Battle Master

A LitRPG Adventure (The Blood Crown, Book 1)

By: Damian Boyle

Narrated by: Steve Campbell

Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Shipwrecked by fate. Hunted by moonlight. Hardened by battle.

Paul is an Aberrant, one of few able to enter a fantasy game world called Valheim. Kidnapped to a secret lab, he is forced into a government program that sends Aberrants to Valheim against their will. Most die within a day, but some have survived for months.

Mira, a famous gamer who recently went missing, is one such survivor. Finding her is Paul's best shot at staying alive. But all his plans are dashed when he finds himself washed up on a tropical beach in the middle of the Wild.

With E-rank beasts roaming the jungle and an Orc tribe on the hunt, Paul must recruit a party, level up, unlock abilities, and build defenses to hold off the savage raids against his camp. But each raid is stronger than the last, leaving only one option: Attack the orc dungeon and kill the Blood Shaman who rules them.

Join Paul in the battle of a lifetime in the Blood Crown Series, a LitRPG adventure featuring party management, base building, army building, kingdom building, class development, and tactical combat.

Grab your copy today! It's perfect for fans of Dean Henegar, Shemer Kuznits, and Dave Willmarth.

©2020 Aethon Books (P)2019 Aethon Audio

Unique new class for main character

Loved that the main character was a unique class- the battlemaster- not a frontline fighter but rather the tactical mastermind of the battle.

All too often there isn’t enough character development in litrpg but here we got plenty. Enjoyed learning about the motivations of the various characters while still providing plenty of action.

So unique!!

Finally! Something unique in the genre! Paul is a Battle Master (by choice). Instead of doing all the fighting, he directs the fighting. Very cool concept and so much more strategic than hack and slash and pray for the best.

The Blood Crown Book 1 was worth every moment. Loved it and I’m anxiously awaiting book 2.

Great RPG style audiobook.

Being the first rpg style book I've listened too I wasn't sure what to think. Though it was quite enjoyable. The characters have a decent backstory to get you interested in their fight for survival. Though some might not enjoy listening to the battle master read off the effects of what moves can be assigned to party members. The performance of the book was quite well done as well!

Solid, for the genre

Overall, this is a well put-together litRPG story that comfortably hits all the themes and tropes associated with RPGs. Extremely reminiscent of Pokemon, this a good story for younger readers, but likely leaves older readers feeling underwhelmed.
Aside from this fact, the voice acting is excellent and certainly adds to the value of this audible title.

Good first book

Solid story, pacing, and narration. I wish the story had been more wrapped up and not on a cliffhanger. I get what's going on but many LitRPG novels in similar circumstances figure out how to contain a story to a single book. Minor complaint for a solid book.

LitRPG with “real time” grind

This story dives right into the LitRPG part of the story quickly without much explanation, which is fine, just feels a bit rushed at the beginning, and the MC takes on the sudden new situation without much thought.

The LitRPG element is a bit different with a focus on party building, which is interesting. I’m curious to learn more about it as the story progresses into the second book. This story though is more of a “real time” grind. By this I mean that the situation that the MC is thrown into is taken more realistically, it’s slow progress with a focus on survival with minimal resources.

The story is interesting and entertaining, a series that I will continue to listen to as the next books are released. I wouldn’t rank it as one of the best, but is still a fun listen.

The narrator is alright, he has experience and does distinct voices for each character. I personally think that I would read some of the inflections of the book differently than he chose to do. I also didn’t love the voice he did for the half ogre character, it want bad, just not how I personally would have imagined him.

Dungeons, not dragons.

This is the most 'literal' RPG I have come across. It's almost like the author was researching a play manual as he was writing.

I was given this audiobook for free and have voluntarily left this review.

LitRPG with unique story and good narration

Battle Master is an interesting take in the LitRPG genre. The main character, Paul, is more of a manager and a tactician than a fighter. His class, battle master, gives him the ability to give his party abilities and/or improve their existing abilities, but he isn’t meant to do a lot of actual fighting himself. That being said, he does help when he can. The action starts early, and the pacing is generally good in this book. There were a few times when Paul was debating what to spend his talent points on, and going over all the pros and cons of each choice. That part kind of dragged on for me. The biggest issue I have is that the book ends on a cliffhanger. The narration was great. I haven’t listened to any other books narrated by Steve Campbell, but I will lookout for more of his books in the future. Overall, I enjoyed the book and I’ll listen to book two because I’m interested to see where they take this story.

This audiobook was provided by the publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review.

Great introduction to the world of LitRPG

If your looking for a new book within the LitRPG realm or are looking to try out a new Genre of Literature look no further. This book contains characters that you can really associate with and the RPG elements just serve to enhance the story without becoming overbearing or intrusive. A great way to introduce yourself to a new Author or Genre of books.

Well written and narrated.

For fans of strategy, the main character in the book is a young man who takes on the mantle of leadership when he becomes shipwrecked. Watch as he tries to lead the survivors against an untamed part of the world. I received this audio book free at my request and voluntarily reviewed.