BookWyrm

parsnip rated Advent: 3 stars

Xander Boyce: Advent (Paperback, 2018, Independently Published, Independently published)

Advent by Xander Boyce

parsnip rated The Two Week Curse: 3 stars

Michael Chatfield: The Two Week Curse (Hardcover, 2019, MC Publishing Inc.)

The Two Week Curse by Michael Chatfield

parsnip reviewed Arcane Kingdom Online by Jakob Tanner

No cover — Jakob Tanner: Arcane Kingdom Online (2018, Independently published, Independently Published)

Review of 'Arcane Kingdom Online' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

It was ok. It's pretty standard LitRPG fare, but was pretty light on content - by the end of the book it felt like nothing had really happened - not surprising as the entire in game portion of the book takes place over the course of two days (and the entire book over the course of ~3). All sorts of major plot points have been hinted at, but nothing's been resolved by the end of the book. It's not so much that book one finished, as the author just stopped writing half-way through the novel and called it done. Even in a series I expect each book to have some sort of complete plot and resolution even if all of the plot threads are not resolved.

As other reviewers noted, combat is all over the place, and I found it really hard to empathise with the main character - he …

It was ok. It's pretty standard LitRPG fare, but was pretty light on content - by the end of the book it felt like nothing had really happened - not surprising as the entire in game portion of the book takes place over the course of two days (and the entire book over the course of ~3). All sorts of major plot points have been hinted at, but nothing's been resolved by the end of the book. It's not so much that book one finished, as the author just stopped writing half-way through the novel and called it done. Even in a series I expect each book to have some sort of complete plot and resolution even if all of the plot threads are not resolved.

As other reviewers noted, combat is all over the place, and I found it really hard to empathise with the main character - he has just been through all sorts of major trauma, but doesn't really spend any time thinking about it, his family, or the issues he's left behind. It came across as even more unrealistic than I expect a standard LitRPG to be.

The series is also incredibly similar to James Osiris Baldwin's Archemi Online Chronicles series [b: [book:Archemi Online Chronicles Boxset: Books 1-3: A LitRPG Epic Fantasy Series|51808907|Archemi Online Chronicles Boxset Books 1-3 A LitRPG Epic Fantasy Series|James Osiris Baldwin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568670207l/51808907.SX50_SY75.jpg|73426549]. Right down to the virus infected population forcing the MC into a game world, weird game corruption, and evil developer. Given the publication dates I think this is just a case of two authors having similar ideas around the same time, but although they have their issues, Baldwin's books are far better written, with more believable characters and world building.

Finally, at the end of novel it's revealed the world is essentially collapsed due to the ZERO virus and there'll be no more patches. Ok. But if the world has degenerated so far that 'zombies' have infiltrated the game headquarters, how exactly are they going to keep the servers intact and running. For that matter, how can they even keep them powered? Computer infrastructure doesn't exist in a vacuum. This may be resolved in future books, but I'm not certain if I'll bother to find out.