Elydes

Blurb

A dangerous new world. A mysterious Guide. Grow stronger and master magic to survive.

Dying at a young age after a disappointing life. Mat thought he hit the jackpot when he got reincarnated on a tropical island. Here, exploring mysterious lands and learning magic are a real possibility.

But the world of Elydes is beautiful and magical as it is wild and savage.

While the mysterious Guide is impartial to all, people are not. Mat has the lowest starting point possible, and those like him rarely go far.

To not let his humble rebirth define him, he’ll need to find the determination to grow stronger so that he may delve into the mysteries of Elydes.

Thoughts

As of writing this, I’ve read the two published books on Kindle.

Elydes was a fun, laid-back read. It follows the standard formula for reincation stories pretty well, but doesn’t fall into the common trap of “Somehow average Joe is able to abuse Earth science knowledge to get ahead despite being a lifelong consumer of technology rather than creating it from scratch.” Matt, aka Kai, simply has a second chance in life, but he’s born not into the best of circumstances. Colonial themes are present and the worldbuilding is continuing to build and reveal the bigger picture around the world.

By the end of the second book, our MC still hasn’t hit the ripe old age of fourteen, and yet his life has been jam packed so far. I’m enjoying it more as the MC matures (and as his siblings mature too). Kai is as determined and stubborn as you’d expect from a numbers-go-up LitRPG story, though the author thankfully hasn’t given us pages of character sheets (so glad this trend is declining), so big thanks for that.

I think my only gripe with the series is I’m still waiting for that special hook. I’ve read so many popcorn LitRPG isekais over the years, and I think if I had read this first, I’d be in love with it. But now I’m trying to find that special sauce that makes a LitRPG stand out. Whether its amazing worldbuilding or concepts like Godclads, or the character depth and prose like Bastion, I’m struggling to put my finger on what makes this stand out. Or, to put this another way, if someone posted on /r/ProgressionFantasy with a “Recommend me a story where X”… what is the X?

Sorry, I’m letting some general thoughts on the genre leak into this specific review, and I shouldn’t do that. Elydes stands on its own, and I’m going to pick up where book two left of on Royal Road to see where things go now that the MC is about to [redacted]. We’ve had two books of training and learning, so I’m hopefully that its now time for Kai to spread his wings and for the stakes to increase.

Damn, this now feels like a half-finished review. Okay, note to self, in mid-November 2024 read another 1000 pages and come back to update this.

Alright, I’m back, three days later, having now finished everything available of Royal Road. Yeah the first two books sort of serve as a very long introduction and the pacing picks up in what’ll become Kindle book three (and four). It was good to see Kai with more agency and goals once the ruins became a bigger plot point, and I’m still waiting (on more chapters) to see where the new arc post that goes. So don’t be discouraged if you’re feeling antsy after the first two books and want more, because its just around the corner.