Jonathan

Excellent nesting doll of twisted revelations

Revisado: 03-18-25

A truly great story, mystery layered on mystery.

The only downside is that the story loves, loves, loves flashbacks. There's a flashback "chapter" Every 2 chapters.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Change of pace with non-human MC

Revisado: 03-04-25 El oyente recibió este título gratis

I received Monstar Saga 1 from the author as a free review copy.

I'd say the book is decent and middle of the road. Having not cared for Lewd Kingdoms I wasn't quite sure how well I'd take the book, but it grew on me. I was expecting more slice of life, but it's kind of split between slice of life and action. Two things that stood out to me is that the main character is actually ambitious. It doesn't get to play out a lot, but he wants to build a kingdom, he wants to do the things he does, rather than the plot pulling him along. The other is that the author likes to remind you a lot that they're non-human--kinda. Aside from utilizing his senses, or his spit, or claws, the MC's difference is just in say, him lifting a bony eyeridge, or the mention of his scales. With everyone else it's more a matter of height--one girl is a goblin, another is a troll, and there's just about nothing that differentiates them from human outside of skin color and how tall they are in relation to the MC. Although the arachnix definitely do mention their differences. The spice is a little flowery--the author really loves phrases like "dragonhood" and "her inner world" and "valley".

A nice change of pace is that the book emphasizes the community around the MC a lot. The MC has friends, even male friends. The reason for me to pick up book 2 would be seeing how the town expands, how things improve for them, as the characters keep promising that's their goals, and I came to really like the townsfolk. Sierra Kline does a great solo read btw.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Like fluffy tails? Slowburn? Big chests?

Revisado: 12-29-22

The reason to read this book is Phara the kitsune, and her relationship with the MC. Let me sum her up with this brief exchange.

Phara is leaving. Girl she has protected since birth says, "Aw, I don't get a hug? What kind of godmother are you?"

Phara says, "The tough love kind," and smacks the girl with a tail.

She's incredibly tsundere, of the rolled eyes or slap-upside-the-head variety, always with a dubious comment. But in between a lot of that is some very delicate or bashful flirting with the MC, and slow acceptance of romance. This is so slowburn that the MC and her don't even seal the deal in this book. Oh, and just about every paragraph about Phara has her doing something with her tails. Plus several scenes involving touching and teasing those tails. I'm a tail-freak and even I thought it was a little much.

The actual adult content comes from very short scenes involving another woman with massive chest. Like, her two defining characteristics are her chest and how much she is into the MC absolutely conquering her and rubbing her nose in it. The scenes themselves are very brief mind you, blink and you miss it, and it's a bit jarring compared to how blushing and coy the rest of the book is. Almost like it was tossed in to hold the reader over for the next book.

All of this is buried in the minutia of empire building. The author loves his super detailed politics, and nerding about magical theory. The action, like the sex, happens very quick and is rather perfunctory. Most if it honestly didn't grab me at all and was a bit boring at times.

One final point. A thing I like about K D Robertson's books is that there actually are male minor characters. In other authors works the MC is the only guy on the planet that's not an asshole or villain.

I'll read the next book but I'm not in a hurry to. The relationship with Phara, and other scenes of witty banter or other cute touches with other characters is nice, but the overall book left me a bit cool. Still you might like wading through it.

3.5

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Lewd

Revisado: 12-20-22

This book is absolutely filthy. That isn't derogatory mind you, but there is a lot of sex in it. The author really likes to use the P word. Sometimes the phrasing gets a bit unintentionally humorous. Characters do seem to talk about how great sex is and how great each other are, like a bit too much. But all in all it's not bad. The characters themselves are fine. I'm going to check out the next one.

One thing I like is that the writing really focuses on the traits that make characters non-human, contrasting how they feel, etc. The audio narrator's character voice work is lush, but her normal narration has this habit of emphasizing the middle of a sentence weird.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Alright

Revisado: 11-28-22

It's hard to give opinions on this without spoilers, but I'll try.

What I didn't like is that we find out what's going on too early. I liked what was going on in the first act more.

What I liked is how the romantic subplot was very important to the main plot.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Exquisitely Psychological Body Horror

Revisado: 11-28-22

Rather than tell you what it's about or why it's great, let me give you an impression of the type of horror you'll encounter. Here's the impression I took away: Insane, disgusting, surreal and claustrophobic.

That descriptor might give the impression "The Deep" is some bizarro story, or perhaps splatterpunk or an otherwise gross out book. It's none of those.

Yes, it utilizes body horror along the lines of Cronenberg's "The Fly" or Carpenter's "The Thing": bodies mutate, in rich, vivid description. While that might be a little gross, the disgusting insanity comes more from the hallucination-like impressions, memories and imagery - like your mother's face appearing on a maggot the width of a trash can.

The author loves his slow descent into insanity and sharpens the story's scalpel on the notion of how much it could take to snap a mind. But while Lovecraft goes with mere knowledge shattering the mind, here it's the strain of horrifying images melted into brutal, brutal personal tragedies and personal fears of our main character.

There's also another, more subtle but just as stark horror here, as much of the book delves into the main character's memories at the hands of his emotionally and psychologically abusive mother. Much of the book has serious tangents of memory, everything seeming to spark a long-ago episode in Lucas's life. While this gets tedious, there is both a reason for it and as the novel progresses it becomes more and more relevant to what is seen, experienced, and wrapped up nicely in the end's reveal.

Another annoying element is the constant waxing poetic about the dark, which happens several times and you could make a game of how often you read "darker than anything else imaginable". However there is at least a good reason for this - along with the book's isolationism, quite a bit of the horror comes from sound. The author loves onomatopoeia and how a sound will let the imagination spin a horrific yarn. This aspect is excellently executed.

The author also really likes simile, and he hammers that like an enthusiastic carpenter. Again this is the double edged sword of being noticable but used to great effect. Finally if you are claustrophobic, do not read this book unless you want to twitch.

"The Deep" is visceral, vivid and vicious in its horror and writing, one of the better horror books I've read in a while. A little tedious, a little long and overwrought, but delicious, delicious, delicious. If that sounds attractive to you, rush to this book.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Cannot recommend strongly enough

Revisado: 11-28-22

At first glance this looks like a story that's just a lot of sex glued together with a questionable premise, but underneath is a decent fantasy with actual character and emotion. By the end I was engrossed and immediately picked up and started the next book.

What I liked most about this series is actually how the world is effecting Terry. He gets dysphoria being surrounded by such alien people, being the only human around, and how being the special magic guy makes his life hell. So far in the series he's having a hard time coping, and that's cool. Although I do find it a bit silly that Terry is getting increasingly dangerous situations without simply asking his allies what their capabilities are, what their powers are, and works to understand his own abilities. He doesn't try to assess what is at his hand, he just seems to wing it. Which for an otherwise thoughtful guy that tries to plan doesn't seem to fit.

The book does have its flaws. Some of that is more a presence of some kinks that aren't mine (cough Lana Lana Lana cough), but the other downside is that the book feels sort of disjointed. The first third is Terry simply being introduced to Celestine and a travel montage, the second a city adventure where the actual plot of the series starts to sink in, and the latter is a dungeon crawl. This feels a little jarring and without focus. It makes sense, story wise, why these events occur, but it doesn't quite fit a solid experience. I was also disappointed to discover in a world full of monster-girls et al, that we still end up with goblins, orcs, elves and dwarves--only goblins are ever on screen, but the others are mentioned, and I was hoping we were getting away with the token Tolkein races in favor of the animal kingdom.

The sex is nice and hot and not overbearing.

This is the best harem book I've read thusfar.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Great stand-alone Litrpg

Revisado: 11-28-22

4.5. This is exactly the type of book I look for, but it lacked a bit of emotional connection/movement. The action was good, the characters were enjoyable, and the voice acting in the audiobook were great, especially Annie Ellicott and Jeff Hayes.

It did take a little while to get moving, but once it did, it was fun. The one thing I don't like about the LitRPG is the constant repeating of character sheet stats, but that's just an issue with the genre I suppose. "Die Hard meets WoW" is a great estimation.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

A great yet frustrating series

Revisado: 11-28-22

Enjoyed this, would say a 3.5. The characters had good chemistry and the writing kept me entertained. The first chapter was actually fun even if you know that's not what you're getting the rest of the time. One of the better harem shenanigans things, with a main character who's quite decent at being the average guy. The only complaint I could perhaps find is that for a series called "monster girl", there's only one out of two in this book. The series is slowburn, adding only 1 girl every 2 books.

The problem comes if you want to read more. See, there are 7 books, but only 4 in audio, and only 2 are available on Audible.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Spellbinding

Revisado: 11-28-22

While I gave this 5 stars, it's really 4.5 with the benefit of the doubt. The book is excellent. On par with Peter Straub's Ghost Story, or a proper King novel. It felt epic yet contained, with great prose and characterization, and the last arc really kept me going, were great.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña