War God's Mantle: Descent

A litRPG Harem Adventure (The War God Saga, Book 2)

By: James Hunter, Aaron Crash

Narrated by: Armen Taylor

Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's Summary

A Marine turned Greek god. An army of beautiful amazons. An infernal enemy out to burn the world down.

It’s been three weeks since Jacob Merely crash-landed on the mythical island of Lycastia, and the newly minted War God finally has things under control. He’s grown into his power, built his city, and earned the respect of his gorgeous, hard-charging amazons. 

He’s not in the clear yet, though. Hades still lives, and the mystical sigil holding him at bay is rapidly failing. Worse, a horde of new enemies is battering Lycastia’s gates daily, slowly grinding down Jacob’s forces. 

But Jacob has a plan to get the upper hand. He’s learned about a legendary weapon buried in a prehistoric world deep in the bowels of the island. A weapon with the power to kill even gods. If he can defeat the weapon’s primordial guardians and subdue an exiled titan, he might just be able to save the world. 

But that’s an awfully big if....

Check out War God’s Mantle, a litRPG Harem adventure by James A. Hunter, author of Viridian Gate Online, and Aaron Crash, author of the Galactic Demon Hunters series.

©2018 James A. Hunter and Shadow Alley Press Inc (P)2018 James Hunter and Shadow Alley Press

Hades Harms the honorable Harem!!!

Alright, I’m going to have to keep from gushing, because this is a collaboration between two writers, one of whom is a favorite of mine. Aaron Crash and James Hunter cooked up a crazy concept in which a regular old military man is given the power of the Greek god, Ares, and has to create a bunch of warrior Amazons to help him fight off the hordes of, and the god himself, Hades. Hades it seems, is out to destroy the world, and Ares was all that stood between him and our utter destruction.

Now, if you know James Hunter, you know he is a master of utter destruction. His series, Viridian Gate Online is about a world that is obliterated by an asteroid, and the one way left to survive was to upload your mind into a virtual world. The entire series is amazing, and I rate it up there with Delvers, the Divine Dungeon, and War Aeternus. So, I knew that his next Litrpg venture was going to be a blast. He and Crash work very well together, I honestly felt that this was a complete work in and of itself that had a singular voice, and did not feel stitched together in any way. The writing was smooth and packed full of action, as well as some exciting and unexpected twists, the characterizations were probably my favorite thing about the book, which is an odd thing to say about a book that has necromancy, hordes of dinosaurs, and a ton of battles but it was the quiet times when Jacob, the protagonist, was intimate with his amazons. There is a lot of intimate and emotional moments that stand out, and that makes the betrayal even more devastating. Sorry, that’s not much of a spoiler as they suss out that there is a spy in the camp for a good portion of the book. Either way, whether you like the interplay or the action the story never fails to deliver. Those personal moments were so special because each character is fully fleshed out, and stand out as individuals that you can’t help but love each and every one of them. When things weren’t so quiet and introspective I often fought to keep up with what was happening in the battles as there was just so much happening. It was such a breakneck speed I almost slowed my narration speed down a little just so I could catch my breath. Let me clarify that this isn’t a bad thing, no no no, I enjoy as fast paced story.

The story picks up pretty close to where the last one left off, and opens on a battle. I like that, let’s not dawdle about getting the new god of war into a fight seems to be the best way to start the book off. Things escalate quickly, and I particularly like how who escalate the villains. The antagonist in book one was good, but the new antithesis of our hero has personal ties to him, which makes it all the more interesting. I also enjoy how the villains do not drag on for several books. I really prefer the one and done kind of approach that the first book does, as it allows for growth and changes. That is my big problem with Awaken Online, the villain there is weak and uninteresting and is due for a swap out. As much as I hate the new Star Wars films, they generally stick to one bad guy per film, and tend to kill him off when they are done. Overall, this is a really fun book, and it makes me realize I need to review VGO, book one soon. Maybe I’ll try to do that soon.

I have to say that the narration by Armen Taylor is outstanding. I really like listening to him, even if some of his female voices do stray into a deep timbre at times. He has a great cadence, and paces the story so well, like I said I almost had to slow my speed down because of everything he was spitting out. I really think the sound quality was superb, and that he added a lot to the story. He is rapidly becoming a favorite narrator of mine. Hell bells, he is a favorite narrator. After five VGO books I don’t see how he can’t be. I am always happy to hear his voice, and I enjoy his reading style.

As a series, I have to say that the story, characters, and plot are all fascinating, and will keep you on the hook waiting for what comes next. I love that we get big confrontations, epic battles, and personal moments all in one chapter. There is elation and heartbreak, and that is a sign of good story telling. I eagerly await the next installation of the Wargod’s Mantle.

Even though I did receive a promo code for this review it in no way influenced my considerations of the material, and in fact, inspired me to be more honest. Getting a code generally makes me harsher as a reviewer as I am more often concerned what someone like Me will decide based on my review.

If this review helped, please press the YES below. Thank you immensely!!!

As seen on the LITRPG AUDIOBOOK PODCAST, please check it out on Youtube.com

Good story, but too many logical flaws

The general story itself was fine in how it played out. The problem is that pretty much every bad situation they get into is forced by the author to happen. This is done either via stupendously poor decision making by the characters (aka they were forced by the author since they wouldn't otherwise do it) or a general situation that doesn't feel like it would have played out without author intervention to force it to. For example (spoiler alert!) when they were betrayed by their fellow amazon and ambushed, they were camping in an area completely surrounded by high grass when they had just left a perfectly defensible cave structure. That doesn't exactly sound like a tactically great place to camp or a great place to check for betrayers considering they could just escape into the grass... Taking into account that the GOD OF WAR or an amazon should have noticed this, the situation was massively forced by the author. Then in the following scuffle his bracers were stolen off of his arms instantly.. How the hell would someone steal a bracer if it was on someone's arm?? Those things are tied or buckled on, you'd have less trouble ripping off someone's arm than pulling a bracer off without untying it. Unless the author has never seen a bracer before and this was due to a lack of knowledge, the situation was manufactured by that author pretty terribly.

Good Idea, poorly executed.

I wish this book had been written by a real Marine. I mean not every Marine is a war dog. they must have clerks, cooks, and supply personnel. They just have to be in a war zone to get a combat ribbon. This marine makes every combat mistake you can think of, costing him warriors and losing encounters. He keeps having to heal the amazons, because he risks them needlessly. Even as a Gamer, he ignores messages and never reads the stats and abilities of everything he finds. He blows me away by not making love to the amazons, who need his love and attention. Sort of like denying Vampire warriors the blood they need to survive.
This author is proud to be an ex Marine, but all he does is put a fear in me that he represents the modern marine. Like there are recruiters out there searching for social Justice warriors. Trying to fill the ranks so he may get a bonus for getting living bodies to join. I read the first book and liked the premise of the story, but figured that it was his first book. I find he has written several books. So now I know this is not inexperience, it is just a lack of talent. I wonder if he has beta readers and an editor.
If you're over 13 years old and have any life experience, then don't waste your time and money. This author will just piss you off. You can get your money back, but you can't get your time back.....!

Post Script: The narrator could not express emotion if his dog had just died...! All characters sound the same. He does have a deep pleasant voice, he should be announcing train departures.

Don’t buy this book.

I am very disappointed and I am sorry I bothered to purchase this book. I did not like any of it and finally gave up on it being worth my time listening to it halfway through.

cool except....

Why does the narrator make his voice deeper when saying the female parts?

The description of several of them paint a picture of an extremely attractive female but when they speak.... It makes you think they're secretly dudes....wth?
knock it off.
makes me wonder if the narrator has a thing for trannies.

Most confusing at heart!!!!

This guy must have been a student of Frank Herbert and Diana Gabeldon. for I have not been this PISSED and FRUSTRATED with the author in some time. read this and you will find out for yourself. Phew!!!

Just enough to keep listening.

There is just enough there to keep listening to the series. The author reuses the same jokes and one liners too much. For a harem story you get very weak romance scenes, pretty much just a quick gloss over, while there is no expense spared to how beautiful and sexy the Amazons are. just feels very unbalanced. And the MCs monologues are pretty bad. Overall just feels like it could be better

Just not a fan.

I am not exactly sure why I dislike this book.

Could be The narrator's voice and his inability to convey emotions well. Maybe it is the predictable storyline with "surprises" easily seen coming.

There is a gamer who does not think like a gamer, and a necro whose character seems to be made by someone who never dealt with a real bully, and just decided to make him over the top dumb and evil.

I got the 2nd book because I thought it might improve.

I was wrong.

Same thing

Same story lines like any other lit book, needs a weapon to win a war, has to deal with betrayal, things always seem to go wrong at the very last moment only to be resolved by a dues ex machina , same formula nothing special

Needs a multi cast

This series is a great story, I actually felt anxious during certain parts of the story

Took me a while

To get into. Some of the explanations “awesome” etc are a bit cringeworthy but overall I’m actually enjoying it.

Narration is good and the story moves along nicely.

War God Potential realised

After the 1st in the series i wasn't too sure about this series but this 2nd come out with kick ass storyline as our God of War find himself in a quest to get an ultimate weapon that's sure to even the field. The characters come to life a lot more, the action abounds and the tie in with even more Greeks mythical creatures helps a lot. The narration is excellent from Armen amd works well with the story. A deserved 5 star all round.
I requested this audio and have left my thoughts on this for you to peruse.

I don't know...

I still love the idea of a mortal guy suddenly becoming the God of War, in the same round getting the responsability to take care of the Amazons and the quest to save the world.

What is starting to irk me, is that he is slow and stupid.

I say slow, cause it seems it takes time for him to do anything.
He can literally stand 10 seconds to look at his Amazons fighting before he does anything.
He can also stand 10 seconds to watch other things before he acts.

He says that he is a gamer. I have not noticed it.
As a fellow gamer of both the computer and the tabletop games. Many learns, that the player needs to use his surroundings, his abilities, everything in between that, and how to either use them to the best in many situations or to powerplay a bit with them.
Just to stay Alive.

I still have not seen him use his abilities the best way. So I say he's stupid.

I will only make one example (cause the list will be to long otherwise):

If he can make barbed wire, then he can make a lightning rod that he can connect them all to.
When the enemy is stuck in the wire then he just needs to either put his hand on it or just straight up shoot the rod with lightning. Letting the lightning go thru the barb wire.
That way he can get xp, and at the same time, kill many enemies.

Except that:
I hope that I will see more emotions.
It seems that his Amazons has been in personal struggles.
I hope that I will hear Jakob, argue with the ghost/essence of Ares that seems to reside in the gem. Solidifying that there is an another way to be the God of War.