r/Haremlit

Review: Rise of the Class Smith

Quick sideword, thank you for reading this review. Doing these have always been a fun way for me to share experiences and conversations with others that share what I enjoy. An author I respect and converse with regularly here on the platform reminded too, that these reviews, are for other readers, and if a review keeps a reader from possibly buying a book they weren’t going to enjoy anyway, then that is a positive for the community as a whole. That hit differently for me and I appreciated it.
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SMALL RANT:

So I will start with the elephant in the room of my own creation — I thought the blurb of this book really undersold the premise, or at least more specifically some of the unique details that I feel really separate and probably resonate with the general audience. This series has become one of Leon’s more or even most popular series based on number of reviews logged in Amazon and Audible (1,002 reviews on Amazon and 140 on Audible at time of writing). So maybe this is technically spoilers or something from the author’s POV but I feel it’s worth it to mention for anyone still looking at this series. Also, everything mentioned below are in the first few chapters.

\- This takes play on a real version of earth and not some fantasy world. Mostly modern day.
\- The stakes the dungeons have on the world at large are quite more real than let on.
\- Death by dungeon is another real consequence that can and does happen to even those that may or may not deserve it.
\- Dungeon diving becomes just another hazardous job that for most pay little better than most other jobs. Still have to pay rent, pay bill, pay for groceries. This brings a real weight to an otherwise fantastical job as depicted in many other books.

Realistically, I don’t know how much of this could have been expressed in the short blurb, but it really helps flesh out context for the story at large.
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LITRPG Cool Stuff

This is also what I would call LitRPG lite. It carries every feature that I have come to expect from a LitRPG, but does it in a why that is probably my most favorite ways. It’s never number hungry. Stat sheets are not tossed at you constantly. Abilities are constantly ‘activated’ having a wall of ‘system text’ tossed at you to remind you what the ability does. You get the definition once, then every subsequent use is a reminder through action. Heals talk about healing, stealth talks about going stealth. It is one of the best LitRPG examples of “Show don’t Tell”.

The RPG ‘mechanics’ on show here are unique enough to me and well thought out. The class smithing ability it gets its namesake from is a core mechanic and it really feels good. It uses a combination mechanic that I won’t go into a lot of detail on that feels intuitive and yet extremely flexible. The rules governing the system are also believable and grounded in common understanding if you have played any amount of dungeon crawlers.

As for the use of ‘kin’ which is a mutation of the human genome to create essentially new species and races of humans and that they go through their own prejudices is a great unique touch. Those born from kin parents carry that trait allowing families of unique species to grow and gain fame or notoriety.

Dungeons themselves are a cool unique design. Once again, keeping a bit vague for spoilers, they act as a buffer for another faction that add some real tension and true weight to the story that I hadn’t expected to be so prevalent.

I think however the most fun mechanics of the dungeon was the creation and acquisition of mob, fodder, creatures, whatever you want to call it. It reminds me of one of my favorite games growing up, Age of Wonders. You take a basic unit and customize it in different ways to change what role it plays. Take the same frontline creature and give it a shield and it’s a tank, take the same mob and give it a staff and it’s a caster or healer. It allowed for some super creative creature design without having to make new units/mobs for each class helping keep immersion smooth and not jarring.
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Awesome Characters

The characters really stand out here. Levi, the main character is a standard trope of a harem MC, with stoic morality, warm tenderness, and protective nature, but there a few standout qualities that help make this character someone I have really enjoyed. For one, he’s smart. Not super calculating or over intelligent, but smart in that he has basic comprehension and competence with the real felt ability to learn from mistakes. He feels the mistakes he makes, feels the weight of his decisions, and makes less than optimal decisions sometimes which feels realistic. And he is humble and not blindly trusting of every nice pair of tits that walk in front of him, regardless of how nice they look.

Blair and Maddie are stand outs too, each for their own strengths. Blair is calm and confident with a sense of protectiveness for Levi that goes beyond battle. She makes sure he gets the rest he needs, doesn’t push himself, and eats when he forgets too. It loving and sweet. Maddie on the other-side is calm and sweet. She is more of a artsy thinker, with a unique outlook on a lot of things. When Levi can’t solve a problem, which the MC shouldn’t be able to solve everything, she steps in with a new look or way of thinking that is genuinely juxtaposed from how Levi approached a problem while still feeling natural to her character and grounded.

Both girls are well written and each have strengths and weaknesses that play off each other instead of feeling blurred or blended and getting lost in the mix.

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WRITING

The writing is pleasant. I will say it feels a bit long winded in places. Monologues feel a bit longer than they needed to be and repeatedly retrace thoughts. This is an odd criticism for me, because I don’t actually think I want it to change. I find in the moments, I am invested to these characters and want to know and hear how they feel, see their pain and strife. Their crushing desires.

The prose is also something that I find more and more important to me. How an author writes. The words they chooses and how they put them together.

Leon here is quickly become someone I really enjoy. He writes in a way that his diction changes to match the character speaking/thinking and even to match the tone. If a sex scene is more quick and dirty, the words and flow of it match in contrast to a scene that is more intense and intimate, this scene will be more drawn out and have words that I would associate with ‘romanticism’ or ‘flowery’. Some might say “well duh” but you would be surprised how much that makes a difference. As an example, I don’t think the word cunt is used a single time in the first book. At least not in a pointed way, until a character in the second book uses it in an internal monologue and it just hits different because of it. Makes that characters identity and language feel distinct from the rest. Even depending on the POV of the sex scene seems to change how it is written which for me is a super win. I love unique and distinct POV voices.

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CONCLUSION

Rise of the Class Smith is my first major journey into Leon’s bibliography, and I can say it doesn’t disappoint. The book is well written, has good length and depth. Characters feel real and decisions have weight and consequences that aren’t always visible then and there. If you like fantasy genre in general, then this will scratch a lot of itches. If you like classes and D&D or Diablo style mechanics and dungeons crawling, then this is a must buy.

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As always, if you have any questions, feel free to reply to the post. I enjoy making these reviews in part for the conversation and engagement I get in the comments.

Also thanks Shane for giving me the push in confidence to get back out here and write these. I had a lot of fun.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HD78CPXG

Destiny awaits…whether you’re ready for it or not.

Bucky Drake literally just got his managerial position at McDaniel’s, but he’s already been promoted to "Hero" whether he wants the gig or not. Dragged against his will through a yawning purple vortex by a mouthy catgirl, he finds himself in another world full of vivid colors—and peerless beauties. Cowgirls, lamias, satyresses, unicorns, and even elves of all colors of the rainbow make his acquaintance early and often...and he handles them pretty darn well for a random fast food worker in over his head.

That's the way things are going to be from now on. On Lusteria, the population is largely female and made up of monster women and elves. There is the odd transmigrated human here and there, but Bucky is special. He’s been chosen.

But chosen for what?

The three Dark Queens must be defeated. Bucky isn’t totally sold on the idea, though, not just yet. For now, he’s satisfied to just enjoy the simple life in Tater Town, the small, dumbly-named village he’s grown to call home.

He’ll get around to being a hero…eventually.

Volume 2 goes live 19 August. You can preorder now.

Quick recap for anyone who missed Book 1: a boy every spirit beast runs from finds a dying Dragon Empress and makes her the one pact she can't refuse. Now the strongest being in three worlds lives inside his soul, and she has opinions about every woman who looks at him.

Cultivation harem with light system progression, powerful devoted women, dual cultivation, and no NTR.

Book 1 is free on KU and picked up 300+ ratings in its first 30 days.

Volume 2:

He vanished without a word. She never forgave the silence.

Suyan wakes from the edge of death to find the empire's untouchable princess at his side, and a single word on her lips that rewrites everything the academy thinks it knows about him.

What's in it, without spoiling anything:

- The Rosehearts, the Cromwells, and a great-clan elder who decides a nobody isn't worth pretending for.

- The Inner Court Ranking Competition: island survival, teams of two, and a certain someone who has been cold to him all year finally has nowhere to run.

- A cursed village where only the women are dying, and the answer Eve refuses to give him.

- The Chamber of Evolution, which opens once every three years and has never seen anyone do what Suyan does inside it.

- Two more women join the family; a third gets a lot closer. Every one of them keeps her own arc.

- Spice, marked with ** in the chapter titles like Book 1 — find it or skip it.

- ~97,000 words, 42 chapters.

All SIX volumes are already written. Vol 3 follows on September 23 and is already up for preorder, and it's one volume a month from there until the end. This series will not die on you.

Book 1 (free on KU): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H7T1Z8XX

Book 2 preorder: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H8YSKTX5

Book 3 preorder: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HFDX7CDZ

The Broken Mountain is an island of rock deep within a sea of endless sand. Shrouded in forgotten mysteries, the ancient fortress of the elves casts a shadow long enough to touch distant Ashura. Along it winds the path to Marduss’s lost tomb and for Naroh, a still penniless historian, it’s all he can do to keep from sprinting towards it.

Yet, crossing the Great Desert is not a thing to be taken lightly.

It is vast and empty, pitiless and uncompromising. There is nothing approaching kindness to be found between the dunes and spirits dance to blur the path ahead. Beyond that, a priest laughs, madness tugs at a relic-buyer’s grin, elven gangsters draw their knives, and a sister’s hatred burns like fire.

Survival will mean becoming more. It will mean the growth of a clan and relying on Eshi and Amna: two incredible women who have become so very important.

Then, there’s Issia Malash.

Focused and driven by a nameless hunger, the necromancer princess is on the hunt. Her patience is gone and it matters not that a tomb diver is well used to running.

For Issia is a woman who gets what she wants, no matter one’s willingness to give.

Tomb Divers 2 is 148k words of desert crossing, necromancer dodging, giant scorpion action. Harem fantasy novel with action, romance, and explicit sex. It’s been professionally edited and I’m super happy with how everything turned out. Thank you for your support!

US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HCXV5TZP

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0HCXV5TZP

CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0HCXV5TZP

AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0HCXV5TZP

DE: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0HCXV5TZP

ES: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0HCXV5TZP

FR: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0HCXV5TZP

NL: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0HCXV5TZP

IT: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0HCXV5TZP

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HFC8XRXK

Every series ends. These families don't.

Four bestselling harem series converge in one anthology, delivering family-focused epilogues that celebrate the lives built after the final page. The messy, warm, explicit reality of what "happily ever after" actually looks like when you're managing a harem, raising children, and still navigating the complicated bonds that hold everything together.

In Peter North's entry, Loghann makes his rounds before a family reunion centered on the dryad Ruhail. Montgomery Quinn's Calon reflects on his ANZAC past through stories shared with grandchildren, while unresolved history resurfaces. Rem Robotham's Jim supports Sera's transition into motherhood alongside a new cook at Hannigan's who needs some hard-earned harem wisdom. And Micky Carre's Mark faces an unexpected crisis on a routine trip — rescued by the family he built.

Four authors. Four worlds. Four men surrounded by the women and children who make survival worth it.

This is the epilogue every harem fan deserves

More of the silly harem adventure of a man conquering another world, building a city, creating a harem, and trying to not lose his shits. Now with chocolaty ram! (Link as always is in the comments):

>Synopsis for volume 6:

Sam has finally built himself a city.

A real city. With roads. Markets. Restaurants. Thousands of beautiful beastgirls. (So, basically, a much better-organized harem.)

Now all he has to do is recruit more beastgirls! (AKA: Harem girls.)

Simple right?

Except ancient starships(that somehow exist in this world) are hiding dangerous secrets. A towering horned woman has emerged from another realm. Beastfolk armies are attacking with dangerous monsters.

Between hosting deadly competitions, welcoming new allies (new harem members), and stopping everyone from destroying the city he just finished building, Sam’s civilization is entering a whole new age.

The tribe has become a city.

But the harem is becoming an empire.

And Sam is already looking beyond the Snow Plains.

For the usual FAQ:

A) This is a light-hearted harem story that isn't meant to be taken too seriously.

B) This is not a fade-to-black book. The R18 are quite detailed and there is one per volume at least.

C) There isn't really any F/F content. The harem centers and revolves around the male lead.

D) No plans for an audio release. Too expensive/no publisher approached.

E) Get it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HFDZF37N

My new release, Wishbound: An Unconventional Urban Fantasy Adventure, the first book in Mack Landry's Magical Alliance of Concerned Kin series, is now live on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.

Dusty Grant is a 47-year-old retired archaeologist who finds an impossible lamp in a collapsed mine in West Texas. The djinn inside, DJ, can grant three wishes—but she has spent her life being bound to whoever holds the lamp.

Rather than treat her like a prize, Dusty has to decide what his last wish is worth—and whether freeing her will put them both in the path of the magical institutions that treat beings like DJ as controlled assets.

What’s in it:

• Urban fantasy / paranormal romance
• Older, practical male protagonist
• Djinn and wish magic with limitations
• West Texas and borderlands atmosphere
• Found family and consent-forward relationship dynamics
• Adult content
• The start of a larger magical resistance story

Available here: https://storyby.me/wishbound

Thanks for taking a look.

Renji is tossed into the pits of hell in his quest to dominate UwU Online. Tasked with penetrating Queen Persephone's accursed gates, Renji leaves many a foe's quivering body in his wake to claim the netherworld as his own. Woe betide the monsters, demons, and ancient Lords of the underworld—this human's got a fat deck, and he knows how to use it.

[[Up-front Content Warning!]] - DeckRomancer (Book I & II!) are LitRPG and hardcore smut in equal measure. Even the good folks at r/haremfantasynovels appreciated an expanded content warning list for the 100,000-word novel: >! Occasional Femdom, Milking, Anal, Toys, Bondage, Spanking, Lamia*, Monster Girls.!<

~

The time's finally come! My husband and I have officially published DeckRomancer Book II! THANK YOU everyone for your support, suggestions, and positive feedback since we released Deckromancer Book I. This seriously wouldn't have happened without the community pushing us to finish the trilogy.

(We do apologise to anyone who had their pre-order cancelled. We had an issue with Amazon's automatic quality check that was remedied by support a bit too late.)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0HF5M6HFB?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_tkin_1&storeType=ebooks

~

As a final note, we plan on doing an AMA on NSFWAMA tomorrow for fun, but feel free to ask questions here too! We love engaging over our material.

𝘽𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙡, 𝙫𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙞𝙣, 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝—𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙣.

Grayson Fade was born a slave without a drop of magic. Now, in a world where the seven deadly sins grant incredible power, he has the chance to become something more. All he has to do is survive the Testing and avoid falling in love…because on Midmere, love is deadly.

Available on audio, ebook, paper/hardback, and on KU.

"Aaron Crash is a hell of an author. His ability to make deep characters and compelling worlds is something that compels me to read his work. Every new release is something to look forward to."

—Daniel Schinhofen

"By the slut gods of old, Aaron has done it again! He's back with another wonderful entry to the genre."

—Bruce Sentaur

Full blurb and links below. ↓ ↓

Grayson Fade didn't come to First Field to be a hero or fall in love. He was on his way to prison when a mysterious woman grabbed him and changed his life forever.

Gray now finds himself in a world governed by the seven deadly instincts, where everyone resonates with a single instinct…except him. It's a secret he has to hide. He's the woman's secret weapon at First Field, a place where recruits are forged into demon hunters — but only if they can survive the Testing. His mana core is vast beyond imagination and fundamentally broken.

Then he meets Rynn. Shy, lethal, and the one person he can't help but trust.

Loving her could cost Gray everything.

Walking away might cost him more.

https://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Instincts-Sinfire-Chronicles-Book-ebook/dp/B0H9P1NF4Q

Linky lank: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HCKKHPGD

Humanity reached for the stars, and they reached back. With railguns, bombs, and fusion warheads. Earth is centuries behind the technology curve and languishes as a backwater. Ethan is desperate for something greater, even after leaving his home to explore the galaxy.

Opportunity knocks as he’s appointed the dictatorial administrator of the largest megacorp in the known galaxy, complete with his own fleet and entire systems under his control. The catch? He’s a pawn in a scheme by a corrupt official who wants to retire in wealth and power.

Not everyone is happy, however. A rival megacorp wants his slice of the galaxy for themselves and have the warships to take it. His former company board plots coups and assassinations. And if the galactic Union ever discovers how he got appointed, he’s meat.

Ethan refuses to give up his newfound fortune. He wanted adventure and a greater life than plugging away in a tiny spaceship while paying off endless debt. Now he has it, he’ll fight like hell to keep it.