Tenacity by Dakota Krout
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I come back to these specifically for the heavy ritualist hacking techniques in a fantasy setting.

Not, I should note, for the endless nasty grousing of antagonistic dwarves constantly hampering our hero's efforts.

Seriously, if I were him, I'd have let the entire dwarven community just go to whatever hell it wanted to achieve. This amount of backstabbing against a bona fide hero from the very start is just... ugly.

And sadly, our hero isn't exactly THAT likable anyway, so it's just a matter of assholes being assholes to each other. And yet, they still work toward making a functioning town?

Sigh. Oh, wait. This is meant to reflect reality, no? Right. Makes sense now.



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Earthshaker by Plum Parrot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I admit I always love it more when we get to see complex new worlds, seemingly impossible odds, and still seeing Victor trounce them all. It's a good formula. It works. But more importantly, if pulled off right, it's just plain fun.

And this was definitely fun.

To think the whole shaking of earth bit was just that ONE TIME. And it seemed SO necessary then, too! Ah, but the consequences...



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Podkayne of Mars by Robert A. Heinlein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

From the start of this novel, well into when they made it to Venus from Mars, I kept thinking this would make a GREAT young adult mini-tv series, right up there with the best light adventures we've ever had. We've got the plucky Pod, her brilliant and naughty younger brother, and her war-hero ancient Uncle who takes the kids on a little adventure across the solar system.

Sound old-fashioned?

Sure, but classic storylines usually do. The trick is in how WELL the story comes off, the depth of character and worldbuilding, how much twisting of expectations goes on, and how much heart it has.

This has lots of heart. And that's why I think it'd make a great, non-problematic SF adventure that's not horror in disguise. It's discovery, tweaking the noses of racists and rich assholes, a bit of politics that's nine parts freedom and one part intrigue, and all outside-the-box thinking.

It's Heinlein at his prime. And I mean that quite literally. This book came out right after Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land. And Heinlein is, oddly enough, a chameleon in his writing.

How else would we go from Starship Troopers, a novel that is slightly subversive but easily mistaken for a novel about TRUE DUTY and chain of command and heroism, to Stranger in a Strange Land, a novel that becomes a paragon of 60's counter-culture, free love, empathy, and a satire about all things religious at the same time, to Podkayne: a novel that's about as light and free as a feather, thumbing its nose at all authority and duty for the sake of family?

All three novels came out as fast as a shotgun blast from the author. Two of them won the Hugos for best SF novel of the year.

So why isn't this one more talked about? It's very modern. It has most of our modern sensibilities, with only one or two examples to the contrary. I mean, it's not like we all assume taking care of children is all a woman's work. And I'd like to point out that Pod ropes in her brother to help out where it was needed, too. The reality is: she's still a character that WILL go all out when a thing needs doing. And it's clear.

And if it wasn't for the end of the novel, I'd STILL love to see a high-production mini-series made of this. Kept ENTIRELY as it was depicted. The details are what make this powerful.

Post-Mars rebellion, freedom fighters becoming politicians, can-do attitudes all around, and no patience for rich assholes. And above all, a great, light adventure that makes a point of STAYING mostly light. Accessible.

Highly recommended. Heinlein is a master of his craft.


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Magma Heart by Plum Parrot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A good continuation of the warlord path, continuing the conquering of the evil empire. The undead empire. And leveling up is always fun... especially when you start breathing magma.

Good stuff. Simple, lots of action, great near-defeats and enough asspulls for any drama. :)



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Battlemaster by Plum Parrot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Maybe not the best of the series, but if you want to see a change toward leadership skills and large-scale battles with Victor leading them, then this is your book. Rah, rah, war, war.

The beginning was rather interesting to me, though. We got our first clear carry-over to the other LitRPG series I'd just read by the author. A clear invite to mesh this and that together seamlessly. It was rather amusing and I WANT to see it happen.

But war... war never changes.

Or rather, war kinda pushes all other considerations out the door.

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Titan Blood by Plum Parrot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Stuck in a higher-tier world can do WONDERS for your level. :)

I had a great time reading this one. There's always something satisfying about falling in love with dragons, making enemies of civilization-destroying jerks, and eating still-beating hearts. Satisfying. Very.



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Spirit Hunter by Plum Parrot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Like many of these long-run LitRPGs, this simply gets better with more experience and story under its belt. You might say its spirit gets quite a bit stronger.

And it's true. A lot of wrapping-up of old storylines happen here, revenges, spirit-balancing, recognition that the dark side is actually rather dark, and that, yes, it IS good to balance everything if you don't want to become an evil motherf**ker.

It's fun. No doubt about it. Adventure, through and through.

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