Review: Rolling Hunger

Title: Rolling Hunger (The Yard Gnome Action Team Book 2)

Author: RW Krpoun

Rating: 4.5/5

Comments

I followed book 1 straight into book 2, and read it in a day. The characters from book 1 are back, and they add some new ones.  The POV switching is not as bad (yay!), although we still get to visit the antagonists (boo).  What is better in this book is the way the characters change in both attitude and motivation.  Good stuff.  I am going to take a break before book 3, but I'm definitely going to read it.  I just need a break from reading as I've done 4 books in as many days this week.

Bedroom Activities: Off-screen reference

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Review: Payload

Title: Payload (The Yard Gnome Action Team Book 1)

Author: RW Krpoun

Rating: 4.25

Comments

This is somewhat standard zombie attack fare, but he takes it in some different directions, which I like.  Also good characters, some really interesting characters.

The problem I have, is the POV switching.  I mean, each member of the team gets their own intro, and it really bogs things down in Ch 1.  Then we get to see stuff that the antagonists do (which I really dislike as a general rule).  So the presentation of the story could be changed to make me happier, but the story itself is pretty fun.

Oh and the yard gnome bit, is great.  Moogie is an excellent mascot.

Bedroom Activities: None

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Review: Shade's Edge

Title: Shade's Edge (Fallen Power Book 2)

Author: Leo Hull

Rating: 4.5/5

Comments

Essentially the same issues with this book as book 1.  Any woman of childbearing years who gets a dose of the protagonists "magic smoldering intensity" instantly wants to drop her panties.  I feel this trivializes the relationships and detracts from the story.

Bedroom Activities: Explicit

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Review: Storm Unbound

Title: Storm Unbound (Fallen Powers 1)

Author: Leo Hull

Rating: 4.5/5

Comments:

I have heard this author is a new pseudonym for another author I have read, but I have no confirmation on that, so I will take it as it stands.

All in all, it's not a bad story.  The protagonist has powers granted by an artifact, and is dragged on an exploratory mission.  Things go awry, hilarity ensues, and the guy gets the girl(s).

This is pretty much just my reaction, but I am finding books where two characters start out on opposite sides of a conflict, then magically the one character is so overwhelmed by the protagonist's smoldering intensity that they switch sides with nary a second thought, to be rather annoying.  As a bonus, the woman is so turned on she can't help but want to take the protagonist to bed.  One vigorous tumble, and she's so enamored with him she pledges her undying love.  So yes, there's a big of "magic dick" syndrome in this book, and I am finding it tiresome.  So half a point off for magical phalluses, other than that it's a good story.

Bedroom Activities: Explicit

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Review: Grog 2 (Ebon Blades book 2)

Title: Grog II: Book 2 of the Ebon Blades

Author:  RW Krpoun

Rating: 5/5+

Comments:

Every bit as enjoyable as book 1.  There were several points I outright laughed during the book.   The character development is just excellent.

Bedroom Activities: None

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Review: Savage Dominion: A LitRPG Adventure

Title:  Savage Dominion

https://www.amazon.com/Savage-Dominion-Adventure-Luke-Chmilenko-ebook/dp/B08RSNK38B/

Author: Luke Chmilenko, G.D. Penman

Rating:  4.7/5

Comments

This is Luke’s new collaboration, and to just get things stated up front, I enjoyed most of it.  Luke (and/or his collaborators) have a good sense for how to make characters believable and entertaining.  I really like Maulkin, Mercy, and Asher.  They are fun, entertaining, and relatable.  The interplay between Maulkin and Mercy is funny as hell, and it’s a continual miracle that Asher doesn’t beat them both.

So there’s one point that caused me consternation, and Luke has hinted that it’s part of the over-arching story, but I am really uncomfortable with what is going on with Maulkin and the McGuffin.  That’s a testament to my level of attachment to the MC and I am really not a fan of protagonists that are corrupted during the course of a story.  Probably too many westerns in my youth, but I’m firmly in the “Our Hero”, “White Hat” protagonist camp.  Anyway, might not be an issue, I imagine we’ll find out in book 2.

Bedroom Activities: None

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Review: Grog (Ebon Blades book 1)

Title:  Grog (The Ebon Blades Book 1)

https://www.amazon.com/Grog-RW-Krpoun-ebook/dp/B0851HYMXV/

Author: RW Krpoun

Rating: 5/5

Comments:

So this book has a … lackluster title.  It was a whim that I even looked at it, but it had a couple hundred reviews that were 5 star on Amazon, which is notable.  Looking at it today, it has no 1 or 2 star reviews, and has an aggregate 4.8 star rating.

So the high rating enticed me to look at the blurb which honestly didn’t really encourage me.

So I started Grog with, not apprehension, but certainly some ambivalence.

Grog deserves it’s rating.  Despite being a slave, Grog is not a victim and he conducts himself with an iron sense of what’s right and proper and his place in the order of things.  In some ways Grog’s ignorance of the world outside his experience is staggering, but yet believable, so in addition to his journey on the Grand Quest, there is his journey as he learns about the world, which is arguably the more interesting part of the story.

One really unexpected part of the book, is the humor aspect.  Grog’s very structured mind, and his observations about the wider world are frequently very amusing without being intentionally coy or ironic.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the book and it didn’t hit any of my triggers.  Devoured it in about a day and a half and am now plowing through book 2.

Bedroom Activities: None

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Review: Quantum Shift: Phase Shift 1

Title: Quantum Shift: Phase Shift 1

Author: Kyle Johnson

Rating: 3.25/5

Comments

This book follows the Apocalypse - the world is like a game now, playbook pretty close.  It is marginally better than Shadow Sun because it at least doesn't try to explain why it happened.  It also throws in some cultivation aspects and mixes until it mostly works.

Like most books of this genre I think the authors under-appreciate the psychological toll someone would pay going through an event where they know roughly 97% of the world's population (animals included) just up and die overnight.   

Anyway it's not horrible, if you like the genre, and I did finish it. So there's that.  I currently have no real interest in seeing what happens next but I might be bored one day after the sequel drops, assuming there is a sequel.

Bedroom Activities: FTB

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Review: Lost Bonds

Title: Lost Bonds

Author: Daniel J. Schinhofen

Rating: 5/5

Comments

Sean MacDougal is back, and we finally get to see what happened after the end of book 5.  The cliffhanger is resolved immediately, so he doesn’t keep you dangling long.

Ok, so if you liked the other Binding Words books, you’ll like this one.  Sean is definitely growing as a power, and this book adds whole new dimensions to his powers.  He even shows signs of getting over his tendency to get flustered by the multitude of women in his life.  If you found the other books slow and plodding, well this one doesn’t change that pacing.  Personally, I enjoyed it, and I will admit I was late to work this morning because I was reading it instead of getting ready for work.  I think for DJS’s fans they know what his writing style is like and enjoy it. 

Bedroom Activities: FTB

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Review: Heretic Spellblade

Title: Heretic Spellblade

Author: K.D. Robertson

Rating: 3.5/5

Comments:

This story is mostly ok, but it has some issues which detracted from my enjoyment.  First of all, there are some points where a person has their emotional psyche altered without their consent, which treads dangerously close to rape via mind control for me.  Then there is some general muddiness of the way the powers work, it’s like whatever the author wanted to happen at a given point in the book there was a rationalization for it.  As a bonus annoyance, there are some POV shifts to the antagonists side, which I find (in general) superfluous and irritating.

So it might have potential to improve, but my jury is still out on if I will spend the time to find out.

Bedroom Activities: FTB mostly, some explicit descriptions of nudity (e.g. dripping labia)

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Review: Wiedergeburt

Title: Wiedergeburt 1-5

Author: Brandon Varnell

Rating: 3.5/5

Comments

These 5 books are all very short (average read time 4-5 hours), and honestly it could easily be combined into 2-3 books.

The storyline is pretty decent, protagonist goes back in time, and but remembers everything he knew and has a second chance at a life with his wife who has been killed by the main antagonist. (not a spoiler, it’s in the blurb)

My main knock on this series is for the most part it is written with a crazy amount of extraneous and oddly specific detail.  For example, every piece of his “basic alchemy set” is detailed right down to the size of the beakers.  Breasts cannot be mentioned without a corresponding size adjective, and usually a note to how they are moving (bouncing, jiggling, etc).  Breasts are rarely mentioned without also mentioning the size, hardness, and color of her nipples.    If this was a school paper I would call it word padding.

There are a lot of background, and world building inconsistencies that are there “just because” that just detract from my suspension of disbelief.  A couple of examples are the main setting is a city-state, but the rule is an Empress.  The city has no apparent contact or trade with other civilizations, yet there are numerous markets, and even an auction house.  The city takes a full day to get across on foot, but you can reach the Demon Mountains in half an hour.  Maybe these are just me, but IMO, it shows a lack of consideration and thought about the setting.

The 5^th book ended with a “To be continued” but I don’t know if I care enough to keep reading, my interest has waned over the course of the series, and I think the story of the 5^th one was the weakest.

Bedroom Activities: Explicit

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