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Harbinger #1
Harbinger of Destruction
An abused NPC gains consciousness. Now, he wants revenge. Players beware...
After a player-led event turns his once peaceful town into a band of ravenous monsters, a warrior NPC named Hirrus obtains a level of consciousness usually unobtainable by non-player characters.
It might be a gift of the gods, or a mistake, but Hirrus doesn’t care. It means he can track down and find the players responsible and stop them from doing it again.
Thing is, players don’t like their plans being interrupted. And in this game, there’s no resurrection until the weekly reset. Will Hirrus be able to cut a path of destruction across the land to get his revenge, or will the players be able to overwhelm him and bring him to justice?
Experience the start of a new EvP LitRPG series about a warrior's quest for revenge against cruel players so he can go John Wick on their faces with an Axe.
After a player-led event turns his once peaceful town into a band of ravenous monsters, a warrior NPC named Hirrus obtains a level of consciousness usually unobtainable by non-player characters.
It might be a gift of the gods, or a mistake, but Hirrus doesn’t care. It means he can track down and find the players responsible and stop them from doing it again.
Thing is, players don’t like their plans being interrupted. And in this game, there’s no resurrection until the weekly reset. Will Hirrus be able to cut a path of destruction across the land to get his revenge, or will the players be able to overwhelm him and bring him to justice?
Experience the start of a new EvP LitRPG series about a warrior's quest for revenge against cruel players so he can go John Wick on their faces with an Axe.
- GenresFantasy
462 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 29, 2022
110 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 30, 2022
I always think it's weird that Goodreads lets authors review their own books. It's not like I'm going to give it a 1 star, right? Or even a 3? And sure, y'all get to see the little tag that lets you know I wrote this, but it's still affecting the average.
So, you know what? I'm gonna take this space to say who the book is for. If you like violence and cursing, you'll love this book. If you want gore or questionable morals (like rape or slavery) this one ain't for you. If you want to see a genius MC waltz through every issue, also not for you. But if you love Batman and Spiderman (both characters who are smart but can still mess up because they are human and don't have all the info available to them) then Harbinger of Destruction is for you.
But don't let the cover (or title, character, or that previous paragraph) fool you. This book is about an NPC guard who can steal people's Arcana, weapons, and armor for himself and uses them to beat his revenge into their hides, yes. But it is also about AI and humanity and takes a cold, hard look at a potential future. It's just hidden behind all the fight scenes and violence ;)
Personally, I hope you enjoy this. Not everyone will. And some aren't even interested in trying. You do you. I'm gonna go write some more books~
So, you know what? I'm gonna take this space to say who the book is for. If you like violence and cursing, you'll love this book. If you want gore or questionable morals (like rape or slavery) this one ain't for you. If you want to see a genius MC waltz through every issue, also not for you. But if you love Batman and Spiderman (both characters who are smart but can still mess up because they are human and don't have all the info available to them) then Harbinger of Destruction is for you.
But don't let the cover (or title, character, or that previous paragraph) fool you. This book is about an NPC guard who can steal people's Arcana, weapons, and armor for himself and uses them to beat his revenge into their hides, yes. But it is also about AI and humanity and takes a cold, hard look at a potential future. It's just hidden behind all the fight scenes and violence ;)
Personally, I hope you enjoy this. Not everyone will. And some aren't even interested in trying. You do you. I'm gonna go write some more books~
August 16, 2022
This is my first book by this author, but not my first NPC comes to life novel.
In this one, a guardsman names Hirrus has his wife and home attacked by... something. It sort of looks like a werewolf, and it's strong. His wife dies, as does Hirrus.
He wakes up in a nowhere place, where character creation happens. Hirrus has always followed his decision tree, but he can't overlook his wife dying. He forces character creation to make him stronger, and then he's released upon the world.
Along the way he discovers who unleashed the werewolves upon his town and home, and he vows justice upon them. That's the setup.
I wanted to like this book, and at times I did. the problem here is the same with arena books. The MC character, in this case a NPC guard, can't die or the story ends.
The editing is good. The stat sheets are there, but the author took a different approach here. Instead of strength, we have burliness, and so on. It's not a huge problem, but it's just different enough that it forced me to try and remember what ATT stood for (attenuation) and so on.
4/5*
In this one, a guardsman names Hirrus has his wife and home attacked by... something. It sort of looks like a werewolf, and it's strong. His wife dies, as does Hirrus.
He wakes up in a nowhere place, where character creation happens. Hirrus has always followed his decision tree, but he can't overlook his wife dying. He forces character creation to make him stronger, and then he's released upon the world.
Along the way he discovers who unleashed the werewolves upon his town and home, and he vows justice upon them. That's the setup.
I wanted to like this book, and at times I did. the problem here is the same with arena books. The MC character, in this case a NPC guard, can't die or the story ends.
The editing is good. The stat sheets are there, but the author took a different approach here. Instead of strength, we have burliness, and so on. It's not a huge problem, but it's just different enough that it forced me to try and remember what ATT stood for (attenuation) and so on.
4/5*
November 9, 2025
The idea is interesting, the execution didn't live up to the potential. First, there are very basic issues (so basic I don't understand how they were missed) like the fact that we never get stats on the main character during action. We are told the number of damage, but we are never told how much health he has so we don't know if that's a lot or little--or if he's close to death. We don't see the stats on his equipment, only vaguely. Lots of easy stuff like that is skipped over.
Worse, the characters are all one-sided with no nuance. So they're boring and predictable.
Another thing I didn't like is that the "player" characters are all extremely foul mouthed, to the point that it makes them all sound the same (and unintelligent).
So, it's not something I want to read more of.
Worse, the characters are all one-sided with no nuance. So they're boring and predictable.
Another thing I didn't like is that the "player" characters are all extremely foul mouthed, to the point that it makes them all sound the same (and unintelligent).
So, it's not something I want to read more of.
August 3, 2022
What a fun-filled story! This is the story of Hirrus an abused broken NPC who gains sentience and decides to stop obeying the AI and to actually make his own decisions. This is the story of Hirrus rise to become the Harbinger of Destruction. By his own actions and to make his own fate, the AI accepts him like any other player, instead of treating it like the aberration or glitch that it is. But, as player he now has player status he can now begin the process of powering up and if he can he'll exact his revenge on the adventure team that destroyed his town...
So I say get the book, or better yet get the audiobook and let JS Arquin tell you a story!
So I say get the book, or better yet get the audiobook and let JS Arquin tell you a story!
August 4, 2022
novel premise for a litrpg
Had a couple moments where I thought it could have been made a bit more philosophical to really raise the lit level, didn’t make sense for the main character, but some of the side windows (of which there was a bit of a strange number, 2? 3? Including one that was obviously a hook for the next book, just in a different pov unlike anything except the start). Rather than get rid of that i would actually like more alternative POVs, particularly to tap a lil more into the interesting ethics and challenge of both the MC experiences and his existence
Had a couple moments where I thought it could have been made a bit more philosophical to really raise the lit level, didn’t make sense for the main character, but some of the side windows (of which there was a bit of a strange number, 2? 3? Including one that was obviously a hook for the next book, just in a different pov unlike anything except the start). Rather than get rid of that i would actually like more alternative POVs, particularly to tap a lil more into the interesting ethics and challenge of both the MC experiences and his existence
August 10, 2022
This has a fun degree of self-awareness, which may be why the LitRPG community slept on it. I wish it had gotten into the AI concept more instead of focusing on the revenge story, but it worked.
What didn't so well were the RPG elements. The majority of the numbers we get are damage, and this is one of my least favorite parts to quantify in the best of times, but they're worse in the almost complete absence of HP totals. Levels and stats didn't seem to have much impact either.
I sincerely enjoyed parts of this and wish I could get more enthusiastic about it.
What didn't so well were the RPG elements. The majority of the numbers we get are damage, and this is one of my least favorite parts to quantify in the best of times, but they're worse in the almost complete absence of HP totals. Levels and stats didn't seem to have much impact either.
I sincerely enjoyed parts of this and wish I could get more enthusiastic about it.
July 17, 2023
Game seems to be not very gamelike. For example if you die you aren't allowed to play until the next weekly downtime. All equipment on the dead char becomes worthless. Dead NPCs stay dead until next downtime. (Not very good for questing)
Character progression is boring. The character gets new skills quite often but is hesitant to make use of them.
Not a bad book, but it does not motivate to continue to read.
Character progression is boring. The character gets new skills quite often but is hesitant to make use of them.
Not a bad book, but it does not motivate to continue to read.
July 31, 2022
3.5 stars
This book was good at first, but it got a little tedious when the main character was just mowing down everything in his path. He had a few challenges throughout it, but it didn’t feel like he had any real problems. And there were a few parts that were a little too convenient.
This book was good at first, but it got a little tedious when the main character was just mowing down everything in his path. He had a few challenges throughout it, but it didn’t feel like he had any real problems. And there were a few parts that were a little too convenient.
January 14, 2023
Ha! It's always good to see bullies get smacked down. Even better when it's a result of their own actions. Loved the way this one was handled. If you're a LitRPG fan, you'll want to add this one to your to read shelf, the story is good, and the vengeance is phenominal.
Looking forward to the next one in the series.
Looking forward to the next one in the series.
May 2, 2023
Reasonably gripping
I cannot in any universe imagine a notable community of people wanting to play a game where if you die you lose all your gear and you’re locked out until next Tuesday. Least believable fictional game design ever. Also, lol fridged wife. Probably this story is too aimed at men for me.
I cannot in any universe imagine a notable community of people wanting to play a game where if you die you lose all your gear and you’re locked out until next Tuesday. Least believable fictional game design ever. Also, lol fridged wife. Probably this story is too aimed at men for me.
May 16, 2023
DNF at 92%. The revenge of a NPC. Ultimatively, the story remained dull and without any real consequence. The protagonist is totally OP constantly hitting and receiving thounds of hitpoints of damage. I found myself bored even during the fight scenes and could not bother myself to finish the book..
August 5, 2022
Different take
I love different takes on this genre and it's why I liked this book. The only thing I would want to say to other readers is there is over use of bad language
I love different takes on this genre and it's why I liked this book. The only thing I would want to say to other readers is there is over use of bad language
August 8, 2022
Cute
A bit disjointed, but not bad, especially funny because early MMO town guards, except in special quests, were literally tougher than raid bosses...
A bit disjointed, but not bad, especially funny because early MMO town guards, except in special quests, were literally tougher than raid bosses...
August 15, 2022
Great story
Really well written story, I feel by someone who has played MMO's and had to deal with the big guilds and the people in them
Really well written story, I feel by someone who has played MMO's and had to deal with the big guilds and the people in them
September 6, 2022
Take the power back!!!
This is a very entertaining read. I just read thru the whole book nonstop! The story has a refreshingly alternative point of view, namely, that from an NPC character in a MMORPG. It’s well written, good grammar and very few typos. It is not high literature by any means. Rather, it’s just a good, entertaining story!
This is a very entertaining read. I just read thru the whole book nonstop! The story has a refreshingly alternative point of view, namely, that from an NPC character in a MMORPG. It’s well written, good grammar and very few typos. It is not high literature by any means. Rather, it’s just a good, entertaining story!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews