Realmbreaker by Actus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Definitely feels like the peak of the series. Anything else after this needs to be from other's PoVs.

Our heroes just got way too-powerful.

But as for it being, fundamentally, a buddy-buddy novel, it's pretty damn good. No complaints. Friends who kill massive armies together, stay together.

The romance aspect of these books are rather... muted. But whatever. It's nice reading about an uncomplicated romance that's akin to another bromance--without complications. That's the nice part.

Of course, when you're almost dying every day, it's the little things that count.

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Dawnfall by Actus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Truly fun if what you want is a series of training montages, OP power development, and friendships.

There really isn't anything in terms of grand arc plot stuff, but after having walked the void with a significant upgrade, it's a quite well-deserved kind of vacation. Full of pain and suffering that somehow equates to bright joy.

You know, because you're doing what you love. :)

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Voidwalker by Actus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A slower fantasy. The inherent idea of having a best friend as an eldritch horror SHOULD have a more funny base, but this isn't that. It's friendship, mentorship, and a bit of light adventure in a school-like system.

If it sounds fairly average--it is. But it's also still pretty entertaining. All the characters are developing. Not bad.

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Fringe Runner by Rachel Aukes
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I guess I wanted something more from this. I won't say it isn't competent enough as an Expanse-lite romp, but it's simply a bit too bland for me. It's space-opera, but it doesn't have any hooks beyond sex, extra-real characters (those with faults), pirates, and rebellion.

It might be enough for the general reader, but I've read an amazing number of great SF and this is pretty ho-hum. Hell, Doc Smith from 80 years ago was writing much more interesting romps.

Alas. I don't think I'll continue on.

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Unmapped: An Epic Fantasy LitRPG Adventure by Dakota Krout
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A truly fun novel. I'm SO glad it's focused so much on massive skill gains. Better yet, from one Master level skill to MANY, MANY. Muahahahahahaha

Oh, and finally, we get now understand WHY Joe has been so damn cursed for the whole series.

Gods hate this ONE tiny trick.


Oh, and the whole cheese thing has me tittering still. Endless tittering.

So, just so people know what to expect: JOE IS WORKING WELL WITH PEOPLE. This is more of a breakthrough than gaining multiple master classes. A world boss getting boomed was a second-best feature.

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Untapped by Dakota Krout
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Muahahahahahaha this is great. It TOTALLY makes up for the last two novels in quality. That's not to say the last one wasn't bad, especially with the full-out world battle, but this one dove right back into what I most loved about the series from the start: ritual magic, hidden tweaks, learning, complexity, ahem-rule-breaking, and core mc-funny wordplay that really puts the cheese in cheesy.

I really loved forcing Joe to build up his foundations of magic since he's been a horribly lop-sided mess. The fact that he's doing it WHILE training a bunch of old friends and annoying them with songs is a great side-benefit.

All in all, I can't even BEGIN to tell you how much I love not having to deal with the dwarves anymore.

Ahem.

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Thunderplump by Dakota Krout
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This novel does a couple of really awesome things. It wraps up THIS particular dwarven cycle.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

It's funny, actually, how many dwarven problems can be tidily wrapped up just by killing them all. It's almost magical.

Come on Bifrost, take me away!



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