Brad Botz‘s Earth Reformation series reminds me of late Guardian of Aster Fall mixed with a bit of Corsairs & Cataclysms‘ setting. While for the most part a guilty-pleasure kind of overpowered protagonist series it does take the unusual path of focusing on an old, well-established individual (though it also partially de-ages him for no apparent reason) and doesn’t have any notable romance elements.
The first book’s main issue is that the few parts focused on the protagonist’s daughter don’t make a great deal of sense. Why did they flee the starter village instead of confronting the businessman? How did the weasel-faced man become a Guardian? Why was the businessman so obsessed with tracking her down? The next two books ignore her for the most part and end up notably better as a result. The fourth then does something very different, and although it’s better than expected the pacing leaves quite a bit to be desired; a good two-thirds of the novel deal with the first year, the second year then gets a few chapters, and the last two years get what amount to barely a chapter each.
Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti‘s first Crown of Hearts and Chaos novel starts out a little shaky, making one wonder why so much time is spent following around dead men walking, and it’s not until the two protagonists meet up that the novel settles into a more standard ‘enemies to lovers’ framework that works well for a time. Unfortunately, the female protagonist is far too soft to match her declarations and ends up making the same damn mistake over and over again. Only positive thing I can say is that at least she’s not rewarded for it.