Bryce

Really enjoyed this a lot. It was a good little mystery read. I enjoyed the magic system as well.

Colossally weird book. I genuinely don't understand why I enjoyed it so much when it did so many things that bother me as a reader. Perhaps it's the shameless way that it was done and the the overall radically different content of the book helped it out, or maybe it was just my headspace. Empirically I should have felt like this was b-rated sci-fi and instead I really enjoyed it. Cool book, def recommend giving it a shot.

Overall I really loved the book. I'm super glad it didn't turn into harem bullshit. Enjoying this series a lot so far and excited to see how it develops.

I have really loved the story progression and the flips back and forth of thinking things are one way but they're actually another or a third thing. Still though first time I haven't been in sync with the authors choices for a character. Layla's decisions with Kokochin just feel forced.

Really enjoyed this second installment and loved the ending. I did get a bit tired of the rust, dust and ashes being repeated so many times but not enough to impact anything.

It was a fun read. The magic system is different than usual and I like characters that have a good amount of depth. It feels like a lot to have 2 characters with tragic backstories but it works for the book and that's how life goes sometimes. It's good to see the relationship develop in a way that feels natural for two broken people and to be left with that sense of unknown throughout.

I loved this book. It very much felt like a more mature version of Street Cultivation. The main character is an actually good person and most of the side characters feel realistic and I really like there diversity in personalities.
The story is great, I love how the world feels big and there's a clear and logical “scale” so that you can see a blurry future state and you're excited about what happens along the way.
The book itself isn't super heavy on the “LitRPG” style elements which is important for me to be able to enjoy the book. It's used well in terms of the story and for providing context.

This was so good. I loved the introduction to political intrigue, I loved the character growth that solidified and the new depths to old characters.
I hate that I torture myself waiting for the release rather than reading along on patreon but damn is it worth it.
Really looking forward to rereading this series next year.

I can't tell you how I found this series but I think maybe it was reddit. really enjoyed the journey, I like the concept and the mix of sci Fi and detective story all rolled into one. really enjoyable read.

This series is hard for me. There's so much going on and yet so little character development. There is exactly one character I care about and that's Raion. The fact that Varic hasn't had a schism between his knowledge of someone from another life and who they currently are is probably the least believable part of this whole ordeal and yet honestly it makes sense because there's been no character development except with Raion. This paltry dribble we get with Omega doesn't even count because we don't have a past Omega that Varic really knew.
I think another thing that gets to me is that the problems are heavily contrived by poor communication and while some level of that is forgivable we're at the point where it's eyerollingly bad.
With the battles you have this weird dichotomy of “each individual is so strong they can destroy everyone” and “5 randos with pew pews have kept them pinned down for an hour” and the scale of the battles never really feels natural. The first one that I felt like went really well was the event at Fathom. The others, generally spotty.
I miss the Will Wight books that made characters feel real and that you could invest in. I keep waiting for that to happen here and it looks like I'll keep waiting.

Got this as a surprise “date with a book” thing where the book wrapped in plain white paper and has some sizzle text and a quote from the book written on it.
It was really fun read. Quippy and irreverent characters with a bit of heart thrown in there.
Also my first time reading a paper book in a long time so that was fun as well.

I love Sarah Lin's writing, like, if she posted a recipe I would read and enjoy the whole story you have to get through just to find the ingredients.
I love the mix of politics and personality that she brings to the series. As always, I am incredibly excited for the next book.

This was an unexpectedly compelling read. I didn't know what to expect going in and I was really sold on how it navigated some of the real feelings that would plague the “heroes” of the stories we read. It both brought the heroes down from the pedestal yet still clearly showed how they truly are heroic.

This book was exceptional especially for a first book. I loved the story and the character's development. I'm no stranger to learning magical mechanics as you go but there were some points where I really felt like I needed more information.
Overall I'm incredibly disappointed that this is only a trilogy, I would love 8-10 books in this universe with these characters and some slower pacing with longer battles.

Sarah Lin's writing is exceptional in a way that I haven't found anywhere else. All of her characters feel real. They have unique motivations, they have a depth that grows in such a visceral way. The consistency and believability that she infuses into them all is amazing. I truly hope she gets to continue this series and i hope to reunite with these characters in the future.

Starting to get frustrated with the sheer quantity of storylines that just get dropped. I'm not really hopeful that it will get resolved in the third book and if they don't it's going to tank my feelings on the series. Looking forward to finishing book 6 and then branching back out to other authors and stories.

Looked for this book for years before I found it again. As a kid it was my first experience with a subtle “Oh my gosh that's WHO?!” kind of ending. It really stuck with me.

Very odd but enjoyable series. Really didn't see a happy ending coming.
“Young man discovers powerful ancient technology and becomes a god”.

I really enjoyed this book. It seemed too short, and there were a lot of points where I wasn't sure where it was going and sometimes didn't know what was or wasn't real.
It all flowed well, the writing style was great for how I visualize books as I read. It was a really fun journey.

I spent actual money on this book vs just finding it on Kindle unlimited and it was money well spent. I'm excited to see how this all closes out.

It's hard to explain how much I enjoy reading this author's books. The one wasn't quite what I expected but I loved it all the same. It was such a great book with so much heart.

This book was fine but wow were there problems with pacing, editing and the presentation of what felt like they should be significant plot points.
This book could go through another round of edits, pull out probably 100 or 200 pages and replace those with background to explain the duds that should have landed and I'd have been thrilled.

Details in the spoiler.
I'm going to start with the biggest issues first even though there were annoyances that started earlier in the book.1) Viv loses her damn mind because we learn for sure that Rei's grandfather wants to sponsor him.1a) Aria's reaction as well. This was really over done with her totally agreeing with Viv's actions and just "getting it". Her going out of control makes no sense. I can get being bitter or a bit angry because his parents acted coldly but without malice. They didn't leave him in a gutter or try and fail to kill him and the state took over. He was just shunned at an age when he wouldn't remember or know. Rei grew up having a tough but quiet life in the orphanage. Rei is a shockingly well adjusted hard worker who hasn't carried that bitterness or anger in his heart.It was entirely disrespectful, out of character and not-believable that she would make this issue all about her.This whole story point is detached from reality. Aria: "They shouldn't be able to do this. If your family is behind this crap, it's awful." Umm what? So because his parents made a big mistake and his grandfather didn't try to make up for it immediately he shouldn't get any chance and somehow this makes his attempts to make up for it, in the only way that he can, a terrible thing? Like yeah there's going to need to be a big emotional talk but the perspective that they don't get to try and make up for a past wrong is a really strange point of view.I cannot fathom why everyone is generally on board with this "how dare they" viewpoint. It could only kind of make sense if Rei's entire personality was built around hatred for his parents and wanting to find them and make them pay for giving him up and he'd managed to draw these people into his quest for revenge. It's almost like the meaning of empathy was misunderstood and this is what came about.2) "Connor Galt" The largest dud of the book is revealed. When you learn the motivation behind the actions of the former big-baddie and how that shaped their redemption arc and it gives you an internal reaction of "so what?" there's something wrong. Why couldn't we have have started this book with a Flashback to that event, then re-referenced it in a classroom scene or something on the news mentioning a commemorative activity and made a reference to Logan being conspicuously missing to kind of tee it up? Like actually make this be a minor plot point so when the name gets dropped we go "oh shit" and not "who cares".This and many other ways would be way better than getting the wet blanket of a name reveal that doesn't matter lead us into an encyclopedia entry description.If the reactions of the characters have to be so over the top to explain the emotion of a situation it's probably not being well conveyed in the text. It's like the thought was to show the feelings of the characters and slap the user with "this is how you should feel" which didn't work for me at all.3) Honorable mention, but didn't really impact things much. We became absolutely numb to growth because of how fast Rei grows. Rank-ups of his friends are poorly matched to time frames so we don't really feel how long it took them to rank up. Could we have added underground betting where it was talked about or a "cadets to watch" combat feed report that would have covered it and helped point it out? I don't know, but it would have been nice.Those two things, combined with the absurdly slow pacing dropped my rating of this book hard, the rest is forgivable but annoying.I knew that the editing was going to be suspect from the beginning. So much effort was put into the color of the vysetrium at every moment rather than just when it mattered or to carry a visual. Location 925 where the fights over and we spend 71 words talking about colors that are irrelevant because the CAD's were being recalled. At location 3066 I was annoyed that for all the overemphasis of color we get the color of Viv's cad wrong and go with her natural color rather than the wargame color it should have been.There were a ton of extra words added into sentences for zero benefit and were pretty jarring. "In a flash that didn't take more than half a second,"The kick—while not half-as-heavy as what Benaly might have landed had his body not been in the process of being drawn down into the 10 feet of the FDAed waiting area under the field—was lightning fast, faster even than Rei might have managed.""last semester, he, Aria, Viv, Catcher, and Cashe—as it transpired—had been more used to"At 3365 we get 165 words on what the room looks like just as a delay tactic to the part that matters of his friends reactions and then ending with how 100% of his attention is on his friends is like, then why did I waste the time reading this?At 15,391 "Aria did have it, after all" - Like... what? Removing this sentence helps the flow.At 15,760 When apparently the author forgot that he can't move and is pretty much disabled then he's leaping up and down and, screaming his head off during the final bout. Come on now, we've overly described everything in this book. On one hand I'm impressed it wasn't a full paragraph about how he was able to raise his fist weakly in support and slowly cheer his team on, on the other hand maybe lets not forget his current physical state.The last direct example is "Sadhil at last managed the three lower floors of the command platform to ascend the last of the steps onto the top level of the bridge." There must be a better way to say this.I also get consistently confused that we talk about how small Rei is and how shocking it is that he's so good when the up-and-coming top cadet is also short. It either takes away from Rei being the special strong shorty or could it be more oblique with them getting grouped together more. Lasher is good enough that he should be the yardstick for Rei's height when people talk about it. Hopefully the next book really tightens up because despite all this I'm still really looking forward to it.

I tore through these books. Sarah Lin has quickly become one of my new favorite authors.

From the early feel of the first book I wasn't sure that I would stick with it but I trusted the Author and came along for the ride and it was such a good intro. The magic system is pretty unique in how flexible it is but also how it still manages to provide distinctions in strength.

The MC starts off abrasive and kinda unlikable, paired with 2 companions that are drastically different from him as well as each other. It's a first book, no character is in their final form. Characters are still trying to be who they think they are before trials and challenges mold and temper them into finding themselves.

There will be many answers that you get, and quite a few things you won't get answered. None of the answers you're missing prevent you from following and enjoying the story unless you choose to let them.

This is a long running series (nearly 8 books right now 11/2023). If you find yourself wanting the MC or entourage to grow, questions to be answered, scenery to change, magic systems to be further defined..... keep reading.

I am hooked on this series and very excited for more books to be added.

Just finished my first reread of the series and it was just as awesome as the first. I don't have the words for how much I love those universe. The demon characters were some of my favorites and the lucrim system was incredibly interesting. I really enjoyed the accurate feel around the high performance athletes and the tradeoffs and the predatory trainers as well.
I feel like there is so much to explore here and I truly hope that one day those books are written, maybe in more of a typical fantasy setting so we can do more exploring, and not feel so constricted by the narrow definition of “progression fantasy”. I'm sure in another few years I'll be back rereading this outstanding trilogy.

I loved this series. It started off a bit rough and doesn't explain the “magic' system well and none of that bothers me because I look for a story I can fall into and a character that I can empathize with.

I truly wish that had I been forced into the same situations and circumstances that I would have made the choices that he did. The characters are poor, like actual poverty poor. It's convincingly written in a way that it's both front and center and just a fact of life not dwelled on, but it really adds a certain amount of heart and “need” to the feelings in the book.

The magic system isn't clearly defined and you get to learn it in drips and spurts through out the book. This was great for me, possibly because I had just come off of a book where the story formula was 10 pounds encyclopedic explanation of the magical system followed by 3 ounces of story on repeat until I stopped reading. I feel like I always had the bare minimum I needed to progress the story.

I really liked the universe and the diverse characters we meet along the way. This got me hooked on the author and I'm really glad that it did.

Re-read this today. Makes me want to re-read the whole series, I miss this universe.