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Towers of Heaven #1
Towers of Heaven
One day, six towers appear on Earth. Each one stands hundreds of stories tall, and are invulnerable to all attacks. At the base of each tower is a portal, welcoming in all who dare enter it.
All sorts of magical monsters can be found inside the towers. Even treasure, magic and superhuman strength can be acquired. The problem is that the towers aren't a friendly place. Even worse, the towers sometimes release waves of monsters to attack Earth.
In the year 2083, there are only a hundred survivors. In one last attempt, they challenge the final floor without regard for their lives. By some miracle, they manage to beat the floor at the cost of their lives, leaving only one survivor.
As a reward for clearing the tower, he is granted one wish. He decides to go back in time to before the towers arrived. His goal is simple: prevent humanity from being wiped out.
All sorts of magical monsters can be found inside the towers. Even treasure, magic and superhuman strength can be acquired. The problem is that the towers aren't a friendly place. Even worse, the towers sometimes release waves of monsters to attack Earth.
In the year 2083, there are only a hundred survivors. In one last attempt, they challenge the final floor without regard for their lives. By some miracle, they manage to beat the floor at the cost of their lives, leaving only one survivor.
As a reward for clearing the tower, he is granted one wish. He decides to go back in time to before the towers arrived. His goal is simple: prevent humanity from being wiped out.
247 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 10, 2019
1305 people are currently reading
2036 people want to read
About the author
Cameron Milan
15 books312 followersYou can find links to my social media here: https://www.patreon.com/cameronmilan
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 253 reviews
November 21, 2020
OK. I dropped this book within the first chapter, but was persuaded to keep on reading. I finished it, so here are my opinions. The usual disclaimers apply, especially in this sub-genre: I dropped Cataclysm by the second chapter so yeah, we may not agree on much.
Let's use my usual pattern for this review: 1st chapter, the good, the bad, the ugly, the rating.
The first chapter:
A bunch of "elite" OP survivors are lavishing compliments at each other, trying to work themselves up to conquer a final boss. Urgh... the sheer amount of superlatives thrown about made me want to just... so I did. I skipped. All the way to when the story actually started, when the MC went back in time, and tbh, throughout the whole book, I didn't feel like I'd missed anything. My guess is that if this is ever rewritten, all those chapters should be redistributed as discovered backstory into the main plot, or just dropped.
So yeah, a fail there. Moving on.
The Good:
You know what? I liked the basic premise, a lot. Going back in time to do things right is one of my personal fantasies, so yeah, a concept I generally enjoy in media. And I liked the idea of the Towers as both the problem and the solution. Additionally, I was really interested in seing how the Towers's impact on our mana-less world would be presented.
The Bad:
It didn't happen.
The world outside the Towers never solidified into something realistic, and that's a damn shame because that's where the stakes were. We were never exposed to eye-level consequences of the monster waves, nor to the cultural impact of the towers on IRL, besides currency exchange and character sheets advantages. That is just too flimsy to make it real. The outside world felt cardboardy and tasteless, as if it didn't deserve that much attention.
On the other hand, there was nothing special about the in-Tower world. Plain typical RPG game world. Classes, guilds, goblins, slimes, level-restricted areas, you know, the usual.
The main plot is also totally obscured. We don't see how the MC is reaching towards his goal. We see stats increasing, floor numbers rising, and that's about it. Nothing really "happens" on the way.
Incidentally, I see this book going the way of DragonBall Super: the fights becoming so ridiculous that we lose all sense of scale and stop getting a feeling of accomplishment altogether when one is won.
Oh, By the way, I'm from Africa, so the thing about there only being warlords over there didn't go down very well. Just saying.
The Ugly:
Most of the story is told through the POV of the MC... who is a mess of inconsistencies.
Conceit , aloofness, selfishness, base materialism , narrow-mindedness. There's nothing to relate to with this guy. His personal family drama doesn't feel real at all . His martial personae is paradoxically flawed .
Yeah, so basically, I couldn't give a rat's ass whether he lives of dies. He doesn't carry the story, it simply happens through him.
The other characters are just as inconsistent. There's little rationale, or believable motivation in their actions. .
Then, POV switching. God did it piss me off. Sometimes a paragraph would start with one person and then switch to another, simply to show us what's in that person's head at that moment. If you are going multi-POV, be consistent about it. Don't just do it when it itches. .
And don't introduce your mythology two-thirds into the book. .
The rating
I really wanted to enjoy this book. I was intrigued by the idea, the oriental concepts, the cultural implications. I deplore the lack of "craft", or technicality, there. As someone who aims at being a writer, I respect the effort. But after plodding through, I end up pretty close to my first impression: this book wasn't for me.
Let's use my usual pattern for this review: 1st chapter, the good, the bad, the ugly, the rating.
The first chapter:
A bunch of "elite" OP survivors are lavishing compliments at each other, trying to work themselves up to conquer a final boss. Urgh... the sheer amount of superlatives thrown about made me want to just... so I did. I skipped. All the way to when the story actually started, when the MC went back in time, and tbh, throughout the whole book, I didn't feel like I'd missed anything. My guess is that if this is ever rewritten, all those chapters should be redistributed as discovered backstory into the main plot, or just dropped.
So yeah, a fail there. Moving on.
The Good:
You know what? I liked the basic premise, a lot. Going back in time to do things right is one of my personal fantasies, so yeah, a concept I generally enjoy in media. And I liked the idea of the Towers as both the problem and the solution. Additionally, I was really interested in seing how the Towers's impact on our mana-less world would be presented.
The Bad:
It didn't happen.
The world outside the Towers never solidified into something realistic, and that's a damn shame because that's where the stakes were. We were never exposed to eye-level consequences of the monster waves, nor to the cultural impact of the towers on IRL, besides currency exchange and character sheets advantages. That is just too flimsy to make it real. The outside world felt cardboardy and tasteless, as if it didn't deserve that much attention.
On the other hand, there was nothing special about the in-Tower world. Plain typical RPG game world. Classes, guilds, goblins, slimes, level-restricted areas, you know, the usual.
The main plot is also totally obscured. We don't see how the MC is reaching towards his goal. We see stats increasing, floor numbers rising, and that's about it. Nothing really "happens" on the way.
Incidentally, I see this book going the way of DragonBall Super: the fights becoming so ridiculous that we lose all sense of scale and stop getting a feeling of accomplishment altogether when one is won.
Oh, By the way, I'm from Africa, so the thing about there only being warlords over there didn't go down very well. Just saying.
The Ugly:
Most of the story is told through the POV of the MC... who is a mess of inconsistencies.
Conceit , aloofness, selfishness, base materialism , narrow-mindedness. There's nothing to relate to with this guy. His personal family drama doesn't feel real at all . His martial personae is paradoxically flawed .
Yeah, so basically, I couldn't give a rat's ass whether he lives of dies. He doesn't carry the story, it simply happens through him.
The other characters are just as inconsistent. There's little rationale, or believable motivation in their actions. .
Then, POV switching. God did it piss me off. Sometimes a paragraph would start with one person and then switch to another, simply to show us what's in that person's head at that moment. If you are going multi-POV, be consistent about it. Don't just do it when it itches. .
And don't introduce your mythology two-thirds into the book. .
The rating
I really wanted to enjoy this book. I was intrigued by the idea, the oriental concepts, the cultural implications. I deplore the lack of "craft", or technicality, there. As someone who aims at being a writer, I respect the effort. But after plodding through, I end up pretty close to my first impression: this book wasn't for me.
February 17, 2024
The system apocalypse happened and Jason was the only survivor after decades of grueling struggle. His granted wish? To go back in time to before things got weird so he could save humanity. Not a bad wish, but he only goes back to the first time he, himself, entered the tower. By that time, the towers had been going along for some twenty years and were firmly entrenched in human society as a manageable oddity. Jason knows that "manageable" is an illusion that will shatter in a handful of years and starts preparing for what is to come, starting with himself.
So this book is mostly Jason leveraging what he brought back with him to develop a power base. And it turns out that he brought back amazing combat capability as well as his knowledge of what is to come, so growing in power comes quickly. Along the way, he starts changing things, starting with running into some key personnel before he expects and developing a mentor/friend ship and the beginnings of a guild.
This is fairly straight-forward progression power fantasy and it held my interest because I liked Jason and his friends. The worldbuilding is good, the plot interesting, and the pace good-enough to keep interest. The only real knock I have against it is the semi-random PoV sections. Did we really need to see the gods arguing amongst themselves?
I'm not a big fan of events near the end where . But that wasn't enough to knock the rating down.
This is a wobbly five stars in the sense that there's nothing overtly wrong with it and I was engaged the entire time. I can't draw out anything completely amazing, though, so if you aren't into the genre, it's unlikely to transcend enough to crossover.
A note about Chaste: Jason is pretty driven and doesn't seem interested in dallying with random women. There's one adjacent pretty girl, but she's a bit damaged and Jason doesn't see her that way. So this is very chaste.
So this book is mostly Jason leveraging what he brought back with him to develop a power base. And it turns out that he brought back amazing combat capability as well as his knowledge of what is to come, so growing in power comes quickly. Along the way, he starts changing things, starting with running into some key personnel before he expects and developing a mentor/friend ship and the beginnings of a guild.
This is fairly straight-forward progression power fantasy and it held my interest because I liked Jason and his friends. The worldbuilding is good, the plot interesting, and the pace good-enough to keep interest. The only real knock I have against it is the semi-random PoV sections. Did we really need to see the gods arguing amongst themselves?
I'm not a big fan of events near the end where . But that wasn't enough to knock the rating down.
This is a wobbly five stars in the sense that there's nothing overtly wrong with it and I was engaged the entire time. I can't draw out anything completely amazing, though, so if you aren't into the genre, it's unlikely to transcend enough to crossover.
A note about Chaste: Jason is pretty driven and doesn't seem interested in dallying with random women. There's one adjacent pretty girl, but she's a bit damaged and Jason doesn't see her that way. So this is very chaste.
August 29, 2022
This is an audiobook review of “The Towers of Heaven” by Cameron Milan, narrated by Steve Campbell. Steve did a fantastic job narrating this book. The action and battle scenes, especially at the point of advancing to the next level in the tower, was effectively narrated to create a realistic and dynamic characterization. His tone, cues and inflection were utilized in a way that suits each individual character.
I love the idea of this story, time travel to a pivotal point in the past to save humanity from total destruction. This is my first LitRPG book and I can’t say it is a genre for me. It feels too much like watching someone play video games while I am on standby. It also didn’t help that it was narrated in the third person; with the author being the omniscient presence, it was not at all what I expected.
I love the beginning of the story, it went right into action and the heat of battle with evil, unfortunately, the outcome was not good for humanity and the main character was given a 2nd chance at turning things around for the entire human race, a daunting task. To save humanity, Jason had to advance many levels of the tower fighting monsters of all shapes and sizes. At first, I loved the experience of advancing through the levels at increasing difficulty but it became repetitive and predictable after a while. Fight, win, advance to next level, repeat.
I loved one of the secondary characters, Roy. He had a lot of potential in the beginning and by the end of the book, he had grown, not because he was perfect but his willingness to learn, grow and save the human race. I found it difficult to connect with Jason, he was accomplishing his goals with very little emotional depth. He used his knowledge of the past to his advantage and knows how to manipulate his way to winning. I latched onto his relationship with his father when he found him and restored his handicap, I was hoping for more, but his father was killed in battle and I was launched back to the fight, win, advance to the next level cycle.
My rating is 2.5 stars.
I received this audiobook at no-cost from the author in exchange for an honest review. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.
I love the idea of this story, time travel to a pivotal point in the past to save humanity from total destruction. This is my first LitRPG book and I can’t say it is a genre for me. It feels too much like watching someone play video games while I am on standby. It also didn’t help that it was narrated in the third person; with the author being the omniscient presence, it was not at all what I expected.
I love the beginning of the story, it went right into action and the heat of battle with evil, unfortunately, the outcome was not good for humanity and the main character was given a 2nd chance at turning things around for the entire human race, a daunting task. To save humanity, Jason had to advance many levels of the tower fighting monsters of all shapes and sizes. At first, I loved the experience of advancing through the levels at increasing difficulty but it became repetitive and predictable after a while. Fight, win, advance to next level, repeat.
I loved one of the secondary characters, Roy. He had a lot of potential in the beginning and by the end of the book, he had grown, not because he was perfect but his willingness to learn, grow and save the human race. I found it difficult to connect with Jason, he was accomplishing his goals with very little emotional depth. He used his knowledge of the past to his advantage and knows how to manipulate his way to winning. I latched onto his relationship with his father when he found him and restored his handicap, I was hoping for more, but his father was killed in battle and I was launched back to the fight, win, advance to the next level cycle.
My rating is 2.5 stars.
I received this audiobook at no-cost from the author in exchange for an honest review. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.
April 13, 2019
Training day. LitRPG Style
Apocalypse, battle towers, time travel, power leveling with a bit of a wuxia vibe. This one sucked me in. And chewed me up and spat me out. I want to ride it again. Pass the dragon balls. The ending made me want to grab the next book. But it's not done yet. Bummer.
Apocalypse, battle towers, time travel, power leveling with a bit of a wuxia vibe. This one sucked me in. And chewed me up and spat me out. I want to ride it again. Pass the dragon balls. The ending made me want to grab the next book. But it's not done yet. Bummer.
December 31, 2020
Rating 4.0 stars
I really enjoyed this book. It has all the hallmarks of a tower climb book like Sufficiently Advanced Magic but has a twist. The story starts off with the last 100 survivors of the human race trying to defeat the 100 level of the tower and the demon who controls the tower. The group is able to defeat the floor but only one person is left alive. We find out that the towers were placed in this world as a test and that humanity has passed that test, despite everyone except for 1 person dying. This person asks to be brought back in time to before the towers arrived in the world. This character, Jason, is sent back in time but there was only enough energy to send him back 20 years instead of the 60 years that he wanted. Now Jason is back in his old body on the day he started his journey in the Tower. He figures out he has 5 years to get strong enough to save the human race before the monsters start to overwhelm the human race. There are a couple of issues though. At this point, the world sees the towers as resources to exploit and are busy fighting each other for those resources instead of uniting against the slowly expanding monsters. The second problem is that Jason is now a Noob again. He is level 1. There are many advantages though. Despite being level 1 he has all the fighting instincts honed over the last 20 years of fighting. He also knows about every monster and every floor of the Tower and how to beat each one. He meets people who he knew for a long time but that are different than he remembers. He gets new opportunities that he never had in his past life, but are all the changes he is making to himself and others going to lead to a better outcome? The story was good, the characters were solid, and the world building was detailed. The magic system was just okay but you can't have everything.
I really enjoyed this book. It has all the hallmarks of a tower climb book like Sufficiently Advanced Magic but has a twist. The story starts off with the last 100 survivors of the human race trying to defeat the 100 level of the tower and the demon who controls the tower. The group is able to defeat the floor but only one person is left alive. We find out that the towers were placed in this world as a test and that humanity has passed that test, despite everyone except for 1 person dying. This person asks to be brought back in time to before the towers arrived in the world. This character, Jason, is sent back in time but there was only enough energy to send him back 20 years instead of the 60 years that he wanted. Now Jason is back in his old body on the day he started his journey in the Tower. He figures out he has 5 years to get strong enough to save the human race before the monsters start to overwhelm the human race. There are a couple of issues though. At this point, the world sees the towers as resources to exploit and are busy fighting each other for those resources instead of uniting against the slowly expanding monsters. The second problem is that Jason is now a Noob again. He is level 1. There are many advantages though. Despite being level 1 he has all the fighting instincts honed over the last 20 years of fighting. He also knows about every monster and every floor of the Tower and how to beat each one. He meets people who he knew for a long time but that are different than he remembers. He gets new opportunities that he never had in his past life, but are all the changes he is making to himself and others going to lead to a better outcome? The story was good, the characters were solid, and the world building was detailed. The magic system was just okay but you can't have everything.
September 5, 2019
Wow
As of late, I don't know if I've gotten better at picking what books I like or if the general level of GameLit writting has gone up.
This is an awesome book, reminiscent of the SpeedRunner series.
My only concern was that it seemed like the wuxia aspect was shoehorned into the middle of the book, as I don't recall there being any mention of this before hand.
Nonetheless, eagerly awaiting the next book in the series.
As of late, I don't know if I've gotten better at picking what books I like or if the general level of GameLit writting has gone up.
This is an awesome book, reminiscent of the SpeedRunner series.
My only concern was that it seemed like the wuxia aspect was shoehorned into the middle of the book, as I don't recall there being any mention of this before hand.
Nonetheless, eagerly awaiting the next book in the series.
April 12, 2019
At first I was reminded of several web novels, but was hooked after Chapter 1 and didn't even notice how far I was in the book until almost the very end. Excellent!
October 26, 2022
Well, that was fast! Thoroughly enjoyed this book; it was a great palate cleanser for the series I was struggling through previously.
Time travel can be… tricky, and the author did a decent job of navigating many of the pitfalls. Characters were relatable and complicated.
Time travel can be… tricky, and the author did a decent job of navigating many of the pitfalls. Characters were relatable and complicated.
Want to read
August 19, 2021I so have read this before*, but let's check it out for something new.
*literally, xfew times. I can start throwing titles.
*literally, xfew times. I can start throwing titles.
April 13, 2019
4.5 Stars
April 12, 2021
Well what to say about Towers of Heaven? There were some things I liked and some things I really didn’t.
What I liked
To start, I really enjoyed the concept of Towers of Heaven. This is my first LitRPG, and I honestly can say I enjoyed that aspect of the story. I did also like discovering more and more of the tower, and I did like watching Jason level up and him putting together a team. Buuut there was a lot about this book I did NOT like at all.
What I didn’t like
Well, the characters’ incredible crude comments about women were a real turn off to say the least. Are we really supposed to root for such outright sexists? There are multiple of these delightfully awful comments sprinkled through the book, one of the worsts was when Jason (speaking to his 16 year old companion) compares the texture of a slime (a jelly-like monster) to “the feel of a woman’s breast.” Just about puked in my mouth at that. I’m supposed to like this character?
Obvious sexism aside, Jason is just not a very likable character. He has little emotional depth, and his only motivation seems to be “saving the world.” Admirable, but I would like to know a bit more. His relationships with other characters are poor, and there’s just not much to distinguish him from other characters outside of his foreknowledge. At the end of the book, the author suddenly turns Jason into a rage-fueled killing machine. Where exactly did that come from? Jason is never shown like that, he’s always been a shrewd and patient person. Well, I guess not *shrug*
There were a couple other things that annoyed me about Towers. For one, Jason is a total creep around Roy. He finds this 16 year old boy and just... recruits him? Without almost any supervision? Do child protection laws no longer exist? How is Roy so brainless that he follows a complete stranger into danger? It’s just poor writing.
The authors geopolitics are also poorly contrived. To start, the global South gets shafted, with Africa portrayed as one country, rather than the dozens it actually is. All the other towers land in real countries. Africa’s tower is in... Africa? And warlords overrunning the tower? Let’s just ignore all the other stable African nations with zero warlords I suppose. And China and America blatantly invading Brazil? Sure okay. And the idea that the US military (or any military) would let basically anyone waltz into these towers is laughable. Guilds basically running the world? Yeah, right. If you don’t know anything about geopolitics, perhaps it should be avoided.
Towers got 2 stars for concept, lost 3 stars for everything else. I doubt I’ll pick up the sequel.
What I liked
To start, I really enjoyed the concept of Towers of Heaven. This is my first LitRPG, and I honestly can say I enjoyed that aspect of the story. I did also like discovering more and more of the tower, and I did like watching Jason level up and him putting together a team. Buuut there was a lot about this book I did NOT like at all.
What I didn’t like
Well, the characters’ incredible crude comments about women were a real turn off to say the least. Are we really supposed to root for such outright sexists? There are multiple of these delightfully awful comments sprinkled through the book, one of the worsts was when Jason (speaking to his 16 year old companion) compares the texture of a slime (a jelly-like monster) to “the feel of a woman’s breast.” Just about puked in my mouth at that. I’m supposed to like this character?
Obvious sexism aside, Jason is just not a very likable character. He has little emotional depth, and his only motivation seems to be “saving the world.” Admirable, but I would like to know a bit more. His relationships with other characters are poor, and there’s just not much to distinguish him from other characters outside of his foreknowledge. At the end of the book, the author suddenly turns Jason into a rage-fueled killing machine. Where exactly did that come from? Jason is never shown like that, he’s always been a shrewd and patient person. Well, I guess not *shrug*
There were a couple other things that annoyed me about Towers. For one, Jason is a total creep around Roy. He finds this 16 year old boy and just... recruits him? Without almost any supervision? Do child protection laws no longer exist? How is Roy so brainless that he follows a complete stranger into danger? It’s just poor writing.
The authors geopolitics are also poorly contrived. To start, the global South gets shafted, with Africa portrayed as one country, rather than the dozens it actually is. All the other towers land in real countries. Africa’s tower is in... Africa? And warlords overrunning the tower? Let’s just ignore all the other stable African nations with zero warlords I suppose. And China and America blatantly invading Brazil? Sure okay. And the idea that the US military (or any military) would let basically anyone waltz into these towers is laughable. Guilds basically running the world? Yeah, right. If you don’t know anything about geopolitics, perhaps it should be avoided.
Towers got 2 stars for concept, lost 3 stars for everything else. I doubt I’ll pick up the sequel.
June 3, 2019
A common trope in LitRPG is one that involves a character being whisked away to a fantasy world and then going from a zero to hero. In this day of delivery services, it should be expected that we can bring the fantasy world to the people instead. This book is one of those with the premise being that giant towers filled with monsters appear on modern-day Earth and periodically spew monsters into the outside world. People who go into the tower are able to gain stats, loot, riches, magical powers, and fulfill that sweet need to level up.
Readers who are familiar with anime or asian web novels will see a lot of familiar ground covered here, but that just means it sufficiently scratches the itch that most LitRPG readers have.
I breezed through this book in just a few hours and enjoyed myself every step of the way. A common occurrence and gripe I have with these stories usually comes down to how the main character is handled. Usually, the character is overpowered in some way. They either find the magical sword of eternal awesomeness or some gimmick of the system to exploit. I'm fine with an OP character as long as the story still finds a way to test them...otherwise it tends to turn into a fairly hollow wish fulfillment story that I'm sometimes in the mood for, but often unsatisfied by.
This story handles that pitfall well by having the main character time travel 10 years back in time to posses his own body. Similar to Sword Art Online in a way, the main character uses his knowledge from the future to farm effectively and acquire items/skills. This makes him extremely powerful relative to his peers, but there are still plenty of things stronger than him at this point in the story.
I look forward to seeing this series continue. The author seems to publish frequently but scattered across many story ideas. I hope he stays focused on this one and cranks out a complete story in 5 or so books.
Readers who are familiar with anime or asian web novels will see a lot of familiar ground covered here, but that just means it sufficiently scratches the itch that most LitRPG readers have.
I breezed through this book in just a few hours and enjoyed myself every step of the way. A common occurrence and gripe I have with these stories usually comes down to how the main character is handled. Usually, the character is overpowered in some way. They either find the magical sword of eternal awesomeness or some gimmick of the system to exploit. I'm fine with an OP character as long as the story still finds a way to test them...otherwise it tends to turn into a fairly hollow wish fulfillment story that I'm sometimes in the mood for, but often unsatisfied by.
This story handles that pitfall well by having the main character time travel 10 years back in time to posses his own body. Similar to Sword Art Online in a way, the main character uses his knowledge from the future to farm effectively and acquire items/skills. This makes him extremely powerful relative to his peers, but there are still plenty of things stronger than him at this point in the story.
I look forward to seeing this series continue. The author seems to publish frequently but scattered across many story ideas. I hope he stays focused on this one and cranks out a complete story in 5 or so books.
April 24, 2019
Totally awesome
How do I describe this gem? This takes a solid set of ideas that has floated around for a while and executes their concepts in a way that left me feeling charged, jittery, excited, and gave me feels all at the same time. Read it in one sitting without being able to stop. Worth every second and now I’m crying inside for books 2-?. You’re gonna love it if you enjoy fantasy or game lit of any kind.
Wonderfully done. Reminded me of a Korean novel I finished a while back, but done in a style that makes humans more... well... human, and emotions more raw and full of depth.
Well executed. Well crafted. Loved it.
How do I describe this gem? This takes a solid set of ideas that has floated around for a while and executes their concepts in a way that left me feeling charged, jittery, excited, and gave me feels all at the same time. Read it in one sitting without being able to stop. Worth every second and now I’m crying inside for books 2-?. You’re gonna love it if you enjoy fantasy or game lit of any kind.
Wonderfully done. Reminded me of a Korean novel I finished a while back, but done in a style that makes humans more... well... human, and emotions more raw and full of depth.
Well executed. Well crafted. Loved it.
April 14, 2019
Fun Litrpg story!
This is a fun story. If you enjoy Litrpg or just fantasy stories, you’ll be in for hours of enjoyment. The main concept for the story has been used before, but I don’t mind that as long as it is done well. The author took the concept in a new direction. First chapter is my least favorite so keep reading. The more I read the better it got. I stayed up late reading and going into work sleep deprived. I will definitely be reading book 2!
This is a fun story. If you enjoy Litrpg or just fantasy stories, you’ll be in for hours of enjoyment. The main concept for the story has been used before, but I don’t mind that as long as it is done well. The author took the concept in a new direction. First chapter is my least favorite so keep reading. The more I read the better it got. I stayed up late reading and going into work sleep deprived. I will definitely be reading book 2!
April 27, 2019
Book one
Mistakes: None found.
Plot: it's an end of the world, tower dungeon, time travel book. I wasn't really a can of all the battle damage windows in the first part of the book. Thankfully they stop showing up rather quickly.
Characters: The author hasn't gone very deep into character development yet so I'm going to reserve judgement.
Mistakes: None found.
Plot: it's an end of the world, tower dungeon, time travel book. I wasn't really a can of all the battle damage windows in the first part of the book. Thankfully they stop showing up rather quickly.
Characters: The author hasn't gone very deep into character development yet so I'm going to reserve judgement.
April 26, 2019
Good read , a novel plot
Happy to see a well , so far , thought out time travel plot . Looking forward to the next book !
Happy to see a well , so far , thought out time travel plot . Looking forward to the next book !
August 30, 2025
Classic writing strat: gods, stats, and time travel.
TL; DR: A typical litRPG and fantasy story that doesn’t offer much new and is held back by the audio.
I’m not usually one to say this, but the audio hurt this as much as other things did. There were quite a few errors in the performance, though I don’t know if it was errors in writing or on the narrator’s part. It’s unfortunate because it’s a decent story, but I suppose I’ll have to see when I read the other two.
Characters: Jason, Roy, and Olivia are a good base to start with, but none are remarkable or special. Dialogue is also strangely awkward. It’s just uncomfortable.
Setting: It’s very basic, tower of challenges, reach the top floor, save humanity, blah blah blah.
Story: I think you’ve already got the gist.
Writing: It’s not great; there are a lot of issues with consistency and the characters are just stupid sometimes. I can’t tell you how many times a character was “surprised” or “shocked.” It was a bit painful.
Overall, not a great book, but I got the collection for cheap, so here comes the next one.
2.3 🌟
TL; DR: A typical litRPG and fantasy story that doesn’t offer much new and is held back by the audio.
I’m not usually one to say this, but the audio hurt this as much as other things did. There were quite a few errors in the performance, though I don’t know if it was errors in writing or on the narrator’s part. It’s unfortunate because it’s a decent story, but I suppose I’ll have to see when I read the other two.
Characters: Jason, Roy, and Olivia are a good base to start with, but none are remarkable or special. Dialogue is also strangely awkward. It’s just uncomfortable.
Setting: It’s very basic, tower of challenges, reach the top floor, save humanity, blah blah blah.
Story: I think you’ve already got the gist.
Writing: It’s not great; there are a lot of issues with consistency and the characters are just stupid sometimes. I can’t tell you how many times a character was “surprised” or “shocked.” It was a bit painful.
Overall, not a great book, but I got the collection for cheap, so here comes the next one.
2.3 🌟
April 23, 2020
I really liked the idea of the book and the story in general. I had problems getting through the first three or four chapters but after that the story really caught me.
The charaters are well written and their actions made sense. Furthermore I loved the lore behind that. The world in the book is descriped pretty good.
I would have given 5 stars but the writing was a bit off sometimes imo. There where changes in places or characters and I found them not well writen or just bad formatted. Also I noticed in some sections of the book many repetions of words in just one passage. For me it felt quite annoying.
But Im sure going to read the second book, too.
The charaters are well written and their actions made sense. Furthermore I loved the lore behind that. The world in the book is descriped pretty good.
I would have given 5 stars but the writing was a bit off sometimes imo. There where changes in places or characters and I found them not well writen or just bad formatted. Also I noticed in some sections of the book many repetions of words in just one passage. For me it felt quite annoying.
But Im sure going to read the second book, too.
October 27, 2022
One of the better books i have read recently.. That said it has its issues that some will not like.
Overall the entire series was very good. Was surprised that there was only 3 books in the series though. The ending ...Well if you want to find out about the ending you need to read all 3 books :)
Overall the entire series was very good. Was surprised that there was only 3 books in the series though. The ending ...Well if you want to find out about the ending you need to read all 3 books :)
May 21, 2020
Awesome book
Really great book I really enjoyed it I wish I could read the next one the series right now. Create characters you really feel for him
Really great book I really enjoyed it I wish I could read the next one the series right now. Create characters you really feel for him
July 11, 2021
Enjoyable Tower litRPG
I really enjoyed this book, it is not focused on stats as much as I like but it was a good dystopian future book with skills and stats laid out in it.
I really enjoyed this book, it is not focused on stats as much as I like but it was a good dystopian future book with skills and stats laid out in it.
September 9, 2020
Good read, light and fun. We have a interesting enough set of progtagonists and the towers and levels are fresh too. The gaming system has enough variations to not be trope-y.
June 26, 2020
I enjoyed this book quite a bit but I don't know if I can recommend it to everyone. This book is great at what it does, which is satisfying a specific itch. If you have that itch, then you'll enjoy it, else you may find this book to be not that great.
And what is that itch? Well, let me ask you the following questions. Do you like wish fulfillment where a protagonist, for whatever reason, is sent back to an earlier point in time to relive his/her life but retains a vast amount of useful knowledge and then uses that knowledge to progress rapidly? Do you play RPGs and enjoy planning out what path you're going to take with your character and what skills you'll grow and when you'll grow them? Do you enjoy reading about gradual skill progression where the story describes in detail how the protagonist gets better as his/her skills grow? If you answered yes to any of the above, and especially if it was to all of the above, then this book may just satisfy an itch you never knew you had.
Sure, there are some wonky things like the dialogue seeming a bit too informal, and characters possibly acting out of character at times. But the main character is the one who is the center of all the attention and if you like him it should be good enough to weather the oddities that pop up every now and then.
Also, a final warning. Read this book as if you're reading about the initial level progression in a grand story. This story does not have some kind of satisfying conclusion like the end of a series or even the end of a regular book, and if you go in with appropriate expectations, you'll enjoy yourself all the more. Just remember, this isn't a standalone book. Once you finish this one, you can move on to the next.
And what is that itch? Well, let me ask you the following questions. Do you like wish fulfillment where a protagonist, for whatever reason, is sent back to an earlier point in time to relive his/her life but retains a vast amount of useful knowledge and then uses that knowledge to progress rapidly? Do you play RPGs and enjoy planning out what path you're going to take with your character and what skills you'll grow and when you'll grow them? Do you enjoy reading about gradual skill progression where the story describes in detail how the protagonist gets better as his/her skills grow? If you answered yes to any of the above, and especially if it was to all of the above, then this book may just satisfy an itch you never knew you had.
Sure, there are some wonky things like the dialogue seeming a bit too informal, and characters possibly acting out of character at times. But the main character is the one who is the center of all the attention and if you like him it should be good enough to weather the oddities that pop up every now and then.
Also, a final warning. Read this book as if you're reading about the initial level progression in a grand story. This story does not have some kind of satisfying conclusion like the end of a series or even the end of a regular book, and if you go in with appropriate expectations, you'll enjoy yourself all the more. Just remember, this isn't a standalone book. Once you finish this one, you can move on to the next.
January 26, 2020
This book was far better than i thought it would be. It was filled with fast pacing plot and tons of action. And even thought Jason and Roy went through the floors of the tower fast the author was still able to describe the floors in detail. The one thing I did not like and the reason this book is a 9 instead of a 10 is that the author would switch point of view on characters in the middle of a character. You would be reading one sentence in the point of view and then the next sentence would be in a completely different point of view. It would be better if the author just switched point of views at the start of chapters. Overall this book was very great and I am very excited to read the next book.
May 4, 2019
Great read
I had a lot of fun reading this and I look forward to reading the next book in the series.
I appreciated that the author doesn’t subject us to unnecessary exposition. The battles and training sequences are written effectively. They give you a good sense of what is happening and the mechanics of the world without boring the reader with a play-by-play off every single hit.
I also appreciate how the author handles stats and abilities. In this world the numbers have weight, but thankfully the main character is never constantly checking their stat sheet.
I would highly recommend this book.
I had a lot of fun reading this and I look forward to reading the next book in the series.
I appreciated that the author doesn’t subject us to unnecessary exposition. The battles and training sequences are written effectively. They give you a good sense of what is happening and the mechanics of the world without boring the reader with a play-by-play off every single hit.
I also appreciate how the author handles stats and abilities. In this world the numbers have weight, but thankfully the main character is never constantly checking their stat sheet.
I would highly recommend this book.
August 14, 2021
The initial premise is pretty similar to a lot of other stories. Still the writing was interesting and the twist on the main character was something I didn't expect so really enjoyed the start.
Learning about the tower and the world around it was fun I enjoyed seeing how the displayed everything. I hope the next books keep being as interesting and don't grow stale.
Will definitely be checking out the rest of the series.
Learning about the tower and the world around it was fun I enjoyed seeing how the displayed everything. I hope the next books keep being as interesting and don't grow stale.
Will definitely be checking out the rest of the series.
September 25, 2019
Really picks up after first few chapters
The morally cleanest litRPG I’ve read in a long time. Initial chapter or two read stiltedly, but after that the action, adventure and world-building maintainability energy and creativity. The character development - always an iffy thing for litRPG - is better than most in the genre.
The morally cleanest litRPG I’ve read in a long time. Initial chapter or two read stiltedly, but after that the action, adventure and world-building maintainability energy and creativity. The character development - always an iffy thing for litRPG - is better than most in the genre.
December 23, 2019
Wow!! The type of progress in this book is astounding and isn’t something you can find in most other LitRPG books. My only grip is that it’s too short.
April 22, 2019
Decent start
Overall, I enjoyed this book. The prologue portion was kind of rough and turned me off to it for a few days and the writing style could be a bit immature but once it got going it pulls you in and goes pretty quick. The conclusion snuck up on me and was surprising because it sisnt feel like it was leading up to a conclusion at that point. I enjoyed it though and am looking forward to the next one.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. The prologue portion was kind of rough and turned me off to it for a few days and the writing style could be a bit immature but once it got going it pulls you in and goes pretty quick. The conclusion snuck up on me and was surprising because it sisnt feel like it was leading up to a conclusion at that point. I enjoyed it though and am looking forward to the next one.
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