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MAD #2

They Called Me Madder

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Apocalypses come with wins and losses. We suffered more of the latter than the former.

The first week of Survival Planet claimed two of my dearest friends, but we managed to come away with friend in high places. Our enemies pursued us into a sector with a higher threat level than the last. Biometal behemoths hunt us, and leathery, shock-proof dinosaurs haunt the sky. The future looks bleak but giving up isn’t an option.

I refuse to let innocents and the people I care about die.
I refuse to let the space elves get away with their crimes.
I refuse to bow to this new world.

The new sector will be tamed. A safe haven, free of mind control will be built. Our oppressors shall fall. They might call me MAD for standing up against a superior alien threat. But by the immortal Doc Brown, humanity will survive!

Equipping his friends with wacky inventions wasn’t enough to save MAD’s friends or keep them together. Perhaps an undying fortress is the answer to his problems.

About the MAD world: Not all game-mechanic systems hand out levels, stats, and skills. Sometimes it offers super powers and leaves the progression up to the user. What is LitRPG without the fan-favorite blue boxes, though? Instead of STR, DEX, AGI, expect them to house crafting-based notifications.

424 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 15, 2021

131 people are currently reading
76 people want to read

About the author

J. Pal

22 books93 followers

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5 stars
339 (54%)
4 stars
194 (31%)
3 stars
61 (9%)
2 stars
14 (2%)
1 star
9 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
Profile Image for Jon Svenson.
Author 8 books112 followers
July 21, 2021
I was really looking forward to book 2, and had it saved so I'd be ready when it dropped.

Even though I was midway through another book, I dropped it so I could read this one. 5% in, and the characters come back to me, as does their situation.

25% and we finally get some hunting done. It's not much, but it's good and there's more as we hit the 50% mark. The mobs are still the same (a silent panther type thing that fights with audio waves and a platypus bird with talons that is silent as well).

The team finds a base early on and sets up shop, and it's here where I think things go off the rails. Before, the books a tightly wrought story about surviving the apocalypse as the move around to find food and survive both monsters and their fellow humans who aren't so nice.

Now that the team has a base, we get the apocalypse light version of that story. It's filled with tons of planning, not a lot of action, a semi-love story that is off and on, and teenage like angst.

Yikes. I liked book 1 because of the action, and the unique classes the characters took. Now they're acting like it's a game, and taking unnecessary risks instead of viewing it as the apocalypse it is. The MC pays the price for acting that way, but they never seem to learn.

This is proven true when the antagonists from book 1 show up, otherwise known as the raiders.

I'd expected the team to go after the pylons, which they talk about a lot but never do anything to take them down. Instead it's a new challenge, which I won't spoil, and a lot of fun to read.

Meanwhile, the pylons hum along trouble free, and are never challenged, which is disappointing. At the rate they're going, we'll be lucky to see a single pylon taken down from the entire world, which doesn't seem great for what is supposed to be one of the top teams.

The editing is good for the most part, but there are a few errors scattered here and there. The notifications are fairly regular, as are the humorous ads from the aliens.

I thought seriously about giving the book 3 stars, but the last 15% bumped it up to 4 stars. Just barely.

4/5*
Profile Image for David U..
151 reviews6 followers
October 16, 2021
Fun!

Building on the strong foundation from the first instalment, this story still strongly reminds me of dungeon crawler Carl but with superpowers instead of standards litRPG progression. I’m fairly partial to these kinds of stories so 4.5/5 ! I am a huge fan of the MC’s powers and growth potential but his hero complex started to irritate me. It seemed like a forced character trait, as if the MC was willingly oblivious. Apart from that, I really enjoyed this book.
Profile Image for Cameron.
283 reviews9 followers
July 24, 2021
Good continuation of the series

I loved the theme this book has, it follows in similar tone to dungeon crawler Carl style humor, and I think it’s effective at being it’s own genre piece with unique magic systems and plot components.
2,357 reviews
March 14, 2022
They Called Me Madder takes up where bk1 left off! Which for me is just perfect!
You already know the human race has been suborned unknowingly into participating in a game show called Survival Planet! While still in season 1 Mad brings things to a whole new level. Mad, and his now self-aware party has opened up a new sector and the action doesn't stop. OMG soooooooo much action! All the while, Mad and his team get stronger individually, and building a secure hub in the hopes of helping more humans survive, this awful game! But this time they're not alone. They've gained a sponsor and their own channel! A sponsor who has their own agenda, willing to game the system, to give 'em the possible edge needed to beat/break the game!
Don't worry as there's plenty of cut scenes (ads). Which gives the book the same eerie vib you got while reading the first book...
There's also plenty of pop-cultural references which I know you love, because look at you, it's just who you are!
This is perfect for fans of both anime, and books like Dungeon Crawler Carl, or Vicarious by Rhett Bruno and Jamie Castle!
And lastly Gary Furlong is awesome! So you'll wanna grab the audiobook Mad: The Complete LitRPG Series and get all 3bks for just one credit! Let Gary Furlong carry you away!
Profile Image for Clint Young.
849 reviews
August 18, 2021
Alert

“This was a fun book. I am glad that I read it. You should try it too.”

I am not going to share my reasoning, thoughts on the book, or any opinions that would influence your decision to read it. I am simply saying that I liked it. I would like you to read it and make your own decision. After all, you are a much better judge of what you will like than anyone here.

I will happily discuss the book with you on Goodreads if you are so inclined. As always, I am open to debates and arguments, but also vain enough to seek acknowledgement, so feel free to roast me or applaud my efforts. Either is acceptable, because if you are paying attention to me then you are at least considering the book. And THAT my friends is exactly why you see my comments here.

Cheers
163 reviews4 followers
July 21, 2021
A great book but with a more serious tone

I love litrpg and this is among the best you will find anywhere. The book is more serious in tone with less funny moments as more dangers surround our characters especially after how book one ended. What I love is decisions have real life consequences making this series more realistic for a end of the world type litrpg book. I think we can all relate to our inner nerds with this series and our m.c and wish we could be like them.

More new toys and gizmos and more game like building in the form of older pc style games I loved 😍just shows my age I suppose.

Highly recommended
2,536 reviews72 followers
July 25, 2021
I hoped this series would find it's feet and really come out swinging, I was very disappointed.

The narrative is just abysmal. The character choices are either so basic that they are ridiculous or so forced that they make no sense. You are so frustrated with the pointless acts and forced decisions that by the end you just don't care. I skimmed through the final fight just to be done with this book. I have lost all interest in the characters, and feel the story will be railroaded forward making the narrative unnecessary.
Profile Image for Karl  Ben-Shachar .
100 reviews2 followers
August 1, 2021
Good sequel.

This was a good addition to the genre. Had a few editing issues that I noticed, but nothing too glaring. There was excellent plot progression here. I had a few issues with the mc, mainly because he made decisions that could HUGELY backfire. And I'm glad the other supporting characters called him out on it. Dude is going to get someone killed, if he doesn't stop being naive. But, it's clear that he growing. Almost never making the same mistakes twice. Will read book three.
Profile Image for Johnny.
2,179 reviews82 followers
July 23, 2021
Book two

Mistakes: I found a lot of mistakes in this book. Funny enough they feel like autocorrect mistakes. I feel a decent editor should have caught them.

Plot: New sector, new enemies. We also have some base building.

Characters: Interactions between characters was much better. The MC is a two faced fibber though. All his high minded talk of others getting a vote, but he mostly does what he wants without asking anyone else.

6/10 Fix the errors for a better score.
Profile Image for Murtah Blake.
101 reviews
July 17, 2022
I've just finished all three books and I really enjoyed the story and the overall idea of how people obtained the powers and how they functioned. I also enjoyed the aspects unique to humans. There were several mistakes thought the book, mostly peoples names being mixed up with one another but still very easy to work out. Thank you J. Pal for an interesting read, the idea of a human creating random kickass devices to fight monsters made me happy. :P
Profile Image for Charles Daniel.
585 reviews6 followers
September 8, 2022
The Madness Continues.

MAD and his friends immigrate to a more dangerous area and discover the need to build their individual power and found a stronghold. They know their stronghold will be essential to their future because they will need a safe place to plan, build, rest between battles.

This is a LitRPG novel, but the LitRPG aspects of the plot are light handed and thus the series may be of interest to fans of the broader Fantasy genre.
861 reviews5 followers
September 30, 2022
The second book was more fun than the first

This book continues the fun, and since a lot of the universe setup was covered in the first, this one expands the universe details, adds in a lot more action and adventure, expands the main character cast a bit and sets up the next book. I really enjoyed this book and hope the next continues this enjoyable series and expands the universe even more. I recommend this book.
754 reviews5 followers
July 22, 2021
Really enjoy this series.

Have to say this is a great series. It is funny and well writen. I am really exciting about the next book in the series. If you are looking for pure litrpg this is. Ot a book for you. If you are looking for a fun interesting and well written series read this one
Profile Image for William.
127 reviews3 followers
July 30, 2021
It Just Keeps Getting Better

I really enjoy the character growth. The crazy gizmos and internal dialogue are great. I love seeing snippets of different peoples thought processes. The action and world building are also a favorite. I always appreciate the little bits of lore peppered throughout. Things are heating up and I can’t wait for the next one.
399 reviews3 followers
August 5, 2021
Good second

This is excellent. Good pacing, new characters, new powers, some base building, and a satisfying advancement of the story. Not sure how many of these there are going to be but I will be reading them
176 reviews1 follower
August 12, 2021
Seriously Good

An amazing take on the system apocalypse trope! The combination of powers, biology and characters attitudes make this a great follow up to the previous book. Honestly can't wait for book 3
188 reviews12 followers
August 31, 2021
Great system, characters and action.

You have probably already read the 1st book which was excellent and this expands the world and the system and explores more of why all this is going on.
Profile Image for Mike Goodman.
1,589 reviews12 followers
November 20, 2021
Great Story

This story of a guy who know the truth when the System takes over. He knows that the sexy space elves are not our friends, but are the TV producers of a intergalactic Survival Show. Everyone else thinks he is mad. Great Story
Profile Image for Travis.
2,901 reviews49 followers
November 24, 2021
I liked this second installment in the series. It didn't strike me as being as good as the first one, but that's often the case for me with most series. It's a good story though, and reading the next one in the series should prove interesting.
61 reviews
January 11, 2022
Awesome book

Another amazing book to this great series. I do want to point out that the author may want do more proofreading to catch a lot of the grammar and spelling errors that I have been finding here and there.
123 reviews1 follower
April 13, 2022
Slower than the last book

This book was good. It was a slower base building story. Not my favorite style to read. It did have a interesting event early on and it really ended strong.
426 reviews4 followers
July 22, 2021
Higher stakes

Equals higher rewards. Decently written story with some suspenseful human drama. Also getting a lot more sci-fi tech and alien shenanigans
229 reviews1 follower
July 23, 2021
Mad Fun

Really enjoying the zanniness of this series. Like the inventions and power ups. Seems to be progressing quickly. Looking forward to book 3.
87 reviews2 followers
July 28, 2021
So good!

I absolutely adore this series. MAD and his team are amazing. I eagerly await the next book. Please write quickly!
Profile Image for John DeBlanc.
337 reviews2 followers
September 4, 2021
Madness!

J Pal gets MAD and company back in the game in They Called Me Madder: (A LitRPG Apocalypse Series). Great series, highly recommended.
Profile Image for Brian Delambre.
52 reviews4 followers
December 28, 2021
this was a really good book.

This was a really good book and I enjoyed it. I hope you give it a shot. Be good kind to the author.
42 reviews
January 22, 2022
Enjoyable

The typical power fantasy for any scifi nerd done in a nice litRPG manner. Worth the time if you're reading the series.



444 reviews
March 26, 2022
good

Yeah I really enjoyed this book it was funny and entertaining, the plot was good and characters were interesting. Looking forward to the next book.
Profile Image for Adrian.
182 reviews1 follower
April 21, 2022
....another action-packed read!

I enjoyed this second edition. I'm heading over to Amazon again for the third, assuming that it is the last one.
Profile Image for Travis Bryant.
958 reviews8 followers
June 14, 2022
I really dig where this story is going. It will be interesting to see how it plays out with one left in the trilogy. 👍🏾👍🏾
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews

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