I’m slowly making my way through my massive LitRPG backlog, and this month’s book was Cinnamon Bun by RavensDigger! 😀

Admittedly, it took me a while to get into this one. It bills itself as a wholesome LitRPG, and it’s definitely that.

In fact, despite being eager to embark on the adventures promised by the new world she’s been dropped into, the main character Broccoli Bunch is initially hesitant to kill monsters out of a general discomfort with the idea of killing things, and spends a significant chunk of the early book literally leveling up her Cleaning skill. She discovers some neat uses for said Cleaning skill – for example, it’s unexpectedly useful against the undead – but it’s still just … cleaning. 😐 Hours of it. 😐😐😐

Still, Broccoli Bunch herself is such a sweetly endearing character that I powered through that part of the book. (And honestly, I do a lot of my audiobook listening while I’m doing chores anyway, so it felt strangely appropriate.)

I’m glad I did, too, because once she starts meeting other characters and exploring different areas of the world she’s in, the reader is introduced to a genuinely fun fantasy setting with one of the more interesting magic systems I’ve encountered in LitRPG. I generally don’t pay attention to stats and other such details in LitRPGs because they just don’t interest me, but RavensDigger works that information into the story in such a way that it feels natural, as opposed to a numbers and information dump, which I appreciated.

Despite my initial impression, I now actually consider it one of my favorite LitRPGs and will probably continue to the next once I’m in the mood for it – and you do have to be in the mood for a story of its type.

It’s very gentle LitRPG for readers who mostly just want a cute, relaxing read, as opposed to an action-packed adventure. However, within those limitations, it does what it aims to do very well, and I appreciate that about it, too. Also, aside from some mild bad language, it’s clean enough that it could easily be recommended to kids (even though it doesn’t necessarily feel like it was written for kids), so it could be a good book to hand to a youngling you want to introduce to LitRPG.

I don’t consider Cinnamon Bun a LitRPG must-read, but I do recommend it highly to readers who are looking for a story of its unique type. 😄

Last week, you saw a peek at Book 1 in my new GameLit adventure comedy series, Monster Punk Horizon. 😀

Now, since the second is going to crash-land soon after its release – a month, to be exact – here’s the cover reveal for Book 2! 😮

Isekai Skies (Monster Punk Horizon #2)

🌟 GameLit 🌟 Portal Fantasy 🌟 Adventure 🌟 Comedy 🌟

✨ Coming November 18th, 2021 ✨

Audio Release Date TBA

🐉🐉🐉

I Got Engaged and Ended Up in Another World!

An epic convention. An epic cosplay. An epic engagement. It was the best night of Kaito’s life—until the ground opened up beneath him.

Well, technically, a portal did. Either way, it sucked.

Now, trapped in another world with rampaging monsters, he’ll have to learn to survive. Fortunately, this world is conveniently similar to his favorite video game. And he’s got monster hunting experts (?) Pix and Jaz to show him the ropes.

With their help, he might last long enough to find a way home.

But if not, at least he’ll have fun hunting monsters before he dies!

Preorder Here!

Or Read a Sample of Book One Here!

Last week, you met my series protagonists Pix and Jaz, two girls who just want to hunt monsters and pay off their college loans. They were born and raised in the monster-dominated world under the Dazzling Skies, so named because its sky is taken up by thousands of glittering portals to other worlds, which constantly dump interesting loot and monsters for them to hunt –

And sometimes people for them to save.

Which makes the Dazzling Skies a perfect setting for an isekai story.

If you’re unfamiliar with the word – “isekai” is a Japanese term meaning “different world” and refers specifically to light novels and anime in which a character is transported from their familiar world into a fantasy world, often with distinct video game trappings.

I was indifferent to the isekai genre when I first encountered it several years ago, but as the genre developed and began to play with and parody its own tropes, I grew to love it – especially Overlord, The Rising of the Shield Hero and – I kid you not – Reborn as a Vending Machine, Now I Wander the Dungeon (Review here, btw! 😀).

And, while I hadn’t set out to write isekai stories at the inception of this series, I quickly realized that the basic structure of the world I’d set up lent itself well to such stories. This structure, in turn, would allow me to show the bizarre world of the Dazzling Skies from an outsider’s perspective.

Book 2‘s protagonist, Kaito, is from a strange world himself – a far-future version of our world where everyone has hyper-advanced biotech altering their perception of reality, and where a particularly angry breed of cow changed the course of history – but the world under the Dazzling Skies is far stranger than anything he’s ever encountered. Though, fortunately for him, it does share some similarities with his favorite Immersive Video Game series … 😉

Isekai Skies (Monster Punk Horizon #2) is set to release on Kindle Unlimited this November, and is already available for preorder.

And again, if you’d like to be one of the lucky people to read it early, be sure to join the Pug Scouts – our VIP Street Team! 😀 I’ll be sending out eARCs soon, and all you have to do in exchange for your free book is post a review once the book is live!

Join Our Street Team Here!

In the meantime, keep your eyes on the blog next week for the cover reveal of Monster Punk Horizon #3! 😀

***

Note: Holo Writing is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and, as such, may earn a small commission from any product purchased through an affiliate link on this blog.

Cinnamon Bun – Book Review