After overcoming the assault in Eternal Dominion by Abysses End's members Alex/Xeal and his friend have shown that they can stand firm. Now they must navigate Abysses End's advances in reality without isolating themselves from the entirety of the VR gamming workshop community. While the nobles of Nium have begun to take a vested interest in Alex's/Xeal's progress. Will Alex/Xeal and his friends be able to navigate these diplomatic situations or will they find themselves dancing to the tune of others.
As a fair warning this book contains a harem element and will establish what I consider its core four. For any worried about it moving forward this book will be by far the heaviest in that aspect and the following books will still progress the subplot, but have far less of it overall.
Two major things to be clear about:
One, I do not write smut scenes, you will know it happens but details are left almost completely out of the book.
Two, while this book may make many worry that the story is turning into there’s an attractive woman add her to the harem, let me assure you it is not, each and every woman who will be added has a purpose for the long term of the story, even if it is not clear right away.
Thank you all for giving Eternal Dominion a chance even if you didn’t like it, as a new author it really mean a lot to see so many giving me a chance.
As a child I did not read unless Pokémon cards count. It wasn’t until middle school when my mother played a trick on me, she got me entranced in the Harry Potter books. She would read the first few to me before switching to reading me a chapter and leaving the book out for me to read if I wanted more. Thus started my love of reading, at least in part. I still didn’t go out of my way to find books to read and after high school I could count on one hand how many books I would read each year. Life continued like this for over five years before I was hooked on an anime and searched out its light novel. This led to the phase where I was reading at least a couple books a month to now where I have gone through over 300 books in the last year.
Now I am putting my own work in to the world while following my own mantra. To write for yourself or you will never love what you write. When I first started to put my ideas into words I was surprised to find that those I shared it with loved it. This led me on to the road of putting out my own book for the world to see. Thank you to everyone who has or will help and support me in making this dream a reality.
This series has gone a bit downhill. It went from a fun VR game with time travel to a harem romance filled with 5 women with gaming as kind of a side though - I feel like more than 50% of this book is filled with unnecessary drama. The other half filled with gaming is quick summaries of what’s going on and plans that will go on for years when, after book 3, barely half a year has passed by in the game. I don’t know what I expected from this but it wasn’t what I got.
Concessions is the third (flop) book in the Eternal Dominion series by Bern Dean.
He's really building a harem. I have no issues with harems alone, it's the drivel being spewed in these pages that makes me (eternally) cringe. All of the nonsense everyone is saying about Jessica specifically, practically forcing him to date her, by the end of the book. It made me nauseous. If there is a vote: She should be the first to be killed off. She is honestly deranged, and that Alex's actual girlfriends would accept her ridiculous attachment to him and demands for him to date her are slowly condemning them in my eyes.
Along those same lines, nothing of true value in terms of progression within Eternal Dominion and his real world exploits in expanded his business and therefore the guild jas transpired throughout this entire book. Maybe you could consider the Guild Hall being officially registered with the assistance of the prince something general and welcomed. Alas, it is the only achievement that truly counts. Given the amount of nauseating dialogue, one would hope for less disparage between nonsense drama and actual plot progression. 🙄
It's honestly quite depressing to discover that has such an intriguing and enjoyable concept, not be fully utilized. Is there hope for the next book??
Never have I seen a book series start out so interesting and engaging and turn into a utter garbage fire so swiftly.
Book one, Interesting a bit brief but engaging in the world and how it works and how he uses his knowledge. Sure it totally never makes him even wonder how he 'got sent back in time' but what ever. Still a good book.
Two. A little less focus on VR and him actually playing and annoying romance but hopefully it will get back to the game.
Three? What the hell. Like most of this is him just getting with these two women who are throwing themselves at him and his friends even the one crushing on the one for years are like..totally find. No way Dan would have totally betrayed FAE by now. Was waiting for one of the girls to get hurt and betray him and screw it and instead he give them access to ALL the guild money after a few months of dating, one date every 18 days? Is this boy a idiot?
Then it keeps just 'summary' the Vr times and focuses mostly on his harem and some real life events. Honestly it was like 'SKIP' each time he went into dating stuff.
Then I've never seen a book go so bad SO FAST like a cascading nuclear plant, Not only does he slap his sister which everyone is fine with, he 'forces' her to stay friends with a girl MINOR throwing herself naked at him? And everyone is like okay make sense. Mom supports it? Girlfriends are like, ya date the minor that's fine! Honestly this is so hyper unrealistic, it ruined the whole series for me. This last chapter should honestly ban Bern Dean from writing every again.
I'd already purchased book 1-5 after how good the first one was, and I will say without a doubt I will not be reading book four and further even though I own them. This series which could been a fun guild rising and character using all his secrets to become bad ass has become a bad harem how many girls and npc girls can I get to be fine with me screwing them, including the minors.
This was a definite step down for me unfortunately. I liked the small amount of ED/FAE progression that we did get but this book focused so much on the harem aspect of the story and i just didn't like it unfortunately. I have read lot of harem and reverse harem stories so as a concept i don't hate it but i don't like that Alex is essencially forced into adding more people or destroying his character and guild and i just don't find that as an enjoyable thing to read. I also HATED the Jessica stuff and if she is actually added to the relationship i won't like it at all.
I really liked the progression of Alex's relationship with Nicole and Sam and their polygamy was well thought out and i liked it but it does feel like the author decided that 2 wasn't enough and just shoehorned in 3 more.
Overall i am a bit disappointed but i will read the next book because i really enjoy the world that is being created here. 5/10
Well, the carriage has officially turned into a pumpkin. The author's true colors are finally showing as at least a third of the book focuses on Alex's harem instead of the more interesting things Book One promised.
All the romance stuff is cringe as hell, and it's annoying when a story violates the original promise it makes to readers by pulling a harem bait-and-switch, but those issues don't hold a candle to the dumpster fire that erupts during the last bit of this book. Without spoilers, just know that our MC slaps a high school girl in reality.
Let me rephrase that: Our mentally 38-year-old MC slaps a 16-year-old girl, and the story acts like it's ok.
I've liked these books. I like the world/guild building. The only thing that is making roll my eyes is the beginning of the harem. Granted, there hasn't been any sex scenes, it's been implied, but come on. 2 IRL girls, 2 in game girls, and now another girl wants to date him? I have never understood went people take books that have good, solid plotlines and then just throw this shit in there. I'll buy that somehow he went back in time and got another chance at having another go at this stupendous online game. But I have a hard time really believing that this dude is making relationships work with 2 chicks and is adding another to the list. Also, don't forget about his NPC relationships (that everyone admits are indistinguishable from IRL people and can get pregnant. I am still loving reading this series but WTF
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Ok I've read books 1-3 so far and see improvements
So far the story is entertaining and engaging in almost all fronts. I personally ain't a fan of harem stories but this one kind of makes since and flows well. I don't believe any modern American woman would share but hey that is my opinion. However I greatly appreciate the lack of smut as I feel it would ruin the story. Otherwise I love this story. Great fights, interesting challenges/trials, and a world that is being developed novel to novel. Things I'd love to see is more detail on gear (paint a picture for me) and more details on the crafting systems.
Personally I have been avoiding books that are about vrmmorpg games and stories that have in game and out of game components. However, I started this series a few weeks ago and honestly just fell in love with it. The author does a great job of keeping the pace going while giving us characters that are believable and situations that tend to get out of the mc’s control in hilarious ways. This book was amazing and I am really really looking forward to the next.
Oh yeah, it's awesome👍 Leaves you wanting more. But seriously way to short for this genre. I'm used to reading 800+ page books and 25,000+ page bundles/box sets. These are barely over the 200 page mark. I'm seriously jonesing for more. It's great to read a book under a few hours but not really. Still I would recommend it to everyone and definitely will read the next in series when it comes out.
While I’m not a big fan of harem building I’m really appreciating how bern is handling xeals relationships. I thought for sure one scene was going to copy another story but he managed to twist it in a pleasant direction. My only complaint is that this book is to short for my taste and I want more
The 1st two books were outstanding. Couldn't read them fast enough. The 3rd book started off strong and stopped being lively and started turning into some type of harem thing. Jessica is just a hard no. How are you going date someone you'd don't really trust. Also she may be loony too, oh hell no.
The plot deepens now a noble and more women turning up our hero starts to realise he may have bitten off more than he thought, he still fights the monsters to rank up but court intrigue and Princess to woo also take up his time. Another great book in the series i cant wait for the next one to arrive .
I find this to be a good continuation of the series with an element I wasn’t expecting, and it handled in a rather thoughtful way. If you liked the first two, definitely continue the story with this book
I love the stories so far and the flow of challenges that he gets past with his past knowledge. I especially like how he gets tripped up into multiple wives. The only thing I would wish for would be more status sheats and item descriptions.
Story progression and dialogue seem very well done, to me. Some subtle humor 😁 and I think I read some 'dark-humor' as well. 🤔 Still suitable for readers over 15.
I read this book too fast. I am going to need to read it again. I really like Alex and being a mother of an adult child, I understand his mother even when I disagreed with how she handled some of her discussions with Alex.
Our hero becomes more and more trapped into concessions in his personal life while pressure builds both in-game and in real life. The dominoes are being placed by his ennemies as Alex weaves his own path. Couldn’t put this book down!
Absolute rubbish. Harem of women all lovely dovey with the "PERFECT" sensitive male. Really!!! If he had stuck to the story of developing a game world it might have been quite intresting. This was too sickly for me too even finish the book.
I have really enjoyed this series. I have not figured out how he went back 20 years. Nor have I understood how you can so may major guides that are establish from day one.
Yah! Yah! Yah! I did not know American main characters all spoke and acted like the Swedish Chef in the Muppets... The author is moving faster than the success and depth of the game. Alex (Xeal) has already talked to the parents, bought them with his bank statements, hired his parents and Solo-ed Wild Bosses and Boss monsters that in real games takes 6-24 or even 96 people to successfully defeat them. No social media investigation or analysis, no other guild and E-sports club strategy or governance, no company policy changes or software updates on the game. No real character or game world development in this third volume. No region rankings, world rankings or Arena E-Sports competition news. No mass media news about game, etc. I think this fantasy-VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively-Multi-player Online Role Playing Game), is rather shallow in details. Although it is a carbon copy of Web/Light novel series like (The Great Thief 2015), (Taming Master 2016), (The King's Avatar) etc. what the author actually brings to the story is lacking in depth and information. Main character Alex (Xeal) returns 20 years in time, just because author wrote it, the author makes a harem-retinue story, just because the author wanted it so, etc. etc. etc. The parts that are different are completely flat. The author has this delusional moral compass, treats others like crap, while makes lack of personal ethical values, not a problem. But cheating at gambling, cheating with insider trading on stocks, cheating on insider information at a game, makes the main character Alex, the least ethical, least honest person in the whole series. But it is the author that is delusional, no one ever will "negotiate a harem relationship". The retinue members negotiate new members of the harem like if they were choosing clothes. Alex has not even succeeded in a game and the author has already wrote out checks that his capacity, intelligence, ability can't cash. Alex and his newborn guild doesn't have any sponsors, doesn't have any backing, doesn't have a future and yet, the author has already signed contracts with the parents of Alex, already have a triple harem member retinue, with a marriage proposal to an NPC (non player character) Princess, etc. etc. The things the author writes about move quicker than the actual results and merits. It's just bad writing. At least the original stories where the author plagiarized the themes and plot arcs are mostly good, but this story so far, just gets worse and worst.
This entire book is just about how cool the main character is and how all the girls want him. It's started to read like high school fantasy rather than a plot driven narrative. There is STILL almost no mention of why or how the main character was magically thrown back in time in chapter one of the first book and apparently the main character isn't the least bit curious.
No one wondered how he knew everything beyond a passing, "huh". The devs weren't curious about how he is going from secret to secret without any apparent reason behind it. Also.... TIME TRAVEL....
In addition to that, what we have here is a man who has spent 30 (so he's 50) or so years in game, or 60 years subjective time (so he's about 80) manipulating and lying to 18 to 20 year old girls followed by a 16 or 17 year old neglected kid all while essentially cheating at a video game he is being paid to play. He has no real talent, just 60 subjective years of experience...
Maybe this gets hashed out in later books, but first the author needed to express his fantasy of all the girls liking him and not even caring he is dating someone else cause he's just SO cool...
I think I'm checking out. I hoped these plot issues would get worked out, but it seems to be getting much worse...