/lit/ - Literature

I wasn't supposed to be back at reading harem/erotica for a month, but somehow I got around reading the sequel to Saving Supervillains. My impressions? Frustration. This not a bad book. It's one of the author's best, actually. But...

The first book worked so well because there were only three women. Harem series have this common flaw where the author tries to bring in as many varied women as possible, but it nearly always ends up cheapening the relationships. In this one, the author seemed hellbent on forcing as many women into the harem as possible, taking away most of the work established in the first book. Less is more, a common saying but especially true in regards to the harem genre. It really, really hurts, because the author is getting better by the book. There are still general big issues such as lack of proper pacing, foreshadowings, clunky structure, lack of narrative consequences...but I can tell the overall quality is going up.

There is no editor listed, which is not surprising as it would cut self-published margins even harsher than they already are, but this book could have benefited from one. Just as the first book, I unashamedly read it for its erotic contents, but just as the first book it surprised me with how interesting the main character and the plot were. It's rare that an author is able to provide tension to a story where the protagonist is pretty much invincible, yet this series handles it pretty well, more than I've seen in good authors with long experience in writing. There's some raw talent in Bruce Sentar, albeit in dire need of polish.

Returning to the topic of erotic content, I found it wanting. The scenes had good set ups and hit the emotional tons properly, yet their titilating aspects were snuffed out by how brief each sexual interaction was. I remember reading sex scenes going up for pages, so to see such good set ups wasted on writing, what, 1 page of overall scene? It was so wasteful. So disappointing. One scene managed to go for longer, yet even that barely can be called a proper sex scene.

There are many ways sex is handled in harem novels, and I hate the one where even though the book is stuffed with sexual tension every sexual interaction happens off-screen (it's probably due to some publishing rules, the popular author William. D. Arrand uses another name Randi Darren to publish his harem books with explicit sex scenes, while as William they happen off-screen). Bruce Sentar isn't one of those people, which make his books appeal to me. Alas, he isn't quite willing to lean into it more. I don't mind too much, as it book stand on its own as a super-hero story, but as this was the main appeal I'd expect it to get better.

Nonetheless, Saving Supervillains 2 is an interesting book, it's not particularly original, but the writing and execution of the idea carry this otherwise mediocre book above the sea of trash.

6/10

PS: The cover is a bit ugly, to be honest.

>>20686754
>>20686754
>I assume you've already read Saving Supervillains by the same author. It's pretty definitively his best work. I'd also recommend The Hedge Wizard, by Alex Maher.
By saying the Hedge Wizard is not really LitRPG you mean it's harem/erotica?
Yeah, I read SS. Suprisingly good, despite still lacking in sexual elements, but the improvement is noticable. Neural Wraith I've heard good things about, but reading sexless erotica sounds like a scam to me, and the author's most popular book Heretic Spellblade was one of the worst erotica books I've read to date. It read like some try-hard's attempt to write an amateur fantasy with smart MC, but with added harem/erotica elements to find an audience. It was written two years ago, though, and Bruce Sentar's 'Mana Master' was also shit, so maybe the author improved. Will check it out at some point.

Btw, Saving Supervillains was released few days ago. I'm considering whether to postpone the break to read it.
And someone needs to tell the author that the cover art is fucking shit, looks like some cheap porn. There much worse covers obviously, but it's really off-putting. The first one also had a weak cover that made me hesitate before reading, but this one is actively harmful. A cover art is half of the erotica book's success, in my eyes. Advertisement and putting an image of a girl in your mind. This one fails in both of these cases.