LitRPG Podcast - SoundSage

LitRPG Podcast 240 - Noobtown Book 4, Ninetoes, Only I Level Up (Solo Leveling)

Aug 21st, 2020

Hello everyone, welcome to episode 240 of the LitRPG podcast. I’m Ramon Mejia.

I’m here to bring you the latest LitRPG news, reviews, and author interviews. We have 6 new reviews just for you.

For the full show notes visit us at: https://litrpgpodcast.com/litrpg-podcast-240

New Releases and Reviews:

Dungeons and Noobs: Noobtown Book 4 (07:01)

Slow start but picks up after 40%

Score: 7.5 out of 10.

https://amzn.to/2Xxb1gV

Ninetoes (10:20)

23% RPG stuff starts

Score: 7.5 out of 10

https://amzn.to/3iUdCcR

Only I Level Up (Solo Leveling) (18:47)

Soooo Good

Score: 8 out of 10

https://www.webnovel.com/comic/only-i-level-up-(solo-leveling)_15227640605485101

Ian’s (Eye-Ann) Picks of the Week (24:09)

(Pic 0)

Segment from Ian Mitchell a long time LitRPG community member who reads and reviews as much as me. He was nice enough to agree to join the LitRPG Podcast family as a new reviewer.

(Pic 6)

Stars Asunder: Book 9 in The System Apocalypse

The paladin's choice

Score: 9.0 out of 10

https://amzn.to/2QfNpZW

Underworld - Vampire Gate: A LitRPG Series

Mr. Blue mage

Score: 8.5 out of 10

https://amzn.to/3jcYhof

The Heroic Villain 3

A grand romp of an adventure

Score: 8.7 out of 10

https://amzn.to/2FJHivb

(Play Music 2)

LitRPG News

Dakota Krout and Luke Daniels do an AMA on Facebook to celebrate and promote the audiobook release of Ruthless.

https://www.facebook.com/TheDivineDungeon/videos/376740906640113/

Out Now!

The Idle System (A LitRPG series Book 6): The War

https://amzn.to/3a4vEpF

Hive Knight: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG (Trinity of the Hive Book 1)

https://amzn.to/3kJ5r52

Intellectum [RealRPG series] Book 1

https://amzn.to/3e9woeR

The Power of Nine: Scifi LitRPG - Esports - Mecha Battles (Overdrive Book 2)

https://amzn.to/3hScSED

Raider (Olympus Reborn Book 2)

https://amzn.to/3gWZWgC

Dungeon Core 101

https://amzn.to/3gkoxuK

The Stone Tree: A LitRPG Adventure (Kingmaker Saga Book 1)

https://amzn.to/32971Vr

Tech Duinn: An Ether Collapse Series (Ether Flows Book 1)

https://amzn.to/3iZkSUX

Path to Villainy: An NPC Kobold's Tale

https://amzn.to/2EqthC4

RE-ROLL: An Epic Litrpg Fantasy (New Realm Online Book 1)

https://amzn.to/2FE5Vct

Tower of Damnation (A LitRPG and GameLIT Saga): Book Two, Arcana

https://amzn.to/3ggi6sS

New LitRPG Audiobooks

Infernal Bones - Elemental Dungeon Book 2

https://amzn.to/3iYBtIA

Repel Boarders: A LitRPG, Dungeon Core Adventure

Derelict, Book 1

https://amzn.to/326fjNK

Ruthless: The Completionist Chronicles Book 5

https://amzn.to/3j1eRXM

Skyclad: Fate's Anvil Book 1

https://amzn.to/326g4q4

Aether Gate Online: The Complete Saga

https://amzn.to/31kTo6t

Upcoming LitRPG:

The SyStem: Multiverse: Book 2 (Aug. 23rd, 2020)

https://amzn.to/3i6zdzd

War of Gods: Dungeons of Perdition - Book 4 (A LitRPG and GameLit Adventure) (Aug. 24th, 2020)

https://amzn.to/39q7RQY

Dream Stream Reality: A LitRPG Adventure (Aug. 25th, 2020)

https://amzn.to/2ZhkmuF

Small Unit Tactics (Volume #1): LitRPG Series (Aug. 27th, 2020)

https://amzn.to/2ypbusf

Holy War (Disgardium Book #5): LitRPG Series (Sept. 4th, 2020)

https://amzn.to/3eBlyOH

A Snake's Path (A Snake's Life Book 2) (Sept. 8th, 2020)

https://amzn.to/3hkvtcS

Dungeon Worlds: A Reborn Online LitRPG Adventure (Sept. 9th, 2020)

https://amzn.to/2MvkU8P

Stolen Lives: A LitRPG/GameLit Novel (The Underhill Chronicles Book 1) (Sept. 15th, 2020)

https://amzn.to/3iRoJ7w

The Guild Core 1: Dragon Bourne (A Dungeon Core LitRPG/Cultavation Epic) (Sept. 16th, 2020)

https://amzn.to/33zXNUx

Claimed (Olympus Reborn Book 3) (Sept. 18th, 2020)

https://amzn.to/2Y1MBwl

Labyrinth to Tartarus: The LitRPG Saga Continues (The Eternal Journey Book 3) (Sept. 21st, 2020)

https://amzn.to/3kHWGYX

Sovereign (The Gods' Game, Volume IV): A LitRPG novel (Sept. 30th, 2020)

https://amzn.to/2AqLAFn

Seas the Day: A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure (The Bad Guys Book 5) (Oct. 1st, 2020)

https://amzn.to/2XIrTl0

Final Odyssey: A LitRPG Journey (Legends Online Book 7) (Oct. 1st, 2020)

https://amzn.to/32T6yZl

Dungeon Crawler Carl (Oct. 2nd, 2020)

https://amzn.to/2BDfXZu

Watcher’s Fate: A LitRPG Saga (Life in Exile Book 3) (Oct. 6th, 2020)

https://amzn.to/3g05cPT

City of Goblins (In the System Book #1): LitRPG Series (Oct. 7th, 2020)

https://amzn.to/2XyhiJs

The Otherworld (Underdog Book #4): LitRPG Series (Oct. 26th, 2020)

https://amzn.to/3gU9d9R

The Fallen God: A LitRPG Adventure (Eternal Online Book 3) (Oct. 27th, 2020)

https://amzn.to/2WQUNPm

Quest for the Ember Relic: A Phoenix Online LitRPG Adventure (Nov. 23rd, 2020)

https://amzn.to/3a8x16F

Onto New Releases and Reviews

(Play Music 3)

New Releases and Reviews

(Picture 1)

Dungeons and Noobs: Noobtown Book 4

Badgelor has been patient, or at least as patient as a homicidal badger can be. With the celebration of Grebthar Day, it's finally time to go get Charles! Nothing is going to stop Jim and his companions, not even the signs of the Dark Overlord's return. This adventure could be Windfall's greatest yet, or it could be its absolute downfall.

My Opinion: 323 pages, $2.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited

The novel has a bit of a slower paced first half. There’s good humor, dialogue, character development, socializing with team members, and world building. I especially liked the holiday Grebthar Day. It’s not till the story hits about 40% that the pacing picks up and the action hits. But once it does it continues for the rest of the story and there’s finally some serious plot development with the initial premise of the story and some good twists by the end. Good stuff.

Score: 7.7 out of 10

Ian Mitchell’s Review

Happy Grebthar day!

I had mixed feelings about this one. The first 33% didn't do much for me. I mostly slogged through it. The cast basically futzed around in town. A lot of humor that didn't do much for me. I'm a bit humor impaired. It wasn't bad. I wasn't having fun.

Then comes Badger's Night. Now I'm laughing. The wideI variety of trap based abuse of Jim had me chuckling. The humor and banter started working for me. A lot of the last half of the book happens down in the dungeon. Some decent delving. Decent banter and joking around. That was clicking for me.Man demon and badger made for fun. The long epic battle at the end of the book was exciting. This wasn't a coherent experience overall. I'll continue the series. I liked the previous books.

Score: 7.5 out of 10.

Dungeons and Noobs: Noobtown Book 4

https://amzn.to/2Xxb1gV

Ninetoes

What if an NPC dismissed with contempt by the players of your role-playing game was to become an adventurer? A LitRPG adventure.

Ninetoes is a wizard, which is unusual for a hobgoblin, and more unusual still, he’s no longer an NPC.

The world of Adrenon is a game world and a twist of fate has made Ninetoes an Adventurer. With this new status comes access to power, magic and skills that his kind can rarely attain, but more, it is a chance to grow and become the centre of his own story.

In his first quest, among the ancient ruins of Kavralach, Ninetoes faces danger and intrigue. Failure will mean the destruction of his home and his people, for whom he now has the potential to become their champion.

Ninetoes must master the magic system of the game, advance as rapidly as he can, and find friends. For a wizard alone is vulnerable.

If he can prevail, the hobgoblin Adventurer might someday become the hero he needs to be.

My Opinion: 219 pages, $3.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited

If you like the series NPCs, you may like this LitRPG story. It starts with a group of tabletop players getting ambushed by hobgoblins. One of the team refuses to heal the fallen members and the group breaks up. Another member, his healer dead, asks the DM if he can use the only hobgoblin that survived to roll a new character. The stat rolls aren’t great and the player chooses to roll something else, but the Character Sheet was filled out, even renaming the hobgoblin, our main character (MC), Ninetoes and was slipped back into the DMs paper.

In the hobgoblin’s fantasy world he wakes, weaker but smarter and it's revealed within the first 10% or so that Ninetoes has been transformed into an adventurer, that he has a literal character sheet he must protect and that trouble, fights, and adventures will follow him. But he'll also be able to do all the amazing things the adventurers do: Cast magic, amazing feats of strength, rapid healing. So, Ninetoes goes out into the world to search for answers and adventure.

On the game mechanics side of things, much of the early story is very fantasy since the normal people of this world don’t have access to the RPG stuff. Stats appear briefly at the beginning of the story when a player rolls for Ninetoes stat and you don’t see them again until the 23% mark when someone shows the MC how to read his character sheet and the reader sees it too with his stats, HP, level, skills, abilities, etc. From then on the game mechanics show up regularly as the MC trains, chooses a class, and figures out the limits of the system.

A few character issues kept the story from getting a better score. The MC, a hobgoblin, starts out the story in his own clan with a reasonable cultural background. Once he becomes an adventurer, the MC gains the ability to speak common, has increased intelligence, and interacts with a nearby human village. But it’s the MCs personality change and his knowledge of human behaviors that kinda stuck out as being untrue, with the MC interacting with humans like he’d always known how to do so and knew their customs. Also the towns folks treat the MC as an adventurer, with great respect and fairness, even though he’d done nothing to show that he was one. I just would have expected him, as a monster, to be treated as one. Especially since his clan had been hunting humans and raiding caravans at the start of the story.

Overall, once it gets to the RPG stuff it’s actually an interesting story that transforms a monster NPC into a player. There’s not much of a plot, just adventures he goes on or gets thrown into. But it also explores the skewed perception of the normal people of ‘Adventurers’ that visit their world.

Score: 7.5 out of 10

Ninetoes

https://amzn.to/3iUdCcR

Only I Level Up (Solo Leveling)

In this world where Hunters with various magical powers battle monsters from invading the defenceless humanity, Sung Jin-Woo was the weakest of all the Hunters, barely able to make a living.

However, a mysterious System grants him the power of the ‘Player’, setting him on a course for an incredible and often times perilous Journey.

Follow Sung Jin-Woo as he embarks on an adventure to become an unparalleled existence through his “Level-Up” system - the only one in the entire world!

My Opinion: 116 chapters +, FREE or Unlockable Online

Note: There’s also a translated light novel version of the story, but this review is for the web comic.

The first 10 chapters are a little stretched out, but accomplish what they need to in establishing that dungeons and monsters exist in this world as do Hunters who kill said monsters and complete the dungeons for rewards. However, the main character (MC) is the weakest Hunter on record and on his latest dive into a dungeon, things go terribly wrong. His group is killed off or abandons him and he is left alone only to discover he’s secretly completed a hidden quest. The chapters clearly establish just how weak the MC is and how power means everything in this world.

The RPG stuff appears in chapter 11 when the MC gets an RPG interface that lets him level up, increase his stats, access a system store, notifications, and get amazing items, skills, and abilities. The MC is the only one with the RPG system though.

The artwork for the comic is great and really pushes the story into another level of enjoyment.

Overall, once the web comic gets to the RPG powers I was all in on this story. The web series is a great action adventure comic about a weak guy who is determined to increase his power despite the overwhelming odds he faces. Great stuff.

Score: 8 out of 10

Only I Level Up (Solo Leveling)

https://www.webnovel.com/comic/only-i-level-up-(solo-leveling)_15227640605485101

Ian’s (Eye-Ann) Picks of the Week - New Segment

Segment from Ian Mitchell a long time LitRPG community member who reads and reviews as much as me. He was nice enough to agree to join the LitRPG Podcast family as a new reviewer.

(Pic 6)

Stars Asunder: Book 9 in The System Apocalypse

The paladin's choice

John travels to Erethra to pay off his favor (picking an initial class from a galactic empire). Great reading and intrigue, combat was was exciting. John may be a paladin (mostly a free roaming troubleshooter) whose hobby is the system quest. Nice end for this arc.

Score: 9.0 out of 10

Stars Asunder: Book 9 in The System Apocalypse

https://amzn.to/2QfNpZW

(Pic 7)

Underworld - Vampire Gate: A LitRPG Series

Mr. Blue mage

I love these are all dungeon books. Interesting progressions. A Citadel down below. Power leveling at it's finest and seeing endgame level spells. Werewolf hunting. A fun ride without bogging down between towns.

Score: 8.5 out of 10

Underworld - Vampire Gate: A LitRPG Series

https://amzn.to/3jcYhof

(Pic 8)

The Heroic Villain 3

A grand romp of an adventure

Through endless fields of puns, tropes, and author cameos. I loved the cinematic fight scenes. I enjoyed/endured the nigh endless puns where the author pushed until I thought I couldn't take anymore. Smart with a fair bit if social commentary and insight that fit the story well and didn't feel too preachy. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the series which I can easily recommend.

Score: 8.7 out of 10

The Heroic Villain 3

https://amzn.to/2FJHivb

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

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