My review for this novel will be similar to the my review for the first novel, so I won’t go into as much detail on my likes and dislikes. But the gist is this series has an interesting premise and world-building, with a detailed focus on faction building and crafting. The characters are also fairly likable and diverse.
However, just like with the climax in the last novel, where the MC’s choices didn’t make much sense in the context the author had already created, except in light that those choices allowed for the plot to develop as the author imagined. Long story short, contrivances.
And this novel’s climax is no different. The trope the author continuously deploys is all seems lost, then at the last moment some plot device allows a victory. That is annoying enough. But it’s made even harder to tolerate by the unbalance between fights with enemies relatively equal level (20-40) to one literally level 321. For the equal level fights, they devolve into desperation, despite having taken out all the enemy healers. If you’ve ever played these types of games, that spells a quick end to a raid. Not in this book. Somehow it doesn’t seem to matter. The author has already set up that boss levels equal to a 100% boost in abilities versus apparent levels per boss level. So a level 16, level 1 boss would fight like they are level 32. The MC is level 2 boss, and in the forties in his level, so his should be punching at level 120, yet he struggles to help his army and level 1 boss minions in the second act of the climax. That makes no sense. The reason for this contradiction is simple, so the author’s plot outline can play out. That’s not good enough for me. That’s bad writing.
The third act pits the MC alone against his level 321 nemesis. Somehow he’s able to whittle this guy’s HP to 50%, allowing him to use a new ability he unlocked during the second act, a plot device.
I hate everything about this! The way to tell a builder story right is preparation, progression, leading to results. Not having everything they did count for virtually nothing and in the end needing a new plot device ability to win the day. That is so lame.
I really hoped that the author would get better with his second novel. In his defense, the pace of the building did seem to ramp up in this book, which was one of my complaints in the first one. But other than that, the good is the same and the bad is JUST AS BAD. Perusing the ratings for the other books in the series, there is a slight increase in ratings over the course, but I don’t know if this is because the author’s penchant for plot devices and contrived climaxes improves or he loses the more discerning readers on the way and his less discerning fans are left to inflate the numbers.
I’m going to read the next book, if this issue isn’t resolved, I think I’ll have to move on.