Black Friday (The Valens Legacy Book 1) Kindle Edition

I picked up this book from Amazon at the suggestion of another reader on the Facebook page of an author I follow. Usually, these sorts of suggestions are a mixed bag – I’ve read some truly horrible Kindle fiction and found some real gems.For a lycanthrope harem fantasy, this one is really good. At least there are no damn sparkly vampires. I’ve read a few harem fantasy books and this one is not as sexually graphic as some of the others. Sex is very well described with lesbianism mentioned. I find it interesting that some of the complaints are that the author did not describe sex between the two women graphically enough.I imagine that the author could go more descriptive if he wanted, but I would not think that would necessarily be a good thing. If the author does increase the graphicness of his sex scenes it will be interesting to see if works or not. Some authors can go more descriptive with their sex and some cannot. Sometimes an author shoots for too low of a mark, and the story becomes word porn, not an urban fantasy with some sex.Great main character and I really like both the Roxy and Jolene tantric witch characters. Sometimes this story leans a little too far LitRPG for my tastes. If you read some of my other reviews you will learn that I am not a big fan of LitRPG and dislike its inclusion in what otherwise would have been a great story.Other than some minor word use and punctuation errors, this story is not too bad. One real nitpick I have with the story is that if the Rhodesian Sampson father-figure werelion was around as much as I imagine such a person in my life would be, Roxy should have smelled lion on Sean long before she does. Since the close proximity of Sampson to Mark’s family, I imagined that Roxy should have been able to, if even faintly, smell lion sooner.Another nitpick is that if werelions are so aggressive and protective, why wasn’t Sean marking his territory? Mark should have fought the urge to piss on every bush and corner outside around the apartment. Male cats mark their territory, and Sean did not which seemed odd.The combat scenes are excellent. There is some good humor throughout and I like how Sean does not take his new powers as license for douchebaggery. Many young men would have succumbed to the rush of sudden power. It is a testament to Sean’s character and parentage that he does not abuse his new found abilities.I would have liked to see Sean’s playful side come out more. I imagine that a young man running around as a huge lion in Reno at night would be more tempted by mischief than anything else. Who wouldn’t want to stick their furry head in someone’s window scaring the family dog (or cat), or let a roar rip out in the parking garage of the MGM casino?

Light LitRPG, with weres, mages and supernatural beasties running about, though hidden, in our world. Decent writing, engaging story and the MC and his 2 gf's are developing as characters while they try to survive with the supernatural world gunning for them. Moving on to book number 2.

The premise is your everyman's 'mundane boy tossed in over his head in a secretly magical world' situation, but the focus on the characters and the decision to keep the pace quick and the tone light and straightforward do help quite a bit to make it feel somewhat distinct. Only real shortcoming with the lore is calling all were-shifters 'lycans' as it denotates the wolf genus in the term 'lycanthrope' and thus calling the werecheetahs and werelions lycans just comes off as ill done decision making on the authors part and it does detract from things given how often the term is used.The real issue with the book, and all the following in the series up to book 4 as I've read them, is the writing's lack of proper proofreading and editing for a finished literary product. Apart from spelling and punctuation mishaps throughout the book, there are a myriad of untouched redundancies in the prose that make it come off either very awkward or very.... I'd have to say juvenile, for lack of a better word.And no this is not concerning the harem-ish romance decisions unto themselves, though it does make them come off very two dimensional and oversaturated as a result. Not to mention that in the books following, despite the talk of things like 'were-lions are extremely picky about their mates' and such, the protagonist is adding a wife roughly once every book and with no real reasoning or changes coming about other than another woman to flirt and have sex with every other scene, and it cheapens the overall feel of the relationships with the impression that he's only going to keep adding more and more women to his 'family' as the story goes along so the value of the women as characters, let alone as proper romantic interests, drops lower and lower every time and really strains the believability of the story.I'd honestly say, looking at what the author's intent seemed to be for some of the dialogue, that they were going for an almost campy tone and outlook on everything in the story, but the bad editing affects this and just makes it seem like poor writing. And while I get that it fits with the pacing and the way the author is building the story up, the way the development of character relationships is portrayed is only made to seem more flat and rushed due to this, in fact exacerbating the unbelievability of the romances as I mentioned prior.They are far from bad books, or a bad premise for a series, but it really could use a proper proofreading and revised editing. Something like a diamond in the rough, the good potential is there but it isn't drawn out to the fullest.

I picked this book up because I was looking for an easy read on a quiet Saturday night. From the cover, the blurb and the reviews I have read from other readers, an easy read was what I expected of this and it's exactly what I got.The story of a young man suddenly gaining supernatural powers while becoming aware of a supernatural hidden society shouldn't be new to any urban fantasy fan. This book isn't really going to offer anything in the realms of groundbreaking story. However, what it does offer is a lot of fun.This book felt rushed, could have done with a minimum of one more editing pass and was really cheesy at times; but it excelled because it knew exactly what it was. This is a fun, easy read that taps directly into a teenager's fantasy and puts the results on the page. What you end up with is a story with lots of action, lots of sex, stilted dialogue and a lot of plot conveniences... but something that's just plain fun to read.If you're the kind of person who only enjoys literary excellence and are looking for a masterfully crafted novel then this isn't the story for you. However, if your willing to overlook a few elements to have some fun with what you're reading, then Black Friday is worth a try.3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

This book is Well writen, funny and has a great plot. not gunna lie, some scenes in it are definightly NSFW and its NOT a book to read for your kids. but if your ok with reading sex scenes it'll only add to how good the book is. Honestly, i highly reccomend this book, i've rarely found a series i like this much!The plot is fantastic, with great ideas, characters, and writing style, though at times it was hard to keep up with who was saying what, but thats easily forgiven for a bookt his enjoyable and apparently it gets better throught he series. its not one of those books with lots of complicated twists and turns but a fun read and i genuily couldnt put it down, and cant wait to see where its going next :) my thanks to jan Stryvant for making this series and i wish you luck with your future series, ill be keeping an eye out for them :)

A good read, plot moves along nicely with enough action and developments to keep it interesting.The characters are likable and the women are strong (as a female reader I appreciate this ).There are better books out there, but I've given it five stars because it is one of the better ones of this style of work and I'll be downloading the next book as soon as I've finished this review

The Valens series was one of the first in this genre that I read. And from my journey began. But I always find myself coming back. Love the Valen series and am overjoyed that it has gone so far.

When i first got pointed to V.L I thought it wasn't going to be my thing.I was wrong, this is one of my favorite series to revisit over and over again.The first book is an excellent setup to the world and all the dangers that lurk in it, plus Lycians are sexy :D