John Drake - Integration Glitch

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

This now completed book covers the story of John Drake. The universe is dominated by the three great sects that mine the essence of newly integrated planets in order to maintain their control. John goes through a series of integrations before the the gods decide to meddle and completely ruin his integration leaving him weak and unskilled. He begins training and regaining his strength as he meets new friends. Together with their dungeons they secure their planet and expand out into the multiverse coming into conflict with the great sects.

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2025
Author: brjenness

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 5.0/ 5.0
Followers: 8
Views: 13,806

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Community Reviews(1)

SaucingtonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Deliciously thick first chapter. Here's what I loved.
First, this was like a war movie but you subverted expectations. An ambush is a moment of high tension and fear, usually, but here it was a game. They're not scared. They're bored professionals on a playground. So throwing insults, making bets, making Indiana Jones references, etc, it tells us everything about the power dynamic here. If they were taking this battle seriously, we'd know the enemy was an actual threat. But since it's all a joke or game to them, we know the Drake empire is on a whole 'nother power level. It makes the ambush funny instead of stressful.
Carrying on with that, it turned out to be a battle royale gladiator game. But a game implies that there's some kind of balance. This is more like an "overpowered empire soldiers bully the bad guys". And it even ends with a scoreboard and champion (BATTLEMASTER) belt. This is awesome wish fulfillment for a reader, seeing that the MCs are so powerful that even war is but a sport to them.
Which brings me to the tropes I loved about this:
"Curb Stomp Battle": The Draskari thought they were springing a trap, that they had a chance, but they were hopelessly outmatched by the Drake Empire's technology and magic. This is a staple of OP Protagonist stories; we love seeing arrogant villains get humiliated without the heroes breaking a sweat.
"Bunny-Ears Lawyer": The Drake Empire are as eclectic as they are powerful. A monk named Elvin who scams mercenaries, Baby Ogre, Dungie the dungeon. They're not just supersoliders; they're more like a suicide squad of weirdoes which makes them main characters and memorable.
"The Man Behind the Man": The maid is a dragon? And you mentioned a dragon queen earlier. That adds a nice flavor of intrigue. John Drake is the symbol of power, or "The Face", but we suspect there are actually scarier forces (like the dragons) pulling the strings, or protecting the empire from the shadows.