Kristjan's home is attacked, and he was supposed to be sent through a portal with his guard to keep him safe until everything settled down, but things didn't go as planned. He woke up without his memory in a world that is filled with Demons, Djinns, Phoenix, Fire Giants, and many others.
During his time on Exhulm, he is bullied for being a non-magical being, making his life difficult. Around his 18th birthday, things change. HIs magic presents itself and makes his life even more problematic. Kristjan realizes that maybe not having magic wasn't so bad after all.
This is a fun power fantasy with interesting worldbuilding. It is also really terrible with characters. I mean, the main character is okay and all. Kristjan starts off as an underdog but at least with someone who cares about and for him. He trains hard, works at becoming better, and then his personal magic unlocks and things get crazy. In a mostly good way.
The problem is that the women come across as written by someone who has never met one but has consumed lots of porn. They're one-dimensional, highly sexualized, and their reactions are very much indulgent of every whim Kristjan might have. And not solely sexually because there are some matronly characters who indulge him out of mother-adjacent care.
And the men aren't much better. Most of the men are either lackeys or bullies with some pseudo father-figures thrown in for flavor. So I guess the guys get three options as opposed to the female two.
I finished this anyway. Because the pace is fast, the plot interesting, and the power fantasy is huge. And I was in the mood for that kind of story. Judge me if you will (and I frankly deserve it), but I'm giving it three stars because I was entertained.
A note about Steamy: There are explicit sex scenes, though with only surface-level details putting this in the middle of my steam tolerance. Frankly, it was all very tawdry and boring. If harem is your draw, there are many better-written options out there than this one.
Negatives: 1. Many, many spelling and grammar mistakes.
2. The protagonist has the mind of an 6 year old and the hormones of a 14 year old. Total idiot. “I did something super impressive but don’t worry, I bet they’ll all forget about it soon.” “What, tHey waNT To sLEep wITH me?!” x 1000
3. Classic “men writing women”. Every woman is described sexually and has no character beyond that. Every woman instantly wants to sleep with him. ALSO- the woman who raised him from 8 years old up sleeps with him later. Dumb and messed up.
4. No real plot, 2/5 worldbuilding, no character at all OR character development. It’s the classic case of “underdog, except the underdog doesn’t have any personality besides being the underdog and bullied. And once he instantly gets his powers he goes around being the new bully.”
Positives: If you’re looking for a dumb power fantasy this is almost worth your time.
I am really enjoying this author's work. There are some issues which I have mentioned in my previous reviews but despite those I still enjoy the books. It also seems like this author is evolving. The issues are not as pronounced as in his earlier work. The story follows a young boy who was sent through a portal to save his life. He ends up on Exhulm, a world full of different beings that try to live together. Dragons, phoenix, trolls etc this world has them all. All of these creatures can take human form so most of the time you don't know who you are dealing with. He is found by a magical being/guardian of the world who notices the bos power but doesn't know what he is. He knows the boy is in danger because of the power he has so the being decides to help the boy by giving it his blood to mask his power. He is given into the care of a succubus and the first 1/3 of the book is him going to school. The last 2/3 of the book is really different from the first 1/3. This is one of the issues that I noted with this author in his previous works. He has somewhat abrupt transitions. The transition her was a little abrupt as well but not as bad. The boy ends up coming into his power, trains and has some adventures saving people. Overall I enjoyed this book.
I really loved this book, but at many times it felt like fanfiction. The narration of the book is casual and conversational in an immature way that conflicts with much of the subject material.
There's both graphic sex and violence, and the main character is described as highly intelligent, but his internal monologue is kind of cringey and like a middle schooler. Every "villain" is just a high school bully or a stuck up noble archetype with no motivation or character. And nothing really takes you out of the situation like a giant, awesome, ancient dragon being introduced and saying things like "yeah," and "yep,". That being said, the author will surely get better and I'm looking forward to the next book.
This authors writing just gets better with every new book he puts out. The writing is getting cleaner and his storylines are amazing. The story does have a MC that starts to get somewhat op but he does have some struggles in the plot to make it enjoyable. It’s exciting to see an up and coming new author get tons of good reviews while some of the “established” authors in this genre only hope to break past that 100 review mark. It’s also a little disheartening to see some of these competing authors discriminate against this author in some of the social media sites I visit. Heck on one site one of the established authors closed a discussion down in a harem book thread claiming the novel wasn’t harem. It’s obvious this author/moderator had never even read the book in question. I mean a harem is more than one concurrent love/intimate relationship at one time that is agreed upon by all right? It seems that this established harem author doesn’t even know the definition about the genre he writes in as well. Do yourself a favor and read this and the other novels the author puts out.
Let me start by saying that I really liked the story overall. So why am I giving it 3 stars instead of 4?
The author needs a bit of editing help. To be honest, this story seemed like a stream of consciousness novel written NaNoWriMo style (just put words on the page), and then rushed to published. I don't mean editing like making sure the verb agrees with the subject or is there supposed to be a comma in this sentence. No, I mean story flow and character choices. The author is actually very good with grammar and punctuation.
For example, the first several chapters goes on about how the MC is a social outcast then suddenly it was revealed that he is having sex with two different women and then how it happened. It would have been a better story if we had known about the other two women before it was germane to the story. It is a simple thing to move those scenes earlier then later when it is important we can focus on the next event, not stomping the brakes and getting an "oh, by the way" update. See, simple editing of flow.
The other challenge with the story is all while the MC is waxing on about how douchey and arrogant others are being, he is being arrogant as well (although less douchey).
There are lots of examples of overreacting that are too numerous to mention and doesn't jive with the characters.
So while I did like the book, there were a lot of issues. Biggest advice is don't rush to publish, spend the edit time to make a tighter book. I know there are a lot of voices on the internet that think they don't need to edit, but 99.999% of them are wrong. And you owe it to your readers to put out the best book you can. I think Stephen King's "On Writing" is a great book for writers to read and grok, especially this author.
This is a good story overall and I will recommend it to anyone who likes harem novels and fantasy novels. I will say that the story is a little slow and I really did not like the interaction that the main character was having with the side characters not the women but basically the families and he's meant to work because it's been to was like taking I will say that the story is a little slow and I really did not like the interaction that the main character was having with the side characters not the women but basically the families and his mentor because it's been to was like taking toys out of his hands and I did not really like that for the main character taking choices out of his hands and I did not really like that for the main character. The main character is really very over power but I like stories like that but what I really would have liked was more interaction with his 1st to women and get some better world building going on with that. It is almost like the 2 1st women are sight characters now I don't know I hope the second book Will be much better and I cannot wait for the author to release it.
After reading the new path series I turned to this one and Kris and Max are a lot alike…especially with their insults… it’s so very “human” and real. It’s so visceral that I can’t help but laugh hysterically at times at the insults he flings around…. Just like Max. The only thing that got old was his constant denial of what he needed to do and who he needed to accept. There may be a trigger warning to some about a certain relationship of his with Serena…. I actually liked her character. The world building is quite good and there are some similarities with this and the world Max comes from. I have to say though, Kris is quite an interesting character though…. His magic and his whole genetic make up thanks to allistair has truly made him unique and Destroyer/Balancer is such a cool name. I’m excited for the next book. Onward lads! Oh, also….Jade loved to use the word BELLOWED! 🤣
So fun new series. The MC is weak at first then OP but not Invulnerable. When is true powers start to manifest he starts collecting ”friends" and the eye of the powerful elite. There is harem relationships but they grow slow most of the book. The 1st part of the book is him growing up with no powers and there is a lot of fast forwarding through sections of his life. The story slows down a becomes more day to day near the end. This is of course when some of the more major plot lines Manifest. I enjoy the MCs moral compass and his powers seem to be interesting as they manifest.I certainly will be eagerly awaiting the next book in the series.
Like all of the books from Xander Jade an excellent book with a very satisfying main character. MC is definitely not a shrinking violet. Willing to stand up for what he believes and not be pushed around. Liked the story quite a bit, just found it to be a little short. Hope there will be more books in the near future. If you like this book try reading Traveller by the same author, that is probably his best book so far. Although really all of his stories have been great so far.
A good read and well written; I found the MC's development a bit 1-2-3-OP which is what loses it a star. The OP thing at least makes sense in the universe as it's described, meaning he pretty much has to outclass everything on this planet to have any hope of dealing with whoever knocked over his family on his origin planet.
The harem elements also make sense when they arise. The MC when he "wakes up" is quite a catch in this particularly might-makes-right world. It passes the real test, and that is to keep me interested to read the next one.
A great start to the series, if you want a slice of life a young boy grows up becomes an awesome guy kicks ass gets the babes then this is the book for you., ive looked for a good story with harem elements that is not just generic fight x bad guy make love to x girl win the day repeat and you get bored quickly, this book has this but also a cracking good story that keeps you rearding just another page till you realise its now three in the morning , buy the book and get the next one done xander jade.
I am a little split on this book. I want to like it, but what is holding me back is the mindset and attitude of the MC. It’s totally uncompromising. The only way to get that to work is either to have the MC totally OP or “hand of gods(s)” to crush the opposition. Well …. here the MC is totally OP. Still better the previous series, though I only read book 1 in that just because of the problems above. I’ll wait with book 2 in this until I read the reviews.
This story is full of excitement full of intrigue and a couple of my favorite things . It has a little bit of science fiction has fantasy it has urban fantasy a little bit of spiciness and it actually has a little bit of cultivation. The characters are real written and well-rounded and gives much to the story. I really like the story a lot and felt I had to give it five stars and I can't wait to read the next book is very exciting a bit of a cliffhanger towards the end.
A potentially strong interesting start which rapidly devolves into a nearly isekai harem style story with an overpowered main character and poorly fleshed out world, characters and story. Very trope heavy with little originality in races, personalities, story and world. Regret purchase and don't believe there could be enough improvement in a second book to be worth buying any further books considering this is the foundation for the series.
This one is not up to the standards of the others from the author.
The beginning feels forced and has several inconsistencies. The transition is to quick without any sense of time passing. It is very choppy. The actions taken at the end in correlation to his desired mission do not match. The entire thing is just forced and not up to par. I like the setting and the characters, but the writing and story let them down.
It does not seem fair. I finished THE TRAVELER 2 and liked it so much that I visited the author's site for Xander Jade to see what else has been written. EXHULM, the first Celestial Chronicles book was available. Now I don't know which series to beg for the next volume from. The main character in EXHULM starts out ignorant of his powers. Even when they manifest he needs multiple mentors to learn how to use them. Along the way he gathers varied and interesting friends. Next adventures, PLEASE?
This was a rollercoaster of a book but in a good way. ALOT happens but is handled well. The timeskips are well placed to avoid repeating the boring day to day that doesn’t matter. They aren’t large but enough that progress happens. The characters are pretty well fleshed out. The ending seemed to go pretty quickly but wasn’t bad at all. Just seemed like the pace changed. All in all this was a fun read and I will be following the author
Wasn’t sure about this a few chapters in but kept reading and then started liking it so i finished and grabbed book two, finished that one and then read book three. Now awaiting book four. Sure, the main character is overpowered and women fall all over him but I still enjoyed the story. MC did a really dumb thing at the end of book three with the Clearwater battle concerning the leader of the opposition, you will know when you get there.
It was interesting following this modern day fantasy. The setting was developed but i would have preferred it expanded a little more. I can just imagine seeing a football game played by dragons, demons and giants in human form. Fun book to read and I look forward to the next one.
I read several books a month taking advantage of KU, many of them in this genre. Excellent storyline. The depth of the world building and the characters are better than most. I've read other books by this author and this is superior to those. I hope book 2 isn't too far from dropping.
Enjoying the story was fun read. Fast pace, lots of action fights magic etc. Lots of interesting abilities and great combat magic with enough sex in the mix. Want to read the next but still waiting for him to finish the next book in his other series. Poke get writing man.
There are a few typos but I can deal with that if it’s a great story!!! This was outstanding. I would like to know a bit more about the celestials and if this MC is so strong what happened to the MC’e parents and actual family. I really can’t wait for the next in the series.
This story starts out laying the foundations for a great story.The characters are introduced and given life. I felt this story flowed well and was easy to get lost in.The plot is still being laid for the complete story. I can't wait for the next book! 5*****
Loved the book. Interesting mix of science fiction and fantasy. I also love how the harem aspect doesn't over power the actual story line, but still inhances the story. I am looking forward to see how the series progresses.
I think this is one of my new favorites! I like how the females in the story actually have personality and spunk. The story was well done and I really look forward to seeing where it goes from here.
Amazing first book. Couldn’t put it down. Love how powerful the mc is, I always love stories about powerful heroes, can’t stand when people complain about them being over powered. Hope this is a long series.
It started off okay. But then for a world that’s suppose to be filled with mid evil magic and creatures.The author turns the story into a Beverly Hills 90210 laughing 💩show.🤦♂️
For a good fast paced story line it had a few hang ups. Main character seemed all on or all off when dealing with new situations. And of course I'm not that happy with a Harem novel. Though I could see him being with his first two ladies.
The story started with a bang and kept going. The world building is great. The MC powers come on kin quickly, but the world building and story more than make up for that. I will definitely be getting the follow up book.