5 stars. I really loved this one.
So I started and finished a little book yesterday that I had a major problem with. I loved it, and there was only one book. I had to wait most of a year for the second book.
When the second book came out, I quickly devoured it. As well as the third. And the fourth. And now the series is considered completed.
Sol Anchor has several interesting hooks that got me really into it:
- It starts in a dystopian future world where everyone has advanced AR devices to the point where the city no longer turns on the street lights because nobody needs them
- The MC dies and is iseaki’d into a fantasy world with magic and not much technology (yet)
- MC starts really weak, smaller than most humans and looked down upon by society
- Everyone in that new world has a limited set of reincarnations (unlimited up to age 100 and below level 10)
- The MC reincarnates as a halfling – a half-sized human
- The MC meets an elf woman trapped in a desperate situation, who has to take a unique way to escape that situation
- It starts in a dungeon, which he eventually escapes
- The MC is forced to work with a group of others on an adventure (a quest!)
- A clever and not annoying bonded pet
- A bit of humor
- And the tiniest hint of romance
I don’t know how the author Benjamin Darr was able to do it, but he managed to merge all of these different styles together in a really clever way. Such a fresh take on the genre.
Limited reincarnations is a brilliant hook, because you end up with a world were most people remain weak in order to live a long life guaranteed. Anyone willing to give up the reincarnations (at level 10) can then train to become really strong, likely resulting in a two-tier society of really weak people and really strong people, but not in between.
I was really sad that the book ended, and now will have to constantly remind myself to check for the second book later this year!
At the end of book 3, the author mentions that he intends it to be a 4 book “arc”. So I guess the conclusion is coming up in the next book. That’s surprising, since I’m used to 10+ book series. But I do look forward to the group finishing their quest.
