LitRPG Podcast - SoundSage

LitRPG Podcast 277 - The Wandering Inn 5, Mother of Learning, Apocalypse Game, Trapped In A Webnovel As A Good-For-Nothing

Dec. 12th, 2021

Hello everyone, welcome to episode 277 of the LitRPG podcast. I’m Ramon Mejia.

I’m here to bring you the latest LitRPG news, reviews, and author interviews. We have 4 new reviews just for you.

For the full show notes visit us at: https://litrpgpodcast.com/litrpg-podcast-277

New Releases and Reviews:

The Last Light: Book 5 (The Wandering Inn) (07:02)

Great when it focused on characters I liked

Score: 7.8 out of 10

https://amzn.to/3rJClZ0

Mother of Learning: ARC 1 (11:51)

Time loop story

Score: 7.5 out of 10

https://amzn.to/3GCHHd8

Apocalypse Game: A LitRPG Adventure (The Chessboard War Book 1) (17:15)

Interesting faction idea but the story felt too forced for me

Score: 6 out of 10

https://amzn.to/3yupNXb

Trapped In A Webnovel As A Good-For-Nothing (I Woke up as the Villain) (Webcomic) (25:10)

Casual action with trapped in a novel story

Score: 7.5 out of 10

https://tapas.io/series/i-woke-up-as-the-villain/info

(Play Music 2)

LitRPG News

Jakob Tanner has put the 1st book in his popular Tower Climber series on sale, 50% off, for the month of December. He even notes that at that price you can even get the related audiobook for a discounted price too.

https://amzn.to/3dKRPnv

The annual GameLit Society charity drive has started. The money collected on GoFunMe goes to Shriners Hospitals for Children.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/we-all-cast-heal-2021

Out Now!

Castle Manager: An Isekai LitRPG Progression (The Fantasy World of Dorbin Book 3)

https://amzn.to/3cMiOyC

Defiance of the Fall 3: A LitRPG Adventure

https://amzn.to/3tRZTdC

Hunters Dream Online: The Pierced Veil

https://amzn.to/3nNf6ed

Into Twilight: An Apocalyptic LitRPG (Viceroy's Pride Book 1)

https://amzn.to/3oSrsBg

Future: A Superhero LitRPG Adventure (VR Hero Book 5)

https://amzn.to/3Bh8ppr

An Outcast in Another World: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Book 2 - Shared Insanity)

https://amzn.to/3CQVlXJ

The Rise of Chess (Fair Quest Book 2)

https://amzn.to/3r8nqaS

Awaken Online: Happy

https://amzn.to/3mMIFfD

Cleaver's Edge: A LitRPG Fantasy Cooking Adventure (Morcster Chef Book 1)

https://amzn.to/3tXpWzV

Primeval Knowledge: A LitRPG Adventure (Salvos, Volume 4)

https://amzn.to/3IFVv8m

Aster Fall: A LitRPG Progression Epic (Guardian of Aster Fall Book 2)

https://amzn.to/3F39WS2

Rebels: An Epic Fantasy Gamelit Adventure (Darkthorn Academy Book 5)

https://amzn.to/3lVlkY7

The Healer of Magic and Lance: A LitRPG Progression Fantasy Adventure (Tosin the Legendary Healer Book 1)

https://amzn.to/3oLXeRF

Nautical Noobs: Noobtown Book 6 (A LitRPG Adventure)

https://amzn.to/3DNi1so

Hellscape: A Post-Apocalyptic LitRPG

https://amzn.to/3rXhd1B

The Frost Ridge. First Circle [RealRPG Wuxia Series The Way] Book #4

https://amzn.to/3pfKljc

Trials of a Spawnling Grunt: A LitRPG Saga - Book One: Farm Crops. Run Dungeons. Reinvest Loot.

https://amzn.to/3yjfhSr

Stagger Home (The Aussie Mana Apocalypse Book 4)

https://amzn.to/3cJnBRk

Demon City. Dragon Heart (A LitRPG Wuxia) series: Book 13

https://amzn.to/3rWakOd

Revelations - A Fantasy LitRPG (Beast Realms Book 3)

https://amzn.to/30kV8Pj

This Plot is Bananas! (This Triology is Broken Book 4)

https://amzn.to/3IGU2i5

New LitRPG Audiobooks

Town Under - The System Apocalypse: Australia Book 1

https://amzn.to/3IJEx95

Original Enchantment - True Calling LitRPG Book 1

https://amzn.to/3s3PegO

Cleaver's Edge - A LitRPG Fantasy Cooking Adventure (Morcster Chef, Book 1)

https://amzn.to/3ylw0ED

A Demon's Pride: A LitRPG Adventure - Salvos Book 2

https://amzn.to/31VPfZ4

Alpha Zero - Alpha LitRPG Book 1

https://amzn.to/3rYtwuE

Crafting Death - Towers and Rifts Series Book 2

https://amzn.to/3pTMaBl

The Zealot - Immersion Online Book 2

https://amzn.to/3pQuUwH

Revelations - A Fantasy LitRPG (Beast Realms Book 3)

https://amzn.to/3ILwNna

Defiance of the Fall 3 - A LitRPG Adventure

https://amzn.to/31Y3ehi

Hold the Line - A LitRPG Dungeon Core Adventure (War Core, Book 1)

https://amzn.to/3GH6e0D

The Reincarnated Core Volume 4 - Towers of Acalia Book 4

https://amzn.to/3GCobNQ

The Path Through the Heavens - The Heavenly Throne Book 6

https://amzn.to/3oPP8HS

Artificial Jelly Book 2

https://amzn.to/3ILTSG2

Brace for the Wolves - Challenger's Call Book 2

https://amzn.to/3oQqG9f

Everwood: Weight of It All Series, Book 3

https://amzn.to/3yk3nYk

Core Establishment - Dimensional Dungeon Cores Book 1

https://amzn.to/3F1PwZ6

Upcoming LitRPG:

Uncontrollable: A LitRPG Adventure (Dec. 14th, 2021)

https://amzn.to/3B4D9JR

Frostworld 3: Embers & Glory: A LitRPG/GameLit Viking Adventure (Dec. 14th, 2021)

https://amzn.to/3mJaxBo

Clan Dominance: The Sleepless Ones (Book #9): LitRPG Series (Dec. 15th, 2021)

https://amzn.to/3AXzNIJ

Apocalypse Gates Book 8: One Nation, Under…

(Dec. 15th, 2022)

Don’t Slip Up (Fantasia Book #2): LitRPG Series (Dec. 16th, 2021)

https://amzn.to/2ZTXGn3

The Sage's Tower: An Epic Fantasy LitRPG Novel (The Plainswalker Series Book 2) (Dec. 20th, 2022)

https://amzn.to/3DOSD5i

Evolution: A LitRPG Adventure (Epiphany Realms Book 2) (Dec. 21st, 2021)

https://amzn.to/2YiogFN

The Guild's Demands: A Young Adult LitRPG Fantasy (Adventures on Brad Book 7) (Dec. 26th, 2021)

https://amzn.to/3ouwnK2

Level Zero (Alpha Rome Book 3): LitRPG Series (Dec. 28th, 2021)

https://amzn.to/3iqyI4N

He Who Fights with Monsters 4: A LitRPG Adventure (Dec. 28th, 2021)

https://amzn.to/3A2DJH1

GoodGame (Unfrozen Book #3): LitRPG Series (Jan. 3rd, 2022)

https://amzn.to/30R8uTL

In Pursuit of a Manuscript (A Buccaneer's Due Book #2): LitRPG Series (Jan. 4th, 2022)

https://amzn.to/3nP56S3

Prime War: A GameLit/LitRPG Adventure (Magnus Book 3) (Jan. 4th, 2022)

https://amzn.to/3CMCUnz

Viridian Gate Online: Empirical Endgame (The Viridian Gate Archives Book 8) (Jan. 4th, 2022)

https://amzn.to/3r2fRSW

Shaman's Call- Spirit Song: A Litrpg Adventure (Jan. 10, 2022)

https://amzn.to/30Z2kkn

A Capital's Perils: A New Adult LitRPG Fantasy (Adventures on Brad Book 8) (Jan. 17th, 2022)

https://amzn.to/3wkbzXO

Mardis Dane: A LitRPG/GameLit Series (World of Magic Book 3) (Jan. 18th, 2022)

https://amzn.to/32qkyLX

A Royal Ending: A New Adult LitRPG Fantasy (Adventures on Brad Book 9) (Feb. 7th, 2022)

https://amzn.to/3lYnCWL

Black Centurion: A LitRPG Novel (Feb. 14th, 2022)

https://amzn.to/3s0r4DS

The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound 2: A LitRPG Adventure (Feb. 15th, 2022)

https://amzn.to/31S3Nt5

Blessed Time 3: Dakkora's Legacy: A LitRPG Adventure (Feb. 22nd, 2022)

https://amzn.to/33ingDD

Defiance of the Fall 4: A LitRPG Adventure (Feb. 22nd, 2022)

https://amzn.to/3s02vHb

Clear Threat (Disgardium Book #10): LitRPG Series (Feb. 25th, 2022)

https://amzn.to/3oNAMri

Alpha Physics! Book 4 - Albury: A Post Apocalypse Progression Fantasy (Feb. 28th, 2022)

https://amzn.to/3pStZvD

Onto New Releases and Reviews

(Play Music 3)

New Releases and Reviews

(Picture 1)

The Last Light: Book 5 (The Wandering Inn)

(This novel is the e-book version of the free web serial. You may read the entire ongoing story at wanderinginn.com free of charge.)

[Kings] awake and [Emperors] build new lands. Change is coming to the world, from the King of Destruction moving to a certain [Doctor] finding more friends from home.

The Wandering Inn has a [Princess] who solves problems rather than creates them, and her name is Lyonette. Yet what happens when the [Innkeeper] returns to manage her inn? Lyonette must learn to be a good employee rather than manage everything herself, and sharing power is never easy...

Nor is it ever simple in war, but that is where Geneva Scala remains. In bloodier and increasingly brutal battlefields, The Last Light of Baleros is now growing in fame, but there is no future there. She is desperate, working against hostile forces who see her intervention as dangerous, and still bears the wounds of her previous war to save lives. But she is no longer alone.

My Opinion: 1791 pages, $3.99, Not Available On Kindle Unlimited

When the collected serial story focused on my favorite characters, I loved the story. But there’s a good portion of the novel that shifts to side characters just introduced or ones briefly introduced in the last book. The stories aren’t bad and I enjoyed them, but I thought the ones that focused on Erin, Rioka, the Antinium or any of the original characters from the 1st book, were just great, especially that ending. Great stuff full of action and some resolution for the plotline developed for some of my favorite characters.

Overall, still a really good book that is a serial story collection so it bounces around a bit as it fleshes out new and old characters and their plotlines.

Score: 7.8 out of 10

The Last Light: Book 5 (The Wandering Inn)

https://amzn.to/3rJClZ0

Mother of Learning: ARC 1

Zorian Kazinski has all the time in the world to get stronger, and he plans on taking full advantage of it.

A teenage mage of humble birth and slightly above-average skill, Zorian is attending his third year of education at Cyoria's magical academy. A driven and quiet young man, he is consumed by a desire to ensure his own future and free himself of the influence of his family, resenting the Kazinskis for favoring his brothers over him. Consequently, Zorian has no time for pointless distractions, much less other people's problems.

As it happens, though, time is something he is about to get plenty of.

On the eve of Cyoria's annual summer festival, Zorian is murdered, then abruptly brought back to the beginning of the month, just before he was about to take the train to school. Finding himself trapped in a time loop with no clear end or exit, he will have to look both within and without to unravel the mystery set before him. He does have to unravel it, too, because the loop clearly wasn’t made for his sake, and in a world of magic even a time traveler isn't safe from those who wish him ill.

Fortunately for Zorian, repetition is the mother of learning…

My Opinion: 644 pages, $4.99, Not Available On Kindle Unlimited

The story has a slow start and the regressor/time loop aspect doesn’t start until you're about 20% in. Before that the story is just ok as it just describes a new mage starting school. After the 20% mark though, it's a slice of life adventure with the main character (MC) using all his relative years starting over to accrue higher level training and magic skills to overcome the big disaster he’s trying to avoid. There are a few twists in the story as new allies and enemies appear, but it's mostly training, with some occasional action. It was interesting to see how the MC varied his interactions with people and events he’d dealt with in the past for new results. Though I will note that the story ends on a bit of a cliff hanger. It’s the nature of a serial story collected from its online source that there isn’t a baked-in plot arc, just a decent place to pause the story till the next book.

Overall, good story, not a LitRPG story, and it doesn’t claim to be, but it is a close cousin as progression fantasy since the MC very clearly becomes more powerful through rigorous training and study.

Score: 7.5 out of 10

Mother of Learning: ARC 1

https://amzn.to/3GCHHd8

Apocalypse Game: A LitRPG Adventure (The Chessboard War Book 1)

The Apocalypse Game has begun, and all of humanity is up for grabs. To the victor go the spoils.

My name is Killian Dunn. I'm eighteen, a high school senior, a gamer, and, oh yeah, the Harbinger of the Apocalypse. Not exactly what I had in mind as a career path.

Reality took a nosedive when Armageddon came knocking. It brought with it classes, levels, and skills, as well as a horde of Lovecraftian abominations to use them on.

I never wanted any of this, but the sick god who orchestrated this whole nightmare has my family. Their lives are forfeit if I refuse to play his game.

He left me no choice but to accept my role and play my part—not as just another piece on the chessboard, but as the king—the Demon Lord of the Black.

But if I'm the villain, then there must also be a hero. On the side of White stands the Archangel, and they're as determined as I am to win.

The prize? A single wish.

With it, I can protect my family, fix everything that's broken, and save the whole damn world.

I just have to destroy it first.

My Opinion: 562 pages, $4.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited

In general I’ve really enjoyed the RPG Apocalypse sub genre of LitRPG, but this one didn’t work for me. The setup is ok, but felt very forced in several respects.

The main character (MC) doesn’t get a choice in becoming the Demon Lord and over and over again reveals this big secret despite ample evidence that people are going to assume he’s evil for just having the class, which never made sense to me in the first place. Still, his response? To learn from his error and keep his secret from people he’s literally only known for hours? Nope, just whine about it being unfair. I mean, I get that part of the plot revolves around him finding people to fill his faction roles, but that’s definitely what it felt like. Forced decisions to advance a plot, not natural ones.

Additionally, the game mechanics, while shown throughout the story never really felt like the numbers shown were really impactful. The MC invests stat points and grows in levels but he never seems to struggle and despite any deficiencies in either experience fighting or stats always wins and his powers felt like they exceeded what a low level character should be able to do. Especially since everyone and everything have had a month jump start to grow more powerful. The other aspects of the game mechanics were decent and I thought the faction expansion stuff was original.

Overall, the action was fine, but too much of the story, for me anyways, felt forced. I never felt a sense of danger for the MC or anyone really. Which was weird considering it's supposed to be set in the RPG Apocalypse. Other folks really enjoyed the story, it just didn’t work for me.

Score: 6 out of 10

Apocalypse Game: A LitRPG Adventure (The Chessboard War Book 1)

https://amzn.to/3yupNXb

Trapped In A Webnovel As A Good-For-Nothing (I Woke up as the Villain)

While working overtime through several nights, he fell asleep for a short while. When he woke up, he seemed to be possessing the villain of the webnovel he was reading.

“Well, how typically cliché… to the point where I’d end up dead if I were to follow the predetermined fate. Darn it.”

He need to find a way to survive.

The first way to survive as a good-for-nothing villain in the webnovel.

“Convince as many people as possible to be on my side.”

The second way to survive as a good-for-nothing villain in the webnovel.

“Become strong enough to protect myself.”

Lastly, the third way to survive as a good-for-nothing villain in the webnovel.

“Never become friendly with that proud and insane ‘Returnee Master’.”

But what should he do?

Even before he possessed the body, the original owner already caused an incident.

“Use your money to kill the ‘Returnee Master’ who has yet to regain his power? Are you crazy? Then who will stop the Demon King?”

This is the beginning of the modern-day survival + dungeon-raider fantasy story of Choi Yu-Seong, the possessed villain who wants to live a laid-back lifestyle!

My Opinion: 55 officially - 76 chapters elsewhere, 3 chapters free, Official English Publisher - Tapas

This is a story where the main character (MC) is a normal person who finds himself trapped in the body of the villain of the story they were reading. The MC knows his character is fated to die at the hands of the hero unless he changes things. And he uses the RPG interface and his own foreknowledge to change his characters path. It’s a bit like a regressor story in that the MC uses knowledge he wouldn’t normally have to gain an advantage and grow powerful.

The story setting and pacing are pretty casual. The setting is of a modern world where dungeons appear and a society where people have classes and powers clear those dungeons for profit and experience. The MC mostly focuses on exploiting his knowledge of the story to gain enough power to survive the challenges he knows are coming. But at the same time, he works hard to not change things so much that the story shifts and he loses his advantage.

The RPG aspects are fairly light with letter rankings (S, A-F) to describe overall power and skills instead of numbered levels. The MC sees notifications about his own character sheet that initially describes him as a mediocre ranker, but with the MCs knowledge about the world from reading the story he works hard to gain unusual new skills and boosts in power. Each skill and power also gets its own notification so there’s lots of that going around.

Overall, I enjoyed the casual reading pace with regular action and the exploit using nature of the story.

Score: 7.5 out of 10

Trapped In A Webnovel As A Good-For-Nothing (I Woke up as the Villain)

https://tapas.io/series/i-woke-up-as-the-villain/info

That’s it everyone! Thank you for watching/listening.

You can follow us on

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/litrpgpodcast/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LitRPGPodcast

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3-eBvpm-g7IkjfVktObGAA

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/geekbytespodcast

Our Webpage: www.litrpgpodcast.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0rbgdut7cghvVBy572lG6o