Hades Harms the honorable Harem!!!

Alright, I’m going to have to keep from gushing, because this is a collaboration between two writers, one of whom is a favorite of mine. Aaron Crash and James Hunter cooked up a crazy concept in which a regular old military man is given the power of the Greek god, Ares, and has to create a bunch of warrior Amazons to help him fight off the hordes of, and the god himself, Hades. Hades it seems, is out to destroy the world, and Ares was all that stood between him and our utter destruction.

Now, if you know James Hunter, you know he is a master of utter destruction. His series, Viridian Gate Online is about a world that is obliterated by an asteroid, and the one way left to survive was to upload your mind into a virtual world. The entire series is amazing, and I rate it up there with Delvers, the Divine Dungeon, and War Aeternus. So, I knew that his next Litrpg venture was going to be a blast. He and Crash work very well together, I honestly felt that this was a complete work in and of itself that had a singular voice, and did not feel stitched together in any way. The writing was smooth and packed full of action, as well as some exciting and unexpected twists, the characterizations were probably my favorite thing about the book, which is an odd thing to say about a book that has necromancy, hordes of dinosaurs, and a ton of battles but it was the quiet times when Jacob, the protagonist, was intimate with his amazons. There is a lot of intimate and emotional moments that stand out, and that makes the betrayal even more devastating. Sorry, that’s not much of a spoiler as they suss out that there is a spy in the camp for a good portion of the book. Either way, whether you like the interplay or the action the story never fails to deliver. Those personal moments were so special because each character is fully fleshed out, and stand out as individuals that you can’t help but love each and every one of them. When things weren’t so quiet and introspective I often fought to keep up with what was happening in the battles as there was just so much happening. It was such a breakneck speed I almost slowed my narration speed down a little just so I could catch my breath. Let me clarify that this isn’t a bad thing, no no no, I enjoy as fast paced story.

The story picks up pretty close to where the last one left off, and opens on a battle. I like that, let’s not dawdle about getting the new god of war into a fight seems to be the best way to start the book off. Things escalate quickly, and I particularly like how who escalate the villains. The antagonist in book one was good, but the new antithesis of our hero has personal ties to him, which makes it all the more interesting. I also enjoy how the villains do not drag on for several books. I really prefer the one and done kind of approach that the first book does, as it allows for growth and changes. That is my big problem with Awaken Online, the villain there is weak and uninteresting and is due for a swap out. As much as I hate the new Star Wars films, they generally stick to one bad guy per film, and tend to kill him off when they are done. Overall, this is a really fun book, and it makes me realize I need to review VGO, book one soon. Maybe I’ll try to do that soon.

I have to say that the narration by Armen Taylor is outstanding. I really like listening to him, even if some of his female voices do stray into a deep timbre at times. He has a great cadence, and paces the story so well, like I said I almost had to slow my speed down because of everything he was spitting out. I really think the sound quality was superb, and that he added a lot to the story. He is rapidly becoming a favorite narrator of mine. Hell bells, he is a favorite narrator. After five VGO books I don’t see how he can’t be. I am always happy to hear his voice, and I enjoy his reading style.

As a series, I have to say that the story, characters, and plot are all fascinating, and will keep you on the hook waiting for what comes next. I love that we get big confrontations, epic battles, and personal moments all in one chapter. There is elation and heartbreak, and that is a sign of good story telling. I eagerly await the next installation of the Wargod’s Mantle.

Even though I did receive a promo code for this review it in no way influenced my considerations of the material, and in fact, inspired me to be more honest. Getting a code generally makes me harsher as a reviewer as I am more often concerned what someone like Me will decide based on my review.

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8 people found this helpful

Good story, but too many logical flaws

The general story itself was fine in how it played out. The problem is that pretty much every bad situation they get into is forced by the author to happen. This is done either via stupendously poor decision making by the characters (aka they were forced by the author since they wouldn't otherwise do it) or a general situation that doesn't feel like it would have played out without author intervention to force it to. For example (spoiler alert!) when they were betrayed by their fellow amazon and ambushed, they were camping in an area completely surrounded by high grass when they had just left a perfectly defensible cave structure. That doesn't exactly sound like a tactically great place to camp or a great place to check for betrayers considering they could just escape into the grass... Taking into account that the GOD OF WAR or an amazon should have noticed this, the situation was massively forced by the author. Then in the following scuffle his bracers were stolen off of his arms instantly.. How the hell would someone steal a bracer if it was on someone's arm?? Those things are tied or buckled on, you'd have less trouble ripping off someone's arm than pulling a bracer off without untying it. Unless the author has never seen a bracer before and this was due to a lack of knowledge, the situation was manufactured by that author pretty terribly.

4 people found this helpful

cool except....

Why does the narrator make his voice deeper when saying the female parts?

The description of several of them paint a picture of an extremely attractive female but when they speak.... It makes you think they're secretly dudes....wth?
knock it off.
makes me wonder if the narrator has a thing for trannies.

1 person found this helpful

Most confusing at heart!!!!

This guy must have been a student of Frank Herbert and Diana Gabeldon. for I have not been this PISSED and FRUSTRATED with the author in some time. read this and you will find out for yourself. Phew!!!

1 person found this helpful

Just enough to keep listening.

There is just enough there to keep listening to the series. The author reuses the same jokes and one liners too much. For a harem story you get very weak romance scenes, pretty much just a quick gloss over, while there is no expense spared to how beautiful and sexy the Amazons are. just feels very unbalanced. And the MCs monologues are pretty bad. Overall just feels like it could be better

1 person found this helpful

Same thing

Same story lines like any other lit book, needs a weapon to win a war, has to deal with betrayal, things always seem to go wrong at the very last moment only to be resolved by a dues ex machina , same formula nothing special

1 person found this helpful

Not as good as it could have been

Narrator can't say words correctly, MC can't make up his mind if he is a Winner or a Wimp. could have been great twist on an old story but fails.

dad voices

the women's voices were deeper than the man's voice real confusing couldn't imagine the book properly

Second installment of series did not disappoint

the authors wrote fabulous characters I couldn't help but become invested in and Armen Taylor brought them to life

Hate it

When the mane charector is so underpowered and can't catch a break with a low quality cartoon like minded vilan who has no understandable reason for being the bad guy
Veridian gate online books where total masterpieces compared to this... Also Greek mythology has been done to death and this lacks creativity that his other books had