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Mark of the Crijik #2

Koshima Academy

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Reincarnating into a world with magic and systems hasn't been all cuddles and roses.

After being marked by a Divine and kidnapped, Andross decides it's time to grow up and learn how to survive in this new realm he calls home. His first steps towards true mastery begin at the world-renowned Koshima Academy of Magic.

But life isn't easy for the select few that roam Koshima's halls. The students are inheritors of ancient bloodlines, piles of riches, and secrets that people would kill for. Predators lie around every corner waiting for the right moment to strike, and not all of them are outside the school grounds.

Then there's the small problem of his family. With a father whose family has exiled him to poverty, and a mother with secrets of her own, Andross will need more than wits to stay alive long enough to die at twenty five.

He needs power, fast...

Book 2 of an Isekai LitRPG Adventure about an unexpected hero coming of age in his new home, progressing in power and abilities as he unlocks the secrets of magic and a System that may not be as trustworthy as it seems.

673 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 31, 2023

390 people are currently reading
130 people want to read

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ThinkTwice

13 books46 followers

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5 stars
727 (56%)
4 stars
367 (28%)
3 stars
142 (11%)
2 stars
47 (3%)
1 star
6 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
631 reviews15 followers
February 1, 2023
Friends

Wow this book turned into a friend ,friend book and more friends, Whatever happened to the adult inside the kid seems to have disappeared? Not much actually progressed in his skills at all ,but friends and friends everywhere.
Profile Image for William Howe.
1,808 reviews88 followers
February 1, 2023
conflicted

Five stars because it is readable, and there is some interesting things going on.

It seems to meander a bit. Some of it is the unreliable narrator, but it feels like there is a lack of direction and narrative force. i’m also not entirely clear about how the system of magic functions.

I have pre-ordered the next book, but I don’t feel strongly about recommending this series at this time.
Profile Image for M.
592 reviews21 followers
February 7, 2023
Reading of the chapter name is absolutely ridiculous when it comes to audiobooks. I'm sure it's not the first time I heard it, but for some reason this time it's bloody God damn annoying.
40 reviews2 followers
February 9, 2023
Here's a plot summary for the book.
Friends
School
Friends
School
Friends
School
Friends
School
Friends
Fight
Friends
Friends
Profile Image for Steve Naylor.
2,515 reviews126 followers
February 5, 2023
Rating 4.0 stars

This was a good book but also wasn't what I was expecting. How do I describe that better. I guess what I mean is that this story didn't really build on what happened in the first book. Yes, the same characters were involved but I felt no sense of direction for where the story was going. There was no building of those previous relationships to reach a common goal. Even at the end of this book I still don't know the MCs overall goal. Andross is now going to school. He is only 3 years old but is in the body of 13 year old? This age thing gets even weirder when we factor in that he was an adult in another life and was reincarnated on this world. So Andross goes to school and tries to make friends. That is pretty much the entire book. Despite this book not being what I expected I still enjoyed it very much. It was easy to read and I like the characters. It was a little slow at times but overall I enjoyed it. I find it hard to recommend this book though. Most of the times i would say if you read the first book and liked it then you would like this one. I can't say that with this one. Things progressed at a much different pace in this one and less happened which might annoy some people. I will just reiterate that I enjoyed the book even though it wasn't what I thought it was going to be.
3 reviews
February 23, 2023
Not exactly what I look for in the litrpg genre, and I am not even sure it should be considered litrg. A lot of the time, without any sort of mention, the numbers just get bigger than they were before. They seem to be somewhat arbitrary anyways. It is definitely a SOL, which I have no problems with, but it feels like this story is more of a magic system manual than what litrpg slice-of-life stories usually are; a character-centric fun adventure story. The main character is kinda meh, I like him and he can be fun to read, but he basically shares all of the same character traits as the rest of the supporting cast. Same humor and dialogue tendencies, over 50% of the time you could change the name of the character in any conversation and not really know who is talking. Now I am not looking for caricatures, but it's a fantasy world, no need to make it sound like your friend group's group message text. The progression pacing is very slow. The MC has a massive mana pool, but his highest skill is like rank 5 or something similar by the end of the book. Based on what has been said about mana and how much he has, this simply should not be the case for how much he trains his magic. Or then again, maybe it is, we never really get a baseline for stats or ranks other than when MC's dad claims to have an outrageously high intelligence stat the book before (this book completely disregards stats, they are brought up in passing but never shown). I guess the 670-page story took place in a rather short time frame, but for the main skills, I'm pretty sure the last rank-up happened around page 28. Making a story litrpg but then having 95% of the book ignore that seems like poor planning. All in all, not enough carrot, but also not enough stick. The magic manual hangs in a sort of limbo promising future progression and future danger, but doesn't really fully deliver on either.
161 reviews4 followers
February 1, 2023
This was a decent continuation of the series. The magic system is flushed out more, with more details on how mana functions with the world, and what exactly it can and cannot do. Also, a number of questions that Andross had in the first book are answered in this one, including the family's big secret. The characters also feel natural in their interactions, instead of just being used as another tool to push the story forward. The world-building is slow in this series with nuggets of information being given out every few minutes and then expanded on more and more. Personally, this is exactly what I look for instead of huge info dumps. Overall, if you enjoyed the slow-paced, slice-of-life style of the last book, then this should be on your reading list.

Narration: I am not the biggest fan of Neil Hellegers, but I think he did an acceptable job narrating this series so far.

My Rating System:
5- Perfect for my taste, I physically could not stop reading/listening and wanted more afterward.
4- Almost perfect, could not stop reading/listening, probably wanted more afterward.
3- Enjoyed the book, and could see others loving it, I need to think if I want more.
2- I can see why others might like the book, but I could not, I do not want more.
1- What is this? What went wrong? Why did they do this? This doesn't make any sense! (No idea who it is for but definitely not for me).

[Audiobook Version]
Profile Image for Levia.
1,382 reviews16 followers
July 30, 2023
Where to begin

Rapid aging, an important feature mostly ignored, new friends, scary experiences. Personally, Andross is starting to act more like his body's equivalent age. I say it that way because his growth is still really shocking. The regent or whatever his dad made especially for him is basically a footnote. The chapter names seemed to rarely talk about the actual story, but some referenced future and past chapters a bit. They're more like comments that made me laugh or shake my head. It's sad the way Andross and his two special friends have to approach friendships carefully. We learned more, but also hardly anything, about the family issue/secret. I'm really loving this series.
251 reviews6 followers
February 23, 2023
Definitely a step down from #1

I kind of feel let down. From all the descriptions I expected adventure. Maybe some excitement. 98% of this book has one thing: boredom. It's slice of life, but only the most boring parts of that. I've read many SoL books that were interesting, funny, and entertaining. This was just bland skim milk with lots of dumb decisions and a tiny drawn out bit of action near the end. even that was disappointing. I don't want to be told that interesting conversations happened, I want to actually read them.

Will probably still read book three, but it's going to be way down on my priority list.
Profile Image for Dark Tea.
46 reviews2 followers
January 25, 2024
The second book is a disappointing continuation for the series, with an overwhelming amount of unnecessary content (around 60-70%). Only a small portion (10-15%) offers action, adventure, or meaningful information for series and character development.
It feels like the author was just writing for the sake of writing, giving it a teenage vibe rather than portraying the main character as an adult.
It would be better if the first two books merged for a more worthwhile read.
Despite its flaws, there's still potential for the series, but this book falls short.
If you decide to read it, approach it lightly and skip many parts, gearing up for the third book.
Profile Image for John-Torleif  Harris.
2,725 reviews13 followers
February 5, 2023
Captivating plot

The plot for this book was very well done. I was suspicious of everyone and everything without guessing the truth until it was revealed. Is it possible that mastering the rune found will be able to help those who were impacted by it to recover? Would this whole thing have been moot if Andross didn’t have his mask? Or would the watcher have simply observed without interfering?
Profile Image for Jonathan.
645 reviews1 follower
February 16, 2023
fun

The series continues! Andross is now in school and making friends. Something is off but he can’t figure it out. Political drama appears. We learn why his family is outcast. And how much he will need to work to become OP. He solves the mystery and defeats the BBEG, unfortunately the damage has already been done.
A fun, family friendly read. Great pacing. Wonderful world and character building. I look forward to reading more!
19 reviews
June 6, 2023
Boring

Something gets alluded to at the start, and not solved till the end. In between is a ton of boring, going to school detailed exposition it got to the point that I just started skipping pages. The author has a habit of repeating themselves a lot. You could cut 75% of this book and it's still too much useless drivel.

I might start the 3rd book just to see if it does the same mystery trope at the start, then string it out for the entire book.
Profile Image for Frank Bertino.
1,771 reviews20 followers
August 9, 2023
Good Read

Andross' body has grown to that of a teenager. He is now attending magic school. He sets out to make friends and his first one is Amanda. They parallel each other going through school, and help each other to learn and grow stronger. A powerful monster is revealed that threatens Andross and harms several of his friends. I like the action, humor, world building, and relationships. I look forward to the next book.
862 reviews5 followers
February 27, 2023
Really good book and series

This was a really good series so far. Loved the characters, the detailed environments and character dialogue. There is action, magic, and everything you want to see in a good book. The only problem is that I finished book two and book three is not out yet. So I have to wait to see what happens next. I definitely recommend this book and series.
Profile Image for Kevin.
1,765 reviews31 followers
March 30, 2023
I think I read too many books.


I hope the other books aren't as slow as this one. Academy books really are lazy works. Everybody is writing school fantasy these days, and that sucks.

3/5 Stars
382 reviews2 followers
February 3, 2023
Awesome

Love this series. it just keeps getting better and better more adventures with andross im not going to spoil it so just enjoy reading the mystery and intrigue of school life, like hogwarts but on speed .
16 reviews1 follower
April 2, 2023
Great read

This book is full of adventure and great character development. I definitely recommend this book for lovers of Isekai, adventure, slice of life, school life and friendship story lovers.
Profile Image for Mike Goodman.
1,597 reviews12 followers
April 8, 2023
Awesome Story

This story of a reborn man into a magical world was fantastic. He starts as a baby and is marked by a god which accelerates his growth. In this book he is a almost 3 years old and has a body of a teenager. This unique world is almost a Mc as well. Great Story
16 reviews
September 22, 2023
Two issues.
One, this was more slice of life than I prefer. Much more.
Two, the plots take too long to progress: the mystery behind his family, the marked who'd killed him in his original life, the green mana, getting a class, etc.
All in all, I think I'm done with this series.
Profile Image for Thai.
492 reviews3 followers
December 2, 2025
This is one of those book that's like a cozyread but it's not really a cozy read. The direction doesn't go anywhere but it's like one those books you read just to take a break in between other books.
1,128 reviews9 followers
February 2, 2023
Well Done

Not as silly as Harry Potters school experience, but more mature. Nice world building and good magic system. Enjoyable read,
172 reviews
February 2, 2023
Pretty good

I'm enjoying the series thus far. I only wish there was more, so I'm looking forward to the next book.
Profile Image for Vicky Camp.
287 reviews10 followers
February 3, 2023
Good

This book was good. I don't think it was as good as the first one though.

I would recommend this book. It's very wordy in explaining the magic system.
2 reviews
February 7, 2023
awesome

Well written and the story pulls you in. I can’t wait for the third installment to be released
. Enjoy
Profile Image for Michael Burnett.
1,265 reviews7 followers
February 12, 2023
Great book

Great book I can't wait to read the next book in the series I would recommend this author to anyone
2,226 reviews8 followers
February 13, 2023
Very good read

I enjoyed reading this book very much and I recommend this book to anyone who like LitRPG and progression type of books with lots of action.
Profile Image for Darren.
517 reviews11 followers
February 14, 2023
Good story

Worthy read, different and unique. Intriguing plot for sure. It gets points for originality and character depth. I will definitely continue the series.
7 reviews
March 3, 2023
Bit too slice of life and slow compared to the first book. Still interesting enough to give the next book a try though.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews

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