I didn’t give this one a number because it is more of a book review. I wouldn’t be this harsh on Amazon, but the odds of anyone finding it here are low.
The book is Induction: A Litrpg Apocalypse (Welcome to the Multiverse Book 1). It’s obviously the first in a series. I’m about halfway through the first book. It’s OK, but…
First person. It is so hard to write well. The author doesn’t quite manage it. Every now and again, he decides we need someone else’s perspective and switches to third person to give it to us. This hardly ruins the book, but it’s a good indication that first person was not the right choice. On the bright side, it’s done at chapter breaks so it’s not just a random, jarring change in perspective. Once I realized what was bothering me, it stopped being distracting.
Faux High/Epic Fantasy. I believe I mentioned this earlier in a genre post. It drives me nuts. As a very small example: “The room’s tension seemed to thrum in the air like an unheard discordant note.” Invoking a mood across senses is a thing. “Tastes like <whatever> and despair” is one of my favorites. The passive voice is an issue. The tension belonging to the room is another. Eliminate the room and make it active: “The tension thrummed in the air like an unheard discordant note” – but just one note? In any case, this is just an example. There is much “high-falutin” language. It rubs me the wrong way in LitRPG. You get a choice: Stat Sheets and Plain Language or Fancy Language without all the distracting numbers.
Premise. I don’t like it. Five people, who can’t tell anyone about it, are chosen from each of five planets to determine what happens after the system arrives. Whichever planet comes in first just gets system-ized, with whatever chaos may ensue. Second and third place get turned in to dungeon planets, which kills about 90% of the population. The losing planets get blown to bits for mining, killing just about everyone. It’s his book. He can have whatever premise he likes. However, five (apparently) random people deciding the fate of an entire planet seems a bit arbitrary. There is no reason that’s wrong, I just don’t like it. If I were a chosen one in that scenario, I’d find the biggest, baddest Marine I could, make him my heir, and kill myself.
The book will get a five star review because my only criterion for five stars is: Will I read the next one? I definitely will. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve read the first couple/few, already. Amazon disagrees, but it’s tugging on a lot of “this seems familiar” strings.
Marked Up 