The Realms Series, Book 6
Edit: After very slowly getting through all the meandering slapstick of the middle 15 to 20 percent or so, the book really picks up again and takes off until the end. To keep it spoiler-free, some new people show up and the real point of the story gets brought back into focus. That whole middle part just feels like padding, in retrospect. I think the editor should have recommended it get removed or something. I took 2 weeks to get through that 15 to 20 percent of book, only to get through it and finish the remaining 40 percent in 2 days. In the end, I changed my rating to 4 stars from 3, and I’m excited to read book 7. Fingers crossed though.
Original review and rant: After book 2, the series really picked up. I started burning through those that followed, eager to know what would come next. Then we got this one, and at first the momentum was going. Eventually I realized this was just a lot of slapstick, incompetence, luck, and an overall hopelessness due to incompetence in the face of the challenges that lie ahead.
I’m just past the halfway point and have not picked up the book again for a few days. I want to power through it to get back to Gryph’s story, but at the same time it’s not enjoyable to read. I am also unpleasantly surprised that Lex having had his powers unlocked by his other self (Herne?) still remains so dim and this is a character that used to be an AI with a world of knowledge at its finger tips, and then became a sentient being with a Lexicon at his core, the lexicon that belonged to a god of knowledge.
Also, I have always disliked how much luck matters in these books. I’ve come to understand LitRPG books to be based on a bit of luck, but also a lot of determination and growth or “leveling up”. Maybe the author wanted to avoid the leveling system and do something different, but we still end up having to read through pages of skills just before climactic events, most of which end up not having anything to do with the story. Anyway, all of this has brought me to the point where I do not want to pick up my kindle to read this book, but I also don’t want to leave it unfinished.
I enjoyed this entry. So many funny lines and inappropriate situations. It’s not a entry level novel so for new readers start back at the beginning or you will be lost. Lex and company take a unintended trip to the chaos realm and find themselves facing off against the chaos princes. A truly well named realm as the laws of physics and nature are warped. It’s the characters and their interactions that drive the series. It’s amazing that such a disfunctional and antagonistic group manage to achieve anything but they do. I’m looking forward to reading about the other teams adventures and what happens next.
