Have any of you heard of Book Outlet? I think it’s most useful for those living in the US and Canada but basically they have VERY discounted books with good shipping prices. The best part is they have EVERYTHING. Classics, adult fiction (sci-fi and fantasy and mystery and literary fiction), and TONS of young adult books. There are a lot of popular releases, but also a ton of lesser known books.

Anyway the point is I was on the Book Outlet website, as I frequently am, and I came across this book. It sounded pretty good, and had pretty good Goodreads reviews so I thought why not.

AND I’M SO GLAD I BOUGHT IT. This book!!! Was so!! Good!!! Whip-smart and disabled main character! Stalwart bodyguard who acts as her father figure! Skyships!!! Floating islands that make up the world!!! YES.

Fun fact: Garth Nix is one of my top 5 favorite authors. I have loved his Old Kingdom series and Keys to the Kingdom series for soooo long. I’ve talked a bit more in detail about his books in my Libraries in Literature post and Rainy Day Reads post, and have definitely mentioned him in a few others. When I heard he was publishing his first adult fantasy (Angel Mage) I was SO EXCITED. Like, this book has been on my TBR since it was announced basically.

So I preordered it, but naturally didn’t get to reading it until now, a month later. Which tbh is pretty good for my track record this year, seeing as how I preordered The Priory of the Orange Tree which came out in the beginning of February and I still haven’t read that… oops.

Back to Angel Mage…haha. It’s easy for me to get off track.

When I saw the synopsis of this book I was IMMEDIATELY drawn in. I mean, magic through writing in a secret language? Magic that has a cost that is literally your life force? Rebelling against the system to kill a goddess?? I mean this is basically the best premise, what more could you ask for?

How far would you go to change humanity's fate?

Jared Cartwright has spent the last two years delving into the twisted, scarred wastelands of an earth ravaged by nuclear war. The rich and powerful have taken to the oceans and skies on floating utopias, escaping destruction and leaving the rest of humanity to fend off the mutated creatures that roam the earth.

To face his new reality, Jared must become an apex predator if he hopes to survive. He must evolve beyond human limitations to confront those that left mankind to die.

Jared's quest takes a new turn when he discovers dragons are real.

I received a free copy of the audiobook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

I haven’t read much LitRPG, so when the opportunity came to review the audiobook Radioactive Evolution I was looking forward to it. I know how narration can make or break a book for people and I’m happy to report that the narrators did a great job with this one. I didn’t have trouble understanding what was being said and the narration fit well with the story. Radioactive Evolution feels like a video game and I loved watching the story unfold through the eyes of our main characters, Jared (human) and Scarlet (dragon).

What I enjoyed most about this book was the idea of the characters being able to level up after fighting enemies and gaining nanotechnology that allows them to divvy it up to increase strength, mental capacity, or regeneration. I also found Jared and Scarlet’s relationship quite interesting, since they have a special bond. And can I just say… for someone who’s read about dragons in books multiple times, I loved how massive Scarlet was. Imagine Godzilla and just, wow. That’s terrifying and brilliant all at once.

Some things didn’t work as well for me though. While Jared and Scarlet’s relationship was explained, I sometimes found their interactions a bit overdone. I also found a lot of things explained in general. I know this is part of the worldbuilding and sharing the knowledge with readers, but I would have loved more show than tell for parts of the book. Another thing I struggled with was the pacing. Even though things were happening one after another, I found that I just wasn’t as engaged in the story. It wasn’t bad per se, but I didn’t have the urge to keep going when a chapter ended. This is just my experience and preference of course and I can see other readers having no problem with things I mentioned.

Overall Radioactive Evolution opened my eyes to the fascinating world of LitRPG. It was fun and interesting and I think gamers will particularly love it!