Dragon's Realm: A 4X Strategy LitRPG Series

Warlords of the Circle Sea, Book 3

By: Ember Lane

Narrated by: Pavi Proczko

Length: 29 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

There’s a saying...

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and Connor is going from strength to strength!

He’s finally got his borders secure by taking Portsmouth. Not only that, but he’s conquered the adjacent land of Certaindeath and defeated Lord Zerg Zerg to take Zergatory. Things are looking up for our favorite warlord, and he’s rightly pleased with himself.

But there’s another saying...

Pride comes before the fall.

Join Connor, Edward, Ellen, Yosaku and the gang as they battle their way toward world domination!

Remember! There can be only one!

This is a LitRPG-Civ building fantasy tale that includes progression stats and settlement stats.

For lovers of 4X MMORPG civilization building games who enjoy a tale woven in the lands they spend far too much time in!

Warning! Contains curse words!

©2020 Ian Thompson (P)2020 Ian Thompson

20hr Slow Motion Car Chase

There's enough here to keep it interesting. If book 1 and 2 were in the 4.7 - 4.8 range this is a 4.3 - 4.4 at best with the rating mostly saved by the last 3hrs. Interesting move by the author to suddenly stop providing the player analysis, bets, and player rankings. That is the first indication something is off with this book. This book balances heavily towards individual "character depth and development" by telling and not showing which for me translates to abusing the 30 second skip button. I like long books, but this should have been 15hrs tops. Hoping the next book is more focused.

Can’t get enough

I can’t get enough of this series. I’m a truck driver, and my wife and I like to listen to audio books as we drive, we have been waiting on the edge of our seats for this book to come out, and now that we have finished it I simply need more. This book is fantastically written, and the voice artist is simply amazing. I love that no matter how many new characters are introduced, he is able to come up with a distinct dialect and recognizable tone to them.

The writing is fantastic, the story progresses well, tons of plot twists and if you’re like us, you’ll be trying to guess motives and theories along the way... We loved it!

I’ve picked up another 4x series from the author as well, I have high hopes for it too!

Well that hit me in the feels basket….

There’s a lot to say about this book, but what stood out the most was the author’s ability to intertwine deep issues in a way that makes you think about your own life. The conversation by Ellen in which she discussed what “corporate” meant, had me seriously thinking about life. No matter how I thought about what I would consider to be a “good life,” I found myself thinking… “So what?” That’s not an easy thing to do with this type of genre. If I worked my ass off my entire life to achieve, what does it actually matter? If I set goals and achieve them all, who really cares? I don’t know…I really sat and thought for way too long about this.

***Minor Spoiler***

The real punch to the gut was the way the author used the Gods to epically screw with the character’s minds regarding their deaths. I’m a 40 year old man and Army veteran, and I have noticed I can tear up more these days, but it is almost always in reference to real life underdogs scaling their mountains and succeeding, pride in my daughter, or humanitarian efforts for disabled veterans. So I was completely caught off guard at 0100 this morning when the characters faced the reality of their deaths, and before I knew it, it was 0430, I hadn’t slept, and I felt emotionally drained. It’s very rare that an author can elicit that kind of response from me. I don’t know if I like thinking and feeling so deeply from a fantasy novel that I use for escape, but if that was Ember Lane’s intent, it was masterfully done. If what I’m saying is what you’re looking for in a fictional story, don’t hesitate to continue along this journey. If taking Feel Trips is not your bag of tea though, steer clear, because this one will bite you when you’re not expecting it.

Another good one

I'm very excited to see where this series goes from here. I've really enjoy the whole series so far

A Fantastic Series

Another great book in a great series. I am eagerly anticipating the next installment. Highly recommended for light litrpg and world building fans.

Not as good as the first two books

Story:

While i am still liking the series and the story is progressing there was some unnecessary eye rolling developments. I understand this is civ building. I understand the system is using "champion recruits" cards, but pulling people from real earth history is kind of silly. Especially when the first one introduced is an overrated inventor with a cult following who the author fanboys over. I would have much preferred the actual characters leveling up and gaining skills, unlocking civ stats though their own knowledge and the university level up system. I would have preferred "heros" from the world they are in, perhaps past contestants with memory wipes or something. Still I like most of the Ellen stuff when she was figuring out stuff on her own. Much of the Edward stuff was OK though not sure the relationship was needed. Conner stuff was ok. Edward and Conner make the same mistakes over and over so that's getting old. Though the next book could close out the series nicely if it focused on the "gods".

Characters:

Still like all the fictional ones well enough. We really need more Sam, Gilbane, and fireman (whose name esacpes me at the moment). The fictionalized earth historical characters can never be mentioned again and i would be happy.

Narrator:
Still doing a great job. Not even anything for me to joke about this review.

Overall:
Story is losing steam for me but i have always been more a fan of straight fantasy and this civ building has progressed beyond that. Characters made some stupid mistakes and author added some unnecessary historical figures that are more annoying than interesting. I think i will finish off the series....assuming it ends in the next book. If you like the series until now i say this is worth the listen.

Not as good as the previous books. Struggled to ..

finish. Will probably not continue this series. So boring and drawn out at times. Cya

Wow

I have to say this is a great story.The only reason I didn't give 5 stars is the main character is a punk. But every other character is outstanding. Read it 's worth it.

Loved it

Best book in the series yet! Please keep them coming , I’m officially addicted.
1 2

Performance is good, the author is a fool

Over and over again, the main character gets tricked.. One would assume he would have learned by now. But no. He doesnt.

It feels insulting that we need to follow this main character since hes little more than a fool that wants to mimic manga/anime protagonists that thinks that friendship will overcome all. Let the main character die and lets follow someone that does not survive due to plot armor.

Also.. Dont write in a huge fucking cliff hanger and then switch to a new unrelated perspective doing something completely dull. It just makes people skip over the chapter and lose the plot.