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Dreadlord Wizard
His first quest is to survive the day. Then, do the same tomorrow...
When Kenny is chosen for InterRealm, a real-life wargame where defenders are portaled in from their homeworld, he is forced to survive in a violent fantasy landscape.
Build a powerful presence in InterRealm and his homeworld will likely remain safe.
Fail, and the invaders will break through.
If there’s any consolation prize between Kenny getting to be a famous wizard, or building a Dread-fortress from the bones of his enemies, it may not be enough to make up for the fact that real live orcs are trying to kill him. To top it all off, the game master in his head couldn’t be any less impressed with his assignment.
Someone obviously botched their chances when they chose future-college-dropout, Kenny. His opportunity to prove everyone wrong starts now…
Don't miss the start of an epic new LitRPG series from debut author Theo Hodges. It's perfect for fans of Sean Oswald, Dakota Krout, and Shirtaloon.
About the Series: Jump into a fantasy role-playing adventure where the System merges dice rolls, a snarky game master, ability incentivized class-leveling, multi-realm base-building, dungeon diving, and a quest to learn the ultimate spell. Kenny must learn how to build a city from scratch and develop his class abilities well enough to protect his home from invasion.
When Kenny is chosen for InterRealm, a real-life wargame where defenders are portaled in from their homeworld, he is forced to survive in a violent fantasy landscape.
Build a powerful presence in InterRealm and his homeworld will likely remain safe.
Fail, and the invaders will break through.
If there’s any consolation prize between Kenny getting to be a famous wizard, or building a Dread-fortress from the bones of his enemies, it may not be enough to make up for the fact that real live orcs are trying to kill him. To top it all off, the game master in his head couldn’t be any less impressed with his assignment.
Someone obviously botched their chances when they chose future-college-dropout, Kenny. His opportunity to prove everyone wrong starts now…
Don't miss the start of an epic new LitRPG series from debut author Theo Hodges. It's perfect for fans of Sean Oswald, Dakota Krout, and Shirtaloon.
About the Series: Jump into a fantasy role-playing adventure where the System merges dice rolls, a snarky game master, ability incentivized class-leveling, multi-realm base-building, dungeon diving, and a quest to learn the ultimate spell. Kenny must learn how to build a city from scratch and develop his class abilities well enough to protect his home from invasion.
- GenresFantasy
409 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 1, 2022
230 people are currently reading
97 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
March 2, 2022
I enjoyed this story. It introduces 3 people from Earth who get sucked into a game for real and have to survive to get home. Kenny is the main character and he is a riot along with all the other characters. The game master is a hoot too. Lots of action, danger, near misses and fingers crossed everyone makes it to the end of each battle. I enjoyed the story for itself and thought the stats part did not distract from it too much or rely on stats too much either as this is a LitRPG story. So good entertaining read if not always understand the LitRPG stats part except that higher points are better. Enjoyed the story even though I am not a gamer.
March 1, 2022
Epic, funny and thoroughly enjoyable
fantastic in depth world building, a solid wizard build and base building! Love it. Also a huge plus for me is that there's a ton of chuckles along the way and solid progression from the MC. I don't want to give too much away, but I love the epic direction the story is heading, the battles, the fortress, the relationship with the mentor. I am thoroughly looking forward to more in this dangerous yet fun and expanding world.
fantastic in depth world building, a solid wizard build and base building! Love it. Also a huge plus for me is that there's a ton of chuckles along the way and solid progression from the MC. I don't want to give too much away, but I love the epic direction the story is heading, the battles, the fortress, the relationship with the mentor. I am thoroughly looking forward to more in this dangerous yet fun and expanding world.
March 8, 2022
It was pretty good. If you like LitRPG then you have a good idea of how the characters will be progressing. The main character does a pretty good job being socially awkward but is able to interact with the other folks he is trapped in the game world with eventually. There is a lot of entertaining things going on and I don't find myself shaking my head at the main character all of the time.
I liked it and I'm looking forward to the next book.
I liked it and I'm looking forward to the next book.
March 8, 2022
I definitely see touches of Raistlin in this.
The author did a great job creating a new world and System. Thank you, sir, for making this family friendly.
I read on Kindle Unlimited and listened on Audible. The narrator was genius.
I look forward to the next one.
I recommend this to all fans of YA and LitRPG.
The author did a great job creating a new world and System. Thank you, sir, for making this family friendly.
I read on Kindle Unlimited and listened on Audible. The narrator was genius.
I look forward to the next one.
I recommend this to all fans of YA and LitRPG.
November 1, 2022
Reads like 10 year old wrote it
Didn't even make it out of chapter 1 and realized the quality and content of writing reminded me of a silly 10 year old. Thumbs down.
Didn't even make it out of chapter 1 and realized the quality and content of writing reminded me of a silly 10 year old. Thumbs down.
March 10, 2022
Book one
I dropped this book at 34%. Just did not like any of the characters. If I can't stand your characters how am I supposed to enjoy the story?
.05/10 I don't like characters that always have an excuse. The MC even smells bad and gets butthurt that girls don't talk to him.
I dropped this book at 34%. Just did not like any of the characters. If I can't stand your characters how am I supposed to enjoy the story?
.05/10 I don't like characters that always have an excuse. The MC even smells bad and gets butthurt that girls don't talk to him.
February 25, 2023
Was not able to even listen to first 4 hours, help me god.
The premise is the similar isekai(tele to other world), with a nice world building element that could have been good. The major issue is the start, and the character, and if a book makes you feel like you have to bear with it for a certain amount of time with nothing keeping your interest in it, and if it "gets so much better latter on" , yeah that is just not a good book then.
First of all, most of the reviews i read about the book being good were sorta fake looking, you know the type, "epic adventure, bla bla bla, generic compliment ", stuff like that. The bad reviews were correct but not specific, some mentioned a few things and some mentioned the plot too, but they all left out the most crucial part they i would look for. Imotional investment and ability to hold the interest of the reader.
My issues with the book.
The mc is misery for misery sake at the beginning, meaning he was having a bad day, and his reputation in irl was of a looser who spent his rent money on internet.
The two other character, one was just a basic bitch coz her mother is dead,and she didn't like the mc just coz, and the typical bad female character writing, it's quite clear that the writer has no sense of how to write a female character, let me reveal the secret, they talk and behave like normal people, not like victims and stuck up for no reason.
The other dude is a jock who was actually a likable character, but too one dimensional .
Same goes for the mc, too one dimensional, i like one-dimensional character coz they keep the story on track with a little bit of personality and spice injected and let's the mc shine, but this was the bad kind of one-dimensional, where incompetent meets annoying and frankly too dumb for rational thinking.
The system is well just plain annoying, and the start of the story is too jaring and not a very good flow in terms of event s taking place, infact i made up a bunch of stuff in my head that could have made the start more bearable, and not make me feel like I was wasting my time and should read another book.
For example, of the start was isolated and there was simply a tutorial, and then the 3 of them went and met up at the dungeon due to the fact that they were lead there from the system, then the writer could have used that as a premise for the 3 of them to have a better starting relationship and not be hostile right from t lhe start just coz they didn't like each other back in the other life.
The progress is also sorta bad, you do not get the excited feeling of the mc growing stronger, and nice fights,but more like that the mc is just stumbling from one point to another point while not getting stronger or anything even close to a semblance of the world.
I would highly suggest you skip it, hit because it's a bad book, but because it's below mediocre, and I think the biggest reason for my rant would be the fact that I just finished the 2 books in "system change", and we'll after Redding that , this is like eating a cake slice as desert with the cream gone rancid, after eating an epic meal.
The premise is the similar isekai(tele to other world), with a nice world building element that could have been good. The major issue is the start, and the character, and if a book makes you feel like you have to bear with it for a certain amount of time with nothing keeping your interest in it, and if it "gets so much better latter on" , yeah that is just not a good book then.
First of all, most of the reviews i read about the book being good were sorta fake looking, you know the type, "epic adventure, bla bla bla, generic compliment ", stuff like that. The bad reviews were correct but not specific, some mentioned a few things and some mentioned the plot too, but they all left out the most crucial part they i would look for. Imotional investment and ability to hold the interest of the reader.
My issues with the book.
The mc is misery for misery sake at the beginning, meaning he was having a bad day, and his reputation in irl was of a looser who spent his rent money on internet.
The two other character, one was just a basic bitch coz her mother is dead,and she didn't like the mc just coz, and the typical bad female character writing, it's quite clear that the writer has no sense of how to write a female character, let me reveal the secret, they talk and behave like normal people, not like victims and stuck up for no reason.
The other dude is a jock who was actually a likable character, but too one dimensional .
Same goes for the mc, too one dimensional, i like one-dimensional character coz they keep the story on track with a little bit of personality and spice injected and let's the mc shine, but this was the bad kind of one-dimensional, where incompetent meets annoying and frankly too dumb for rational thinking.
The system is well just plain annoying, and the start of the story is too jaring and not a very good flow in terms of event s taking place, infact i made up a bunch of stuff in my head that could have made the start more bearable, and not make me feel like I was wasting my time and should read another book.
For example, of the start was isolated and there was simply a tutorial, and then the 3 of them went and met up at the dungeon due to the fact that they were lead there from the system, then the writer could have used that as a premise for the 3 of them to have a better starting relationship and not be hostile right from t lhe start just coz they didn't like each other back in the other life.
The progress is also sorta bad, you do not get the excited feeling of the mc growing stronger, and nice fights,but more like that the mc is just stumbling from one point to another point while not getting stronger or anything even close to a semblance of the world.
I would highly suggest you skip it, hit because it's a bad book, but because it's below mediocre, and I think the biggest reason for my rant would be the fact that I just finished the 2 books in "system change", and we'll after Redding that , this is like eating a cake slice as desert with the cream gone rancid, after eating an epic meal.
April 11, 2024
Review originally posted on the SFF Insiders website:
https://www.sffinsiders.com/home/revi...
The cover of this novel intrigued me and so I picked it up, looking for a fun LitRPG to pass the time. This delivered that with a heavy dose of gaming mechanics in a classical fantasy world. There are definite moments where it is lighthearted and some witty jokes that made me chuckle. It starts with a main character that is a little hard to like at the beginning. It does take a bit to get into the story, but once it really takes off, it has a lot of exciting action points. The flair and style with which each happens makes them heart pounding. The game mechanics take a definite learning curve and really impact how the action scenes take place. The fact that some of the characters take some damage over and over again really emphasized the fact of the game mechanics.
The strength of the novel is definitely the game part of the novel. It reads as if the reader were playing the game, numbers and stats being a huge part of the reading. It is well thought out and could definitely tell that it could be used in many game settings. The cast of characters is varied in the different types that each one is. I struggled to understand how the characters ended up into the game and what the overall stakes ended up being. It read more as a traditional fantasy with game mechanics thrown into it. When the stats are being upgraded, it can throw the reader out of the story as it focuses a lot on what each of the stats were and how it could benefit the character.
For the fan of LitRPG, this series will be a lot of fun with some interesting characters. The idea of a dark wizard becoming the hero needed adds for some good laughs and other interesting tidbits through the story. It was unclear what the real threat was to our world when the main character is sucked into the fantasy world through his computer. The fantasy elements are definitely a highlight and the action sequences really are spectacular to read. They will keep a reader on the edge of their seat as they fight battle after battle. This book promised a lot of good things to come in the series and it will be interesting to see what the author is able to do with the world going forward.
Thank you for taking the time to read my review. As always, happy reading and Stay Great!!
https://www.sffinsiders.com/home/revi...
The cover of this novel intrigued me and so I picked it up, looking for a fun LitRPG to pass the time. This delivered that with a heavy dose of gaming mechanics in a classical fantasy world. There are definite moments where it is lighthearted and some witty jokes that made me chuckle. It starts with a main character that is a little hard to like at the beginning. It does take a bit to get into the story, but once it really takes off, it has a lot of exciting action points. The flair and style with which each happens makes them heart pounding. The game mechanics take a definite learning curve and really impact how the action scenes take place. The fact that some of the characters take some damage over and over again really emphasized the fact of the game mechanics.
The strength of the novel is definitely the game part of the novel. It reads as if the reader were playing the game, numbers and stats being a huge part of the reading. It is well thought out and could definitely tell that it could be used in many game settings. The cast of characters is varied in the different types that each one is. I struggled to understand how the characters ended up into the game and what the overall stakes ended up being. It read more as a traditional fantasy with game mechanics thrown into it. When the stats are being upgraded, it can throw the reader out of the story as it focuses a lot on what each of the stats were and how it could benefit the character.
For the fan of LitRPG, this series will be a lot of fun with some interesting characters. The idea of a dark wizard becoming the hero needed adds for some good laughs and other interesting tidbits through the story. It was unclear what the real threat was to our world when the main character is sucked into the fantasy world through his computer. The fantasy elements are definitely a highlight and the action sequences really are spectacular to read. They will keep a reader on the edge of their seat as they fight battle after battle. This book promised a lot of good things to come in the series and it will be interesting to see what the author is able to do with the world going forward.
Thank you for taking the time to read my review. As always, happy reading and Stay Great!!
March 6, 2022
Things Can Get Worse
Things are not going Kenny’s way lately. He has been really sick and is still having issues. His apartment is so small that he bounces off of boxes and hit his tv tray to spill his bowl of the last packer of ramen noodles. After 3 hours on the phone with customer service reps, he still cannot get his internet access working again. He quit his job at Hy-Vee and he dropped all classes but two. His programming homework was due tomorrow and he had been kicked out of the library. He forgot about his brother’s birthday party. What else could possibly go wrong?
As his mom forces him to facetime to wish his brother a happy birthday, he feels even worse. He has to get his assignment done and be ready for the 2 interviews tomorrow, he can’t make it home. If he doesn’t pass this assignment, he could end up moving back home and living with his overbearing mom again. His brother hangs up on him in disappointment.
Kenny decides to get back to work on his assignment. As he stares at his screen, it feels like something is grabbing him and he almost feels a zap or glitch. He is in a lot of pain as whatever is happening to him. When he finally looks up, he is in a forest in the dark. As he tries to get his bearings, a computer window opens and says ‘Welcome player, enter name’. He begins to think is this this for real and where am I? The window asks him to enter race and class. The window tells him that if he completes his quest and he wants to, he will be able to go home. He chooses wizard and high elf. He rolls for height and weight. He ends up getting 5 foot 11 inches and 160 pounds. His body adjusts to race and height and weight changes. Then he has to roll and assigns them to attributes. And so it begins?
Things are not going Kenny’s way lately. He has been really sick and is still having issues. His apartment is so small that he bounces off of boxes and hit his tv tray to spill his bowl of the last packer of ramen noodles. After 3 hours on the phone with customer service reps, he still cannot get his internet access working again. He quit his job at Hy-Vee and he dropped all classes but two. His programming homework was due tomorrow and he had been kicked out of the library. He forgot about his brother’s birthday party. What else could possibly go wrong?
As his mom forces him to facetime to wish his brother a happy birthday, he feels even worse. He has to get his assignment done and be ready for the 2 interviews tomorrow, he can’t make it home. If he doesn’t pass this assignment, he could end up moving back home and living with his overbearing mom again. His brother hangs up on him in disappointment.
Kenny decides to get back to work on his assignment. As he stares at his screen, it feels like something is grabbing him and he almost feels a zap or glitch. He is in a lot of pain as whatever is happening to him. When he finally looks up, he is in a forest in the dark. As he tries to get his bearings, a computer window opens and says ‘Welcome player, enter name’. He begins to think is this this for real and where am I? The window asks him to enter race and class. The window tells him that if he completes his quest and he wants to, he will be able to go home. He chooses wizard and high elf. He rolls for height and weight. He ends up getting 5 foot 11 inches and 160 pounds. His body adjusts to race and height and weight changes. Then he has to roll and assigns them to attributes. And so it begins?
June 24, 2022
Interesting enough, though the childish humor made it a bit tough to read at times, as did the feeling of lists of actions rather than storytelling in a few places. It made the story feel like I was reading a list of actions (pick up weapon, swipe at enemy, hit enemy, kill enemy, collect loot). Made the story easy to stumble over in the reading of it. This made the story take longer to read, and (possibly) reduced it's enjoyment. Parts of the story were amusing to be sure, but some of it felt like an elementary school age child wrote them, because of the kind of humor used. I found those parts no harder to read then the rest, but it did make me raise an eyebrow wondering what was the point.
Overall though, the story was likeable enough, and while it's not one of the best LitRPG stories I've read, it certainly fits into the average category, and while it's likely I'll read more in the series, it won't be right away. I need to take a break from the writing style of this one before tackling another book in this series.
Overall though, the story was likeable enough, and while it's not one of the best LitRPG stories I've read, it certainly fits into the average category, and while it's likely I'll read more in the series, it won't be right away. I need to take a break from the writing style of this one before tackling another book in this series.
March 23, 2022
It's not horrible, but not really worth the time.
Main character isn't really worth caring about, and stuff just goes his way. It reads like a level 1 DnD character paid off the DM for regular injections of amazing things and Deus ex machina and fights with low level bad guys that almost kill them - which doesn't add any drama since if it were really going bad, you get the feeling that a giant hand would reach down from the sky and hand the main character an amazing sword or gandalf would show up and teach him just the spell he needed in that moment to save the day.
Main character isn't really worth caring about, and stuff just goes his way. It reads like a level 1 DnD character paid off the DM for regular injections of amazing things and Deus ex machina and fights with low level bad guys that almost kill them - which doesn't add any drama since if it were really going bad, you get the feeling that a giant hand would reach down from the sky and hand the main character an amazing sword or gandalf would show up and teach him just the spell he needed in that moment to save the day.
March 12, 2022
Third of the way in and I am done.
So if you make your main character this unlikable, no one will care what happens in your book. And the thing is, I have read dark heros, evil characters, anti heros, all kinds. This is just a selfish idiot. There is nothing compelling about him. The world is left undefined to add in mystery, but that just leaves me wanting. Hundred plus pages in and there is nothing here I want to read about.
So if you make your main character this unlikable, no one will care what happens in your book. And the thing is, I have read dark heros, evil characters, anti heros, all kinds. This is just a selfish idiot. There is nothing compelling about him. The world is left undefined to add in mystery, but that just leaves me wanting. Hundred plus pages in and there is nothing here I want to read about.
March 14, 2022
Basically I fun story with some great plot trwists
Five star review because I enjoyed the book it was hard to put down it's not a big technical read but it is a fun read and I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to more thanks to the author for sharing his creativity and talents.
Five star review because I enjoyed the book it was hard to put down it's not a big technical read but it is a fun read and I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to more thanks to the author for sharing his creativity and talents.
June 11, 2024
Dreadlord Wizard
Kenny was a struggling college student when he found himself drawn into InterRealm. This reality works just like a game, but the personal and global consequences are very real. He will need to establish himself and his team as a power quickly, or just become experience points for someone else.
The main character decides to be a lawful evil wizard. This took me a bit to get used to, as I’m used to chaotic good spell swords! All of the characters go through a lot of growth in the first book. This is available as an omnibus edition as we’ve! Peter Berkrot did a great job with the narration!
Content warning: none
Kenny was a struggling college student when he found himself drawn into InterRealm. This reality works just like a game, but the personal and global consequences are very real. He will need to establish himself and his team as a power quickly, or just become experience points for someone else.
The main character decides to be a lawful evil wizard. This took me a bit to get used to, as I’m used to chaotic good spell swords! All of the characters go through a lot of growth in the first book. This is available as an omnibus edition as we’ve! Peter Berkrot did a great job with the narration!
Content warning: none
March 13, 2022
the idea was sound
Uhhhjhjff6….. uhhhhh.uhhhh…uhhh the story was semi-OK but the the MC’s sarcastic downer personality and his foolish thought process was really annoying that I really own read to see him get hurt and the system elements where great but the watch things just feel in his lap where overall Projectable that I found it dull and just skip when gained things.
Uhhhjhjff6….. uhhhhh.uhhhh…uhhh the story was semi-OK but the the MC’s sarcastic downer personality and his foolish thought process was really annoying that I really own read to see him get hurt and the system elements where great but the watch things just feel in his lap where overall Projectable that I found it dull and just skip when gained things.
March 7, 2023
The MC is a really stupid loser. I'd rather have the protagonist at least be average to start with rather than someone who gets thrown out of a library for not showering. Literally that's in the book.
DNF.
DNF.
February 10, 2024
This is a perfectly inoffensive LitRpg book. Pretty standard stuff with a few annoyances that I hope get sorted. Also, Jerry is a turd, and probably my least favorite A.I./System companion in the genre. 👍🏽
January 3, 2023
Very good read
I enjoyed reading this book very much and I recommend this book to anyone who like LitRPG and progression type of books with lots of action.
I enjoyed reading this book very much and I recommend this book to anyone who like LitRPG and progression type of books with lots of action.
June 12, 2024
Well done. Lit RPG.
love the game master.
Worth a read.
love the game master.
Worth a read.
February 24, 2023
I tried to read this book last year and got furious with Kenney, game name Crucible, the MC, to save my tablet I put the book down... and forgot about it. But this week I girded my loins and started in again.
Second read... yeah Kenney is a Dork starting with his name, and yeah he still says stupid stuff. But once I got past the really onerous dialogue I realized that the book wasn't half bad... there's plenty of action and well there might be help for Kenney, Crucible he seems to be growing up. And the best part is the snarky gaming AI that keeps track of his stats.
Go grab the audio boxed set because a) it's cheaper an b) Peter Berkrot is stellar.
You know, you can tell when I find quotes I love that I'm finely digging the book:
"I love your promises, like I love wet farts, it's never as good as I hoped and they always leave me with regrets."
Second read... yeah Kenney is a Dork starting with his name, and yeah he still says stupid stuff. But once I got past the really onerous dialogue I realized that the book wasn't half bad... there's plenty of action and well there might be help for Kenney, Crucible he seems to be growing up. And the best part is the snarky gaming AI that keeps track of his stats.
Go grab the audio boxed set because a) it's cheaper an b) Peter Berkrot is stellar.
You know, you can tell when I find quotes I love that I'm finely digging the book:
"I love your promises, like I love wet farts, it's never as good as I hoped and they always leave me with regrets."
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews