The Path of Ascension 3 by C. Mantis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This one firmly stuck us in only one tier and no kind of direct essence gathering, but all for the grand purpose of a worldwide mock war. No deaths allowed, but damn, everyone is allowed to try. The more you contribute the war, the more you can get out of the war chest.

It sounds like a great training exercise in a powerhouse universe, of course, but people will be people. Nothing ever goes smoothly. Fun stuff, seeing everyone actually improve their real skills and use their real brains to accomplish all their goals.

I consider this a very successful veering off the path. :)

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The Path of Ascension 2 by C. Mantis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Interesting but slow progression despite a tense golem outbreak decimating a planet. It was actually fairly interesting focused solely on the rift creation experimentation.

All said, it was pretty cool, and while a lot less varied things happened in this book compared to the first, it was still enjoyable and addictive as almost all of these LitRPGs are.

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The Path of Ascension by C. Mantis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I honestly didn't know what to expect with this because of the somewhat generic title and just hoped it was going to have good characters at least. Fortunately, I had my heart warmed pretty early on by people being genuinely good sorts and helping out when they really didn't have to, and that just elevated the otherwise generic training and training-area montages into something more entertaining. It DID have the potential to be dark and depressing, mind you, but LitRPG is nothing if not devoted to self-improvement.

A nice hybrid cultivation tier system, and the MC has a requisite broken skill that gives him that glorious edge. Not truly unlocked yet, of course, but as he rises in those tiers, it's gonna be godly. Pretty standard stuff, but the characters are pretty cool, so no problem.

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D: Heavy Water by Neal Stephenson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a wild ride. I loved seeing Aurora again for a vast portion of this novel, but surprisingly enough, I really grew to love Owen, too.

But you know what really stands out for this, and Stephenson books in general? Brilliant attention to details. Rigorous attention to history. Crafty and genuinely crazy plotting. Nerdy nods to not just science, science history, but literature itself.

I'm frankly amazed how a book like this can be an interesting travelogue novel pre-WWII, with lots of adventure and insight... only to become a huge Hemingway nod that made me think almost entirely of For Whom the Bell Tolls... to a crazy romance that made me love the dynamic even though I kept wondering why the HELL Aurora fell for this guy. I mean, it's funny, and I GET it, but if I were him, I'd be wondering why the hell she fell for him, too. :)

But best of all, I love how it THEN turned into one hell of an espionage novel that's all about the D. Not about the scientists surrounding the creation of the nuclear bomb, directly, but about the feet-on-the-ground spycraft that secures the necessary medium to pull it off. Deuterium oxide, baby. Deuterium oxide.

I feel like I learned a lot even while I was immensely entertained. Highly recommended.

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The Infinite Extent by Dennis E. Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dude! THIS guy again? What the hell do we have to do to get rid of an immortal AI with an outmoded political agenda, anyway?

OH. Red-tape him. Ding ding ding! Muahahahahaha And no, I'm not talking about Bob. Bob has some issues, it's true, but that's why he has himself. And himself. And himself. And what's WITH all these biologicals, anyway? Maybe it IS time for a happy divorce. Let the monkeys, or at least, the pre-post-monkeys, get on with messing up their lives however they want. Sheesh.

Wait, am I just reviewing my reactions to this book? But what about the book? Solid continuation of the Bobbiverse and perhaps slightly better than the previous one. Minus THAT GUY. AGAIN. I think the singularity needs a bit of love. At least neighbors are knocking at last.



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Empire by J.R. Mathews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The great: Road tripping across a continent during the middle ages along the famous Silk Road, visiting and defeating every empire along the way with a rag-tag stranded army after a disastrous teleportation spell and trying to make his way home the hard way. Hello steep hoards, terra cotta army, Ottoman empire.

The so-so. Tons of action and troop movement and a spattering of other doppelganger improvements, which is great, but even meat needs the spice of interpersonal stuff, and that's pretty much missing in this book. It's also the end of the series. So everything IS wrapped up nicely, and it's pretty damn epic, but even tho I'm happy, I'm also a bit sad that we didn't also have a massive gathering of people I care about surrounding him at the end, warts and all. These are all simply commanders. Alas. But there's a reason why the novel is called Empire.

And it's a pretty damn epic one, LitRPG alternate history style. Great stuff!

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Player Manager by Ted Steel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What if a famous soccer video game became a novel? Well, yep. Instant stats, skills to buy with XP earned by watching games, using tactics, etc., but still a story about a kid with love for the game but low confidence, a bad job, and nothing more than the love (and the system).

It's pretty decent, but not fantastic. Above average, entertaining for exactly what it is, and that's football. Or soccer for you yanks. A description of this yells out to Ted Lasso, but it just doesn't have the same heart as that. But that's okay. It's a fun start.

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