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Invasions and sabotage. Two civilizations doing anything to exist. War crimes are the norm.
Joe takes his first step into exile, and is promptly unable to breathe. This new Zone has a higher concentration of power, magnitudes denser. His first task is to survive, but mere survival is the least of his concerns.
The Zone he has landed on has been in a state of constant war for thousands of years, a tug of war between the Elven and Dwarven societies. Not choosing a side is the same as declaring both to be your personal enemy. Though he is resistant, Joe reluctantly decides to go with the group he thinks will help him grow the most—and is instantly plunged into their bitter war. To gain the freedom he desires, Joe needs to turn to the less savory aspects of his class.
Engulfed by darkness, Joe can only hope he’ll be able to snuff out the light.
Joe takes his first step into exile, and is promptly unable to breathe. This new Zone has a higher concentration of power, magnitudes denser. His first task is to survive, but mere survival is the least of his concerns.
The Zone he has landed on has been in a state of constant war for thousands of years, a tug of war between the Elven and Dwarven societies. Not choosing a side is the same as declaring both to be your personal enemy. Though he is resistant, Joe reluctantly decides to go with the group he thinks will help him grow the most—and is instantly plunged into their bitter war. To gain the freedom he desires, Joe needs to turn to the less savory aspects of his class.
Engulfed by darkness, Joe can only hope he’ll be able to snuff out the light.
394 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 30, 2021
697 people are currently reading
786 people want to read
About the author
Dakota Krout
76 books2,881 followersAuthor of the best-selling Divine Dungeon, Completionist Chronicles, and Full Murderhobo series, Dakota Krout was chosen as Audible's top 5 fantasy pick of 2017, has been a top 5 bestseller on Amazon, and a top 6 bestseller on Audible.
He draws on his experience in the military to create vast terrains and intricate systems, and his history in programming and information technology helps him bring a logical aspect to both his writing and his company while giving him a unique perspective for future challenges.
Publishing my stories has been an incredible blessing thus far, and I hope to keep you entertained for years to come! -Dakota Krout
He draws on his experience in the military to create vast terrains and intricate systems, and his history in programming and information technology helps him bring a logical aspect to both his writing and his company while giving him a unique perspective for future challenges.
Publishing my stories has been an incredible blessing thus far, and I hope to keep you entertained for years to come! -Dakota Krout
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 309 reviews
April 2, 2021
What happened to this character, why has he been forsaken?
The first two books were amazing. The main character who figured out new ways of doing things, who did it his way, who interacted with others in unique ways. That character was awesome, as were the books about him. This is not that character. This is a fumbling, forgetful person who bulls ahead without any thought. Set him in a realm that is a caricature of dwarves and elves and you have a boring experience that is frankly one unbelievable act after another. I am done with this series.
The first two books were amazing. The main character who figured out new ways of doing things, who did it his way, who interacted with others in unique ways. That character was awesome, as were the books about him. This is not that character. This is a fumbling, forgetful person who bulls ahead without any thought. Set him in a realm that is a caricature of dwarves and elves and you have a boring experience that is frankly one unbelievable act after another. I am done with this series.
July 20, 2021
*Audiobook Review*
It was good, but not great. The world is amazing, the concept is great but my real issue is the MC.
I don't quiet get what the author is trying to achieve, but the main character growth sort of went from stable army vet (that got the short end of the stick) to a MC that is hopped up on caffeine, cocaine and crack. Seriously, the MC has a ton of abilities and skills but fails to use them because he keeps FORGETTING he has them. Keeps dying and ending up to level 19 because due to his impulsive nature, keeps breaking the rules of the the game or laws of the world and keeps griping that either he doesn't know or no one has yet to tell him. I mean he leaves the city and goes back in, keeps reminding himself to buy shoes but doesn't. This annoying occurrence happens several times. I am a bit ADHD but even I am not this scattered brained on constant adrenaline. There were times where I just stop playing attention to the story because the MC comes up with the plan but either realizes that he doesn't need or explains that it doesn't work. Example: coming up with magic that could help make tunnels ...to dwarfs. That is like trying to selling ice to Eskimos. The MC's constant whining never ends and i am pretty sure it takes up most of the book. That and his constant loss of stats, especially when he loses levels...and that happens alot. Also, the whole "BRO" and "boston" culture and language. That stop being funny FAST.
It was good, but not great. The world is amazing, the concept is great but my real issue is the MC.
I don't quiet get what the author is trying to achieve, but the main character growth sort of went from stable army vet (that got the short end of the stick) to a MC that is hopped up on caffeine, cocaine and crack. Seriously, the MC has a ton of abilities and skills but fails to use them because he keeps FORGETTING he has them. Keeps dying and ending up to level 19 because due to his impulsive nature, keeps breaking the rules of the the game or laws of the world and keeps griping that either he doesn't know or no one has yet to tell him. I mean he leaves the city and goes back in, keeps reminding himself to buy shoes but doesn't. This annoying occurrence happens several times. I am a bit ADHD but even I am not this scattered brained on constant adrenaline. There were times where I just stop playing attention to the story because the MC comes up with the plan but either realizes that he doesn't need or explains that it doesn't work. Example: coming up with magic that could help make tunnels ...to dwarfs. That is like trying to selling ice to Eskimos. The MC's constant whining never ends and i am pretty sure it takes up most of the book. That and his constant loss of stats, especially when he loses levels...and that happens alot. Also, the whole "BRO" and "boston" culture and language. That stop being funny FAST.
May 28, 2021
Continuing the fun LitRPG series.
Sure, it's exile, huge low-level war is behind us, and now he's a little cog in a big quasi-immortal machine far away from everything he once knew.
No problems. Well, for me, anyway. Poor Joe the Completionist can't seem to remember all the things he ought to be completing. Still, that's fun for me. One hot mess after another makes for a lot of amusement (on this side) and having a funny take on the whole godly elves vs dwarves schtick is welcome... Right, dude-bro?
I'm down with it. I probably wouldn't be quite as down with it if it wasn't funny. But it was. And leveling up is ALWAYS fun. :)
Sure, it's exile, huge low-level war is behind us, and now he's a little cog in a big quasi-immortal machine far away from everything he once knew.
No problems. Well, for me, anyway. Poor Joe the Completionist can't seem to remember all the things he ought to be completing. Still, that's fun for me. One hot mess after another makes for a lot of amusement (on this side) and having a funny take on the whole godly elves vs dwarves schtick is welcome... Right, dude-bro?
I'm down with it. I probably wouldn't be quite as down with it if it wasn't funny. But it was. And leveling up is ALWAYS fun. :)
April 4, 2021
An idiot emerges
Joe was once a thoughtful, self aware man, easily able to plan for the future. Over five volumes of adventures, he has come to this: a flighty, impulsive, and forgetful mess that neglects to consider two thirds of his abilities and cannot plan for more than two hours.
Joe, the protagonist and lynchpin of all the relationships, has diminished from a mature retiree into an absent minded adolescent, even as the text tells us he has achieved hyper human intelligence and awareness.
Joe was once a thoughtful, self aware man, easily able to plan for the future. Over five volumes of adventures, he has come to this: a flighty, impulsive, and forgetful mess that neglects to consider two thirds of his abilities and cannot plan for more than two hours.
Joe, the protagonist and lynchpin of all the relationships, has diminished from a mature retiree into an absent minded adolescent, even as the text tells us he has achieved hyper human intelligence and awareness.
December 27, 2022
You're still reading in order, right? Right?!?
Spoilers for the series, but not the book. Stop now if you don't know that Joe is exiled to the next zone due to events in the previous book. What do you mean I just spoi . . . oh. Right. Whatever.
So this starts with Joe being forced to choose a side in the dwarf/elf eterna-war. I knew he'd go with the dwarves as soon as the structure of each was revealed. I am very not a fan of the twist on cultural expectations made here with the Dwarves being bros/dudettes and the elves being Bostonian bigots. With Boston accents phonetically reproduced. Original? Sure. Interesting? Not so much.
Joe navigating the dwarf "society" to figure out how to accomplish his training was at least interesting. And I liked him making big changes, like .
The story dips to 3½ stars, I think, but with enough of the ritualist mathiness/innovation to keep it interesting enough to round up to four. Still not a fan of the eternal war setup, though. I hope something happens to disturb that balance in the next book.
A note about Chaste: Joe is one of very few humans in this story and he's deeply unattractive to members of the other race (ugh, so bald). So there's no shenanigans. At all. So this remains very chaste.
Spoilers for the series, but not the book. Stop now if you don't know that Joe is exiled to the next zone due to events in the previous book. What do you mean I just spoi . . . oh. Right. Whatever.
So this starts with Joe being forced to choose a side in the dwarf/elf eterna-war. I knew he'd go with the dwarves as soon as the structure of each was revealed. I am very not a fan of the twist on cultural expectations made here with the Dwarves being bros/dudettes and the elves being Bostonian bigots. With Boston accents phonetically reproduced. Original? Sure. Interesting? Not so much.
Joe navigating the dwarf "society" to figure out how to accomplish his training was at least interesting. And I liked him making big changes, like .
The story dips to 3½ stars, I think, but with enough of the ritualist mathiness/innovation to keep it interesting enough to round up to four. Still not a fan of the eternal war setup, though. I hope something happens to disturb that balance in the next book.
A note about Chaste: Joe is one of very few humans in this story and he's deeply unattractive to members of the other race (ugh, so bald). So there's no shenanigans. At all. So this remains very chaste.
March 31, 2021
3/30/2020 Notes:
4.5 Stars for Narration
3 Stars for Story
I thought this was a more awkward progression & "restart" for the series. Not enough happened to make it a whole story for me. It felt like a transition piece.
4.5 Stars for Narration
3 Stars for Story
I thought this was a more awkward progression & "restart" for the series. Not enough happened to make it a whole story for me. It felt like a transition piece.
November 10, 2023
This book brought back everything I loved about Ritualist!!! Joe is focused on a clear few goals and not scattered throughout the story running amok.
We're on to the next level of Eternium folks.. this story sees (mostly) a new cast of characters, and several important changes for Joe! Elves or dwarves?
I genuinely have no complaints about this book. I think Dakota did a great job keeping things more focused and put together with this book. Hopefully we see things stay that way as the series continues.
I am so so happy with the improvement from the previous book.
We're on to the next level of Eternium folks.. this story sees (mostly) a new cast of characters, and several important changes for Joe! Elves or dwarves?
I genuinely have no complaints about this book. I think Dakota did a great job keeping things more focused and put together with this book. Hopefully we see things stay that way as the series continues.
I am so so happy with the improvement from the previous book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 2, 2021
Totally flips the world
The world that Krout had created in previous CC books is completely flipped with this one. Old expectations are subverted. Old ways of doing things don't work, and new ways have to be designed on the fly, with new resources and little training or information. Somehow, despite becoming even more powerful, Krout has managed to make the main character need to relearn his entire class. This turned what would have been a boring 'overpowered' character into a character with limitless potential that requires actual thought and strategy to use correctly. Stories become boring when their characters reach the peak of their ability. Krout has wonderfully sidestepped that issue and kept this series fresh and interesting.
The world that Krout had created in previous CC books is completely flipped with this one. Old expectations are subverted. Old ways of doing things don't work, and new ways have to be designed on the fly, with new resources and little training or information. Somehow, despite becoming even more powerful, Krout has managed to make the main character need to relearn his entire class. This turned what would have been a boring 'overpowered' character into a character with limitless potential that requires actual thought and strategy to use correctly. Stories become boring when their characters reach the peak of their ability. Krout has wonderfully sidestepped that issue and kept this series fresh and interesting.
January 6, 2022
Generally a good book with severe pacing issues. For what it is, it's not bad, most multibook series have a training montage book buried somewhere in their lineup, this is that. Joe pushes about a dozen skills up to master rank and even combines 3 of them into something new. He knocks off a few old quests that have been hanging around from previous books and re-learns how to ritualist now that he's actually barred from ritualistic rituals
That being said, the book's final resolution doesn't really resolve anything that happens to Joe, and almost feels like DK just got tired of writing. The book feels cut short, not the least of which is because most of the 'rules' that dakota lays out at the start (6 months, minimum 3 major forts and a number of minor forts, opposition from the nobility) are ultimately just ignored later on and handwaved away.
Also, joe is immediately drafted into the jarhead corps, and spends the majority of the book as a recruit, so joe doesn't really get to learn much of anything about the non-fodder brave new world esque social stratification system, let alone his newly selected racial enemy. He does, however knock his stats back into line. All in all, I think the book would have benefitted greatly from a secondary sub arc like the ones present in the previous books.
That being said, the book's final resolution doesn't really resolve anything that happens to Joe, and almost feels like DK just got tired of writing. The book feels cut short, not the least of which is because most of the 'rules' that dakota lays out at the start (6 months, minimum 3 major forts and a number of minor forts, opposition from the nobility) are ultimately just ignored later on and handwaved away.
Also, joe is immediately drafted into the jarhead corps, and spends the majority of the book as a recruit, so joe doesn't really get to learn much of anything about the non-fodder brave new world esque social stratification system, let alone his newly selected racial enemy. He does, however knock his stats back into line. All in all, I think the book would have benefitted greatly from a secondary sub arc like the ones present in the previous books.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 1, 2021
Buttery and salty goodness! Just like popcorn! However, just like popcorn… Ultimately unfulfilling
I really like this series. I really like the concept. I really like the characters. However, this specific edition seems more like a side story. Or a standalone adventure. Joe heads to the new realm and proceeds to do his normal thing… Make Frenemies… Find the honest way to get the simplest thing done… And just called chaos… However, there’s absolutely minimal character growth, and most of our favorites from previous novels aren’t even here.
I really like this series. I really like the concept. I really like the characters. However, this specific edition seems more like a side story. Or a standalone adventure. Joe heads to the new realm and proceeds to do his normal thing… Make Frenemies… Find the honest way to get the simplest thing done… And just called chaos… However, there’s absolutely minimal character growth, and most of our favorites from previous novels aren’t even here.
May 15, 2021
Oh no. I really liked this series but this one took a bad turn.
The protagonist arrives in the new zone and is presented with a choice to join one of two factions: Elves or Dwarves. Now clearly, being a mage he should probably choose Elves, but he continues the standard path of obstinately going his own way. That's fine. I didn't expect any less. The problem is the dwarves are all revealed to be baseline imbeciles, which might have been a funny joke if we didn't have to spend a lot of time with them.
What set this series apart was the focus on intellectual, morally gray, out of the box problem solving with a mathematically based magic system. While there's a bit of Dwarven mad science introduced in this book, it's drowning in the literal bro culture of the idiot dwarf society. It's culture shock in all the wrong sort of ways.
If you are the type that really gets into Dwarves on WoW or DnD, then maybe this won't be as off putting to you. For me it's just massively killing the vibe.
The protagonist arrives in the new zone and is presented with a choice to join one of two factions: Elves or Dwarves. Now clearly, being a mage he should probably choose Elves, but he continues the standard path of obstinately going his own way. That's fine. I didn't expect any less. The problem is the dwarves are all revealed to be baseline imbeciles, which might have been a funny joke if we didn't have to spend a lot of time with them.
What set this series apart was the focus on intellectual, morally gray, out of the box problem solving with a mathematically based magic system. While there's a bit of Dwarven mad science introduced in this book, it's drowning in the literal bro culture of the idiot dwarf society. It's culture shock in all the wrong sort of ways.
If you are the type that really gets into Dwarves on WoW or DnD, then maybe this won't be as off putting to you. For me it's just massively killing the vibe.
April 2, 2021
I feel like we're not progressing the plot and joe's getting a little annoying
April 2, 2021
Another fun one
A bit more solo than we've been accustomed to in this series, but still enjoyable.
Although he continues to drift away from the "Completionist" aspect of the story.
A bit more solo than we've been accustomed to in this series, but still enjoyable.
Although he continues to drift away from the "Completionist" aspect of the story.
March 31, 2021
Brilliant continuation to the series
Really enjoyed this book, read it all in one sitting! Perhaps not as exciting in some points as others and the resolution wasn't as clean cut as what I would have hoped but a solid addition and I'm excited to see where it goes next.
Really enjoyed this book, read it all in one sitting! Perhaps not as exciting in some points as others and the resolution wasn't as clean cut as what I would have hoped but a solid addition and I'm excited to see where it goes next.
March 30, 2021
Best. One. Yet.
What a fantastic book! Mr. Krout keeps setting the bar high for my expectations and then shoots over it. Every book is fantastic and simultaneously better than the last!
What a fantastic book! Mr. Krout keeps setting the bar high for my expectations and then shoots over it. Every book is fantastic and simultaneously better than the last!
March 4, 2023
For me one of the weakest books of the series so far, it just hasn't got the same vibe with the whole gang missing...
Update re-read 2023: still agree with myself!
Update re-read 2023: still agree with myself!
April 2, 2021
Another good entry into this series, just to short as most good books sadly are.
This time around we got a mostly solo adventure with a familiar face thrown in at the end.
The book is mostly a combination of discovering the new zone and figuring out what his new class from the end of the last book can do.
From a timeframe it spans wide enough that I would expect one or more books about the rest of Joes group.
If it goes as Joe would like, we might even get a book with Joe almost entirely training his skills and building things instead of beeing involved in some zone wide event. That actually sounds quit interessting to me.
This time around we got a mostly solo adventure with a familiar face thrown in at the end.
The book is mostly a combination of discovering the new zone and figuring out what his new class from the end of the last book can do.
From a timeframe it spans wide enough that I would expect one or more books about the rest of Joes group.
If it goes as Joe would like, we might even get a book with Joe almost entirely training his skills and building things instead of beeing involved in some zone wide event. That actually sounds quit interessting to me.
April 2, 2021
Good, but could have been great.
Feels like the MC's character development has stalled out a bit. This book still has the great sequences of solving problems and excellent delivery of depicting magical/scientific genius, but it feels like the MC hasn't really learned from the past at all. I also miss him having more character interactions to develop his personality. That being said the new environment and culture around him is hilarious. I hope we get to spend more time in this setting and that maybe the next book can slow down a bit and give a chance for our favorite bald protagonist to catch up with himself rather than being 15 steps behind.
Feels like the MC's character development has stalled out a bit. This book still has the great sequences of solving problems and excellent delivery of depicting magical/scientific genius, but it feels like the MC hasn't really learned from the past at all. I also miss him having more character interactions to develop his personality. That being said the new environment and culture around him is hilarious. I hope we get to spend more time in this setting and that maybe the next book can slow down a bit and give a chance for our favorite bald protagonist to catch up with himself rather than being 15 steps behind.
April 3, 2021
Full detailed review
And a little lacking in other ways.
First, the good! I absolutely LOVE that the audio book came out right away!!! I prefer audio books SO much over reading because I can listen to them anywhere and the different voices help keep track of different characters. They also tell the tale at a more measured pace which helps me get more out of the book and miss fewer details. Luke Daniel's is one of my favorite audio book performers--and I use "performer" because he has a really clear, pleasant voice that is engaging and extremely varied. But he also does a great job with voices so that the characters come to life.
The story is pretty good and overall I enjoyed it.
As with the other books in the series, it was done cleanly without a ton of overly graphic sex, gore, harem, and political crap (like racism, LGBTQ pandering, religion bashing, or preachy moralism). Super nice to read good books without the author feeling the need to grandstand their personal beliefs and assume everyone believes exactly the same as them.
Ok, here's what I didn't like. Luke Daniel's is phenomenal normally, but he read 75% of the voices in this book so slow it was torture. I originally gave the book 4 stars but opted to give it 5 still because that's not the authors fault. I would'nt mind if a single character was slow but my goodness, it was super noticable to me and u kept getting bored because the dialogue moved so slowly.
The only other thing of negative note was that the story left out all the usual supporting characters--the only one we see this book is the MC with a brief cameo by Jackson (who sadly is my least favorite character (dinosaur hands...I just...ugg). Without the support characters the story was linear and meh. The stereo typical dwarf was cringy, so was the elf.
And a little lacking in other ways.
First, the good! I absolutely LOVE that the audio book came out right away!!! I prefer audio books SO much over reading because I can listen to them anywhere and the different voices help keep track of different characters. They also tell the tale at a more measured pace which helps me get more out of the book and miss fewer details. Luke Daniel's is one of my favorite audio book performers--and I use "performer" because he has a really clear, pleasant voice that is engaging and extremely varied. But he also does a great job with voices so that the characters come to life.
The story is pretty good and overall I enjoyed it.
As with the other books in the series, it was done cleanly without a ton of overly graphic sex, gore, harem, and political crap (like racism, LGBTQ pandering, religion bashing, or preachy moralism). Super nice to read good books without the author feeling the need to grandstand their personal beliefs and assume everyone believes exactly the same as them.
Ok, here's what I didn't like. Luke Daniel's is phenomenal normally, but he read 75% of the voices in this book so slow it was torture. I originally gave the book 4 stars but opted to give it 5 still because that's not the authors fault. I would'nt mind if a single character was slow but my goodness, it was super noticable to me and u kept getting bored because the dialogue moved so slowly.
The only other thing of negative note was that the story left out all the usual supporting characters--the only one we see this book is the MC with a brief cameo by Jackson (who sadly is my least favorite character (dinosaur hands...I just...ugg). Without the support characters the story was linear and meh. The stereo typical dwarf was cringy, so was the elf.
April 8, 2021
Rating 4.0 stars
Well there is good news and bad news. To be honest, it's not really bad news. The good news is that I love this series and I am glad that it is back. The bad news is that I didn't like this one as much as the others. In the other stories I could understand Joe's goals more. In this one he is on a new realm and is supposed to be setting the way for his guild. He has to chose between joining the elves of the dwarves in the war they have going on. He has to pick one or the other or both will kill him. That kind of sucks. Being drafted to fight in a war you don't care about and aren't given much of a choice. Overall I still really like the series and this authors writing, it just wasn't my favorite in the series.
Well there is good news and bad news. To be honest, it's not really bad news. The good news is that I love this series and I am glad that it is back. The bad news is that I didn't like this one as much as the others. In the other stories I could understand Joe's goals more. In this one he is on a new realm and is supposed to be setting the way for his guild. He has to chose between joining the elves of the dwarves in the war they have going on. He has to pick one or the other or both will kill him. That kind of sucks. Being drafted to fight in a war you don't care about and aren't given much of a choice. Overall I still really like the series and this authors writing, it just wasn't my favorite in the series.
April 3, 2021
I'd probably rank this as my second-least-favorite of the Completionist Chronicles (I wasn't a fan of the Jaxon-solo book), but that is still very good. My main issue with this book was that some of the choices Joe made didn't seem very logical, and the story itself just felt a little lacking. Much of the characterizations felt like something that should have been a one-shot joke that just kept being recycled over and over.
Still, there were plenty of hilarious moments, some interesting game mechanics, and hopefully this was just setting the stage for better books in Zone 2 to come.
My review is probably biased by the fact that I listened to the audiobook, and I found the voices of the Elves and Dwarves irritating. The Dwarves sounded like a mix of a bad Arnold Swartzenegger impersonation crossed with the Captain from Spongebob Squarepants, and the elves sounded like a cross between JFK and Joe Pesci.
Still, there were plenty of hilarious moments, some interesting game mechanics, and hopefully this was just setting the stage for better books in Zone 2 to come.
My review is probably biased by the fact that I listened to the audiobook, and I found the voices of the Elves and Dwarves irritating. The Dwarves sounded like a mix of a bad Arnold Swartzenegger impersonation crossed with the Captain from Spongebob Squarepants, and the elves sounded like a cross between JFK and Joe Pesci.
May 9, 2022
Man I really liked this series but this entry has really made me lose interest. I am a big fan of Krout's murderhobo series so this one should have been good. This man Joe is supposed to have incredible intelligence and wisdom, so why is he a fucking idiot most of the time? Short-sighted and distracted, he bumbles his way through a garbage-dump for most of the book, which is a good analogy for this book. I really hope this is just a side-quest type book because the progression wasn't there, the abilities are just combined or not used at all. This world has so much potential, I really hope it's not wasted. I didn't really like the bro and boston accents either, not sure how that came about but it was never really explained or even acknowledged much.
March 30, 2021
Not for me
Some what entertaining but not for me.
Joe is forced to choose a side in never ending pitch battled where the loser will be completed genocided or enslaved. the book makes light of war and it doesn't sit right with me. I'm hoping the next book we learn more about the war and Joe will some how comes up with some resolution but I don't think this is how the "game" works. I still think this is good series and Joe still has alot of potential to grow and I look forward to it. I consider this book a fresh start for Joe, new area new rules alot of potential.
Some what entertaining but not for me.
Joe is forced to choose a side in never ending pitch battled where the loser will be completed genocided or enslaved. the book makes light of war and it doesn't sit right with me. I'm hoping the next book we learn more about the war and Joe will some how comes up with some resolution but I don't think this is how the "game" works. I still think this is good series and Joe still has alot of potential to grow and I look forward to it. I consider this book a fresh start for Joe, new area new rules alot of potential.
April 1, 2021
This was fine.
Not a lot happens in the book and it seems like a lot of the time Joe is just trying to keep up. Plot was weirdly paced and jumped all over the place.
Humor didn’t land at all with me and DKs efforts to make unique races just ended up deeming and making fun of everything we’ve learned about dwarves and elves over the years.
Progression was abysmal and only gained some gratuitous gains.
Didn’t feel like a whole book but was still a pretty fast read and generally enjoyable. At least it saved the series from the horrible ending of last book.
Not a lot happens in the book and it seems like a lot of the time Joe is just trying to keep up. Plot was weirdly paced and jumped all over the place.
Humor didn’t land at all with me and DKs efforts to make unique races just ended up deeming and making fun of everything we’ve learned about dwarves and elves over the years.
Progression was abysmal and only gained some gratuitous gains.
Didn’t feel like a whole book but was still a pretty fast read and generally enjoyable. At least it saved the series from the horrible ending of last book.
April 6, 2021
Early Review.
Not bad read in the series but amount of books in this series is a lot and with no end in sight not into 20 book odd series's usually.
Anyways:
Was decant read nothing much happen that was a surprise really by now but was very dissapointed with dwarf description of female and facial hair eww why just why? I'm against it like elfs without pointed ears just noo.
I did like the increasing of skills and there levels and made me larf when said yep there all ideats lol, would of preferred mc doing more on own maybe next time I can hope.
Also the constant bro extra did get tiresome fast.
March 30, 2021
Another amazing read!
I've been wondering the whole time how Joe was going to fix his problems at the end of the last book. In classic Joe fashion he's solved them and made more. It was so good I didn't stop reading it until I passed out and restarted as soon as I woke up.
I've been wondering the whole time how Joe was going to fix his problems at the end of the last book. In classic Joe fashion he's solved them and made more. It was so good I didn't stop reading it until I passed out and restarted as soon as I woke up.
April 2, 2021
Overall pretty good; better for me to a certain extent as Joe tempers his douchery. The real weakness of this series for me has been the MC, as he tends to annoy me, and don't get me started on Jaxon...
The humour overall I find ham-fisted and unsubtle, but that's a subjective issue and things I find funny, people who like this stuff wouldn't likely enjoy. The book seems a bit unfocussed, but it still gets a 4 from me for overall experience.
The humour overall I find ham-fisted and unsubtle, but that's a subjective issue and things I find funny, people who like this stuff wouldn't likely enjoy. The book seems a bit unfocussed, but it still gets a 4 from me for overall experience.
August 22, 2025
These books are starting to feel like those anime filler episodes that have some canon sprinkled into them. It's mostly bad writing and lack luster story telling but you mind be blind sighted by useful worldbuilding and character/story development.
March 30, 2021
Fantastic as always
Started reading at 12:04 am and didn't set it down till finished. As always an amazing story can't wait to reread again. Also for the next book
Started reading at 12:04 am and didn't set it down till finished. As always an amazing story can't wait to reread again. Also for the next book
April 1, 2021
I just really enjoy Krouts creativity. I could read a while book of just Joe in the city dump.
Also, I'm kind of digging this series more now that Artorian's Archives Books are starting finalize the connections between this an Dungeon Born. I really enjoy the subtle references sprinkled throughout.
Also, I'm kind of digging this series more now that Artorian's Archives Books are starting finalize the connections between this an Dungeon Born. I really enjoy the subtle references sprinkled throughout.
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