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Surgecaller #1
Oathbound
How do you kill an Immortal?
Huon is weak. A surgecaller who escaped into the wilds, his only goal was to survive.
Now he is Oathbound, forced to fight in an arena, forced to become stronger than he’d thought possible.
As he realises he can become strong, the need for revenge fills his heart, and a new goal forms in his mind.
But his goal is impossible: kill the dragon rider, the Immortal of Fire.
To succeed, he’ll have to do more than just survive—he’ll have to advance beyond anything the realm has ever seen.
In the spirit of progression fantasies like Cradle and Mage Errant, enter a realm with magical beasts, where surgecallers can cultivate essence to strengthen their weapons, enhance their bodies and wield elemental magic.
292 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 15, 2021
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676 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
October 29, 2021
3.25
Read this as a judge for the SPFBO7. This review reflects my personal opinion.
I read this book as a judge for the SPFBO7 and it made it to the FanFiAddict semi-finalist list. It was definitely one of the best books in our pile and I enjoyed reading it for the most part.
This book follows the story of Huon a teenager who survived the burning of his village and sworn vengeance. He’s been living in the wilderness for 4 years hiding his abilities. All surgecallers (basically, wizards) need to be bound to non-surgecallers or risk prosecution. And death. A set of events leads him to become Oathbound but also helps him improve his abilities. What follows is Huon trying to survive while improving his skills.
This was a short book that you can easily finish quickly. It also doesn’t slow down and I liked that. There’s always something going on but sadly, the stakes never got high enough for my taste. Nonetheless, it was enjoyable to read. The magic system also had ranks and rules, which I love in fantasy. It was well-developed.
This is a selfpub so I won’t be too hard on it but I can’t but mention a few things:
- I couldn’t connect with the characters nor relate to them. Huon wasn’t three-dimensional and the side characters never lasted long enough for us to care about. I also believe a prologue of the fire that changed Huon’s life could’ve benefited this book immensely. We were told from memory and that never has the same effect as witnessing the events directly.
- The world-building could’ve been more elaborate and richer. It was instead mostly straightforward and not particularly imaginative for this genre.
- It also wasn’t memorable at all sadly.
But on the other hand, it was an enjoyable read with some exciting scenes. The training part was fun and the ending was promising too. I won’t be reading the sequel but I also wouldn’t say the book was disappointing.
Read this as a judge for the SPFBO7. This review reflects my personal opinion.
I read this book as a judge for the SPFBO7 and it made it to the FanFiAddict semi-finalist list. It was definitely one of the best books in our pile and I enjoyed reading it for the most part.
This book follows the story of Huon a teenager who survived the burning of his village and sworn vengeance. He’s been living in the wilderness for 4 years hiding his abilities. All surgecallers (basically, wizards) need to be bound to non-surgecallers or risk prosecution. And death. A set of events leads him to become Oathbound but also helps him improve his abilities. What follows is Huon trying to survive while improving his skills.
This was a short book that you can easily finish quickly. It also doesn’t slow down and I liked that. There’s always something going on but sadly, the stakes never got high enough for my taste. Nonetheless, it was enjoyable to read. The magic system also had ranks and rules, which I love in fantasy. It was well-developed.
This is a selfpub so I won’t be too hard on it but I can’t but mention a few things:
- I couldn’t connect with the characters nor relate to them. Huon wasn’t three-dimensional and the side characters never lasted long enough for us to care about. I also believe a prologue of the fire that changed Huon’s life could’ve benefited this book immensely. We were told from memory and that never has the same effect as witnessing the events directly.
- The world-building could’ve been more elaborate and richer. It was instead mostly straightforward and not particularly imaginative for this genre.
- It also wasn’t memorable at all sadly.
But on the other hand, it was an enjoyable read with some exciting scenes. The training part was fun and the ending was promising too. I won’t be reading the sequel but I also wouldn’t say the book was disappointing.
October 29, 2021
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Disclaimer: Read this as a judge for SPFBO 7, the rating reflects my personal thoughts and is not the final rating for the book!
Actual Rating: 3.75 Stars
I did not know cultivation/ progression fantasy novels were a thing until I read Cradle series by Will Wight which is one of the most successful self-published books! I was excited when I heard about this one because I wanted to discover more of this genre (Which I like in other media forms like games, anime…etc) and I can say that it did not disappoint!
The story follows Huon who starts as a page (a weak surgecaller) surviving in the forest for 4 years after a tragic event in the past leaving him wanting revenge against one of the seven immortals (The highest ranks for surgecallers). Huon’s life is changed by teaming up with another surgecaller called Bern to face a sabre-tooth in the forest, they then team up and things get worse from there on!
I am going to mention both a subjective and an objective aspects to the book because subjectively I enjoyed it pretty much but objectively it has some criticisms. The writing is good, I believe it is not the author’s debut and I could tell that, I was going through the reviews and people said the writing is better than Herzmans’ earlier works which sounds good to me (I haven’t read his other series).
Huon’s character grows a lot through the story and he gets more powerful too. The problem is that the pacing is fast and the secondary characters don’t get much time before we either leave them or before they are killed which makes connecting to them almost impossible! They’re not flat characters by any means but I think we should have got more time to know them and their backstories so that we can relate to them more.
And speaking of time, I am a fan of fast-pacing and I don’t believe I am saying this but I wish the pacing was a bit slower, we are jumping from one scene to another without much time to breathe which affected my enjoyment of the story. The plot is also a bit vague because I did not know there was an end goal that we were trying to reach but the end of the book was good so I hope the plot is clearer in the next book!
The world-building is excellent, it is the best thing about the book and it screams creativity! I love hard magic systems and Herzman wrote a very solid on here! I loved the way things were explained from the beginning and new questions are always coming to mind. I just wish some things made more sense and were explained more (and still hope they do) like why are surgecallers bound to surgeless people when they are more powerful and have the upper hand and why is being Oathless such a dishonor?
Summary: I really enjoyed Oathbound with its short chapters and fast pacing -Which I believe should have been slowed down- I just wanted more from the characters and the story. I still think it is a very decent start to the series and hope book 2 provides the answers I am looking for!
“Be ruthless. The strong survive.”
Disclaimer: Read this as a judge for SPFBO 7, the rating reflects my personal thoughts and is not the final rating for the book!
Actual Rating: 3.75 Stars
I did not know cultivation/ progression fantasy novels were a thing until I read Cradle series by Will Wight which is one of the most successful self-published books! I was excited when I heard about this one because I wanted to discover more of this genre (Which I like in other media forms like games, anime…etc) and I can say that it did not disappoint!
The story follows Huon who starts as a page (a weak surgecaller) surviving in the forest for 4 years after a tragic event in the past leaving him wanting revenge against one of the seven immortals (The highest ranks for surgecallers). Huon’s life is changed by teaming up with another surgecaller called Bern to face a sabre-tooth in the forest, they then team up and things get worse from there on!
I am going to mention both a subjective and an objective aspects to the book because subjectively I enjoyed it pretty much but objectively it has some criticisms. The writing is good, I believe it is not the author’s debut and I could tell that, I was going through the reviews and people said the writing is better than Herzmans’ earlier works which sounds good to me (I haven’t read his other series).
Huon’s character grows a lot through the story and he gets more powerful too. The problem is that the pacing is fast and the secondary characters don’t get much time before we either leave them or before they are killed which makes connecting to them almost impossible! They’re not flat characters by any means but I think we should have got more time to know them and their backstories so that we can relate to them more.
And speaking of time, I am a fan of fast-pacing and I don’t believe I am saying this but I wish the pacing was a bit slower, we are jumping from one scene to another without much time to breathe which affected my enjoyment of the story. The plot is also a bit vague because I did not know there was an end goal that we were trying to reach but the end of the book was good so I hope the plot is clearer in the next book!
The world-building is excellent, it is the best thing about the book and it screams creativity! I love hard magic systems and Herzman wrote a very solid on here! I loved the way things were explained from the beginning and new questions are always coming to mind. I just wish some things made more sense and were explained more (and still hope they do) like why are surgecallers bound to surgeless people when they are more powerful and have the upper hand and why is being Oathless such a dishonor?
Summary: I really enjoyed Oathbound with its short chapters and fast pacing -Which I believe should have been slowed down- I just wanted more from the characters and the story. I still think it is a very decent start to the series and hope book 2 provides the answers I am looking for!
February 10, 2022
I liked this a lot. I haven't read any other progression fantasy other then Cradle yet, so I was excited to check this out. It's pretty good. I like the magic system and the power tiers in this series.
The world building was solid too. They hinted at a larger world outside of where this story takes place, but man this book needs a map, I had a hard time keeping track of the places in my head since there's not much direction of where anything is.
I enjoy Huon, a young page who was living in the forest for years and being hunted for not having a sworn oath to anyone. It's an interesting take on slavery. The super powered people being owned by the powerless. It was interesting and I'm curious where the story is going to go from here.
The world building was solid too. They hinted at a larger world outside of where this story takes place, but man this book needs a map, I had a hard time keeping track of the places in my head since there's not much direction of where anything is.
I enjoy Huon, a young page who was living in the forest for years and being hunted for not having a sworn oath to anyone. It's an interesting take on slavery. The super powered people being owned by the powerless. It was interesting and I'm curious where the story is going to go from here.
August 24, 2021
Fun, fast paced, progression fantasy and a real page turner. Cradle fans will love this series
April 15, 2021
(I now have a booktube! Go to https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx40... for more info)
Thank you to Todd Herzman for sending me an Advanced Review Copy of his new book! Do know there are no spoilers beyond what we know from the blurb so safe to read for all!
First, I wanted to let readers of this review know some context behind my relationship to this new book. To begin with, I absolutely fell in love with Dark Inheritance when it came out in April of 2020. Todd released it for free for a few days on Reddit and quarantine was in full effect and I began to dip my toes into reading selfpubbed authors and using Kindle as a method to read with for the first time. I downloaded it and read it quite quickly. I loved the worldbuilding aspect of the book along with the pattern that he did for the POVs. Starting with the oldest sibling, then the middle sibling, and then the youngest with the oldest POV starting the cycle anew. It was a great way to keep the book going and the antagonist was very well-developed. The POVs were separated for the majority of the book so we got to see lots of unique and interesting characters while enjoying the world at large. And the pacing resulting from that and the structure of the book made it one of my favorite self pubbed books behind the Cradle series by Will Wight and Sword of Kaigen by ML Wang. I like to say that Dark Inheritance is like the Oddyssey by Homer but there’s much more fire magic.
Now that there’s a backdrop to this review I can begin reviewing this book. You probably already saw that I gave this book a 3/5 on Goodreads which to me is a rating that indicates an “average” score for me. Usually denotes that there were aspects that I liked and some that were a little lacking for me. Let’s start with what the book is about and then move onto the positives and negatives (mostly personal taste so your mileage may vary on these).
This book is about a 16 year old Surgecaller named Huon who is living in the wilderness after his village and mom is killed by the Immortal of Fire, one of seven who are in the “Immortal” rank of power. He runs away into the wilderness and is there for 4 years before he hears a scream outside his cave. Huon goes on to investigate and finds a guy named Bern who is being attacked by a sabre-tooth tiger. They overpower the tiger and do a training montage that serves to teach us the magic system and help out character get some much-needed training. They are suddenly surrounded by some raptors and a woman approaches saying that Bern has finally been captured. He surges speed and runs away. Our main character is taken instead and the story takes off from there when he becomes a slave and a gladiator.
Now onto the positives. First and foremost, the writing has definitely improved. There’s been two other books that have come out since A Dark Inheritance and it’s nice to see the writing has strengthened because I noted in the DI review that the prose is “to the point and accessible” which is a good baseline for newer authors. I found there were many more moments in this book where I would reread a passage because the descriptions and flow of the writing caught me by surprise.
Another positive is that this book is as much as a pageturner as the Dark Inheritance book because of the interesting magic system that blends elemental magic like in Avatar the Last Airbender with the leveling up system of Cradle. I do like the magic system more in this book than the other but I’ve only read book one of this series and Hollow Fate, the series Dark inheritance is in. I liked the training sequences a lot in this book where we are much more familiar earlier on than the other book. The magic system works really well and we get a lot of time to learn the magic system. The thing that sets this apart from Dark Inheritance in terms of magic system is that this one is very rules-based and isn’t as “soft” as Dark Inheritance’s. It isn’t the traditional soft magic that we see in older fantasy novels like the Wheel of Time, or in Lord of the Rings. The magic system was like Cradle’s or one of Brandon Sanderson’s cosmere novels. I enjoy magic systems that are considered “hard” because I am able to study it and really know the rules of it so when I start to see what has been referenced as the time for “levelling up” I can really get excited and also predict what events will happen. Multiple characters “level up” in this book and those parts stick out the most because they all happen in high stress situations and my favorite is the one somewhat after the capture of Huon. One thing I really liked in this magic system is that the characters are protected from literally everything when they are levelling up. I like that the characters are allowed to level up without too much issues except for everything leading up to the level up itself. There’s a moment in Oathbringer where I wish that character had that protection while levelling up .
Onto the not necessarily negatives but more things I think could’ve been improved. First one that popped up to me is that I was not invested in the characters in this book. Whenever Huon would meet someone who he melded really well with, they would either be killed soon after or sprint away from the plot. One thing that would’ve helped is to include the Immortal of Fire’s attack on Huon’s village at the start because I would’ve been more invested to see the events as they were happening rather than as a horrible memory from 4 years ago.
Along that same line, I think length is another issue in this book because it felt like we were jumping from plot point to plot point. Dark Inheritance is 440 pages on the kindle while Oathbound is shorter than the first Harry Potter book, which is just over 300 pages on the kindle edition which I don’t know if that counts the entire book from cover to cover or just the actual content. If we had more room to breathe throughout each plotpoint and if we were invested more in the characters, I think I would’ve easily rated it 4/5 stars. My favorite parts in the book was when we watched Huon train with a more powerful character because we got to slow down and really ruminate in the character’s thoughts and learn more about motivations, the world, and get some great interactions. One of my favorite interactions was towards the end, which I won’t spoil, because we finally got to learn more from a certain character’s perspective that was satisfying to learn. When I began to get really invested in the story and the characters after, what I had not realized at the time, the climax of the book I realized that I was 93% done with the book. The reveal at the end is good enough that I am interested in the next book and will read it but it did seem abrupt. Not much happens story-wise throughout the entire book and there are conflicts to the story but there didn’t seem to be any antagonists in this book. In Dark Inheritance we see our main characters’ family, friends, village and home get set ablaze by invaders through their eyes and we really start to hate the people involved. In this book, we get memories of Huon’s mom being killed by the Immortal of Fire but we don’t see this and so we don’t have strong feelings against him. And whenever he shows up in this book, he is flying over our characters and Huon remarks how much he hates him.
When it comes down to it, I think the book would’ve greatly improved if there was a higher page count to the story so that we could really breathe. I am excited to see where this series goes towards in the future so my eyes will be pealed to the second book. The ending reveal is great and really sets up a promising sequel installment. Thank you for reading my first review and let me know what I can improve upon for future reviews.
Thank you to Todd Herzman for sending me an Advanced Review Copy of his new book! Do know there are no spoilers beyond what we know from the blurb so safe to read for all!
First, I wanted to let readers of this review know some context behind my relationship to this new book. To begin with, I absolutely fell in love with Dark Inheritance when it came out in April of 2020. Todd released it for free for a few days on Reddit and quarantine was in full effect and I began to dip my toes into reading selfpubbed authors and using Kindle as a method to read with for the first time. I downloaded it and read it quite quickly. I loved the worldbuilding aspect of the book along with the pattern that he did for the POVs. Starting with the oldest sibling, then the middle sibling, and then the youngest with the oldest POV starting the cycle anew. It was a great way to keep the book going and the antagonist was very well-developed. The POVs were separated for the majority of the book so we got to see lots of unique and interesting characters while enjoying the world at large. And the pacing resulting from that and the structure of the book made it one of my favorite self pubbed books behind the Cradle series by Will Wight and Sword of Kaigen by ML Wang. I like to say that Dark Inheritance is like the Oddyssey by Homer but there’s much more fire magic.
Now that there’s a backdrop to this review I can begin reviewing this book. You probably already saw that I gave this book a 3/5 on Goodreads which to me is a rating that indicates an “average” score for me. Usually denotes that there were aspects that I liked and some that were a little lacking for me. Let’s start with what the book is about and then move onto the positives and negatives (mostly personal taste so your mileage may vary on these).
This book is about a 16 year old Surgecaller named Huon who is living in the wilderness after his village and mom is killed by the Immortal of Fire, one of seven who are in the “Immortal” rank of power. He runs away into the wilderness and is there for 4 years before he hears a scream outside his cave. Huon goes on to investigate and finds a guy named Bern who is being attacked by a sabre-tooth tiger. They overpower the tiger and do a training montage that serves to teach us the magic system and help out character get some much-needed training. They are suddenly surrounded by some raptors and a woman approaches saying that Bern has finally been captured. He surges speed and runs away. Our main character is taken instead and the story takes off from there when he becomes a slave and a gladiator.
Now onto the positives. First and foremost, the writing has definitely improved. There’s been two other books that have come out since A Dark Inheritance and it’s nice to see the writing has strengthened because I noted in the DI review that the prose is “to the point and accessible” which is a good baseline for newer authors. I found there were many more moments in this book where I would reread a passage because the descriptions and flow of the writing caught me by surprise.
Another positive is that this book is as much as a pageturner as the Dark Inheritance book because of the interesting magic system that blends elemental magic like in Avatar the Last Airbender with the leveling up system of Cradle. I do like the magic system more in this book than the other but I’ve only read book one of this series and Hollow Fate, the series Dark inheritance is in. I liked the training sequences a lot in this book where we are much more familiar earlier on than the other book. The magic system works really well and we get a lot of time to learn the magic system. The thing that sets this apart from Dark Inheritance in terms of magic system is that this one is very rules-based and isn’t as “soft” as Dark Inheritance’s. It isn’t the traditional soft magic that we see in older fantasy novels like the Wheel of Time, or in Lord of the Rings. The magic system was like Cradle’s or one of Brandon Sanderson’s cosmere novels. I enjoy magic systems that are considered “hard” because I am able to study it and really know the rules of it so when I start to see what has been referenced as the time for “levelling up” I can really get excited and also predict what events will happen. Multiple characters “level up” in this book and those parts stick out the most because they all happen in high stress situations and my favorite is the one somewhat after the capture of Huon. One thing I really liked in this magic system is that the characters are protected from literally everything when they are levelling up. I like that the characters are allowed to level up without too much issues except for everything leading up to the level up itself. There’s a moment in Oathbringer where I wish that character had that protection while levelling up .
Onto the not necessarily negatives but more things I think could’ve been improved. First one that popped up to me is that I was not invested in the characters in this book. Whenever Huon would meet someone who he melded really well with, they would either be killed soon after or sprint away from the plot. One thing that would’ve helped is to include the Immortal of Fire’s attack on Huon’s village at the start because I would’ve been more invested to see the events as they were happening rather than as a horrible memory from 4 years ago.
Along that same line, I think length is another issue in this book because it felt like we were jumping from plot point to plot point. Dark Inheritance is 440 pages on the kindle while Oathbound is shorter than the first Harry Potter book, which is just over 300 pages on the kindle edition which I don’t know if that counts the entire book from cover to cover or just the actual content. If we had more room to breathe throughout each plotpoint and if we were invested more in the characters, I think I would’ve easily rated it 4/5 stars. My favorite parts in the book was when we watched Huon train with a more powerful character because we got to slow down and really ruminate in the character’s thoughts and learn more about motivations, the world, and get some great interactions. One of my favorite interactions was towards the end, which I won’t spoil, because we finally got to learn more from a certain character’s perspective that was satisfying to learn. When I began to get really invested in the story and the characters after, what I had not realized at the time, the climax of the book I realized that I was 93% done with the book. The reveal at the end is good enough that I am interested in the next book and will read it but it did seem abrupt. Not much happens story-wise throughout the entire book and there are conflicts to the story but there didn’t seem to be any antagonists in this book. In Dark Inheritance we see our main characters’ family, friends, village and home get set ablaze by invaders through their eyes and we really start to hate the people involved. In this book, we get memories of Huon’s mom being killed by the Immortal of Fire but we don’t see this and so we don’t have strong feelings against him. And whenever he shows up in this book, he is flying over our characters and Huon remarks how much he hates him.
When it comes down to it, I think the book would’ve greatly improved if there was a higher page count to the story so that we could really breathe. I am excited to see where this series goes towards in the future so my eyes will be pealed to the second book. The ending reveal is great and really sets up a promising sequel installment. Thank you for reading my first review and let me know what I can improve upon for future reviews.
August 3, 2021
I appreciate writer. I do. Really.
They invest alot of time, effort and imagination into their creations. It is very hard for me to write bad reviews for them.
On the other hand, I do enjoy a good book, well written and rounded characters, a plausible reason for their actions (any character action really) and a general good world building.
All the things I mentioned liking to read are missing (some to a large degree, others to a lesser degree) - this contributes to a feeling of being ‘cheated’ out of a promise.
This book have a lot of good ideas which are not coming to fruition.
MC is acting contradictory to his own beliefs from one chapter to another
Enemies (portrayed as bad from the start) suddenly change to be good, and then bad again and then good (Blaze) - what??
Random meetings with fellow squires to train gets the MC hung up on them as ‘friends’ followed by beating them nearly to death (while being way weaker, but still managing it) - followed by leaving them a means to heal almost instantly before escaping…(??!!??!?)
The author seems ‘scared’ to write ‘bad’ things - such as MC killing a bad person or even thinking that vengeance is okay… being politically correct seems to be resulting in a crap little book.
I probably will not read the second book in this series.
They invest alot of time, effort and imagination into their creations. It is very hard for me to write bad reviews for them.
On the other hand, I do enjoy a good book, well written and rounded characters, a plausible reason for their actions (any character action really) and a general good world building.
All the things I mentioned liking to read are missing (some to a large degree, others to a lesser degree) - this contributes to a feeling of being ‘cheated’ out of a promise.
This book have a lot of good ideas which are not coming to fruition.
MC is acting contradictory to his own beliefs from one chapter to another
Enemies (portrayed as bad from the start) suddenly change to be good, and then bad again and then good (Blaze) - what??
Random meetings with fellow squires to train gets the MC hung up on them as ‘friends’ followed by beating them nearly to death (while being way weaker, but still managing it) - followed by leaving them a means to heal almost instantly before escaping…(??!!??!?)
The author seems ‘scared’ to write ‘bad’ things - such as MC killing a bad person or even thinking that vengeance is okay… being politically correct seems to be resulting in a crap little book.
I probably will not read the second book in this series.
April 11, 2021
Progression fantasy at its best! A spiritual successor to Cradle, with brilliant magic and a spitfire plot.
In Oathbound, the young protagonist, Huon, trudges forward with revenge sizzling in his veins. He's an outsider, but smart, and he's willing to do whatever it takes level up and prepare himself to take down the man who killed his mother. Herzman's writing is a clear window, without fanfare and without distraction, which yield a break-neck pace that is just so easy to fall into. Besides the unique worldbuilding, the plot doesn't bring much in the way of novelty—it's revenge at its core—but it's executed with precision, and the great characterization makes it hard to decide who you should be rooting for and who you should be hating.
Overall, a great, fast-paced story with cool magic and great characters.
* I received an ARC of this book.
In Oathbound, the young protagonist, Huon, trudges forward with revenge sizzling in his veins. He's an outsider, but smart, and he's willing to do whatever it takes level up and prepare himself to take down the man who killed his mother. Herzman's writing is a clear window, without fanfare and without distraction, which yield a break-neck pace that is just so easy to fall into. Besides the unique worldbuilding, the plot doesn't bring much in the way of novelty—it's revenge at its core—but it's executed with precision, and the great characterization makes it hard to decide who you should be rooting for and who you should be hating.
Overall, a great, fast-paced story with cool magic and great characters.
* I received an ARC of this book.
July 18, 2022
Enjoyable progression fantasy with a heady mix of wuxia elements. It had a decent plot, the writing was good, and I get the sense that Herzman makes the scope more epic in the later novels. After the little disappointment with Dreadgod, I wanted something exhilarating, and Oathbound certainly provided me the appropriate hook.
Huon is a likable protagonist, and I get to see some similarities with Lindon from Cradle. But, the difference is, Huon has a much more grim agenda of vengeance. The magic system isn't that complex, which I found somewhat difficult to follow in Cradle, but, this has some elemental aspect to it which was awesome. It reminded me of the Airbender series which I love. There are mythical beasts, and dragons of course, and if any fantasy book that doesn't have dragons becomes a little less exciting. I liked the training montages, and the gladiatorial fight scenes which were bloody and brutal.
Most of the characters get killed, but I liked how Huon developed a camaraderie with them. Towards the end, there is a huge shocker in the story, but that's all for the better. And, I loved the fact that there is a badass female character, who has her own insecurities, vulnerabilities, but that makes Liona more endearing as a character. I think that, she will be a kind of balance to Huon's raging quest for power and revenge.
I would definitely get on to the next book. And, I firmly believe that readers who are admirers of Will Wright's Cradle will definitely find a lot to love here. Also, unlike Wight's series, the start of Herzman's Surgecaller is quite strong, and it also tells one hell of an entertaining story rife with action and magic.
Huon is a likable protagonist, and I get to see some similarities with Lindon from Cradle. But, the difference is, Huon has a much more grim agenda of vengeance. The magic system isn't that complex, which I found somewhat difficult to follow in Cradle, but, this has some elemental aspect to it which was awesome. It reminded me of the Airbender series which I love. There are mythical beasts, and dragons of course, and if any fantasy book that doesn't have dragons becomes a little less exciting. I liked the training montages, and the gladiatorial fight scenes which were bloody and brutal.
Most of the characters get killed, but I liked how Huon developed a camaraderie with them. Towards the end, there is a huge shocker in the story, but that's all for the better. And, I loved the fact that there is a badass female character, who has her own insecurities, vulnerabilities, but that makes Liona more endearing as a character. I think that, she will be a kind of balance to Huon's raging quest for power and revenge.
I would definitely get on to the next book. And, I firmly believe that readers who are admirers of Will Wright's Cradle will definitely find a lot to love here. Also, unlike Wight's series, the start of Herzman's Surgecaller is quite strong, and it also tells one hell of an entertaining story rife with action and magic.
April 7, 2023
After reading the first book, the only word that kept repeating is "Short-er"........
Was it better than a certain Martial Arts Zero to Hero??? I would say on the nature of advancement, Shi Lin(you know who he is) universe has a more stable and logical reason to advancing plus that reasoning is what made Shi Lin's universe more readable, rather than just cultivating or surging(I mean, I would read a more detailed reason why I turned into level 50 Assassin, as against killing and amassing XP to become level 50.......
Both main characters have that Iron Will to become the BEST AND HIGHEST warrior/mage they hope to be, but Shi Lin's beginning was a bit whiny, while Huon was dilly dallying(should I or should I not), both value companions, since they were lonely from the start(Shi Lin from being soulless from the start, to Huon's oathless because his mother tried hiding him), someone had to kick both (our mains)to start the ball rolling(as we say)...
Since I have caught up with Shi Lin's story(waiting for the last book), I have barely scratched Huon's but definitely Huon's story is a bit shorter and rushed(??)...are they the same though, well they are, progression fantasy, shunned in the beginning, but once they start amassing experience well......., enemies turned to companions turned to love interest(at least for Shi Lin), the need to right a wrong, to become THE BEST......
Ummmmm Cradle(Yes, yes, it is THAT series)had better rank names as compared to Surgecaller's I mean, Legend versus Underlord.
"I am Underlord Mojita, May I ask the name of my distinguished guest from another realm". "I have the priviledged of being called Legend Susamuno"......and......"why are you rolling around laughing"......."is this how you treat a guest"???!!!! "For this shameful act I will".....(Hahahhahahahhhha, urgghhhhhh that technique just obliterated my lower half, if only I can just stop laughing........Legend....................HAHAAHHAHAHAHA, Monarch, I have failed you!!!!!
Was it better than a certain Martial Arts Zero to Hero??? I would say on the nature of advancement, Shi Lin(you know who he is) universe has a more stable and logical reason to advancing plus that reasoning is what made Shi Lin's universe more readable, rather than just cultivating or surging(I mean, I would read a more detailed reason why I turned into level 50 Assassin, as against killing and amassing XP to become level 50.......
Both main characters have that Iron Will to become the BEST AND HIGHEST warrior/mage they hope to be, but Shi Lin's beginning was a bit whiny, while Huon was dilly dallying(should I or should I not), both value companions, since they were lonely from the start(Shi Lin from being soulless from the start, to Huon's oathless because his mother tried hiding him), someone had to kick both (our mains)to start the ball rolling(as we say)...
Since I have caught up with Shi Lin's story(waiting for the last book), I have barely scratched Huon's but definitely Huon's story is a bit shorter and rushed(??)...are they the same though, well they are, progression fantasy, shunned in the beginning, but once they start amassing experience well......., enemies turned to companions turned to love interest(at least for Shi Lin), the need to right a wrong, to become THE BEST......
Ummmmm Cradle(Yes, yes, it is THAT series)had better rank names as compared to Surgecaller's I mean, Legend versus Underlord.
"I am Underlord Mojita, May I ask the name of my distinguished guest from another realm". "I have the priviledged of being called Legend Susamuno"......and......"why are you rolling around laughing"......."is this how you treat a guest"???!!!! "For this shameful act I will".....(Hahahhahahahhhha, urgghhhhhh that technique just obliterated my lower half, if only I can just stop laughing........Legend....................HAHAAHHAHAHAHA, Monarch, I have failed you!!!!!
November 11, 2021
Todd Herzman has done it again! I've enjoyed reading Todd's work for some time now and Oathbound is nothing less than amazing. A well-written, compelling story line and a main character that is genuine and real that readers can connect with and cheer for make this book a must-read . I'm excited to move on to the next book in the series! Herzman is a talented author and this work is an exciting read that draws you in and keeps you on the edge of your seat. Highly recommend!
April 27, 2021
I don't click well with books centered on fetishizing slavery.
November 10, 2022
Terrible power inconsistencies, and convenient clumsy plot devices
I once again find myself annoyed that people are not accurately grading these authors... at the very best, this should be 2.5 as a readable but needs a LOT of polish and combing over, proofreading and rehashing for consistency workovers before proper publishers acceptance. It just simply isn't professional work. But in the age of Amazon Marketplace, anything goes. And in the era of... low bars? I don't know, people who just slap a 5 star on anything without actual assessment to what that means and why. 3 stars is good, above average. 5 stars is amazing. 4 stars is great. But if it is good, 5 stars! Personally, I think it is bad. It floundered at 1.5 to 2 stars until the 2/3 point where the inconsistencies and plot devices became too glaringly absurd to handle and not just need to move onto something decently crafted.
Yeah. This book isn't good. Constant little things that show it isn't professional, like halfway through, Huon inner dialogue stating he's getting comfortable with these 3 people. The 3 people are himself, Jamison who has existed for 12 pages maybe, and Liona, 3 pages of content. But 3 other people. Like, the author didn't catch that there are 2 people he is getting comfortable with. It's a pretty regular sort of thing.
There is no real clear setting ever for the mind's eye. Everywhere you go, you are pretty frantically dragged from 1 location to the next with almost 0 description and minimal development.
Don't bother paying attention to any characters outside Huon. There are no other characters except Huon, apparently. Each character gets a couple pages of content then vanishes. No real development, no real, well, anything. A little dash of montage here, a dash of time lapse there. Hiccup, gone. Next inconsequential character to breeze past.
It's just. Poor quality. It ALMOST stood the test of a book to occupy some time to put me to sleep while I waited for the books I enjoyed to come out, except the extraordinary blunt force trauma plot mechanisms used that completely delete all the consistency in power ramp/evolution, whatever we want to call it. Levels, steps. Gigantic plot holes as well. We'll just have everything be a surgecaller, I guess, except for humans. Midnight Bears are the most powerful in the Deep Woods, a Knight that JUST made it to Knight won't even slightly break a sweat handling those. A dozen not special gorillas against 3 extremely advanced knights and a prodigy, 2 talented squires, and the main character? That is 12 on 6, 3 of which are supposed to be worth, what, 100 normal people at least, except not worth even 5 people when it suits the author.
12 squires and a new knight somehow recovers these 6 that somehow were all unconcious from fighting 12 gorillas and takes them prisoner, having set that trap?
Just, blunt force trauma giving me brain damage reading this nonsense.
This Bern character was trapped in an Arena gladiating for many years, and never had proper training. Not learning guerrila warfare tactics, tracking and misleading where the 3 knights that had been knights for years with proper training, having gone on several missions and more... just the inconsistency in skill, training, power and how backhandedly wiping them out was utterly stupid.
You cannot establish that a page is incredibly stronger than a normal human, that a squire is 10 times stronger than a page, and a knight is more than 10 times stronger than a squire and then have that absurdity. It's just dumb and uncreative.
It's pretty obnoxious to try to get through an entire book without any relationships, hardly any character development, and a lot of super abreviated montage plot advancement. Definitely one of the more irritating reads I have attempted this year.
I once again find myself annoyed that people are not accurately grading these authors... at the very best, this should be 2.5 as a readable but needs a LOT of polish and combing over, proofreading and rehashing for consistency workovers before proper publishers acceptance. It just simply isn't professional work. But in the age of Amazon Marketplace, anything goes. And in the era of... low bars? I don't know, people who just slap a 5 star on anything without actual assessment to what that means and why. 3 stars is good, above average. 5 stars is amazing. 4 stars is great. But if it is good, 5 stars! Personally, I think it is bad. It floundered at 1.5 to 2 stars until the 2/3 point where the inconsistencies and plot devices became too glaringly absurd to handle and not just need to move onto something decently crafted.
Yeah. This book isn't good. Constant little things that show it isn't professional, like halfway through, Huon inner dialogue stating he's getting comfortable with these 3 people. The 3 people are himself, Jamison who has existed for 12 pages maybe, and Liona, 3 pages of content. But 3 other people. Like, the author didn't catch that there are 2 people he is getting comfortable with. It's a pretty regular sort of thing.
There is no real clear setting ever for the mind's eye. Everywhere you go, you are pretty frantically dragged from 1 location to the next with almost 0 description and minimal development.
Don't bother paying attention to any characters outside Huon. There are no other characters except Huon, apparently. Each character gets a couple pages of content then vanishes. No real development, no real, well, anything. A little dash of montage here, a dash of time lapse there. Hiccup, gone. Next inconsequential character to breeze past.
It's just. Poor quality. It ALMOST stood the test of a book to occupy some time to put me to sleep while I waited for the books I enjoyed to come out, except the extraordinary blunt force trauma plot mechanisms used that completely delete all the consistency in power ramp/evolution, whatever we want to call it. Levels, steps. Gigantic plot holes as well. We'll just have everything be a surgecaller, I guess, except for humans. Midnight Bears are the most powerful in the Deep Woods, a Knight that JUST made it to Knight won't even slightly break a sweat handling those. A dozen not special gorillas against 3 extremely advanced knights and a prodigy, 2 talented squires, and the main character? That is 12 on 6, 3 of which are supposed to be worth, what, 100 normal people at least, except not worth even 5 people when it suits the author.
12 squires and a new knight somehow recovers these 6 that somehow were all unconcious from fighting 12 gorillas and takes them prisoner, having set that trap?
Just, blunt force trauma giving me brain damage reading this nonsense.
This Bern character was trapped in an Arena gladiating for many years, and never had proper training. Not learning guerrila warfare tactics, tracking and misleading where the 3 knights that had been knights for years with proper training, having gone on several missions and more... just the inconsistency in skill, training, power and how backhandedly wiping them out was utterly stupid.
You cannot establish that a page is incredibly stronger than a normal human, that a squire is 10 times stronger than a page, and a knight is more than 10 times stronger than a squire and then have that absurdity. It's just dumb and uncreative.
It's pretty obnoxious to try to get through an entire book without any relationships, hardly any character development, and a lot of super abreviated montage plot advancement. Definitely one of the more irritating reads I have attempted this year.
August 4, 2021
Fast Paced Fantasy
I enjoyed this book. It was fast-paced and told from a single narrative making it easy to follow.
Huon our protagonist is likeable enough and starts life as a fairly 2-dimensional character, which is not meant as a slur because he kind of is to start with - He is young and has been living in the notoriously dangerous wild woods for 4 years, all alone, trying to survive with nothing but his wits and untrained magical abilities with only the tragedy that took him there and dreams of vengeance on his mind. But as the story unfolds so does his character. Friendship, betrayal, hope, despair and opportunity all conspire to shape and mould Huon making him all the more interesting.
The story itself rips along at a great pace. The world-building was okay but there was never much time to dwell on it before the story moved along. The magic system (surging different essences) is really good fun and Huon, a surgecaller, has to rise through various ranks if his hopes of revenge are to be fulfilled.
An easy summer read. Will it live long with me, maybe not but if I were a young teen I would answer differently I suspect. It’s a book that is fun, easy to pick up and put down and a great distraction from the real world.
I enjoyed this book. It was fast-paced and told from a single narrative making it easy to follow.
Huon our protagonist is likeable enough and starts life as a fairly 2-dimensional character, which is not meant as a slur because he kind of is to start with - He is young and has been living in the notoriously dangerous wild woods for 4 years, all alone, trying to survive with nothing but his wits and untrained magical abilities with only the tragedy that took him there and dreams of vengeance on his mind. But as the story unfolds so does his character. Friendship, betrayal, hope, despair and opportunity all conspire to shape and mould Huon making him all the more interesting.
The story itself rips along at a great pace. The world-building was okay but there was never much time to dwell on it before the story moved along. The magic system (surging different essences) is really good fun and Huon, a surgecaller, has to rise through various ranks if his hopes of revenge are to be fulfilled.
An easy summer read. Will it live long with me, maybe not but if I were a young teen I would answer differently I suspect. It’s a book that is fun, easy to pick up and put down and a great distraction from the real world.
June 2, 2021
That was a quick and enjoyable book. I can understand why others are calling it similar to the Cradle series. The protagonist is likeable and continues to grow in his journey, not just in power but also in his thoughts and outlook on life. In fact, as I read this book, I really appreciated the main character's ability to take external input and re-orient his mindset and worldview to accommodate what he's learned.
The reason this is only four stars is because it's the first book in a series and very short. We only spend a little time with the character and possible supporting cast and so, aside from the protagonist, the others haven't made enough of an impact on me for me to consider this worth 5 stars. If this turns out to be a longer series, then I'm sure that, over time, the characters will grow on me, and my enjoyment of the series will steadily climb. The author is pretty good at keeping things moving along and I must say that I did not expect the twists and turns that this book managed to pack into its short length. Good stuff. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.
The reason this is only four stars is because it's the first book in a series and very short. We only spend a little time with the character and possible supporting cast and so, aside from the protagonist, the others haven't made enough of an impact on me for me to consider this worth 5 stars. If this turns out to be a longer series, then I'm sure that, over time, the characters will grow on me, and my enjoyment of the series will steadily climb. The author is pretty good at keeping things moving along and I must say that I did not expect the twists and turns that this book managed to pack into its short length. Good stuff. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.
September 6, 2022
This book is excellent! So many progression Fantasy books I've read have had weak and scared MC'S who are always second guessing themselves. While this may make for interesting plot development as the story progresses, it can often become tiring. At least for me. It's so refreshing to read about a MC who isn't meek and constantly second guessing themselves. The MC in this book has a clear and focused goal: to get stronger. And he sticks to it the whole way through the book. He isn't OP, not by a long shot. But he is constantly striving to better himself. To become stronger and more powerful so he can claim vengeance and help his people out of their subservient position.
I really liked this book. The magic system was interesting and understandable and the character's and their motivations were very compelling. In short, this is a very well written and well throughout book. I am really looking forward to reading book 2 and I would recommend that any fan of Progression Fantasy gives this book a go.
I really liked this book. The magic system was interesting and understandable and the character's and their motivations were very compelling. In short, this is a very well written and well throughout book. I am really looking forward to reading book 2 and I would recommend that any fan of Progression Fantasy gives this book a go.
April 11, 2021
It's only book 1 in the series and it's a cracker.
I'd never heard the term "progression fantasy" before and after reading the description I was concerned the book might be a written version of Diablo (kill zombies/skeletons, reap small experience points, repeat in a mind numbing fashion).
Oathbound has that theme running through it of course but it's well woven through Huon's story. It didn't take long before I had unanswered questions about this world and how it all works and the answers came in their own time in a perfectly natural way. The lead and supporting characters are interesting, well written and give a the reader sense of ownership of their stories and the characters themselves.
Pacing is great and the motives of the characters aren't always clear cut which keeps things interesting. Are the bad guys really the bad guys ? Are the heroes really heroes ? Grab this book and find out.
I'd never heard the term "progression fantasy" before and after reading the description I was concerned the book might be a written version of Diablo (kill zombies/skeletons, reap small experience points, repeat in a mind numbing fashion).
Oathbound has that theme running through it of course but it's well woven through Huon's story. It didn't take long before I had unanswered questions about this world and how it all works and the answers came in their own time in a perfectly natural way. The lead and supporting characters are interesting, well written and give a the reader sense of ownership of their stories and the characters themselves.
Pacing is great and the motives of the characters aren't always clear cut which keeps things interesting. Are the bad guys really the bad guys ? Are the heroes really heroes ? Grab this book and find out.
July 21, 2022
This review is for the first three books, I stopped reading after that.
The writing is great, the cultivation system is interesting, and the setup is awesome. However, the series is extremely depressing. The MC becomes a slave no less than 5 times so far. The MC sucks at combat, he loses every fight that he doesn't have some massive advantage. He also is extremely whiny(which is understandable as he is constantly a slave and has no free will), and values the lives of people trying to kill him over his own.
At one point, he had the option of killing a person trying to kill him. This would result in his freedom from slavery AND the person who killed his mother would be dead. However, he purposely lost the fight and remained a slave because "murder is wrong". When you are an extreme pacifist where you won't even defend yourself, you deserve the slavery.
I found myself hating the series and getting depressed IRL from it, so I dropped it for something that wouldn't piss me off.
The writing is great, the cultivation system is interesting, and the setup is awesome. However, the series is extremely depressing. The MC becomes a slave no less than 5 times so far. The MC sucks at combat, he loses every fight that he doesn't have some massive advantage. He also is extremely whiny(which is understandable as he is constantly a slave and has no free will), and values the lives of people trying to kill him over his own.
At one point, he had the option of killing a person trying to kill him. This would result in his freedom from slavery AND the person who killed his mother would be dead. However, he purposely lost the fight and remained a slave because "murder is wrong". When you are an extreme pacifist where you won't even defend yourself, you deserve the slavery.
I found myself hating the series and getting depressed IRL from it, so I dropped it for something that wouldn't piss me off.
February 9, 2023
The magic system is easily the most developed part of the book, and while I've seen similar ideas its still great and intriguing. I love a good ranking system.
The characters are good, but everyone but the MC is in and out and in a pretty short book like this its hard to form much of a attachment to anyone.
As I said the book is short so it means the book keeps a pretty fast pace, which plays to its strengths and keeps the reader from becoming bored.
The author also ended on a good hook, its not exactly unique but certainly enough that I'd like to continue the series and see what happens.
Lastly I'd say the price is a bit steep for this book. The quality is justified but the author doesnt have a lot of name recognition and the page count is relatively low. Its an uninformed opinion but I imagine the author would appeal to more readers if the price was dropped just a little.
The characters are good, but everyone but the MC is in and out and in a pretty short book like this its hard to form much of a attachment to anyone.
As I said the book is short so it means the book keeps a pretty fast pace, which plays to its strengths and keeps the reader from becoming bored.
The author also ended on a good hook, its not exactly unique but certainly enough that I'd like to continue the series and see what happens.
Lastly I'd say the price is a bit steep for this book. The quality is justified but the author doesnt have a lot of name recognition and the page count is relatively low. Its an uninformed opinion but I imagine the author would appeal to more readers if the price was dropped just a little.
August 25, 2023
Huon is a weak pathetic little MC with the naivety of a toddler and the personality of Mary Sue. Ruined the book for me with his constant whining about goodness and "killing is bad" mindset. He actively tries to help his slavers instead of doing the bare minimum.
Should have made the villain "Bern" our protagonist. He's so much more interesting and sensible. The MC is mad at Bern because he didn't stay and get captured by his slavers again like a "friend" would have. Imagine wanting your friend to get enslaved alongside you to prove his friendship. Yeah, this is how idiotic the MC is, especially when the slavers found them because of this MC.
This MC gets his village killed and mother tortured, yet goes through no personality changes. He still behaves and thinks like a toddler.
I think this book is for children.
Should have made the villain "Bern" our protagonist. He's so much more interesting and sensible. The MC is mad at Bern because he didn't stay and get captured by his slavers again like a "friend" would have. Imagine wanting your friend to get enslaved alongside you to prove his friendship. Yeah, this is how idiotic the MC is, especially when the slavers found them because of this MC.
This MC gets his village killed and mother tortured, yet goes through no personality changes. He still behaves and thinks like a toddler.
I think this book is for children.
April 21, 2021
Avatar: The Last Airbender meets The Combat Codes meets generic cultivation. That's basically describes everything in Oathbound. Little was new or surprising. Yet I'd call it a breath of fresh air.
I'm often tired of 'Progression Fantasy' titles that quantify everything with numbers, get video game-y, or delve deep into Wuxia/Xianxia. Oathbound takes that basic addictive feel of cultivation from the genre and then grabs the best from modern fantasy and tells its own story. It isn't afraid to do its own thing, nor desperate to stand out with zany language and weird worldbuilding.
It's a fun book, simply told, with an engaging main conceit that ties together the themes, world, and characters into one nice package. I'll look forward to the second one.
I'm often tired of 'Progression Fantasy' titles that quantify everything with numbers, get video game-y, or delve deep into Wuxia/Xianxia. Oathbound takes that basic addictive feel of cultivation from the genre and then grabs the best from modern fantasy and tells its own story. It isn't afraid to do its own thing, nor desperate to stand out with zany language and weird worldbuilding.
It's a fun book, simply told, with an engaging main conceit that ties together the themes, world, and characters into one nice package. I'll look forward to the second one.
January 14, 2025
3.5/5 for the series as a whole.
Surgecaller is very heavily inspired by Cradle. You've got the weak shunned MC who discovers the region he grew up in was the weakest in the world. The endgoal is set early on and the entire series is working towards it.
In general it's pretty good. I have 2 issues that hold it back.
1. The MC isn't great. Unlike Lindon, Huon is mostly an annoying brat. He doesn't gain power through talent or incredible hard work, he just gets it handed to him and still whines about it. He also doesn't have much of a personality and his powers are very generic. Nothing unique here
2. The powersystem isn't great or consistent. "It takes years to go from tier 1 to 2, or 1 random pill created from 1 random encounter". You can gain completely overpowered abilities from random monsters, but barely anyone seems to look for them. Just doesn't make much sense
Surgecaller is very heavily inspired by Cradle. You've got the weak shunned MC who discovers the region he grew up in was the weakest in the world. The endgoal is set early on and the entire series is working towards it.
In general it's pretty good. I have 2 issues that hold it back.
1. The MC isn't great. Unlike Lindon, Huon is mostly an annoying brat. He doesn't gain power through talent or incredible hard work, he just gets it handed to him and still whines about it. He also doesn't have much of a personality and his powers are very generic. Nothing unique here
2. The powersystem isn't great or consistent. "It takes years to go from tier 1 to 2, or 1 random pill created from 1 random encounter". You can gain completely overpowered abilities from random monsters, but barely anyone seems to look for them. Just doesn't make much sense
June 4, 2021
Can't wait for the next Cradle book, best knock-off series on Kindle unlimited.
Decent characterizations though the bads are fairly cliched so far Has potential and at least the world building is a good mashup of fantasy tropes without being worn out due to the way they are put together.
My main critique is the way naivete is expressed as stupidity, they can be the same things but aren't always. Still, the characters do some reflection and near the end it's revealed things might be a bit more complicated and early assumptions were put in to throw off easy conclusions.
Decent characterizations though the bads are fairly cliched so far Has potential and at least the world building is a good mashup of fantasy tropes without being worn out due to the way they are put together.
My main critique is the way naivete is expressed as stupidity, they can be the same things but aren't always. Still, the characters do some reflection and near the end it's revealed things might be a bit more complicated and early assumptions were put in to throw off easy conclusions.
July 3, 2021
This is a good book. It's progression fantasy, more specifically cultivation, and the world seems to be more of a medieval setting, which was a combination I hadn't seen yet. I liked it.
The problem is, right at the start of the second book, something happens that is practically identical to something in Cradle. Now, I don't mind similarities or influences, but this was so identical that to me it was too much, so I dropped it.
The problem is, right at the start of the second book, something happens that is practically identical to something in Cradle. Now, I don't mind similarities or influences, but this was so identical that to me it was too much, so I dropped it.
March 20, 2022
Great progression fantasy. Very excited to see how the protagonist continues to build and grow stronger. The actual progression mechanics don’t seem flushed out and I’m not sure if that’s purposeful. The real rate limiting factor to progression right now only seems to be eating/sleeping for the initial surges.
The characters are pretty well thought out and definitely fit the speed of the book. If you’re into progression fantasy, this is definitely a must read.
The characters are pretty well thought out and definitely fit the speed of the book. If you’re into progression fantasy, this is definitely a must read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 23, 2023
It's a difficult review. In some ways I can easily see where Todd Herzman wants to go and I like that idea. On the other hand we keep going to smoothly over a lot of the character and world building to keep the pace fast. That leaves us with too limited actually interesting content.
I think this will be a great introduction to progression fantasy, though, e.g. Cradle is better if you have more time.
For very experienced readers it falls a little flat.
I think this will be a great introduction to progression fantasy, though, e.g. Cradle is better if you have more time.
For very experienced readers it falls a little flat.
November 12, 2021
Alright
This story of a young man who is captured and inslaved. All cultivators must be oath bound to non cultivators in the kingdom this story starts. My problem is that every time the MC starts training his trainer leaves or is killed. Frustrating to me, but a good story nonetheless.
This story of a young man who is captured and inslaved. All cultivators must be oath bound to non cultivators in the kingdom this story starts. My problem is that every time the MC starts training his trainer leaves or is killed. Frustrating to me, but a good story nonetheless.
October 20, 2023
I enjoyed the first half but the second half felt a lot more detached. I think it was because he didn’t really have any friends or mentors, and the new characters felt a bit half-hearted. Oh, we’re best mates for some reason; no, now I’m going to kill you. Whatever. Probably not going to read the next one.
January 21, 2025
Not good.
Not my style.
Written style is juvenile and surface level. The implications of a magically-enforced child slavery culture are completely ignored. Plot is forced into an exceptionally narrow path that ignores how people and society work. The magic system is interesting but fairly shallow.
Not my style.
Written style is juvenile and surface level. The implications of a magically-enforced child slavery culture are completely ignored. Plot is forced into an exceptionally narrow path that ignores how people and society work. The magic system is interesting but fairly shallow.
May 17, 2022
Great start to a series!
Great first book of a series! I appreciate the slow burn start instead of instantly becoming ultra-powerful. I also like it that the MC is conflicted and isn't sure what the "right" side of the conflict is.
Great first book of a series! I appreciate the slow burn start instead of instantly becoming ultra-powerful. I also like it that the MC is conflicted and isn't sure what the "right" side of the conflict is.
January 29, 2023
Well, that's entertaining, surge stamina.
Great story, decent writing. I do have to say that the first half of the book almond made me ban the word surge (and variants) from my vocabulary,it does calm down towards the second half of the book. I understand the need for it though.
Great story, decent writing. I do have to say that the first half of the book almond made me ban the word surge (and variants) from my vocabulary,it does calm down towards the second half of the book. I understand the need for it though.
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