Leveling Up The World 2 by L. Eclaire
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is what you call a slow-starting series. The first book was simply okay, at least to me, but the second really got going well and finished very strong.

Off on his own, heading to a real town, he makes some pretty decent friends and joins a guild. But it's the training montages, working for a living, a bit of socializing, and especially getting strong that makes this a good one. Some pretty great milestones. Some very excellent companions.

Honestly? I'm hooked to see how far this goes. I'm really enjoying the little corruptions in the world and want to see just how deep it goes.

View all my reviews

Leveling Up The World by L. Eclaire
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I honestly started to believe this might have been kinda Disgaea for its leveling up trope, without the demons, of course, but I was pretty wrong on that count.

Sure, you can level some items by entering them but there's no real tactics, just a few minor challenges and/or fights.

What this particular LitRPG seems to have going for it is a slow grind. It literally took the entire book and the ousting of the village elder to get to level 5. Skill-ups are limited, too. Perhaps even more limited than actually LEARNING a skill in reality.

That being said, I didn't hate it. It may still have promise, especially since the core mechanic seems to have been rather un-tapped.



View all my reviews

The Employees: A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century by Olga Ravn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A novella about artificial humans waking up to their sub-par existential-crisis lives aboard a spacecraft? Or about the meaninglessness and humiliation of our modern workforce?

Who knows? It works both ways to the Nth degree.

Very snarky in a subdued way. As you might guess by the premise.

Employees of the world, unite! lol

View all my reviews

Sub-Majer's Challenge by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It continually shocks me just how ... steadying ... these books are for a reader. That's probably the best description I can make about it. There's continuous and steady pressure, calm outlooks, reliance on competence, careful thought, overwhelming force when necessary, and an always delightful magic system that is balanced perfectly with ordered military life.

These books are a repudiation of incompetence and chaos for chaos's sake.

This particular book sucked me right in and no matter what happened (taking over another post, succeeding against all odds, getting married, learning a few big surprises along the way, getting promoted SEVERAL times) it all felt inevitable and inexorable.

Rational Stars, it's good. The style and the (to be frank) perfectly mass-produced plotting is not even a detriment to the story. It's a medium to carry the FEEL we want from these books. Of course, that doesn't mean it can't surprise or take us by storm, but in general, we're meant to feel immense COMFORT.

I cannot stress how good this is. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I love it. And I generally DON'T love military novels.

But when they serve to bring order and wisdom to the world?
Brilliant.

View all my reviews

Vainglory 2: A LitRPG Adventure by Plum Parrot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I honestly probably wouldn't have picked this up if it hadn't been Plum Parrot's name on it. Fortunately, I had a great time anyway. The slippery slope for this Isekai'd cop is getting more and more slippery. I mean, what's with a little lycanthropy to spice up your day? Soul stealing? Horse mutilation?

He's a good man! Good friends. Law abiding and law aiding. Who cares if he rarely takes in prisoners now? They were all coming for him and his buds!

Ah, the glory still awaits. Take just another step.

View all my reviews

Vainglory by Plum Parrot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is definitely a different kind of LitRPG from the others. It may still have a much milder skill system even if it's still very much there, but the FEEL is very much a western. Cop in our modern world just about to retire get's isekai'd, a demon riding him as he's thrown into another world. And if that isn't bad enough, it's all just choices, worse choices, and gaslighting, throwing him into more darkness.

Of course, it FEELS like a buddy-buddy novel. It FEELS like the good guys are winning. But yeah... yeah.

In that respect, it's VERY much a western.

View all my reviews

Your name. 1 by Ranmaru Kotone
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Such a shockingly good romance. This light novel is, like the movie I saw first, alas, is simple, beautifully complex, and heartbreakingly tense and sweet all the same time.

It's deceptively relaxed. Girl finds boy, boy loses girl, both wish... but it IS fantasy and fate and memory loss and tragedy wrapped all in one, like all the best stories are.

It's beautiful. Nuff said. :)

View all my reviews