Stray Shadow: Oh Sh*t! Wrong Side of Heaven!

Arachnomancer #2

by Dustin Tigner

Heaven sucks. It most definitely, undeniably did not live up to the expectation of a paradise in the clouds, not with the talking spiders, evil priests of Light, and war, lots of war.

Those of Light simply wouldn’t leave the fledgling village—Dedu Tedu Novus—alone. Peace was not on the menu. The seven declarations of war made that point crystal clear.

Worse, in a series of unfortunate and escalating events, our stray King of Shadows finds himself where he really ought not to be.

But maybe . . . this is a good thing?

Probably not.

Dhane, Dhane, Dhane . . . what ever will you do next? Uncover forgotten truths? Form alliances with monsters? Take a stroll in the most dangerous places a Shadow can be?

Probably.

Stray Shadow is the second book in the Arachnomancer, GameLit series. It's chock full of funny, fun, and silly things, including a butt-lickingly cute cat. Join Dhane on another wild adventure as he continues to fight for the Cobalins; meet whacky, new friends; and find himself in the most bizarre of situations.

Genres: Litrpg, Fantasy, Audiobook

548 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 16, 2021

Reviews

[Wilhelm]

Another weak start which leads into a pretty epic climax that left me sad, angry, frustrated and all sorts of other emotions good and bad.

There are some pretty dark revelations in this, and hopefully our MC can help the world in the upcoming books.

Base building was a bit weak and lasted for quite a while and almost every character who meets our MC ends up spontaneously liking him, especially if their female. Other than that this was pretty enjoyable. We did get a couple more weird phrases, after the shot brownies was explained I was fine with keeping it, why change it? Le sigh??

[PJ]

This was just as fun as the previous book. The humor and the unique world that has been built in this series never fail to keep me engaged and coming back for the next installment. There was a little bit of a bomb drop of horribly sad information released in this one. I can't wait to see what happens in the next book.

[Luke]

Great sequel

I feel like if you enjoyed the first of Dhane's adventures you'll like the second just as much, I know I did.

It introduces and then ignores city slash base building, which I didn't mind, but just to let potential readers know.

[ebun t. muhammad]

The MC is clumsy as s*** he goes from one thing to another thing to another thing he doesn't complete anything and then he gets people in trouble left and right he doesn't finish anything he starts. And the puns are dumb as s*** nobody gets them.

[Marc Whipple]

And Things Were Going So Well

No more ending books on edge of seat cliffhangers. Automatic one star. But if you like being frustrated, knock yourself out.

[Chinelo]

A Darn Good Adventure

This review covers books one and two.

This is an epic adventure with Dhane, the king of Shadows. Thrust into this position unwillingly, Dhane has to survive, save his newfound shadowlings, and try not to have his soul disappear. And he has a trusty spider as a sidekick... even though he hates spiders.

This was so much fun to read! The story grabs you right from the first page of book one and leaves you wanting more.

Dhane uses a shear amount of
bravado to get through trials because he's not the strongest. I liked that Dhane isn't immediately overpowered but instead has to work twice as hard because he has two divinities sharing his experience points. But as the story progresses, the benefits of propaganda and unique equipment help him.

The side characters are also a turn of fun. Dhane has this ability to make friends, allies, and enemies at the same time. And because of his down to earth nature, he sees more than people around him do.

I enjoyed this, Octoralis is best girl! The banter between them was really fun. Also the dialogue in this book was fun and witty. There were interesting references from anime to Disney that I liked.

I do recommend this book! I look forward to the rest of the series.

[Katie Kissel]

I really like this series and the struggles the MC seems to find himself in. It’s a classic case of false righteousness, where the “good guys” are clearly not the good guys but not everyone has figured that out yet and propaganda plays a big role in convincing people who is “good or evil”.

The MC often finds himself in dangerous and precarious situations because he ultimately has a difficult time leaving anyone behind but he is pretty clever and quick on his feet so he finds a way to get out of these scenarios.

I recommend reading the series it is a fun adventure with a touch of romance, humor, and fantasy elements.

[wino yangyang]

Skipped most of the middle part.

Basically skipped all of the middle parts trying to see if he even tried going back the coblin village and found out that he basically abandoned the for the most part of the story. No communication, no attemp to travel back and forth. Just basic abandonment.
And he was given a Book of power that could basically rewrite reality and it was only relevant the first few chapters and, after that, nothing... No attempt to learn what ever that was in it. That book was given to him by the god of that realm cause it was powerful enough to fend off how many immortal towns and cities.

[Kara]

I don't know how more people aren't talking about this series. It's hilarious, and the audiobooks are so good. I couldn't stop listening. The narrator is spot on with voices and intonations. This whole book is the span of about two days in-world, which is incredible versus how much is packed in. We get new friends, new enemies, new weapons, new skills, and a whole lot more information about what's going on. I feel for Dhane. He's got a lot on his plate, and he's growing and learning so fast. I can't wait to delve into the next one.

[Kevin]

I had this book for almost two years and I just kept putting it off.
Time to get rid of it.

More than halfway through this. I can see why I subconsciously avoided reading. It wasn't bad, per se, just uninteresting to me.
Maybe if it was structured differently, I would have enjoyed it more.

The forcing the guy to fight his fears to survive, got old fast.

I won't continue the series, and now I'm hesitant to try the author's other books. There were two other series by the author I was thinking of trying. I don't know now.

3/5 Stars

[Fred]

Rating note: not high literature but a good example of comedy based on tropes of a genre: this one being litrpg and isekais 🤣

Man Dhane and the Cobos just can't catch a break and these dang changed Radditai (spelling? Listening as audiobook)

We begin to see Shane's attempt at city building and then how they're going to progress their defensive options.

Shenanigans ensue, Dhane keeps collecting people and a major accidental fight happens..

Also, be careful with magic symbols 🤣

[Clint Young]

KU Review

These are always fun books with fun characters. It sometimes feels like the direction the story takes is as much of a surprise to the author as the reader and that makes it even more fun.

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.

[Aaron Eichler]

Fantastically hilarious

I kept laughing at all the stuff the King of Shadows had to go up to. I really liked it when he changed into a woman. I guess that heaven in gender neutral. I am glad he finally found Penny, but I was not happy that she was changed, but that helped with the story. I hear there will be a third book. I hope it is soon.

[Sandra Bergman]

I wanted to like the book. However, while the first book offered some genuine laughs, this one tries too hard and comes of clownish. I get that making the MC mess up at times can be humerus, as well as make them more likeable, but there is a limit to that. Here, the MC comes of as fully incompetent. I wanted to stop listening multiple times, but stuck it out until about half way through.

[Johnny]

Book two

Mistakes: While I think that most of the spelling mistakes are on purpose, I found three that didn't. Listed them on Goodreads.

Plot: We find out the secret of the monsters. Very funny book with lots of laughs.

Characters: He's a good guy doing his best.

8/10

[Jaime Andrews]

Believe it or not, I liked this one more than the first! That's practically unheard of. Giving Dane someone to fight for was genius...and wow, I didn't see that coming. The action was great, the comedy even better. I love this series so far & will definitely continue.

[Leslie]

Ex Cell Ent

I was excited to see this second installment come out, and I devoured quickly. My main complaint is that it made me lose sleep because I couldn’t put the story down.

[Heather Jordan]

Great story!

Dhane continues his adventures and sticky situations.
This was a ton of fun to read, and is highly recommended.
Do yourself a favor and give it a try!

[Scott Jones]

This series is amazing

Wow this series is amazing. Normally with books I loose interest as it goes on but not this om hooked and can't wait for the next one

[Tommy Johns]

Good read

I like the flow and humour of this book.
It is well edited and character and world building are well done

[damon caudill]

Great read love it

This is a fun story. I can't wait for more. These characters are just too much. Love it so fun.

[Dave]

Another fun RPGLit story. I really enjoy Tigner's casual writing style. Feels like being included in a D&D session. Not the best story, but still a fun read.

[Nav]

The plot is being chucked at the protagonist with superspeed but somehow everything in this also takes forever?