For 5,000 years, the Wild Era of humanity has reigned supreme, where strength and magic are the source of everything. Kelin Wildfire, once called the Lord of Wildfire and the Archmage of Wild Souls, died on a battlefield of the Chaos War, but it might have been at the hand of an ally.
Nevertheless, his soul lived on in the cycle of reincarnation, his memories frozen in time.
Until today.
In his current life, he is barely twenty years old, the orphan son of a stone mason and a weaver, living on a lawless planet in the human domain where he is barely able to scrape by. He takes up a job as a miner, searching for rare mana crystals in the depths of a mountain, but treachery from local thugs triggers a mana explosion that nearly kills him and that threatens to turn the area into a dungeon.
A pulse of that mana strikes him on the edge of death, awakening memories of his past life when he was something more. Half dead and without any mana, but with the memories of an Archmage, he decides to rise again.
The overall story had real potential as I do enjoy the regression/reincarnation arcs. However I couldn’t continue reading this, it’s filled with so much pointless information that it’s a slug to read.
the author has never heard of show, don't tell in his life. if you rated this book as 4 stars or more you need to read more, your standards are on the floor
It started well. I was very excited. The first 40% of the book were very logical. Ended up big disappointment.
- Way too many numbers. You got a passive that saves you 5% mana - OK. I don't need to read how many points of mana it saves you over and over again. If you want to give us the numbers paste a table and I will decide to look at its content or skip it. - Every time he gets a passive update we get full page describing how exactly that affects each of his spells. Again - not in a nice readable table but as a wall of text. - The combat goes on and on. I probably skipped 20% of the book because it was so boring. - Pages upon pages with MC's thoughts about his abilities. Probably 50 or 100 pages total, IDK.
The worst part was when the MC got incredibly valuable potion as a reward: ```He could drink it now and upgrade Soulfire Body Refinement to Expert, or he could save it and wait for the harder change at Elite. He knew the value of this vial. It was soulbound, but if it could be sold, it would have fetched probably 10,000 gold just as an opening bid. Despite that, gains for the future could be earned then, while right now, he needed to survive. That knight had been a close call and the Wind Hunters were still out there somewhere. He didn’t hesitate to open the vial and pour it down his throat. ``` WHY? He is NOT in a hurry! The Wind Hunters are NOT hunting him! He DOESN'T need to finish the current dungeon - nothing stops him from exiting, gaining some levels and returning. Nothing stops him from spending few years if necessary to improve his physical condition! Nothing stops him developing his crafting class either. Nothing stops him making hundreds of talismans. IT simply doesn't make sense!
- Every time he levels up we get the same 9 lines of text about his gains followed by 3 lines describing his new total Int and Aura, but with more words. And, let me tell you, he levels up a lot.
This book is pretty unapologetically not a weak-to-strong MC, and I appreciate that. When your premise is an archmage regressor, even a low-level mage should have some amazing advantages. That said, the only authentic taste of those limitations comes from the MC lamenting his weak vessel, rather than him actually feeling all that limited. He's a walking calamity that's only restrained by his desire to train a variety of spells and keep some abilities hidden; there is little qualitative difference in how he acts whether he's level 9 or level 50.
The last half of the book lost a lot of its forward momentum for me, reduced to long, solo slogs through dungeons with boring, repetitive fights and large leaps in advancement. I skimmed a lot of it, since none of it really adds much to the story, and the only point seemed to be to make numbers bigger.
I'm undecided about whether I'll continue to the next book. I've abandoned both of the author's other series for the same reason: great starts, only to jump the shark on MC empowerment once we are a few books into it. This series lacks the great start, but already feels like the MC will continue exponentially outgrowing his story.
This has got to be one of the driest and most boring books I’ve ever read. Seriously, I’ve seen technical manuals that are more interesting! If this ever gets an audio book, they need Ben Stein to narrate it since his voice fits perfectly to how reading this felt…
I think I skimmed/skipped 70% of the book. It was just grinding, crafting, and numbers CONSTANTLY. This is the first book I think I’ve read from this author and will probably be the last. I had to force myself to keep going and it just wasn’t worth it. I kept hoping it would be better but it was just more of the same over, and over, and over….
Too many interruptions of the plot in order to info-dump about percentages and build choices. Here’s an example: “With the 5% addition and the recent increases to his Aura, his base soul energy recovery was up to 54% per hour. Soulfire Sigil improved that rate by 35%, which took it to 73%, and then Meditation at Expert cut 30% off the time required, so he was regaining that much every 42 minutes, which was 104% per hour. As for his mana recovery, at his current Wisdom of 172, he was at 41% per hour as a base, which jumped to 43% with the regeneration enchantment on his breeches, and then 58% with the sigil. Meditating took it to 83% per hour. It wasn’t bad for his level.” The book would have been much improved if Mr North had eliminated almost all the build details or else confined them to footnotes or a bonus chapter, so those of us who read for story weren’t forced to endure paragraphs of dry info that do nothing to advance plot or characters. I understand there are litprg readers who need and want their stats—just please have mercy on the rest of us too! Remember, books are about story, tech manuals are about stats, and the two should never be confused.
Really enjoyed the start of this new series. I like the plot and how it incorporates into the greater story thread. I have struggled a little with how easy the progression is and had to remind myself the MC has past life knowledge allowing smoother faster progression. I would like to see less dungeon running it started to feel repetitive with how easy the MC was finding them. I would like to see more character progression other than the MC. Interaction between the MC and others adds depth to a story. I want those around the MC to be a part of the story and more three dimensional rather than two dimensional. Fun book to read though and looking forward to the second.
This is my first time experiencing the MC that started off regressed and now must regain power. Great start to this new series! I especially recommend the audiobook format. Neil Hellegers did an awesome job with the storytelling!
I went into this having enjoyed the author's previous works, but this one is the literary equivalent of a dungeon grind, with hardly any fun or even much of a reward at the end. I honestly skipped most of the combat and stats and rewards as none of that mattered, and tried to find the little bit of plot and dialogue that had anything to do with the characters. It's not much. Probably steer clear unless you're a die hard fan of this universe.
I wanted a little more out of this one. In the continuum of okay, good, pretty good, great, excellent, awesome, I would have to put this somewhere between good and pretty good. It had all the components to be better but it just didn't resonate with me. A young orphan man is caught in a mana cave and is about to die. The mana in the area is so high it usually leads to death. Right at the moment he is about to die, something happens. His memories from a previous life return. He was the lord of Wildfire, an Arch mage who lived for over 5000 years. He used that knowledge to help him survive and get out of the cave. Despite having those memories, he is still an undernourished level 9 nobody. It won't be that easy. That is a pretty good setup, I do tend to like these type of books where someone has knowledge and abilities far above what they should have at their supposed age/level. Usually these people are insanely OP, always know what to do and do amazing things. Things aren't usually that hard for them and that also is part of the appeal. Who wants there OP MC to struggle? What's the point of being OP if you struggle that much.
The problem is that the rest of the book is just a bunch of solo dungeon runs. There isn't a whole lot of world building. The crafting and magic system really isn't that interesting. The MC has soul arrows, soul fire arrows, and wildfire magic. I know there is a difference between them but they sound and act so similar it is hard to know the difference. The MC is OP for his level and age but pushes himself in dangerous situations in order to grow his new body and skills. So he does struggle a lot but is also doing it on purpose and that makes me wonder what I am supposed to feel. Am I supposed to get nervous for him. If he were really the 19 year old he was supposed to be, I could put myself in his place and understand all his struggles. That fact that he has the memories of someone over 5000 years old makes it hard to put myself in that person's place and understand his struggles. That leaves me left a little disconnected from the character. I am not a huge dungeon story fan. It is okay in small doses but so far that is all this one had. I did enjoy the character interactions out of the dungeon and I was interested in knowing more about the world but there wasn't much of that.
Despite all that it wasn't bad. If they cut back just a little with the dungeon stuff and he spends more time in the real world going forward, it could be a pretty good read. I have the second book and will see what I think after that one.
Not worth the time wasted in weaving through countless number of tangents and pointless information, that do nothing but just pad the book. It quite clear the author has one single idea, and just kept on adding padding in between any meaningful story scene.
Ofcourse I love reading about how a made up thing works , especially in a made up ACTION book, where we know , it will be forgotten the moment we end the paragraph, and all that 3 hours of extremely detailed information about power and logic is just that, 3 hours of pure fun and life changing information which will help you become super sayain.
From now on, I will only give books 5 starts, that way others have to suffer too, through the disappointment of such book, and that way , whenever they hear the name of the author, it will bring up an involuntary repulsion inside them, especially if they paid full amount for the book. And no I am not being harsh, the book reads like a smelling your own farts kind of shit, an author just cannot be lacking this much self awareness, its just a wild era of extremely shitty litrpgs.
The first volume in this new series is highly compelling. It’s a reincarnation story, but based on the previous Astral Titan series. I love how the author has progressed his storytelling and the overall writing and character development are way beyond your typical litrpg.
Characters have internal motivations and change as the plot develops. The story is large stakes on a small scale. Nobody is saving the world, they are just trying to save themselves and maybe a friend or two along the way. The author is careful about introducing characters that won’t be used later. The pacing is tight, the descriptions are efficient and it’s just well written.
I’m sad I finished this book before the 2nd volume drops. Luckily it’s only a few days away now.
Very infodump heavy, very little learning or exploration of the magic system. Actions and magic are poorly, if at all, explained and pretty much all actions of the regressor MC are possible because "he knew this in his previous life".
Pages over pages of exposition explaining how awesome the MC was before and that is why he can "just do things with magic".
Very poor narration, all events feel like "deus ex machina" because everything is always based on "he already knew how to do this, so obviously he can just do the same now despite being 690 level lower".
The entire litRPG system is completely pointless, because if there ever were any actual rules, the MC breaks them all constantly because "he was an archmage before, so he just does this".
Zero logic, suspension of disbelief dies during the first 50 pages.
Author needs to learn the concept of “less is more” sometimes
Hey North! This is your third series now, it’s time to grow up as a writer. Drowning on and on about useless details all the time is starting to get embarrassing. You need to keep the story progression moving not spend pages telling the reader about every gosh darn thing you can think of about their surroundings and reasons for existing. You’re not being immersive, think about it, when you walk in to the store do you look around at every little detail and person in the store or do continuously identify what’s most important to your next objective and navigate towards and complete it. Experiencing aspects of the store as you CONTINUE to progress through it and accomplish your goals. In case you don’t realize, the store in this analogy, is the dungeons in your dissertation (I mean story).
Really enjoyed the story, my only complaint was sometimes the pacing was off in the story slowed down. This mostly happened when the author went into game Dynamics for the main character and explaining his attributes. Other than that the story moved along well. The main character was likable and well written. Numerous supporting cast helped the story along without taking away the agency or power from the main character. The world building was clear and logical, with multiple plot lines that really came together towards the end. The reveal at the end was rather basic but still a solid story. I look forward to more books in this series.!
This book has a rather strong start but loses all momentum at around the 40% mark where the main character just starts running dungeons to boost his levels/stats. Honestly, you should treat this review as a DNF review because the entire second half of the book became one huge blur. I just finished this book around 5 hours ago and already barely remember anything that happened.
There is a chance that this series can pull itself back, because when the author isn't focused on stats and running dungeons, the book is fun. But considering the fact that the entire second half of this book could be condensed into about 5 pages of content by a single editing pass, I highly doubt he will do so in the rest of the series.
I enjoyed the characters and plot. It was well written but like almost all books in this category, I don't seem to understand why even present the crunchy numbers when I the end they don't matter. One moment the MC can kill something twice his level and in the next, struggle against something at his level. When the use of plot devices and dues ex is used so often, it kinda makes any struggle meaningless. The MC doesn't have to overcome anything, he just need the author to drop the solution in his lap. I know this kind of a rant at this genre but I will be reading the next one.
I am very familiar with the author’s previous series. It was one of the very few I put down without the intent to complete it. The author is very, very intelligent. Couple that with writing talent and he had a really good story overall. However, the amount of minutiae regarding skills and character builds was extreme. I’m talking ‘skip several pages at a time without missing anything’ extreme.
This new story isn’t like that. It feels more like a narrative and less like a technical manual. So, kudos. I really enjoyed that and I’m looking forward to the next.
I’ve loved Mr North’s writings and this series is posed to be another 5+ stars winner. In this book, we live the “beginning”. The PC is reincarnated, with full memories intact, thousands of years after his murder. Most of the book focuses on his entry into the guild and army and his Path of Stars progression. The characters are really interesting, the dungeon adventures are creative and ‘alive’. The writing is brilliant. I do hope book 2 comes out, soon!
If you want a good mix of litrpg and reincarnation give this one a read. The story is a good mix of action with stat/ level progression without overwhelming the plot. The reincarnation aspect is the basis for the MC power but not the main plot line of the book, rather it seems like it’s going to be used to develop a multiple book story arc. The writing is good with good pacing to move the story along. A bit different from his other series but perfect for a fan of litrpg.
What a great book in a fun read. After a rocky start with an MC, that's extremely overpowered, the story evens out and shines. Basically, the book is reincarnation, and it's a race to the top again using knowledge from his prior life. There are still lots of unanswered questions and lots of abilities to learn about, and it seems a little bit of crafting, though nothing to detailed. I've always enjoyed this author and his prior work.This is no exception.
David North is one of my fav authors, Guardian of After Fall one of my fav series so seeing that this new one is in the same universe just a few thousand years in the future..I love.... Great beginning and an interesting character... Much more combat focused then the character study, story focused first series but brilliantly done
Highly recommend JD Glasscock Author of the Series Blood Brothers, Nocturne and Warborn
Great continuation of the universe and new perspective
As a returning fan of After fall series, this is an awesome new perspective after the new changes Sam set in the universe. I do love Kelin as a new character and how he is slowly building his old power base, but do wish he interacted with more high profile people in the guild more since he doesn’t really interact other than the adventures he meets Serai, Galin, Malo, Jesra and the Captain.
This is an offshoot of the Aster Falls series set 5,000 years later. Somebody killed lord wildfire and we don’t know who. But he wakes up reincarnated almost 400 years later.somebody is trying to kill his reincarnation and he has to act fast to survive. What ensues is a rollicking journey of dungeon diving and political intrigue that leaves you wanting more as soon as the story ends
This book series really really..no I'm serious it REALLY sucks! Why does it suck? Because the author has not finished it yet lol
One of the better stories I have read lately..recommend this to anyone who enjoys litrpg style books. I really need to stop reading these book series that are not finished yet..drives me a bit nutty having to wait. Sigh
It's OK, fairly standard fare of a reincarnation, Mc headed to OP territory. But the side characters are there to have something for the Mc to be compared to and the dialogue only exists to move the plot. The Mc started from level 699 back to 10 and at the end of the book was 85 or so, so you know there's more coming. There's infinity galaxy and multiple universes but the Mc didn't leave the first town and local politics.
Really enjoyed this take on a reincarnation novel. The MC for once acts like someone that is actually old mentally and not some weird mental mix of teenager and old man. Only complaint that is definitely a personal preference is that too much of the writing is spent talking about stats. I just skipped over any section that started throwing around numbers and don’t really feel like I missed anything. Will definitely be reading the next one!