Into the Black

Let me start with what was good about it.

At first it is a story of a dude having fun with his harem while getting in and out of trouble. When is was this it was an easy 5 star.

Then what our MC controled got bigger and some of what made it what it was got lost. However what replaced by some interesting ideas, dropping to a 3.5 star.

Now, nothing of what made it good really remains. His harem is practically gone from the story, fun has also left. It has been replaced with a convaluted mess of a storyline. This has tanked it to its current rank.

I love this one.

And if you haven't read it I would suggest checking out one of his other ones(Rules Free vrmmo Life).

(I didn't realize this hadn't been posted cause of a lack of words.)    :( asf asd arw AW asd asd sdw sd adsaff fds asdf  asdf d sdf  asdfadf afawwfasdfasdf  asdf

 just so you know i'll mention stuff from the chapters so spoiler warning

Having read and re-read the chapters posted so far, I can honestly say I enjoy this series. Sure, there are things wrong with it as the other reviews point out. But, this is a story set in a fantasy/space game. Realism is for reality.

I came here to be entertained by a decent or hopefully good story. I believe this story fullfills that. Might not be for everyone, but if you don't like it write a better story in whatever way want.

I will most likely buy these when I get the chance.

I will admit to passing this over as I was looking for other more fantasy styled novels, as the majority of sci-fi novel here and on scribble hub were underwhelming. This however has enough of the elements I look for in a sci-fi that I was happy to stick with past the first volume. There are enough references to film/tv, games and even one or two light novels to keep everyone happy, as I certainly had fun spotting the ones I knew being a fan or come across in passing.

Now let's be honest there some things that aren't for everyone which has caused a chapter to disappear, because people didn't read the content warnings yet I suspect they'd read fifty shades of grey.... if those sort of things bother you even after the warnings, you only have yourself to blame as I have come across fantasy stories much worse in context.

This is comparable to The Expanse (both books and tv) and the newer of the Battlestar Galactica series, so I can happily state I will be coming back for more!

The worst part about this story is that the setting and premise are actually incredibly good. It sets things up in a way that draws you in, makes you excited to see what will happen next..

And then it turns. Turns into an absolute dumpster fire of tropes and wish fulfillment, and not the good kind.

DO NOT RECOMMEND.

edit: Am reviewing this 'now' because I am tired of seeing it on trending. It does not deserve the spot.

Really good story but the author introduces far too many story elements only to never ever see them again. We get countless descriptions of items that are never used. Situtiations and people are given barebones descriptions at times. There is also almost no diolouge at all between characters. Just the author telling us what happened. It's event after event with bare mininum diolouge. The characters never really talk at all to each other and it makes all of them extremely 1 diminsional.

If this wasn't apparent, this story is a portal fantasy. The setup of this is better than most similar stories.

The story contains few typos and grammatical errors.

I read this until the end, and had mixed feelings about much of it.

Both the best and the worst thing about this story are the continual pop-culture (mostly sci-fi genre) references. At best, they are a source of humor and foreshadowing. At worst, the author simply seems to have run out of his own ideas.

My biggest criticisms of the story are the protagonist, and the world building. The protagonist is not a hero, or even a flawed antihero trying to do the right thing. He's what I would call 'Lawful Evil.' He is petty, vindictive, and often quite cruel, and shows no growth of character over the entire story. He does, however, honor his agreements. The protagonist displays several cases of disproportionate retribution. He murders a great many people for the crime of simply having association with his enemies (often that association is simply being in the same vicinity as his target). His behavior isn't too different from what one would expect out of out of a villain. Aggravating this porblem is how the protagonist never makes any mistakes, from the perspective of the story.

The worldbuilding has strengths, such as the geopolitical situation, space combat, and similar ideas, but it also has some glaring weaknesses. First, the author uses a bit too much 'handwavium' for the impossible, like the widespread use of nanites or 'lost technology' that isn't even theoretically possible, like the gateways. The psy use is at least honest about being space magic.

The second greatest problem is slavery. I'm not criticizing its inclusion in the story, but rather its implementation. Historically, most kinds of slavery was the result of either debts (no bankruptcy laws) or the taking of captives in war, but these kinds of slavery practiced in the ancient world were not chattel slavery, as in his story. A master owned a slave's *labor* not the slave itself. Such slaves did have rights, but that isn't the case in this story. Instead, slaves are chattel, and author tries to whitewash his protagonist's continual exploitation of others using the exact same kinds of patronizing justifications as were seen in the Antebellum period of the American South. As powerful as the protagonist becomes in this power trip, he certainly could have changed the system. Yet the protagonist doesn't do anything through the entire story that isn't born of self-interest.

To conclude, this story is fairly well written technically, offers a world where all kinds of elements from pop culture interact in an often humorous way, and gives us a comparatively realistic portrayal of space combat. Yet the audience will have to put up with an unlikeable protagonist that experiences no growth or real struggle.

a Nice refreshing story occuring in space with not too much drama, a harem of lovlies, spacebabes all of them, and a nice hint of empire/economy building.

The MC is not a perfect hero, has slaves in his harem no less but remains a likeable person(depends on perspective). He also has a space fleet(who would not want one?), a planet, a shameless playboy persona that everyone dreams they could have. I could go futher but will move on...

Gramar is good, noticed very little if any issues, nice plot, a lot of potential for the future.

The setting is not too dark, even if slaves are included, the MC also actually gets the girl(s). Royalty at that!!!!().

All round a great story. Would recommend this to others.

Great work, please keep it up.

At chapter 33

The story is good, and the universe is interesting, even if the beginning is a copy/paste of universe online.

Sexual content is mostly unecessary and the harem feel forced an unnatural but at least it's not overwelming and the author try to justify it by giving the MC a "perk" that force him to have sex. 

I would say the main problem is the secondary characters. They are bland and generics. There are moment when they shine and gain personnality... just to fall back in the background and becoming bland again.

But still a good novel, I enjoy reading it.