The Makalang: The Complete Series Books 1-4

The Makalang

by Michael Dalton

Former Marine and lonely single dad Will Hawthorne just wants to clear his head with a weekend in the woods with his live-action roleplaying group.

But a careless misstep sends him tumbling through a cave into an alien world. There he finds a dying civilization of bizarre human-animal hybrids, filled with effete males and frustrated females who are soon pursuing him for their own ends.

For Will has stumbled into this world’s most powerful legend – a legend of the one who will come to reverse its decline – the legend of the Makalang.

Genres: Harem

1023 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 3, 2022

About the author

Michael Dalton is a professional journalist and editor.

Michael wrote his first piece of fiction in third grade, for which he was immediately accused of plagiarism by his teacher. Since then, he has been writing more or less steadily, interrupted only by occasional demands of work and family.

Michael lives with his family and multiple pets in Southern California.

Reviews

[That Guy]

Clever bundling this to hide the older bad reviews....

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2021

I didn't make it very far, maybe a few chapters in, But that was far enough to notice glaring issues.
First up, the MC is a loser... Such a bad and over used trope for self inserts. I'm socially awkward in a first world country... woe is me, blah blah blah.
Next... Larping... The author is clearly in to it, which is fine. But, people who shout "lighting bolt" while throwing bird seed at enemies wielding foam swords are not the hero types... Just saying. Not knocking the hobby, just the delusion that it might make someone a real fighter.
Aside from the Cheeto warrior vibe, there are also obvious holes in the story from the beginning. The guy says he is rusty at rock climbing then two pages later he said his he has recently gotten back in to it after a divorce. He also says his cell phone doesn't have service, then a few pages later he complained about no flash light and uses a laser pointer instead of said phone. A steady stream of inconsistencies, cringe dialogue, and the typical neckbeard views of the opposite sex, and I gave up early on.

[Cody Hatch]

I've loved absolutely everything I've ready by Michael Dalton so far, and I've actually wondered - can the man write something I wouldn't happily give 5 stars to?

The answer is yes. Don't get be wrong, this is still a very enjoyable book/series, and it's still got the very high quality of writing I expect from Dalton, but it's let down (slightly!) by being just a bit too on the nose with its wish fulfillment.

I can't really go into details without spoilers, but: This is a book about a divorced, middle aged man, whose wife cheated on him, was emotionally abusive, and who has discovered the children he loves aren't even biologically his. His family has fallen apart, he doesn't like his job, he's a good guy in a world he doesn't fit into. And then he falls through a literal hole in the ground to another world where the gender ratio is something like 1000:1 women to men, all women are gorgeous elves, cat girls, fox girls, snake girls, etc., as well as being universally hypersexual, bisexual, and enthusiastically polygynous. Meanwhile for plot reasons the protagonist rapidly becomes extremely rich and influential, gains magic powers, saves the world, ends up effectively ruling the world, and spends a large fraction of the time having 10+ person orgies. Oh, also he brings his kids across (who still love him) and even fixes his ex and reconnects with her later on.

Even by the standards of wish fulfilment plots ("hey, you're secretly a dragon, a wizard, have magic powers, are being recruited to save the world, are being kidnapped by sexy aliens, etc."), this is over the top. Like...it would still have been a ton of fun if the protagonist went from being lonely and alone to having one close, loving relationship. Or hey, go wild, 3 or 4. Or from being low status to being one of the most influential people in his friend group. Or the city he lives in. But no, at every decision point, the author chose to go to 11. There's no half measures here.

And yet! It's still...very good? The plot, charactization, setting, writing, editing, etc. are all top notch. This may be right at the limit of the most absurd, wish fulfilling, fan-service, cringe inducing, let's give the protagonist everything he could possibly dream of and more plot I can stand, but it's (barely) within that limit, and it's a very, very well written book.

If you have a high tolerance for goofy wish fulfillment, I highly recommend this series. If you don't, well, you likely won't be able to overlook it long enough to enjoy the series, sorry.

[Dom Hil]

(audiobook)
Book (3.5 stars)
Not my genre, unexpectedly decent.

Narrator (4 stars)
-Mason Lloyd-(Books 1-4)
-Reading an expression is excellent!
-Expression timing is occasionally off or excessive.
-Four stars is good, he's not R.C. Bray that's all

Narrator (4 stars)
-Sierra Kline-(Books 5-8)
-Reading an expression very good
-I had a hard time with her reading for a male character and not being the original narrator!

*Tantor Audio dropped the series after book 4.

**Personally I will carefully consider any future series from that publisher since clearly they can't be trusted to continue unless they feel like it.

[S Seaberg]

Another Michael Dalton Hit!

Books 1 - 4 are easy to follow with an interesting storyline. The characters were well developed and the main characters had believable personalities. I was a little put off after finishing book 4 to find that there is a book 5. To my surprise, book 5 was already published and shockingly included with books 6 - 8 in another 4 book set. I’ve been afraid to check for more books because I won’t be able to stop reading until I’ve reach the end!

[Robert Deignan]

Wonderful Story

Great characters. Nice to have four books in a row. Don’t need any refreshers. I enjoyed the book. I am sure that you will enjoy the read as well. The details given are quite good so that you can visualize with your mind’s eye exactly what is going on and visualize it all.

[James T Back]

So good I bought it after reading it on Kindle unlimited

What can I say about this series, only that after reading the whole series,
I went ahead and bought both of the collections so I had permanent copies to re-read anytime I wanted it's that good.

[Dantegideon]

Take a pile of the stupidest cliches about horny aliens, a main character who acts like a creepy teenager, add a bunch of startlingly unerotic sex - like, a bunch, you’d think he’d get better at writing it - and you have whatever the hell this is. I am not happy I wasted an hour of my life on it.

[Nick Massey]

Outstanding

This is one my all time favorite series. This is my second read through and I got more out of it than the first. I expect to get even more out the next time and the next.

[Daniel T.]

Excellent Series

I read the 4 book compendium and enjoyed it very much. Action, adventure and spice! What's not to love. I'm really looking forward to book five!

[Evin Rude]

A fantastic tale.

A well told story, loved the entire arc so far. I'm on to book 5 asap. See you there I hope?

[Martin]

A lot of fun!

A very interesting world with interesting characters, plenty of action and some really sexy scenes. And I was happy to learn that the story goes on

[KC]

Finished the first book. It was decently entertaining even without an overpowered MC.

[Desert Lumens]

I really loved this series of books! Great start! My first time reading Dalton and I know I will continue to read what he puts out. The Makalang was a very interesting title and had some interesting terms I had to remember “sampars” 😂 talon etc but I truly enjoyed the escape into the this world! I think if you’re looking for a great harem where the women actually put in work and aren’t just bed fellows this is a great series!