I’m currently starting book 3. So right off you know I like well enough to stick to it through 3 books. Its entertaining and the obvious comparisons to The Cradle series is actually what brought me to this author. So there will be some comparison in this review.
The good:
• Travis Baldree is amazing! His voice was born to bring fun characters to life and he does so without fail.
• The world is a fun Kung-fu theater / Eastern Culture world mixed with western people and ideas.
• Some of the fight scenes are lots of fun – especially in book 1. Not so much as the series goes on but I’ll get to that later.
• The side characters are likable and somewhat developed. Enough to bring some extra flavor but alas not enough to signal an advanced author’s mark.
The Not-So-Good:
• The main character is a murder hobo. He is a homicidal maniac who slaughters at the drop of a hat. It was somewhat entertaining at first but now he just comes off as a completely disassociated crazy person – a rabid dog snapping the life out of everyone who crosses his path.
• The advancement system doesn’t feel fleshed out at all. It almost feels like the author added it at the last second or wrote it an on a rewrite. Maridian level this and emperor that – it means little and isn’t explained very well. It also doesn’t actually mean much when a low leveled kid murder hobos your group of people who should be ten times his power level.
• The combat got boring. Unlike Cradle – this series doesn’t develop the power base and fighting style of the MC. Jim just does his thread thing and everyone dies. If he gets in trouble he gets mad – slows time and taps into an all powerful matrix of power that exists outside the boundaries of abilities and the end result is the same as always – everyone is chopped into pieces and he couldn’t care less.
• The gods come off as snooty children. They can see backwards and forwards in time yet things surprise them. Its odd.
• Breaking the 4th wall and inserting inside jokes and side stories about horses who hurt side characters is weird. It breaks the story and comes off like the author is just sitting in a dark room laughing at his own jokes. They aren’t particularly funny or witty and it pulls the reader out of the flow of the story. That said – the author has a good voice in almost every other part of the books.
• 1st person is odd for this type of book. The mc isn’t reading his own stats or anything. I feel like 3rd person may have been a better option but that just my take. 1st person doesn’t hurt the story.