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Shadow Sun #2
Expansion
The human race has become nearly extinct.
Allistor and his small group push to make themselves stronger, fighting to survive the year-long Stabilization.
Forced to battle increasingly stronger and more deadly monsters, they work to expand their holdings, learn better spells, and gather resources to improve their crafting.
Dungeons must be cleared, and dragons defeated. Fellow survivors are found - some friendly, some hostile.
Allistor considers every human life precious, but when it becomes a case of kill or be killed, hard choices must be made.
And each day brings them closer to the invasion of Earth.
RUNNING TIME ➼ 7hrs. and 21mins.
©2019 Dave Willmarth (P)2020 Dave Willmarth
Allistor and his small group push to make themselves stronger, fighting to survive the year-long Stabilization.
Forced to battle increasingly stronger and more deadly monsters, they work to expand their holdings, learn better spells, and gather resources to improve their crafting.
Dungeons must be cleared, and dragons defeated. Fellow survivors are found - some friendly, some hostile.
Allistor considers every human life precious, but when it becomes a case of kill or be killed, hard choices must be made.
And each day brings them closer to the invasion of Earth.
RUNNING TIME ➼ 7hrs. and 21mins.
©2019 Dave Willmarth (P)2020 Dave Willmarth
8 pages, Audible Audio
First published August 2, 2019
About the author
Dave Willmarth
33 books635 followersDave is a part-time author who would love to live full time in the game worlds he creates.
A gamer since the 70's, he loves the idea of being able to mix the science of virtual reality with the fantasy worlds inspired by great writers such as JRR Tokien and CS Lewis.
Dave has always wanted to be a writer. Over the past three decades he started and put away a dozen novels, distracted by work or life.
The dream of being an author seemed distant.
That is until recently, when he discovered the LitRPG/GameLit genre full of books that combined his love for video games and epic fantasy adventures. He was inspired by the books he read, and the authors who wrote them. So much so that he sat down and wrote the first two books of The Greystone Chronicles in just over a month. He published the first as an experiment, and was shocked at the response. These days he sits in his man cave late at night and writes the stories of characters he'd like to be, in worlds virtually without limits.
A gamer since the 70's, he loves the idea of being able to mix the science of virtual reality with the fantasy worlds inspired by great writers such as JRR Tokien and CS Lewis.
Dave has always wanted to be a writer. Over the past three decades he started and put away a dozen novels, distracted by work or life.
The dream of being an author seemed distant.
That is until recently, when he discovered the LitRPG/GameLit genre full of books that combined his love for video games and epic fantasy adventures. He was inspired by the books he read, and the authors who wrote them. So much so that he sat down and wrote the first two books of The Greystone Chronicles in just over a month. He published the first as an experiment, and was shocked at the response. These days he sits in his man cave late at night and writes the stories of characters he'd like to be, in worlds virtually without limits.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 249 reviews
February 4, 2020
The big issue with this series is that it's boring with lazy writing. All the characters are two dimensional so when the authors end up killing one-off to up the stakes you end up not caring. The world's game lit magic, skill, and crafting elements are mostly ignored. And the plot is pretty much formulaic you could sum it up as "travel to a new settlement, talk to the good settlement.. learn about bad settlement .. Eat food( there way too much writing devoted to meals) have a cringy interaction with designated malcontent that will betray the group. Go and kill bad settlement leader Then dungeon dive something.. and repeat. over and over" There no real sense of progression either. Than there Allister who objectively is sort of incompetent yet survives due to plot armor for a so-called gamer he sure likes to YoLo dungeons and raids.
Then you have the odd technological and cultural inconsistency. This book is set in the future. But Gas power vehicle, food, entertainment is pretty much modern-day. Cultural everyone in this world should be aware of how RPG's work. In this time frame, your run of the mill 80 year old should have played or been aware of DnD, or Dark souls, sim city, etc.
They're just so much wrong with this book that I could spend hours nitpicking it apart but if it had been entertaining I could overlook it. But I come out of this feeling like I wasted my time.
Then you have the odd technological and cultural inconsistency. This book is set in the future. But Gas power vehicle, food, entertainment is pretty much modern-day. Cultural everyone in this world should be aware of how RPG's work. In this time frame, your run of the mill 80 year old should have played or been aware of DnD, or Dark souls, sim city, etc.
They're just so much wrong with this book that I could spend hours nitpicking it apart but if it had been entertaining I could overlook it. But I come out of this feeling like I wasted my time.
March 26, 2023
This is second in a System Apocalypse LitRPG series. Definitely read in order.
I made it all the way to 91% before crashing. The characterization is really poor. All the women are pretty much the same (except the bad one who supported rapists and died in, like, two seconds) and nobody has a ton of emotional depth. Allistor is pretty cool as a power fantasy hero and the system and tech toys are fun and the boss fights exciting.
But I was just getting exasperated with the lack of characterization (I mean, even the as everyone else) when we got a bad-guy PoV that slugged the last nail in the coffin so hard the hammer fell apart. I mean, mustache twirling Loki is one thing, but an Odin that literally everyone sneaks cheats past to spike the events on Earth in their favor was just too much. Odin. The god of wisdom and far-seeing perspicacity. Duped by dime-store villains. Hel was literally in a corner going "better lay that trail at dad's door real fast, then." You know, because she hadn't bothered being subtle at all because she's only duping mother-loving Odin.
It broke me. This is 2½ stars that I'm rounding up because the fights were fun and I liked Allistor more than I should have. It doesn't deserve it, but I'm giving it credit for the entertainment along the way. It's a shame I can't possibly bother with the next what with the aliens finally coming to Earth and you just know that means more poorly-portrayed Norse deities and their blundering shenanigans.
I made it all the way to 91% before crashing. The characterization is really poor. All the women are pretty much the same (except the bad one who supported rapists and died in, like, two seconds) and nobody has a ton of emotional depth. Allistor is pretty cool as a power fantasy hero and the system and tech toys are fun and the boss fights exciting.
But I was just getting exasperated with the lack of characterization (I mean, even the as everyone else) when we got a bad-guy PoV that slugged the last nail in the coffin so hard the hammer fell apart. I mean, mustache twirling Loki is one thing, but an Odin that literally everyone sneaks cheats past to spike the events on Earth in their favor was just too much. Odin. The god of wisdom and far-seeing perspicacity. Duped by dime-store villains. Hel was literally in a corner going "better lay that trail at dad's door real fast, then." You know, because she hadn't bothered being subtle at all because she's only duping mother-loving Odin.
It broke me. This is 2½ stars that I'm rounding up because the fights were fun and I liked Allistor more than I should have. It doesn't deserve it, but I'm giving it credit for the entertainment along the way. It's a shame I can't possibly bother with the next what with the aliens finally coming to Earth and you just know that means more poorly-portrayed Norse deities and their blundering shenanigans.
November 11, 2021
Love the cast of characters in the series. Hope they all keep levelling up and kicking arse!
January 30, 2021
This is turning into some kind of neo-con wish-fulfilment fantasy. All the survival went out the window by the end of last the last book, and remain absent here, along with most of the rpg mechanics. While the story says other people level, nobody but the main character progresses, and even when his attributes should be sub average, they still better than everybody else's. And except for the last battle nobody but the main character ever uses other spells than heals, and even in the last battle nobody but the main character's spells have any effect.
Worst of all is the lack of gray or realistic morals. Everybody are either pure lawful good or pure chaotic evil with a strong wish to tell everyone how evil they are, and how much murder and rape they have commited, even when on trial. This childish morality is then used to excuse executions including torturing prisoners to death. You know, by the good guys.
The main difference to other wish-fulfilment fantasy, is the lack of a harem for the protagonist. He sticks with one woman, making the story at least stick to its conservatism.
Worst of all is the lack of gray or realistic morals. Everybody are either pure lawful good or pure chaotic evil with a strong wish to tell everyone how evil they are, and how much murder and rape they have commited, even when on trial. This childish morality is then used to excuse executions including torturing prisoners to death. You know, by the good guys.
The main difference to other wish-fulfilment fantasy, is the lack of a harem for the protagonist. He sticks with one woman, making the story at least stick to its conservatism.
August 5, 2019
Another solid book
As I mentioned on previous reviews, Mr. Willmarth has become one of my favorite authors in this genre, with innovative and diverse stories to share all tastes.
And while this one doesn't disappoint, one of my favorite parts from it is the "fast forwards" to the interesting bits, bypassing the grind periods with enough info to move the story forward without sacrificing pace.
From what I hear, book 3 is releasing relatively soon, so great news all around.
As I mentioned on previous reviews, Mr. Willmarth has become one of my favorite authors in this genre, with innovative and diverse stories to share all tastes.
And while this one doesn't disappoint, one of my favorite parts from it is the "fast forwards" to the interesting bits, bypassing the grind periods with enough info to move the story forward without sacrificing pace.
From what I hear, book 3 is releasing relatively soon, so great news all around.
February 16, 2020
I really like setting and characters, but what this book mainly lacked are any meaningful effects of the system on the people. Everyones constitution has risen yet lvl of injury causes by mundane means is still the same. Another thing are classes MC got 2 spells out of his class and thats it no addition spells no upgrades on the spells, no talents, nothing. Then there is Fuzzy. In the book one it was established that moster get essence of things their eat causing them to increase in power. Bear cub partook in many a elite creature and yet all of his power increase comes from lvl ups.
April 28, 2020
Rating 4.0
A little better than the first book IMO mainly because the main character wasn't as stupid. This one had less to do with fighting monsters and more to do with gaining territory. A good portion of the book is Alistor and his people dealing with other humans. Whether to try and convince them he has noble goals or dealing with the groups that are preying on the rest of humanity. There were at least 3 boss level fights that were pretty good. Alistor was still OP and got even more so throughout the story. Power wasn't the only thing that he had going for him. His land and titles increased dramatically as well. He got lucky with the amount of land and wealth he was able to accumulate which may be even more important than his personal power. He still took a lot of risks in combat that I thought was unnecessary, though this was better than in the first book. At the end the integration period is over and the aliens show up to claim land. I am wondering how this is going to change the action. There was an interesting cameo at the end as well. Overall while this is not a perfect book, I did enjoy it very much. The only other thing I think it is missing is emotion. While there were many deaths throughout the series so far, I wasn't as affected as I think I could have been. I just didn't emotionally connect with the characters. I don't know if that is my fault or if it was the way the author wrote the characters, but there it is.
A little better than the first book IMO mainly because the main character wasn't as stupid. This one had less to do with fighting monsters and more to do with gaining territory. A good portion of the book is Alistor and his people dealing with other humans. Whether to try and convince them he has noble goals or dealing with the groups that are preying on the rest of humanity. There were at least 3 boss level fights that were pretty good. Alistor was still OP and got even more so throughout the story. Power wasn't the only thing that he had going for him. His land and titles increased dramatically as well. He got lucky with the amount of land and wealth he was able to accumulate which may be even more important than his personal power. He still took a lot of risks in combat that I thought was unnecessary, though this was better than in the first book. At the end the integration period is over and the aliens show up to claim land. I am wondering how this is going to change the action. There was an interesting cameo at the end as well. Overall while this is not a perfect book, I did enjoy it very much. The only other thing I think it is missing is emotion. While there were many deaths throughout the series so far, I wasn't as affected as I think I could have been. I just didn't emotionally connect with the characters. I don't know if that is my fault or if it was the way the author wrote the characters, but there it is.
February 19, 2020
The parts of this series which focus on the adventure are quite well done. However, the main character is the main inveterate cunt I have ever read. Whenever he talks with a new bunch of people he runs into, he cannot seem to avoid engaging in the most inane dick-waving contest. And, it's like they're hardly worth the effort. So, the drama forces the reader to engage with the event as if it were important to the story, and these endless pissing contests are just so irrelevant.
And, then there's the racist interaction with a native Indian population where Main Cunt decides to commandeer a building in the native holding for no reason I can understand except that it makes a pretty pattern on his map or something.
So, the basic story, not badly done. The main character? So much of a total prick I threw the book against a wall because he was someone that, had I met them in person, I would be quite interested in killing as so many other entities seem to want to do.
And, then there's the racist interaction with a native Indian population where Main Cunt decides to commandeer a building in the native holding for no reason I can understand except that it makes a pretty pattern on his map or something.
So, the basic story, not badly done. The main character? So much of a total prick I threw the book against a wall because he was someone that, had I met them in person, I would be quite interested in killing as so many other entities seem to want to do.
February 24, 2020
The middle third of the book was a drag... unless you're into incremental improvements in the management of strongholds.
Even by the end of the book, my enthusiasm was waning. Allistor is suffering from the curse of being O.P. He lucks into the ownership of millions of acres of land and then becomes richer than Croesus. Where's the risk? If this was a game, I'd say it was broken.
Even by the end of the book, my enthusiasm was waning. Allistor is suffering from the curse of being O.P. He lucks into the ownership of millions of acres of land and then becomes richer than Croesus. Where's the risk? If this was a game, I'd say it was broken.
August 18, 2020
The Protagonist became sooooo toxic. God I actually liked book 1. Though I have to accept that it was all intentional by the author. Now I get what he was going for, but that mark is quite hard to hit. Being forthright and being opinionated are two completely different animals, but the lines between these characteristics are blurry af. Definition of "Opinionated" is "Actions characterized by conceited assertiveness and dogmatism." In this character development Alistor should have simply been Assertive and forthright with a little dash of Rick Grimes. Instead we get this Post-pubescent, opinionated, materialistic, toxically masculine, Judgemental, Ass-hat. Damn. Don't even get me started on the Bear.
October 13, 2021
Review of Books 1-5
One of the best series in the genre that I binge read all 5 books within a week. Set in Earth in a post apocalyptic setting where the planet has been assimilated into "universal collective" and more than 90% of population has been wiped out. New and mutated monster's roam the planet, a new system of stats and skills are made available to survivors. It's chaos everywhere. We follow the MC, Allistor who uses his experience as gamer to survive and help others survive and eventually rise to position of strength.
The world building is excellent. We have the right amount of information to feel like we are part of the new monstrous world. The prose is subtle enough that we feel the flight of the survivors and get the adrenalin rush as they go about their survival. Right blend of action, adventure and emotive content to make it all come together realistically. The magic system is unique and refreshing and use of vortex was innovative and gripping. The plot then escalates to intergalactic proportions as events on Earth have a ripple effect through the galaxy and the events there have a immediate impact on Earth.
I was not a fan of use of Norse mythology in here. Maybe I because a bit jaded because of Marvel, but felt a purer fantasy setting would have been better. The character development also left a bit to be desired. Though the progression of the MC was captivating none of the other characters were developed sufficiently to add color to the background.
Those niggles aside, this is a brilliant read, that I'd happily recommend to fans of this genre!
One of the best series in the genre that I binge read all 5 books within a week. Set in Earth in a post apocalyptic setting where the planet has been assimilated into "universal collective" and more than 90% of population has been wiped out. New and mutated monster's roam the planet, a new system of stats and skills are made available to survivors. It's chaos everywhere. We follow the MC, Allistor who uses his experience as gamer to survive and help others survive and eventually rise to position of strength.
The world building is excellent. We have the right amount of information to feel like we are part of the new monstrous world. The prose is subtle enough that we feel the flight of the survivors and get the adrenalin rush as they go about their survival. Right blend of action, adventure and emotive content to make it all come together realistically. The magic system is unique and refreshing and use of vortex was innovative and gripping. The plot then escalates to intergalactic proportions as events on Earth have a ripple effect through the galaxy and the events there have a immediate impact on Earth.
I was not a fan of use of Norse mythology in here. Maybe I because a bit jaded because of Marvel, but felt a purer fantasy setting would have been better. The character development also left a bit to be desired. Though the progression of the MC was captivating none of the other characters were developed sufficiently to add color to the background.
Those niggles aside, this is a brilliant read, that I'd happily recommend to fans of this genre!
February 23, 2020
Mini-Review:
3 Stars for Audiobook, 4 Stars for Story
4 Stars for Narration by Soundbooth Narrators
-2 Stars for Sound Effects Clashing with Narration
4 Stars for Characters
3.5 Stars for Plot Progression
Sound effects have to be balanced with narration or it makes my EARS HURT. I'm listening to a story. Effects & music can add to the experience. It's best when it's an add on. Not the main event. I did not get an audiobook to listen to cheesy animal sounds, explosions and etc that clash over the story being told. I'm perfectly happy with talented narrators adding emotion/expression to the story narration with their individual skill sets.
I look forward to seeing what else happens in the series. There was uneven pacing in the story and some parts started to sound repetitive due to the way the events unfolded but I like the general direction of the plot. I wish there had been a little bit more character development.
Honestly, I probably would have enjoyed the story more if I wasn't constantly on guard about when sound effects were going to disrupt the story flow, hurt my ears or make me repeat parts because I could not hear what HAPPENED in the story.
3 Stars for Audiobook, 4 Stars for Story
4 Stars for Narration by Soundbooth Narrators
-2 Stars for Sound Effects Clashing with Narration
4 Stars for Characters
3.5 Stars for Plot Progression
Sound effects have to be balanced with narration or it makes my EARS HURT. I'm listening to a story. Effects & music can add to the experience. It's best when it's an add on. Not the main event. I did not get an audiobook to listen to cheesy animal sounds, explosions and etc that clash over the story being told. I'm perfectly happy with talented narrators adding emotion/expression to the story narration with their individual skill sets.
I look forward to seeing what else happens in the series. There was uneven pacing in the story and some parts started to sound repetitive due to the way the events unfolded but I like the general direction of the plot. I wish there had been a little bit more character development.
Honestly, I probably would have enjoyed the story more if I wasn't constantly on guard about when sound effects were going to disrupt the story flow, hurt my ears or make me repeat parts because I could not hear what HAPPENED in the story.
March 8, 2020
Just as good as the first! Dialogue remains top notch. The “antagonists” seemed to be rehashes from the first book but you can only have so many types of crazy in the world.
I really enjoy how the author isn’t afraid to kill some people and invite tragedy and drama that isn’t overbearing. Everything seems to flow into the next.
Still wish there was more explanation of the System and how level up works and even the stats. Our level 20 MC almost got killed by a single knife to the gut? Yea ok, what’s the point of constitution and stamina and what not? It’s nice that monsters are still vulnerable to earth weapons but I hope eventually they move on to other stuff as they evolve.
Very, very excited for what is to come in the next book.
9/10
I really enjoy how the author isn’t afraid to kill some people and invite tragedy and drama that isn’t overbearing. Everything seems to flow into the next.
Still wish there was more explanation of the System and how level up works and even the stats. Our level 20 MC almost got killed by a single knife to the gut? Yea ok, what’s the point of constitution and stamina and what not? It’s nice that monsters are still vulnerable to earth weapons but I hope eventually they move on to other stuff as they evolve.
Very, very excited for what is to come in the next book.
9/10
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 29, 2020
Weak second book, a bit too similar to book 1.
The second book of this system apocalypse series is relatively good, but suffer from one major problem. It is basically the same as book 1, just with higher numbers. You have the same groups of assholes that have no other purpose in the story other than being very obvious assholes, the same leveling, the same achievements and the same bare hinting of background story.
Oh, and conveniently, you're being told that stuff that could have happened in the previous book just occurs now, because.
Overall, it's not objectively a bad book per se. It's just that, as a part of a series, it ends up being relatively unsatisfying.
The second book of this system apocalypse series is relatively good, but suffer from one major problem. It is basically the same as book 1, just with higher numbers. You have the same groups of assholes that have no other purpose in the story other than being very obvious assholes, the same leveling, the same achievements and the same bare hinting of background story.
Oh, and conveniently, you're being told that stuff that could have happened in the previous book just occurs now, because.
Overall, it's not objectively a bad book per se. It's just that, as a part of a series, it ends up being relatively unsatisfying.
September 24, 2022
More frustrating than enjoyable
In fact, it wasn't all that enjoyable. I don't really like MC. He's a pushover with females, of course. And worse, he's not too bright, even tho the author tries to make him out to be smart. I'm constantly thinking how stupid he is. The girls all treat him with no respect. The author has laid on plenty of feminist conditioning besides that. Females being smarter and more capable than the men, and the ones in charge mostly too. Typical in books these days. If it wasn't overdone it would be fine, but it's always overdone and doesn't feel natural, but forced, which is annoying.
The story is decent, but it's not great. The arcing story is interesting, but the pages are boring. So much is repetitive, so much is uninteresting, or frustrating from ineptitude, either on the MCs part or the author's.
I'm not at all rooting for the MC.. The author hasn't reeled me in and made me get behind him and root for him and all that. He's just some average 20 yr old who gets lucky and even tho he has very low luck, things keep falling in his lap, or his very low charisma convinces lots of people to swear loyalty to a dumb 20 yr kid who is just farther along in the game than they are. And anyone who doesn't want to be his subject is a bad guy. Sorry, but I wouldn't want to follow a kid who even admits to just getting lucky and forced to lead, and has plans to take on the whole universe of aliens with typical 20 yr old emotion. I'd rather start my own colony than follow him, but anyone who doesn't is depicted as angry and bad and whiny and ends up dead or ostracized.
Their HP bar means nothing...! This bugs me greatly. Earth completely changed, the underlying "magic" has been revealed and it pervades all things. All things, including humans. There's suddenly magic spells and everyone has skills and attributes like strength that adds real strength, or constitution that gives a higher health pool. Creatures all gain magical stats too. Buildings are made magically.
But if you shoot someone in the head, it ignores their health pool and they die. Critical shots ignore HP basically. This is just dumb. He really hasn't given their health enough thought. And injuries don't actually heal when your HP gets back to full. It's easy to bleed out and die too. Thats just not congruent with the new magical Earth. The nanobot/magic that comprises everything should magically make people tough enough to live through any damage that doesn't legitimately take away all their health pool. Sure you can crit, but guns should be doing far less damage than they are. They need to have a set damage.
And guns aren't even encouraged. Originally the author said there's no Skills for guns, but suddenly now there is in the 2nd book. The magic of the system should have made guns far less effective. They are supposed to be learning magic and adjusting to a new 'magical' alien system/universe. Guns are Cheesing everything. Nobody is learning magic.. except the MC has a couple great spells he hardly uses.
It feels like it's not even a litRPG, just an apocalyptic book with an alien invasion.
In fact, it wasn't all that enjoyable. I don't really like MC. He's a pushover with females, of course. And worse, he's not too bright, even tho the author tries to make him out to be smart. I'm constantly thinking how stupid he is. The girls all treat him with no respect. The author has laid on plenty of feminist conditioning besides that. Females being smarter and more capable than the men, and the ones in charge mostly too. Typical in books these days. If it wasn't overdone it would be fine, but it's always overdone and doesn't feel natural, but forced, which is annoying.
The story is decent, but it's not great. The arcing story is interesting, but the pages are boring. So much is repetitive, so much is uninteresting, or frustrating from ineptitude, either on the MCs part or the author's.
I'm not at all rooting for the MC.. The author hasn't reeled me in and made me get behind him and root for him and all that. He's just some average 20 yr old who gets lucky and even tho he has very low luck, things keep falling in his lap, or his very low charisma convinces lots of people to swear loyalty to a dumb 20 yr kid who is just farther along in the game than they are. And anyone who doesn't want to be his subject is a bad guy. Sorry, but I wouldn't want to follow a kid who even admits to just getting lucky and forced to lead, and has plans to take on the whole universe of aliens with typical 20 yr old emotion. I'd rather start my own colony than follow him, but anyone who doesn't is depicted as angry and bad and whiny and ends up dead or ostracized.
Their HP bar means nothing...! This bugs me greatly. Earth completely changed, the underlying "magic" has been revealed and it pervades all things. All things, including humans. There's suddenly magic spells and everyone has skills and attributes like strength that adds real strength, or constitution that gives a higher health pool. Creatures all gain magical stats too. Buildings are made magically.
But if you shoot someone in the head, it ignores their health pool and they die. Critical shots ignore HP basically. This is just dumb. He really hasn't given their health enough thought. And injuries don't actually heal when your HP gets back to full. It's easy to bleed out and die too. Thats just not congruent with the new magical Earth. The nanobot/magic that comprises everything should magically make people tough enough to live through any damage that doesn't legitimately take away all their health pool. Sure you can crit, but guns should be doing far less damage than they are. They need to have a set damage.
And guns aren't even encouraged. Originally the author said there's no Skills for guns, but suddenly now there is in the 2nd book. The magic of the system should have made guns far less effective. They are supposed to be learning magic and adjusting to a new 'magical' alien system/universe. Guns are Cheesing everything. Nobody is learning magic.. except the MC has a couple great spells he hardly uses.
It feels like it's not even a litRPG, just an apocalyptic book with an alien invasion.
August 4, 2019
This, this is satisfying. I currently have that feeling your stomach gets when you eat a really enjoyable meal and you just lean back satisfied and unbutton the pants, only the feeling is inside my head. This book came out a few days early and I had to jump on it and I'm glad I did. Shadow Sun Expansion starts where the first one ends off and is an amazing follow up, I feel like even though stats and skills were emphasized more they were shown less but it was a nice balance. The name expansion fits perfectly as that is what the entire book is about, There are several points where the author could have just chosen to end the book and break it up into 2 or 3 but chose not to so we get a great amount of content in this one with it being even longer than the first. The main character doesn't really come off as over powered himself but maybe he has over powered situational luck as even though he does work hard for what hes doing it does feel like things are just leaning a little in his favor and falling into his lap, this is even called out in the book itself and explained in a satisfactory way. This book doesn't have any harem or sex scenes just pure content in the entire book I only found one possible error and one thing apparently forgotten which is a testament to how much effort the author is putting into his stories with a book this size. I will finish this off with this; The first book in this series was the only book that ever made me wish my father was a live to read it because I'm sure he would have enjoyed it, This book follows up on that well and delivers in a way I'm sure he would have enjoyed as well. Thank you to the author for the work you are putting in and I look forward to the next book.
April 2, 2020
** Edit 14th July 2023 **
On a recent re-read, I have dropped the rating of this review from 5 to 4 stars. The reason for this is that the action in this series is quite tedious. It's very repetitive and doesn't do much to progress the plot. You could comfortably cut out these action scenes and just go to the results and you really wouldn't be missing much as all of the important moments happen outside of the action.
As a result of this, I kept zoning out while reading it on this re-read as I got bored with what I was listening to.
I continue to enjoy the premise, but after having read a lot of books like this now, this isn't enough to grip me on its own any longer.
** Original Review **
A few pacing issues here and there, a lot of wish fulfillment fantasy, and maybe a little samey at times, but I can't give this book anything less than 5 stars because as soon as I started reading I couldn't put it down.
This is just a really fun story that in just 2 books accomplishes a lot of what most good end-of-the-world style books accomplish and then takes the story to a whole new level. I love the premise, I love the characters, and I'm having a great time with this series.
This is not a perfect book by any means, but as with the last book I was smiling almost continually while reading it, and what more can you ask than that?
On a recent re-read, I have dropped the rating of this review from 5 to 4 stars. The reason for this is that the action in this series is quite tedious. It's very repetitive and doesn't do much to progress the plot. You could comfortably cut out these action scenes and just go to the results and you really wouldn't be missing much as all of the important moments happen outside of the action.
As a result of this, I kept zoning out while reading it on this re-read as I got bored with what I was listening to.
I continue to enjoy the premise, but after having read a lot of books like this now, this isn't enough to grip me on its own any longer.
** Original Review **
A few pacing issues here and there, a lot of wish fulfillment fantasy, and maybe a little samey at times, but I can't give this book anything less than 5 stars because as soon as I started reading I couldn't put it down.
This is just a really fun story that in just 2 books accomplishes a lot of what most good end-of-the-world style books accomplish and then takes the story to a whole new level. I love the premise, I love the characters, and I'm having a great time with this series.
This is not a perfect book by any means, but as with the last book I was smiling almost continually while reading it, and what more can you ask than that?
August 28, 2019
I was disappointed with the book.
This book was not nearly as entertaining as I expected after reading book 1. The MC was good but for someone who has survived because they were a gamer the fact that he does not examine all of the loot drops he receives is just unbelievable to a ludicrous extent. The MC continues to talk about how important it is to save human lives but in the end his actions show he either does not care as much as he says or he's not really paying attention to anyone or what he can do. At the end he receives a message telling him to use the scroll of summoning and he pulls it out looks at it does not use it. He decided somehow after buying a battalion of robot troops to protect his Strongholds that when a super powerful monster is found in a dungeon that nope not even going to take my bodyguards I will take some humans. Course this followed by why did these people die. Answer your an idiot if you buy a army use it. Also this to me is not litrpg as the stats and levels are not important or used so more of a gamelit book. Hopefully next book won't be as full of stupid mistakes by the supposed man that thinks all human lives are to be protected.
This book was not nearly as entertaining as I expected after reading book 1. The MC was good but for someone who has survived because they were a gamer the fact that he does not examine all of the loot drops he receives is just unbelievable to a ludicrous extent. The MC continues to talk about how important it is to save human lives but in the end his actions show he either does not care as much as he says or he's not really paying attention to anyone or what he can do. At the end he receives a message telling him to use the scroll of summoning and he pulls it out looks at it does not use it. He decided somehow after buying a battalion of robot troops to protect his Strongholds that when a super powerful monster is found in a dungeon that nope not even going to take my bodyguards I will take some humans. Course this followed by why did these people die. Answer your an idiot if you buy a army use it. Also this to me is not litrpg as the stats and levels are not important or used so more of a gamelit book. Hopefully next book won't be as full of stupid mistakes by the supposed man that thinks all human lives are to be protected.
September 8, 2019
Its quite entertaining, but its annoying how the MC gets really good skills that he just don't use until he either fucks up or gets a "dude you have this" message, gets a short distance tp and instead of "jumping" ahead he just runs and risk getting cut in half, gets a summon titan spell and I think he does not use it even after he can.
so yeah, its good but I read and liked the kingdom build or base build, other than that MC is pretty stupid, "gamer" dialogue turns "cringy" real fast but most non important interactions are well done, its the "important" ones that just makes you cringe.
so yeah, i liked it but skipped a whole lot and by skipping i mean read enough to know what is happening (mostly in fights since mc is stupid and even though it gets better it just killed it for me at the start).
even if it sounds bad, i really liked this book, its easier to focus on what I did not like.
so yeah, its good but I read and liked the kingdom build or base build, other than that MC is pretty stupid, "gamer" dialogue turns "cringy" real fast but most non important interactions are well done, its the "important" ones that just makes you cringe.
so yeah, i liked it but skipped a whole lot and by skipping i mean read enough to know what is happening (mostly in fights since mc is stupid and even though it gets better it just killed it for me at the start).
even if it sounds bad, i really liked this book, its easier to focus on what I did not like.
August 5, 2019
What to say...
Are you familiar with the meme showing the football player saying they had us in the first half... well that describes the book fairly well. It was a good read minimal typos, but after the 50% mark it just felt rushed. Winter happened yadda yadda yadda found out anyone hunting on his land the system views as poachers etc just one thing after another the last 6 or so months just felt rushed from fall to summer. The 'final dungeon' was just one uberr beholderkin 'the gods' thought would be too op yet because of plot armor allistor pulls through. I'm curious as to where the series will go next but this one could have used some slowdown and better pacing.
Are you familiar with the meme showing the football player saying they had us in the first half... well that describes the book fairly well. It was a good read minimal typos, but after the 50% mark it just felt rushed. Winter happened yadda yadda yadda found out anyone hunting on his land the system views as poachers etc just one thing after another the last 6 or so months just felt rushed from fall to summer. The 'final dungeon' was just one uberr beholderkin 'the gods' thought would be too op yet because of plot armor allistor pulls through. I'm curious as to where the series will go next but this one could have used some slowdown and better pacing.
September 21, 2019
Not as good as the first one
Huge plot holes, becomes a complete hero onlee can think and everyone else is too stupid to think book in this second book. Obvious issues are left hanging. Obvious solutions are ignored. Obvious problems are waved away with ridiculous explanations.
Spoilers for the biggest issue:
Use of battle droid with advanced ai is completely ignored in favour of hero antics,
Something as simple as radio contact with survivors doesn't happen till the hero and his ppl think about it,
Air transport is ignored for absolutely insane amount of time and for stupid reasons
Huge plot holes, becomes a complete hero onlee can think and everyone else is too stupid to think book in this second book. Obvious issues are left hanging. Obvious solutions are ignored. Obvious problems are waved away with ridiculous explanations.
Spoilers for the biggest issue:
Use of battle droid with advanced ai is completely ignored in favour of hero antics,
Something as simple as radio contact with survivors doesn't happen till the hero and his ppl think about it,
Air transport is ignored for absolutely insane amount of time and for stupid reasons
September 20, 2019
Very enjoyable
I really enjoyed this post apocalyptic/rpg story. The planet Earth and it’s population have been brought into an Alien collective. Allistor has recognized that the new rules humanity has to abide by are familiar to him from his time as a gamer. Leveling up, gathering points and achieving levels enables him to be one of the humans that can lead the survivors through this assimilation.
I really enjoyed this post apocalyptic/rpg story. The planet Earth and it’s population have been brought into an Alien collective. Allistor has recognized that the new rules humanity has to abide by are familiar to him from his time as a gamer. Leveling up, gathering points and achieving levels enables him to be one of the humans that can lead the survivors through this assimilation.
August 10, 2019
Book two
Mistakes: Nothing found. Nice read.
Plot: More based built. Monsters killed. I did feel that there wasn't enough time spent claiming land, as entire months where skipped.
Characters: Fuzzy is the best. Some side characters are lost. I feel like the MC got epic items to early.
9/10
Mistakes: Nothing found. Nice read.
Plot: More based built. Monsters killed. I did feel that there wasn't enough time spent claiming land, as entire months where skipped.
Characters: Fuzzy is the best. Some side characters are lost. I feel like the MC got epic items to early.
9/10
December 18, 2019
Things which I don't like.
1). MC's love interest, to me it seemed like a 30-year-old lady seduced a 20-year-old teenager on hormones.
2). Lack of stats and information about it.
3). MC has a class good for him, what about others who have already reached level 10.
4). what is the use of the class I still didn't get it if there is any.
1). MC's love interest, to me it seemed like a 30-year-old lady seduced a 20-year-old teenager on hormones.
2). Lack of stats and information about it.
3). MC has a class good for him, what about others who have already reached level 10.
4). what is the use of the class I still didn't get it if there is any.
November 14, 2020
This is yet another litrpg/gamelit series where everything related to gaming doesn’t matter if you have big enough guns or explosives. Very disappointing.
But the worst of all is the author’s lack of basic research into how gamers actually play games. MC doesn’t act like a gamer at all, maybe not even a casual player. Anyway, this book was a waste of time.
But the worst of all is the author’s lack of basic research into how gamers actually play games. MC doesn’t act like a gamer at all, maybe not even a casual player. Anyway, this book was a waste of time.
August 9, 2019
Good Read.
A LitRPG story. The second book continues from book one with the main character building his power, group and friends. The story finished at the year mark. Looking forward to the next book.
A LitRPG story. The second book continues from book one with the main character building his power, group and friends. The story finished at the year mark. Looking forward to the next book.
August 9, 2019
Another great book
Dave does it again with an excellent story about post-apocalyptic human who tries to struggle against the inevitable alien invasion.
Dave does it again with an excellent story about post-apocalyptic human who tries to struggle against the inevitable alien invasion.
August 10, 2019
Another great one from one of the best authors of the genre!
September 30, 2019
I enjoyed the hell out of it.
I am into this series. It’s fun, fast paced, and hella entertaining. Another great book! Good job again and I can’t wait till book 3!
I am into this series. It’s fun, fast paced, and hella entertaining. Another great book! Good job again and I can’t wait till book 3!
October 25, 2019
Not a good read...
This book is mostly a repeat of book one.
The same theme happens again and again.
Lots of in consistency in the game logic and power balance.
This book is mostly a repeat of book one.
The same theme happens again and again.
Lots of in consistency in the game logic and power balance.
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