First Steps: Descend, Book 1

This book has been out for a while but I just saw it and decided to read it. David Burke is a pretty good writer so I said why not. The book as a whole was good. Some of the interludes were a little confusing but I think I got the jist of what is going on. The action is good and the characters are great. They are all different and have actual personality. I will definitely read book 2.

Overall the plot and execution of this novel was well done. There were several minor editorial mistakes, but for the most part nothing unreadable although a few of the misused words drastically change the meaning of a sentence and the reader will have to use their best judgement to determine what was intended (i.e. "I have not killed" vs "I have now killed").So this a standard "displaced college student taken from earth and dropped in an RPG survival" situation. However the author does justify the large male to female ratio so it's not just a blatant harem builder. But there are certainly explicit scenes.There's hints of a much larger conflict e beyond the survival / breeding experiment the humans are forced typ partake in and in very interested to what happens when our heroes get thrust into that conflict down the line. There's also a slight amount of time travel the author uses to let a "darkest timeline" situation try to influence this timeline/story for a better outcome.All in all, it kept my interest throughout and I'll be picking up three sequel to see what happens next.

The characters are well written. Fun to see them develop.if Great action. The story morphs and changes to produce interesting action. The Audible book is great.

I was looking for a new series to enjoy. I came across this author so I just released the first book of a new series. I like that book but as there was only one of them I decided to look in and see what other books the author had to offer. This is the second series and the second book that I read from this author. With that said I try and go easy on the reviews for the first and last book of any series. First can be shaky things and not every series makes it to a proper ending. For this book I did find the story interesting and with the exception of one part in particular I like the story. In the past depending on what that thing is it has not only killed the series for me but I've never touched another book from an author again. I'm not going to be more specific than that cuz I don't want to risk spoiling the story for anybody who chooses to read the story. I think the author did an alright job with the one part that I absolutely hated in the story but It didn't bring down the rest of the book.

I found that once again I wanted to channel Kuni from the old movie UHF and shout "Stupid! You're so STUPID!" at the hero and especially all the people around the hero. Man were these characters less than compelling due to the extremely dumb decisions or lack of decisions they made again and again.And that doesn't even consider the fact that like 2 other versions of this kind of tale once again the main character is time travelled into the situation with some level of fore-knowledge about what is happening and how to best min/max his skills and development so that he can become increasingly overpowered as the tale advances.Well, I loathe OP main characters and I loathe time-travelling in just about any variation, so this story was built to tick off many of my "I hate this" buttons. Add in the sexual aspects which were forced and as is becoming increasingly common just bland. I know some readers seem to love multiple long and pointless sex scenes in what are called "harem" tales, but for me the lack of any real relationships or character surrounding these zipless joinings makes them less exciting than watching water drops slowly flow down a window. Heck, watching grass grow would be more interesting most of the time.So yes, I found this story to be hard to read. It was uninteresting, felt uninspired and had characters that were unsympathetic. It was the trifecta of bad writing.But, while I can't say anything good about the plot or the characters, I have to admit that the story isn't terrible. It just lacked anything that would get me to consider it anything better than a basic level "meh" tale.If you like harem tales with pointless sex, you'll probably disagree with me and like this story.If you don't mind overpowered main characters, you'll likely disagree with me on the character and like this story.If you can tolerate bad decisions by characters, you'll be able to overlook things I couldn't and might like this story.But for me, its just not one I'll read again, nor will I read book 2.Approach with care.

Note to author: The series is not linked together here on Amazon. Not sure how that's done, but it might helps sales. Also, might be a good idea to set up some social media or an email to contact.I enjoy LitRPG books and this one did not disappoint. The concept had some variation from most I had read and offered some fresh air. The writing was nice and kept the reader moving forward. The characters were well developed while keeping some secrets to be revealed in subsequent books. A firm foundation was set for multiple books in the series. (I immediately purchased book 2 when I completed this one.) I would say it was an overall win. Excellent job!

I've read the entire series and this is my 3rd trip through the 1st book. The plot is imaginative. The characters are engaging. Sex scenes are HOT! The progression of the skill of the MC is believable and satisfying... First Steps is the 1st book in what is easily one of the better series in this genre! Thank you Mr. Burke for a very enjoyable read!

Looking forward to the second book as I had a hard time putting this one down and stayed up way too late reading because of it

For a litrpg\harem the story is surprisingly good and has enough depht to make a solid series go for a while.

Nice fun adventurey book with a portal fantasy flavour. Nothing ground breaking but relaxing enough. Combat is fun,hero sufficiently heroic,cheesy story tangy enough xD.

The author in this story try to avoid some of the more obvious pitfall of the harem litrpg.Why a normal man would want to have so many wives?Why a group of normal woman would fall in love instantly of the same man and would like to share him?The author creates a contest in which normal people are forced to behave so, because is the only possible option. The advantage of this approach is that the characters of story have personality more likeable, and the reader can identify more easily with them.

What do you have when you put 25 women to 1 man, and add aphrodisiacs to boot. An orgy right? Or at least unrestricted polyamory, however, not only the protagonist but the story elements themselves are against that. Along with that the total disregard for human life is something I have never heard of before except from the original NAZI's