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New Game Minus #2
Raising Allies
Bloodwraith was a villain who hated adventurers until he found himself transferred into the body of one. Trapped without his magic, he discovered that alien beings were using his reality as a game... and he had just become a player. Teaming up with a glitched NPC and other adventurers, he has no choice but to learn the truth about himself and his world.
Finally free of obligations, Bloodwraith can recover his necromancy and strike back against the beings controlling his world. Little does he know that one of them is now hunting for him: his old adventurer nemesis is still alive in his old body. Not only does the adventurer plan to get his body back, he's not going to play fair to get it.
Journeying to a new city, with new rivals and potential allies, Bloodwraith will be challenged in many ways. But in the end, he will be facing his past life, and this time he will need to decide what it is he really wants.
Finally free of obligations, Bloodwraith can recover his necromancy and strike back against the beings controlling his world. Little does he know that one of them is now hunting for him: his old adventurer nemesis is still alive in his old body. Not only does the adventurer plan to get his body back, he's not going to play fair to get it.
Journeying to a new city, with new rivals and potential allies, Bloodwraith will be challenged in many ways. But in the end, he will be facing his past life, and this time he will need to decide what it is he really wants.
- GenresFantasy
410 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 29, 2019
119 people are currently reading
87 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Lin
30 books464 followersHello! I'm Sarah Lin and I write various kinds of fantasy. If you want to keep up with my work, feel free to check out the following:
Mailing List: http://eepurl.com/dMSw2A
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sarahlin
Blog: http://sarahlinauthor.blogspot.com/
Join either list to get immediate access to illustrations of all my characters, plus bonus content and previews. If you've tried my work, I'd be happy to hear from you!
Mailing List: http://eepurl.com/dMSw2A
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sarahlin
Blog: http://sarahlinauthor.blogspot.com/
Join either list to get immediate access to illustrations of all my characters, plus bonus content and previews. If you've tried my work, I'd be happy to hear from you!
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
February 19, 2019
Book two
Mistakes: I can't remember if I found any. This is due to me putting the book down for days at a time and coming back to it.
Plot: the plot wasn't bad, there just wasn't anything about this book that hooked me and pulled me in.
Characters: They all just felt kind of bland this time around.
7.5/10 not a had book, just didn't book me like the first one did.
Mistakes: I can't remember if I found any. This is due to me putting the book down for days at a time and coming back to it.
Plot: the plot wasn't bad, there just wasn't anything about this book that hooked me and pulled me in.
Characters: They all just felt kind of bland this time around.
7.5/10 not a had book, just didn't book me like the first one did.
June 25, 2021
This was simply tedious.
The leveling was pointless. The character development was not present. The goal was simplistic and unrealistic. The story was lazy. This was an absolute chore to read. The good idea from book one was left out and a pointless conflict replaced it.
The leveling was pointless. The character development was not present. The goal was simplistic and unrealistic. The story was lazy. This was an absolute chore to read. The good idea from book one was left out and a pointless conflict replaced it.
September 5, 2022
I am disappointed.
I didn't get what I was hoping for: a detective story.
Instead I got a classic LitRPG with boring level grinding, superlative fights, unidimensional antagonists and weak world-building.
A real shame.
I didn't get what I was hoping for: a detective story.
Instead I got a classic LitRPG with boring level grinding, superlative fights, unidimensional antagonists and weak world-building.
A real shame.
June 19, 2021
3.5 stars.
This story certainly feels different from the usual trend of LitRPG stories. I've come to expect a lot of action and leveling up and being a bit overpowered. First the grinding and then the showing off of that power. Repeated again and again with breaks for story, new alliances, and world building. This book felt very different. In this book, we have an interesting premise and then a lot of introspection and philosophy. Less of the grind & fight cycle though. Don't get me wrong. It's there, but I feel that a significant portion of this book is devoted to introspection. While this is great sometimes (e.g., Practical Guide to Evil), here is just feels like a lot of the book is devoted to it, leaving less time for those elements that I've come I usually enjoy from a LitRPG.
It's a bit strange to be honest. Looking back over what happens in the book, there are quite a few set pieces and there's plenty of action. So it's not like that's missing. But I feel like there isn't enough of the grinding I usually like to read about. This is more like reading about how a team learns to work together to clear a raid boss than how a single person in the group works hard to level up. To be fair, that may be exactly what the author is going for. But it's just not gelling with me that well. It may be exactly what someone else is looking for.
And finally, regarding the worry I mentioned in the first book's review, I think this book has calmed my worries down.
This story certainly feels different from the usual trend of LitRPG stories. I've come to expect a lot of action and leveling up and being a bit overpowered. First the grinding and then the showing off of that power. Repeated again and again with breaks for story, new alliances, and world building. This book felt very different. In this book, we have an interesting premise and then a lot of introspection and philosophy. Less of the grind & fight cycle though. Don't get me wrong. It's there, but I feel that a significant portion of this book is devoted to introspection. While this is great sometimes (e.g., Practical Guide to Evil), here is just feels like a lot of the book is devoted to it, leaving less time for those elements that I've come I usually enjoy from a LitRPG.
It's a bit strange to be honest. Looking back over what happens in the book, there are quite a few set pieces and there's plenty of action. So it's not like that's missing. But I feel like there isn't enough of the grinding I usually like to read about. This is more like reading about how a team learns to work together to clear a raid boss than how a single person in the group works hard to level up. To be fair, that may be exactly what the author is going for. But it's just not gelling with me that well. It may be exactly what someone else is looking for.
And finally, regarding the worry I mentioned in the first book's review, I think this book has calmed my worries down.
February 18, 2024
Unsophisticated.
May 7, 2020
3.5 Stars
I started this book reluctantly. The first in the series didn't blow me away, but it had some original ideas and I wanted to see where they were going.
I'm glad I persevered. 'Raising Allies' is a little better than book one. More importantly, it does delve deeper into the unique ideas that I was interested in. In addition, we get one more surprise... an undead daughter. Good stuff!
I started this book reluctantly. The first in the series didn't blow me away, but it had some original ideas and I wanted to see where they were going.
I'm glad I persevered. 'Raising Allies' is a little better than book one. More importantly, it does delve deeper into the unique ideas that I was interested in. In addition, we get one more surprise... an undead daughter. Good stuff!
December 1, 2019
New interesting characters and a new setting. There were some really funny moments too. It was good overall, but I liked the first book more than this one. Hope the series finishes off well.
October 12, 2022
The first book was like Agent Smith from the Matrix going to Westworld series. This second book is like Eddie Murphy and Dan Akroyd in Trading Places, where one of the two gets all the equipment, all of the spells and abilities, the high levels and the other one has to start over with nothing but problems, debts, and lack of knowledge of what has happened. Is the author being unfair with her main character? Why did the "player" "outlander" get to keep all of the artifacts, weapons, abilities, levels, spells (the works) of the Lich character Bloodwraith, and then when Bloodwraith activated the spell of trading souls, Bloodwraith received the barbarian character at level zero, without clothes, without weapons, without anything, wasn't the Lich avatar about to die before the spell, shouldn't the Over-Powered (OP) avatar be the Barbarian (Player's) avatar? When did resetting the level of an avatar after death get connected to their souls and not their avatars?
Everything is impossible for Bloodwraith, everything comes too easy for the player outlander. Why is the author favoring and giving cheat abilities to the "player" "outlander"?
Why if the Lich character is so Over-Powered does the main character want to capture him? Bloodwraith almost gets everybody killed (several times). If Bloodwraith was the one to use the "trading souls spell" at the beginning, then why does he want to go back to his lich character at all? Being a barbarian without and martial arts knowledge, without having been a fighter ever is contradictory and lacks common sense.
So, where I'm going with this is that the little that this author brings to this story is convoluted and contradictory actions that just bring the whole card castle down. Bloodwraith is a walking contradiction (does not follow his old lich NPC rules (Non-Player Character), does not follow the barbarians rules/conditions, does not do what the system tells him (boxes) and is not really going anywhere in the story...
Everything is impossible for Bloodwraith, everything comes too easy for the player outlander. Why is the author favoring and giving cheat abilities to the "player" "outlander"?
Why if the Lich character is so Over-Powered does the main character want to capture him? Bloodwraith almost gets everybody killed (several times). If Bloodwraith was the one to use the "trading souls spell" at the beginning, then why does he want to go back to his lich character at all? Being a barbarian without and martial arts knowledge, without having been a fighter ever is contradictory and lacks common sense.
So, where I'm going with this is that the little that this author brings to this story is convoluted and contradictory actions that just bring the whole card castle down. Bloodwraith is a walking contradiction (does not follow his old lich NPC rules (Non-Player Character), does not follow the barbarians rules/conditions, does not do what the system tells him (boxes) and is not really going anywhere in the story...
March 30, 2022
Overall decent book with glaring plot error at the beginning.
I would have rated this book higher, but if not for a very obvious and basic error at the beginning of the book. The main character obtained level 11 at the end of book 1, but inexplicably is only level 10 at the beginning of book 2. Before you ask, no the beginning of book 2 is not set prior to the events of book 1. This is an especially egregious error based on the genre. I almost quit the series, I was otherwise enjoying so far, based on this gaping plot error.
I would have rated this book higher, but if not for a very obvious and basic error at the beginning of the book. The main character obtained level 11 at the end of book 1, but inexplicably is only level 10 at the beginning of book 2. Before you ask, no the beginning of book 2 is not set prior to the events of book 1. This is an especially egregious error based on the genre. I almost quit the series, I was otherwise enjoying so far, based on this gaping plot error.
November 3, 2024
Growing stronger, still grousing about the nearly magic-less build of his game character, our necromantic lord finally gets to play with a lot more than his bones.
Honestly, it's an okay LitRPG. It has some humorous moments, mostly with in-party sniping and the infernal "boxes", but I did enjoy the undead developments.
Personal note:
If anyone reading my reviews might be interested in reading my own SF, I'm going to be open to DM requests. I think it's about time I get some eyes on them.
Arctunn.com
Honestly, it's an okay LitRPG. It has some humorous moments, mostly with in-party sniping and the infernal "boxes", but I did enjoy the undead developments.
Personal note:
If anyone reading my reviews might be interested in reading my own SF, I'm going to be open to DM requests. I think it's about time I get some eyes on them.
Arctunn.com
October 23, 2025
I don't know about this one. The characters were very two dimensional and boring. The only saving grace here is the introduction of Izilthor but that wasn't enough for me. The story felt very sloppy and repetitive. At about 40% of the book, I really just wanted it to end until I DNF-ed it at 70%. I was curious how the whole story would end and how exactly the outsiders managed to manipulate the world with EXP progressions and such but I stopped caring about Bloodwraith and co. and that was it for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 19, 2020
A belated selection for the r/Fantasy 2018 Bingo for the 'Self Published Novel' square. I read the first book in this series for the 2019 Bingo for the LitRPG square. I enjoyed it and cared enough about the characters to want to find out how the story progressed. This book was another good installment with similar action/humor to the last one, with new allies (I particularly liked Izzy) and with more character growth that should make the finale worth reading too.
February 8, 2019
A strong sequel with loveable (and detestable characters). The concept started in the first book is well-developed in the second and the threat to our protagonists is very credible.
The epilogue also sets up an intriguing situation for book 3.
The epilogue also sets up an intriguing situation for book 3.
April 16, 2019
That was a FANTASTIC followup to the first book, and now I'm hooked. Really enjoying the characters and the setting; it's not what I expected from the first book, but so much more. Can't wait for the next book.
May 16, 2019
A satisfying sequel
Bloodwraith encounters his worst enemy, who can destroy him in a single shot- is there any way he can prevail? Only if he's clever and uses everything he's got, and more. I love this skew on the ordinary LitRPG genre.
Bloodwraith encounters his worst enemy, who can destroy him in a single shot- is there any way he can prevail? Only if he's clever and uses everything he's got, and more. I love this skew on the ordinary LitRPG genre.
September 6, 2021
I've just finished reading all three parts to this series and I rather enjoyed them! This book did the whole LITRpg thing very well with an interestingly explained system. The characters were all well written and interesting, thank you Sarah Lin.
February 4, 2019
Better than the first book!
The first book was good but this book is not just more of the same. The story continues to improve.
I definitely recommend this book.
The first book was good but this book is not just more of the same. The story continues to improve.
I definitely recommend this book.
February 14, 2019
A solid continuation of the series. I like the new characters but not the shift away from the traditional litrpg cycle of leveling.
April 16, 2019
Does not disapoint.
This series is a great fresh take on the NPC becomes a player story. The characters are realistic, and you get sucked into the story right away.
This series is a great fresh take on the NPC becomes a player story. The characters are realistic, and you get sucked into the story right away.
October 30, 2019
Good Sequel
Our main guy goes through a bunch of character development, while his allies go through more RPG development. Good read.
Our main guy goes through a bunch of character development, while his allies go through more RPG development. Good read.
January 27, 2020
The Izzy character added just what was needed to the series.
March 1, 2020
As much as I liked the first book,I think this one is better.The first one felt more like an epic LitRPG with a focus on epic battles,instead the second book placed more focus on expanding the lore of the world and the relationship between the main characters.Also,I liked the villain of this book,Raigar, more than Daek the Knife.Raigar's unlimited stash of super rare items really hit home *ahem*me in every mmo*ahem*.I cannot wait to begin the final book in the series,which I hope answers my many questions.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews