Stuart Grosse‘s nineteenth Lich Returnee novella is the first in the series I find myself ambivalent about. It kind of feels at this point as though it’s progressing solely for the sake of progression. There doesn’t seem to be an endgoal in mind beyond slightly re-imagining the geopolitical landscape.
The first two of K. Voss‘ True Magic novels mainly stand out from the isekai crowd for being lesbian-focused paranormal romance. While the first one is pretty good despite the slowish pacing, the second unfortunately makes me think the series would’ve been better off had the protagonist reversed the ritual at the beginning rather than simply escaped. A series about dealing with the dying gasps of an empire while having to avoid being corrupted by overwhelming power would’ve been far more engaging than chasing after a villain who keeps inexplicably winning the lottery.
This guy just had the very source of his power stolen, his preparations shattered, and a chunk of his army massacred yet somehow a week later all his plans are perfectly on track and all the protagonist’s efforts were just delaying the inevitable.