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The Forerunner Initiative #1
To Play With Magic
"With a comfortable onesie, and the ability to stop time, anything is possible."
Dragons, Catgirls, Guns, and Magic. Oh, and the ability to stop time. What more could a modern gal want?
Well... If my past would stay locked in a dark corner back on Earth, that'd be nice.
Right. There was that one other thing. Finding a way home before the world ends. But hey, that's what my mom would call the last step in your five year plan.
The first? To play with magic.
Dragons, Catgirls, Guns, and Magic. Oh, and the ability to stop time. What more could a modern gal want?
Well... If my past would stay locked in a dark corner back on Earth, that'd be nice.
Right. There was that one other thing. Finding a way home before the world ends. But hey, that's what my mom would call the last step in your five year plan.
The first? To play with magic.
470 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 8, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
February 10, 2024
Took a lot of time to finish this, and this is all personal opinion of course, but I don't understand what aspects of the story people could have liked.
Incoming lonnnnngg rambling going on cause my frustrations were building as I was reading. Skip to the end for a short concise summary of this.
All the characters are kind of incredibly weirdly written in a way where they're like. Kinda Unreal? It's the mix of realistic setup and grounding and insane reactions and unwillingness to communicate or talk like an average person would. It makes the cast... very flat. It takes us like, 18 chapters to get to a point where another character who is not Alexis' literal neighbor, who she barely knows, mentions his fucking occupation. Because these people aren't fucking trying to communicate or even build up any kind of working relationship.
None of them try to talk to each other as people who should have every reason to be confused and trying to figure shit out like. Why are we on a different planet with weird magic systems and also why did I think I was joining a beta test for a game while my neighbor thought he was joining a survival test. Man, I wonder how I could potentially figure out more about our situation and get to know the potentially only human contacts I'll get for a long time???? Maybe we should introduce ourselves and give an overview of our history and how we think we got here? (Some of this is explained for the one character who was purposely keeping quiet but LITERALLY EVERYONE ELSE SHOULD HAVE BEEN TALKING)
Our Protagonist takes the cake with that. I actually like characters with severe flaws and fucked up behavior as long as the story acknowledges it. It's clear that Alexis is supposed to be taken as reacting to stuff in irrational ways because of her trauma and history.
However, Alexis' character is pushed so far into unreasonable territory from where some of the basic structures of her personality and reactions could have been understandable from her traumatic background and normalization of parental abuse. The very childish and immature regressive behavior and coping mechanisms makes sense on paper.
But. She sucks sooooo bad. I don't get her thought process and it's not written in a way where it would make sense. And I think the story also doesn't get why she sucks so bad, which is the worse crime. It's inconsistent and neutral or ignored by the narrative rather than being something that hurts or is genuinely negative for her.
Her life sucks and then she gets transported to a fantasy world and she apparently doesn't care about questioning it too deeply because now she has magic and that lets her escape all her problems (which should have set up narrative space for it to do the literal opposite but no it really does solve most of her problems).
New world and weird survival stuff and we may be stuck on an alien planet? WOW that sounds bad no more thinking about it, gets immediately distracted by the idea of having magic, oops I accidentally timestopped myself. Got bored. Broke out of timestop. woahhh I have magic (fireballll) and wow MORE magics (lightning) teehee and then oooh cute fire bunny (scritches = new friend ) and i don't want to help my group learn stuff cause my magic is too personal and helpful and also I don't trust some of them because I have personal issues, and also am not willing to figure out communication because apparently I am so emotionally and socially stunted that just figuring out how to solve things by myself and alienating the only other humans in a location makes sense to me but also maybe I was wrong, oh well anyway, I can kill an army now.
(The element structure also bothers me. Time/space + earth/water/fire/water/stone/metal/ice//lightning etc are understandable and pretty straightforward. Where the hell does the Twilight element come from. This one is really fucking metaphysical/symbolistic and it's apparently the only one?? She unlocks a class because she has shown basic manipulation of all the elements and unless that description is a lie, basically confirms that Twilight is the only weird one. There's nothing else? Day? Night? Dawn? Dusk? Wack and random.)
The story gives Alexis flashbacks to pretend she's going through character development but she stays the exact same the whole time so.... Only real realization is that she was being unfair to Roberts for being similar to Mr. Thompson who she doesn't like. And that she was being even more unfair because she didn't like Mr. Thompson for zero reason other than association with trauma and pushing blame onto the wrong person and permanently affecting his vibes in her brain for being. A nice guy who tried to help out I guess???
She does nothing with this knowledge too, just kinda is like. Wow I really blamed him for shit and just treated these two perfectly kind and nice old men badly because I didn't want to face reality. Welp. Guess I'll internalize that and maybe try to treat him better. Maybe.
It just kinda ends with her Acknowledging that her mom is really abusive and the main problem (despite readers getting a perfectly serviceable example of her mom being terrible and Alexis ALREADY KNOWING THIS AND ACKNOWLEDGING HER MOM AS A PROBLEM FROM THE VERY BEGINNING)
also Alexis remembers that she basically killed her dad herself, but like she already blamed herself for it before?? So Nothing changed. (The difference is that apparently she always had magic, cause that's how she killed him. And that's what she remembers??
(...Okayyyy....)
I hate that this story refuses to explore its cast. You get hints of their personality and background as real people but like, it doesn't matter. What matters is how they function as props and how they talk with Alexis and pardon my French, "suck her dick."
Very late into the story, Roberts mentions his grandson (who we only know was the one who gave him his suit pajamas) in a way where he's so amazed by the magic in the world and wishes his grandson was here too to share in the wonder, and there's just a little bit of possible lead-in to further reflection going on there.... and Alexis is like. Ok. Doesn't react. Then they start talking about equipment and classes and he tells her that shes so good at magic now and she's capable of so Much and should trust herself and leaves to disappear into the narrative ether.
The plot structure confuses me.
I'm really not sure how I should be taking the story as it's very inconsistent. There's a .... lack of goals, tone, and theme so a lot of things are happening and it swaps from straight power fantasy (awesome abilities with zero limit and vertical escalation + cute unique powerful pet that is immediately attracted to you because you're special) to attempting psychological exploration of personal trauma and how that affects your relationships with other people (except it doesn't fucking affect anything but your narrative as people like you regardless of your treatment of them I guess).
Worst chapter is the language life download one(s). I actually didn't mind the alien life story retelling as much as the stupid comments Alexis kept making as an observer.... the running funnyman commentary took out any possible sense of weight to the memories and it was so completely shallow and inane and added nothing of value. Most comments were things the reader themselves would very naturally think of or like comments you see people make just to comment on something (like some live reactors who occasionally just say wow or oof, or repeat the thing that just happened).
Nothing there regarding personal feelings or the effect of her traumatic history with the other traumatic history. Nah. We get pithy observations of stuff like: wow I guess I'm a disembodied voice. Kinda want some ice cream. You go girl, beat your bully. I wonder if earth is going to end like this? Ooh you can have pets? Can I make my bunny friend a pet??
Possibly, I think I liked the section where her group mates got kidnapped by a dragon better than the other sections just because it changed nothing about how she didn't talk to them but now they weren't there to be possibly talked with.
TLDR: Main character doesn't face consequences for her flaws and character development is merely plot decorative. Characters don't really talk to each other or build relationships??? So that's kind of decorative too. I guess the main point of this is the power fantasy since that's the most consistent aspect, but it's not that satisfying since it's way too easy tbh.
I'm happy for the people who like this, but it's a really confusing and ineffectual story for me.
Incoming lonnnnngg rambling going on cause my frustrations were building as I was reading. Skip to the end for a short concise summary of this.
All the characters are kind of incredibly weirdly written in a way where they're like. Kinda Unreal? It's the mix of realistic setup and grounding and insane reactions and unwillingness to communicate or talk like an average person would. It makes the cast... very flat. It takes us like, 18 chapters to get to a point where another character who is not Alexis' literal neighbor, who she barely knows, mentions his fucking occupation. Because these people aren't fucking trying to communicate or even build up any kind of working relationship.
None of them try to talk to each other as people who should have every reason to be confused and trying to figure shit out like. Why are we on a different planet with weird magic systems and also why did I think I was joining a beta test for a game while my neighbor thought he was joining a survival test. Man, I wonder how I could potentially figure out more about our situation and get to know the potentially only human contacts I'll get for a long time???? Maybe we should introduce ourselves and give an overview of our history and how we think we got here? (Some of this is explained for the one character who was purposely keeping quiet but LITERALLY EVERYONE ELSE SHOULD HAVE BEEN TALKING)
Our Protagonist takes the cake with that. I actually like characters with severe flaws and fucked up behavior as long as the story acknowledges it. It's clear that Alexis is supposed to be taken as reacting to stuff in irrational ways because of her trauma and history.
However, Alexis' character is pushed so far into unreasonable territory from where some of the basic structures of her personality and reactions could have been understandable from her traumatic background and normalization of parental abuse. The very childish and immature regressive behavior and coping mechanisms makes sense on paper.
But. She sucks sooooo bad. I don't get her thought process and it's not written in a way where it would make sense. And I think the story also doesn't get why she sucks so bad, which is the worse crime. It's inconsistent and neutral or ignored by the narrative rather than being something that hurts or is genuinely negative for her.
Her life sucks and then she gets transported to a fantasy world and she apparently doesn't care about questioning it too deeply because now she has magic and that lets her escape all her problems (which should have set up narrative space for it to do the literal opposite but no it really does solve most of her problems).
New world and weird survival stuff and we may be stuck on an alien planet? WOW that sounds bad no more thinking about it, gets immediately distracted by the idea of having magic, oops I accidentally timestopped myself. Got bored. Broke out of timestop. woahhh I have magic (fireballll) and wow MORE magics (lightning) teehee and then oooh cute fire bunny (scritches = new friend ) and i don't want to help my group learn stuff cause my magic is too personal and helpful and also I don't trust some of them because I have personal issues, and also am not willing to figure out communication because apparently I am so emotionally and socially stunted that just figuring out how to solve things by myself and alienating the only other humans in a location makes sense to me but also maybe I was wrong, oh well anyway, I can kill an army now.
(The element structure also bothers me. Time/space + earth/water/fire/water/stone/metal/ice//lightning etc are understandable and pretty straightforward. Where the hell does the Twilight element come from. This one is really fucking metaphysical/symbolistic and it's apparently the only one?? She unlocks a class because she has shown basic manipulation of all the elements and unless that description is a lie, basically confirms that Twilight is the only weird one. There's nothing else? Day? Night? Dawn? Dusk? Wack and random.)
The story gives Alexis flashbacks to pretend she's going through character development but she stays the exact same the whole time so.... Only real realization is that she was being unfair to Roberts for being similar to Mr. Thompson who she doesn't like. And that she was being even more unfair because she didn't like Mr. Thompson for zero reason other than association with trauma and pushing blame onto the wrong person and permanently affecting his vibes in her brain for being. A nice guy who tried to help out I guess???
She does nothing with this knowledge too, just kinda is like. Wow I really blamed him for shit and just treated these two perfectly kind and nice old men badly because I didn't want to face reality. Welp. Guess I'll internalize that and maybe try to treat him better. Maybe.
It just kinda ends with her Acknowledging that her mom is really abusive and the main problem (despite readers getting a perfectly serviceable example of her mom being terrible and Alexis ALREADY KNOWING THIS AND ACKNOWLEDGING HER MOM AS A PROBLEM FROM THE VERY BEGINNING)
also Alexis remembers that she basically killed her dad herself, but like she already blamed herself for it before?? So Nothing changed. (The difference is that apparently she always had magic, cause that's how she killed him. And that's what she remembers??
(...Okayyyy....)
I hate that this story refuses to explore its cast. You get hints of their personality and background as real people but like, it doesn't matter. What matters is how they function as props and how they talk with Alexis and pardon my French, "suck her dick."
Very late into the story, Roberts mentions his grandson (who we only know was the one who gave him his suit pajamas) in a way where he's so amazed by the magic in the world and wishes his grandson was here too to share in the wonder, and there's just a little bit of possible lead-in to further reflection going on there.... and Alexis is like. Ok. Doesn't react. Then they start talking about equipment and classes and he tells her that shes so good at magic now and she's capable of so Much and should trust herself and leaves to disappear into the narrative ether.
The plot structure confuses me.
I'm really not sure how I should be taking the story as it's very inconsistent. There's a .... lack of goals, tone, and theme so a lot of things are happening and it swaps from straight power fantasy (awesome abilities with zero limit and vertical escalation + cute unique powerful pet that is immediately attracted to you because you're special) to attempting psychological exploration of personal trauma and how that affects your relationships with other people (except it doesn't fucking affect anything but your narrative as people like you regardless of your treatment of them I guess).
Worst chapter is the language life download one(s). I actually didn't mind the alien life story retelling as much as the stupid comments Alexis kept making as an observer.... the running funnyman commentary took out any possible sense of weight to the memories and it was so completely shallow and inane and added nothing of value. Most comments were things the reader themselves would very naturally think of or like comments you see people make just to comment on something (like some live reactors who occasionally just say wow or oof, or repeat the thing that just happened).
Nothing there regarding personal feelings or the effect of her traumatic history with the other traumatic history. Nah. We get pithy observations of stuff like: wow I guess I'm a disembodied voice. Kinda want some ice cream. You go girl, beat your bully. I wonder if earth is going to end like this? Ooh you can have pets? Can I make my bunny friend a pet??
Possibly, I think I liked the section where her group mates got kidnapped by a dragon better than the other sections just because it changed nothing about how she didn't talk to them but now they weren't there to be possibly talked with.
TLDR: Main character doesn't face consequences for her flaws and character development is merely plot decorative. Characters don't really talk to each other or build relationships??? So that's kind of decorative too. I guess the main point of this is the power fantasy since that's the most consistent aspect, but it's not that satisfying since it's way too easy tbh.
I'm happy for the people who like this, but it's a really confusing and ineffectual story for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 27, 2024
4 Even After The World Ends, There Will Still Be Mustard Stars
To Play With Magic is the first book in The Forerunner Initiative series by Draith.
Not gonna lie. I wanted to slap some sense into the protagonist so many times that it's not even funny. She somehow survived and continually improved beyond all reasonable means. But seriously, who would willingly allow any of their attributes to be negative?? Especially those that so heavily affect your health and health regen.
This is yet another world built on the inclusion of both fantasy mechanics and sci-fi as well. The alien species and world's we are bound to discover are exciting all by themselves. Considering the consequences and unknowns in their future regarding progression and saving Earth from an Apocalypse once they make it back?
This Forerunner and System feud is still confusing... I have yet to see why they were so set against its rules and structure, so much so to sacrifice themselves.. The mysteries of the System shall prove to be enlightening. Also, I do find Beth's connection to the Forerunner Initiative something to consider for their future. Especially whether she knows anything more?
Most of all, I believe our mc's origins are in question.. How did she have these abilities while on Earth? She appears to have been born with them.. What does that mean for her individual future and growth?
To Play With Magic is the first book in The Forerunner Initiative series by Draith.
Not gonna lie. I wanted to slap some sense into the protagonist so many times that it's not even funny. She somehow survived and continually improved beyond all reasonable means. But seriously, who would willingly allow any of their attributes to be negative?? Especially those that so heavily affect your health and health regen.
This is yet another world built on the inclusion of both fantasy mechanics and sci-fi as well. The alien species and world's we are bound to discover are exciting all by themselves. Considering the consequences and unknowns in their future regarding progression and saving Earth from an Apocalypse once they make it back?
This Forerunner and System feud is still confusing... I have yet to see why they were so set against its rules and structure, so much so to sacrifice themselves.. The mysteries of the System shall prove to be enlightening. Also, I do find Beth's connection to the Forerunner Initiative something to consider for their future. Especially whether she knows anything more?
Most of all, I believe our mc's origins are in question.. How did she have these abilities while on Earth? She appears to have been born with them.. What does that mean for her individual future and growth?
November 21, 2023
DNF 2%
It can be tough to write in first-person, Draith doesn't do it well. Most of the sentences are short and start with "I" which comes off like a three-year-old describing their day.
The protagonist describes a disastrous home life that implies she has never taken any steps to control/mitigate the chaos that is her mother. Thus my sympathy for her situation transformed into frustration. Why would a person like this be chosen to save the world?
It can be tough to write in first-person, Draith doesn't do it well. Most of the sentences are short and start with "I" which comes off like a three-year-old describing their day.
The protagonist describes a disastrous home life that implies she has never taken any steps to control/mitigate the chaos that is her mother. Thus my sympathy for her situation transformed into frustration. Why would a person like this be chosen to save the world?
September 8, 2023
If you don’t like the character voice, you can’t enjoy the book.
February 23, 2024
3.5 rounded up.
First, the complaints: The “system” was a bit too complicated for my taste and there were a few too many full stat page readouts. I still don't really understand the point of "Edge" or why they so often use "0.1" of a resource. Couldn't 0.1 just be the new 1 and then have the old 1 become 10 instead? Why break down the smallest unit of measurement into fractions?
The characters starting with negative stats was never really explained. Like, how is someone with "negative strength" even able to move their body around let alone survive in the wilderness? Is it supposed to be a bug because they don't have a baseline yet for human norms?
I think the entire system aspect of the story needs reworking and simplification. All of the full stat pages should be their own chapters, so that they are easily skippable. (This seems to be the case in the later books)
Don't get me wrong though, I do like the story. As evidenced by the fact that I am now updating this review while listening to book 4, "The Western Shores." That being said, my overall review of the whole series would still be a 3 to 3.5 that I'm rounding up to 4. All in all, it's a really good first-draft of a story and with some polishing and some editing I think it could be great.
On the audiobook side of things: I occasionally had to remind myself that the MC was from Canada when the audiobook narrator would say “aboot” instead of “about.” While listening to the book with whispersync so I can read the text at the same time, I've found numerous places where the text doesn't match the audio, but I never know if these are caused by the narrator messing up or if the narrator is reading from an older draft of the story. Which is annoying. I have occasionally asked myself if this narrator is an AI reading the book as well, because they very frequently mess up the timing of set phrases and/or pause in a place that makes the meaning of the overall sentence less clear.
I keep having to edit this review because I remember one more thing to add. For the first book, the Narrator keeps pausing between scenes to say "T P W M." Which took me longer than I care to admit to figure out was the abbreviation for the title of the book. I think they were reading some kind of divider that may have been in the draft that they were reading from? They weren't in the kindle version, and it was really jarring to have "TPWM!" just inserted seemingly at random throughout the story. The audiobook could use an editing pass as well. This doesn't happen in books 2-4 that I can remember.
Finally, while this is not the narrator's fault, I got really sick of hearing the word "onesie." lol
First, the complaints: The “system” was a bit too complicated for my taste and there were a few too many full stat page readouts. I still don't really understand the point of "Edge" or why they so often use "0.1" of a resource. Couldn't 0.1 just be the new 1 and then have the old 1 become 10 instead? Why break down the smallest unit of measurement into fractions?
The characters starting with negative stats was never really explained. Like, how is someone with "negative strength" even able to move their body around let alone survive in the wilderness? Is it supposed to be a bug because they don't have a baseline yet for human norms?
I think the entire system aspect of the story needs reworking and simplification. All of the full stat pages should be their own chapters, so that they are easily skippable. (This seems to be the case in the later books)
Don't get me wrong though, I do like the story. As evidenced by the fact that I am now updating this review while listening to book 4, "The Western Shores." That being said, my overall review of the whole series would still be a 3 to 3.5 that I'm rounding up to 4. All in all, it's a really good first-draft of a story and with some polishing and some editing I think it could be great.
On the audiobook side of things: I occasionally had to remind myself that the MC was from Canada when the audiobook narrator would say “aboot” instead of “about.” While listening to the book with whispersync so I can read the text at the same time, I've found numerous places where the text doesn't match the audio, but I never know if these are caused by the narrator messing up or if the narrator is reading from an older draft of the story. Which is annoying. I have occasionally asked myself if this narrator is an AI reading the book as well, because they very frequently mess up the timing of set phrases and/or pause in a place that makes the meaning of the overall sentence less clear.
I keep having to edit this review because I remember one more thing to add. For the first book, the Narrator keeps pausing between scenes to say "T P W M." Which took me longer than I care to admit to figure out was the abbreviation for the title of the book. I think they were reading some kind of divider that may have been in the draft that they were reading from? They weren't in the kindle version, and it was really jarring to have "TPWM!" just inserted seemingly at random throughout the story. The audiobook could use an editing pass as well. This doesn't happen in books 2-4 that I can remember.
Finally, while this is not the narrator's fault, I got really sick of hearing the word "onesie." lol
August 21, 2023
Magic tragedy fun
A tin take on a system apocalypse story where our MC gets a head start and not everything is as it seems. Lighthearted, with some heavy bits. Would recommend to a friend
A tin take on a system apocalypse story where our MC gets a head start and not everything is as it seems. Lighthearted, with some heavy bits. Would recommend to a friend
August 16, 2023
Great Story! Keen for more
This book has great world building, story telling. I have love getting to know the character, their abilities and the new world they find themselves in. Very keen for the next book!
This book has great world building, story telling. I have love getting to know the character, their abilities and the new world they find themselves in. Very keen for the next book!
September 25, 2023
A very nice prequel.
A rather boring book if first in a series. This had way too much set up and nowhere near enough story. I honestly can't tell if this is any good, there wasn't enough to adequately judge. I'll save that for after book two.
A rather boring book if first in a series. This had way too much set up and nowhere near enough story. I honestly can't tell if this is any good, there wasn't enough to adequately judge. I'll save that for after book two.
December 23, 2023
to play with magic, give it a chance get past the first part of the book and you will enjoy it
I’m giving this book 4 stars, the only reason for that is that the first part of the book was slow and a slog to get through. Besides that once the book took off, it was excellent. The characters were great, the world building was excellent and the action sequences were pretty good. More slice of life than action in my opinion, very heartwarming, and a great cast of characters. Sometimes the MC seems like she was 14, wasn’t sure how old she was supposed to be. This was because of actions that she initiated and did during the book. Still love the story and we’ll go on and read the next book
I’m giving this book 4 stars, the only reason for that is that the first part of the book was slow and a slog to get through. Besides that once the book took off, it was excellent. The characters were great, the world building was excellent and the action sequences were pretty good. More slice of life than action in my opinion, very heartwarming, and a great cast of characters. Sometimes the MC seems like she was 14, wasn’t sure how old she was supposed to be. This was because of actions that she initiated and did during the book. Still love the story and we’ll go on and read the next book
June 29, 2024
It's fine
The book is fine. It's just a bit boring for me. There's nothing grabbing me, and endless practice with every magic and diving into mechanics is not something I find that interesting before I have a reason to care.
There isn't a real plot happening. I made it 80% into book 1 and there's quests and things that need doing but the plot is generally "get strong." Spending the last 20% of the book reading about rescuing her friends didn't sound exciting. Again, we don't care about any characters because the author hasn't tried to endear us to anyone.
Also, it took me way too long to realize MC was female. I get it's on the cover, but the characters voice is wrong at the beginning. Read like a guy for the first 20% of the book.
The book is fine. It's just a bit boring for me. There's nothing grabbing me, and endless practice with every magic and diving into mechanics is not something I find that interesting before I have a reason to care.
There isn't a real plot happening. I made it 80% into book 1 and there's quests and things that need doing but the plot is generally "get strong." Spending the last 20% of the book reading about rescuing her friends didn't sound exciting. Again, we don't care about any characters because the author hasn't tried to endear us to anyone.
Also, it took me way too long to realize MC was female. I get it's on the cover, but the characters voice is wrong at the beginning. Read like a guy for the first 20% of the book.
August 20, 2024
Holy stats Batman! While some stat listings are kind of expected from a LitRPG, this book was a touch excessive. The MC can't take two steps without checking her stats or getting a notification. Practically every action had an update. It felt like reading ads.
As the first book of the series this one is not bad but not great either. The character development leaves a lot to be desired, and the plot holes could use some finess. Hopefully, those issues get addressed in future books. It does at least have a decent premise, and some potential. I'm honestly probably only going to keep reading, because I love superpowers.
As the first book of the series this one is not bad but not great either. The character development leaves a lot to be desired, and the plot holes could use some finess. Hopefully, those issues get addressed in future books. It does at least have a decent premise, and some potential. I'm honestly probably only going to keep reading, because I love superpowers.
January 18, 2024
Solid isekai story with good characters. The first three books are one story arc so expect endings to the first two that feel more like milestones than endings. The magic system is fine, elemental with runes that combine in interesting ways. The main characters all get relatively powerful very quickly. Still, they face big challenges with real stakes.
My only complaint so far is that magic comes too easily after book one. If this were d&d everyone is a level four wizard learning 9th level spells in less than an hour. Sure there are explanations why. But it doesn't feel earned.
My only complaint so far is that magic comes too easily after book one. If this were d&d everyone is a level four wizard learning 9th level spells in less than an hour. Sure there are explanations why. But it doesn't feel earned.
December 16, 2023
To Play with Magic is a great story, it's funny (all the way through), and it's a story definitely worth reading. I see there's 4 books in the series. I'm definitely going to read more in this series, don't want to miss what comes next.
February 20, 2024
I dislike rating books so low. I’m just bored. It’s a rough first person view point. Some kind of nervous onesie fetish going on.
I’m not sure there is any point to the book. Cliche random rabbit companion, not relevant. Cliche nervous unsure MC with a stutter, but the stutter is so short lived it’s pointless. Cliche relive lame memories, omg, the memory…
It’s all just too forced for me. At this point the onesie has more cred than the MC.
I’m not sure there is any point to the book. Cliche random rabbit companion, not relevant. Cliche nervous unsure MC with a stutter, but the stutter is so short lived it’s pointless. Cliche relive lame memories, omg, the memory…
It’s all just too forced for me. At this point the onesie has more cred than the MC.
September 25, 2024
Excellent Story
I almost put this book into my DNF pile after about 10 pages. WOW that would have been a huge mistake. This story was super fun. The pacing is excellent, it felt like the story started and then I looked down and it was over. Even so there are several twists I didn’t see that kept me guessing. A great read.
I almost put this book into my DNF pile after about 10 pages. WOW that would have been a huge mistake. This story was super fun. The pacing is excellent, it felt like the story started and then I looked down and it was over. Even so there are several twists I didn’t see that kept me guessing. A great read.
May 6, 2025
Not very good
Not sure why this book is as popular as it is. It's slow and difficult to read. The vast majority of the book is of the mc basically journaling to herself. The characters hardly have to earn their magic. For the most part it's just handed to them or they spend five seconds thinking and figure it out
Not sure why this book is as popular as it is. It's slow and difficult to read. The vast majority of the book is of the mc basically journaling to herself. The characters hardly have to earn their magic. For the most part it's just handed to them or they spend five seconds thinking and figure it out
December 31, 2025
A fun start to a new LitRPG series. A fun relatable character, who is not too whiny about her problems. The world building was interesting, but not overwhelming.
I also really enjoyed the audiobook narration. It’s done by the same narrator who does the beneath the dragon moon series.. Very glad I tried this out.
I also really enjoyed the audiobook narration. It’s done by the same narrator who does the beneath the dragon moon series.. Very glad I tried this out.
September 26, 2023
Interesting start to series
A bit slow to start, but somehow also in need of a little more exposition. Once it picks up, it gets very interesting. As more characters are added in a substantive way, the more interesting it becomes. I look forward to the next book.
A bit slow to start, but somehow also in need of a little more exposition. Once it picks up, it gets very interesting. As more characters are added in a substantive way, the more interesting it becomes. I look forward to the next book.
November 21, 2023
Basically no tension in the story. MC gets abilities without really having to work for them or train them. In the space of a couple days is capable of single-handedly destroying an army in detail. Lot's of annoying flashbacks that kill the already slow and dying pacing.
February 18, 2024
Good
I start with a little bit slow but other than that I enjoyed it immensely. The slowness did add to the plot and it is a part of the story and the author is a little bit rambly at least the writing fields. That way doesn't necessarily go out that way, but it's good
I start with a little bit slow but other than that I enjoyed it immensely. The slowness did add to the plot and it is a part of the story and the author is a little bit rambly at least the writing fields. That way doesn't necessarily go out that way, but it's good
September 22, 2024
Excellent
Great writing!
The world is imaginative, the MC highly enjoyable, and FINALLY an author who considers things like the importance of bras that fit. Captures the real wonder of magic.
Love the reality in this magnificent fantasy!
Great writing!
The world is imaginative, the MC highly enjoyable, and FINALLY an author who considers things like the importance of bras that fit. Captures the real wonder of magic.
Love the reality in this magnificent fantasy!
August 3, 2025
Engaging
Alexis is a well-done character with plenty of flaws to overcome. While op for now at iron rank I love that all progression is tied cohesive manner as the storyline unfolded.
Alexis is a well-done character with plenty of flaws to overcome. While op for now at iron rank I love that all progression is tied cohesive manner as the storyline unfolded.
October 31, 2023
Starts ok, just loses every bit of tension and interest as soon as the MC gets lost in the stats.
November 17, 2023
fun as hell
Love this it’s a great lit rpg with good progression and character development can’t wait to read the next book!
Love this it’s a great lit rpg with good progression and character development can’t wait to read the next book!
November 22, 2023
Very good
I really liked this book. The characters are a bit quirky but very well done. I'm looking forward to the next one.
Highly recommended.
I really liked this book. The characters are a bit quirky but very well done. I'm looking forward to the next one.
Highly recommended.
November 28, 2023
Very good read
I enjoyed reading this book very much and I recommend this book to anyone who likes LitRPG and progression types of books with lots of action.
I enjoyed reading this book very much and I recommend this book to anyone who likes LitRPG and progression types of books with lots of action.
January 22, 2024
Good book
Couldn't put it down. I'm really excited to have so many more to read. Thanks for the incredible read Draith.
Couldn't put it down. I'm really excited to have so many more to read. Thanks for the incredible read Draith.
January 25, 2024
Interesting
An interesting story. It took a bit to get in to with the way it kept going in to flash backs but once I got used to it the story came along very well.
An interesting story. It took a bit to get in to with the way it kept going in to flash backs but once I got used to it the story came along very well.
March 15, 2024
Totally great!
July 29, 2024
There's barely any story here as it's just hour upon hour of stats and description of "using magic" that is pushing, pressure, runes and whatever nonsense over and over.
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