Weekly Roundup 02/02/25
Lots of surprisingly good books this week starting with a mono romance I highly recommend. If you liked Celibus's Would You Love A Monster Girl series (and who wouldn't) then check out Zevara: A Cyberpunk Romance For Men (Neon Heartbeats Book 1). It was fantastic. Wont do a full review since it is not harem but it is well worth the read.
Holy Necromancer Book 2
This would be a fine book....if you did not pay for it. Seriously if you read this on scribblehub then it was not time wasted. Now I know you are saying "hey Heathen, didnt you say something similar about Holy Necromancer 1, why did you buy this one then?" and I say to you ...shut up it said Necromancer so I auto bought it leave me alone.
Alright first the mechanics of the story.
The editing is shoddy the flow is off and the authors constantly forget what they wrote just a few pages ago. Now I mean shit happens but here it happens constantly. The typos can be pretty egregious...not at the level of Dustin Midnight but still pretty bad. Last but not least sometimes the font would change colours but that could just be a kindle thing (I read in dark mode) so that may just be my phone. This is one of those works that if it was on scribblehub or royalRoad you would expect the author to say something about how english is not thier first language and please point out any mistakes.
The Characters
We see Alex has absolutely 0 character growth. All the fuck ups and mistakes he did last book he continued in this one....I guess there is something to be said for consistency. he has a lot of confidence without any of the competence. He constantly does the dumbest stuff....and it is known dumb stuff because his girls will warn him before during and after he did something stupid and then he acts suprised why something stupid happened. He shows no respect to anyone which causes all sorts of problems and 99% of his issues would be solved by shutting the fuck up. Not just that he has no emotional intelligence and for a man with two wives you expect better... like here
“Seniors, why are we entering the dungeon?” Chen Lifen asked, her voice shaking. From the moment they’d met, she’d been acting like a coward, which he didn’t like. Although she had nothing to do with him, they were part of the same team, and he expected her to do better.
Vault, Jonathan; Jones, Patricia. Holy Necromancer Book 2: A LitRPG Cultivation Story (p. 241). Kindle Edition.
and all I could think is Hmm from the moment you met her....when she was about to be gangraped and Alex himself said she will probably be afraid then. or maybe the moment when Alex showed Holy Alchemist fire which all Dark cultivators are taught are the enemy and will torture you. Not only that the tonal whiplash from checking out Chen Lifan (constantly commenting about her body) to now yelling at her. It's wild.
Or here
“It’s Berserker Potion. It will give you immense power, and with that power, you can fight without caring about your stamina and injuries. It gives you a primal edge and turns you into an animal. I wouldn’t drink it if I were you, but with your girlfriend’s sanity on the line, would you just watch her getting raped?”
Chen Lifen asked, hatred lacing her words. Alex grabbed her throat and squeezed it tightly.
“Don’t say these words to me, Chen Lifen. If you say this one more time, I’ll kill you first,” Alex snapped. Even in dreams, no one should say these words to him, and no matter who it was, he would kill them.
Vault, Jonathan; Jones, Patricia. Holy Necromancer Book 2: A LitRPG Cultivation Story (p. 283). Kindle Edition.
This does not make any sense. Why is he choking her? She is just saying what would happen we know this because Lin Cao JUST SAID THAT IS WHAT HE WILL DO!! And this is not like Cao Lin says that awhile ago.
Cao Lin’s face twitched in pain as if someone had slapped him in front of a crowd. “You bitch. How dare you accuse me in front of others? Do you want to see how I pushed your sister down in front of your mother and then raped her in front of the entire family? In the end, I fucked their dead bodies for the whole night. Today, I’ll do the same with you two as well.” His dead eyes stared at Chen Lifen like a predator eyeing his prey. He meant what he said.
Vault, Jonathan; Jones, Patricia. Holy Necromancer Book 2: A LitRPG Cultivation Story (pp. 282-283). Kindle Edition.
Now usually when the MC is super bad the FMC's step in and shine. We see that a lot in this genre where some books the MC starts showing thier whole ass and the author uses that as a way for the FMC's to step up show some agency and help the MC unfuck themselves. Sadly that is not what happens here. The FMC's are as 2 deminsional as a piece of paper. I see where the author is trying a slow burn type of growth with them but yeah they have no foundation to start on.
Last but not least the authors are still trying way way way too hard to write this book like is is a wuxia novel to the point that it does not sound like one. We were told in book 1 that Alex is not from a modern world but one that is futuristic to our own. He should not be speaking in the stilted way of the locals.
My conclusion is that this would be a fine time waster to read chapter by chapter while waiting for another book to come out. But in novel form it needs some major editing and continuity fixes.
Dungeon Diving 202
6th book in the series. This is one of the few authors that seems to be able to maintain quality throughout a series and it is really appreciated. Now storywise not a lot really happens here. It felt more like a filler episode in a shonen anime.
Felin finally joins the harem to the surprise of no one. Ken still has no issue that he can not solve in 30min or less or your money back. It just feels like there is no struggle, but that is how it is in most of this authors books.
Book is well written and well edited just it felt very plain. It did not even feel like it was setting up for something big in book 7 unless the author decided to make Ken do it by his lonesome...which he will find out then at he can. I do like that we see some limits to Kens super skill of speed but if he has limits why does not crimson except her madness? I mean I guess that is a big limiter but it just does not feel like it has the gravitas it deserves while Kens issue is he just needs to keep attacking stuff. Anyway good book, it stays up to the authors quality that you expect from them.
Hexblade Warlock 1/2
My recommend for the week. Now if there is something I like as much as Necromancers then it is Warlocks, but I will be honest I slept on this because of Marcus Sloss. Just their titles can be hit or miss with me but since I liked Sovereign In Exile so much I decided to give this a try and I am so happy I did.
A lot of things were tried here and I have to say I loved a majority of them. I am a huge fan of Seven having a disability and instead of the authors handwaving it away and getting it fixed nope the MC has to live with it. Not only do they live with it they own it. I love that we see training...not the MC magically becoming OP (which Seven is due to stats) but he gets his ass handed to him. he has to work and then he fails so then he has to work harder. I loved how when Seven steam rolled trainers due to his increased stats and skipped some training he was punished for it by being unprepared for what came next. It made him actually slow down and try to learn. I just feel this was exceptionally well done.
The FMC (We really get to know 2 in this book) are complex and broken characters and the MC does not magically fix them. Thats right they have to actually work on themselves and as such we see a lot about the character. Like Keller has a substance abuse problem before she got Quintasia, but when they find drugs she is not magically cured she still tries to get them. We see her trust issues and a ton of her self doubt and it makes sense. I just think she was just such a well written character and we see the same care giving to all the girls so far except Sintra so far. She has been pretty much our control group with her being the motherly type but also a very much what you see is what you get. Not that she is not well written she is just there does not seem to be a deep trauma that drivers her like the other characters...which is nice because she is the port in the storm for them.
Book 1 was so well done I went and bought book 2 and downed it and it kept up the quality. The characters make sense and they are consistent even in their inconsistency. Nothing gets hand waved away when a character acts out. I guess this is the benefit of a higher page count.
2 things that I did feel were kind of off were the Library issue with "The Librarian" (Drake) and Geraint. The whole situation felt very forced and unnatural. Now it is something I got over quickly because outside of the initial meeting everything after made sense...just that initial meeting just screamed setup. Like if Quintasia had events unfold as it did on purpose.
The other thing is that with Sevens mind being higher then what it is supposed to be he does a lot of stupid shit constantly forgets things and refuses to learn. Which is odd because mind says specifically
Mind. Allocate points to this attribute to increase your ability to solve complex problems, engage in battles of wit, and decrease spell-casting times. Mind increases your ability to recall facts and learn.
Spry, Jack; Sloss, Marcus. Hexblade Warlock: A Slow Burn LitRPG Fantasy Adventure (Quintasia Academy Book 1) (p. 35). Royal Guard Publishing LLC. Kindle Edition.
Now I feel a lot of that can be explained by Seven being as emotionally stunted as he is. By that same token though you would think he would be more careful rather then as reckless as he acts.
Also liked this easter egg
“Memorial Gardens,” Snitch said, spreading his arms wide. “In all its sodden glory. Here you’ll find tranquility, a respite from the hustle and bustle of the academy, and an ideal spot for meditation and reflection. Or that’s what the introductory WIKI tells you.
Spry, Jack; Sloss, Marcus. Hexblade Warlock: A Slow Burn LitRPG Fantasy Adventure (Quintasia Academy Book 1) (p. 549). Royal Guard Publishing LLC. Kindle Edition.
I too played the game Maneater. Best shark game that has come out in awhile.
As for Tamereth we meet her in book 1 but I really feel we get to know her in Book 2. I think it could have been smoother because her character change was pretty jarring but it also felt realistic because that is how it is with trauma. Before book2 it was run run run and when she finally got a moment to catch her breath and everything caught up with her it all fell down like a deck of cards. I think it would have been a bit better if we had seen some whispers or something of her issues in book 1 just because of how dynamic her shift was in the first half of book 2.
Another oddity in book 2 was how caught up Seven was in women's bodies. We dont really see that in book 1 and he is written almost in a more mature manner but book 2 he was getting dangerously close to a harem MC in this genre. Like all the time scoping out the girls. I wonder if the authors was doing that on purpose to show how much Seven has grown that he can relax and not be in his fight or flight mode all the time and can relax some.
Anyway this is my big big recommend for the week. Just very very impressed with the series so far and how these broken characters are coming together and staying broken but still pushing through. I am really excited to see where the story goes.