Battle Master

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.

7 people found this helpful

Quickly...

This is quickly becoming my preferred genre. Big thumbs up to the narrator for his performance.

6 people found this helpful

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.

5 people found this helpful

This was an adventure!

As a long time gamer, and RPG lover, this book was exciting all the way through. The moment when you first start playing your future favorite game is one this book is good at captivating. Well enough imagery, clear voiced narrator and after that ending, I cant wait for the next one!

4 people found this helpful

oh the possibilities!

I've listened to and have read a couple hundred litrpg books in the past few years. love this new genre. this book has me excited and hopeful. this class is one that I haven't read about but worked really well for a book. it was a great story that had an actual ending but was left with so much more to look forward to.

4 people found this helpful

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.

3 people found this helpful

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.

3 people found this helpful

Liked it

I'm biased because of the genre. I liked this book but wished the Mc did not have to be obviously stupid on some things. Granted the whole experience would be trying but still.

3 people found this helpful

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.

3 people found this helpful

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!

2 people found this helpful

bang up job

right, as far as I can tell this is the first audiobook by this fella Damian and he did an excellent job. Brilliant production (I would actually have enjoyed a few more music pieces in the book instead of just opening and closing), amazing narration (Steve stop being this good my GF is getting jaloux...) and the core book is just pure enjoyment in a box.

we don't have a lot of world building to be honest, there is some, but it's a peripheral thing as immediate survival is the main focus for most of the book, without it getting in the way of telling a story.
the characters however get all of the time they need to grow, shine and crawl into your heart so we want to cheer for them when things look darkest...

The gamelit elements are a little soft, there is a system in place, but no stats or increase in HP every level, but that isn't a problem here unless you only read crunchy gamelit books.

As for Narration, Steve does his average best, only that is so much better than 90% of the Narrators out there that this is still a delight to let into my earholes

LitRPG fun

A different tack as in this audio most of the level ups come from command decisions on other party members upgraded skills . This makes for some good tactical thinking but can lag the action slightly but for all of this the situation out MC finds himself in and be interactions he has with those in this story make it quite good overall.
A few niggles but combined with the varying situations and good narration from Campbell this makes a good listen and i would listen to further adventures for this series.
I requested this audio and have decided to leave my thoughts on this for everyone.

Surprisingly a good read/listen!

I didn't have high expectations of this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. I've played games like this when younger, not very well I might add, but never in my wildest dreams would I ha e thought it would make interesting reading/listening. Lookin forward to the next book when it's released.

Average litrpg

Really not that great, not that bad either.
Mary sue Mc. Mc is a know it all while being a dumbass.
Battles aren't that interesting, plot is boring.
Honestly I'd pass on this until you're out of options...

Great first book

The book was a great start but the cliffhanger at the end left me wanting more. Would have loved a more rounded finish. I will continue with this series. Also the narrator did an amazing job

An excellent start to a new series

I recieved a review copy of this excellent book. The story starts well plunging you directly into the action with an interesting cross section of characters. The world is revealed slowly as more becomes clear to the main character. Its well narrated and I'm looking forward to see where the story is taken.