Sent 4/30/2026
Welcome back, readers! The leaves are back on the trees, so it’s actually Spring now. As promised, I have a lot of reviews this time around.
Prequel Progress
Firstly, the cover reveal. After a few weeks of back-and-forth with my fantastic cover artist, Ferdinand Ladera, I have a final cover artwork for the prequel novella, The Mother’s Chains . . . I’m very satisfied with how it turned out! What do you think?
Now for the typography. I’m going to do some experimenting this time while I respond to all the feedback I’ve gotten from beta readers. Waaaaaay more than I’ve previously gotten. Lord willing, I’ll get through it all and get the final product into readers’ hands by the end of May.
Book Reviews
Disquiet Gods | ★★★★★ — One of the strongest novels in the series. I won’t spoil anything, but this one sets up a lot of new characters and conflict that will return in the final book. The fantasy elements really come into play with this one, and the heaven/hell allegory with it.
Shadows Upon Time | ★★★★☆ — Book 7, the final chapter. This one, at a whopping 900+ pages, felt at times a hair drawn out but was overall epic in a fitting way. The book has room to breathe and try things that have not been done yet. I respect that. The opening setup dragged on way too long, however, and I didn’t care for the presentation—essentially, Hadrian and allies trying to convince one character of something, and repeatedly switching into ham-fisted flashbacks to explain. I wasn’t a fan of that. The material in said flashbacks was cool, but it felt like stretching to justify different viewpoints. Everything after this first 1/6 or so was amazing, until the ending began slog on. The wind-down was . . . long. Christopher definitely made some bold choices with this one, and not all of them landed for me.
The Cataclysm, a prequel novella to the Oathsworn Chronicles by Z.R. McCormick. I should note that I’ve met the author at a conference and wish the best for his indie career, but this is an honest review. I plan to read the first book in the main trilogy, and probably the second once it comes out. The world feels heavily Tolkien-esque, from the Elven language to the multiple races tracing their origin back to one deity. The magic system, however, is much more modern, including elemental magic and Sanderson-style energy manipulation. The elite warriors known as the Oathsworn felt a little cryptic, and that’s probably on purpose to intrigue the reader, but I was a little confused till the latter half of the story as to their role in the world. They just kind of . . . are. Also, the characters all seem to be extremely long-lived, due to their magic that they got from the Elves (sort of like the dragon riders from Eragon).
Devil Dog is a serial LitRPG about a marine who accidentally ends up in a confusing, gamified version of hell, currently being released on Royal Road. It’s . . . exactly what it sounds like. I checked out this one because I’m familiar with the author’s work. (This is his first LitRPG.) I volunteered as a beta reader out of curiosity, not knowing quite what to expect. While it could use a bit of polish, the prose is clean with excellent (but gory) action sequences and a lot of mystery. The author uses the what-if scenario to both feed in rather interesting Christian allegory and poke a lot of fun at military administrative annoyances. The story feels claustrophobic and linear, but by intention, and my only main gripe is that the dialogue is a hair snarky for my liking. There are fifteen chapters out so far, and I’ve stayed pretty much caught up. If that sounds at all your thing, you’ll probably enjoy it.
(Firstly, let’s just agree these covers are stunning.)
The Exlian Syndrome is a LitRPG adventure set in an apocalyptic Sci-Fi world. Very much like Attack on Titan, but the Scout Regiment has superpowers and the titans are a varied race of alien, mana-fueled bug critters. I’m on the third book of six and enjoying it immensely, thanks to the rather light touch on the RPG elements and focus on worldbuilding and factions over pure monster fighting. The character and power progression feel satisfying and explained to a reasonable extent. I find the nobledark casting of the story to be rather refreshing. My only gripes would be that there are a few hokey character moments (tropes of the genre), nothing too terrible, and then the sudden chapter breaks. Not cliffhangers necessarily, just . . . sudden. Like he writes it all in one go, cuts at a random paragraph and voila, chapter break. The overall prose, action and story flow are terrific; this just stood out to me.
Book 2 took things up a notch, and I had an absolute blast. The author takes the story in a pretty interesting new direction and setting with each book so far . . . No spoilers, but I highly recommend this series. Note: the author is a Christian, and these books are very clean aside from a high level of violence that would (debatably) put it out of the younger YA range.
Enjoy your weekend, and I’ll talk to you this summer!
— Jacob Gamber