Bookish Wednesday: Blademage Beastmaster by Deck Davis

This week for Bookish Wednesday I’m back with a book that I’ll freely out admit I stopped reading about halfway through. It’s Blademage Beastmaster by Deck Davis!

Plot Synopsis: Charlie Naylor is a good guy, but he’s never been never great at multi-tasking. When Larynk, the God of Corn, sends Charlie into a fantasy game, he just can’t help himself trying…

Plot: I have serious issues with using family pets as story impetus, especially when it concerns their health. The fact that this story opens up on the Main Character having just put down his dog is a huge minus for me off the bat. While I can put up with some mistakes by an author, this wasn’t the worst part. Once the LitRPG portion of the story comes into play, is where I started to have real issues. The author has no clue as to how to use the English language properly and it quickly becomes apparent once Charlie learns some magic. Mr. Davis uses the word “Tier” when talking about different forms of magic. So Conjuration, Summoning, Evocation that sort of thing. That is a completely inappropriate usage of the word and was a huge warning flag to me that the story was not worth reading. He should’ve used words like “Branch” or “Aspect” when describing and explaining his magic system, instead he uses the word “Tier” and it’s not just a one time offense.

So I stopped reading the book after he used it a few dozen more times, and I’ll be staying away from his works in the future unless he seriously improves his use of the English language.

Don’t read this if you have: Standards, An Appreciation for Proper Grammar and Word Usage.

That’s it for this week’s Bookish Wednesday.

Serial Saturday: Atros Imperium Chapters 0-8 by Terry

This week for Serial Saturday I’m back with a series I have yet to cover. It’s Atros Imperium Chapters 0-8 by Terry!

Plot Synopsis: Anton Thorne is a working man with no family, friends or loved ones in his life. One day after a particularly brutal day at work which ended with him berating his boss and probably losing his job he boards the bus to go home. However everything quickly goes awry when it’s boarded by a group of gang members, unfortunately for Anton his day is only beginning to go wrong and much worse things await him…

Plot: I won’t go to far into the plot just quite yet, but this is a Fantasy series, I will say that. What you gather from that before reading is up to you, however the prologue is not fully indicative of the rest of the series, I will say that. There are some minor plot threads left hanging and they still have yet to be answered by the author, but that’s not too big an issue as the story isn’t terrible enough for me to really nitpick.

Characters: We get introduced to a pretty large cast in these first few chapters, but of them all my favorite side character is probably Right Jeff. If that makes no sense, you’ll understand when you read these chapters. However Anton is the star, sort of. He makes the best of his situation with a bunch of grit and is honestly a pretty good main character. The rest of the cast is just as good, with most of them having pretty good depth, for the amount of characters that are in just these first few chapters.

Overall: A solid and fun Fantasy read with quite a few twists from standard genres that Atros Imperium is based off of.

For those who like: Fantasy, Magic, Good Plot, Excellent Cast of Characters.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, but how can you hate all that?

Bookish Wednesday: Present Tense by John Van Stry

I’m back with the sequel to Past Tense for this week’s Bookish Wednesday! It’s Present Tense, Book 02 of the Days of Future Past, by John Van Stry!

Plot Synopsis: Coyote has a new task for Paul, one that involves him traveling north hundreds of miles over the post-apocalyptic landscape of California, the place that Paul once called home.  Thankfully, Sarah and Heather have both decided to go with him and between Heather’s shooting skills and Sarah’s magical ones; Paul thinks he might just live through whatever scheme Coyote has enlisted him in. If he can live through telling the girls just what Coyote’s got him carrying in his pack now of course….

Plot: The plot is again pretty good, though not super amazing it was entertaining enough. There is plenty of action and adventure along with harebrained ideas that are plenty of fun to experience through the story.

Characters: We get introduced to quite a few new characters, and while saying who my favorite new one would be a huge spoiler, I will say that Coyote is definitely my favorite overall character.

Overall: A solid sequel and middle book in a solid trilogy.

Bookish Wednesday: Past Tense by John Van Stry

This week for Bookish Wednesday I’m back with a series I stumbled across fairly recently. It’s Past Tense, Book 01 of the Days of Future Past series, by John Van Stry!

Plot Synopsis: Paul’s been having a bad day, perhaps one of the worst days he’s ever had. And now into the middle of all this, his instructor just got drafted by some mystical goddess to help save a world. As for Paul? Well, he’s really not supposed to be there, and if he thought he was having a bad day before all of this, it just got worse, a lot worse. He’s now on a one way trip, forced to help a man who despises him…

Plot: The plot is pretty good, nothing spectacular, but not super terrible either. It was entertaining and I enjoy the use of Native American mythology in conjunction with more standard Fantasy. I won’t say more about the plot, because this book is fairly short, but it’s good for quite a few laughs.

Characters: The cast is pretty good, and while Paul is occasionally incredibly dense as hell, he’s not a terrible lead character. Of the side characters I think Heather is my favorite, if only because she’s quite true to her own nature.

Overall: A good first book in an fairly interesting series. Worth a read if you like Fantasy.

For those who like: Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance, Fantasy, Native American Mythology, Good Plot, Decent Csat of Characters.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Bookish Wednesday: The Beginning by Charles Dean

This week for Bookish Wednesday I’m covering the first in a rather interesting LitRPG series. It’s War Aeternus: The Beginning by Charles Dean!

Plot Synopsis: Lee is a quiet and unassuming office worker who leads a life of solitude, comfort, and routine. Day in and day out, he shuts off his brain, keeps his head down, and goes about doing his job and minding his own business. That is, he does until a drunken god shows up randomly one day and whisks him off into another world, demanding that Lee serve as his pawn in a game between the gods.

Plot: The plot is fairly typical LitRPG mixed in with the Isekai genre that you’ll probably recognize from many books or even Anime. However the new thing here is what Lee has to do in this new world he finds himself in. I won’t spoil it, but it’s probably not what you are thinking. Some people might offended by it, but the fact that Lee is so uncomfortable with the job he’s tasked with mitigates any offensiveness in my book. Not that I was particularly offended at all mind.

Characters: The entire cast is awesome, but Augustus is probably my favorite. However Lee is the real star of course, and it shows. However if Augustus is my favorite, a very close second is Lin. And by close, I mean I only picked Augustus because of his eccentricities, otherwise it’d be a straight tie between the two. The

Overall: This is a great read, or even better listen, for those who like the LitRPG genre.

For those who like: LitRPGs, Isekai, Comedy, Excellent Plot, Fantastic Cast of Characters.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.