Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Tower Climber #2

Tower Climber 2

Rate this book
Climber academy was only the beginning…

Now an official tower climber, Max is thrust into the competitive and deadly world of the tower.

While taking on dangerous missions and defending the city against powerful monster-waves, Max must train and uncover the truth about his past.

With new information on his lost sister’s whereabouts, the stakes to ascend the mysterious tower couldn’t be greater.

But warring clans and an evil organization of rogue climbers stand in the way of Max’s goals.

Will Max be able to gain enough power to break through those who wish to stop him?

560 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 9, 2021

387 people are currently reading
71 people want to read

About the author

Jakob Tanner

20 books177 followers
Jakob Tanner is the author of three LitRPG series: Arcane Kingdom Online, Tower Climber, and Second Chance Swordsman. His books were inspired by the Final Fantasy video game series, Dungeons and Dragons, and all the MMORPGs that have taken over his life at one point or another.

He likes playing board games, binging anime, and eating yummy food. To keep up to date with his shenanigans (as well as the status of his next book) consider signing up to his mailing list here:
https://www.jakobtanner.com/dungeondi...

Beyond that, Jakob can be found at all the usual places:

Facebook (Reader Group):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/19953...

Facebook (Author Page): @jakobtannerwriter

Twitter: @jakobtanner

Website: www.jakobtanner.com

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
595 (54%)
4 stars
296 (27%)
3 stars
146 (13%)
2 stars
32 (2%)
1 star
14 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
Profile Image for Jon Honey.
101 reviews3 followers
April 27, 2021
Yikes. Last one was great but this was really bad. The dialogue was stilted and was almost ignorable, until you realize that every conflict is basically the same, and interactions just stopped making sense. The whole story felt very flimsy and poorly executed. I won't go into the grammatical issues, of which there were many.

(Spoilers ahead)
Why would the gambler even choose to play a game with Max if he was so much stronger than max?
Why do the bad guys always give up more information when they're dying?
How does everyone have so much time to chit chat during fights?
Why do the good guys explain everything to the bad guys as they are winning?
When the bad guy has orders to "Capture and kill the princess" ??? What does that even mean? They threw her in a bag and waited for the good guys to come save her.
Why do the bad guys keep agreeing to duels?
Why would the imposter king even bother meeting with them?
Why did the princess think her truth power would save the day if she knew no one else could see it?
If the princess was so strong why did she need people to come bring her to the 10th floor?
Why is sakura just letting the young main characters put themselves in danger when she could just do it herself or go with them?
Profile Image for Lana.
2,813 reviews61 followers
March 8, 2021
Max the once disabled boy from the outer rim, and Casey the fake-vein have been promoted to Tower Climbers and are looking forward to their first day at work, protecting the citizens from the monsters attacks and starting their climb up the tower. However nothing comes easy, and Max has been targeted by the Hidden Viper Clan who stole all the missions in order to recruit new climbers. However, Max and Casey would not succumb to threats, and they chose to take on unranked missions, and started to gain both coin and experience. I love that these two think outside the box, and that they make such a great team. I also love the paper crane idea, full marks for originality. Max was all about researching and training before attempting a mission, they were fighting to survive, continue progressing and pursuing their dreams, and his was to reach level 10, that of Elestria, in order to find his sister Elle. However he never dreamt he would get sent to Elestria by Sakura, his friend, one time mentor and now his boss, the President of the Tower Climbers. Elestria was in trouble and needed saving, and who better than our two intrepid heroes to do this. I love the adventures they encounter and tackle on the way up to level 10, the different worlds and terrains they come across and the monsters they battle with, always using innovative ways to win! Saving Princess Violet of Elestria tops their list of missions, it turned out to become the longest mission ever undertaken, with multiple enemies across multiple floors with smaller side missions required to move forward. But where they prepared for what awaited them on level 10? I love the excitement levels in this series, and the mystery behind the black feathers they kept finding, but hate the cliffhanger ending which of course keeps me wishing I had book 3 in my hand to go on reading immediately. I can't wait for book 3.
5 reviews
March 18, 2021
Juvenile

This book is worse in every way from it predecessor and if I was to sum it up in one word it would be juvenile. characterization is worse, the story is worse and feels like it lost its consequence. The only consequences were to people who had never been introduced before and in the story or were irrelevant. Characters intellect was far worse. Solutions that were used by characters earlier in the book are ignored for “plot”. The princess has very little character growth and is a wasted opportunity. And on top of it all the way one of the plots was resolved was a level of ridiculous I don’t think I can put into words. In resolving that issue the author broke any sort of power scaling that had existed in the story to date. Overall this book was just worse than the first and if it remains this ridiculous and juvenile then this will be the last book I read in this series.
Profile Image for GaiusPrimus.
873 reviews95 followers
June 25, 2021
The plot literally thickened.

Man oh man what a fun read.

If you haven't read this series, just do so. Run to your local Kindle store and grab yourself a copy.
Profile Image for Atlas.
868 reviews39 followers
March 28, 2022
Eh, light train read but a lot of plot holes. Would have been nice if there were a villain who had more believable motives than just straight up bloodlust again

Also why doesn't it have a proper title?
147 reviews1 follower
March 13, 2021
Did not finish

I didn’t like the book, Casey was annoying AF, the Princesses was annoying, ungrateful, entitled. I honestly stopped reading it around 70%. I really liked the first one who’s makes this super disappointing to me. I gave three stars because any lower and I just don’t leave a review.
Profile Image for Jon Svenson.
Author 8 books114 followers
March 10, 2021
Book 2 picks up at the end of book 1, with Casey and Max getting their first chance to climb the tower.

We start out in the last human city, and that's where we run into something I just couldn't find believable. Max is being recruited by a local guild, and the recruiter becomes insistent that they join. They go to great lengths to get them to join, until finally Max decides to duel the lead recruiter.

The duel is fine, but what they bet on is not. Even if Max has a plan (and he does, it's a common theme in this book), it's still a silly thing to duel over. I understand that it reveals a secret that is important to the plot, but I just think it could have been done differently.

After that they leave for the tower, and the story is at it's best when they're climbing the tower. They climb from level 6 to level 10, and those levels were the most fun to read. The only item I'll mention is Max's battle with the thunder bird (something like that), where he uses two skills instead of one (he gets the gold core from the bird). It's not a big thing, but I noticed.

Back in the human city, Solaru is dealing with various issues. Those scenes were okay, but again we run into an issue. While I won't reveal what happened, in book 1 Max has no idea Earth is gone and they are all living in the tower. Solaru's actions tear that apart, and yet nothing is said about it.

It's this inattention to detail that brings the book down to a 4. I read the book and enjoyed it, but I do expect a level of internal consistency.

The notifications are fine: clear and regular without interrupting the flow of the story.

4/5*
217 reviews27 followers
July 30, 2021
Definite improvement over book 1

I listened to the audiobook and the narrator is really mediocre. Many characters sound the same, several mispronounced words, and the female voices are nasally and unpleasant (especially the female MC so you may want to skip the audiobook version).

Less plot holes than the first book, better dialogue, and fewer political/sociological/religious views on display. In general the writing is better and author is either improving or has hired a better proofreader.

Story was ok and held my attention better and I'm glad so far that I kept with the series. The villains were still super cliche and cringy with the "muhahaha!" type dialogue from a campy 1 dimensional character.

This book appears to have been heavily influenced by Harry Potter and so you see the same familiar plot devices from that series, but not done as well.

I'll read the next book, but probably not until I run out of other options. I was going to go 3 stars but I bumped it to 4 to recognize the improvements i saw in the first book.
Profile Image for John-Torleif  Harris.
2,729 reviews13 followers
March 9, 2021
Max and Casey certainly don’t do subtle very well. I loved that they were sent to floor 10 to do recognizance and information gathering only, but that turned into so much more within the first day of their mission.

I like that Max solves the problems of the obstacles that he approaches with a combination of both brains and brawn. He’s not just powering through things as just a tank, but he’s actively strategizing and observing all of the time to ensure that he gets the maximum advantage against opponents who are much higher leveled than himself. It was good to see him both plan for things in advance, as well as be quick to come up with successful plans, on the fly.

What is going on with Max’s sister? Who are the Fallen Angels and what is their goal? Who were those beings that we saw at the last scene of book 1, and how will they play into Max’s future? I can’t wait to find out!!

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.
Profile Image for Jeff.
456 reviews
March 9, 2021
I was given this book in exchange for an honest review. I've read a number of the author's previous works.

I would recommend reading the books in order as there are things referenced in this book that will pass by anyone who didn't read the first book.

I gave it 4 stars simply because I see continuous improvement in the author and if i gave it 5 how would I tell you the next one is better? RPG lit is an interesting genre that has really grown on me mostly due to this author. This is a fun fast paced easy read with characters that are extremely likeable. The flow is great and the pacing is spot on. It's interesting how the RPG aspect is incorporated in this book, if the main character didn't check his stats every now and then this would read like any fun fantasy novel. The addition of the stats gives the reader a metric to base the character's improvement on, but it doesn't detract from the story. This book is Jakob's best so far. I look forward to reading more in this series.
1,211 reviews17 followers
August 10, 2022
good second book of the series.

First of all let me say the story is still engaging. I enjoyed the progression of Max and begrudgingly Casey. throughout the book I thought she was an albatross around maxes neck. No offense of power at all. I’m glad the author straightened me out with her progression. I still think that you’re writing the characters as if they were 10 year olds instead of street wise teenagers. besides that the action is great I don’t think the character is overpowered, I like the fact that he uses his brain to solve problems as well as his abilities. The mystery of the story progresses. which is what is keeping me reading. There are a few other issues but they are minor. On to next book.
28 reviews2 followers
March 15, 2021
So much potential but...

...the writing is just so bad. Every villain is a mustache twirling psycho reveling in blood and destruction. Every problem is solved by "I have a plan." cut away and then the plan goes perfectly.

Give some nuance! Give us the plans ahead of time then throw wrenches in the mix... anything to stop every single event from being black and white, cookie cutter, copy paste snooze-fests. Give us some tension!

Hell even the fights against "this monster has killed everyone who has ever tried" are solved with a hand wave.

This story has so many elements that would make it good, it's just too bad that it's being so mishandled by it's creator.
700 reviews10 followers
May 22, 2024
Climbing Floors Beating Back Wars

Max & Casey are finally made climbers at rank-E, lowest level with potential for more. More is only possible with work, but they will work really hard.
A coop has taken place on the 10th floor, killing the royals, but their daughter escapes.
Max & Casey are given a quest by the climbers president to go to the 10th floor & see why there's no communication from there in months. Along the way, they pickup a girl that wants to go to the 10th floor too...
They have to stop a war when they arrive...and they do....!

Fun read through and through.

Read in 4 days
Profile Image for Wilhelm Eyrich.
366 reviews28 followers
June 15, 2021
About the same feeling as the first.

Something still feels kind of off. A lot more stupid decisions in this book, at least the antagonists have more of a reason for being scumbags though, although we still need a better peek at overall scope. Not the biggest fan of basically everything character except Max at this point.

MC is still packing power way above his station but at least the climax was more sensical in this book. Cliff hanger I’m pretty sure isn’t what it looks like either.

Will continue on with the next book however, still a lot to enjoy with this series.
204 reviews6 followers
July 25, 2021
Even better than book one

Now that they have graduated the climbed school our two young friends get caught up in a little more than they bargained for but as they get stronger and many things click into place and max once again figures out how to solve the problems. They make it to the tenth floor where after things come to a conclusion he goes to the shop from where his sisters not e came from and receives another envelope from her.
Profile Image for Clint Young.
849 reviews
October 28, 2022
KU Review

Our mc continues to grow in power. The climb felt a bit rushed as the story was focused on a particular plot higher up, but I guess if you had a drawn out adventure on every floor of an infinite tower you’d never finish. I’ll keep going.

As the title says this is a review for Kindle Unlimited and as such is a reflection of my enjoyment of the book and in no way reflects cost to value analysis.
45 reviews
March 10, 2021
Just what I hoped for

After reading book 1 in this series, I have been impatiently waiting for it to continue, and I am glad to see it was worth the wait.

Good progression of the story, more revealed about what was happening in the first book and the importance of it in the greater storyline. Still a lot to be revealed, and I can’t wait to see it continue.
198 reviews
April 8, 2021
A Good story

I like the magic and leveling in this story
I even like the tower adventures. But I found it hard to drop myself in the story at time. Especially when MC always has a plan for all his issues. Maybe I am wrong but I like that sometimes you don't have a plan for everything.
9 reviews
April 12, 2021
Great LitRPG book. I loved the pacing

This was a solid sequel to the first book. I am now hooked and will be keeping a close eye for book 3. The pacing in this story is on point. Some of these indie litrpg books can have a snail pace, but this one cuts through a lot of the more boring parts.
Profile Image for Kelley.
708 reviews21 followers
April 17, 2021
Flying on an origami paper crane has to be the coolest mental images I’ve read and imagined. Ok, beyond my fascination with origami, I really enjoyed this book. I believe the writing is better than the first book. The characters become more two dimensional and believable. The hamster 🐹 Toto stole the show.
86 reviews
July 7, 2021
Depressing reading
Hard put max has dead parents is in a wheelchair gets Beaten up by his school colleagues he gets treated badly by the man who looks after him and so on and so on but hey he gets a second chance in life and keep thinking back how bad his life was and how he is coping now wonderful not truly awful describe this book and the previous one
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
77 reviews3 followers
April 6, 2022
It’s a decent YA book but fights are terrible

The whole series is pretty decent. It gives off a very young adult book kind of vibe. The only real problem and the reason I stopped reading is that the fight scenes are terrible with really cheesy and long drawn out dialogue. Also, the economy makes no sense, which is a little bit annoying.
Profile Image for Danae.
615 reviews6 followers
April 13, 2023
Not as good as the first one.
Not sure if ther is a system behind the tower levels but for the moment it feels like totally random. Some levels felt more empty and useless.
A bit too much deus ex machina moments and some characters were a bit too cartoonish for my taste.
Nevertheless - readable and has some nice ideas and scenes.
40 reviews
March 11, 2021
He's done it again and left me waiting for the next book. Would that I could duct tape him to his desk. It's time to power level up your climbing skills and get a handle on the upper floors. Just remember that as above so below, and get ready to face a new threat every day.
200 reviews5 followers
March 16, 2021
Thrilling

Absolutely fantastic continuation of the first book! The RPG elements are woven into the underlying story incredibly well, and form a solid foundation for the wonderful tale that comes after.
Profile Image for Sebastien.
24 reviews3 followers
March 17, 2021
Wonderful sequel!

I await the further stories with anticipation! If you read the first and weren't sure if you liked it enough, I urge you to read this one and decide. You'll either realize you love it or hate it, but I'm betting you'll love it.
Profile Image for michael hooper.
672 reviews2 followers
March 17, 2021
Liked it

Fast paced page turner with interesting characters that you instantly root for. Nice quick read that I didn't want to put down. Can't wait for book three and I will be checking out other books by this Author
Profile Image for Giovanni Peralto.
17 reviews
April 26, 2021
Fantastic

The plot thickens as Max and Casey embark on an even more dangerous journey, involving themselves in inter-species politics and issues as they climb the tower. This instill me to of the grand Tower Climber adventure does not disappoint.
26 reviews
April 28, 2021
Awesome fun take on the genre

I have very much enjoyed both of these books so far. I am no stranger to the LitRPG/Progression Fantasy genere and this fits very nicely within them. Family concepts mixed with twits and turns that keep it fresh and enjoyable.
Profile Image for Benjamin Graff.
28 reviews
May 20, 2021
Max, Casey, and Toto back at it again!

A spectacular continuation of the series. Tower climbing at it's best. New friends, new powers, and some change for all, cant wait for the next book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.