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Tuco said:
This book is only like, 1% of him jerking off to his core, which the entire last book was entirely focused on, like you said.

But don't worry, instead of him staring at his core he's instead focused on his skills, dao and some other nonsense. I enjoy when books are unashamedly over the top on some certain topic so I don't mind it. It's not as much as the previous book but if the previous book is 75% cultivation, this one is 35% cultivation and it's just as indulgent. Zak will spend a cultivation session focusing on improving his skill "Groin Punch" and focus on the fundamental truths of nutshots and mix them with the dao of cockslaps to form the hybrid skill penultimate sack whack. I love every word.

Much more of the book is focused on battles, world-building and Zak building his nation, which is good. In this universe the people at the top will spend eons in "seclusion" where they selfishly focus on their own development. Giving the reader a taste of what this means by having basically the whole book dedicated to it is inline with the concept and "builds stronger foundations" as Zak would say.

In like, 10 books when Zak starts to approach monarchy I can only assume J. F. Brink will describe the world Zak builds like GRRM describing a feast.
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Thanks. I gave you a like for taking the time to answer me, not because I actually liked your answer! Your description of Groin Punch is spot on with what I fucking hate about these books.

However, perhaps I'll give it a go after the other books that I have on deck. Maybe it won't be as fucking bad as the last one.

And I totally get that in order to progress at even 10000% of the rate of everyone else in the universe, Zak would still be spending centuries in contemplation eventually, but the author needs to fucking just skip all that and say something to the effect of, "After centuries spent edging himself to his core, Zak finally emerged with his new evolved ability, Docking." I don't need a fucking description of the entire process in excruciating detail. Fuck me I hate that.
 
Tuco

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Void said:
Thanks. I gave you a like for taking the time to answer me, not because I actually liked your answer! Your description of Groin Punch is spot on with what I fucking hate about these books.

However, perhaps I'll give it a go after the other books that I have on deck. Maybe it won't be as fucking bad as the last one.

And I totally get that in order to progress at even 10000% of the rate of everyone else in the universe, Zak would still be spending centuries in contemplation eventually, but the author needs to fucking just skip all that and say something to the effect of, "After centuries spent edging himself to his core, Zak finally emerged with his new evolved ability, Docking." I don't need a fucking description of the entire process in excruciating detail. Fuck me I hate that.
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I'm reading the latest Primal Hunter which the author says was influenced by defiance of the fall. It really does feel like it's in the same universe and the protagonist, Jake, is a "heaven's chosen" from a different earth-like planet that was integrated at the same time. Instead of being totally isolated on the frontier with no backing like Zak, Jake is instead given massive protection and close involvement with one of the great supremacies who picked him out as a system-breaking prodigy.

There's a few obvious differences, of course, in that the system in Defiance of the Fall is more active, hostile and is exposed as a powerful creation rather than the universe itself like in Primal Hunter. But generally in my head-canon I think of them as the same universe.

Anyway, in Primal Hunter it's exactly like you describe. Jake just spent 40 years in time-dilated seclusion and it's covered in a chapter or two of him basically sparring in an inner world. All the progression happens super quick. It's convenient but I think it lacks some of the depth granted by the laborious cultivation in Defiance of the Fall.
 
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Tuco said:
I'm reading the latest Primal Hunter which the author says was influenced by defiance of the fall. It really does feel like it's in the same universe and the protagonist, Jake, is a "heaven's chosen" from a different earth-like planet that was integrated at the same time. Instead of being totally isolated on the frontier with no backing like Zak, Jake is instead given massive protection and close involvement with one of the great supremacies who picked him out as a system-breaking prodigy.

There's a few obvious differences, of course, in that the system in Defiance of the Fall is more active, hostile and is exposed as a powerful creation rather than the universe itself like in Primal Hunter. But generally in my head-canon I think of them as the same universe.

Anyway, in Primal Hunter it's exactly like you describe. Jake just spent 40 years in time-dilated seclusion and it's covered in a chapter or two of him basically sparring in an inner world. All the progression happens super quick. It's convenient but I think it lacks some of the depth granted by the laborious cultivation in Defiance of the Fall.
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I read that latest Primal Hunter book and that's how I vastly prefer things. I don't even care if you spend a chapter or three on it, but then be done with it and get back to something more interesting.

However, that being said, everything else is too easy for Jake so that's starting to get a little bit tired. I still like most of the content, but any time he fights something now it is just too easy, barely an inconvenience. I get that these guys will never die (except Jason Asano), but still, make them work for it.

And I swear to fucking God, I want to know who started the fucking smirking and snorting in books recently. Jake is one of the worst about that, although that recent one, We Hunt Monsters, might have taken the crown.
 
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Void said:
I read that latest Primal Hunter book and that's how I vastly prefer things. I don't even care if you spend a chapter or three on it, but then be done with it and get back to something more interesting.

However, that being said, everything else is too easy for Jake so that's starting to get a little bit tired. I still like most of the content, but any time he fights something now it is just too easy, barely an inconvenience. I get that these guys will never die (except Jason Asano), but still, make them work for it.

And I swear to fucking God, I want to know who started the fucking smirking and snorting in books recently. Jake is one of the worst about that, although that recent one, We Hunt Monsters, might have taken the crown.
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Yeah the author said outright that the book is supposed to be a relaxed experience about a dude that likes to hunt and do alchemy. So it's kind of an opposite of Zak who is always in desperate, impossible situations.
 
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Tuco said:
Yeah the author said outright that the book is supposed to be a relaxed experience about a dude that likes to hunt and do alchemy. So it's kind of an opposite of Zak who is always in desperate, impossible situations.
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I'm always afraid to read more in-depth about authors these days! Or really anyone that I like the content they produce, movies, comics, music, whatever.
 
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Savage Awakening, so far read one and a half of them. Not bad, not great.

Main dude is VASTLY OP for almost the entire story so far. He starts as sort of a berserker who gets stronger the more damage he takes, but that is really only a bonus at this point. Imagine Colossus and Wolverine combined, including Wolverine's (comic book version) love of a good fight. Too much of that "must fight" to be honest. With some fire and lightning powers thrown in for good measure, because why wouldn't he be humongously unfair?

It also has its own version of the Dao and other similar bullshit, but thankfully the author does this super helpful thing where he writes stuff in bold, so when dude sits down to contemplate his own asshole stink, it goes something like this:

blah blah
blah
blah blah blah blah
Law Comprehended!
Minor Law of Dick Sucking (Faggotry).

So I can just skim all that bullshit, read the Law he learned, skim for a couple more, then see which Major Law he learned by combining them. Because who gives a shit if he got some insight into grasping the veiny shaft, feeling the contour of the mushroom head, sucking out the gravy, etc? All I need to know is that he knows how to Suck Dick (System version) now, and he's well on his way to truly learning Faggotry. It also is nowhere near the endless chapter after chapter that DotF subjects you to. And lately it has gotten shorter and shorter, often just a paragraph between Minor Laws.

Honestly the big draw to the series are the side characters. Much like DotF, they are vastly more interesting than the main guy, but unlike DotF they are distinct and interesting and entertaining. DotF pretty much just shunts characters away for eons at a time, and when they come back most of the time you can't tell them apart because they all are consumed by the "must get stronger" crap that Zack has. In this one they are very distinct and fun. Only a few of them so far, so maybe once there are dozens it might get harder, but right now there are really only 3 main side characters and then maybe 3 others that matter even the slightest. And that's fine, because I'd rather learn more about them than just have them be props for whatever bullshit the author needs to happen. Avery (girl) is awesome, while Evan is adorable but I also feel he was supposed to be like 12 but for legal/convenience reasons he was made 18. No one, no matter how sheltered, acts the way he does at 18. But he's still cute, like a puppy, and that's just fine.

I will say that the first half of the first book, the main guy (Zane) is pretty fucking dense and hard to care about. He gets a little better though. And at least he isn't some anxious autist like every other fucking series; he's more like a closet sociopath who has trouble caring about or feeling things like normal people, but without any outwardly evil tendencies, just a desire to "feel alive" by fighting.

I've read worse, and I'll continue for now. Surprisingly despite the main guy being completely ridiculously overpowered it is ok for now. He gets the shit beat out of him all the time, but just like all these books, you know he isn't going to die so it isn't really that useful for making him less OP.
 
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Ukerric

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Void said:
Savage Awakening, so far read one and a half of them. Not bad, not great.

Main dude is VASTLY OP for almost the entire story so far. He starts as sort of a berserker who gets stronger the more damage he takes, but that is really only a bonus at this point. Imagine Colossus and Wolverine combined, including Wolverine's (comic book version) love of a good fight. Too much of that "must fight" to be honest. With some fire and lightning powers thrown in for good measure, because why wouldn't he be humongously unfair?

It also has its own version of the Dao and other similar bullshit, but thankfully the author does this super helpful thing where he writes stuff in bold, so when dude sits down to contemplate his own asshole stink, it goes something like this:

blah blah
blah
blah blah blah blah
Law Comprehended!
Minor Law of Dick Sucking (Faggotry).

So I can just skim all that bullshit, read the Law he learned, skim for a couple more, then see which Major Law he learned by combining them. Because who gives a shit if he got some insight into grasping the veiny shaft, feeling the contour of the mushroom head, sucking out the gravy, etc? All I need to know is that he knows how to Suck Dick (System version) now, and he's well on his way to truly learning Faggotry. It also is nowhere near the endless chapter after chapter that DotF subjects you to. And lately it has gotten shorter and shorter, often just a paragraph between Minor Laws.

Honestly the big draw to the series are the side characters. Much like DotF, they are vastly more interesting than the main guy, but unlike DotF they are distinct and interesting and entertaining. DotF pretty much just shunts characters away for eons at a time, and when they come back most of the time you can't tell them apart because they all are consumed by the "must get stronger" crap that Zack has. In this one they are very distinct and fun. Only a few of them so far, so maybe once there are dozens it might get harder, but right now there are really only 3 main side characters and then maybe 3 others that matter even the slightest. And that's fine, because I'd rather learn more about them than just have them be props for whatever bullshit the author needs to happen. Avery (girl) is awesome, while Evan is adorable but I also feel he was supposed to be like 12 but for legal/convenience reasons he was made 18. No one, no matter how sheltered, acts the way he does at 18. But he's still cute, like a puppy, and that's just fine.

I will say that the first half of the first book, the main guy (Zane) is pretty fucking dense and hard to care about. He gets a little better though. And at least he isn't some anxious autist like every other fucking series; he's more like a closet sociopath who has trouble caring about or feeling things like normal people, but without any outwardly evil tendencies, just a desire to "feel alive" by fighting.

I've read worse, and I'll continue for now. Surprisingly despite the main guy being completely ridiculously overpowered it is ok for now. He gets the shit beat out of him all the time, but just like all these books, you know he isn't going to die so it isn't really that useful for making him less OP.
Click to expand...

The comparison to DotF is accurate: this is similarly a cultivation novel with a System superimposed. The MC is the typical Genius-In-Ten-Thousand-Years protagonist, only with an IQ of 90 and a brawl of 999 (in cultivation, genius isn't about your IQ, it's about how good you are at cultivating, period).

Since I'm reading it on Patreon, I had no idea how the books are split from the ongoing series. If you're reading on KU, the first two books cover all up to the final test before Earth's integration into the Dragonspine Galaxy. Book 3 seems to have two arcs: the final dungeon run, then the rest of the galaxy can start picking their jaws up because now, all of his exploits can be broadcast all over the place. Popcorn fun. So far, no deviation from the general theme. No idea how book 3 is going to go, since there doesn't seem to be a cliffhanger in view, and we're getting close to a 100 chapters.

Evan, of course, introduces the use of popcorn to the great faction that recruits him, so they can all enjoy the spectacle of big bro Zane on big screen
 
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The Grand Game Series by Tom Elliot

The Grand Game (The Grand Game #1), Way of the Wolf (The Grand Game, #2), The World Nexus (The Grand Game, #3), House Wolf (The Grand Game, #4), Wolf in...
www.goodreads.com

Started book 6 and I'll say it is a solid 3/5. It isn't amazing but it is one of those where almost every chapter is about 5 minutes (due to Royal Road or Patreon I'd imagine) so you find yourself having a hard time stopping. It is entertaining enough, the main character isn't a fucking autistic introvert that spends half his time talking about how icky talking to other people is, and best of all it has ZERO cultivation bullshit. Ahhh.


Happy Feel Good GIF by Bombay Softwares


The biggest complaint I have about the series is one that I have about most litrpgs; side characters are disregarded for entire books at a time, and often they are ones that I'm interested in finding out more about. There is a merchant chick in this series that I'm interested in and have barely learned anything about and near the end of Book 4 she started to play a larger role. Except she was entirely absent for Book 5. She *should* show back up in 6, but who knows? It isn't as bad as decades ago when I was reading Wheel of Time and a chapter would end and I'd thumb through and see that I wouldn't get back to that character for 300 pages, because I actually don't mind this main character, and every chapter is about him anyway, but it is still a little annoying. I don't need chapters from her perspective, but the fact that all these main characters jump from location to location without the other characters, meaning we don't see side characters for months/years at a time, is getting a bit tiresome. The main character is obviously most important but sometimes it is those side characters that make the difference, break up the monotony, etc. /rant off
 
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Ukerric

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Void said:

The Grand Game Series by Tom Elliot

The Grand Game (The Grand Game #1), Way of the Wolf (The Grand Game, #2), The World Nexus (The Grand Game, #3), House Wolf (The Grand Game, #4), Wolf in...
www.goodreads.com

Started book 6 and I'll say it is a solid 3/5. It isn't amazing but it is one of those where almost every chapter is about 5 minutes (due to Royal Road or Patreon I'd imagine)
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He's on RoyalRoad:

www.royalroad.com

The Grand Game | Royal Road

One man. Assassin. Caster. A new world. And a Game that is brutal as it is complex. An exciting LitRPG portal fantasy! Book 8 (pre-order here) chapters will start posting in September 2024. Book 1, The Grand Game has been released: ebook and audiobook! Book 2, Way of the Wolf has been released...
www.royalroad.com www.royalroad.com

Book 8 ongoing there, book 7 released this month.
 
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Ukerric said:
He's on RoyalRoad:

www.royalroad.com

The Grand Game | Royal Road

One man. Assassin. Caster. A new world. And a Game that is brutal as it is complex. An exciting LitRPG portal fantasy! Book 8 (pre-order here) chapters will start posting in September 2024. Book 1, The Grand Game has been released: ebook and audiobook! Book 2, Way of the Wolf has been released...
www.royalroad.com www.royalroad.com

Book 8 ongoing there, book 7 released this month.
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Yeah, I'm in book 7 now and the merchant chick still hasn't reappeared! Still enjoying it, but it gets a little frustrating when side characters just disappear for books at a time as the main character gets stuck in a dungeon or jerks off to his core (thankfully none of that here), etc.
 
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Saw TJT TJT mentioning the WoW Diary, so a heads up, but John Staats (the author of the aforementioned book) just finished his LitRPG series this weekend (2800 pages on Royal Road, 8 books total): The Book of Dungeons. He mentions that he's looking at getting it properly published (I'm doubtful about the Travis Baldree deal, 2026 is barely possible, but who knows) after a good edit.
 
TJT

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Ukerric said:
Saw TJT TJT mentioning the WoW Diary, so a heads up, but John Staats (the author of the aforementioned book) just finished his LitRPG series this weekend (2800 pages on Royal Road, 8 books total): The Book of Dungeons. He mentions that he's looking at getting it properly published (I'm doubtful about the Travis Baldree deal, 2026 is barely possible, but who knows) after a good edit.
Click to expand...
How good is this one?
 
Ukerric

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TJT said:
How good is this one?
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I'd say decent. Definitively above the usual RR story. Mostly, it's an old-school LitRPG setting: VRMMO, time dilatation, etc. Company wants to launch new technology, so they make a big PvP permadeath competition: 64 people enters, 1 will win at the end, with the associated streaming rights and so on. There is no outside world interruption - the competitors spend about 4 or 5 days in induced coma for the entire duration of the competition, which lasts literally centuries in-game.

If you've ever read EA Hopper's World Tree trilogy, it's that kinda vibe, with the competition added instead of being locked for the duration of "a patch" that ends up lasting centuries.

It's also something that needs to be read in big chunks/books. The serialized release on RR hampered a bit the series.
 
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I'm asking this here because it is probably most relevant vs. the generic reading thread; is there any way to permanently remove a series from my Kindle Unlimited "Continue Series You've Started" recommendations? Or an author? Sort of like blocking someone on social media.

For example, it is easy enough to spot another Randidly Ghosthound book and know I don't want to read any more of them. But that massive faggot Andrew Rowe, I don't recognize his book covers or titles or name right away and I always end up clicking it and having to read the description before I realize I wish he'd burn in Hell and I'll never read anything he writes ever again. But they keep being prominently placed on that recommendation list because I read a bunch of his books before he went insane.

I've googled this, and come up empty. I'm about to start a chat one of these days and see if Sanjeep has a solution for me, but I'll probably end up in a murderous rage after that experience, so I'm hoping to avoid that.

Thanks!
 
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Ukerric

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Void said:
I'm asking this here because it is probably most relevant vs. the generic reading thread; is there any way to permanently remove a series from my Kindle Unlimited "Continue Series You've Started" recommendations? Or an author? Sort of like blocking someone on social media.

For example, it is easy enough to spot another Randidly Ghosthound book and know I don't want to read any more of them. But that massive faggot Andrew Rowe, I don't recognize his book covers or titles or name right away and I always end up clicking it and having to read the description before I realize I wish he'd burn in Hell and I'll never read anything he writes ever again. But they keep being prominently placed on that recommendation list because I read a bunch of his books before he went insane.

I've googled this, and come up empty. I'm about to start a chat one of these days and see if Sanjeep has a solution for me, but I'll probably end up in a murderous rage after that experience, so I'm hoping to avoid that.

Thanks!
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Never managed to solve this either. The best I've been able to do is to turn off the "use this item for recommendation" on every book that leads to those spurious recommendations. But each time they change their recommend section, this becomes a new puzzle to find where this is.

I no longer rely on amazon recommendations at all. I just ignore them and buy stuff I've heard about elsewhere.
 
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Just read the first Respawn book. I barely remember the first STYX, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't this bad.

The main character is fucking retarded in this. Rocky. He's literally too fucking stupid for me to believe that he'd ever survive long-term. Does he get better? Do the books themselves get better? I'd almost rather read about some fucking trannies or some shit than this absolute fucking moron. The girl, Kitty, calls him moron, and I think we're supposed to think she's being rude, but she's right. I'm being given exactly as much information as Rocky is, and I roll my eyes when he says something fucking stupid, so imagine how bad it would be for her.

This might honestly be a 1* book for me. Do I dare read the next one? Someone tell me if it gets better or stays the same.
 
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The third quest academy book came out, really enjoyed the first two. Only about a quarter of the way through this one, and it’s started a bit slow. Hopefully it picks up, but it’s still pretty good.
 
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I've just about finished Bastien (Book 1 of the Immoral Souls series by Phil Tucker). It's been pretty good.
 
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Ukerric

Ukerric

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Polaris said:
I've just about finished Bastien (Book 1 of the Immoral Souls series by Phil Tucker). It's been pretty good.
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All three of the books (so far) in the series are good. It's a cultivation-type progression fantasy with a weird bent, and an insane setting. Book 3 seems to offer a (possibly unreliable) hint at the origins of the Great Souls, but we'll have to wait.

Phil Tucker is a great author. Skadi's Saga (viking-themed fantasy with progression/gamelit elements) was a hit and miss, but even his hits and misses are better than most litrpg books.
 
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Ukerric said:
All three of the books (so far) in the series are good. It's a cultivation-type progression fantasy with a weird bent, and an insane setting. Book 3 seems to offer a (possibly unreliable) hint at the origins of the Great Souls, but we'll have to wait.

Phil Tucker is a great author. Skadi's Saga (viking-themed fantasy with progression/gamelit elements) was a hit and miss, but even his hits and misses are better than most litrpg books.
Click to expand...

Thrones of the Fallen is pretty fun as well - I recommend that one when it goes to KU or whatever. The RR releases had some pacing problems, but he posted about how it was being restructured for book form and looks like it would work a lot better that way.
 
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