Book Review

Quest System Earth: Initiated, A Review

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Hello, and welcome to a review of “Quest System Earth: Initiated,” a book by Michael Lopez. As it says in the Afterword, this is the first book in a series that chronicles the adventures of Jonathan Galas. I will likely be reading and reviewing the other books in this series, and as a slight spoiler for this review. I am excited to do so.

The Beginning

At the start of the book, we see Jonathan drop back into reality after spending many years on a faraway planet called Franesh. There, he was gifted with something he calls “The System.” The System is heavily based on RPG User Interfaces of D&D fame. Games like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, or “The Witcher,” or other video game RPGs will use a similar idea to what happens here. There are 5 stats: Strength, Stamina, Agility, Intelligence, and Perception. Each of these is directly linked to the user’s human attributes of the same name. Jon says at one point, “…if you distribute the 25 points evenly, you’ll add 5 points to each attribute. Believe me, you’ll definitely notice the difference of a 5-point increase.” As you progress in The System, the real world becomes easier and easier for you as well, at least that seems to be the implication of the story.

Jon, whose name the author spells with an h, confronts his father first, who does not believe that his son has returned to him. After some drama, Jon convinces them that it is he, their son, who has been missing for 6 years. Jon uses the funds he accumulated on Franesh in tandem with the abilities he gained there, which include a ridiculously high agility stat, to gather funds, off which he subsists for the rest of the novel. Basically, if you think, “Where did Jon get that?” The answer is likely Franesh.

There is a family reunion with his siblings, some of whom believe and accept Jon back into the family, but one brother, Tim, denies it and uses his resources as a federal agent to begin investigating his brother. While he is doing that, Jon reunites with his childhood friend, Abigail, a.k.a. Abby. He reveals the truth to her, at least in part (we’ll get to that), and with the revelation of the system, Jon offers her the chance to grow stronger like him so she can protect herself and her family.

The Middle

The next stage in the book is old-school RPG dungeon hopping. With some new friends, Carl and Gary, who are other players of the System who were taken to a different world for a much shorter time than Jon, and are thus much less powerful than he, Jon and Abby enter a few dungeons and clear them with the intent of leveling Abby up so she can defend those she loves and her own life.

After a particularly harrowing dungeon, where the quest that they all received basically said, “New Quest: Survive.” The team pops out of the dungeon, Gary and Carl go home, and Jon and Abby have a heart-to-heart. Jon goes into detail about his time on Franesh, where he spent many years. He leveled up, became part of the community of the world, and eventually even married a village girl. His life was looking up until a princess from a nearby kingdom got jealous of the woman Jon had married, tricked him into leaving them alone to go be a hero, and sent a team of men to raze the village. Among the dead were Jon’s wife and child. This is why he had rejected Abby when she basically told him, “I’ve been waiting this long for you to come back.” She ended up telling him, “I can wait a little longer.

I appreciate the fact that the romance between Jon and Abby is clearly something that will likely be explored in future installments, but right now it is enough for them to just be friends, adventuring and taking down dungeons together.

During all this time, Jon’s brother, Tim, has been trying to take this thing that calls itself its brother into captivity. Every attempt has failed, hilariously. In the last attempt perpetrated by the U.S. Secret Agents, Jon breaks everyone’s arms and hitches a ride with them back to their HQ. There, he confronts his brother and tells him, in no uncertain terms, to back off. He says, in response to Tim asking what would have happened if Abby was hurt: “I would have killed all but one of the agents earlier, then followed the survivor back here and destroyed the building.” -pg. 147

The brotherly conflict in this book is satisfying and realistic in my interpretation. As someone who grew up with four brothers, how the conflict is resolved is amazing. The fact that Tim decides, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, is his best bet, is very understandable. Hopefully, we will see more of Tim going forward.

With his brother dealt with and Abby informed, Jon can move into the endgame for this book. There is still some black-suited agency coming after him, but it’s not American.

The End

The endgame here is Abby’s little sister, who, up to this point, has been pretty background and not important, but becomes, arguably, the focus of the last three chapters. Save chapter 19, the second-to-last chapter, which focuses on a brand new character whose existence was only hinted at earlier in the book. Melanie, Abby’s sister, is called “a Natural” in chapter 20, and we learn that she takes to her new powers very well. Killing slime and horned rabbits comes like second nature to her. By the end of the dungeon, she had leveled up several times and was excited to keep going.

I feel like now is a good time to bring up a gripe I have with the book as a whole. The parents of these children are brought up to inform the reader that they definitely do exist, but they are never consulted for any major decisions. Jon is basically an Adult; his trials on Franesh forced him to mature much faster than he should have needed to, so I understand his independence, but Abby and Melanie are very much children and still dependent on their parents for housing, clothing, food, and the rest of their being. So when Jon offered, and Abby so quickly accepted The System, I cringed. Shouldn’t the parents have a say in whether or not their children accept this deadly responsibility? Then they ask Melanie, a FIVE-YEAR-OLD, if she wants to be like a video game character. Meanwhile, Jon knows and understands the concept of “Player Killers” very well. Putting this five-year-old on the target list of blood thirsty villains. I hope this is addressed in the next book.

In chapter 19, before Melanie gets her chance to shine, a self-proclaimed PK’er or Player Killer, arrives on the scene. He is a Russian diplomat by the name of Aleksei Kozlov. He calls out Jon without taking a moment to consider that there may be someone more powerful than himself. Jon puts that illusion to bed quickly and tries to end things without bloodshed, but the Russian pushes the point and pays for his arrogance with his life. One of the Men in Black who was there working security for their diplomat tells Jon that he has left Russia defenseless against the gates. Jon fixes this by granting this patriotic Russian The System and the ability to fight the archways in defense of his motherland.

At the end of the book, we know there is more to come. Jon’s killing of a Russian diplomat is caught on camera, and we are left wondering what will come of this. The Feds, the Russians, and the local police all want to bring Jon in, but none of them have anyone strong enough to make Jon bend.

Review:

Final review:

“Quest System Earth: Initiated” by Michael Lopez is a fast-paced action story written for a younger audience. The formatting stands out from among its English peers, but I have not read many Korean or Japanese Light Novels to compare this one to. There are some editorial issues, such as spelling, that could be addressed as well. However, despite its flaws, I am looking forward to reading the next adventure of Jonathan Galas and the “Quest System”. If you are looking for a very quick and easy read that will keep you turning pages way past your bedtime, give it a read!

Final Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Be sure to watch the video version of this review on my YouTube Channel, linked below!

Fortis: The Return of the Vulture King, a Review

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By: A.B. Timothy

Fortis: The Return of the Vulture King, by C.K. Kesterson, is a book filled with vibrant fantasy, explosive fight scenes, and relatable characters who feel real. Whether you are looking to buy a clean adventure book for a middle-grade reader in your life, or you are looking for an easy-to-follow, fun adventure to go on, this book is for you.

Kesterson does an amazing job writing boys who feel true to life. I remember what it was like being a tween and feel as though both Lucian and Tomas embody those memories with ease. C.K. Kesterson clearly draws on his experiences as a father to put his sons in the story, giving us compelling, if sometimes less than intelligent, characters. Granted, knowing how I was as a young boy, the lack of intelligence makes the experience that much more authentic sometimes.

The companions who come alongside the heroes throughout the story are very well written and true. They don’t just automatically go along with what the boys say because the boys are the main characters, and the plot demands it. They push back when two random children show up on their doorstep and try to get help from them.

The villain of the story, the titular “Vulture King”, is suitable for a middle-grade fantasy story. You will not see the depths of Jordan’s “Dark One” or the imbecility of Wiley Coyote, but you will also never feel safe in the presence of the villain, which is perfect.

I highly recommend this book for parents looking for a clean adventure for their children to read that isn’t one of the classics from the 20th century.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Review

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By: A.B. Timothy

I just finished reading Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan. I want to review and rate it on three categories. First, I will go into the plot, this will include a brief overview of the plot and a review of how well it was executed, in my opinion. Next, I will discuss the characters and their arcs. This will go over the three main characters and how they changed or did not change over the course of the book. Lastly, I will engage with the pacing. This will involve looking at the pace of the plot and asking whether or not it fits with the genre/audience.

Plot

The plot of Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, which will be referred to as The Lightning Thief from here on, is a very simple one. Act 1 is our hero living his daily life as a sixth grader when he begins to realize that he is not normal. Act 2 is Percy going to Camp half-blood, learning what he really is, and embarking on a quest across the United States of America to stop a war between the gods. Act 3 is Percy successfully returning the stolen item that threatened to start a war and settling back into life at Camp Half-blood, until the twist at the very last possible moment.

Overall, this plot gains a lot from how simple it is. The simplicity allows Riordan the ability to lean into a lot of the crazier aspects he draws on from Greek Mythology. There is a small detail he seemingly forgets between Act 2 and Act 3. In Act 3 Percy is tempted by soda into the betrayal by a friend. Percy acts like they don’t get soda at camp, but in the beginning of Act 2, when he shows up at camp, he has a goblet at dinner where he is able to speak any soda he would like into it. That detail is insignificant, but the role it plays in his temptation makes it bigger than it should be.

I give the plot of The Lightning Thief an 8.5/10

Characters

Percy Jackson

Percy Jackson is the titular character of this entire 5-book series, so to see him change so much over the course of only the first book is a testament to Riordan’s character work. He begins the book a dejected, fatherless boy who hates his dad for abandoning his mother and lives a delinquent life. We are told he struggles to live with normal people due to his ADHD and Dyslexia. We are able to see the world from his perspective as this is a 1st person book, and because of that perspective, it is easy to sympathize with Percy. Over the course of the book, he stops hating his father. He first learns who his father is, which makes him hate him even more, then his father’s lineage saves his life in a near-death encounter during Act 2. At the end, he does not hate his father anymore after he has a chance to speak with him one-on-one on Olympus. He has also come to accept his place among the other Half-bloods and makes friends, which is not something he thought he would ever be able to do.

Annabeth Chase

Annabeth Chase is Percy’s quest companion. She eventually becomes his love interest in later books and series, but their romance is not developed much, if at all, in this book. This is part of Annabeth’s larger arc across the series. In this book, however, she does develop. She goes from being one of Percy’s haters to promising to fight by his side instead of her mother’s if war breaks out. She very clearly has a crush on her older friend Luke, but knows that it is nothing more than a crush. The girl learns to stop hating her father, who has been trying to rekindle their father-daughter relationship since she was young, after making the mistake of choosing her step-mother and her children over his own. Percy tells her that she should not give up on her dad, and in the end, she decides to give living with him one more chance.

Grover Underwood

Grover Underwood is Percy’s third quest companion and protector. He is also a satyr, a half-man, half-goat thing. His entire character revolves around making sure Percy is safe and to guide him through life as a half-blood as his friend. Over the course of the book, Grover has many close calls with death: fighting Medusa, nearly getting dragged into Tartarus by magic shoes, and offering to stay behind in the underworld so Percy could rescue his mother. This quest is what proves him worthy to be a searcher. Being a searcher is the dream of most satyrs, and through his proven redemption in this book, he is granted a searcher’s license. His arc culminates in being willing to stay in the underworld, a place especially hated by satyrs, to allow Percy and his mother to live.

I give the character work in The Lightning Thief an 8/10

Pacing

The pacing of the book is breakneck. The plot is go-go-go from the camp to the underworld. There is one exception to this I can think of, but that makes for a great character scene, so I will give it a pass. This speed works in the plot’s favor as the book is marketed to middle-school-age boys. I remember being in middle school, and I can tell you, this worked. For the first time since reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, I could not put the book down when I read it at that age. As an adult, I found myself wishing for some scenes to be taken slower, and for more detail to be given, but I understand that we are reading this from the perspective of a boy with ADHD.

The pacing in The Lightning Thief is 9/10

Conclusion

The Lightning Thief is a great introduction to a wonderful world of magic and monsters. This hits its target demographics beautifully, and even kept me, an adult, entertained for the whole 300+ pages. I have the sequel, The Sea of Monsters, sitting next to me, and I am excited to read it and review the rest of the series.

I give Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief an overall rating of 8.5/10. A very fine book and an excellent kick off to the series.

Comment!

Tell me what you thought of this wonderful middle-grade fiction novel. How long has it been since you’ve read it? Have you read it before? Let’s talk!