Deklin will become a villain to rival the gods… somebody should probably tell him.
For now, Deklin’s just a Fourth-Year magi looking for a post-midterm vacation from Earth.
When a failed portal spell strands Deklin on a dangerous, massive Worldshard, he unwillingly embarks on an adventure where Spire Climbers compete for ever higher standings and Cultivators bind magical Aspects to strengthen their spirits.
Transformed into a dragonblood and branded as an outlaw, Deklin is forbidden from advancing past the first threshold alongside his growing band of exiles. To seek anything more is to risk execution and slavery.
To attain limitless progression, Deklin and his group must defy the Lightbound kingdoms and their corrupted heroes to carve out a cursed and forgotten path of darkness.
The worldbuilding premise of this story is what pulled me in initially. Magi (powerful Earth-based mages) can travel to worldshards in effectively a willing pesudo-isekai to gain experience in a new world and system, and when they die they return to their earth-bound body. The potential this has for different LitRPG mechanics, plot spanning worldshards, character development, are fantastic.
The book takes a little bit to get running with Deklin’s arrival into the worldshard Darrow, and I’ll admit I was entirely confused over what was happening during his portal into the shard with the dragons and goddess and everything, but it didn’t seem to tie into any of the plot points in book one and I’m guessing it’ll make more sense later when there are more published entries.
Deklin is our main character, of course. He’s got a ton of knowledge about the system and magic, alas he is reset back to weak-as-a-newborn-kitten when he appears in his new worldshard. Immediately he is shunted through another portal, there’s some action, and then there’s another portal to a different place, and thank goodness we didn’t portal hop again and Deklin finally managed to stay in one place long enough for plot to happen. Honestly, I’m not too sure on the purpose the first 20% of the book served and the character it introduced, but again maybe this will make sense in later books.
Now, I lied when I said Deklin was the MC. That’s actually Kimchi, the adorable pobul (read: magical otter) who’s primary three contributions to the story are being adorable, farting on things (I’m not joking), and making as many pop-culture references as possible.
I’m not the biggest fan of shoe-horning in as many TV and gaming references as possible, but I know I’m probably in the minority here. If you enjoyed how The Land (aka Chaos Seeds) did it, then you’ll enjoy this one too. The author even takes popular mechanics from other series in a tongue-in-cheek manner, like how Deklin is “sa-vren”, which is a parody of Wheel of Time’s “ta’veren”, and functions in an identical way.
The plot does get going after that first 20% or so, though it’s another variant of ‘Slavery Bad!’ that seems very common in this genre. Still, everything is about the execution, and we’ll have to wait for more books to figure out how the anti-slavery arc goes.
In terms of characters, the main cast slowly expands over the series, and each of them provide a new dimension to explore to the existing characters. I almost didn’t make it to the first female character (Charlie) because of my much hated trend of objectifying women.
I’m tired, boss. So tired of this shitty trope.
Am I being unfair? Here is Deklin as he sees a goddess during his initial descent after stepping through the portal.
The woman was gorgeous, sunlight filtered through her dress that revealed and clung to her generous curves.
…
Hips swaying, the Goddess bore down on him like wrath itself only to stop a few paces from him.
…
Ahead of him, hovering perhaps a few hundred feet off the green-velvet-draped countryside below was a smudge of a figure. He streaked past her so fast he hardly had enough time to register that she was a buxom woman in a flowing white Greek chiffon dress. Hardly enough time, but still enough. Deklin admired beauty, no matter what was going on. He would have noticed—and appreciated—a De’vauh scriptwork even if it was on fire.
…
The Goddess took a deep calming breath which did miraculous things to her chest from Deklin’s point of view. “Boobies,” Kimchi said plainly. “Mmhmm-mmhmm.”
Naturally, after Deklin falls through his final portal into a jungle, he encounters a tribe of women…
Even from this distance, Deklin could only make out that they were all women due to their… generous endowments, and the fact that they wore not a stitch of clothing. Okay, Deklin thought, I know I said we’d find something Big and Nasty… well, I found the Big. Where’s the Nasty?
I don’t care if your character is a “red-blooded man” and horny as an elk, can we just stop? Can we have lusty characters that express their sexuality in a way which is healthy, responsible, maybe even mature and respectful? I want to rant here a bit, and it’s not exactly Sovereign Soul’s fault - this is such an endemic issue in a subset of power-fantasy LitRPG books that aren’t even harem and every time I read a woman being introduced by her tits my fuse grows shorter and my temper worse.
Now, I will point out that nothing sexual happens with any of these characters, these incidents are kept to Deklin’s thoughts and so far there hasn’t been a hint of a relationship with any character. After the first 30% of the book, it doesn’t happen again, either, and you just get the pop-culture, fan-service, LitRPG action goodness that, coupled with the great worldbuilding premise, has a lot of potential.
If you liked The Land, Noobtown, Dao of Magic, or other works featuring a highly confident who uses his knowledge to get ahead, you’ll like Sovereign Soul.
