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Portal to Nova Roma #2
Portal to Nova Roma: Venice
Alexander and his growing legion have managed to escape Nova Roma and, more importantly, learned that the rest of the world may not be as ravaged and destroyed as they had all thought!
Join them as they set sail for ancient Venice, the Queen of the Adriatic, to try to learn more about the wider world outside Nova Roma. Along the way, they'll encounter a growing plague of deadly pirates in the Adriatic, deceitful old merchant families out to quash any new competitors in the region, mysterious new allies, and much more.
Just as Alexander is starting to feel hope for humanity once again, something happens to tear him away from everyone and everything he has come to care about. Lost, shackled, and without the majority of his skills, Alexander will be forced to confront a new side of himself, a darker, more violent side that threatens to take control of his mind and the new powers he has managed to unlock for himself.
If he can't manage to resist the growing corruption of his mind, he may not just be a danger to himself and those he cares about, but may become a danger to the very world itself.
Join them as they set sail for ancient Venice, the Queen of the Adriatic, to try to learn more about the wider world outside Nova Roma. Along the way, they'll encounter a growing plague of deadly pirates in the Adriatic, deceitful old merchant families out to quash any new competitors in the region, mysterious new allies, and much more.
Just as Alexander is starting to feel hope for humanity once again, something happens to tear him away from everyone and everything he has come to care about. Lost, shackled, and without the majority of his skills, Alexander will be forced to confront a new side of himself, a darker, more violent side that threatens to take control of his mind and the new powers he has managed to unlock for himself.
If he can't manage to resist the growing corruption of his mind, he may not just be a danger to himself and those he cares about, but may become a danger to the very world itself.
628 pages, ebook
First published June 24, 2022
595 people are currently reading
239 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 139 reviews
June 30, 2022
Could have been better
SPOILERS!! The book started off great. I really enjoyed everything going on until Alexander got captured and escaped to eventually wash up on the north African coast. I did not like how drawn out his recovery time was written. It was a slog trying to get through that. Then at the end when his mind got fried, it makes sense with the massive influx of attributes and the demon in his head. What doesn't make sense is how fractured it became. How is regeneration not helping that? Or his nanites that you would think do something technologically to help him? Demons were hurt by holy damage so how why isn't Alexander using it to fix his corruption? The ending kinda ruined the whole book for me.
SPOILERS!! The book started off great. I really enjoyed everything going on until Alexander got captured and escaped to eventually wash up on the north African coast. I did not like how drawn out his recovery time was written. It was a slog trying to get through that. Then at the end when his mind got fried, it makes sense with the massive influx of attributes and the demon in his head. What doesn't make sense is how fractured it became. How is regeneration not helping that? Or his nanites that you would think do something technologically to help him? Demons were hurt by holy damage so how why isn't Alexander using it to fix his corruption? The ending kinda ruined the whole book for me.
July 2, 2022
I was excited to get this, then I read the it to blurb. It was a often used plotline.
The first third is recognizing his hubris. This would be fine if it was an original idea,but this came up at the end of book one. And several times, again, at the start of this book. The middle third is well trod storyline without a hint of originality. The last third is quick wrap up with no agency. It is just something that happened to facilitate the end of the book. All of the creativity and originality from book one is missing in this one. I find myself incredibly disappointed.
The first third is recognizing his hubris. This would be fine if it was an original idea,but this came up at the end of book one. And several times, again, at the start of this book. The middle third is well trod storyline without a hint of originality. The last third is quick wrap up with no agency. It is just something that happened to facilitate the end of the book. All of the creativity and originality from book one is missing in this one. I find myself incredibly disappointed.
February 16, 2023
This book wasn't good. I liked the first one a lot, but this one didn't do as well. If you don't normally read LitRPG you might think it is just a general suggestion, but in fact it is a guideline on how to write the book. The world should conform to a set of rules just like any world, but in the case of LitRPG the world should conform to a game like system of rules. That being said the first book more or less did just that. This book just shoots it out the window. I am not even sure why the author bothered to continue giving system notifications the content in no way conformed to any type of reliance on the game rules. At any point the characters didn't use their attributes, abilities or statistics in a way that made since with the system put forth in the book. The MC at one point had an obscene amount of attributes associated with strength and everything else, but was overpowered by a bunch of mobs. That doesn't even make sense because in this system attributes are exponential and there are several instances where the author touts just that to explain why something with more attributes doesn't get hurt by weaker attacks. The MC is OP until the author needs a convenient plot device, and that is really the problem either the author painted themselves into a corner and had issues with realism when calculating damage and effects or they didn't bother to try. There are several times when the main character that has an obscene amount of willpower fails to overcome a basic test of willpower. The MC has obscene strength backed by a maddening amount of attributes, but gets overpowered. HOW POWERFUL IS THIS RANDOM PIRATE? It just doesn't make sense either the MC should have been physically compromised or the pirate should have been all powerful. The human pirate would need somewhere in the range of 100 relevant levels in order to overcome just one of the MCs attributes and they overcame at least 2, which would mean either the pirate had 20 different level 10 classes 10 level 20 or an even more ludicrous mix. That is just an obscene amount of experience. Anyway that wasn't the only problem the story was exciting, but all over the place and there wasn't much dialog at all. There is a lot of show and tell not even new discovery really. It just wasn't fun and the narrator seemed to be boared with just the same old voice. I don't want to beat a dead horse here, but all together I was disappointed with every aspect. The setup was good, but I would honestly prefer a training synopsis in the next book to this. Won't be continuing the series.
July 7, 2022
as good as the first book was, in the second plot is becoming contrieved
Sadly the plot is degrading. Actions of MC are becoming downright silly, this from a supposedly highly intelligent AI, making mistakes a 9 year old could spot (*****spoiler alert******not removing poisoned arrows, even though it would only take a thought due to iron tip, acting in mindless rage, even though a hidden class unlocked, which supposedly gives lots of resistance against loss of control, allowing enemy to catch MC with same attack method twice within 5 minutes.....this just makes it hard to read, as plot is feeling very forced....
Sadly the plot is degrading. Actions of MC are becoming downright silly, this from a supposedly highly intelligent AI, making mistakes a 9 year old could spot (*****spoiler alert******not removing poisoned arrows, even though it would only take a thought due to iron tip, acting in mindless rage, even though a hidden class unlocked, which supposedly gives lots of resistance against loss of control, allowing enemy to catch MC with same attack method twice within 5 minutes.....this just makes it hard to read, as plot is feeling very forced....
October 29, 2022
This new book needed an editor to tell the author to stop performing a 180 or turning the super advanced AI into pre teen moron and not learning from past mistakes.
Don't get me started on the author trying to just talk about the power curb of Bow and Guns. The super advanced AI didn't even bother to increase the caliber of rounds or even round type. The super advanced AI didn't even bother to upgrade the type of metal that the guns were using!
Don't get me started on the author trying to just talk about the power curb of Bow and Guns. The super advanced AI didn't even bother to increase the caliber of rounds or even round type. The super advanced AI didn't even bother to upgrade the type of metal that the guns were using!
June 29, 2022
entertaining but not believable
I enjoyed reading this book, but found the logic employed to be frustrating at times. For example, every time the MC approaches a foreign power about an alliance (e.g., trade agreement, joint military strike), they instantly say yes. No haggling, politics, or skepticism.
Also the MC can’t use magic, supposedly because he’s not from that world originally. Yet he can use the system, classes, and skills which are basically magic.
He has magical armor that can absorb corruption, but never thinks to see if it can pull the corruption out of himself.
Some things just don’t make a lot of sense.
I enjoyed reading this book, but found the logic employed to be frustrating at times. For example, every time the MC approaches a foreign power about an alliance (e.g., trade agreement, joint military strike), they instantly say yes. No haggling, politics, or skepticism.
Also the MC can’t use magic, supposedly because he’s not from that world originally. Yet he can use the system, classes, and skills which are basically magic.
He has magical armor that can absorb corruption, but never thinks to see if it can pull the corruption out of himself.
Some things just don’t make a lot of sense.
October 24, 2022
I feel like I have been writing this in a lot of reviews recently, but this book has fallen into the same trap as many that have come before it; feeling less like a story and more like a list of events.
The formula is simple enough (and is one that drives a lot of stories).
- Something happens
- The protagonist takes action in response
- Their actions triggers something else to happen
- This process repeats until the end of the story.
It’s a really common formula for stories and one that’s not even all that bad if used correctly. The important thing is that other ingredients must be used in the story as well as this plot. There should be multiple subplots running (and all being advanced) at the same time. There should be character arcs, world-building, relationships and so much more. All of these elements help hide the unnatural progression of a story’s plot (unnatural because it must always be advancing to keep up momentum which isn’t all that true to life) and immerse a reader in a story.
The main ingredient missing here were characters for the protagonist to play off. Even though he meets plenty of people and there are many secondary characters, for the most part, this is the story of one character moving through a series of adventures on his own. The other characters appear only when the plot needs them to and they don’t feel real as a result.
This is a shame because this wasn’t the case for the first book. The nature of that plot forced the protagonist to be surrounded by rich and interesting characters almost all the time, and as a result, it was a much better book.
Another thing that could have added depth was a more robust character arc for the protagonist. I said in my review for the last book that I thought the protagonist being an AI was underutilised in the story. It is the most interesting thing about his character, and it is the element that is being left behind more and more with each passing page.
Overall, this was a book that needed more work to help draw me into the story. It felt like a really solid outline for a more interesting story, but it’s not quite done enough to give it any more than 3 stars (rounded up from 2.5). Honestly, I’m not sure yet if I’ll pick up the next book when it’s out.
The formula is simple enough (and is one that drives a lot of stories).
- Something happens
- The protagonist takes action in response
- Their actions triggers something else to happen
- This process repeats until the end of the story.
It’s a really common formula for stories and one that’s not even all that bad if used correctly. The important thing is that other ingredients must be used in the story as well as this plot. There should be multiple subplots running (and all being advanced) at the same time. There should be character arcs, world-building, relationships and so much more. All of these elements help hide the unnatural progression of a story’s plot (unnatural because it must always be advancing to keep up momentum which isn’t all that true to life) and immerse a reader in a story.
The main ingredient missing here were characters for the protagonist to play off. Even though he meets plenty of people and there are many secondary characters, for the most part, this is the story of one character moving through a series of adventures on his own. The other characters appear only when the plot needs them to and they don’t feel real as a result.
This is a shame because this wasn’t the case for the first book. The nature of that plot forced the protagonist to be surrounded by rich and interesting characters almost all the time, and as a result, it was a much better book.
Another thing that could have added depth was a more robust character arc for the protagonist. I said in my review for the last book that I thought the protagonist being an AI was underutilised in the story. It is the most interesting thing about his character, and it is the element that is being left behind more and more with each passing page.
Overall, this was a book that needed more work to help draw me into the story. It felt like a really solid outline for a more interesting story, but it’s not quite done enough to give it any more than 3 stars (rounded up from 2.5). Honestly, I’m not sure yet if I’ll pick up the next book when it’s out.
September 26, 2022
Someone urgently needs to teach this author what a thesaurus is and how to use it. The use of corruption or any of it's derivatives is written a little bit too many times in the second book (320/171) of this dystopian-apocalyptic-hell-like-alternate reality world. Just "Corruption" has 120+ synonyms of which this author could have used "mutation, change, debauchery, decadence, evil, villainy, depravity, vice, sin, devilry, feindishness, etc". Whether it is a condition, an ability, or a mutation/change, the word "corruption" has 100 different synonyms to not need to be used so much in such a crass and uneducated manner.
Because of the author's "dark-soul" and excessive violence and gore in a dystopian vision of the future (in any world or alternate reality world), there is absolutely no difference between the Emperor, the priests, the Demon Lords, the demons or Alexander (Artificial Intelligence - main character). They all kill to become more powerful and they do not differentiate friend from foe.
So how did an author like this one reduce one of the "world's best Artificial Intelligence beings" into one of the worst genocidal murderers of this alternate reality world, Nova Roma? The author has made an "innocent and guiltless" Artificial Intelligence main character, into his own worst nightmare (a person that cannot control his desire for murder and cannot differentiate between friend or foe). There is no merit or value if the main character has become what he has killed/hunted/despised. The best thing that can happen to this dystopian-hell-like-series is that the main character is killed. Alexander was a failure on Earth and is still failing in Nova Roma. Alexander is going to end up annihilating everybody in Nova Roma if nobody kills him off first.
So then, what is the purpose of novel series that shows the worst of "humanity", in a being that is not human but a cyborg? What is the point of imagining and creating "new alternate reality worlds" just to kill everybody off, time and time again? Are genocidal murderers/planet killers good main characters to have in fantasy novel series?
Because of the author's "dark-soul" and excessive violence and gore in a dystopian vision of the future (in any world or alternate reality world), there is absolutely no difference between the Emperor, the priests, the Demon Lords, the demons or Alexander (Artificial Intelligence - main character). They all kill to become more powerful and they do not differentiate friend from foe.
So how did an author like this one reduce one of the "world's best Artificial Intelligence beings" into one of the worst genocidal murderers of this alternate reality world, Nova Roma? The author has made an "innocent and guiltless" Artificial Intelligence main character, into his own worst nightmare (a person that cannot control his desire for murder and cannot differentiate between friend or foe). There is no merit or value if the main character has become what he has killed/hunted/despised. The best thing that can happen to this dystopian-hell-like-series is that the main character is killed. Alexander was a failure on Earth and is still failing in Nova Roma. Alexander is going to end up annihilating everybody in Nova Roma if nobody kills him off first.
So then, what is the purpose of novel series that shows the worst of "humanity", in a being that is not human but a cyborg? What is the point of imagining and creating "new alternate reality worlds" just to kill everybody off, time and time again? Are genocidal murderers/planet killers good main characters to have in fantasy novel series?
July 8, 2022
4/5 Highly reccomend
What's there to say Nova Roma is a good series so far. It's well written with more than one dimensional characters, which is more than I had hope for initially, and while I fear the trap of pushing too far to fast that many authors get into, I'm still in it for the long haul.
There are a few issues like large blocks of text that can get mind bogglingly boring and spacing which causes a similar issue, but overall no real complaints. It was a good story. Did it wow me? Not really but that was only because I found the castaway in Carthage part boring at first. It was clearly necessary to the plot but I like what I like and none of what I liked was in those chapters.
Moving on... Venice was a fun interlude, with some twists and turns, setting us up to meet the mysterious bbeg in the next book. The pirates were well done and I like Constans' development so far and the introduction of Isabella. I like her. That's all I can really say without spoiling the story.
Seriously that's all I can say without writing a novel of a review. The rest you'll have to read for yourself. I hope you read it and enjoy it enough to review it too. Again the disconnect between the stars and my actual rating are due to Amazon being Amazon. I like this book and this author and hope you do enough to review it too.
Anways... stepping off the soapbox for now. Here's to book 2 and hopes that book 3 is as good or better.
What's there to say Nova Roma is a good series so far. It's well written with more than one dimensional characters, which is more than I had hope for initially, and while I fear the trap of pushing too far to fast that many authors get into, I'm still in it for the long haul.
There are a few issues like large blocks of text that can get mind bogglingly boring and spacing which causes a similar issue, but overall no real complaints. It was a good story. Did it wow me? Not really but that was only because I found the castaway in Carthage part boring at first. It was clearly necessary to the plot but I like what I like and none of what I liked was in those chapters.
Moving on... Venice was a fun interlude, with some twists and turns, setting us up to meet the mysterious bbeg in the next book. The pirates were well done and I like Constans' development so far and the introduction of Isabella. I like her. That's all I can really say without spoiling the story.
Seriously that's all I can say without writing a novel of a review. The rest you'll have to read for yourself. I hope you read it and enjoy it enough to review it too. Again the disconnect between the stars and my actual rating are due to Amazon being Amazon. I like this book and this author and hope you do enough to review it too.
Anways... stepping off the soapbox for now. Here's to book 2 and hopes that book 3 is as good or better.
November 19, 2022
worse than the first book.
The threats multiply but the MC fights a new one while ignoring the others. Quite often he seems to fly around passively while watching his alies getting slaughtered.. He keeps getting undeserved boons to become even more OP and collecting stalwart allies. I liked his new companion, especially watching her evolve. The characters stay two dimensional unfortunately however..
The threats multiply but the MC fights a new one while ignoring the others. Quite often he seems to fly around passively while watching his alies getting slaughtered.. He keeps getting undeserved boons to become even more OP and collecting stalwart allies. I liked his new companion, especially watching her evolve. The characters stay two dimensional unfortunately however..
June 24, 2022
Enjoyed this continuation to the story! Some darker bits (not too dark) and good character development, plus getting to see a lot more of the world. Never boring, satisfying mechanics, and well paced for a book two. Looking forward to how things tie together in the third.
June 30, 2022
great!
Another great book by an excellent author. So far, I’ve enjoyed all his work and can’t wait till the next one.
Another great book by an excellent author. So far, I’ve enjoyed all his work and can’t wait till the next one.
November 5, 2022
Less impressive, the series is starting to do what a lot of korean VR lit does, making way too many villians and sub plots without ever actually resolving them. Just making the main character stay afloat as he goes from one new problem to another but having many enemies hanging out in the background. Pirates, Emperors, Corruption, Dark Gods, Evil Cities. The list keeps building and he doesn't actually seem to be resolving it.
Beyond that, He seems to finally realize his weapons have a plateau point. Not that he realized they are basically screwed with enemies who have shields, get into melee or immune to range attacks. He simply realized that his riles don't scale with the people's increasing stats making things like a sword and bow far more powerful at higher levels.
Okay well that's a easy fix, increase the torque power on the trigger so that it sends the hammer or acceleration mechanism faster depending on the strength of the person pulling the trigger. That's how the higher level swords and bows work, they are using more force. So make the trigger pull need more force, make it so you need to be able to squeeze 1o0 pounds with the finger to launch that hammer down causing the bullet to accelerate as fast as the arrows do with a huge draw pull.
Next, he's only really using physical attacks with some elements, he needs to take advantage of magic. Make some magic riles. Use runes that scale power based on the magic power of the user. Make riles that either are mana based shooting mana beams or bolts, or just have that dial I've mentioned in a previous review. That a dial with the element types and active, while other elements are inactive with a null type rune. If he can make a semi sentient enchantment, he can make 'active' and 'not active' runes like his ship. Meaning he could have guns that shoot lightening bolts, Fire bolts, Water bolts, all depending on the scaling magic power of the user.
So his rilfes would increase in scale with the users, making it so someone with 20 points in strength pulling a trigger would shoot that bullet harder and faster than someone with 1 point not able to pull the higher torque triggers.
Then those with exceptional base magical values before the enhancement of stats, natural mages. Get magic rifles and scale off their magic stats, causing their mage riles to shoot more powerful bolts from them.
It's really not complicated and we've already seen what stuff the dwarves can craft and what skills come from using certain weapons. The riles skills are based on physical shots, so if he had weapons that got harder to pull causing more velocity from increased movement from release, It seems the system would grant skills that are based on that. Like, Bullet Speed, causes the bullet to accelerate based on strength attribute, ect ect.
Then he'd probably get a class unlocked for his people even if he couldn't get it called Magical Riflemen or Mage riflemen with the right person using the mage rile to 20 in scholar or what ever the mage class is. Causing the rile to act like a wand and increase power based on the user. Just it would have more enchantments than a wand and better aim. Honestly could probably just replace riles with wands but...Rifle vs wand? For the legion best keep it all rifles. Have Mage Riles and Physical Riles for the classes and their base attributes before levels. Got some nerdy scholar recruit with a natural 3 in magic , a huge core. Mage rifle. Got yourself some big strong lad, Physical rile!
Not really hard, thought it up as soon as it was mentioned in the book. So surely he could think of something so simple.
Beyond that, He seems to finally realize his weapons have a plateau point. Not that he realized they are basically screwed with enemies who have shields, get into melee or immune to range attacks. He simply realized that his riles don't scale with the people's increasing stats making things like a sword and bow far more powerful at higher levels.
Okay well that's a easy fix, increase the torque power on the trigger so that it sends the hammer or acceleration mechanism faster depending on the strength of the person pulling the trigger. That's how the higher level swords and bows work, they are using more force. So make the trigger pull need more force, make it so you need to be able to squeeze 1o0 pounds with the finger to launch that hammer down causing the bullet to accelerate as fast as the arrows do with a huge draw pull.
Next, he's only really using physical attacks with some elements, he needs to take advantage of magic. Make some magic riles. Use runes that scale power based on the magic power of the user. Make riles that either are mana based shooting mana beams or bolts, or just have that dial I've mentioned in a previous review. That a dial with the element types and active, while other elements are inactive with a null type rune. If he can make a semi sentient enchantment, he can make 'active' and 'not active' runes like his ship. Meaning he could have guns that shoot lightening bolts, Fire bolts, Water bolts, all depending on the scaling magic power of the user.
So his rilfes would increase in scale with the users, making it so someone with 20 points in strength pulling a trigger would shoot that bullet harder and faster than someone with 1 point not able to pull the higher torque triggers.
Then those with exceptional base magical values before the enhancement of stats, natural mages. Get magic rifles and scale off their magic stats, causing their mage riles to shoot more powerful bolts from them.
It's really not complicated and we've already seen what stuff the dwarves can craft and what skills come from using certain weapons. The riles skills are based on physical shots, so if he had weapons that got harder to pull causing more velocity from increased movement from release, It seems the system would grant skills that are based on that. Like, Bullet Speed, causes the bullet to accelerate based on strength attribute, ect ect.
Then he'd probably get a class unlocked for his people even if he couldn't get it called Magical Riflemen or Mage riflemen with the right person using the mage rile to 20 in scholar or what ever the mage class is. Causing the rile to act like a wand and increase power based on the user. Just it would have more enchantments than a wand and better aim. Honestly could probably just replace riles with wands but...Rifle vs wand? For the legion best keep it all rifles. Have Mage Riles and Physical Riles for the classes and their base attributes before levels. Got some nerdy scholar recruit with a natural 3 in magic , a huge core. Mage rifle. Got yourself some big strong lad, Physical rile!
Not really hard, thought it up as soon as it was mentioned in the book. So surely he could think of something so simple.
April 29, 2023
Not bad!
July 25, 2022
okay
Decent story and world building. Okay litrpg mechanics. However, the MC knowingly makes horrible and irrational decisions repeatedly without significant consequences. Even worse, he’s supposed to be intelligent…. Also, the other characters are one dimensional afterthoughts. If food, it’d be gas station food.
Decent story and world building. Okay litrpg mechanics. However, the MC knowingly makes horrible and irrational decisions repeatedly without significant consequences. Even worse, he’s supposed to be intelligent…. Also, the other characters are one dimensional afterthoughts. If food, it’d be gas station food.
October 8, 2022
Good second book
More or less similar to book 1 but with the increase in power levels the action is also in line with more high fantasy stuff like with more modern litrpg. City building is less emphasized and character building along with fleshing out world at large have great emphasis. Tone of the book is also similarly dark like last time which keeps the story exciting. Book 3 will be a blockbuster lets see how the next in the series pans out !!
More or less similar to book 1 but with the increase in power levels the action is also in line with more high fantasy stuff like with more modern litrpg. City building is less emphasized and character building along with fleshing out world at large have great emphasis. Tone of the book is also similarly dark like last time which keeps the story exciting. Book 3 will be a blockbuster lets see how the next in the series pans out !!
September 26, 2022
Solid 2nd
Overall I have enjoyed the series. The middle of the book gets a bit stale I would say as the MC reaches a point where he is alone for a period. It becomes a bit back and forth. It is important in plot, story and character development, but drags out a bit more and was happy to see that part end.
Solid finish to the book, no hard cliff hanger, just a lead and foreshadowing to book 3. I hate cliffhanger endings...
Suggest checking it out if you enjoyed the 1st book or are on the fence about the series as a whole.
Overall I have enjoyed the series. The middle of the book gets a bit stale I would say as the MC reaches a point where he is alone for a period. It becomes a bit back and forth. It is important in plot, story and character development, but drags out a bit more and was happy to see that part end.
Solid finish to the book, no hard cliff hanger, just a lead and foreshadowing to book 3. I hate cliffhanger endings...
Suggest checking it out if you enjoyed the 1st book or are on the fence about the series as a whole.
June 27, 2022
I thoroughly enjoyed book one of this series, along with Jake's Magical Market of course.
Book 2 finds Alexander (the AI) heading to Venice, to trade and do whatever. Along the way they find pirates, which becomes a theme of the book. Midway through the book another threat appears on the North Africa coast, which Alexander tackles as well.
As much as I enjoyed book 1, book 2 didn't have the same level of energy. In both book Alexander spends a good amount of time on his own, but in book 1 it was him running dungeons, clearing out monsters from Nova Roma, etc.
In book 2 it's not like that. Alexander fights, but he spends just as much time hiding away from the monsters. I was hoping for grand adventures here, and we do see some of that, but Alexander riding a velociraptor as he tries to escape from monsters wasn't something I expected to see, both good and bad.
The story is a bit janky, as it goes from the pirates to whatever is down south back to the pirates. I wanted to like the book, but there were parts that were a slog to get through.
Overall, this still has the potential to be a strong series. When the team captured Miletus in book 1, it felt like the culmination of a lot of battles. In book 2 when they capture something, it doesn't feel that way.
5/5* but came very close to 4/5*
Book 2 finds Alexander (the AI) heading to Venice, to trade and do whatever. Along the way they find pirates, which becomes a theme of the book. Midway through the book another threat appears on the North Africa coast, which Alexander tackles as well.
As much as I enjoyed book 1, book 2 didn't have the same level of energy. In both book Alexander spends a good amount of time on his own, but in book 1 it was him running dungeons, clearing out monsters from Nova Roma, etc.
In book 2 it's not like that. Alexander fights, but he spends just as much time hiding away from the monsters. I was hoping for grand adventures here, and we do see some of that, but Alexander riding a velociraptor as he tries to escape from monsters wasn't something I expected to see, both good and bad.
The story is a bit janky, as it goes from the pirates to whatever is down south back to the pirates. I wanted to like the book, but there were parts that were a slog to get through.
Overall, this still has the potential to be a strong series. When the team captured Miletus in book 1, it felt like the culmination of a lot of battles. In book 2 when they capture something, it doesn't feel that way.
5/5* but came very close to 4/5*
July 15, 2022
Probably closer to a 3,5 than a 4 star.
The story continues where book one left off. The first half of the book is a fun read with a progression towards Italy and the troubles there. The second half was less interesting and fun to read. This part starts off with the kidnapping of our MC and him stranding in Africa with all his active skills locked. This part was a chore for me to get through. He was traveling, having trouble with his sanity due to being alone and in a very inhospittable environment. I think this part was meant to give our AI a more human 'feeling' but all it dit was annoy me. It takes ages for him to escape from the things holding his power back, often going on a different tangent to learn things. Sure you want to know stuff, but if you're feeling so damn weak due to missing skills, I'd recon you'd try to fix this asap. He gains corruption, but doesn't even look into ways to get rid of this. I'd have expected him to contact his priestess friend to seek a cure, but all our MC does is keep going and he gets into trouble due to this. Let's hope that the corruption part gets addressed in the next book.
The story continues where book one left off. The first half of the book is a fun read with a progression towards Italy and the troubles there. The second half was less interesting and fun to read. This part starts off with the kidnapping of our MC and him stranding in Africa with all his active skills locked. This part was a chore for me to get through. He was traveling, having trouble with his sanity due to being alone and in a very inhospittable environment. I think this part was meant to give our AI a more human 'feeling' but all it dit was annoy me. It takes ages for him to escape from the things holding his power back, often going on a different tangent to learn things. Sure you want to know stuff, but if you're feeling so damn weak due to missing skills, I'd recon you'd try to fix this asap. He gains corruption, but doesn't even look into ways to get rid of this. I'd have expected him to contact his priestess friend to seek a cure, but all our MC does is keep going and he gets into trouble due to this. Let's hope that the corruption part gets addressed in the next book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 30, 2022
A strong second book
After the initial book I was curious how the scope of world view would be expanded. How much of the novel world building, combat, interoception and interpersonal would be.
I'm happy to say it's a solid mix in my opinion. Not leaning too heavily on any of the above elements alone. While the pacing felt a bit wilder I think that's just due to the wider scope of scenes.
I will say I am optimistic about the development of the story in the long run. As much as I feel like this could easily be a dozen novels long without a different characters perspective in universe. I feel significant progress was established at the end of this one likely placing this if I ball park it to 6 novels. Sad thought since I'd love a more subdued pace at parts. Yet then it wouldn't be as well balance as it is.
And who am I to ask for a longer novel in each part to try and cram more of those scenes within? This is already a lengthy read compared to most novels in the genre by far making it well worth the price.
After the initial book I was curious how the scope of world view would be expanded. How much of the novel world building, combat, interoception and interpersonal would be.
I'm happy to say it's a solid mix in my opinion. Not leaning too heavily on any of the above elements alone. While the pacing felt a bit wilder I think that's just due to the wider scope of scenes.
I will say I am optimistic about the development of the story in the long run. As much as I feel like this could easily be a dozen novels long without a different characters perspective in universe. I feel significant progress was established at the end of this one likely placing this if I ball park it to 6 novels. Sad thought since I'd love a more subdued pace at parts. Yet then it wouldn't be as well balance as it is.
And who am I to ask for a longer novel in each part to try and cram more of those scenes within? This is already a lengthy read compared to most novels in the genre by far making it well worth the price.
July 21, 2022
A little all over the place but fun and interesting
It's a good book in a good series and I have enjoyed them for sure. It's just that theres a few flaws or inconsistencies where certain mechanics will be added or introduced and then fall out of favor and barely be mentioned. That along with the main character feeling a bit all over the place with his goals can be somewhat off-putting. And personally I didn't love the corruption aspect and how easily impacted he was at the end. But overall it's still an interesting world with cool characters, side characters are under utilized in my opinion but it's gotten a bit better as the series has gone on. Just feels like the author forgets about them sometimes.
It's a good book in a good series and I have enjoyed them for sure. It's just that theres a few flaws or inconsistencies where certain mechanics will be added or introduced and then fall out of favor and barely be mentioned. That along with the main character feeling a bit all over the place with his goals can be somewhat off-putting. And personally I didn't love the corruption aspect and how easily impacted he was at the end. But overall it's still an interesting world with cool characters, side characters are under utilized in my opinion but it's gotten a bit better as the series has gone on. Just feels like the author forgets about them sometimes.
July 8, 2022
Great read
Love the feel of the story and it’s eventual ending, but how we are getting there is getting weird. This book felt like quite a departure from the first in many ways. I like the extra world building, but the multiple catastrophes all at once where they are solved only by the main character’s intervention, is abit silly to me. I kept thinking that this was a hyper intelligent former world spanning AI that’s become a rather dumb human at some points. Lots of capable other characters. Could have been a chance to switch to a multi-viewpoint story as we explored their experiences. Overall, great read, good sequel and I’m looking forward to the last book.
Love the feel of the story and it’s eventual ending, but how we are getting there is getting weird. This book felt like quite a departure from the first in many ways. I like the extra world building, but the multiple catastrophes all at once where they are solved only by the main character’s intervention, is abit silly to me. I kept thinking that this was a hyper intelligent former world spanning AI that’s become a rather dumb human at some points. Lots of capable other characters. Could have been a chance to switch to a multi-viewpoint story as we explored their experiences. Overall, great read, good sequel and I’m looking forward to the last book.
July 3, 2022
an absolute delight
I haven’t ever left a comment before but this time was different. Reading this series has made me feel like I did reading Percy Jackson for the first time as a fifth grader who believed in magic. I had a blast and felt invested in the characters and the world and didn’t feel there was anything overtly clichéd or gimmicky. Just a great time with depth of world and character. I don’t know if the author reads comments on here but if so bravo and I can only hope you continue to write!
I haven’t ever left a comment before but this time was different. Reading this series has made me feel like I did reading Percy Jackson for the first time as a fifth grader who believed in magic. I had a blast and felt invested in the characters and the world and didn’t feel there was anything overtly clichéd or gimmicky. Just a great time with depth of world and character. I don’t know if the author reads comments on here but if so bravo and I can only hope you continue to write!
July 1, 2022
Not cookie cutter
Many LITRPG novels/series all have the same type of scenario and theme (not that its bad).. but this series definitely goes out on its own. The protagonist is really well developed and not one dimensional. The system of magic and skills isn’t the same as normal and the story is really engaging. I really enjoy reading these books and can only ask that JR Mathews write faster!
Many LITRPG novels/series all have the same type of scenario and theme (not that its bad).. but this series definitely goes out on its own. The protagonist is really well developed and not one dimensional. The system of magic and skills isn’t the same as normal and the story is really engaging. I really enjoy reading these books and can only ask that JR Mathews write faster!
July 6, 2022
Good story. less character progression until the end
I will be frank and say that I did not love book 2 as much as I did book 1. The book was slow to start. The MC progression was very slow. It had to do with the story though Litrpg needs regular growth throughout the book to make it crunchy. This book had a Big power boost at the end which felt less satisfying. Hope book 3 goes back to the more crunchy nature of book 1
I will be frank and say that I did not love book 2 as much as I did book 1. The book was slow to start. The MC progression was very slow. It had to do with the story though Litrpg needs regular growth throughout the book to make it crunchy. This book had a Big power boost at the end which felt less satisfying. Hope book 3 goes back to the more crunchy nature of book 1
July 11, 2022
This was a blast
This was a blast of a book and I dearly look forward to the next book.
Actual review,
This book really delved deep into Alexander's head. We got to see him in various uncomfortable situations; situations that even struggled to resolve no matter if he was a powerful AI.
At times, he had to review something about himself that was uncomfortable to him all the while dealing with demonic corruption.
This was a blast of a book and I dearly look forward to the next book.
Actual review,
This book really delved deep into Alexander's head. We got to see him in various uncomfortable situations; situations that even struggled to resolve no matter if he was a powerful AI.
At times, he had to review something about himself that was uncomfortable to him all the while dealing with demonic corruption.
July 28, 2022
A Favorite Series
Alexander is building power in Venice, when he is captured while fighting pirates. He escapes, but is encumbered with magical manacles that restrict much of his powers. It's a lonely trek to find allies and friends to help him get home. Demonic forces are corrupting his body and mind. Sanity becomes endangered. I like the action, humor, world building, and self growth. I look forward to the next book.
Alexander is building power in Venice, when he is captured while fighting pirates. He escapes, but is encumbered with magical manacles that restrict much of his powers. It's a lonely trek to find allies and friends to help him get home. Demonic forces are corrupting his body and mind. Sanity becomes endangered. I like the action, humor, world building, and self growth. I look forward to the next book.
November 7, 2022
4 stars
Disappointed; He did not craft a similar armor for everyone. He crafted one for himself in the wilderness with spit and monster glue, but couldn't even be bothered to do so for his people with all the resources at his disposal? It was a bloody shame. And what's with not PERSONALLY thanking the Goblins who saved his life??? Even EMPERORS would humble themselves to personally thank and reward someone to whom they owe a life debt too.
Disappointed; He did not craft a similar armor for everyone. He crafted one for himself in the wilderness with spit and monster glue, but couldn't even be bothered to do so for his people with all the resources at his disposal? It was a bloody shame. And what's with not PERSONALLY thanking the Goblins who saved his life??? Even EMPERORS would humble themselves to personally thank and reward someone to whom they owe a life debt too.
June 30, 2022
Compelling, unique and rich fantasy
Main character really grows on you and I like the writing style because it doesn't switch character viewpoints every chapter or so.
I like the length of each novel... They feel like a full and lengthy story rather than an episode as is very common today.
Looking forward to the next book!
Main character really grows on you and I like the writing style because it doesn't switch character viewpoints every chapter or so.
I like the length of each novel... They feel like a full and lengthy story rather than an episode as is very common today.
Looking forward to the next book!
June 30, 2022
Awesome
Another great read and just as you think you have a handle on what is going on yet another load of questions that need answers happens to alexander and hes thrust into yet more fights and intrigue, i can not wait for the next book in the series as it just keeps getting better and better .
Another great read and just as you think you have a handle on what is going on yet another load of questions that need answers happens to alexander and hes thrust into yet more fights and intrigue, i can not wait for the next book in the series as it just keeps getting better and better .
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