Review: Advent by Seth Ring

Advent (The Exlian Syndrome, #1)

by Seth Ring

Release Date: March 4, 2025

2025 Blackstone Publishing, Inc

Ebook ARC; 384 Pages

ISBN: 979-8874692575

ASIN: B0D2LVCKZ2

Audiobook: B0D33TT8QP

Genre: Fiction / LITRPG / Fantasy

Source: Review copy from author through publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

All his life, Mark Fields has dreamed of joining the Defense Force to fight the vicious, alien Exlian, just like the rest of his renowned family. But so far, he’s … a dishwasher, trapped in a dead-end job with no powers, no money, and even fewer friends.

But an encounter with a dying woman changes everything—granting him the abilities he needs to join the training camps—and his life finally feels like it’s turning around, faster than a movie martial-arts montage (just ignore the weird cat).

But the Exlian are voracious and myriad, and there’s more to Mark’s new powers than just leveling up. With the pressure mounting, it doesn’t take him long to realize the Exlian aren’t the only sinister threat lurking within the city …

 

My Thoughts

Advent is the first book in The Exlian Syndrome Series, and it was quite an enjoyable book.  I really enjoyed the world building, and while I didn't learn as much as I would have liked about the 'enemy', I thought the leveling system was interesting and I especially enjoyed how Mark tried to manipulate the system to benefit himself. I read a lot of LitRPG and was looking for something a bit different from my usual and this fit the bill quite nicely.

 

The world-building is probably the strength of this book as we delve into a world that has been shattered by a war with an alien species, a world that is on the brink of being destroyed, and we only catch glimpses of the political aspects to this world and the factions that are involved.  While I love the political aspects to these stories, I also know there are six books in this series and need to be patient for everything to be revealed.  There were hints here and there of the political factions as Mark invariably gets involved in things and needs to be rescued, but only hints. We get the sense there is something much deeper going on, but the author only doles out bits and pieces at a time through the action and through character interactions. It sounds like it would be frustrating, but it really isn't as the plot moves along rather quickly and the author is good at giving you tidbits just at those points where it could get frustrating. 

 

The plot moves quite quickly and motivations are quite clear.  The book is shorter than normal, so we don't get the depth that I think is necessary in such a novel, but that could just be me wanting more as I enjoy the political aspects to novels.  Through Mark's training, you learn the seriousness of what is happening, but at the same time, wonder if much more is going on than meets the eye, especially after what happens to Mark's brother Joe.

 

And character development is sort of the weakest part of this book.  While Mark was nicely developed, there was an aspect of him being overdeveloped, something that doesn't always appeal to me.  I like my main characters to struggle a bit more, not always be rescued in this way.  And I did think the secondary characters were more one-dimensional although I did see a bit more depth to Noah than I first thought there would be and he is fast becoming one of my favourite characters. The author also seems to be positioning Noah to be caught in the middle of some serious stuff in the future which will be quite interesting, hopefully. And then there is that darn cat. Should I mention I love cats? This is not Donut however, but this cat has adopted Mark and is always around.  I'm not mentioning anything more, but I love that cat.

 

Verdict

Advent was a fun read, but I definitely enjoyed the world-building more than the character development in this one.  There are plenty of twists and turns, with some side quests, an interesting set of characters, and some themes that I hope the author develops more fully. I really enjoyed how Mark and his brother Joe interacted and am looking forward to seeing how their separate paths develop and perhaps conflict in future books.  While the themes and the tropes have been covered before, this still works and is worth reading.