting a giant "kick me" sign on his back . He's to a doormat what a doormat would be to a pushover.
Combine this with some retcons that force him to give up almost all progress he made so far and nix any future growth. While at the same time making everyone else rapidly grow stronger and this book threw out ALL the world building the prior one had been done. Completely changes dynamics for the worst and redefines Martins role entirely.
This was a nice addition to the storyline, and we got to see some interesting problem resolution in this part of the story. Things didn't quite work out the way they'd been planned by either the main character or his allies, but it seems to work for him, so there is that. :) I really like the little doll type builders he has working for him. I was kind of surprised we didn't see any of the effects yet from the custodian command given at the end of book 1, but I guess they're still having their ripple effects, and they'll show up soon enough, it was just surprising there was no mention of it here. Other than that little oversite, I really liked this one, and intend to follow it into future volumes.
The marketing falsehood (dungeon core) of book 1 is gone, and most of the clunckiness of game mechanics is also gone, leaving a good RTS-campaigning story. This volume sees the introduction of the fantasy versions of the shogunate japan, the gurkas and even the mongol hordes. My only nitpicking would be that they are far too closely matching the real-world pop versions, which makes them a bit harder to believe in.
The character progression remains a bit primitive, but the series remain very promising.
Becoming more entertaining as the story progresses
Series starters out strong and has continued strong. An interesting take on a profession litrpg story line. So many story threads the author could choose to follow and develop. This series is one of the better ones in this jondera. Reasonably fast pace and enguaging, comes across a generally enguaging and entertaining story. This book is just as good as the first and expands on the concepts in book one, will definitely keep reading and would recommend this series to others.
Looking at reviews of this book, I was hesitant to read it. I am glad I did read the series. I have read up till book 3.
This series is hard to place in any single category or genre. If I had to, I would say its closest to dungeon core, but not really. It is definitely not litrpg, but shares a lot in common with cultivation. It mixes quite a few magic systems together, and quite a few cultures.
This series is definitely worth the read, and I will finish the series when new books come out.
More of the world building, strategy, intrigues and action that worked so well in the previous installments. This novel is a good successor to its previous introduction. Looking forward to reading the next installment of the series.
Martin has saved the empress and now must save nations. Fighting paranoia on all fronts and seeking personal and civil growth is a must. The story is fast paced and progresses well. An enjoyable addition to the series.
It started really well, but it turns out it is not my cup of tea. An unusual mix of fantasy fiction and political intrigue. If you like stuff like that give it a go.
Mistakes: Not litrpg. Wrong words used. Missing half sentence. Plot: Politics with some large scale battles. Characters: The MC is growing nicely. 6/10
I liked the continued emphasis on world building and the melting pot the MC's presence is starting to create with the different regions fighting styles.