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Lord Valevsky: Last of the Line #1
Condemned, Book 1
Maximilian is the last of the noble Valevsky lineage. His entire family was put to death for an alleged attempt on the powerful Duke Odoevsky, who had his eye set on the Valevsky’s land.
The young man managed to avoid execution, but not punishment. From here on out, he’s condemned to life as a suicide soldier: the front line in the fight against the dark god Skron’s mutated creatures. “Do or die” — that’s the motto that has been drilled into his head. The Duke took everything from him but his honor and a thirst for revenge.
Maximilian makes a vow to dig himself out of this hole he’s been driven into and lay claim to his birthright. But first, he needs to get through training and survive. A rookie can’t afford to dream of anything else.
The young man managed to avoid execution, but not punishment. From here on out, he’s condemned to life as a suicide soldier: the front line in the fight against the dark god Skron’s mutated creatures. “Do or die” — that’s the motto that has been drilled into his head. The Duke took everything from him but his honor and a thirst for revenge.
Maximilian makes a vow to dig himself out of this hole he’s been driven into and lay claim to his birthright. But first, he needs to get through training and survive. A rookie can’t afford to dream of anything else.
625 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 4, 2023
837 people are currently reading
245 people want to read
About the author
Vasily Mahanenko
98 books1,095 followersBe the first to know when Vasily Mahanenko’s next book is available! Follow him at https://www.bookbub.com/profile/v-mah... to get an alert whenever he has a new release, preorder, or discount!
Vasily Mahanenko is a fantasy author working in the new genre of LitRPG - the MMO-based fantasy and sci fi. His Way of the Shaman series took Russian literature by storm in 2012.
Vasily dipped into his college-days insider knowledge as a hardcore gamer in order to create a believable world of the virtual-reality MMO game. His bestselling series combines fiction and video games, telling the story of Shaman and his friends stuck in the ruthless reality of Barliona. He used his more than ten years' experience as an ERP implementation project manager to approach his writing in a well-organized manner, working to a strict schedule, a set of deadlines and even a budget. At the moment, the series boasts six novels with the seventh one in the works - this time the author expands on stories of Shaman's companions and those who helped and supported him in his trials and tribulations.
The first book of the series has already been translated into English, with more translations to follow, aiming to make the Way of the Shaman series available to the English-language reader in its entirety.
Vasily's other passion is space exploration which is why he now works on a follow-up series entitled Galaktiona. Set in a space-simulator based world, the first book of the series in already finished while Vasily works on its sequel.
Vasily Mahanenko is a fantasy author working in the new genre of LitRPG - the MMO-based fantasy and sci fi. His Way of the Shaman series took Russian literature by storm in 2012.
Vasily dipped into his college-days insider knowledge as a hardcore gamer in order to create a believable world of the virtual-reality MMO game. His bestselling series combines fiction and video games, telling the story of Shaman and his friends stuck in the ruthless reality of Barliona. He used his more than ten years' experience as an ERP implementation project manager to approach his writing in a well-organized manner, working to a strict schedule, a set of deadlines and even a budget. At the moment, the series boasts six novels with the seventh one in the works - this time the author expands on stories of Shaman's companions and those who helped and supported him in his trials and tribulations.
The first book of the series has already been translated into English, with more translations to follow, aiming to make the Way of the Shaman series available to the English-language reader in its entirety.
Vasily's other passion is space exploration which is why he now works on a follow-up series entitled Galaktiona. Set in a space-simulator based world, the first book of the series in already finished while Vasily works on its sequel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
June 17, 2023
Maximillian never thought that he would be the last of his line. But when he returns from a traditional coming-of-age ritual, he finds his family murdered and a coup taking place. He manages to avoid execution but gets sent to a battalion of criminal soldiers who are at the frontlines of a war against the dark god Skron and his creatures. Maximillian decides that he won't allow himself to be slaughtered and uses some mysterious magic stones he found to help him in his battle to reclaim his birthright.
This story was told from the first-person POV of Maximilian interspersed with smaller chapters told from the third-person POV of adjacent or background characters that helped to provide context for the bigger picture of what was going on. However, there was a general lack of worldbuilding incorporated into this read. For the most part, we’re thrown into the story and get some hints of other things going on, but there’s nothing that brought the world or setting to life.
The book was also more analytical of events/fights than emotional. This may have been a stylistic choice, but it certainly made it difficult to become invested in the story or the characters. Much of the book read as “I did this. Then I did this. I thought this.” As it was told from Maximilian’s POV, it kept there from being any emotional connection to the character or the story. His family was slaughtered at the beginning of the book, and he didn’t think about it or have any emotional reaction other than the initial “Oh, wasn’t expecting that!” In fact, he thought about the two barmaids he used to sleep with more than his family during this book.
There were aspects of this work that ended up being more like a LitRPG read. This included the concept that mages had ability stones that popped up grids showing the stats of the stone, such as information concerning the available mana and slots that could be upgraded with other abilities. It also got into details about grid sizes, other upgrades, etc. and even used the word “newbie.” It was odd and unexpected. I didn’t particularly like this as it felt like it kept the read awkwardly between the two genres, which made it less engaging. For example, the interruption of the listing of stats and the fluctuations in mana levels kept it from reading like a full fantasy, breaking the immersion of the story. I guess the author just wanted the magic system to operate this way, but it didn’t work well for me.
This work is a translation of the original. There were instances when that was evident, as the wording was awkward or felt unnatural. This also included use of some modern language in the dialogue that was jarring in this high fantasy world. And there were modern items mentioned in this high fantasy world (washing machines, for example) – I don’t know if this was due to translation error, if this was supposed to be a post-apocalyptic-long-into-the-future fantasy read, or if there were just randomly some modern items. There were also many instances where the prose unintentionally fluctuated between past and present tense, even within the same paragraph.
I did like that the main character wasn’t overpowered or special or unique. It just so happened that he found strong magical stones from being in the right place at the right time. There were also many fight scenes with interesting monsters – while the fighting wasn’t written to be engaging, the beasts of this world were fun to hear about.
With how long this book is, I expected at least a little emotional connection to something and some dimensional characters. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this fantasy/LitRPG and can’t recommend it. My thanks to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for allowing me to read this work, which will be published June 27, 2023. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.
This story was told from the first-person POV of Maximilian interspersed with smaller chapters told from the third-person POV of adjacent or background characters that helped to provide context for the bigger picture of what was going on. However, there was a general lack of worldbuilding incorporated into this read. For the most part, we’re thrown into the story and get some hints of other things going on, but there’s nothing that brought the world or setting to life.
The book was also more analytical of events/fights than emotional. This may have been a stylistic choice, but it certainly made it difficult to become invested in the story or the characters. Much of the book read as “I did this. Then I did this. I thought this.” As it was told from Maximilian’s POV, it kept there from being any emotional connection to the character or the story. His family was slaughtered at the beginning of the book, and he didn’t think about it or have any emotional reaction other than the initial “Oh, wasn’t expecting that!” In fact, he thought about the two barmaids he used to sleep with more than his family during this book.
There were aspects of this work that ended up being more like a LitRPG read. This included the concept that mages had ability stones that popped up grids showing the stats of the stone, such as information concerning the available mana and slots that could be upgraded with other abilities. It also got into details about grid sizes, other upgrades, etc. and even used the word “newbie.” It was odd and unexpected. I didn’t particularly like this as it felt like it kept the read awkwardly between the two genres, which made it less engaging. For example, the interruption of the listing of stats and the fluctuations in mana levels kept it from reading like a full fantasy, breaking the immersion of the story. I guess the author just wanted the magic system to operate this way, but it didn’t work well for me.
This work is a translation of the original. There were instances when that was evident, as the wording was awkward or felt unnatural. This also included use of some modern language in the dialogue that was jarring in this high fantasy world. And there were modern items mentioned in this high fantasy world (washing machines, for example) – I don’t know if this was due to translation error, if this was supposed to be a post-apocalyptic-long-into-the-future fantasy read, or if there were just randomly some modern items. There were also many instances where the prose unintentionally fluctuated between past and present tense, even within the same paragraph.
I did like that the main character wasn’t overpowered or special or unique. It just so happened that he found strong magical stones from being in the right place at the right time. There were also many fight scenes with interesting monsters – while the fighting wasn’t written to be engaging, the beasts of this world were fun to hear about.
With how long this book is, I expected at least a little emotional connection to something and some dimensional characters. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this fantasy/LitRPG and can’t recommend it. My thanks to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for allowing me to read this work, which will be published June 27, 2023. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.
April 6, 2023
KU Review
Love it. So many unanswered questions. I can’t wait for the continuation. New leveling systems are always fun to dig into and the MC’s uniqueness leads to all kinds of possibilities. Fun.
General disclaimer: I want to be clear in that I do not factor cost into any review and as such, this is simply a reflection of my enjoyment of the book and in no way reflects cost to value analysis.
Love it. So many unanswered questions. I can’t wait for the continuation. New leveling systems are always fun to dig into and the MC’s uniqueness leads to all kinds of possibilities. Fun.
General disclaimer: I want to be clear in that I do not factor cost into any review and as such, this is simply a reflection of my enjoyment of the book and in no way reflects cost to value analysis.
June 24, 2023
This was a really cool plot and premise that kept me hooked on it as I listened. The story telling was well done and there was a clear indication of where the plot was headed within book one. It's very sci-fi/fantasy pulp heavy, creating an interesting world with interesting characters, however where it did well in those aspects, it lacked in the magic systems that felt like it held the book back a little bit.
Overall, it was really interesting and I'll be looking out for book two to see where the story goes!
Thank you NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Overall, it was really interesting and I'll be looking out for book two to see where the story goes!
Thank you NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
June 30, 2023
DNF 70%
Slapdash story, characters, and dialogue. Could be a translation problem, because the English grammar and editing is not up to par with Way of the Shaman. There was even a paragraph that still had a full sentence in Cyrillic that wasn't translated. It honestly feels like parts were copy/pasted into Google translate then fed to an AI for editing. I cannot possibly believe that a native English speaker had eyes on all of this.
Slapdash story, characters, and dialogue. Could be a translation problem, because the English grammar and editing is not up to par with Way of the Shaman. There was even a paragraph that still had a full sentence in Cyrillic that wasn't translated. It honestly feels like parts were copy/pasted into Google translate then fed to an AI for editing. I cannot possibly believe that a native English speaker had eyes on all of this.
June 25, 2023
Darkness rises
I just finished this book and boy is it a good one. I stumbled upon it by complete accident and I’m a fan of the LITRPG The Series I’m a fan of the progressive genre as well. I’m also a critic of books like this. I go hard if they’re good but I’ll let them know if they’re bad. This one was a great book.
The story absolutely fantastic. You could piece it all together. The opening I haven’t had someone actually try and nail an opening for a series in a long time not only did the author try and give you a good opening something. Besides, I got hit by a car and woke up at a New World. They actually nailed the landing. This was a good book. Do you understand why the MC is doing what he’s doing And you cheer him on. Now I have to say something this book isn’t perfect and I don’t think any book is but when you read this book, you will notice issues with presentation. It may be because of translation but it’s an issue with how or when information is present it to you the reader. There were a few times when I felt some information should have been presented earlier in the book. This might’ve been a choice by the author, but there were other times when I felt information just wasn’t clearly conveyed at one particular point but sometime later, you could make sense of it all and figure it out because later you got a better understanding of things. My best example would be suppose you saw someone putting up tile for a bathroom floor do you know you have to stick to a particular pattern so that it looks nice and neat and it’s finished properly what if they just messed up a few pieces of tile nothing that destroyed the floor, but you could tell this is off a little. It still looks beautiful but you can tell that’s not quite right. That’s the feeling I got sometimes reading this book. I’ll give you an example from the book. This really isn’t a spoiler but you’ll understand when you read it. Whenever the MC gets his powers he doesn’t know what’s going on as expected, but he stumbled upon some wording you know a typical status screen of sorts. It’s confusing to the reader when that happens now normally it would be confusing because this person doesn’t understand what’s going on but you get that from the wording in the text he doesn’t know what just happened but you the reader don’t understand what the author is presenting to you as information. You learn later in the book how to interpret this information but it would’ve been great to tell you then, and there how to interpret this information. There’s a grid for skills let’s just call it that it would’ve been great to see that grid early on you. Don’t see it until halfway through the book I believe. You should’ve saw this grid as soon as he acquired his skills because then it made interpreting things much easier for you, Rita. I have no problem with a situation where you don’t know everything and you discover facets of the world you’re reading about but this was a case. Where are you the reader really need it to know what am I reading here? Why am I being presented this information? I don’t understand. You could tell the author wanted you to understand this information. It wasn’t as if they didn’t want you to perceive what they were saying It just wasn’t coming off well
However, I want you to remember this is 5 stars through and through I’m not rounding here. This was a great book. I’m running to read the next book, but I wanted to leave a great review. Too often I see authors who don’t try and explore the world that they are introducing us to. Too often I see authors, who are quick to force us into an adventure without giving us a good reason. The MC is actually doing something. this book doesn’t do that you get everything you want and everything you need out of the progressive LITRPG genre, and he tells a good story.
I just finished this book and boy is it a good one. I stumbled upon it by complete accident and I’m a fan of the LITRPG The Series I’m a fan of the progressive genre as well. I’m also a critic of books like this. I go hard if they’re good but I’ll let them know if they’re bad. This one was a great book.
The story absolutely fantastic. You could piece it all together. The opening I haven’t had someone actually try and nail an opening for a series in a long time not only did the author try and give you a good opening something. Besides, I got hit by a car and woke up at a New World. They actually nailed the landing. This was a good book. Do you understand why the MC is doing what he’s doing And you cheer him on. Now I have to say something this book isn’t perfect and I don’t think any book is but when you read this book, you will notice issues with presentation. It may be because of translation but it’s an issue with how or when information is present it to you the reader. There were a few times when I felt some information should have been presented earlier in the book. This might’ve been a choice by the author, but there were other times when I felt information just wasn’t clearly conveyed at one particular point but sometime later, you could make sense of it all and figure it out because later you got a better understanding of things. My best example would be suppose you saw someone putting up tile for a bathroom floor do you know you have to stick to a particular pattern so that it looks nice and neat and it’s finished properly what if they just messed up a few pieces of tile nothing that destroyed the floor, but you could tell this is off a little. It still looks beautiful but you can tell that’s not quite right. That’s the feeling I got sometimes reading this book. I’ll give you an example from the book. This really isn’t a spoiler but you’ll understand when you read it. Whenever the MC gets his powers he doesn’t know what’s going on as expected, but he stumbled upon some wording you know a typical status screen of sorts. It’s confusing to the reader when that happens now normally it would be confusing because this person doesn’t understand what’s going on but you get that from the wording in the text he doesn’t know what just happened but you the reader don’t understand what the author is presenting to you as information. You learn later in the book how to interpret this information but it would’ve been great to tell you then, and there how to interpret this information. There’s a grid for skills let’s just call it that it would’ve been great to see that grid early on you. Don’t see it until halfway through the book I believe. You should’ve saw this grid as soon as he acquired his skills because then it made interpreting things much easier for you, Rita. I have no problem with a situation where you don’t know everything and you discover facets of the world you’re reading about but this was a case. Where are you the reader really need it to know what am I reading here? Why am I being presented this information? I don’t understand. You could tell the author wanted you to understand this information. It wasn’t as if they didn’t want you to perceive what they were saying It just wasn’t coming off well
However, I want you to remember this is 5 stars through and through I’m not rounding here. This was a great book. I’m running to read the next book, but I wanted to leave a great review. Too often I see authors who don’t try and explore the world that they are introducing us to. Too often I see authors, who are quick to force us into an adventure without giving us a good reason. The MC is actually doing something. this book doesn’t do that you get everything you want and everything you need out of the progressive LITRPG genre, and he tells a good story.
October 18, 2024
Stylistically pretty odd read. Unsure if it’s the writing style or the translation, but it was not smoothly written and it makes it hard to engage with the story.
The main character has crazy priorities. Just insults every single person at every possible second he can. In fact, each character thinks they’re the biggest alpha in the world at all times.
Speaking of hyperbole, this is unironically the most hyperbole I’ve ever seen in a book before. So. Much. Hyperbole.
I’m probably gonna read the second one anyways.
The main character has crazy priorities. Just insults every single person at every possible second he can. In fact, each character thinks they’re the biggest alpha in the world at all times.
Speaking of hyperbole, this is unironically the most hyperbole I’ve ever seen in a book before. So. Much. Hyperbole.
I’m probably gonna read the second one anyways.
March 18, 2025
The first few chapters were almost a DNF. Just absolutely absurd. His castle is on fire and he strolls in and announces himself to the crowd of people surrounding his beheaded family. Then The MC charges 100 armed men to go out in a blaze of glory because they killed his family? And yet later when he is subdued and dropped into an area with monsters for a test. He’s calm. Collected. Studies his foes. It’s just absurd. I’m reading two completely different people in two chapters back to back. And it’s such an easy fix. I almost put it down by chapter 3 because of this. Fortunately I made it to 30% to know I could happily put it down, instead of Tentatively.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 26, 2023
I did not get on with the writing style, at all.
April 5, 2023
Book one
Normally when a book has this many mistakes I won't give it a four star review, but I was sent an ARC to help check the translation from Russian to English and did not get around to reading it till the book was already published.
I will let the publisher know of the mistakes that I found and hopefully they will get fixed quickly.
Story gets an 8/10 once the mistakes are fixed.
Normally when a book has this many mistakes I won't give it a four star review, but I was sent an ARC to help check the translation from Russian to English and did not get around to reading it till the book was already published.
I will let the publisher know of the mistakes that I found and hopefully they will get fixed quickly.
Story gets an 8/10 once the mistakes are fixed.
July 23, 2024
Disappointing!
If you like having the main character beaten, tortured and degraded, throughout most of the book, (but they remain defiant) then this is the story for you. The overall writing is quite good, but the storyline is difficult to finish. Maybe after three or four books the main character might be able to fight back, but for now he is just a tool.
If you like having the main character beaten, tortured and degraded, throughout most of the book, (but they remain defiant) then this is the story for you. The overall writing is quite good, but the storyline is difficult to finish. Maybe after three or four books the main character might be able to fight back, but for now he is just a tool.
June 10, 2023
Probably a 3.5. Great storyline but there was a bit too much plot armor and unnatural responses to situations.
October 29, 2024
I laughed myself sick trying to summarize the book. The polite way of putting it is “Fast-paced action and constant twists and turns in this adventure that never stops”.
But the truth? Imagine a child (coherent, articulate and interesting all the same) who looks at you, takes a deep breath, and starts to say: This is the story of the son of an earl who finds himself becoming a fighter for the empire because his whole family has been wiped out in a great plot led by a villain, but the hero has to try to get out of it, and he's going to succeed because he possesses a unique power, and he's going to have to try and get out of it fast. and he'll have to try to become strong quickly, but in fact he'll manage, except that a huge villain from the underworld suddenly arrives and he manages to get in the way, except that he learns that another villain was also there, so he runs fast to catch him, but in fact one of them is. ... and suddenly... but there's also... and in fact...
So action action action, a relatively interesting background even if I'm having a bit of trouble getting rid of the initial image I had of the world in the first 3 books. The author wanted to add elements of complexity to the characters and the world from book 3 onwards, but I felt it was completely unnecessary and I'm not a big fan of it. That's why I felt like taking a break from the 4/5 books, which I think will be the last, unless I have nothing else to read.
But the truth? Imagine a child (coherent, articulate and interesting all the same) who looks at you, takes a deep breath, and starts to say: This is the story of the son of an earl who finds himself becoming a fighter for the empire because his whole family has been wiped out in a great plot led by a villain, but the hero has to try to get out of it, and he's going to succeed because he possesses a unique power, and he's going to have to try and get out of it fast. and he'll have to try to become strong quickly, but in fact he'll manage, except that a huge villain from the underworld suddenly arrives and he manages to get in the way, except that he learns that another villain was also there, so he runs fast to catch him, but in fact one of them is. ... and suddenly... but there's also... and in fact...
So action action action, a relatively interesting background even if I'm having a bit of trouble getting rid of the initial image I had of the world in the first 3 books. The author wanted to add elements of complexity to the characters and the world from book 3 onwards, but I felt it was completely unnecessary and I'm not a big fan of it. That's why I felt like taking a break from the 4/5 books, which I think will be the last, unless I have nothing else to read.
July 4, 2023
I received an audio ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.
I went into this with somewhat high hopes, it sounded like it was going to be a great story. I thought the author was able to build a good world, it wasn’t over or under explained but we get the gist of how the world works. This is really the only positive I found though.
The story is a mix of Fantasy and LitRPG which I was not expecting and I could have done with the LitRPG side. Mages in this world can see their mana bar and see the effects of these special stones with a full on heads up display. Going between the two different genres was too much as nether one was able to be focused on. So when the author tries to focus on the Fantasy side of things the LitRPG side would suffer and vise-versa.
I also didn’t really find any of the characters likable/unlikeable. Even the main character who has unlikable qualities I just felt indifferent about, not because he had any likable qualities but because it was like “here is his unlikable quality” and moves on.
The story is also told in the fist person pov from our main character. But without notice, it would ether change to a different character or go third person throughout the whole story thus making it hard to follow at sometimes.
April 18, 2023
good for what it is
This isn’t Shakespeare.
This isn’t Tolkien.
This is the digital version of a “pulp” novel from a century ago.
But.
If you enjoy Isekai. (SAO / Log Horizon)
If you enjoy single player games. (Skyrim)
If you enjoy getting to know a character and not a gallery of individuals.
Then This is a good read.
I’ve read his Shaman Series. It’s pretty good. I’ve read a few of the other authors that do this style as well.
You have 300+ pages. Character motivations are not hidden. The world has an interesting blend of fantasy and rpg elements. You move at a brisk pace. Transitions are rough. And the world while interesting is pretty bare bones. But it is interesting. And more detail can be added in future installments as they story is entertaining and keeps you reading.
Probably nicest of all. Even though this is currently set up to be a trilogy. The first book tells a decent story. Too often I’ve read books where “book 1” is 175 pages and they want you to buy all three in the set to get one book’s worth of story. At least here, while it ends on a cliffhanger and very few things are resolved. I feel like I have a story with a beginning middle and end.
I am looking forward to book 2. I am looking forward to seeing a bit more of this world getting fleshed out.
This isn’t Shakespeare.
This isn’t Tolkien.
This is the digital version of a “pulp” novel from a century ago.
But.
If you enjoy Isekai. (SAO / Log Horizon)
If you enjoy single player games. (Skyrim)
If you enjoy getting to know a character and not a gallery of individuals.
Then This is a good read.
I’ve read his Shaman Series. It’s pretty good. I’ve read a few of the other authors that do this style as well.
You have 300+ pages. Character motivations are not hidden. The world has an interesting blend of fantasy and rpg elements. You move at a brisk pace. Transitions are rough. And the world while interesting is pretty bare bones. But it is interesting. And more detail can be added in future installments as they story is entertaining and keeps you reading.
Probably nicest of all. Even though this is currently set up to be a trilogy. The first book tells a decent story. Too often I’ve read books where “book 1” is 175 pages and they want you to buy all three in the set to get one book’s worth of story. At least here, while it ends on a cliffhanger and very few things are resolved. I feel like I have a story with a beginning middle and end.
I am looking forward to book 2. I am looking forward to seeing a bit more of this world getting fleshed out.
November 13, 2024
Good solid story.
Simple with good simple world building. Pacing was off sometimes, and the reason the mc is still following along with the events he is forced into become somewhat hard to believe. Its exhausting to always read the main character being beat down over and over or put into situations he has no control over. Hopefully book two will give some more agency as you start to feel like the main character really has no choice in any aspect of his life. Overall I enjoyed this first book and look forward to seeing if book 2 will improve the overall main characters agency.
Simple with good simple world building. Pacing was off sometimes, and the reason the mc is still following along with the events he is forced into become somewhat hard to believe. Its exhausting to always read the main character being beat down over and over or put into situations he has no control over. Hopefully book two will give some more agency as you start to feel like the main character really has no choice in any aspect of his life. Overall I enjoyed this first book and look forward to seeing if book 2 will improve the overall main characters agency.
August 12, 2023
A revenge oriented cultivation novel.
Despite the traditional translation weaknesses of slavic books i grew rather fond of some of the authors just as they have a total different approach than the average western author. Of course calling all unmarried women under 30(?) girls is maybe something you have to get used to ;-).
The protagonist´s character is a bit bizarre. On the one hand he acts very selfishly as he several times tries to blackmail others, takes their stuff or tries to make them indebted to him. On the other hand he acts selflessly and tries to help..
Despite the traditional translation weaknesses of slavic books i grew rather fond of some of the authors just as they have a total different approach than the average western author. Of course calling all unmarried women under 30(?) girls is maybe something you have to get used to ;-).
The protagonist´s character is a bit bizarre. On the one hand he acts very selfishly as he several times tries to blackmail others, takes their stuff or tries to make them indebted to him. On the other hand he acts selflessly and tries to help..
January 18, 2025
Obnoxious characters monologuing about being obnoxious
Interesting world, but everyone including the main character are obnoxious, and then they monologue about it to the other characters. Oh the monologuing, didn’t anyone ever teach you to show not tell? Plus it’s so confusing at times, even the MC at one point admits he lost all sense of what’s going on.
Given the rest of the series is not part of Kindle Unlimited, I don’t really have the will to keep going and see if it improves. A shame overall.
Interesting world, but everyone including the main character are obnoxious, and then they monologue about it to the other characters. Oh the monologuing, didn’t anyone ever teach you to show not tell? Plus it’s so confusing at times, even the MC at one point admits he lost all sense of what’s going on.
Given the rest of the series is not part of Kindle Unlimited, I don’t really have the will to keep going and see if it improves. A shame overall.
April 6, 2023
Not Bad
I think the general plot/story is unique and interesting. The down side is a pretty limited and uninteresting magic system as well as transitions that are not smooth. You don’t know who’s perspective you are reading from sometimes. Otherwise I’d say pretty solid start the only reason I gave it a 3 is because the slow ability progression and mutant like powers vs a actual magic system.
I think the general plot/story is unique and interesting. The down side is a pretty limited and uninteresting magic system as well as transitions that are not smooth. You don’t know who’s perspective you are reading from sometimes. Otherwise I’d say pretty solid start the only reason I gave it a 3 is because the slow ability progression and mutant like powers vs a actual magic system.
November 27, 2023
Interesting
Interesting storyline and promising series
Reason for missing star is some grammatical errors that effect the reading pace and inclusion which could easily be remedied.
First chapter would benefit from an edit. Some sentences don't make sense and some phrases need to be consistently rephrased such as dark elder instead of 'elder the dark'.
If you can get over the mistakes in first chapter, it's a much better read afterwards.
Interesting storyline and promising series
Reason for missing star is some grammatical errors that effect the reading pace and inclusion which could easily be remedied.
First chapter would benefit from an edit. Some sentences don't make sense and some phrases need to be consistently rephrased such as dark elder instead of 'elder the dark'.
If you can get over the mistakes in first chapter, it's a much better read afterwards.
March 12, 2024
Awesome
I at first disregarded this book was it the cover or title, what a mistake this book once started is a page turner, one of those i will just read the next chapter and go to bed books.
Its about max a rich boy whos family gets wiped out but he survives and gets thrown into the doomed legion but it has some very interesting plot twists and turns so give it a chance and enjoy.
I at first disregarded this book was it the cover or title, what a mistake this book once started is a page turner, one of those i will just read the next chapter and go to bed books.
Its about max a rich boy whos family gets wiped out but he survives and gets thrown into the doomed legion but it has some very interesting plot twists and turns so give it a chance and enjoy.
November 27, 2024
good book, too many modern expressions
The story is good, very dark brutal world. I wouldn’t call it good versus evil as the “good” are not all that great of examples of humanity.
Only distraction was the author used a lot of modern expressions that have no place in a world that’s swords and sorcery. It was enough to cost a star, along with some of the situations feel a bit forced.
The story is good, very dark brutal world. I wouldn’t call it good versus evil as the “good” are not all that great of examples of humanity.
Only distraction was the author used a lot of modern expressions that have no place in a world that’s swords and sorcery. It was enough to cost a star, along with some of the situations feel a bit forced.
August 28, 2025
It was a decent book, failed to explain some of the circumstances well, which leads to the reader being confused. It talks about the character learning about laws and other important parts of the story, but feeds it back to the author in such a convoluted way, as to just make me confused, even three books later. I loved the story idea, as well as the progression system, but the lack of supporting information made it a very tough read. 5/5 star idea, 2/5 star execution.
May 11, 2023
very good but
This book was very good and I’m looking forward to the other books in the series but it needs a little more editing. There is a sentence that is in another language with no context clues or anything that tells the reader what it says. There are words and sentences that are wrong. Needs to be re-edited possibly several times. But was a good start.
This book was very good and I’m looking forward to the other books in the series but it needs a little more editing. There is a sentence that is in another language with no context clues or anything that tells the reader what it says. There are words and sentences that are wrong. Needs to be re-edited possibly several times. But was a good start.
May 22, 2024
bait and switch
This is the second series from this author with the first book released on kindle unlimited with the rest of the series not. Previous series by this author have been good enough to read on Unlimited, but nothing I would pay for. This feels the same way. Maybe it’s time to cancel kindle unlimited if they can’t pay authors reasonably.
This is the second series from this author with the first book released on kindle unlimited with the rest of the series not. Previous series by this author have been good enough to read on Unlimited, but nothing I would pay for. This feels the same way. Maybe it’s time to cancel kindle unlimited if they can’t pay authors reasonably.
September 29, 2024
Slow to start like a roller coaster.
I seriously thought about not reading this book. The beginning was so slow that it didn't catch my attention. It is rare for me not to finish a book. I am so glad I persevered because once it starts going, it is like a rollercoaster. Thoroughly enjoyable.
I seriously thought about not reading this book. The beginning was so slow that it didn't catch my attention. It is rare for me not to finish a book. I am so glad I persevered because once it starts going, it is like a rollercoaster. Thoroughly enjoyable.
October 19, 2024
Sigh. Friends don't let friends read Russian litRPG. No matter how interesting a series is at the start, the writing quality will inevitably descend towards gibberish and the protagonist will inevitably descend towards misogyny. (Shame too, I really found the world building in this series compelling.)
April 21, 2025
2 stars , DNF , this book was all over the place. Made little sense at times. Sometimes they know everything about how things work and the next min they know nothing and it is all a mystery. I am not a fan of the world building but I did like the MC. Just not enough too keep me going when I have such issues with how and what they explain and don’t explain things.
April 29, 2025
The world building kept me going long enough, despite the inconsistencies and mediocre prose. I might have even enjoyed the bizare Russianness of it all, but the grounding down, the constant and relentless buse of MC got to me. I haven't gone far enough to encounter mysoginy but though, so there is that.
August 23, 2025
Gets better the more you read
Interesting format. I realized about halfway through that this was written in Russian and translated to English. Makes for some unique verb tenses. Once you can shrug that off the story improves dramatically. I'm still not a fan of those cliffhanger endings but I am looking forward to book two
Interesting format. I realized about halfway through that this was written in Russian and translated to English. Makes for some unique verb tenses. Once you can shrug that off the story improves dramatically. I'm still not a fan of those cliffhanger endings but I am looking forward to book two
December 7, 2025
Just finished reading this series. Overall its a ok read. Not amazing..but OK.
The series has multiple issues..the most egregious of which is the seriously WTF ending.
Its like a sudden car crash in how abrupt it is.
All that said, this is not a series that I will ever read again. Its a one and done.
The series has multiple issues..the most egregious of which is the seriously WTF ending.
Its like a sudden car crash in how abrupt it is.
All that said, this is not a series that I will ever read again. Its a one and done.
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