Series Review: Trader's Tales

Title: Trader's Tales from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper (6 book series)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074C72691

Author: Nathan Lowell

Rating: Average 4.5/5

Comments:    I'm wrapping this series of updates with the series that I enjoyed the most during the last 6 weeks.

This is a 6 book series and I blasted through them in less than two weeks.  It's possible that they engaged with me so well because I was playing Starfield at the same time, but I don't think that's really it.  I think it definitely fit with my Starfield playing, but there were a couple of other sci-fi series that I started about the same time that did not hold my interest.

This is not an action series, but despite that, it has enough dramatic tension and character development to hold your attention.

Not all books in the series are created equally.  The first 3 are essentially one arc and are pretty tightly tied together.  The second 3 are another arc, but are not as tightly bound.  Book 4 is the darkest of the  series, and some members of my Discord are vocally negative about it.  Book 6 has some of the hardest emotional hits, but they are well done.

I'm about to dive into the sequel series, but I have to finish redoing Iron Prince so I'm ready when the sequel drops on the 31st (THREE YEARS after the first book).

Bedroom Activities: FTB

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Review: Mark of the Fool 5

Title: Mark of the Fool 5: A Progression Fantasy Epic

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CBCXC1GQ/

Author: J.M. Clarke

Rating: 5/5

Comments: This is one of those rare series, where the side characters are just as engaging as the protagonist, without overwhelming the protagonist's story.  Lots of great development in this book, from a lot of different characters.

It's pretty surprising to find book 5 of a series to be one of the best yet.

Bedroom Activities: FTB

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Review: An Outcast in Another World 5

Title: An Outcast in Another World 5: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Book 5 - Warring Insanity)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CC74Z2VT/

Author: KamikazePotato

Rating: 4/5

Comments:  At its core, this story is about a man wanting to go home, and to do that he has to survive.  And the crap he survives is amazing.  The path we've been seeing for the last 4 books took a very definite turn to left, so book 6 is going to be interesting.

Bedroom Activities: FTB

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Review: Battlemage Farmer 6

Title: Preservation: Battle Mage Farmer 6 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C3DKLV92/

Author: Seth Ring

Rating:  4.5/5

Comments: It was a crazy ride.  I have no idea where book 7 is going to go, but I'm going to read it.

Bedroom Activities: FTB

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Review: The Fort at the End of the World

Title: The Fort at the End of the World

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C97NSNQN/

Author: Justin Marks 

Rating: 1.5/5

Comments: Cool title, but it's dreadfully boring.  It can't even make combat exciting.  Pages of text that refers to the characters talking, but they don't actually give you the dialogue so there's no character development.  I dropped it at 27% and even getting that far was a struggle.

Bedroom Activities: None

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Review: Path of Ascension 4

Title: The Path of Ascension 4: A LitRPG Adventure Kindle Edition

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C5FWY73Y/

 

Author: C. Mantis  

Rating: 3.4/5

Comments: So after 2 really strong books and one mediocre book, this one really didn't show much improvement over book 3.  It all felt like filler, with time passing but nothing of much significance happening.  Discussion on my Discord seemed to indicate that is the prevailing opinion, but that the next book is setting up to be a return to form.  I hope so, this was a bit of a disappointment.

Bedroom Activities: FTB

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Review: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 6

Title: The Eye of the Bedlam Bride: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 6

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C1R52V2J/

Author: Matt Dinniman

Rating: 4/5

Comments: Carl is great, I enjoy his adventures and travails with Princess Donut. I confess this one was long enough ago that I don't remember a lot of specifics of this book, but I remember that there was a lot of developments in the over-arching story arc.  Looking forward to book 7.

Bedroom Activities:  None

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Review: Battleforged: Survivor

Title: Battleforged: Survivor: A LitRPG Apocalypse Adventure

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CDDQ9FR8/ 

Author: M.H. Johnson

Rating: 2/5

Comments:  This is by the same author as Silver Fox and the Western Hero.  Even if you didn't know it going in, the prose style is utterly unmistakable. I didn't finish it.  The author is clearly going to for a darker, grittier tone than Silver Fox, and the protagonist is apparently going to be skirting the line between good and evil pretty aggressively.  That was just not what I was interested in reading.    I'm sure it will do well with another reader, but this one didn't  find it enjoyable and I stopped before the half way point.   Hopefully I will get another SF&WH book soon.

Bedroom Activities: FTB

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Review: The Fusionist

Title: The Fusionist: A Fantasy LitRPG Academy Adventure (Magical Fusion Book 1)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C7PMKVDS/ 

Author: Jonathan Brooks 

Rating: 4.5/5

Comments:

This was a random pick from the Kindle app.  I didn't know anything about it, it just kind of looked good.  Surprisingly, it was.  It has a very interesting power system, and the protagonist has some personal traits that make him interesting as a character.  As of this writing I've started book 2, butI haven't finished it.

Bedroom Activities: None

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Apologies to my followers

I suddenly realized it's been about 6 weeks since I last updated this.  I'm still alive, but I've been playing a LOT of Starfield.  It's the most fun I've had in a video game in a long time.  I think I just passed 200 hours.  It's not perfect, but no game is.  I'm still having fun, and still haven't done everything. Don't believe the haters, give it a go.  4.8/5

I have been doing some reading, so I'll get this place updated soon.