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Tower of Somnus #1
Foundations
First contact gone wrong. Humanity judged and found wanting. Unlimited power up for grab.
The Galactic Consensus arrived on ships as large as skyscrapers, crafted from glittering alloys that no human scientist could even begin to understand. They followed the trail of century old television transmissions to welcome us into the galactic community… only to recoil in horror at what they found.
They concluded that humans were unfit to be trusted with the advanced technologies that member-states of the Consensus freely traded with each other, installing a relay to warn other ships that we were under embargo, but more importantly, allowing humans entrance into the Tower of Somnus, a multiplayer game of sorts that could be played in one’s sleep. The hope was that humanity would learn proper behavior from playing the game with our more civilized neighbors.
Katherine ‘Kat’ Debs, a hereditary employee of one of the megacorporations that ruled the world, eked out a meager existence in a massive arcology of glittering glass and chrome. She dreamt of one day earning enough money to buy her freedom, and was more than willing to break a law here or there in the process. When she is offered an opportunity to enter the Tower of Somnus free of corporate control, she jumps at the chance. After all, the 'game' was more than just a status symbol, players retained the fantastic powers they earned in the game in the waking world as well.
A perfect opportunity to take control of her destiny, or die trying.
The Galactic Consensus arrived on ships as large as skyscrapers, crafted from glittering alloys that no human scientist could even begin to understand. They followed the trail of century old television transmissions to welcome us into the galactic community… only to recoil in horror at what they found.
They concluded that humans were unfit to be trusted with the advanced technologies that member-states of the Consensus freely traded with each other, installing a relay to warn other ships that we were under embargo, but more importantly, allowing humans entrance into the Tower of Somnus, a multiplayer game of sorts that could be played in one’s sleep. The hope was that humanity would learn proper behavior from playing the game with our more civilized neighbors.
Katherine ‘Kat’ Debs, a hereditary employee of one of the megacorporations that ruled the world, eked out a meager existence in a massive arcology of glittering glass and chrome. She dreamt of one day earning enough money to buy her freedom, and was more than willing to break a law here or there in the process. When she is offered an opportunity to enter the Tower of Somnus free of corporate control, she jumps at the chance. After all, the 'game' was more than just a status symbol, players retained the fantastic powers they earned in the game in the waking world as well.
A perfect opportunity to take control of her destiny, or die trying.
434 pages, Paperback
First published July 6, 2022
426 people are currently reading
741 people want to read
About the author
Cale Plamann
25 books107 followersA lifelong fan of Fantasy and Science Fiction, I usually spent my nerdy energy creating overly elaborate homebrew RPG campaigns. As it became harder and harder to juggle schedules for a half dozen players, I eventually made the logical choice and just cut them out of the picture entirely.
Now I write novels. They whine a lot less about critical failures.
Now I write novels. They whine a lot less about critical failures.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews
September 15, 2022
Something happened midway.
Let's be thorough for once, and break it down.
This is a review of the audiobook. I will update the edition when it's available.
Nothing needs be said about Andrea Parsneau's performance here. At this point I have grown used to expecting nothing but pure magic from her work, and this book does not disappoint.
The Tower.
A classic LitRPG world, no special mechanics. Contrary to so many series that have the MC already OP by the end of the first book, levels and skills are hard to come by, and there is a clear difference between having tools and being good at using them, putting the emphasis on earned dexterity. The carry-over effect to IRL works well thanks to that.
Social dynamics... don't work so well. The "humans are the worst" argument we are hammered with so consistently completely falls apart as we learn more about the multiverse, undermining the world-building. By the end of the book, I'm left with one word: hypocrisy. I want to believe that this is setup for future volumes, but I am not certain.
The "Real" World
I envy people who can scoff at "dystopian" fiction as political fear-mongering. Verily, ignorance is bliss. I don't have that luxury. I know several places in this world where this "fiction" doesn't even come close to reality.
Unfortunately, as the book progresses, we slowly fall into manicheic caricature. This progressively robs the world of the strong verisimilitude it had gathered in the beginning.
The MC and her crew
The MC is well-balanced, with consistent values and a globally logical arc. While her academic strengths are hinted at, we focus exclusively on her martial personae in this book. Her defining trait is ingenuity. It works quite well generally, and plot armour is... reasonable.
The support cast is a less even affair. The tower Aliens are very incoherent and caricatural. IRL humans are more believable in general, but also less fleshed out.
As for dialogue, even though it tends to get over-long, syntax is "mostly" context-appropriate. And as long as it is between humans, it feels mostly natural.
The plot / Antagonists
The initial conflict is interpersonal and its scope is clear and relatable. Unfortunately, halfway through the book, it morphs into a convoluted corporate plot where the involvement of the MC makes absolutely no sense. This has an impact on the pacing (events escalate exponentially), the syntax (we get drowned in pseudo-tech lingo), and the resolution - totally anticlimactic.
The antagonist are the worst offenders. They lack believable motivations. They abuse the Alpha Bitch and Evil Monologue tropes. The denouement comes from left field because conflicts are never resolved "onscreen"; they are just switched for new ones.
This was my greatest frustration with this book. I felt robbed of my initial emotional investment, as it devolved into YA drivel. I didn't like that.
So 3 stars is where I stand at the end. Not a bad score by any means, but certainly not the 5 I was anticipating.
YMMV
Let's be thorough for once, and break it down.
This is a review of the audiobook. I will update the edition when it's available.
Nothing needs be said about Andrea Parsneau's performance here. At this point I have grown used to expecting nothing but pure magic from her work, and this book does not disappoint.
The Tower.
A classic LitRPG world, no special mechanics. Contrary to so many series that have the MC already OP by the end of the first book, levels and skills are hard to come by, and there is a clear difference between having tools and being good at using them, putting the emphasis on earned dexterity. The carry-over effect to IRL works well thanks to that.
Social dynamics... don't work so well. The "humans are the worst" argument we are hammered with so consistently completely falls apart as we learn more about the multiverse, undermining the world-building. By the end of the book, I'm left with one word: hypocrisy. I want to believe that this is setup for future volumes, but I am not certain.
The "Real" World
I envy people who can scoff at "dystopian" fiction as political fear-mongering. Verily, ignorance is bliss. I don't have that luxury. I know several places in this world where this "fiction" doesn't even come close to reality.
Unfortunately, as the book progresses, we slowly fall into manicheic caricature. This progressively robs the world of the strong verisimilitude it had gathered in the beginning.
The MC and her crew
The MC is well-balanced, with consistent values and a globally logical arc. While her academic strengths are hinted at, we focus exclusively on her martial personae in this book. Her defining trait is ingenuity. It works quite well generally, and plot armour is... reasonable.
The support cast is a less even affair. The tower Aliens are very incoherent and caricatural. IRL humans are more believable in general, but also less fleshed out.
As for dialogue, even though it tends to get over-long, syntax is "mostly" context-appropriate. And as long as it is between humans, it feels mostly natural.
The plot / Antagonists
The initial conflict is interpersonal and its scope is clear and relatable. Unfortunately, halfway through the book, it morphs into a convoluted corporate plot where the involvement of the MC makes absolutely no sense. This has an impact on the pacing (events escalate exponentially), the syntax (we get drowned in pseudo-tech lingo), and the resolution - totally anticlimactic.
The antagonist are the worst offenders. They lack believable motivations. They abuse the Alpha Bitch and Evil Monologue tropes. The denouement comes from left field because conflicts are never resolved "onscreen"; they are just switched for new ones.
This was my greatest frustration with this book. I felt robbed of my initial emotional investment, as it devolved into YA drivel. I didn't like that.
So 3 stars is where I stand at the end. Not a bad score by any means, but certainly not the 5 I was anticipating.
YMMV
August 23, 2022
This feels like a YA novel but has some adult themes. That is if you think the protagonist murdering people is adult.
Set in a corporate distopia, Kat is eeking out a living as a high-school student with a side hustle as a criminal runner/courier. The alien VR angle is not well meshed within the world-building. It's not explained what mechanism is used to connect (or how this connection is sourced) and thus how the corporations are limiting supply. Despite the alien VR being in existence for 40+ years, it seems most people are unaware of its features. I'd expect this sort of thing to be bigger than the internet, so it stretched credulity for it to have such little impact on society at large.
I wasn't that interested in the action scenes. They just seemed like 'cool' interludes the details of which had no impact on the plot. I also have reservations about how blasé Kat and others are about indiscriminate killing. It's great that she learns that her victims are supposedly bad people, but this was after the bodies were already cold. And the ending... a deal with the devil doesn't bode well for book two. We'll see.
Set in a corporate distopia, Kat is eeking out a living as a high-school student with a side hustle as a criminal runner/courier. The alien VR angle is not well meshed within the world-building. It's not explained what mechanism is used to connect (or how this connection is sourced) and thus how the corporations are limiting supply. Despite the alien VR being in existence for 40+ years, it seems most people are unaware of its features. I'd expect this sort of thing to be bigger than the internet, so it stretched credulity for it to have such little impact on society at large.
I wasn't that interested in the action scenes. They just seemed like 'cool' interludes the details of which had no impact on the plot. I also have reservations about how blasé Kat and others are about indiscriminate killing. It's great that she learns that her victims are supposedly bad people, but this was after the bodies were already cold. And the ending... a deal with the devil doesn't bode well for book two. We'll see.
January 6, 2025
This is a blend of four genre backdrops all mushed together. You have Cyberpunk, VR, Tower, and a very light sprinkling of System Apocalypse*. Unfortunately, this ends up with a bland mishmash of elements with none of them forming a strong thematic element. The main character is engaging enough in a power fantasy way and the plot was interesting enough to see it through. But if you're interested in any of those genre impressions as a draw to the story, you're going to be disappointed here.
The biggest disappointment is the shallow cyberpunk depiction. Kat's entire experience is a single city that is wholly owned by a single corporation. So it's a company town situation with everyone oppressed by the big bad capitalists who have all this power producing, um, I'm sure it said but it doesn't really matter. No idea where the markets would be for this company, but whatever. Citizens are in eternal debt from birth to death with no hope of ever buying their way out of essentially indentured service. There are people with "chrome" and individualist "street samurai" with reputations, but none of that felt anything more than window dressing or, occasionally, speedbumps on Kat's various missions as a runner (taking packets of data or whatever from one place to another for reasons that are only lightly excused as "keeping it off of official records") and later "infiltrator" (someone who digs into disconnected networks to get the juicy stuff).
But the VR/Tower advance side wasn't a lot better. The promise of gaining individual achievement and power is a strong motivator for risk and adventure and having that carry over into the real world is a nice, if not unique, idea. Kat gaining a shot at the VR tower despite it being reserved for the corporate elite could have been a great power fantasy. Unfortunately, the actual story there was less exciting than I expected. I mean, it starts super lame for reasons I'll get to in the next paragraph, but even once she cuts loose of the drag and makes some alien friends, it still wasn't as exciting as I'd hoped it would be. The action was only okay, the powers are kind of random with classes as loot drops so you have to take what you're given. So there's really no planning or clever build choices, it's all exploiting the random for synergy. Which isn't nothing and Kat does well taking her options and making them work for her. But that's different than what I had expected of a tower of power background.
The biggest drag on the story by far, though, were the antagonists. Kat is stuck with a controlling pretty boy who supposedly likes her. He gives her the subscription to the tower so she can help him advance just like she has through tutoring him all their lives because he's an entitled git. He was such a cringe that it honestly made me respect Kat less. The best I can say about that whole thing is that at least she gets over it after he proves exactly how useless he is. These interactions were so bad that I very nearly dnf'd on that "relationship" dragging on.
All of this sounds way more dreadful than it really was. The background and antagonists were shallow, yes. But I liked Kat and I liked seeing her succeed and grow. And I liked how she embraces her growth and makes smart choices given the circumstances forced upon her. She develops interesting friendships and does her best for those she cares about. The plot was interesting enough to hold my interest, despite weaknesses from the worldbuilding.
This is a reasonably decent 3½ stars without enough justification to round up. I'm interested in continuing the series, so that's something.
A note about Chaste: Kat is way too busy to have a sex life. Even the exploitative jerkwad is only a flirtation situation. So this is pretty chaste.
* System apocalypse - Okay, this is the biggest category stretch because there wasn't really an apocalypse. But they do give us a system in the hope of changing our wicked ways. They visit Earth and are disgusted with our corruption and greed. So they give us probationary access to the tower to let us "grow" into worthy members of the collective. Not exactly unique. I was deeply disappointed as the story progressed to learn just what giant hypocrites these alien idiots are. I was also disappointed with how shallow humanity's depiction is of those who enter the tower. Every human (until Kat, obvs) is a backstabbing, xenophobic, huckster with no conscience and less honor? None of these "elite" corporations thought to build an actual alliance with the powerful aliens who could have ended Earth with an afterthought? Really? People this stupid still control all of Earth's vast resources why? Because capitalism is bad but also powerful enough keep idiots in power regardless of capability, intelligence, or charm? We do see one executive with a ruthless intelligence in the end, but seriously, there aren't that many sociopaths to concentrate this much power in a system based on dynastic nepotism.
The biggest disappointment is the shallow cyberpunk depiction. Kat's entire experience is a single city that is wholly owned by a single corporation. So it's a company town situation with everyone oppressed by the big bad capitalists who have all this power producing, um, I'm sure it said but it doesn't really matter. No idea where the markets would be for this company, but whatever. Citizens are in eternal debt from birth to death with no hope of ever buying their way out of essentially indentured service. There are people with "chrome" and individualist "street samurai" with reputations, but none of that felt anything more than window dressing or, occasionally, speedbumps on Kat's various missions as a runner (taking packets of data or whatever from one place to another for reasons that are only lightly excused as "keeping it off of official records") and later "infiltrator" (someone who digs into disconnected networks to get the juicy stuff).
But the VR/Tower advance side wasn't a lot better. The promise of gaining individual achievement and power is a strong motivator for risk and adventure and having that carry over into the real world is a nice, if not unique, idea. Kat gaining a shot at the VR tower despite it being reserved for the corporate elite could have been a great power fantasy. Unfortunately, the actual story there was less exciting than I expected. I mean, it starts super lame for reasons I'll get to in the next paragraph, but even once she cuts loose of the drag and makes some alien friends, it still wasn't as exciting as I'd hoped it would be. The action was only okay, the powers are kind of random with classes as loot drops so you have to take what you're given. So there's really no planning or clever build choices, it's all exploiting the random for synergy. Which isn't nothing and Kat does well taking her options and making them work for her. But that's different than what I had expected of a tower of power background.
The biggest drag on the story by far, though, were the antagonists. Kat is stuck with a controlling pretty boy who supposedly likes her. He gives her the subscription to the tower so she can help him advance just like she has through tutoring him all their lives because he's an entitled git. He was such a cringe that it honestly made me respect Kat less. The best I can say about that whole thing is that at least she gets over it after he proves exactly how useless he is. These interactions were so bad that I very nearly dnf'd on that "relationship" dragging on.
All of this sounds way more dreadful than it really was. The background and antagonists were shallow, yes. But I liked Kat and I liked seeing her succeed and grow. And I liked how she embraces her growth and makes smart choices given the circumstances forced upon her. She develops interesting friendships and does her best for those she cares about. The plot was interesting enough to hold my interest, despite weaknesses from the worldbuilding.
This is a reasonably decent 3½ stars without enough justification to round up. I'm interested in continuing the series, so that's something.
A note about Chaste: Kat is way too busy to have a sex life. Even the exploitative jerkwad is only a flirtation situation. So this is pretty chaste.
* System apocalypse - Okay, this is the biggest category stretch because there wasn't really an apocalypse. But they do give us a system in the hope of changing our wicked ways. They visit Earth and are disgusted with our corruption and greed. So they give us probationary access to the tower to let us "grow" into worthy members of the collective. Not exactly unique. I was deeply disappointed as the story progressed to learn just what giant hypocrites these alien idiots are. I was also disappointed with how shallow humanity's depiction is of those who enter the tower. Every human (until Kat, obvs) is a backstabbing, xenophobic, huckster with no conscience and less honor? None of these "elite" corporations thought to build an actual alliance with the powerful aliens who could have ended Earth with an afterthought? Really? People this stupid still control all of Earth's vast resources why? Because capitalism is bad but also powerful enough keep idiots in power regardless of capability, intelligence, or charm? We do see one executive with a ruthless intelligence in the end, but seriously, there aren't that many sociopaths to concentrate this much power in a system based on dynastic nepotism.
July 25, 2022
This dystopian world is SO fcuked up. Kat is an underdog for sure and I am rooting for her to take names and kick arse! The whole concept of being in the Tower of Somnus and gaining skills outside of it, is amazing. Great work by Plamann on the characters around Kat, both alien and human. This is going to be an exciting series.
January 21, 2023
murder hobo for young adult readers
A mix of a corporate dystopia, shadow run, dungeon runs and (rather unbelievable) evil alien conspiracy. The characters are rather two dimensional, the world setting quite rudimental and unbelievable, the teenage love triangle arc rather bland and the alien races stereotypical.
The heroine is a Mary Sue and becomes OP too fast for my taste. The constant switch between the two worlds leaves them both rather bland.
The constant use of gender slang (they for single entities) gave me headaches and killed my immersion.
A mix of a corporate dystopia, shadow run, dungeon runs and (rather unbelievable) evil alien conspiracy. The characters are rather two dimensional, the world setting quite rudimental and unbelievable, the teenage love triangle arc rather bland and the alien races stereotypical.
The heroine is a Mary Sue and becomes OP too fast for my taste. The constant switch between the two worlds leaves them both rather bland.
The constant use of gender slang (they for single entities) gave me headaches and killed my immersion.
August 17, 2023
I wouldn't have read this if it wasn't the pick of the month of a book club I'm in. The first 9% was incredible hard to get through, it was downright depressive. And then I got a nice little spark of excitement as the MC finally got invited to Tower of Somnus (I HAD CHILLS!). Just to have to struggle through a specific character that decided to be a total asshole.
Kat allowed things I never would, and I was furious for her sake. I might have dropped the book here, if not for the book club.
Alas, I pushed through, and said character fell away and I fell in love.
I love the system, I love the random skill drops from certain mobs, I love the random rewards, I love the ingame skills becoming part of their real world. I love that I didn't know who the "bad guy" was at the first incident, but had a pretty good guess at the second.
Also, there is a lot of time skips, and a lot of perspective changes between the "in-game" and the "real-life". Both of these are things I normally hate in my litrpg. But the timeskips (that was sometimes up to a week, but often just hours of grind) felt fluid, I felt I got enough description of combat and gains were slow enough that the skips felt natural. (in fact, you only level up here when you go up a floor. So the MC is only level 2 at the end).
And the perspective changes? I was engaged wherever the MC was, both in the tower and in her city. I was never annoyed at the change, I loved it.
My biggest complaint, other than the beginning, would probably be that Tower of Somnus paints a colorful picture full of aliens and weird monsters. But description of these was often lacking, I'd have loved more details on how things looked. But I loved this.
Kat allowed things I never would, and I was furious for her sake. I might have dropped the book here, if not for the book club.
Alas, I pushed through, and said character fell away and I fell in love.
I love the system, I love the random skill drops from certain mobs, I love the random rewards, I love the ingame skills becoming part of their real world. I love that I didn't know who the "bad guy" was at the first incident, but had a pretty good guess at the second.
Also, there is a lot of time skips, and a lot of perspective changes between the "in-game" and the "real-life". Both of these are things I normally hate in my litrpg. But the timeskips (that was sometimes up to a week, but often just hours of grind) felt fluid, I felt I got enough description of combat and gains were slow enough that the skips felt natural. (in fact, you only level up here when you go up a floor. So the MC is only level 2 at the end).
And the perspective changes? I was engaged wherever the MC was, both in the tower and in her city. I was never annoyed at the change, I loved it.
My biggest complaint, other than the beginning, would probably be that Tower of Somnus paints a colorful picture full of aliens and weird monsters. But description of these was often lacking, I'd have loved more details on how things looked. But I loved this.
July 9, 2022
Nothing special, i felt like the book stretched thin between real life and the tower, never making either of them really engaging.
The system was bland, the MC was OK but not great, and the tower never felt really polished.
The system was bland, the MC was OK but not great, and the tower never felt really polished.
July 14, 2022
KU Review
Compelling blend of cyber dystopia, post first contact, and litrpg game elements. Very cool start. Look forward to where the story goes from here.
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.
Compelling blend of cyber dystopia, post first contact, and litrpg game elements. Very cool start. Look forward to where the story goes from here.
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.
July 25, 2022
Excellent story telling with real stakes in both the RL parts and the VR parts, can't wait for the next installment.
April 22, 2023
Overall the book is alright and worth a read though it does have some problems. The author at times does strange quick jumps between being awake/asleep(in real life versus in-game) and never really addresses what would happen if the character was interacted with while asleep "in-game" which felt like a glaring omission to me especially considering people were actively looking for her.
The interactions with Arnold felt very cringe inducing and completely obvious in conclusion, especially when it comes to the main real life betrayal, but I guess there needed to be some vehicle in order to push the story along.
The author seems to have been captured by the pronoun cult in this one. If your alien character is unable to procreate that means they're a child, which the author even references, that doesn't mean that they are suddenly multiple people(they/them pronoun ridiculousness). Now if you had a character with multiple independent personalities say something like a multi-headed hydra or a situation like in Stargate with the Goa'uld(parasites that exist within a host with their own intelligence) than that could make some sense using the "they" pronoun. It just didn't fit and I can't help but feel it was only done as a way to squeeze unneeded politics into the story.
I didn't find any errors in spelling that I noticed. The only grammar issue I noted was the above.
The interactions with Arnold felt very cringe inducing and completely obvious in conclusion, especially when it comes to the main real life betrayal, but I guess there needed to be some vehicle in order to push the story along.
The author seems to have been captured by the pronoun cult in this one. If your alien character is unable to procreate that means they're a child, which the author even references, that doesn't mean that they are suddenly multiple people(they/them pronoun ridiculousness). Now if you had a character with multiple independent personalities say something like a multi-headed hydra or a situation like in Stargate with the Goa'uld(parasites that exist within a host with their own intelligence) than that could make some sense using the "they" pronoun. It just didn't fit and I can't help but feel it was only done as a way to squeeze unneeded politics into the story.
I didn't find any errors in spelling that I noticed. The only grammar issue I noted was the above.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 18, 2022
Amazon has decided that I like LitRPG books. I personally find this deeply frustrating, as I'm not allowed to tag authors as "not interested" nor is the aggregate search able to accept both positive AND negative tags. And ultimately, Amazon cares more about what I'll BUY next than what I actually WANT to read.
I don't actually like LitRPGs. I like Fantasy. I will sometimes read a really good Fantasy story IN SPITE OF it being a LitRPG book. Amazon doesn't care about that and stuffs my suggestion list with every single awful, bottom-of-the-barrel LitRPG book it has in its database.
But of course, I digress, which isn't really fair to Cale Plamann.
Foundations is frankly an awesome book, setting up a fantastic series which is in part a gritty, dystopian post-cyberpunk world, and part contemporary dungeon crawl game world. The most bizarre part is the two elements intertwine and feed off each other, each making the other stronger.
It's a fantastic action book (series) with exciting fight scenes being described in believable detail.
The MC is a solid, driven character looking to better herself and protect her family in an exploitive world filled with enemies. The other characters in the series are equally interesting with various conflicting and coinciding agendas.
The one off note in this particular story is that the MC has a bit of a blind spot when it comes to one particular friend she has some romantic interest in. To be fair to the author, this is an intentional setup for what the MC does when it all goes (as they say) pear-shaped. But reading the parts where the MC sublimates her own better judgement for the sake of her friendship/obligation was a bit difficult. That section of the story didn't feel as smooth as some of the other sections, it was a bit too obvious where it was leading.
Overall: Highly recommended, with the caveat that it is a LitRPG book, and some of it is "gamey". In function it tends to read a bit like a superhero book.
As always: I paid retail price for the Kindle version of this book, my thoughts on it are my own. They were neither solicited by, nor compensated for, by the author or by the publisher.
I don't actually like LitRPGs. I like Fantasy. I will sometimes read a really good Fantasy story IN SPITE OF it being a LitRPG book. Amazon doesn't care about that and stuffs my suggestion list with every single awful, bottom-of-the-barrel LitRPG book it has in its database.
But of course, I digress, which isn't really fair to Cale Plamann.
Foundations is frankly an awesome book, setting up a fantastic series which is in part a gritty, dystopian post-cyberpunk world, and part contemporary dungeon crawl game world. The most bizarre part is the two elements intertwine and feed off each other, each making the other stronger.
It's a fantastic action book (series) with exciting fight scenes being described in believable detail.
The MC is a solid, driven character looking to better herself and protect her family in an exploitive world filled with enemies. The other characters in the series are equally interesting with various conflicting and coinciding agendas.
The one off note in this particular story is that the MC has a bit of a blind spot when it comes to one particular friend she has some romantic interest in. To be fair to the author, this is an intentional setup for what the MC does when it all goes (as they say) pear-shaped. But reading the parts where the MC sublimates her own better judgement for the sake of her friendship/obligation was a bit difficult. That section of the story didn't feel as smooth as some of the other sections, it was a bit too obvious where it was leading.
Overall: Highly recommended, with the caveat that it is a LitRPG book, and some of it is "gamey". In function it tends to read a bit like a superhero book.
As always: I paid retail price for the Kindle version of this book, my thoughts on it are my own. They were neither solicited by, nor compensated for, by the author or by the publisher.
January 25, 2025
This series opener diverged from my recent experience of needing to get past the first 25% to be interesting. I was involved in the story almost from the beginning. Although I was less thrilled with the last 20%, mostly because much of it occurred in the "real world " not in the tower.
August 12, 2022
Erinyes
Brilliant , many authors have tried to link" in game" and "out game" stories , "the stork tower" did a pretty good job up to a point , but with Kat the MC the author totally nails it , the stories are loosely intertwined at the start and the connection continues to grow most satisfactorily.
Kat is born into debt , Earth is controlled by mega corporations and only profit is important , you are billed for your birth and every expense thereafter until you leave education for a factory or farm job if you are lucky , your credits then go to offset your debt with a small personal allowance , it is wage slavery in a universal scale and the debt never gets less. Kat is smart and hard working but the she was born into the wrong class and her future is bleak , she becomes a "runner" for information brokers , risking everything to help her mother and sister escape their debt.
When an advanced alien congress of numerous races meet humanity with a mind to inviting them to join they are horrified by humanities duplicity ,arrogance and violence. Humanity is granted access to the "Tower of Somnus" a multi-level RPG in the hope that humanity can learn to play well with others, but no luck , the humans are revilled for their underhand game play and sidelined by most of the advanced races. Membership of the tower is very expensive so only the rich and their minions on earth can afford to play , Kat lucks into a membership and due to her circumstances becomes one of the few humans to join an alien dive team and thrives. Meanwhile in the real world the skills she learns in the tower result in her rapid advancement in the highly dangerous Underworld .
This is a terrific story and I've just finished book two and it's even better.
Brilliant , many authors have tried to link" in game" and "out game" stories , "the stork tower" did a pretty good job up to a point , but with Kat the MC the author totally nails it , the stories are loosely intertwined at the start and the connection continues to grow most satisfactorily.
Kat is born into debt , Earth is controlled by mega corporations and only profit is important , you are billed for your birth and every expense thereafter until you leave education for a factory or farm job if you are lucky , your credits then go to offset your debt with a small personal allowance , it is wage slavery in a universal scale and the debt never gets less. Kat is smart and hard working but the she was born into the wrong class and her future is bleak , she becomes a "runner" for information brokers , risking everything to help her mother and sister escape their debt.
When an advanced alien congress of numerous races meet humanity with a mind to inviting them to join they are horrified by humanities duplicity ,arrogance and violence. Humanity is granted access to the "Tower of Somnus" a multi-level RPG in the hope that humanity can learn to play well with others, but no luck , the humans are revilled for their underhand game play and sidelined by most of the advanced races. Membership of the tower is very expensive so only the rich and their minions on earth can afford to play , Kat lucks into a membership and due to her circumstances becomes one of the few humans to join an alien dive team and thrives. Meanwhile in the real world the skills she learns in the tower result in her rapid advancement in the highly dangerous Underworld .
This is a terrific story and I've just finished book two and it's even better.
July 8, 2022
When, early in the story, our heroine turns out to have particularly bad taste in men I almost bailed on this one. I found myself communicating telepathically to ask the author, "Please kill that character, please, please, please..." Luckily, Cale Plamann heard my telepathic pleas and did not make me wait long for his MC to grow a spine. After she "wakes up," the MC becomes more fun to follow. Overall, this story is a cut-above for the LITRPG genre, and despite some overly-long, play-by-play descriptions during prolonged, extended, really quite drawn-out and extensively, throughly, carefully explained battle scenes, it is a well-told story with a good premise and genuine characterization. Of particular note is the MC's little sister, who in several scenes comes off as a 'three-dimensional' and genuinely cute little kid. Congratulations to author Cale Plamann!
September 4, 2022
I really hope this doesn't follow in the footsteps of his previous books, and has a strong start, middle, and end. I also hope there is no YA shenanigans, the cover makes me itchy.
Ugh. I seriously contemplated dropping this book in the first quarter.
Other than the small blip at the start, I enjoyed the book by the end, and will pick up the sequel.
3/5 Stars
Ugh. I seriously contemplated dropping this book in the first quarter.
Other than the small blip at the start, I enjoyed the book by the end, and will pick up the sequel.
3/5 Stars
March 19, 2025
The plot wasn’t bad, although the ending was a bit underwhelming, the pacing was a bit weird at times and it made it hard to follow the story,no diversity (there’s one character that’s described as ‘the black man’ before given a name and that’s about it) the characters felt a bit shallow,the villains felt like a caricature, our main character was easy to root for but sort of bland outside of that,the action scenes were fun to read though,I don’t think I’ll be continuing this series.
July 11, 2022
Well written protagonist
Usually young female protagonists fit a stereotype but Cale has written a nuanced protagonist. This is an interesting dystopian story and I look forward to reading more!
Usually young female protagonists fit a stereotype but Cale has written a nuanced protagonist. This is an interesting dystopian story and I look forward to reading more!
July 6, 2022
I liked this book so much, it was not what I thought it , and it was way better than expected.
I've listened to blessed time by cale and I loved it, but I think this might be better than blessed time. Foundations is a top tier book that I like alot. I don't usually listen to books with female mcs, and I've only reviewed one other book with a female mc, but it looks like I'm having a pretty good experience.
If you're not buying this book because of the female mc, just know that's not a problem at all. Kat has to be one of my favorite mcs with how she acts and all.
I listened to the audio versio so we're gonna be talking about that narrator also.
Andrea (the narrator of Foundations) did so good, it was a top tier performance by her, and I loved every bit of it, she has such an amazing voice, and she has such variety with her voices. They're all different, and every voice is just... Superb. Andrea has to be one of the only female narrators who can do a book by herself without dual narration, and for that I also give her props. Overall the Narration was top tier, and 5 star.
When we talk about characters, I like them all. Every character has a unique personality, and depth to them that other characters from cales past books don't have. Andrea also gives then something that i can't really name, i talked about Kat in the earlier paragraphs and I want too continue talking about her. She is such a good mc, She's headstrong and can handle herself. If you read my reviews you'd know I hate mcs that don't have backbone, I literally hate it, and I always mention it, and that's what I'm doing now. Kat has a backbone, and she doesn't let people walk over her at all. She's honestly a badass.
I now want to talk about something in the book, one such scene with Arnold and Kat. Basically Kat is blinded by love and Arnold is being the typical asshole and Kat doesn't really notice. It happens over and over again, until Kat finally gets enough and ends the relationship with him. I honestly think this was some good character plot and its something I feel really added to the story.
I talked briefly about the side characters but now I want to go more In depth. I think they had alot of depth to them and some of the side characters I really, really liked. I honestly think that this books characters are written so good, and that deserves props.
We can also talk about skill progression, i like it, there's enough of it. I feel like Kat progressed alot in power throughout the story, I just kinda wanted more. I feel like for the first books it's solid, but I just kind of wanted more.
Now let's talk about plot, I like it. I wouldn't say it's something that's just a masterpiece, that being said I still think it's solid. It has a nice pace, and it doesn't have alot of moving around persay, you can tell the author wanted something good, but not something over the top, I think he got what he was looking for. It has a nice depth to it, and it does have some moments where I'm like "what!!!" . I honestly think this plot was solid, and I'll certainly be here to see how it progresses.
I also like the world building, I actually love it. It reminds my of a dodge rank type feel that I love. The world is detailed and it shows alot of the 100 years into the future type thing. I really liked how this world was built and what it had to offer.
Now let's talk about the action, I think it's safe to say this book is action packed, and I loved every second of it. One of the reasons I loved it so much is because of kats build, she's kind of like an assassin that focuses on dexterity. That's like my favorite type of build. But back too the the action, it's detailed, and there different types of it. There is the in game fighting, and the irl fighting.
Overall I think it's a 4.8 star.
Conclusion.
I really liked this book, it's a solid story that I would invest in. It has alot of things I like, and barely anything I don't like in it. I recommend this story for anyone who likes litrpg story's. I even recommend this book for people who don't like litrpgs.
Overall I rate this entire story a 5, and I'll be here for book 2, i also be here to hear more of Andreas top tier performance.
I've listened to blessed time by cale and I loved it, but I think this might be better than blessed time. Foundations is a top tier book that I like alot. I don't usually listen to books with female mcs, and I've only reviewed one other book with a female mc, but it looks like I'm having a pretty good experience.
If you're not buying this book because of the female mc, just know that's not a problem at all. Kat has to be one of my favorite mcs with how she acts and all.
I listened to the audio versio so we're gonna be talking about that narrator also.
Andrea (the narrator of Foundations) did so good, it was a top tier performance by her, and I loved every bit of it, she has such an amazing voice, and she has such variety with her voices. They're all different, and every voice is just... Superb. Andrea has to be one of the only female narrators who can do a book by herself without dual narration, and for that I also give her props. Overall the Narration was top tier, and 5 star.
When we talk about characters, I like them all. Every character has a unique personality, and depth to them that other characters from cales past books don't have. Andrea also gives then something that i can't really name, i talked about Kat in the earlier paragraphs and I want too continue talking about her. She is such a good mc, She's headstrong and can handle herself. If you read my reviews you'd know I hate mcs that don't have backbone, I literally hate it, and I always mention it, and that's what I'm doing now. Kat has a backbone, and she doesn't let people walk over her at all. She's honestly a badass.
I now want to talk about something in the book, one such scene with Arnold and Kat. Basically Kat is blinded by love and Arnold is being the typical asshole and Kat doesn't really notice. It happens over and over again, until Kat finally gets enough and ends the relationship with him. I honestly think this was some good character plot and its something I feel really added to the story.
I talked briefly about the side characters but now I want to go more In depth. I think they had alot of depth to them and some of the side characters I really, really liked. I honestly think that this books characters are written so good, and that deserves props.
We can also talk about skill progression, i like it, there's enough of it. I feel like Kat progressed alot in power throughout the story, I just kinda wanted more. I feel like for the first books it's solid, but I just kind of wanted more.
Now let's talk about plot, I like it. I wouldn't say it's something that's just a masterpiece, that being said I still think it's solid. It has a nice pace, and it doesn't have alot of moving around persay, you can tell the author wanted something good, but not something over the top, I think he got what he was looking for. It has a nice depth to it, and it does have some moments where I'm like "what!!!" . I honestly think this plot was solid, and I'll certainly be here to see how it progresses.
I also like the world building, I actually love it. It reminds my of a dodge rank type feel that I love. The world is detailed and it shows alot of the 100 years into the future type thing. I really liked how this world was built and what it had to offer.
Now let's talk about the action, I think it's safe to say this book is action packed, and I loved every second of it. One of the reasons I loved it so much is because of kats build, she's kind of like an assassin that focuses on dexterity. That's like my favorite type of build. But back too the the action, it's detailed, and there different types of it. There is the in game fighting, and the irl fighting.
Overall I think it's a 4.8 star.
Conclusion.
I really liked this book, it's a solid story that I would invest in. It has alot of things I like, and barely anything I don't like in it. I recommend this story for anyone who likes litrpg story's. I even recommend this book for people who don't like litrpgs.
Overall I rate this entire story a 5, and I'll be here for book 2, i also be here to hear more of Andreas top tier performance.
May 12, 2025
I've tried a lot of LitRPGs lately, mostly on Kindle Unlimited. I applaud all the authors putting their work out there, even if it is mostly repetitive and derivative. So far the only LitRPG I've read that really held my attention and has decent writing has been everyone's favorite, Dungeon Crawler Carl. Most of the others were DNFs.
Foundations, the first book in the Tower of Somnus series (which seems to be up to four books now), has some superficial similarities with Dungeon Crawler Carl. The virtual world the characters enter to grind away in fantasy dungeons was created by aliens, as in DCC, but in this series, the aliens didn't destroy Earth. They interdicted it, deciding humanity was still too primitive, violent, and selfish to join the Galactic community. But they gave humans access to the Tower of Somnus, their great big interstellar MMPORG that somehow just resembles an Earth dungeon crawler.
Only a select few humans can enter the Tower of Somnus, most of them controlled by the corporations. We are in the near future, and it's basically a cyberpunk dystopia. Corps own you if you work in the nice safe arcologies, and outside are the Shell (violent cyberpunk ghetto) or the Wastelands (violent cyberpunk... wastelands).
The main character is a teenager girl named Kat, who by day is a high school student and by night is a "runner" for one of the street samurai crew. She just delivers packages and does pickups; no wetwork, no infiltration, nothing particularly dangerous. She's just a kid, after all. Until her rich-kid boyfriend gets himself and her a subscription to Tower of Somnus, and she has a shot at the big time.
So... I actually enjoyed this book enough to finish it. There was some interesting worldbuilding, a lot of detail, and Kat was a spunky likeable protagonist. At least at first.
However, this book wasn't really very good. It's a typical self-published litrpg by an author whose creative development was all in roleplaying games. The setting has Shadowrun stamped all over it. The story does something kind of interesting in that there are really two stories: the real-world one where Kat has to level up socially and professionally in this cyberpunk hellscape where she's trying to get her mother and her little sister out of eternal wage-slavery, and the virtual one where Kat is grinding away to become a formidable player.
But there are so many holes in the setting. Aliens contacted Earth and mankind now literally has access to a virtual world where they can interact with interstellar civilizations, and this is not the biggest thing in the world? It also turns out that leveling up in the Tower of Somnus actually gives you abilities in the real world- like, when Kat becomes an elemental mage, she can start casting her spells in the real world!
None of this is explained very well, and while the grinding and skill progression in Tower of Somnus is rather slow and realistic, Kat practically turns into a Mary Sue murderhobo in the real world; suddenly this girl who just graduated high school is soloing veteran street samurai and leaving bodies all over the place. Other than some perfunctory angst about it which is always solved by knowing that the people she killed deserved it, there seems to be little impact on her personality that she's now got a bodycount that puts most serial killers to shame.
In Tower of Somnus, the dungeon crawls are, well, grind-quests and not particularly interesting. Kat happens to conveniently befriend two aliens, so she gets some exposure to the meta-politics of the place, but so far that's not very interesting (or believable) either. Supposedly the aliens gave Earth access to the Tower of Somnus so humans could learn how to behave, and yet they do nothing about the fact that Earth practically limited access only to corp goons, who now act like such assholes that humans have a terrible reputation throughout the game and no one wants to associate with them.
The plot affecting Kat in the real world is mostly driven by a mean girl who's just Regina George cranked up to cartoon levels of villainy.
Kat's use of powers is clever; the battle scenes are nothing if not detailed. Sometimes much too lengthy. But I ultimately found a lot of things seemed too easy for her, and her quests in both the real world and the virtual one weren't all that interesting. It's possible I might pick up the next book in the series, but the story, characters, and dialog were only adequate, not enough to make it really compelling.
Foundations, the first book in the Tower of Somnus series (which seems to be up to four books now), has some superficial similarities with Dungeon Crawler Carl. The virtual world the characters enter to grind away in fantasy dungeons was created by aliens, as in DCC, but in this series, the aliens didn't destroy Earth. They interdicted it, deciding humanity was still too primitive, violent, and selfish to join the Galactic community. But they gave humans access to the Tower of Somnus, their great big interstellar MMPORG that somehow just resembles an Earth dungeon crawler.
Only a select few humans can enter the Tower of Somnus, most of them controlled by the corporations. We are in the near future, and it's basically a cyberpunk dystopia. Corps own you if you work in the nice safe arcologies, and outside are the Shell (violent cyberpunk ghetto) or the Wastelands (violent cyberpunk... wastelands).
The main character is a teenager girl named Kat, who by day is a high school student and by night is a "runner" for one of the street samurai crew. She just delivers packages and does pickups; no wetwork, no infiltration, nothing particularly dangerous. She's just a kid, after all. Until her rich-kid boyfriend gets himself and her a subscription to Tower of Somnus, and she has a shot at the big time.
So... I actually enjoyed this book enough to finish it. There was some interesting worldbuilding, a lot of detail, and Kat was a spunky likeable protagonist. At least at first.
However, this book wasn't really very good. It's a typical self-published litrpg by an author whose creative development was all in roleplaying games. The setting has Shadowrun stamped all over it. The story does something kind of interesting in that there are really two stories: the real-world one where Kat has to level up socially and professionally in this cyberpunk hellscape where she's trying to get her mother and her little sister out of eternal wage-slavery, and the virtual one where Kat is grinding away to become a formidable player.
But there are so many holes in the setting. Aliens contacted Earth and mankind now literally has access to a virtual world where they can interact with interstellar civilizations, and this is not the biggest thing in the world? It also turns out that leveling up in the Tower of Somnus actually gives you abilities in the real world- like, when Kat becomes an elemental mage, she can start casting her spells in the real world!
None of this is explained very well, and while the grinding and skill progression in Tower of Somnus is rather slow and realistic, Kat practically turns into a Mary Sue murderhobo in the real world; suddenly this girl who just graduated high school is soloing veteran street samurai and leaving bodies all over the place. Other than some perfunctory angst about it which is always solved by knowing that the people she killed deserved it, there seems to be little impact on her personality that she's now got a bodycount that puts most serial killers to shame.
In Tower of Somnus, the dungeon crawls are, well, grind-quests and not particularly interesting. Kat happens to conveniently befriend two aliens, so she gets some exposure to the meta-politics of the place, but so far that's not very interesting (or believable) either. Supposedly the aliens gave Earth access to the Tower of Somnus so humans could learn how to behave, and yet they do nothing about the fact that Earth practically limited access only to corp goons, who now act like such assholes that humans have a terrible reputation throughout the game and no one wants to associate with them.
The plot affecting Kat in the real world is mostly driven by a mean girl who's just Regina George cranked up to cartoon levels of villainy.
Kat's use of powers is clever; the battle scenes are nothing if not detailed. Sometimes much too lengthy. But I ultimately found a lot of things seemed too easy for her, and her quests in both the real world and the virtual one weren't all that interesting. It's possible I might pick up the next book in the series, but the story, characters, and dialog were only adequate, not enough to make it really compelling.
January 17, 2024
This book was a pretty easy read and while I generally enjoyed the book and plan to read the rest of the series, it does suffer from some pretty bad tropes. The worst of these is that the main character is simply better than everyone else, for no discernible reason. It's never really explained why Kat is so much more skilled at combat then others, especially so at the beginning of the book. The reasons it provides for her skills is that as a part time courier, she has picked up some of it, but her abilities are just too much to be believable. As the book progresses Kat's abilities start to make some sense on why she is better, but even so she is just significantly better then people who have been doing this way longer. Must be her spunk.
Coming into the book reasonably blind except for the various blurbs, I had hoped that it would be more of a thoughtful take and exploration on the topic of first contact delayed due to humans greed and lack of empathy. While some of this is there, it's far more action movie then a thoughtful Star Trek exploration of the subject.
Perhaps my biggest complaint with the book is the idea that a group of aliens forgoes contact with humans because of violence and narcissism but leave us a game that is counter to the goals of helping us get beyond our vices. They should leave us with a game with goals that are peace oriented and less competitive, designed to help our fledgling race get past our collective evils. Not a game where the first thing a player does is slaughter random wildlife, even if it is with the help of other alien races. The book got stuck on the MMO in fiction tropes, and could have been much better if it explored this topic more thoroughly. How do you collectively rehabilitate humanity gone wrong?
So while I will definitely read the rest of the series my expectations are significantly different then they were coming into it.
Coming into the book reasonably blind except for the various blurbs, I had hoped that it would be more of a thoughtful take and exploration on the topic of first contact delayed due to humans greed and lack of empathy. While some of this is there, it's far more action movie then a thoughtful Star Trek exploration of the subject.
Perhaps my biggest complaint with the book is the idea that a group of aliens forgoes contact with humans because of violence and narcissism but leave us a game that is counter to the goals of helping us get beyond our vices. They should leave us with a game with goals that are peace oriented and less competitive, designed to help our fledgling race get past our collective evils. Not a game where the first thing a player does is slaughter random wildlife, even if it is with the help of other alien races. The book got stuck on the MMO in fiction tropes, and could have been much better if it explored this topic more thoroughly. How do you collectively rehabilitate humanity gone wrong?
So while I will definitely read the rest of the series my expectations are significantly different then they were coming into it.
October 21, 2023
This story/series copies well executed corporate dystopia settings from previous works of other authors, but only at the surface level, it fails to do justice to both the setting and society and, to make matters worse, adds in both sci-fi (intra-galactic alien society) and LitRPG elements.
It feels like the creation of a writer who took a starter pack of popular genres for taste testing and then mixed a few of them together with no recipe or any sort of clue what the end result should be. I also had a difficult time dealing with the weird juxtaposition of morality, the societal versus personal divide. On the one hand, the reader keeps getting hit over the head with how bad the ultra-capitalist dystopia that humanity has evolved into truly is, whereas on the other hand people murdering each other in the streets is handled in a very cavalier way. Am I to assume the author proscribes to the belief that the action of a singular person should always be excused, but the actions of a collective humanity are always to be demonized?
Both the alien and LitRPG elements aren't used properly in my opinion. They should've either been properly integrated or left out entirely, but as it is they only act as a distraction from the major plot element.
Going by publishing dates, this is the author's third series. While I haven't read the previous two, I had higher expectations than this. It's decent enough as a webnovel (you can find it being posted on RoyalRoad) and, some specific story elements aside, would suffice as an average quality YA novel. If I could give 2.5/5 stars I would do it, but I'm rounding down because for me personally this has been a disappointment.
It feels like the creation of a writer who took a starter pack of popular genres for taste testing and then mixed a few of them together with no recipe or any sort of clue what the end result should be. I also had a difficult time dealing with the weird juxtaposition of morality, the societal versus personal divide. On the one hand, the reader keeps getting hit over the head with how bad the ultra-capitalist dystopia that humanity has evolved into truly is, whereas on the other hand people murdering each other in the streets is handled in a very cavalier way. Am I to assume the author proscribes to the belief that the action of a singular person should always be excused, but the actions of a collective humanity are always to be demonized?
Both the alien and LitRPG elements aren't used properly in my opinion. They should've either been properly integrated or left out entirely, but as it is they only act as a distraction from the major plot element.
Going by publishing dates, this is the author's third series. While I haven't read the previous two, I had higher expectations than this. It's decent enough as a webnovel (you can find it being posted on RoyalRoad) and, some specific story elements aside, would suffice as an average quality YA novel. If I could give 2.5/5 stars I would do it, but I'm rounding down because for me personally this has been a disappointment.
March 28, 2024
While I thought this book took a little while to get going, overall I quite enjoyed this! And once I got really into it, maybe at the 50-60% mark, I had a hard time putting it down.
I was skeptical about how the sections with the tower game and her waking/real life would mix, but I thought they blended surprisingly well despite how different they were. What you are supposed to think about the characters (e.g. evil, smarmy, loyal, etc.) is very unsubtle, but it was a lot of fun watching Kat get new abilities and stab and magic her way through very dangerous, escalating situations.
The part within the game that focused on the aliens and the galactic consensus, and the squabbling behind the curtain was interesting, and I'm looking forward to more of that veil being lifted. The otter and lizard aliens were also nice, if not particularly deep as of yet.
Anna was hilariously evil (seriously, she put multiple hits on Kat and targeted her younger sister for kidnapping because...she was mad Kat ignored her? And Arnold liked her better originally? Seriously???), but despite the over-the-topness of it, there was something satisfying in her eventual execution at the end. I understand Kat's fear, though, to now be forced to work for her mom, who just discarded Anna like that so easily.
Now that the foundation has been laid and the main characters/situation has been introduced, I'm looking forward to the sequels where the author can presumably hit the ground running.
I was skeptical about how the sections with the tower game and her waking/real life would mix, but I thought they blended surprisingly well despite how different they were. What you are supposed to think about the characters (e.g. evil, smarmy, loyal, etc.) is very unsubtle, but it was a lot of fun watching Kat get new abilities and stab and magic her way through very dangerous, escalating situations.
The part within the game that focused on the aliens and the galactic consensus, and the squabbling behind the curtain was interesting, and I'm looking forward to more of that veil being lifted. The otter and lizard aliens were also nice, if not particularly deep as of yet.
Anna was hilariously evil (seriously, she put multiple hits on Kat and targeted her younger sister for kidnapping because...she was mad Kat ignored her? And Arnold liked her better originally? Seriously???), but despite the over-the-topness of it, there was something satisfying in her eventual execution at the end. I understand Kat's fear, though, to now be forced to work for her mom, who just discarded Anna like that so easily.
Now that the foundation has been laid and the main characters/situation has been introduced, I'm looking forward to the sequels where the author can presumably hit the ground running.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 12, 2022
A looooooong tutorial
Really deserves 3.75 stars but I rounded up. As my review titles states thus really is a long tutorial introduction to everything. The first 60% ~ 70% of the book focuses on what a dude character would consider the tutorial section. Now if you’ve ever encountered a tutorial that went on to long that’s what you get here. Now the last 30% of the book really ramps up and is good like 4.5 star hood. The problem is the first 60% to 70% of the book drags on way too long. Once you get to the second or third dungeon you just skip ahead and see what the end result was. No this is because you’ll find out in the book the characters only receive rewards from doing certain activities clearing the dungeon or killing a large monster. Other than that this character doesn’t grow much. I think that’s one of the major flaws of the book actually opportunities for growth. It just took too long to see her grow and even then some might argue she didn’t grow much. Now this could be our kid because it’s tutorial but again it took too long. What is the net the stories find the world is fine I do want to know what is the MC overall goal. We don’t really get that here so that’s gonna have to be given to us eventually why is she doing this what will it lead to. I will read the second book in the series but if it doesn’t pick up after that I’m out.
Really deserves 3.75 stars but I rounded up. As my review titles states thus really is a long tutorial introduction to everything. The first 60% ~ 70% of the book focuses on what a dude character would consider the tutorial section. Now if you’ve ever encountered a tutorial that went on to long that’s what you get here. Now the last 30% of the book really ramps up and is good like 4.5 star hood. The problem is the first 60% to 70% of the book drags on way too long. Once you get to the second or third dungeon you just skip ahead and see what the end result was. No this is because you’ll find out in the book the characters only receive rewards from doing certain activities clearing the dungeon or killing a large monster. Other than that this character doesn’t grow much. I think that’s one of the major flaws of the book actually opportunities for growth. It just took too long to see her grow and even then some might argue she didn’t grow much. Now this could be our kid because it’s tutorial but again it took too long. What is the net the stories find the world is fine I do want to know what is the MC overall goal. We don’t really get that here so that’s gonna have to be given to us eventually why is she doing this what will it lead to. I will read the second book in the series but if it doesn’t pick up after that I’m out.
September 4, 2022
Foundations is a story set in a dark cyberpunk setting where money rules and the world is ruled by corporations. The MC is a teenager living as a corporate slave who is given a chance to make a name for herself both in RL and a very special game where powers gained appear in RL (courtesy of aliens), doing so does not come without its risks. One part of the book is set in the slums of an arcology, the other in the game. The game for now is mostly used to provide some exposure to the galactic society and to give the MC some cool powers. Most of the body of the tale is in RL Earth bleak future.
For me the book shines with the characters (even if Kath is handling things a bit too well for a teenager, but it is a story after all), and the world fits the story well. Game mechanics are limited, mostly because skills and levels are gained extremely slowly, which is fine especially due to the role of the game in the book. The MC certainly has an interesting build.
Note though that while I like many of the world building aspects, they do fall apart a bit under close scrutiny, although we might get some explanations about some things in future volumes (e.g. how does the game work and how does it transport powers of the game into RL?).
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
For me the book shines with the characters (even if Kath is handling things a bit too well for a teenager, but it is a story after all), and the world fits the story well. Game mechanics are limited, mostly because skills and levels are gained extremely slowly, which is fine especially due to the role of the game in the book. The MC certainly has an interesting build.
Note though that while I like many of the world building aspects, they do fall apart a bit under close scrutiny, although we might get some explanations about some things in future volumes (e.g. how does the game work and how does it transport powers of the game into RL?).
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
January 30, 2025
The interactions with Arnold felt so cringe I almost DNF'ed. I suppose it was needed for the story, but ugh, Kat's tolerance of Arnold and willingness to put up with and forgive any of his actions made me dislike her at the start of the book. I'm glad I continued, but be aware, there may be triggers with his gaslighting.
This story takes place in corporate run dystopian hell. Our MC Kat, is barely surviving with her Mom and sister, in corporate owned housing with corporate debt and no way out. Kat is a working a low end job in a lab, with a shady side hustle as a runner/courier for a low level crime lord.
The alien Tower of Somnus (dream or VR access?) is not well meshed within the world-building. It's not explained what mechanism is used to connect to the Tower of Somnus (or how the connection is controlled) only that the corporations are limiting supply. The author never addresses what would happen if someone were to interact with the sleeper, while they are "in-game," which felt like a major omission considering she is actively being hunted by Samurai.
Overall, this was entertaining enough for me to keep reading. It has fun lit-rpg game elements with a few new to me twists. I'm looking forward to where the story goes from here.
This story takes place in corporate run dystopian hell. Our MC Kat, is barely surviving with her Mom and sister, in corporate owned housing with corporate debt and no way out. Kat is a working a low end job in a lab, with a shady side hustle as a runner/courier for a low level crime lord.
The alien Tower of Somnus (dream or VR access?) is not well meshed within the world-building. It's not explained what mechanism is used to connect to the Tower of Somnus (or how the connection is controlled) only that the corporations are limiting supply. The author never addresses what would happen if someone were to interact with the sleeper, while they are "in-game," which felt like a major omission considering she is actively being hunted by Samurai.
Overall, this was entertaining enough for me to keep reading. It has fun lit-rpg game elements with a few new to me twists. I'm looking forward to where the story goes from here.
May 5, 2024
The author's worldview is like an earthquake throughout the entire story. Born poor. Boo hoo. Power is mean. Boo hoo. Evil for the sake of evil is boring and the author couldn't find more realistic motivation than a promotion. How droll.
I don't understand how subscriptions are dropped from the first level, it takes no tech to connect, and yet access is somehow limited.
How does magic follow you from the game to the real world? This feature alone would make it impossible for anyone to hold a monopoly on power.
Most people are going to live peacefully under any system of government, including a regime that uses debt to control them. Either you co-opt the threat by inviting them in the system or fight an insurgency. This book doesn't do either.
What is it about the MC that two random, and highly regarded aliens, trust her? None of her actions warrants such trust.
The tower is nothing more than the vehicle for getting the MC power. Like a fault line, the tower and real world are separate and unrelated story lines. There are a few places the author managed to shoehorn some drama but it didn't work.
I don't understand how subscriptions are dropped from the first level, it takes no tech to connect, and yet access is somehow limited.
How does magic follow you from the game to the real world? This feature alone would make it impossible for anyone to hold a monopoly on power.
Most people are going to live peacefully under any system of government, including a regime that uses debt to control them. Either you co-opt the threat by inviting them in the system or fight an insurgency. This book doesn't do either.
What is it about the MC that two random, and highly regarded aliens, trust her? None of her actions warrants such trust.
The tower is nothing more than the vehicle for getting the MC power. Like a fault line, the tower and real world are separate and unrelated story lines. There are a few places the author managed to shoehorn some drama but it didn't work.
May 16, 2024
Great world building good book character progression glacially slow.
The only reason I gave this book for stars is because of the narrator, she is awesome. First of all the triple storyline is annoying. I like the MC‘s dealings with her illegal corporate espionage, I also like most of her time spent in the tower, what I did not like was the annoying bits with her mother and sister, in my opinion, took up too much time and was a waste of space. The reason I say this is because the MC is development is very slow. There’s hardly any progression to this entire book. She only gets to level two during the entire book of the series, too slow. If she’s gonna climb through a tower with additional people at least let the progression run and be a little faster. So that her abilities. can shine in and out of the tower. if I decide to continue reading this series, it will be because of the audiobook, I do like the cyberpunk aspect of the book, but the fact is the MC does not progress and a progressive RPG the character is supposed to grow does not. You know you’re not gonna kill your MC as an author so give her. The abilities to kick tail and do what she has to do.
The only reason I gave this book for stars is because of the narrator, she is awesome. First of all the triple storyline is annoying. I like the MC‘s dealings with her illegal corporate espionage, I also like most of her time spent in the tower, what I did not like was the annoying bits with her mother and sister, in my opinion, took up too much time and was a waste of space. The reason I say this is because the MC is development is very slow. There’s hardly any progression to this entire book. She only gets to level two during the entire book of the series, too slow. If she’s gonna climb through a tower with additional people at least let the progression run and be a little faster. So that her abilities. can shine in and out of the tower. if I decide to continue reading this series, it will be because of the audiobook, I do like the cyberpunk aspect of the book, but the fact is the MC does not progress and a progressive RPG the character is supposed to grow does not. You know you’re not gonna kill your MC as an author so give her. The abilities to kick tail and do what she has to do.
July 8, 2022
Foundations
Aliens have made contact with Earth and were not all that impressed with our representatives. They entered humanity as a probationary member of the intergalactic community and provided access to the Tower of Somnus. This game that is played while the people with subscriptions sleep is designed to build relationships with the other races. Stat gains and spells earned also carry into the real world. Of course, the rich mega corporations that control the planet control who gets a subscription now. Unless one comes up on the black market that is.
This cyberpunk world with a litrpg mmo built in is a lot of fun! Cat is a really relatable and capable character. I did not read this series on Royal Road, but I am so happy that MountainDale is publishing it! The next book can’t come soon enough. Andrea Parsneau did a great job with the narration.
Content warning: language
Aliens have made contact with Earth and were not all that impressed with our representatives. They entered humanity as a probationary member of the intergalactic community and provided access to the Tower of Somnus. This game that is played while the people with subscriptions sleep is designed to build relationships with the other races. Stat gains and spells earned also carry into the real world. Of course, the rich mega corporations that control the planet control who gets a subscription now. Unless one comes up on the black market that is.
This cyberpunk world with a litrpg mmo built in is a lot of fun! Cat is a really relatable and capable character. I did not read this series on Royal Road, but I am so happy that MountainDale is publishing it! The next book can’t come soon enough. Andrea Parsneau did a great job with the narration.
Content warning: language
August 19, 2022
Ohhhh wow! To be honest the deciding factor and reason I picked up this book was because I love Andrea Parsneau ❤! And then I dove headlong into the book and immediately fell in love with Kat the very hands-on kickass protagonist and the book very quickly moved up to number 1 on my chart!
We follow Kat as she navigates her troubled existence in the very distopic world she lives in and then as a player she can slip into Tower Somnus and play the game while sleeping.
You're gonna need to put this in your library because this action-driven story will have you on the edge-of-your-seat, both in and outta game. And you'll find Kat can't do things small and she won't give up. My only regret is book 2 hasn't been released yet!!!
My verdict is Andrea Parsneau deserves 11⭐'s!
Oops, my bad book two is already out on audio, and you betcha boody I'm gonna jump right back into the series!
We follow Kat as she navigates her troubled existence in the very distopic world she lives in and then as a player she can slip into Tower Somnus and play the game while sleeping.
You're gonna need to put this in your library because this action-driven story will have you on the edge-of-your-seat, both in and outta game. And you'll find Kat can't do things small and she won't give up. My only regret is book 2 hasn't been released yet!!!
My verdict is Andrea Parsneau deserves 11⭐'s!
Oops, my bad book two is already out on audio, and you betcha boody I'm gonna jump right back into the series!
May 15, 2024
4.5 stars
While this book is billed as a LitRPG, and while it has LitRPG elements, it's really dystopian science fiction adventure novel. And it does that well.
The protagonist starts as a fairly typical high-school (-ish) student (who happens to also be a courier for an underworld organization, of course) worried about her grades and her emotionally abusive boyfriend, and living in a world of dead ends. Her progression out of that isn't particularly believable, but it is entertaining.
There is quite a bit of solid combat narrative, both in the RPG world and the real world. The plot is over the top, but again, it's entertaining.
If you're willing to accept the sorts of premises that one must in the usual action hero adventure story and willing to tolerate the occasional trip into repetitive CRPG stats, this is recommended. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.
While this book is billed as a LitRPG, and while it has LitRPG elements, it's really dystopian science fiction adventure novel. And it does that well.
The protagonist starts as a fairly typical high-school (-ish) student (who happens to also be a courier for an underworld organization, of course) worried about her grades and her emotionally abusive boyfriend, and living in a world of dead ends. Her progression out of that isn't particularly believable, but it is entertaining.
There is quite a bit of solid combat narrative, both in the RPG world and the real world. The plot is over the top, but again, it's entertaining.
If you're willing to accept the sorts of premises that one must in the usual action hero adventure story and willing to tolerate the occasional trip into repetitive CRPG stats, this is recommended. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.
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