Elf Empire II: A litRPG Kingdom-Building Adventure

Elf Empire #2

by John Stovall

Leo barely defeated the invading orc armies and protected his nascent elf empire… Now, a new threat appears. The Red Plague .

This infection spreads through wounds from the creatures infected by it, and drives those infected to serve a mysterious entity, the Blood Court. And the plague is coming from Stonehaven, an ancestral seat of the dwarves who were once allied with the Leo’s elf empire.

Desperate to solve this problem, Leo must seek out magical allies to break the barrier keeping people out of Stonehaven, and then enter the dwarven city—all the while trying to find a cure for the red plague itself and destroying the Blood Court.
With his old friends, Hugh, Lily, and Zir, as well as new and unexpected allies, Leo will seek to free Stonehaven, and once again expand his elf empire.

[Contains a wacky bro dragon, a five-year-old stronger than the dragon, more quips than anyone wanted to see, and a complicated magical system with near endless possible variety. Also, kingdom building, heartfelt dragon moments, and charts. Ots of charts.]

Genres: Fantasy

432 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 19, 2023

Reviews

[George Rokkos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. Like the first book I really liked the magic system and the world building! Great characters and cool story can’t wait for the next one.

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book two

Still enjoying this series. This book wasn't as well edited as book one.
I will list the mistakes I found on Goodreads then I'm going over to Royalroad to keep reading.
Still isn't really building anything. More like recovery of lost lands.
Interesting characters and adventure keep me interested though.

8/10

[Steve Naylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating 4.0 stars

Still good but there are a few things that would have made it better. There are a couple of things about the "system" that doesn't really make sense. It seems that killing is the only way to level in this world. Not just monsters but anyone. You would think this would leave to a lawless dystopian world but it hasn't. The rules aren't really explained that well either because in the last book, Leo broke the dam and killed about 1500 orcs using the water from the explosion and yet he didn't get any experience for that.

Leo also has a perk that allows for 100% skill growth and allows him to learn difficult skills. This would make me think it should be a big part of the story but it really isn't. He does a lot of training in the background of the story but it doesn't seem to really show up on his status screen.

The story is pretty good though. In this one he goes to the closest dwarf town and try and get an item to find Audrey and open up trade with the dwarves. What he finds is threat to the world. He is able to gain the mark of the dryad progenitor in a deal. 98% of the dwarves were killed by a demon with a blood plague. This was a threat to the world so the dryad locked the mountain to protect the forest. Some have gotten out and Leo made a deal with the progenitor to take care of it.

He has no idea how but what else can he do. He saves the dwarves. Kills the bad guys and is on to the next problem. (yeah there is more to it than that, but that is the main part). Again, I need to complain about the system and leveling. You need to kill to get experience but there is a penalty to killing beings less than your level. This doesn't take into account the difference in type of creature. A level 5 dragon is still f*cking dragon but because Leo is higher level, he would get maybe 1 experience for killing it. That makes no sense. They should then kill a level 10 beetle versus a level 3 dragon.

While that part of the story could have been better IMO, it doesn't take away from my enjoyment that much. I like the characters and I like the story. I wish there was more empire building like the title suggests. More town building, dams, bridges, etc, but it still pretty good.

[Ford Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable, lost a step from book one, but still a fun read!

I enjoyed the second book almost as much as book one. The characters in dialogue remain fresh and pointed. The story moves right along however I think it overreached in world building, where slowing down the story with the little more detail like book one had would have added to the overall effect of enjoyment. However that said it's an enjoyable book. The reader gets a little lost with the game Dynamics and book two as they don't explain it as well so if you're not used to genre, you're not really sure what the implication means when a character chooses a path. Because the reader doesn't understand the overall direction of where all possibilities rely on the book, all we have is the author's description of how the characters advance in a game world. I know that's a challenge for authors to explain the game Dynamics without losing the pace in front of the overall story so I can sympathize as I know it's not easy. I look forward to book three in the continuation of the story in Hope the author can continue to build it and maintain such a fast and enjoyable read!

[Roberto Flores · Rating 1 out of 5]

Changing the setting without changing the quirky does not work.

The issues, the passive natures, it all comes across as pathetic now that the kingdom hard been established. The crime boss is pointless as is the hunt for the ex. The same realizations throughout book two make the main character seem dim witted. This is taking a gag and pushing it too far, it just isn't funny anymore.

[John #Audible · Rating 2 out of 5]

Same shit from book 1, even the low level thug antagonist from Earth is the same. Also, why is he bending over backwards to run missions from beasts? They are in trouble if they sit around doing nothing with the arrogance they all seem to have.

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lost 2 stars for NOT writing a Recap.

I think every reader needs to start doing this to force authors to write a quick Recap chapter, which readers can skip if they remember, and those who don't won't stop reading the series.

[Kris Solstice · Rating 5 out of 5]

like how things are going but I'm lost on the audrey story, just wish there was more of her story because it seems like we lost a lot of what happen to her.

[Amber Kluttz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good sequel

It felt a bit short, but it was an excellent sequel. My only gripe is that the super bad guys never get what's coming to them and that doesn't feel satisfying.