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The Scourge Wars #1
Evolve
Jonathan Slate, former Marine infantry officer and the Governor of Texas, has just won his bid for the presidency. When an assassin's bullet takes his life during his victory speech, he is conscripted from the afterlife by the Lord of Light, Lucidus.
Slate is thrust into the game-like world of Somnium where he has been reincarnated into the body of a parasite and given one mission: evolve or die.
If he can channel the monster inside and utilize his military and political experience to establish Lucidus' personal army, the Scourge, he might have a chance to evolve before his many enemies find him and send him to a permanent death.
Slate is thrust into the game-like world of Somnium where he has been reincarnated into the body of a parasite and given one mission: evolve or die.
If he can channel the monster inside and utilize his military and political experience to establish Lucidus' personal army, the Scourge, he might have a chance to evolve before his many enemies find him and send him to a permanent death.
- GenresFantasy
336 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 4, 2019
782 people are currently reading
115 people want to read
About the author
Derek Belfield
3 books23 followersDerek Belfield is an active duty Staff Sergeant in the Marine Corps and the author of the Scourge Wars series. His first book, Evolve, was an Amazon #1 Best Seller and #1 New Release in the Military Fiction category.
With a background and education in business and the military, Derek has leveraged that experience into writing realistic military fantasy in the LitRPG/GameLit genre. He has spent the last eight years of his life in the United States Marine Corps. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Intelligence Studies (military), Cum Laude, and is pursuing his Master of Business Administration (MBA) from UNC Pembroke.
Despite his accomplishments, Derek's wife still wishes he would do the dishes more.
Announcements:
• The third book, Resist is now available on Amazon.
• Advance chapters for book 4 are being released to Beta Readers and RoyalRoad.
• The audiobook for Evolve, narrated by Christopher Boucher and Jessica Threet will be finished recording on January 22.
• Join DWB’s mailing list at dwbelfield.com/mailinglist to enter a drawing for a free Audible code. No purchase required.
Do You Want to Know More?
• Website: dwbelfield.com
• Facebook: @dwbelfieldnovels
• Instagram: @dwbelfield
• Twitter: @dwbelfieldnovel
With a background and education in business and the military, Derek has leveraged that experience into writing realistic military fantasy in the LitRPG/GameLit genre. He has spent the last eight years of his life in the United States Marine Corps. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Intelligence Studies (military), Cum Laude, and is pursuing his Master of Business Administration (MBA) from UNC Pembroke.
Despite his accomplishments, Derek's wife still wishes he would do the dishes more.
Announcements:
• The third book, Resist is now available on Amazon.
• Advance chapters for book 4 are being released to Beta Readers and RoyalRoad.
• The audiobook for Evolve, narrated by Christopher Boucher and Jessica Threet will be finished recording on January 22.
• Join DWB’s mailing list at dwbelfield.com/mailinglist to enter a drawing for a free Audible code. No purchase required.
Do You Want to Know More?
• Website: dwbelfield.com
• Facebook: @dwbelfieldnovels
• Instagram: @dwbelfield
• Twitter: @dwbelfieldnovel
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
November 10, 2019
Decent concept, extremely messy execution
I didn't relate to the main character. The book was riddled with odd pronunciation and grammar choices, and did not appear to be proofread, often outright missing words that would make sense of a paragraph. The main character didn't have internal doubts until victory was all but assured. The main character never fails at anything and is essentially revered by everyone, including a woman he raped and a man he possessed. Additionally, there's a preview of the third book at the end of this, including a summary that is rife with spoilers. I found this to be a bit of an odd choice, considering this is the first book. Why would you not advertise the second book? For one, less spoilers, obviously.
It's not a bad book, but I feel pretty much everything about it is rushed and could use revisions.
I didn't relate to the main character. The book was riddled with odd pronunciation and grammar choices, and did not appear to be proofread, often outright missing words that would make sense of a paragraph. The main character didn't have internal doubts until victory was all but assured. The main character never fails at anything and is essentially revered by everyone, including a woman he raped and a man he possessed. Additionally, there's a preview of the third book at the end of this, including a summary that is rife with spoilers. I found this to be a bit of an odd choice, considering this is the first book. Why would you not advertise the second book? For one, less spoilers, obviously.
It's not a bad book, but I feel pretty much everything about it is rushed and could use revisions.
October 28, 2019
Not bad, but not great
This book needs a very thorough edit. Grammer is bad, punctuation is extrodinarily bad, can't consistently use italics (and it's used frequently) can't keep his own characters names straight and uses trite word choices.
The characters are largely dislikable and annoying but there is some character growth, which is something. The MC is a caricature of himself and the author needs to learn to show, not tell. He tells us our MC is a skilled politican and speaker, but portrays that poorly.
I never really felt like there was a real threat to the MC and his side, but conversely they never felt dangerous either despite extrodinarily long and boring descriptions of how dangerous and beautiful everything was.
The general idea though is solid. The first half of the book is genuinely interesting despite the poor writing, and the editing is actually better in the first half of the book. The second half devolves into a mediocre fantasy military story where nobody in any of the incompetent and useless militaries has the foggiest notion about tactics, strategy or even how to use weapons or equipment that would be effective.
This book needs a very thorough edit. Grammer is bad, punctuation is extrodinarily bad, can't consistently use italics (and it's used frequently) can't keep his own characters names straight and uses trite word choices.
The characters are largely dislikable and annoying but there is some character growth, which is something. The MC is a caricature of himself and the author needs to learn to show, not tell. He tells us our MC is a skilled politican and speaker, but portrays that poorly.
I never really felt like there was a real threat to the MC and his side, but conversely they never felt dangerous either despite extrodinarily long and boring descriptions of how dangerous and beautiful everything was.
The general idea though is solid. The first half of the book is genuinely interesting despite the poor writing, and the editing is actually better in the first half of the book. The second half devolves into a mediocre fantasy military story where nobody in any of the incompetent and useless militaries has the foggiest notion about tactics, strategy or even how to use weapons or equipment that would be effective.
April 12, 2022
Here is another one of those cases of "excellent idea but poor execution".
I loved the plot, I loved the MC's characterization (down with the goody-two-shoes!). I liked the non-human approach. And that's about it.
I didn't like the game system.
Level 5 MC kills level 15 creatures without breaking a sweat. When you get to that point, levels stop mean anything; hell, you might as well do away with them altogether because they just remind us of how armoured in plot the characters are.
Too often, the MC expresses a need, and lo-and-behold, there's a new entry in the skill tree that fits the bill to a "t". What's the point of having choices then? Our MC rarely ever has to just make-do. He's coddled all the way to OP-ness.
I didn't like the "growth" our character is put through. He gets dumped into a world where he is free to "be himself", except that he delegates everything he's supposed to be good at to other people, and just keeps frolicking around without care or consequence. I was hoping for a cunning politician, I got a teenager in a world where everyone's set to worship him before he's even performed anything worthwhile .
World-building was also rather lackluster, not to say skimpy.
I also didn't like the too-obviously "borrowed" races . The whole nudge-nudge-wink-wink feeling was out of place for me, and it only distracted.
And by Hestia, some guys need classes in writing convincing women! Look, I don't dig the whole woketivism thing, but I like my females with as much depth as my males, thank you very much. BDSM does not mean badass. Get your act together! Token people are annoying!
And the audiobook needs serious attention. It's the first time I hear a multicast get the order of dialogues wrong (totally messing a scene up in the process), or narration mistakes being left in the audiobook as is. That kind of sloppiness is a first for me. And not a good experience.
So yeah. 2 stars despite an entertaining MC.
I loved the plot, I loved the MC's characterization (down with the goody-two-shoes!). I liked the non-human approach. And that's about it.
I didn't like the game system.
Level 5 MC kills level 15 creatures without breaking a sweat. When you get to that point, levels stop mean anything; hell, you might as well do away with them altogether because they just remind us of how armoured in plot the characters are.
Too often, the MC expresses a need, and lo-and-behold, there's a new entry in the skill tree that fits the bill to a "t". What's the point of having choices then? Our MC rarely ever has to just make-do. He's coddled all the way to OP-ness.
I didn't like the "growth" our character is put through. He gets dumped into a world where he is free to "be himself", except that he delegates everything he's supposed to be good at to other people, and just keeps frolicking around without care or consequence. I was hoping for a cunning politician, I got a teenager in a world where everyone's set to worship him before he's even performed anything worthwhile .
World-building was also rather lackluster, not to say skimpy.
I also didn't like the too-obviously "borrowed" races . The whole nudge-nudge-wink-wink feeling was out of place for me, and it only distracted.
And by Hestia, some guys need classes in writing convincing women! Look, I don't dig the whole woketivism thing, but I like my females with as much depth as my males, thank you very much. BDSM does not mean badass. Get your act together! Token people are annoying!
And the audiobook needs serious attention. It's the first time I hear a multicast get the order of dialogues wrong (totally messing a scene up in the process), or narration mistakes being left in the audiobook as is. That kind of sloppiness is a first for me. And not a good experience.
So yeah. 2 stars despite an entertaining MC.
October 6, 2019
What's not to love in a dark fantasy?
Super excited to finally see this on Amazon, I absolutely loved this book on RR(royal road)!
The editing from the RRL version makes the book 100x better! Although there are still some grammatical errors, it's still an extravagant difference.
I'm stoked to read the next book!
This story follows a leader, of the human population, as he goes through an exuberant amount of changes and challenges he encounters. However, through pure sheer willpower and persistence, he excels in his new environment.
He adapts not only mentally but essentially melts into the role he was chosen to fill (pun intended, you'll understand when you read it!).
The building of the story, character, city/empire, and the evolutions of this book is insane! Like I said earlier, I can't wait to start on the next one!
I would like some more comic relief in the following book, just to balance the themes being presented. It makes sense why there wasn't much; since the story is so focused on the building of an empire and fighting a war and other elements.
However, I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
Super excited to finally see this on Amazon, I absolutely loved this book on RR(royal road)!
The editing from the RRL version makes the book 100x better! Although there are still some grammatical errors, it's still an extravagant difference.
I'm stoked to read the next book!
This story follows a leader, of the human population, as he goes through an exuberant amount of changes and challenges he encounters. However, through pure sheer willpower and persistence, he excels in his new environment.
He adapts not only mentally but essentially melts into the role he was chosen to fill (pun intended, you'll understand when you read it!).
The building of the story, character, city/empire, and the evolutions of this book is insane! Like I said earlier, I can't wait to start on the next one!
I would like some more comic relief in the following book, just to balance the themes being presented. It makes sense why there wasn't much; since the story is so focused on the building of an empire and fighting a war and other elements.
However, I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
February 28, 2020
Fun
Hard to find a book that depicts nonhuman characters. This one did it quite admirably. Unique, interesting, good plot progression, decent editing. Worth your time.
Hard to find a book that depicts nonhuman characters. This one did it quite admirably. Unique, interesting, good plot progression, decent editing. Worth your time.
April 2, 2020
His backstory as a president and military man is useless, he didn't even use or utilities any of his previous live knowledges.
President? Didn't show any real leadership and his "government" is simply unrealistic.
Military? Didn't personally form any actual organised army, just let other handle for him.
And his biggest cheat, his scientific knowledge; when picking his skills to evolve just decided whatever skill he need at that time. Didn't even plan or even realize he can use science to evolve his skill.
President? Didn't show any real leadership and his "government" is simply unrealistic.
Military? Didn't personally form any actual organised army, just let other handle for him.
And his biggest cheat, his scientific knowledge; when picking his skills to evolve just decided whatever skill he need at that time. Didn't even plan or even realize he can use science to evolve his skill.
November 18, 2019
This book definitely laid down the path for an epic series! I loved the combination of genres of litrpg: reincarnation; character evolution; and city-territory building. This book focuses strong on very detailed evolution! Which is fun to see. I’m not a fan of weak main characters. Evolve or Die!
There were some grammatical errors at first, but after amazon updated and they were corrected.
I’m really excited and can’t wait for the next one!
There were some grammatical errors at first, but after amazon updated and they were corrected.
I’m really excited and can’t wait for the next one!
October 7, 2019
A somewhat dark fantasy book, although a bit less dark then I was let to believe from the introduction by the author. If you like a slightly different take on the litRPG genre, one that includes a lot of death and killing, then this is for you. I loved this book and I'm looking forward to the continuation (whenever that may be, this book was just released).
October 8, 2019
Eat your way to the top
Ok, this was different. From assassination to a new world reminiscent of the game Spore to city conquest the story runs interesting places and then to visits with a goddess that reminded me a little of sonic running through literary checkpoints that smelled a bit like bullet points. I had fun and it was quite an enjoyable read.
Ok, this was different. From assassination to a new world reminiscent of the game Spore to city conquest the story runs interesting places and then to visits with a goddess that reminded me a little of sonic running through literary checkpoints that smelled a bit like bullet points. I had fun and it was quite an enjoyable read.
October 8, 2019
A breath of fresh... litrpg
Well written balances game mechanics, and a magical world. Some settlement building, wanted more of that and some more specialization of forces. Looking forward to book two.
Well written balances game mechanics, and a magical world. Some settlement building, wanted more of that and some more specialization of forces. Looking forward to book two.
October 9, 2019
I enjoyed it
I enjoyed this book from start to finish. I was immediately interested from the description and instantly hooked upon reading through the first chapter. I can’t wait for the second book in this series.
I enjoyed this book from start to finish. I was immediately interested from the description and instantly hooked upon reading through the first chapter. I can’t wait for the second book in this series.
October 13, 2019
Good book needs some editing
Very good story in my opinion and pritty unique, at first i thought it was a book about a sentient plauge, and in a way it was just not a virus or something similar but an ever evolving life form finished it and cant wait for the next
Very good story in my opinion and pritty unique, at first i thought it was a book about a sentient plauge, and in a way it was just not a virus or something similar but an ever evolving life form finished it and cant wait for the next
October 16, 2019
A glorious love child of Startcraft's Zerg, Alien`s xenomorphs and a Politician
The stats and lore building hit the spot. So much lovely nerd stuff from biology, chemistry, video game stats, ect. I'm looking forward to how the video game progresses.
The stats and lore building hit the spot. So much lovely nerd stuff from biology, chemistry, video game stats, ect. I'm looking forward to how the video game progresses.
November 5, 2019
Great book!
It kinda reminds me of a mix of spore and alien. I loved it and look forward to reading the next one!
It kinda reminds me of a mix of spore and alien. I loved it and look forward to reading the next one!
October 15, 2019
Monster MC
This was a decent gem of a book. I ended up skipping my bedtime to finish it. Totally worth it. Can't wait to read the next one.
This was a decent gem of a book. I ended up skipping my bedtime to finish it. Totally worth it. Can't wait to read the next one.
October 16, 2019
Amazing book
All I can say is WOW! This book was amazing. I could not put it down. If your looking for a book with a less than noble hero this is the book for you
All I can say is WOW! This book was amazing. I could not put it down. If your looking for a book with a less than noble hero this is the book for you
April 28, 2020
The plot of the book is: While giving his acceptance speech as president of the United States, Jonathan Slate is assassinated publicly. After dying from his wounds, Lucius, Lord of Light, takes his soul and cuts him a deal: help return her worship to a far off world and in return Slate will live again. He’s not a noble warrior complete with shinning armor and shield, but is instead reborn as a parasite snake. He’ll have to get experience and gain levels to keep not only his new position but his life as well.
Although a few punctuation and proofing errors can be found, it was still an engaging, fun read. The characters are well developed and the world building is well done. I would really like there to be a map made so my brain can wrap itself around where things are in context to one another.
I’ve already recommended this to a friend of mine I enjoyed it so much. Looking forward to the next one!
Although a few punctuation and proofing errors can be found, it was still an engaging, fun read. The characters are well developed and the world building is well done. I would really like there to be a map made so my brain can wrap itself around where things are in context to one another.
I’ve already recommended this to a friend of mine I enjoyed it so much. Looking forward to the next one!
May 10, 2020
DNF at about the 1/2 way mark in the audiobook.
There was potential in this story, but the execution misses the mark by a fair margin. Isekai stories are usually fun, and one by a Western author focused on a villain sounded interesting.
It wasn't. Spoilers below.
The worldbuilding and game mechanics were present, but not flushed out. Things just worked in the protagonist's favor no matter the mechanics or odds to move the story along. I gave up at the point where he used his build points to evolve from a small parasite with interesting powers into a, *checks notes* independent velociraptor man, all in one go. He and his new velociraptor bride, who he raped into submission, were
There was potential in this story, but the execution misses the mark by a fair margin. Isekai stories are usually fun, and one by a Western author focused on a villain sounded interesting.
It wasn't. Spoilers below.
The worldbuilding and game mechanics were present, but not flushed out. Things just worked in the protagonist's favor no matter the mechanics or odds to move the story along. I gave up at the point where he used his build points to evolve from a small parasite with interesting powers into a, *checks notes* independent velociraptor man, all in one go. He and his new velociraptor bride, who he raped into submission, were
January 26, 2020
Alert
I hate trying to write reviews because there are really only pass/fail results for me. Did I make it all the way through? Yes? 5 stars. No? There would be nothing here to read. In all fairness, if an author holds my attention from page one to the end, they’ve done their job. Anything less than 5 stars is petty criticism from someone incapable of even doing the job let alone doing a better one.
So in respect for the author and their work, I am going to start pasting this along with a generic review I found somewhere. “This was a fun book. I am glad that I read it. You should try it too.”
Cheers
I hate trying to write reviews because there are really only pass/fail results for me. Did I make it all the way through? Yes? 5 stars. No? There would be nothing here to read. In all fairness, if an author holds my attention from page one to the end, they’ve done their job. Anything less than 5 stars is petty criticism from someone incapable of even doing the job let alone doing a better one.
So in respect for the author and their work, I am going to start pasting this along with a generic review I found somewhere. “This was a fun book. I am glad that I read it. You should try it too.”
Cheers
January 12, 2020
Enjoyed despite typos
Although it had quite few typos, which I think will be fixed in time, I rather enjoyed this book. It is nice to see a book where the main character isn't human. I personally pictured his race as a xenomorph, although with a more reptilian head. I plan to purchase the other books in this series soon.
Although it had quite few typos, which I think will be fixed in time, I rather enjoyed this book. It is nice to see a book where the main character isn't human. I personally pictured his race as a xenomorph, although with a more reptilian head. I plan to purchase the other books in this series soon.
April 5, 2020
Good start
The story was good great start I would like it to be a little more haremy and a little less fade to black but it is what it is a good read so far looking forward to book two
The story was good great start I would like it to be a little more haremy and a little less fade to black but it is what it is a good read so far looking forward to book two
January 9, 2020
I thought it was pompous and a bit dull. I liked the evolution idea but not the book it came in.
January 12, 2020
Great book
A good first entry from Derek Belfield. Plenty of action and intrigue, and a smattering of town building with more to come. Looking forward to the next one!
A good first entry from Derek Belfield. Plenty of action and intrigue, and a smattering of town building with more to come. Looking forward to the next one!
January 15, 2020
A good evolution LitRPG
I enjoyed reading this book. There are a couple of typos, but nothing too bad. I am looking forward to the next one.
I enjoyed reading this book. There are a couple of typos, but nothing too bad. I am looking forward to the next one.
February 2, 2020
Meh
I did not get engaged in the story at all. Although the author was good at describing the story the MC was just not worth reading.
I did not get engaged in the story at all. Although the author was good at describing the story the MC was just not worth reading.
July 12, 2020
Unlikable characters and no clear direction for plot.
August 1, 2020
Interesting
I like your writing style, and your use of third person, while traditionally the norm, is compelling nonetheless; I look forward to Book 3 and 4!
I like your writing style, and your use of third person, while traditionally the norm, is compelling nonetheless; I look forward to Book 3 and 4!
June 19, 2020
So, if you are going to read a two star book, this is probably the one since the author tells an intelligent story with a pretty unique approach. Still, I have two big issues with this book, both of which seem to get commonly ignored by litRPG fans.
The first is story focus. Specifically the author has chosen to focus on an MC that receives a mission from a god to conquer a world and yet all that happens in this book is the MC is reincarnated, figures out his powers, takes over one village, attacks and conquers a neighboring town but at the cost of losing his village (essentially, important details omitted). Point being, the author's focus is totally on a campaign of world conquest and yet at the end of the book the MC only has one measly town to his name. Does that sound like world conquest to you??? This book should have been entitled "The Conquest of Bastion" since that is all that happens in it and the story should have pushed all the "mission from god to conquer the world" stuff as far as into the background as possible.
The second thing I didn't like is that the author makes it pretty clear that he is writing the story of his MC rolling over everyone in his path. Therefore there is no sense of danger to the MC, ever, even remotely.
The story: The MC is a conniving politician who is assassinated during his presidential election victory speech. MC is reincarnated by a god as a sort of snake on a world where "evolve or die" is the rule. The MC quickly levels up and learns how to symbiotically possess a elf. The elf the MC possess is in the midst of a power struggle in his village. The elf wins this struggle with the MC's help and in a manner where everyone knows it is actually the MC who won and so is now in charge. As a reward for completing the quest of conquering the village the MC gets his own pseudo-reptilian body and all the elves are converted into the same species (called the Scourge) to essentially do the MC's bidding. Along the way the MC picked up a woman who becomes his "Lady Consort" and it turns out the lady consort can lay 10 eggs at a time (a day I thought but since she only lays one clutch initially I may have missed something there). Point being that the Lady Consort is essentially intended to birth an army.
After conquering the village the MC & consort take some time to organize things and get their initial clutch laid. The village has been cut off from the outside world for centuries so next the MC reconnoiters the closest village, finds a map and from that map determines the Scourge must attack "Bastion" (sp?) a city that apparently solely exists as a staging ground for attacking the Scourge.
The MC and consort virtually conquer the city by themselves thanks to a couple night time attacks they do to prepare the way for the real attack. The nobles of this empire use soul magic and, warned by the night time attacks, summon a "war golem" which give the MC & consort something to do for about 10 minutes at the end of which the MC rescues his 100 strong force from souls magic. The rest is essentially clean up at Bastion but during the attack the MC got word that village was under attack. It turns out that the empire sent a spy/assassin to check on the noble killed when the MC stole the map. The spy/assassin discovered the Scourge village and went and rounded up a force 500 strong to attack it. There were only about 50 defenders but the attacking troops were low quality all of them are killed. The assassin, however, is so high level he can easily complete the mission by himself, even killing his last 10 troops himself basically out of exhaustion at their lack of competency.
So the assassin is sole survivor of the village battle but he quickly discovers everything of value was sent to Bastion when his troops were spotted. The assassin follows and ends up making his way to where the clutch of eggs is kept which leads to the assassin fighting the MC and consort. The book ends with the emperor discovering he can't reincarnate the assassin's soul as is typical in this empire based on soul magic.
Bottom line: For me, not worth the read but I readily acknowledge the large number of readers who apparently have no concern for story resolution or MCs who are actually at risk.
The first is story focus. Specifically the author has chosen to focus on an MC that receives a mission from a god to conquer a world and yet all that happens in this book is the MC is reincarnated, figures out his powers, takes over one village, attacks and conquers a neighboring town but at the cost of losing his village (essentially, important details omitted). Point being, the author's focus is totally on a campaign of world conquest and yet at the end of the book the MC only has one measly town to his name. Does that sound like world conquest to you??? This book should have been entitled "The Conquest of Bastion" since that is all that happens in it and the story should have pushed all the "mission from god to conquer the world" stuff as far as into the background as possible.
The second thing I didn't like is that the author makes it pretty clear that he is writing the story of his MC rolling over everyone in his path. Therefore there is no sense of danger to the MC, ever, even remotely.
The story: The MC is a conniving politician who is assassinated during his presidential election victory speech. MC is reincarnated by a god as a sort of snake on a world where "evolve or die" is the rule. The MC quickly levels up and learns how to symbiotically possess a elf. The elf the MC possess is in the midst of a power struggle in his village. The elf wins this struggle with the MC's help and in a manner where everyone knows it is actually the MC who won and so is now in charge. As a reward for completing the quest of conquering the village the MC gets his own pseudo-reptilian body and all the elves are converted into the same species (called the Scourge) to essentially do the MC's bidding. Along the way the MC picked up a woman who becomes his "Lady Consort" and it turns out the lady consort can lay 10 eggs at a time (a day I thought but since she only lays one clutch initially I may have missed something there). Point being that the Lady Consort is essentially intended to birth an army.
After conquering the village the MC & consort take some time to organize things and get their initial clutch laid. The village has been cut off from the outside world for centuries so next the MC reconnoiters the closest village, finds a map and from that map determines the Scourge must attack "Bastion" (sp?) a city that apparently solely exists as a staging ground for attacking the Scourge.
The MC and consort virtually conquer the city by themselves thanks to a couple night time attacks they do to prepare the way for the real attack. The nobles of this empire use soul magic and, warned by the night time attacks, summon a "war golem" which give the MC & consort something to do for about 10 minutes at the end of which the MC rescues his 100 strong force from souls magic. The rest is essentially clean up at Bastion but during the attack the MC got word that village was under attack. It turns out that the empire sent a spy/assassin to check on the noble killed when the MC stole the map. The spy/assassin discovered the Scourge village and went and rounded up a force 500 strong to attack it. There were only about 50 defenders but the attacking troops were low quality all of them are killed. The assassin, however, is so high level he can easily complete the mission by himself, even killing his last 10 troops himself basically out of exhaustion at their lack of competency.
So the assassin is sole survivor of the village battle but he quickly discovers everything of value was sent to Bastion when his troops were spotted. The assassin follows and ends up making his way to where the clutch of eggs is kept which leads to the assassin fighting the MC and consort. The book ends with the emperor discovering he can't reincarnate the assassin's soul as is typical in this empire based on soul magic.
Bottom line: For me, not worth the read but I readily acknowledge the large number of readers who apparently have no concern for story resolution or MCs who are actually at risk.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 16, 2019
Couldn’t Finish
“There’s gold in them there hills.”
You can see the potential in The Scourge Wars. It has a unique premise: a horrible man is reincarnated into an entirely unique alien life form and made into a minion of a foreign god. The story could go in any number of directions. Sadly, the chosen direction didn’t appeal to me at all, and I had to bow out around 60% in.
Some spoilers ahead.
The main character is our hero, and he is vile. He’s a terrible man in nearly every way and becomes worse in his next life as a literal parasite. He’s an abuser, a torturer, a slaver, a murderer, and has no qualms with any of it. As he progresses in his new life, he is rewarded endlessly for his villainy. To me, it was not enjoyable to read.
So if our hero is that gross, who could be the actual villain? Well. Seems to be necromancers. But they are basically “our hero plus soul eating”. Honestly, they aren’t that different from the protagonist. It would have been nice if the antagonist was a group of actual good people fighting against the main character. Instead, it’s Bad Cop VS Bad Cop.
Finally, there are constant editing issues, especially when it comes to formatting and dialogue. It’s distracting how often italics are missed or continue beyond where they should end.
Anyway. Perhaps things improve past the 60% mark. But there’s too many things preventing me from continuing.
“There’s gold in them there hills.”
You can see the potential in The Scourge Wars. It has a unique premise: a horrible man is reincarnated into an entirely unique alien life form and made into a minion of a foreign god. The story could go in any number of directions. Sadly, the chosen direction didn’t appeal to me at all, and I had to bow out around 60% in.
Some spoilers ahead.
The main character is our hero, and he is vile. He’s a terrible man in nearly every way and becomes worse in his next life as a literal parasite. He’s an abuser, a torturer, a slaver, a murderer, and has no qualms with any of it. As he progresses in his new life, he is rewarded endlessly for his villainy. To me, it was not enjoyable to read.
So if our hero is that gross, who could be the actual villain? Well. Seems to be necromancers. But they are basically “our hero plus soul eating”. Honestly, they aren’t that different from the protagonist. It would have been nice if the antagonist was a group of actual good people fighting against the main character. Instead, it’s Bad Cop VS Bad Cop.
Finally, there are constant editing issues, especially when it comes to formatting and dialogue. It’s distracting how often italics are missed or continue beyond where they should end.
Anyway. Perhaps things improve past the 60% mark. But there’s too many things preventing me from continuing.
December 9, 2019
I don’t know what to feel...
It has promised but it’s just the beginning is weird we start with a corrupt politician like I know have a reason why he is good at governing and being politically savvy as well as ruthless but you could have slowly given pieces of information though out the book and from reading your bio about being in the Marin’s it feels a bit self insert but what what my question is who is your audience? Because grim dark is fine just the protagonist has no redeeming quality’s or anything relatable I get that he feels above most and your trying to make it feel Alien but I can’t relate to the guy as well as that you gloss over the video game or RPG aspects of it as well as the guy is in his 50es so how he know what to do I get he can interpret thing but that gets weird
That’s all
It has promised but it’s just the beginning is weird we start with a corrupt politician like I know have a reason why he is good at governing and being politically savvy as well as ruthless but you could have slowly given pieces of information though out the book and from reading your bio about being in the Marin’s it feels a bit self insert but what what my question is who is your audience? Because grim dark is fine just the protagonist has no redeeming quality’s or anything relatable I get that he feels above most and your trying to make it feel Alien but I can’t relate to the guy as well as that you gloss over the video game or RPG aspects of it as well as the guy is in his 50es so how he know what to do I get he can interpret thing but that gets weird
That’s all
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