Re: Looking Back: RI 2024

On 12/31/2024 10:05 PM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
[snip-snip]

Aside from specific reviews, I continued down the harem adventure rabbit-hole
during 2024.  Some of it, predictably, pretty bad, but I continue to enjoy
Sara Hawke's harem & hot-adventure tales.  She writes both fantasy & space
opera books that would be above average without the sex.

Back in 2018, right around the time "harem" and LitRPG novels began to take off, I tried William D. Arand's _Super Sales on Super Heroes_ series and his _Otherlife/ Selfless Hero_ trilogy, which explored elements taken from both sub-genres. There were a few interesting moments, but the execution was sub-professional at best and barely coherent at worst, so I set each series aside after the first two volumes.
Occasionally I come across online reviews that praise certain "harem" authors, including Michael-Scott Earle, Robert Harper, K. D. Robertson, Tamryn Tamer and Mike Truk. Unfortunately, almost all of my attempts to read their works have failed spectacularly, typically because their protagonists tend to be poor excuses for human beings.
The only experiment that was partially successful was Misty Vixen's first _Raw_ trilogy. It explored familiar themes like "found family", inclusivity, respect for each other and for the land, protecting the tribe, etc, which worked OK for a bit, but eventually became repetitive. Moreover, "harem" elements felt unnecessary at best, so I stopped after the first trilogy.
[snip]
 > after loving the movie, and letting the book sit in my SBR> for many years I was completely underwhelmed with Sabatini's _Captain Blood_.

Go see the Flynn instead.

I remember liking _Captain Blood_ the novel, but it felt a bit "lumpy". The follow-up stories (which Sabatini wrote after the success of the novel) were mostly set during the pirate phase of Blood's career. They were more self-contained and some were more focused than the novel. Still, if you didn't like the novel, seeking out the stories is probably not worth your time.