Harmon Cooper

I was hesitant to read this particular book at first. It isn't that I hate LitRPG or harem stories either. In fact, there are a lot of ecchi harem anime that I enjoy a lot. You also gotta admit the covers from his book are drop dead gorgeous. I believe my main quip regarding trying this book out stems more from the fact that the author churns books at an alarmingly fast rate.

Now, I can't be certain if an author either writes insanely fast or uses the aid of a ghostwriter to speed things up, and both methods are perfectly legitimate ways to have a larger reading backlist. What I do know is that even though this book is approximately 80,000 words long, I was worried about the book's quality vs quantity equation.

In a sort of way, the book managed to reach my expectations, which I guess is mostly positive, albeit at the sacrifice of not being a timeless classic. This book already has plenty of reviews and the plot is pretty self-explanatory, so I will only mention it is roughly about a seemingly ordinary guy named Gideon who rescues a super powered psychic woman named Grace that can read the minds of people and change her physical appearance. It seems like part of her memory is lost and an evil government agency is trying to look for her. Gideon obviously falls for her charms and starts an adventure to live on the lam while they both start encountering other super powered individuals he likes to nickname Cherry Blossom Girls.

A lot of readers complained Gideon seems like the idealized version of the author where he meets a bunch of really attractive women who all desire him and make his life very interesting. Whether any of that is true, I think I will leave it to each individual reader's imagination. What I do know is that while Gideon brings the story forward and everything happens from his POV, he isn't a particularly fascinating person that I would want to root for. He isn't evil per se, but he does have somewhat twisted morals (although in all fairness, given Grace is capable of controlling the minds of the people she meets, it is possible some of Gideon's actions within the story are propelled by her without him even realizing it).

As the female lead, Grace is okay. Her speech and personality seem very stilted and forced. It is likely her odd quirks are due to being raised in a laboratory without any normal human interaction. She doesn't seem bothered by her DDD sized boobs, or take notice when and if people catcall her in the street. I am not sure if some of her actions are a result of reading Gideon's mind and seeing he has watched a tad too many porn videos, giving her a distorted view of romance.

Veronique as the badass cherry girl gives the story a fun contrast. It is perhaps not that original, as many harem stories have a trigger happy antagonist turned sidekick. I think her character could have been developed better. Whereas the reader can forgive Grace's naivety, Veronique has had a lot of interactions with others, and yet she doesn't understand simple things like the concept of money or how to turn on a car.

Furthermore, I have a hard time understanding why Gideon is working at a Yale gift shop when he didn't graduate there; he went to an unnamed public school. Even odder, this story is supposed to take place 12 years from now, and Gideon graduated with a hard-to-market liberal arts degree and earning minimum wage in a job that doesn't require a college education. I initially assumed he worked there as a Yale alumni (many private schools offer job placement to their graduates), and that part of the story continues to make me scratch my head. College is very expensive in the US, and after the 2009 crash, kids in junior high school today would be familiar with the adage to choose a degree that guarantees a job, or in the very least, pick a liberal arts degree if you can nab a good scholarship or if the curricula includes a lot of marketing and IT subjects.

While this book was pretty well edited and without any typos, I do feel like it is these little details where writing too fast takes an inevitable toll on the overall experience. Lest to say, as long as you set aside these quips, the story is very fun. I loved the scenes where Gideon tampers with the power stats of both ladies when he hacks into some software in their cyborg(?) bodies, and the ingenious ways Grace takes advantage of her powers to confuse unwitting people to help them.

I believe I am willing to give the second book a chance sometime just for the sheer fun involved in the story, and it was enjoyable enough to read to merit a solid 4 stars.… (mais)

For the record, i never leave reviews, so i'm sorry for what this ends up being.

Anyway, the book was good, and everything begins ramp up. But it falls short. I drive for work so almost all i can get away with is audiobooks. I do not know what happened between the fourth book and this one, but the swapped the narrator, and it has a very detrimental effect. It really did leave me wanting the previous reader. i will prob continue the series by text if i can at some point in the future, but i really dont know if i will continue with the audiobooks. Just my two cents.… (mais)