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aoutrance's review against another edition
You expect me to read a whole book about this guy as the MC? No thanks.
nmars's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The author is trying to ask the question whether someone as evil as possible can be redeemed. As a discussion on this topic, I think he succeeded even if it makes the book difficult at times.
capncannoli's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Where this book shines, its influences shine brighter. All its best parts, namely in the world building and character concepts, are drawn from authors like Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan. Readers will be better off with those authors instead.
In execution, this book fumbles and fails, though it managed to still have a few emotional points that landed. Each character, especially Daylen, falls flat when they had potential to have nuance. Brooks approaches sex and trauma from an embarrassingly juvenile understanding, and even shoehorns in a pro-life lecture at the end. I do not recommend this to any reader.
In execution, this book fumbles and fails, though it managed to still have a few emotional points that landed. Each character, especially Daylen, falls flat when they had potential to have nuance. Brooks approaches sex and trauma from an embarrassingly juvenile understanding, and even shoehorns in a pro-life lecture at the end. I do not recommend this to any reader.
innocenthedgehog's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
modkuraika's review against another edition
2.0
The ideas are there, the worldbuilding is there, but the characterization leaves a lot to be desired and the overall project feels like it needed another draft or two at minimum to really cook. Daylen is downright insufferable, and his unending woe-is-me prattling wouldn't be a problem if the execution didn't feel so immature in and of itself. Every time he wept or brought up his recurring offenses, I felt like a Linkin Park song had been added as backing track. While the power system and intrigue are also interesting, the constant info dumps undermine the pacing of the narrative. I just don't think it was ready for publication, independent or not.
croaker's review against another edition
1.0
I really wanted to like this book because I love the world building and the magic system. The main character even has a good back story. There are a few decent characters in the book but overall the development of the main cast is very disjointed and erratic. The action scenes are great! The rest is just really rough.
About halfway through the book I figured out it was self published. I don't have a problem with self-published books but they tend to have some serious flaws. Bad editing, poor layout of plot and development of characters. A lot of suspension of disbelief is required to follow the book to the end.
This book has all of that.
This book needed the heavy hand of an editor and a publisher willing to work out the glaring problems this book has.
The main character was also the ultimate Mary-Sue. There is justification for him being amazing at everything but it got old really fast.
I feel guilty because I'm usually not this harsh about a book but I felt kind of duped. I watched his video about his book being published and based on the cover art and the people reading the audiobook I thought it was published by a major publisher like Tor. I expected a well polished, well developed fantasy novel. I didn't get that.
Side note: This book has a lot of talk about rape in it. Like, a lot.
About halfway through the book I figured out it was self published. I don't have a problem with self-published books but they tend to have some serious flaws. Bad editing, poor layout of plot and development of characters. A lot of suspension of disbelief is required to follow the book to the end.
This book has all of that.
This book needed the heavy hand of an editor and a publisher willing to work out the glaring problems this book has.
The main character was also the ultimate Mary-Sue. There is justification for him being amazing at everything but it got old really fast.
I feel guilty because I'm usually not this harsh about a book but I felt kind of duped. I watched his video about his book being published and based on the cover art and the people reading the audiobook I thought it was published by a major publisher like Tor. I expected a well polished, well developed fantasy novel. I didn't get that.
Side note: This book has a lot of talk about rape in it. Like, a lot.
raj_page's review against another edition
5.0
What would you do if you got a second chance in life?
And what if you were the greatest tyrant the world has ever seen in your old life.
Would you repeat the same mistakes, or would you try your best to undo your past sins.
This is a story of redemption which felt good to read. I loved the ending.
But I was conflicted between 4 and 5. I love the Youtube channel of the author and that's why I even read this book and I was not disappointed. So many times does a sci fi world has magic in it but here, in this fantasy book, the magic system is so hard that we even see physics and mathematical formulae appear in the text. I loved every second of the magic. It is really immersive.
I was conflicted because there were moments where I thought that the magic system was stealing the focus from the story. But it turns out that the ending is so perfect that I had no choice but to give it a 5
And what if you were the greatest tyrant the world has ever seen in your old life.
Would you repeat the same mistakes, or would you try your best to undo your past sins.
This is a story of redemption which felt good to read. I loved the ending.
But I was conflicted between 4 and 5. I love the Youtube channel of the author and that's why I even read this book and I was not disappointed. So many times does a sci fi world has magic in it but here, in this fantasy book, the magic system is so hard that we even see physics and mathematical formulae appear in the text. I loved every second of the magic. It is really immersive.
I was conflicted because there were moments where I thought that the magic system was stealing the focus from the story. But it turns out that the ending is so perfect that I had no choice but to give it a 5
evasw's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
tikaany's review against another edition
3.0
A pretty entertaining book overall.
I think the general consensus is that the worldbuilding is what really shines in this novel, and I agree. The story is also pretty well crafted. The style however has some issues, with room for improvement in the prose. It's also littered with spelling mistakes and typos - not a poor reflection on the author, we all make them, but rather on the industry-standard proofreaders that really should have picked up on it, it feels like a bit of an insult to the author.
Aside from that, the biggest problem is a lack of stakes for the first half of the novel. The protagonist is an expert at virtually every skill under the sun, and his seemingly endless powers make it worse - he never faces any significant challenges, always relying on yet another skill that he's the best in the world at or discovering some new application to his dubiously defined powers. He faces some stronger opponents in the second half, though he is never truly challenged, as his powers can even bring him back from the dead (it actually happens once). I also feel that the overreliance on rape as a way to make things appear monstrous is a little lacking in taste, but that's just my opinion - I feel characterisation can be achieved in better ways.
Overall, a very entertaining book to read, particularly once it gets past the duller first half. Worth a read, especially if you can get it cheaply second hand - the retail price is quite high.
I think the general consensus is that the worldbuilding is what really shines in this novel, and I agree. The story is also pretty well crafted. The style however has some issues, with room for improvement in the prose. It's also littered with spelling mistakes and typos - not a poor reflection on the author, we all make them, but rather on the industry-standard proofreaders that really should have picked up on it, it feels like a bit of an insult to the author.
Aside from that, the biggest problem is a lack of stakes for the first half of the novel. The protagonist is an expert at virtually every skill under the sun, and his seemingly endless powers make it worse - he never faces any significant challenges, always relying on yet another skill that he's the best in the world at or discovering some new application to his dubiously defined powers. He faces some stronger opponents in the second half, though he is never truly challenged, as his powers can even bring him back from the dead (it actually happens once). I also feel that the overreliance on rape as a way to make things appear monstrous is a little lacking in taste, but that's just my opinion - I feel characterisation can be achieved in better ways.
Overall, a very entertaining book to read, particularly once it gets past the duller first half. Worth a read, especially if you can get it cheaply second hand - the retail price is quite high.
evak's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5