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Fate's Anvil #1
Skyclad
Morgan Mackenzie had a very bad day. First at work, then at home, and then her bathtub fell through a portal to another world, with her in it. Now she's stuck thousands of miles from any sort of civilization with nothing but the bathtub and a lace puffball scrubby. But she learned magic, so that's sorta nice. Now if only she could find some clothes...
509 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 9, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 154 reviews
December 8, 2022
I made the mistake of sampling this and got sucked right into the story. The thing is, the blurb and title might lead you to think this is going to lean into an exhibitionist sex thing. And it doesn't, even a little bit. It starts off with a gripping survival story in a LitRPG setting. Morgan is sucked into the portal in her bathtub and happens to land on a nest of giant eagles, killing them. And gaining a couple initial levels while naked. Which boosts her XP and skill acquisition and unlocks a bunch of custom skills that are 50% cheaper than the standard fare because they're tied to being naked.
So Browder pulled me in with a combination of system nerdery (the naked boost means she progresses twice as fast, but picks up skills on a 4x basis with the added skill discount) and fast plot as Morgan has to figure out how to survive in the dangerous wildlands with only a sentient bath scrubby for company. And then I find that he weaves in this complicated theme of story and choice and bargains with bite. And then and then it becomes apparent that the true conflict in this tale consists of good people standing together to do the hard things in the name of freedom.
And that is so very much my jam. And I even came to appreciate the other PoV shifts that follow, loosely, the batch of folks brought in by a portal burst (it isn't called that, but a dozen or so people get pulled in at the same time, accompanied by an Oracular prophesy so that's how I think of it). They're all interesting, even though two of the newcomers are completely evil—leading you to wonder how it is that "the system" selects world walkers. Or if it's just random.
And the redemption arc brought in at the end?!? Floored me and in a teary way, I tell you.
So yeah, I'm giving a LitRPG isekai five stars and admit that it buried the needle. If you're even a little curious about the sub-genre, this is a good place to start if you like a complex story with grand events and people who step up to do the hard things. That last part makes it complicated enough for me that I won't likely pick up the sequel. I like where this one ends and many major plot points are wrapped. But it's gearing up for the bigger war-time conflict and moving into high fantasy territory, and that's not interesting to me.
A note about Chaste: A story where the main viewpoint character runs around naked all the time is actually quite chaste. There's lots of non-sexual nudity. And anatomical details are sometimes relevant. But those aren't dwelled upon. There's no sex and not even any kissing, so I consider it pretty chaste for all of that. But tailor that to your own standards if nudity is going to be a sore spot.
So Browder pulled me in with a combination of system nerdery (the naked boost means she progresses twice as fast, but picks up skills on a 4x basis with the added skill discount) and fast plot as Morgan has to figure out how to survive in the dangerous wildlands with only a sentient bath scrubby for company. And then I find that he weaves in this complicated theme of story and choice and bargains with bite. And then and then it becomes apparent that the true conflict in this tale consists of good people standing together to do the hard things in the name of freedom.
And that is so very much my jam. And I even came to appreciate the other PoV shifts that follow, loosely, the batch of folks brought in by a portal burst (it isn't called that, but a dozen or so people get pulled in at the same time, accompanied by an Oracular prophesy so that's how I think of it). They're all interesting, even though two of the newcomers are completely evil—leading you to wonder how it is that "the system" selects world walkers. Or if it's just random.
And the redemption arc brought in at the end?!? Floored me and in a teary way, I tell you.
So yeah, I'm giving a LitRPG isekai five stars and admit that it buried the needle. If you're even a little curious about the sub-genre, this is a good place to start if you like a complex story with grand events and people who step up to do the hard things. That last part makes it complicated enough for me that I won't likely pick up the sequel. I like where this one ends and many major plot points are wrapped. But it's gearing up for the bigger war-time conflict and moving into high fantasy territory, and that's not interesting to me.
A note about Chaste: A story where the main viewpoint character runs around naked all the time is actually quite chaste. There's lots of non-sexual nudity. And anatomical details are sometimes relevant. But those aren't dwelled upon. There's no sex and not even any kissing, so I consider it pretty chaste for all of that. But tailor that to your own standards if nudity is going to be a sore spot.
January 6, 2023
Story missing, please correct.
This is one of those "books" where you realize that you are 34 chapters (80% +) in, and the primary protagonist has yet to even encounter the primary conflict that she is destined to resolve (or really anyone of the slightest consequence or importance.) It's all prologue. It's all world-building. Protagonist stumbles around blind, makes jokes, becomes immune to all forms of damage and a master of all forms of magic... etc. Days of work. Almost a week! And now she owns a mountain. The end.
Well, not really, the author DOES finally get on with it... eventually. The good guys do eventually form the justice league, or whatever, cuz slavery is bad, and power has a price, or something. Ironically, in a book about how bad slavers are practicing forbidden magics to bind souls, it becomes pretty clear that the system itself isn't all that big on free will. Both the Sorceress and the Titan seem literally incapable of ignoring "evil magic" since that's the "price" they pay for pseudoimmortality. The Raven (paraphrased) "I like you hon, but if you're not gone from my arbitrarily defined domain by tomorrow, I'll eat you. I can't control it. #unwillingcannibalism" Not entirely sure what the difference is, there. Oh well, maybe next book we can find out. Someone else will have to let me know, though. I doubt I'll be reading it.
Edit: 2 years later and I still don't know why slavery/binding souls is okay if you get permission first and or offer something in trade like power or revenge. To me, that seems irreconcilably hypocritical and, if the author has since addressed this inconsistency, I'd love to know. Also, I'm not sure how I missed this, but I was reading something online that mentioned skyclad and it mentioned that the MC was literally incapable of picking up a rock and throwing it at someone or eating pasta with a fork. Somehow I missed that. I'll be the first to admit that I was, at certain points, and to a certain degree, forcing myself to read further, so I'm not really so surprised that I missed it, but that's actually kind of funny and a way better gag than the loofah turned slime pet that I didn't really care about at all and took up way too much wordspace.
This is one of those "books" where you realize that you are 34 chapters (80% +) in, and the primary protagonist has yet to even encounter the primary conflict that she is destined to resolve (or really anyone of the slightest consequence or importance.) It's all prologue. It's all world-building. Protagonist stumbles around blind, makes jokes, becomes immune to all forms of damage and a master of all forms of magic... etc. Days of work. Almost a week! And now she owns a mountain. The end.
Well, not really, the author DOES finally get on with it... eventually. The good guys do eventually form the justice league, or whatever, cuz slavery is bad, and power has a price, or something. Ironically, in a book about how bad slavers are practicing forbidden magics to bind souls, it becomes pretty clear that the system itself isn't all that big on free will. Both the Sorceress and the Titan seem literally incapable of ignoring "evil magic" since that's the "price" they pay for pseudoimmortality. The Raven (paraphrased) "I like you hon, but if you're not gone from my arbitrarily defined domain by tomorrow, I'll eat you. I can't control it. #unwillingcannibalism" Not entirely sure what the difference is, there. Oh well, maybe next book we can find out. Someone else will have to let me know, though. I doubt I'll be reading it.
Edit: 2 years later and I still don't know why slavery/binding souls is okay if you get permission first and or offer something in trade like power or revenge. To me, that seems irreconcilably hypocritical and, if the author has since addressed this inconsistency, I'd love to know. Also, I'm not sure how I missed this, but I was reading something online that mentioned skyclad and it mentioned that the MC was literally incapable of picking up a rock and throwing it at someone or eating pasta with a fork. Somehow I missed that. I'll be the first to admit that I was, at certain points, and to a certain degree, forcing myself to read further, so I'm not really so surprised that I missed it, but that's actually kind of funny and a way better gag than the loofah turned slime pet that I didn't really care about at all and took up way too much wordspace.
January 3, 2020
One of the greatest Portal GameLit avaliable
I’ve been following this series on RRL and support the author on Patreon, so I’m pretty happy that it is out as a book for more people to read.
Morgan, the MC, along with a dozen other humans, fall into a new world. Their arrival is heralded by the Oracle, who makes a prophecy, heard around the world, that Fate is changing and Strangers tread their lands. This sends all nations in a race to secure the arrivals and to prepare for what’s coming.
The Oracle also grants each arrival a title, which hints at their role in the world, such as: “The Broken”, “The Defiler”, “The Fortress”, “The Dreamer”, and Morgan as “The Burning Woman”.
There’s also a very interesting class up mechanic, where characters are sent to an “inner world” where they see a countless number of themselves, each one as the pinnacle of a class that the character could choose. They can also talk to their copies to learn more about the class.
Also, unlike most stories, the oldest people are almost always the strongest, with even a simple old woodworker being able to take down young brigands.
Finally, the story is mostly told by Morgan, but there are a few chapters narrated by other characters, the best of those being The Broken and The Oracle in my opinion.
Also: No Harem and no romance, which should be a plus for many.
So, if you enjoy GameLit or are looking for your first book in the genre, go ahead and buy this one. You will love it.
I’ve been following this series on RRL and support the author on Patreon, so I’m pretty happy that it is out as a book for more people to read.
Morgan, the MC, along with a dozen other humans, fall into a new world. Their arrival is heralded by the Oracle, who makes a prophecy, heard around the world, that Fate is changing and Strangers tread their lands. This sends all nations in a race to secure the arrivals and to prepare for what’s coming.
The Oracle also grants each arrival a title, which hints at their role in the world, such as: “The Broken”, “The Defiler”, “The Fortress”, “The Dreamer”, and Morgan as “The Burning Woman”.
There’s also a very interesting class up mechanic, where characters are sent to an “inner world” where they see a countless number of themselves, each one as the pinnacle of a class that the character could choose. They can also talk to their copies to learn more about the class.
Also, unlike most stories, the oldest people are almost always the strongest, with even a simple old woodworker being able to take down young brigands.
Finally, the story is mostly told by Morgan, but there are a few chapters narrated by other characters, the best of those being The Broken and The Oracle in my opinion.
Also: No Harem and no romance, which should be a plus for many.
So, if you enjoy GameLit or are looking for your first book in the genre, go ahead and buy this one. You will love it.
January 27, 2020
I want a scrubby. It’s a new monster to add to my menagerie of I wish it was real list. Ok, now I’ve got that out of the way, the book was oh so good. It has strong characters and a really great story.
July 26, 2020
Rating 4.0 stars
This was surprisingly good. Having the main character show up to another world completely naked was something new. Her being naked was a big part of the early story, enough that I thought that I would get tired of the gimmick. Instead everything turned out to be much more complex than I initially thought. Morgan is a college student and waitress and has had a bad day. She is taking a bath to go out on the town after she found out her boyfriend was cheating on her. The next thing she knows both her and her bathtub are falling and she ends up landing on a new world.
The story was interesting. I did think it got overly wordy at times describing the scenery, but that didn't happen too often. Overall I am looking forward to the next book.
This was surprisingly good. Having the main character show up to another world completely naked was something new. Her being naked was a big part of the early story, enough that I thought that I would get tired of the gimmick. Instead everything turned out to be much more complex than I initially thought. Morgan is a college student and waitress and has had a bad day. She is taking a bath to go out on the town after she found out her boyfriend was cheating on her. The next thing she knows both her and her bathtub are falling and she ends up landing on a new world.
The story was interesting. I did think it got overly wordy at times describing the scenery, but that didn't happen too often. Overall I am looking forward to the next book.
September 18, 2020
I'm on the fence on this one.
Look, the plot isn't bad. I finished it, didn't I? Characterization is rather good as well. I expected the naked thing to get cringy fast, but the author managed to keep it relevant and logical, which is something of an achievement in these times of quick gratification (arf! arf!).
But something about this book didn't work for me. Enough that even though I'm going to give it a passing mark, I'm still not going to track the series. I'll try and explain, see if it makes sense.
So the general idea is that seemingly (at this point in the story) random people from Earth get sucked into this gamelike-world, and end up with perks. We follow a few of them loosely, and Morgan the most.
So the plot, in itself, is good. But the unveiling of it comes off as confused and unfocused. And that threw me off the story a lot. We keep springing into new character POVs, and we never know if they're important, or if they're just sideshows. We never know how much to invest in them. That breaks the flow of the story, especially because there doesn't seem to be a pattern to the changes.
The ending of the book was a bit lackluster for me. It felt like a cheap info-dump, combined with a Deux Ex Machinae for no real constructive purpose . The interludes were pointlessly whimsical, and not very useful, plot-wise.
All in all, I'm left with a feeling of a story that is too tightly controlled, happening in a very small world. Beside the very first shocking event, nothing else was really out of the ordinary, and I'm not expecting to be surprised later on.
Look, the plot isn't bad. I finished it, didn't I? Characterization is rather good as well. I expected the naked thing to get cringy fast, but the author managed to keep it relevant and logical, which is something of an achievement in these times of quick gratification (arf! arf!).
But something about this book didn't work for me. Enough that even though I'm going to give it a passing mark, I'm still not going to track the series. I'll try and explain, see if it makes sense.
So the general idea is that seemingly (at this point in the story) random people from Earth get sucked into this gamelike-world, and end up with perks. We follow a few of them loosely, and Morgan the most.
So the plot, in itself, is good. But the unveiling of it comes off as confused and unfocused. And that threw me off the story a lot. We keep springing into new character POVs, and we never know if they're important, or if they're just sideshows. We never know how much to invest in them. That breaks the flow of the story, especially because there doesn't seem to be a pattern to the changes.
The ending of the book was a bit lackluster for me. It felt like a cheap info-dump, combined with a Deux Ex Machinae for no real constructive purpose . The interludes were pointlessly whimsical, and not very useful, plot-wise.
All in all, I'm left with a feeling of a story that is too tightly controlled, happening in a very small world. Beside the very first shocking event, nothing else was really out of the ordinary, and I'm not expecting to be surprised later on.
December 28, 2020
Явно много от хората, които се увличат от ролеви игри са малко по-плитко или даже малко по-дълбоко в спектъра на аутизма, защото обсесията им с математическите системи, по които тия игри работят е направо прекалена.
Същото се получава, когато такъв човек се мъчи да пише в иначе набиращия популярно��т стил за "ролеви роман", в който героите имат нещо като вътрешен интерфейс, чрез който получават "умения" и "точки" имащи отражение в действителността.
Въпреки няколкото отлични примери за ��акъв стил романи (добър пример 1, добър пример 2), повечето автори се занимават твърде много със "системата" и уменията и отделят съвсем малко внимание на неща като действие и стил на писане, което прави творенията им тотално нечитаеми за хора, които не са аутисти като тях. Пример за което е настоящата книга.
Същото се получава, когато такъв човек се мъчи да пише в иначе набиращия популярно��т стил за "ролеви роман", в който героите имат нещо като вътрешен интерфейс, чрез който получават "умения" и "точки" имащи отражение в действителността.
Въпреки няколкото отлични примери за ��акъв стил романи (добър пример 1, добър пример 2), повечето автори се занимават твърде много със "системата" и уменията и отделят съвсем малко внимание на неща като действие и стил на писане, което прави творенията им тотално нечитаеми за хора, които не са аутисти като тях. Пример за което е настоящата книга.
January 5, 2021
Terrible book. Stacked reviews. The MC is kinda cool, but soon you learn there seems to be an infinite amount of main characters in the book. If you've read ANY LitRPG Books, then you already know ALL the main characters.
I was going to give this a slightly higher review but towards the last chapters I realized just how often the author has main characters contradict themselves. Basically in the same sentence. Also, I often had to re-read sentences and paragraphs, because it wasn't clear who the author decided was speaking. Especially since he would jump from, character A's point of view, then side character B's point of view, and so on. All without any explanation to who the freak is talking/thinking about whatever "strange contraption" which turned out to be a simple everyday object, that he seems to think his readers will enjoy guessing at. Last thing, would love it, if the author actually gave full detailed explanations of things places, and people instead of giving two details like, "the large, dark tower". I can't see how this got 4.5 stars.
I was going to give this a slightly higher review but towards the last chapters I realized just how often the author has main characters contradict themselves. Basically in the same sentence. Also, I often had to re-read sentences and paragraphs, because it wasn't clear who the author decided was speaking. Especially since he would jump from, character A's point of view, then side character B's point of view, and so on. All without any explanation to who the freak is talking/thinking about whatever "strange contraption" which turned out to be a simple everyday object, that he seems to think his readers will enjoy guessing at. Last thing, would love it, if the author actually gave full detailed explanations of things places, and people instead of giving two details like, "the large, dark tower". I can't see how this got 4.5 stars.
April 9, 2021
Completely overblown reviews here. This book isn't absolutely terrible, but there is no way it should have a 4.5. Read some better, more in-depth reviews here.
This book has, in my opinion, three main problems.
1. This book exemplifies the "white man's burden" philosophy except you replace "white man" with "Worldwalker".
2. The omnipresent male gaze and issues resultant from that.
3. It gatekeeps and glorifies suffering (this is a bit of a weird one)
Then there's also the generic pitfalls that LitRPG's often fall into like having Mary Sue protagonists who are special snowflakes and overcome every challenge just in time by virtue of luck, pain resistance, and sheer "determination" levels that rival those of Chinese "cultivation" novel protagonists. Still, I'm not going to deduct points for those. I knew going in that I was reading popcorn, and I'm totally fine with reading about overpowered trope protagonists when I'm looking to just consume zero calories for a while. Now, onto the first of the main problems.
The philosophy of white man's burden has its origins in colonial times and can be defined as, "the task, believed by white colonizers to be incumbent upon them, of imposing Western civilization on the black inhabitants of European colonies." Obviously, this is horribly racist, but people of the time did believe it. They thought that they, as the "civilized people", had a duty to go in to the "untamed and uncivilized lands to show those poor savages the right way of doing things". Almost the exact same thing happens in this story, except you replace "white people" with "worldwalker". Without exception all the worldwalkers, upon gaining their footing, take it upon themselves to "set these savages right" and, even worse, all the natives supplicate and throw themselves before them while essentially yelling, "oh great worldwalker, please enlighten us because we're stupid as bricks."
Take the "General" and the "Broken" for example. Both of them have real world experience as soldiers, and within days take it upon themselves to "show these people what real war is like" and tell actual warriors who've fought in wars that "you haven't seen a real war". I mean, sure, a modern soldier who has command experience would be able to bring something to the table in a fantasy war setting, no doubt about it, but it's not like people were idiots in ye olden days. You can damn well bet that the commanders who marched with Roman armies or led the Khan's warriors across the steppe were brilliant logisticians, tacticians, and strategists, to rival those being pumped out of top military academies today.
A great example on the other side is the "Wildheart Huntress" who's ascribed to being ridiculously high leveled--powerful enough to keep an entire city in line--yet who somehow acts like a skittish deer and needs the baby-faced worldwalkers to solve every single issue for her. I mean, she's like level 70 for christsakes. The book even makes a point of pointing out how ridiculously rare and powerful she is and tries to inflate her role as a total badass, and yet she's just an overly emotional chick who can, I dunno, shoot arrows well?
Fundamentally, the natives of -whatever the world is called- are treated with no respect and always need to strong and smart worldwalker to lift them out of their troubles.
Anyways, on to the male gaze stuff. It's really, really bad. I am, as a disclaimer, a straight dude, yet I felt extremely uncomfortable reading many parts of this story. First, there's the way that the main characters nudism is described. You want to write a story about a character who makes great personal sacrifice for power? Great! You want that sacrifice to be enforced nudity...? Sure, no problem, could be interesting. Oh and also, that naked person is a super hot woman who [insert overly sexualised description here]. Eugh. It's clear that the main shtick of this story is written just to attract thirsty people with some thin justifications stapled on like "not able to ever equip enchanted items" being a great sacrifice.
Then there's the really squick stuff. I mean, there's a scene where Morgan meets her Freudian ID who then (in true Freud style lol) sexually assaults herself(?) and the book vividly describes how the main character is turned on. LIKE WHAT THE FUCK. It's explicitly stated that Morgan is not gay yet her first reaction to seeing a duplicate of HERSELF is, "oh wow, she looks fuckably hot". AGAIN, WHAT THE FUCK. You have to be an extraordinarily special brand of narcissistic to get turned on whenever you look into a mirror.
Then there's all the standard "men writing women" pitfalls like overly descriptive text about Morgan's breasts and genitalia and thought processes that can only be described as flanderized sexual fantasies of what horny men think women think. Like the whole first chapter thought process and the pre-bathtub scene could be lifted straight out of a high-quality porno without changes.
Finally, there's the suffering. It's a common trope in LitRPG's and similar novels that with great suffering comes great power, but this just takes it to a new level. Just like how the soldiers gatekeep "real war", "real suffering" is gatekept multiple times throughout this story. Also there's the whole subplot with Millie and the subplot with Zizzy where it just feels like the author goes out of their way to put in as much gratuitous suffering as possible, yet no matter how much he pumps in, even infinite suffering can't inflate a character into the third dimension. I could go on, but at this point I've already written far to many words that too few people will read.
This book has, in my opinion, three main problems.
1. This book exemplifies the "white man's burden" philosophy except you replace "white man" with "Worldwalker".
2. The omnipresent male gaze and issues resultant from that.
3. It gatekeeps and glorifies suffering (this is a bit of a weird one)
Then there's also the generic pitfalls that LitRPG's often fall into like having Mary Sue protagonists who are special snowflakes and overcome every challenge just in time by virtue of luck, pain resistance, and sheer "determination" levels that rival those of Chinese "cultivation" novel protagonists. Still, I'm not going to deduct points for those. I knew going in that I was reading popcorn, and I'm totally fine with reading about overpowered trope protagonists when I'm looking to just consume zero calories for a while. Now, onto the first of the main problems.
The philosophy of white man's burden has its origins in colonial times and can be defined as, "the task, believed by white colonizers to be incumbent upon them, of imposing Western civilization on the black inhabitants of European colonies." Obviously, this is horribly racist, but people of the time did believe it. They thought that they, as the "civilized people", had a duty to go in to the "untamed and uncivilized lands to show those poor savages the right way of doing things". Almost the exact same thing happens in this story, except you replace "white people" with "worldwalker". Without exception all the worldwalkers, upon gaining their footing, take it upon themselves to "set these savages right" and, even worse, all the natives supplicate and throw themselves before them while essentially yelling, "oh great worldwalker, please enlighten us because we're stupid as bricks."
Take the "General" and the "Broken" for example. Both of them have real world experience as soldiers, and within days take it upon themselves to "show these people what real war is like" and tell actual warriors who've fought in wars that "you haven't seen a real war". I mean, sure, a modern soldier who has command experience would be able to bring something to the table in a fantasy war setting, no doubt about it, but it's not like people were idiots in ye olden days. You can damn well bet that the commanders who marched with Roman armies or led the Khan's warriors across the steppe were brilliant logisticians, tacticians, and strategists, to rival those being pumped out of top military academies today.
A great example on the other side is the "Wildheart Huntress" who's ascribed to being ridiculously high leveled--powerful enough to keep an entire city in line--yet who somehow acts like a skittish deer and needs the baby-faced worldwalkers to solve every single issue for her. I mean, she's like level 70 for christsakes. The book even makes a point of pointing out how ridiculously rare and powerful she is and tries to inflate her role as a total badass, and yet she's just an overly emotional chick who can, I dunno, shoot arrows well?
Fundamentally, the natives of -whatever the world is called- are treated with no respect and always need to strong and smart worldwalker to lift them out of their troubles.
Anyways, on to the male gaze stuff. It's really, really bad. I am, as a disclaimer, a straight dude, yet I felt extremely uncomfortable reading many parts of this story. First, there's the way that the main characters nudism is described. You want to write a story about a character who makes great personal sacrifice for power? Great! You want that sacrifice to be enforced nudity...? Sure, no problem, could be interesting. Oh and also, that naked person is a super hot woman who [insert overly sexualised description here]. Eugh. It's clear that the main shtick of this story is written just to attract thirsty people with some thin justifications stapled on like "not able to ever equip enchanted items" being a great sacrifice.
Then there's the really squick stuff. I mean, there's a scene where Morgan meets her Freudian ID who then (in true Freud style lol) sexually assaults herself(?) and the book vividly describes how the main character is turned on. LIKE WHAT THE FUCK. It's explicitly stated that Morgan is not gay yet her first reaction to seeing a duplicate of HERSELF is, "oh wow, she looks fuckably hot". AGAIN, WHAT THE FUCK. You have to be an extraordinarily special brand of narcissistic to get turned on whenever you look into a mirror.
Then there's all the standard "men writing women" pitfalls like overly descriptive text about Morgan's breasts and genitalia and thought processes that can only be described as flanderized sexual fantasies of what horny men think women think. Like the whole first chapter thought process and the pre-bathtub scene could be lifted straight out of a high-quality porno without changes.
Finally, there's the suffering. It's a common trope in LitRPG's and similar novels that with great suffering comes great power, but this just takes it to a new level. Just like how the soldiers gatekeep "real war", "real suffering" is gatekept multiple times throughout this story. Also there's the whole subplot with Millie and the subplot with Zizzy where it just feels like the author goes out of their way to put in as much gratuitous suffering as possible, yet no matter how much he pumps in, even infinite suffering can't inflate a character into the third dimension. I could go on, but at this point I've already written far to many words that too few people will read.
April 17, 2021
The pacing is totally fucked, the exposition is clumsy, the composition is forced, the worldbuilding is lazy and derivative, the references are obvious, the names are messed up, the coding is poorly done, the quality is lacking due to the limits of the web-serial genre which this work is not suited for at all, the connections between characters are forced and fuck with willing suspension of disbelief, the writing is unpolished and skeletal, the main character does no work for her gifts and should probably be dead already, losing nothing for the huge amount of power she's illogically gained. Many scenes are melodramatic, which provides an infuriating contrast to the writing that shows potential. The characters are more caricatures than caroc cards, the latter of which seems to be the intention. The story is not actually finished as Royal Road claims, as for some reason the author decided to list the novels as separate fictions rather than let the narrative run, which defeated the purpose of me searching for completed fictions as book two is on hiatus, presumably due to the fucking global pandemic that is dragging on cos people are stupid.
The name Skyclad is disingenuous as it refers to the disposition and power of the main character without fully exploring the nuances and subtext of female nudity as empowerment or exploring the idea of nudity in general or adding more weight to it or fucking anything, and does not follow the character for the entire 49 short chapters. If you name a book after a character, and the name doesn't fit any of the other characters, and the fans tell you that they want to get to know the character better and that you, the writer, are failing to deliver on that, maybe listen to them rather than telling them to fuck off and writing the book as a bad ensemble thing, or maybe change the name of the book, possibly to something like "Awesome Special Naked Multiple Power Girl And Friends Derivative LitRPG Fantasy Fiction Also A Gratuitous Death Of A Perspective Character And Some Interludes That Add Nothing To The Story Or Should Be Chapters".
I realise that it's fantasy and that it's fiction and that an author can do whatever the fuck they want in the privacy of their own novel that is published for anyone to read on the internet but... there are some natural laws that it's not necessary to break, some things that are the fucking heart and spine of the litrpg genre and need to be well-balanced. Everything is too easy, for all of the characters. It's not just the fact that people level way too fucking fast because you think this is a race to lvl 100, it's that there was no tension or clever trickery after a unsolvable problem was developed, or loss, or trial and error, or lack of knowledge, or loss, or irreparable damage. The ease with which people survive in an other, hostile, technologically backwards world is rather ridiculous.
Why does killing things help to level up, even classes that are not primarily murderous? Why are there special classes for every fucking person? Why does a higher intelligence increase your mana pool? Why is that common knowledge? What are the odds that the main character has played tabletop gaming a couple unenthusiastic times when they were a child and understands the mechanics behind it and then remembers these staples of the genre and then just immediately adapts to the fact that this shit is happening after a short period of screaming and then happily go on to butchering wild animals with nary a cameo of hour long retchfests? Okay so her Dad might have taken her hunting - would that not have been a very relevant anecdote and provide some much-needed context and characterisation? Are these game mechanics necessary and logical in your iteration of this story? Why not reexamine everything from the ground up and determine whether these things are necessary and logical in this new world you've created, unless it's not a new world but one cobbled together from scraps.
Why is it that we get introduced to potential sources of conflict and weighty elements and useful tools that are then discarded or disregarded? This is more a quirk of poorly written serials where the story is being made up on the fly, yet at the same time it seems to me that the characters and indeed the world dance to the tune of what the author has in his head and has decided will happen rather than what the characters have in their head or what is logical or likely to happen, or at a higher level of writing, what would organically happen in such a world that has been painstakingly rendered, with a sightly higher than normal amount of chance and weighted possibility. This is also a problem with the characters, who excel to the heights of human advancement in not only their respective fields but adjacent ones as well rather than having gaps and foibles and odd pockets of irrelevant knowledge. This is a weird contrast to the rest of the world apart from the minor characters we're introduced to and a few cherry-planted examples; classes and levels don't seem to have impacted the world very much at all in terms of how people work together or the way people do things or social structure, logistics, hierarchy in organisations, succession, any number of huge effects.
The worldbuilding is just a weird hodgepodge of what's been read before, a bunch of litrpgs, a lot of fantasy, probably some random games I missed, an ill-fitting shot of Arthurian legend, all without a proper attempt to blend the underlying elements into a novel whole, and even a clear tip towards Earthly interference in the world, although I guess a little of that can be explained away with historic travelers.
Le Fay is not a fucking family name it is an epithet given to her later in life and means 'the fairy', either referring to her fey nature as a sorceress that consorted with dark forces or her actual heritage, depending on the version of the Arthurian story you're going off. The timing is also a little off as Arthur is set at around late 5th to early 6th century, so you're about 100 years off there if we're assuming she left at the exact moment of his death.
Everyone sounds the fucking same. If you're switching perspectives in the middle of a fucking chapter, remaining omniscient yet giving a glimpse into the head of a present character then maybe give the writing more of a flavour that fits the character's background rather than sticking with the affectation of wry verbosity. This probably goes for dialogue but I didn't dive deep into it this first time round.
Why is everyone speaking English, even the french-coded people. Even the different cultures. Even the tribal and semi-insular beastkin.
What, his personality didn't fkn change over 1500 years? His mind isn't warped, his priorities shifted, nothing happening at all to him in a millennium and a half? Tho to be fair we don't really get to know him either before or after.
Not a single dragon in the entire book? Do you even fkn fantasy bro?
Morgan is a fairly boring character, though tbf so is Harry Potter.
Not a fan of guns, Americans in general, or soldiers right now.
There's more but I'm falling asleep an my headache is coming back.
I still kinda want to know what happens, which probably says more about my inability to leave a story unfinished. I just wish these things with the themes I'm interested in weren't so poorly written.
The name Skyclad is disingenuous as it refers to the disposition and power of the main character without fully exploring the nuances and subtext of female nudity as empowerment or exploring the idea of nudity in general or adding more weight to it or fucking anything, and does not follow the character for the entire 49 short chapters. If you name a book after a character, and the name doesn't fit any of the other characters, and the fans tell you that they want to get to know the character better and that you, the writer, are failing to deliver on that, maybe listen to them rather than telling them to fuck off and writing the book as a bad ensemble thing, or maybe change the name of the book, possibly to something like "Awesome Special Naked Multiple Power Girl And Friends Derivative LitRPG Fantasy Fiction Also A Gratuitous Death Of A Perspective Character And Some Interludes That Add Nothing To The Story Or Should Be Chapters".
I realise that it's fantasy and that it's fiction and that an author can do whatever the fuck they want in the privacy of their own novel that is published for anyone to read on the internet but... there are some natural laws that it's not necessary to break, some things that are the fucking heart and spine of the litrpg genre and need to be well-balanced. Everything is too easy, for all of the characters. It's not just the fact that people level way too fucking fast because you think this is a race to lvl 100, it's that there was no tension or clever trickery after a unsolvable problem was developed, or loss, or trial and error, or lack of knowledge, or loss, or irreparable damage. The ease with which people survive in an other, hostile, technologically backwards world is rather ridiculous.
Why does killing things help to level up, even classes that are not primarily murderous? Why are there special classes for every fucking person? Why does a higher intelligence increase your mana pool? Why is that common knowledge? What are the odds that the main character has played tabletop gaming a couple unenthusiastic times when they were a child and understands the mechanics behind it and then remembers these staples of the genre and then just immediately adapts to the fact that this shit is happening after a short period of screaming and then happily go on to butchering wild animals with nary a cameo of hour long retchfests? Okay so her Dad might have taken her hunting - would that not have been a very relevant anecdote and provide some much-needed context and characterisation? Are these game mechanics necessary and logical in your iteration of this story? Why not reexamine everything from the ground up and determine whether these things are necessary and logical in this new world you've created, unless it's not a new world but one cobbled together from scraps.
Why is it that we get introduced to potential sources of conflict and weighty elements and useful tools that are then discarded or disregarded? This is more a quirk of poorly written serials where the story is being made up on the fly, yet at the same time it seems to me that the characters and indeed the world dance to the tune of what the author has in his head and has decided will happen rather than what the characters have in their head or what is logical or likely to happen, or at a higher level of writing, what would organically happen in such a world that has been painstakingly rendered, with a sightly higher than normal amount of chance and weighted possibility. This is also a problem with the characters, who excel to the heights of human advancement in not only their respective fields but adjacent ones as well rather than having gaps and foibles and odd pockets of irrelevant knowledge. This is a weird contrast to the rest of the world apart from the minor characters we're introduced to and a few cherry-planted examples; classes and levels don't seem to have impacted the world very much at all in terms of how people work together or the way people do things or social structure, logistics, hierarchy in organisations, succession, any number of huge effects.
The worldbuilding is just a weird hodgepodge of what's been read before, a bunch of litrpgs, a lot of fantasy, probably some random games I missed, an ill-fitting shot of Arthurian legend, all without a proper attempt to blend the underlying elements into a novel whole, and even a clear tip towards Earthly interference in the world, although I guess a little of that can be explained away with historic travelers.
Le Fay is not a fucking family name it is an epithet given to her later in life and means 'the fairy', either referring to her fey nature as a sorceress that consorted with dark forces or her actual heritage, depending on the version of the Arthurian story you're going off. The timing is also a little off as Arthur is set at around late 5th to early 6th century, so you're about 100 years off there if we're assuming she left at the exact moment of his death.
Everyone sounds the fucking same. If you're switching perspectives in the middle of a fucking chapter, remaining omniscient yet giving a glimpse into the head of a present character then maybe give the writing more of a flavour that fits the character's background rather than sticking with the affectation of wry verbosity. This probably goes for dialogue but I didn't dive deep into it this first time round.
Why is everyone speaking English, even the french-coded people. Even the different cultures. Even the tribal and semi-insular beastkin.
What, his personality didn't fkn change over 1500 years? His mind isn't warped, his priorities shifted, nothing happening at all to him in a millennium and a half? Tho to be fair we don't really get to know him either before or after.
Not a single dragon in the entire book? Do you even fkn fantasy bro?
Morgan is a fairly boring character, though tbf so is Harry Potter.
Not a fan of guns, Americans in general, or soldiers right now.
There's more but I'm falling asleep an my headache is coming back.
I still kinda want to know what happens, which probably says more about my inability to leave a story unfinished. I just wish these things with the themes I'm interested in weren't so poorly written.
January 11, 2020
An instant favorite.
I don't normally bother with reviews, but I felt this book deserved one. I started this book because it sounded amusing and should tide me over until I found something better. I was extremely pleased however to find engaging characters, excellent world building, and a fascinating plot. The story kept me glued in place well into the night. The LitRPG elements weren't overbearing as in some books. The stat menus became less frequent the further the story progressed. The main character's companion Lulu brought just the right amount of comedic relief. Now I'll be impatiently awaiting the sequel.
I don't normally bother with reviews, but I felt this book deserved one. I started this book because it sounded amusing and should tide me over until I found something better. I was extremely pleased however to find engaging characters, excellent world building, and a fascinating plot. The story kept me glued in place well into the night. The LitRPG elements weren't overbearing as in some books. The stat menus became less frequent the further the story progressed. The main character's companion Lulu brought just the right amount of comedic relief. Now I'll be impatiently awaiting the sequel.
January 30, 2023
Unexpected Gem
Despite the high rating here on goodreads, I didn't pick up this book with high expectations. Let's just say I've been let down before. Not the case this time however!
This book had it all....There was humour in heaps, the "system" is fairly well made though the character sheet was revisited a bit too often in the beginning which can be a slight irritant in audiobook form. The worldbuilding was much wider than I expected, and the multiple viewpoints and storylines made this litRPG into an actual fantasy epic.
I hoped it would be good. But I did not expect it to be this great :) I'm looking forward to book two already :)
Despite the high rating here on goodreads, I didn't pick up this book with high expectations. Let's just say I've been let down before. Not the case this time however!
This book had it all....There was humour in heaps, the "system" is fairly well made though the character sheet was revisited a bit too often in the beginning which can be a slight irritant in audiobook form. The worldbuilding was much wider than I expected, and the multiple viewpoints and storylines made this litRPG into an actual fantasy epic.
I hoped it would be good. But I did not expect it to be this great :) I'm looking forward to book two already :)
January 7, 2020
Forget the book summary, this is gold
The book summary in Amazon does not work. However this book is gold. I pick it up because it had good reviews. And I was not able to put it down.
I can not wait for the next one.
The book summary in Amazon does not work. However this book is gold. I pick it up because it had good reviews. And I was not able to put it down.
I can not wait for the next one.
April 1, 2024
I had difficulty rating this book. Overall it reads a lot like a web serial, particularly early on. Each chapter is basically self contained, starts with a small recap of the previous chapter, and moves the story forward in discrete chunks. At first we start with what appears to be a main protagonist's viewpoint, but that expands to interleave five or more loosely related (and sometimes not so loosely related) perspectives.
The world is presented via some LitRPG techniques, with classes and skills dominating. This stuff seems more like an initial writing aid for the author than some sort of real story framework though. The author seems to just give up on it all about halfway through. By the end of this first novel we haven't seen a stat sheet or level mentioned for most of our main characters since they were level 10ish. We never see any item information. Ultimately I felt like this was a bit of a let down after the early setup.
The writing style was a little bit like this as well. We get some early Douglas Adams right out of the gate which I actually enjoyed. As we get deeper into the story and the subject becomes heavier, that light-heartedness and humor takes a back seat. The character portraits are okay, but I had trouble liking or really caring about any of them.
My major gripe is that everything is just a little bit too easy. I'm fine with characters that become OP, but I'd like to see them struggle to achieve their power, and I'd like the sense that there's always a true challenge on the horizon. Here we get characters that gain power quickly (and in ways that seem inconsistent with the way the LitRPG system is presented) and just trample everyone in their path.
These negatives notwithstanding, I mostly enjoyed the read and will most certainly read the next when it's available. It is a shame it's not a Kindle Unlimited title.
The world is presented via some LitRPG techniques, with classes and skills dominating. This stuff seems more like an initial writing aid for the author than some sort of real story framework though. The author seems to just give up on it all about halfway through. By the end of this first novel we haven't seen a stat sheet or level mentioned for most of our main characters since they were level 10ish. We never see any item information. Ultimately I felt like this was a bit of a let down after the early setup.
The writing style was a little bit like this as well. We get some early Douglas Adams right out of the gate which I actually enjoyed. As we get deeper into the story and the subject becomes heavier, that light-heartedness and humor takes a back seat. The character portraits are okay, but I had trouble liking or really caring about any of them.
My major gripe is that everything is just a little bit too easy. I'm fine with characters that become OP, but I'd like to see them struggle to achieve their power, and I'd like the sense that there's always a true challenge on the horizon. Here we get characters that gain power quickly (and in ways that seem inconsistent with the way the LitRPG system is presented) and just trample everyone in their path.
These negatives notwithstanding, I mostly enjoyed the read and will most certainly read the next when it's available. It is a shame it's not a Kindle Unlimited title.
August 5, 2022
Skyclad is the first book in the Fate's Anvril series by Scott Browden.
I honestly loved every moment of this book. The writing style reminds me of The Wandering Inn by Pirateaba. The shifting narratives and duality of the story as so many lines and paths merge.
There's still so much of the world building left unexplored, as of yet. We know basic premises involving the System, and the way in which classes or power is acquired. The author explained a few of the ruling bodies, outlining the main lines of emnity. Mainly we know so much of the Dresken Empire and their horrid avarice and greed bred on the shoulders and backs of slaves.
I've come to really like all but two of the Worldwalkers emphasized in this story. Obviously, The Defiler is a despicable creature that deserved every moment of suffrage wrought on him in these pages. But The Dreamer is quieter evil. A sociopath who revels in all creation, knowledge, and experimentation can divine within a thought for the morality of his work. Hopefully, we won't come to have to worry about The Preacher given the way his eyes blazed when mentioning a crusade for his God.
Most of all, I cherish the Burning Woman. Morgan is such an interesting character. She is definitively the easiest to to empathize with given how much page time she encompasses. We follow her antics with the most bated breath. Her growth and turmoil has been an engaging experience.
I still enjoy the moment following The General and his healer wife, The Harlot, The Broken, The Fortress and The Twins. Not much has been shown of The Shadow, but I am intrigued to find out more about this cast of varying and intriguing characters.
I honestly loved every moment of this book. The writing style reminds me of The Wandering Inn by Pirateaba. The shifting narratives and duality of the story as so many lines and paths merge.
There's still so much of the world building left unexplored, as of yet. We know basic premises involving the System, and the way in which classes or power is acquired. The author explained a few of the ruling bodies, outlining the main lines of emnity. Mainly we know so much of the Dresken Empire and their horrid avarice and greed bred on the shoulders and backs of slaves.
I've come to really like all but two of the Worldwalkers emphasized in this story. Obviously, The Defiler is a despicable creature that deserved every moment of suffrage wrought on him in these pages. But The Dreamer is quieter evil. A sociopath who revels in all creation, knowledge, and experimentation can divine within a thought for the morality of his work. Hopefully, we won't come to have to worry about The Preacher given the way his eyes blazed when mentioning a crusade for his God.
Most of all, I cherish the Burning Woman. Morgan is such an interesting character. She is definitively the easiest to to empathize with given how much page time she encompasses. We follow her antics with the most bated breath. Her growth and turmoil has been an engaging experience.
I still enjoy the moment following The General and his healer wife, The Harlot, The Broken, The Fortress and The Twins. Not much has been shown of The Shadow, but I am intrigued to find out more about this cast of varying and intriguing characters.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 6, 2020
Surprisingly fun!
I had a really fun time reading this! I was surprised how Scott was able to blend all these perspectives together and keep the seriousness with the fun. The explanations were well thought out without being an info dump and the story line was not easily predictable.
Can't wait for the next book!
I had a really fun time reading this! I was surprised how Scott was able to blend all these perspectives together and keep the seriousness with the fun. The explanations were well thought out without being an info dump and the story line was not easily predictable.
Can't wait for the next book!
January 7, 2020
Amazing!
Skyclad has to be one of the best books I have read in a long time. Completely sucked me in and left me wanting more. I strongly recommend this book to any fan of fantasy and portal stories.
Skyclad has to be one of the best books I have read in a long time. Completely sucked me in and left me wanting more. I strongly recommend this book to any fan of fantasy and portal stories.
January 8, 2020
Good solid poral fantasy
One of the best portal fantasy's I've read recently. Even the minor points of view have been interesting to read, which is not alwaysthe case for me.
One of the best portal fantasy's I've read recently. Even the minor points of view have been interesting to read, which is not alwaysthe case for me.
December 26, 2019
Solid
Fun read - largely due to the antics of the MC and her great companion. It is lengthy without pacing suffering and doesn't drag.
Some plot elements feel a bit contrived and the overall world-building could be given extra definition to my mind, especially considering both the potential of the [Oracle] as a source of exposition and the length of the novel, but those aren't really issues so much as areas for improvement.
Overall, worth your time.
Fun read - largely due to the antics of the MC and her great companion. It is lengthy without pacing suffering and doesn't drag.
Some plot elements feel a bit contrived and the overall world-building could be given extra definition to my mind, especially considering both the potential of the [Oracle] as a source of exposition and the length of the novel, but those aren't really issues so much as areas for improvement.
Overall, worth your time.
February 2, 2020
Book one
Mistakes: I found nothing, and let me just say this tale once told in its entirety has a chance to truly be epic.
Plot: Multiple people from the modern world are drawn into a world of magic. This sets the stage for a fight between good and evil.
Characters: While I like the different characters I do have favorites. Lulu, Zizzy, and the little drummer girl are by far my most favorite.
10/10 Excellent story telling.
Mistakes: I found nothing, and let me just say this tale once told in its entirety has a chance to truly be epic.
Plot: Multiple people from the modern world are drawn into a world of magic. This sets the stage for a fight between good and evil.
Characters: While I like the different characters I do have favorites. Lulu, Zizzy, and the little drummer girl are by far my most favorite.
10/10 Excellent story telling.
January 4, 2020
Truly Epic
Not too many epic gameLit books out there. This one definitely qualifies. Amazing job with story, characters, and world building.
Not too many epic gameLit books out there. This one definitely qualifies. Amazing job with story, characters, and world building.
December 16, 2019
Surprised
I was really surprised at the depth and character development. Reading the intro I was not expecting the book to really draw me in an keep me invested. This is well written and I am looking forward to the sequel. Thanks.
I was really surprised at the depth and character development. Reading the intro I was not expecting the book to really draw me in an keep me invested. This is well written and I am looking forward to the sequel. Thanks.
June 9, 2020
Good writing, interesting story.
Now if only we could get rid of the extra point of views nobody asked for.
Now if only we could get rid of the extra point of views nobody asked for.
March 15, 2022
So this is a litrpg which means this rating is very much rated on a curve. Amateurish writing, goofy video game logic and broad archetypal characters that act nothing like real people are not failures of the book but signatures of the genre. If these things don't sound appealing to you, then there is definitely no point is giving Skyclad a try.
That said, I found this book disappointing beyond the limitations of its genre. While masterful writing and well-developed deeply emotional scenes are not something I expect from a litrpg book, there are certain things that I do expect and Skyclad failed to deliver.
The unique appeal of a litrpg is that the world operates on explicit video game logic. In this case characters have and are aware of classes, levels, attributes, skills, spells, titles and so on. The book explicitly identifies these mechanical terms by putting them in brackets. The expectation is that we learn the rules of this system over the course of the story, the characters face certain problems or challenges that naturally result from the established rules and through perseverance and clever application of these established rules, they overcome said challenges. Except Skyclad fails to do that- the "system" doesn't have clearly established rules, problems and challenges always come out of nowhere without following any kind of pre-established logic and solutions not only suffer from the same lack of logical consistency but are often immediate and effortless. Basically, Skyclad fails at the most unique aspect of a litrpg.
As a plus, I was pleasantly surprised that the main character always being naked is not treated in a sleazy way. Its a mechanical choice, a sometimes challenge and a distinguishing feature but never really treated as titillating.
Beyond the litrpg aspect, it is just an especially poorly structured story. Our nominal main character wanders around doing random things for 80% of the page count and then the culmination of the story is actually about totally separate characters that were always very much the B-plotline. If it was more intentional and comedic, I would almost call it a parody of a boring game story that the player ignores in favor of slaughtering boars in the woods to level up quicker. Unfortunately, that leaves us reading the boring cliched story rather than playing a game.
Sometimes there is decent build up to certain confrontations or character meetings. I found myself frequently anticipating the moment when the next big event would happen. Unfortunately and utterly inexplicably, the author repeatedly skipped over these scenes of payoff entirely. It would literally be 3-5 chapters of buildup and then a time skip to after the interesting thing is already over. The only explanation I can imagine is that actually writing satisfying resolutions is challenging so the author decided to not even try.
Finally and probably least importantly, the humor is bad. Litrpg is by definition supposed to be tongue in cheek which assumes a certain amount of levity. Well, this book technically has plenty of jokes, they just universally fall flat in execution.
In short, 2/5 as a litrpg because it is far from the worst thing in the genre but is overall rather boring and not worth reading. If you are not a fan of the idea of litrpgs already, you are definitely going to hate this book.
That said, I found this book disappointing beyond the limitations of its genre. While masterful writing and well-developed deeply emotional scenes are not something I expect from a litrpg book, there are certain things that I do expect and Skyclad failed to deliver.
The unique appeal of a litrpg is that the world operates on explicit video game logic. In this case characters have and are aware of classes, levels, attributes, skills, spells, titles and so on. The book explicitly identifies these mechanical terms by putting them in brackets. The expectation is that we learn the rules of this system over the course of the story, the characters face certain problems or challenges that naturally result from the established rules and through perseverance and clever application of these established rules, they overcome said challenges. Except Skyclad fails to do that- the "system" doesn't have clearly established rules, problems and challenges always come out of nowhere without following any kind of pre-established logic and solutions not only suffer from the same lack of logical consistency but are often immediate and effortless. Basically, Skyclad fails at the most unique aspect of a litrpg.
As a plus, I was pleasantly surprised that the main character always being naked is not treated in a sleazy way. Its a mechanical choice, a sometimes challenge and a distinguishing feature but never really treated as titillating.
Beyond the litrpg aspect, it is just an especially poorly structured story. Our nominal main character wanders around doing random things for 80% of the page count and then the culmination of the story is actually about totally separate characters that were always very much the B-plotline. If it was more intentional and comedic, I would almost call it a parody of a boring game story that the player ignores in favor of slaughtering boars in the woods to level up quicker. Unfortunately, that leaves us reading the boring cliched story rather than playing a game.
Sometimes there is decent build up to certain confrontations or character meetings. I found myself frequently anticipating the moment when the next big event would happen. Unfortunately and utterly inexplicably, the author repeatedly skipped over these scenes of payoff entirely. It would literally be 3-5 chapters of buildup and then a time skip to after the interesting thing is already over. The only explanation I can imagine is that actually writing satisfying resolutions is challenging so the author decided to not even try.
Finally and probably least importantly, the humor is bad. Litrpg is by definition supposed to be tongue in cheek which assumes a certain amount of levity. Well, this book technically has plenty of jokes, they just universally fall flat in execution.
In short, 2/5 as a litrpg because it is far from the worst thing in the genre but is overall rather boring and not worth reading. If you are not a fan of the idea of litrpgs already, you are definitely going to hate this book.
January 25, 2020
One of the best books I've read
I purchased this book with an expectation that there would probably be alot of adult themes and a suddle story. By the time I realized that wasn't what this book was I was already hooked. This book takes you on a wild ride through some of the wildest places but will leave you in wonderment. I highly recommend this book and don't let the cover fool you.
I purchased this book with an expectation that there would probably be alot of adult themes and a suddle story. By the time I realized that wasn't what this book was I was already hooked. This book takes you on a wild ride through some of the wildest places but will leave you in wonderment. I highly recommend this book and don't let the cover fool you.
January 22, 2020
WOW! Seriously wow!
We have a Winner! I read upwards of 30 books a month... This one just leapfrogged to the number one slot in a single bound. Like most Royal Road pieces you can see the evolution of the style, depth, story plot ect... Most are rough going that gets better... This one started out with a bit of titillation that has dominated a lot of fiction recently but then flips it on its head and runs with it for the touchdown! Original but with enough familiar elements that smooths the ride so you Enjoy the bumps.
We have a Winner! I read upwards of 30 books a month... This one just leapfrogged to the number one slot in a single bound. Like most Royal Road pieces you can see the evolution of the style, depth, story plot ect... Most are rough going that gets better... This one started out with a bit of titillation that has dominated a lot of fiction recently but then flips it on its head and runs with it for the touchdown! Original but with enough familiar elements that smooths the ride so you Enjoy the bumps.
May 25, 2020
An Epic LitRPG Isekai novel. 5 stars
Morgan is having a bad day. A day made worse when she drops down a portal while bating and end up in an alternate reality --- stark naked ---- with only a bathtub and a Lace scrubby to accompany her. Turns out this is an Isekai and now she has to survive in an extremely hostile jungle miles, and miles away from civilization. As it turns out survival without cloths, tools, help or direction of any kind is really hard.... But she does learn magic.
It's a rare moment you realize that a simple Isekai story turns into an Epic Fantasy, but Skyclad does just that. Morgan makes for a compelling main character who despite everything arrayed against her seeks to survive an thrive ....even if that means being naked.... So yeah lets talk about that Pink Elephant waving for attention. No this isn't one of "those" books. Morgan ends up 'Skyclad' by circumstance and an inflexible magic system and doesn't really meet another person for about the first 70% of the story... So please! Do get you mind out of the gutter.
In truth this is a much bigger and better story than I initially expected. Morgans story revolves around the fact that she only ever can use Magic as her one and only tool and has to find ways of using this to her advantage. A theme reinforced when good number of chapters the reader starts to understand the larger world around and notices all the different plotlines and characters at play. Though Morgan is the main protagonist she isn't the only one and her true impact on the world has yet to be felt.
Overall this was an EPIC novel. With a sense of scale and power I've yet to see in any other Iselai. The roots as a webnovel show their mark in the large pagecount, but with all that is going one these page were needed. Whit this novel finished the author has started on the equal and I can only hope of a novel just as awe inspiring as this one.
5 stars and an immediate addition to my to-read shelf for the sequal.
[Note]
Reader advise: This may not be a book suitable for younger audiences. Though not the main focus of the novel, there are themes of slavery, the brutalities of war and other disturbing subjects present in this novel.
Morgan is having a bad day. A day made worse when she drops down a portal while bating and end up in an alternate reality --- stark naked ---- with only a bathtub and a Lace scrubby to accompany her. Turns out this is an Isekai and now she has to survive in an extremely hostile jungle miles, and miles away from civilization. As it turns out survival without cloths, tools, help or direction of any kind is really hard.... But she does learn magic.
It's a rare moment you realize that a simple Isekai story turns into an Epic Fantasy, but Skyclad does just that. Morgan makes for a compelling main character who despite everything arrayed against her seeks to survive an thrive ....even if that means being naked.... So yeah lets talk about that Pink Elephant waving for attention. No this isn't one of "those" books. Morgan ends up 'Skyclad' by circumstance and an inflexible magic system and doesn't really meet another person for about the first 70% of the story... So please! Do get you mind out of the gutter.
In truth this is a much bigger and better story than I initially expected. Morgans story revolves around the fact that she only ever can use Magic as her one and only tool and has to find ways of using this to her advantage. A theme reinforced when good number of chapters the reader starts to understand the larger world around and notices all the different plotlines and characters at play. Though Morgan is the main protagonist she isn't the only one and her true impact on the world has yet to be felt.
Overall this was an EPIC novel. With a sense of scale and power I've yet to see in any other Iselai. The roots as a webnovel show their mark in the large pagecount, but with all that is going one these page were needed. Whit this novel finished the author has started on the equal and I can only hope of a novel just as awe inspiring as this one.
5 stars and an immediate addition to my to-read shelf for the sequal.
[Note]
Reader advise: This may not be a book suitable for younger audiences. Though not the main focus of the novel, there are themes of slavery, the brutalities of war and other disturbing subjects present in this novel.
February 3, 2021
An Epic LitRPG Isekai novel. 5 stars
Morgan is having a bad day. A day made worse when she drops down a portal while bating and end up in an alternate reality --- stark naked ---- with only a bathtub and a Lace scrubby to accompany her. Turns out this is an Isekai and now she has to survive in an extremely hostile jungle miles, and miles away from civilization. As it turns out survival without cloths, tools, help or direction of any kind is really hard.... But she does learn magic.
It's a rare moment you realize that a simple Isekai story turns into an Epic Fantasy, but Skyclad does just that. Morgan makes for a compelling main character who despite everything arrayed against her seeks to survive an thrive ....even if that means being naked.... So yeah lets talk about that Pink Elephant waving for attention. No this isn't one of "those" books. Morgan ends up 'Skyclad' by circumstance and an inflexible magic system and doesn't really meet another person for about the first 70% of the story... So please! Do get you mind out of the gutter.
In truth this is a much bigger and better story than I initially expected. Morgans story revolves around the fact that she only ever can use Magic as her one and only tool and has to find ways of using this to her advantage. A theme reinforced when good number of chapters the reader starts to understand the larger world around and notices all the different plotlines and characters at play. Though Morgan is the main protagonist she isn't the only one and her true impact on the world has yet to be felt.
Overall this was an EPIC novel. With a sense of scale and power I've yet to see in any other Isekai. The roots as a webnovel show their mark in the large pagecount, but with all that is going one these page were needed. Whit this novel finished the author has started on the equal and I can only hope of a novel just as awe inspiring as this one.
5 stars and an immediate addition to my to-read shelf for the sequal.
[Note]
Reader advise: This may not be a book suitable for younger audiences. Though not the main focus of the novel, there are themes of slavery, the brutalities of war and other disturbing subjects present in this novel.
Morgan is having a bad day. A day made worse when she drops down a portal while bating and end up in an alternate reality --- stark naked ---- with only a bathtub and a Lace scrubby to accompany her. Turns out this is an Isekai and now she has to survive in an extremely hostile jungle miles, and miles away from civilization. As it turns out survival without cloths, tools, help or direction of any kind is really hard.... But she does learn magic.
It's a rare moment you realize that a simple Isekai story turns into an Epic Fantasy, but Skyclad does just that. Morgan makes for a compelling main character who despite everything arrayed against her seeks to survive an thrive ....even if that means being naked.... So yeah lets talk about that Pink Elephant waving for attention. No this isn't one of "those" books. Morgan ends up 'Skyclad' by circumstance and an inflexible magic system and doesn't really meet another person for about the first 70% of the story... So please! Do get you mind out of the gutter.
In truth this is a much bigger and better story than I initially expected. Morgans story revolves around the fact that she only ever can use Magic as her one and only tool and has to find ways of using this to her advantage. A theme reinforced when good number of chapters the reader starts to understand the larger world around and notices all the different plotlines and characters at play. Though Morgan is the main protagonist she isn't the only one and her true impact on the world has yet to be felt.
Overall this was an EPIC novel. With a sense of scale and power I've yet to see in any other Isekai. The roots as a webnovel show their mark in the large pagecount, but with all that is going one these page were needed. Whit this novel finished the author has started on the equal and I can only hope of a novel just as awe inspiring as this one.
5 stars and an immediate addition to my to-read shelf for the sequal.
[Note]
Reader advise: This may not be a book suitable for younger audiences. Though not the main focus of the novel, there are themes of slavery, the brutalities of war and other disturbing subjects present in this novel.
July 30, 2021
I picked up this book thinking it would be a litRPG with a cheeky little twist and got both more, and less than I bargained for.
The nudity which I expected to be played for laughs and sexy jokes was mentioned so often that I think I think I got desensitized to it eventually. Sure at first it was a little funny that the main character had to be naked to do much of anything but the fact that she was surrounded by monsters and rarely saw another person prevented it from being played for laughs. In the end you just feel like it's any other adjective and it's only near the end you remember, "oh right, naked means something!"
The premise of the story was a funny one and the skeleton of the plot is a good one with a nice intro, third act, and some twists that I only barely saw coming, but I can't say much more than that. I can't decide if the prose were weak, or if it was just a failure of the plot, but everything usually felt pretty bland. I didn't get a feel of overarching growth despite the fact that the book was showing constant insane growth with every single line. I say usually though because one side character's story (let's call him the black knight) was super interesting. Growth, challenge and an interesting cast, this guy deserves to be the actual main character.
When you write a litRPG it's very important to have a clear, well thought out system in play. The system should be rigid, but allow for loopholes that cause these stories' main characters to go on an interesting journey. This story however seems to throw the system out of the window and full on embrace imagination. Characters make wild leaps in growth just by having an idea, like when the main character literally thinks something along the lines of, "I wonder what this will do" and suddenly creates an incredibly destructive new spell out of nothing which becomes her new unstoppable bread and butter. Or when the "robot girl" goes from barely being able to walk to suddenly driving a train that fires nukes. It's insane and has no feeling of natural growth to it.
In the end, the story is a weak one that will probably do fairly well because people will read the word naked and pick it up but it's only real redeeming qualities are the Black Knight storyline... oh and Lulu of course. She's the best.
The nudity which I expected to be played for laughs and sexy jokes was mentioned so often that I think I think I got desensitized to it eventually. Sure at first it was a little funny that the main character had to be naked to do much of anything but the fact that she was surrounded by monsters and rarely saw another person prevented it from being played for laughs. In the end you just feel like it's any other adjective and it's only near the end you remember, "oh right, naked means something!"
The premise of the story was a funny one and the skeleton of the plot is a good one with a nice intro, third act, and some twists that I only barely saw coming, but I can't say much more than that. I can't decide if the prose were weak, or if it was just a failure of the plot, but everything usually felt pretty bland. I didn't get a feel of overarching growth despite the fact that the book was showing constant insane growth with every single line. I say usually though because one side character's story (let's call him the black knight) was super interesting. Growth, challenge and an interesting cast, this guy deserves to be the actual main character.
When you write a litRPG it's very important to have a clear, well thought out system in play. The system should be rigid, but allow for loopholes that cause these stories' main characters to go on an interesting journey. This story however seems to throw the system out of the window and full on embrace imagination. Characters make wild leaps in growth just by having an idea, like when the main character literally thinks something along the lines of, "I wonder what this will do" and suddenly creates an incredibly destructive new spell out of nothing which becomes her new unstoppable bread and butter. Or when the "robot girl" goes from barely being able to walk to suddenly driving a train that fires nukes. It's insane and has no feeling of natural growth to it.
In the end, the story is a weak one that will probably do fairly well because people will read the word naked and pick it up but it's only real redeeming qualities are the Black Knight storyline... oh and Lulu of course. She's the best.
January 18, 2020
Worth the read
I chose this rating because I enjoyed the characters and the story. The main character ,Morgan, was entertaining and interesting to read about. Her growth and development were exciting and fun. Some of the side characters were interesting, especially Dana and Millie. I liked the levelling and stay system author used..
My main critique about the story was that the gaming elements started off strong but became almost non existent toward the end of the book. I would have at seen a final stat sheet for Morgan at the end of the book
I chose this rating because I enjoyed the characters and the story. The main character ,Morgan, was entertaining and interesting to read about. Her growth and development were exciting and fun. Some of the side characters were interesting, especially Dana and Millie. I liked the levelling and stay system author used..
My main critique about the story was that the gaming elements started off strong but became almost non existent toward the end of the book. I would have at seen a final stat sheet for Morgan at the end of the book
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