Never Die Twice

... and a different view on life and death, or undeath, I suppose.

It is rare to find a well done vill.. cough.. good man misunderstood by the masses, but this one is among the best I have seen.

I haven't found a flaw yet, be it in story grammar or anything else, and I really enjoyed it so far.

Nothing more I could say, five stars in everything.

Note: This review contains slight spoilers.

This story is about a necromancer who wants to give everyone immortality. It should be noted that this isn't "I'm just studying necromancy to give people immortality, and I'm ethical." its "I get this criminal and do my experiments on them in such a way that is probably quite awful." 

I would rate it as a Tragedy. The main character's only goal is immortality, and they don't really have any sense of ethics.

The characters are.. okay. The main character never really has any change of heart at all (like being less of a monster, I don't want him to drop the immortality), and grows more aggressive over the length of the story. For the characters that have any goals beyond being servants (MC, Gwen, Medraut), it tries stuffing them all under the "I'm doing this for myself" morality. Though, Gwen is operating more under the "This is good, even if I don't actually care." morality system, which the MC tries portraying as exactly like his. As well, some of the characters just feel rather empty.

The MC does eventually get called out about some of his actions, but only towards the end and he just completely ignores them. Along with him becoming more aggressive, this makes him hard to like even though I approve of his goal.

The writing style isn't anything amazing. The author's other story 'Perfect Run' has more vivid imagery and thought processes that really drag you into the world. This doesn't have that.

Worldbuilding: It takes a bunch of primarily Norse mythology and some extra bits to construct an interesting world. It is very stats-based, given that they have levels, but that is mostly just used as an excuse to have people get very powerful and to give the MC knowledge/capabilities over the story. It doesn't really delve into the magic that much.

Overall: I enjoyed the story, but I feel like it could do with making the characters in general more likeable (even if they're evil) and/or more interesting.

I'll note that it also isn't 'necromancer who is a shopkeeper'. It drops that plotline partway through, and even when it was active it didn't really focus on it. I actually prefer it not focusing on that, but the story summary really makes it seem like it would focus on that.

Coming from VH's Vainqueur series I had expectations for another lighthearted fantastical powertrip. Which got shanked in an alley and arisen as genuine appreciation for a carefully curated, character focused tragedy.

'Never die twice' is at it's core a somber piece about the fight against inevitability and mortality, it's philosophical and emotional underpinnings. That it still keeps an entertaining instead of educational tone is all thanks to Durand's skillful character writing and morbid humor. And while the story races to it's inevitable conclusion it is the conflict between the actors, their progression and their deconstruction which makes up the meat of the story. I strongly urge any prospective reader to actually deliberate the dia- and monologues in this story, instead of treating them as mere illustration between battle scenes.

A few things bothered me, like the occasional grammatical oddity, but mainly the feeling that the story feels torn between entertaining it's reader with battle and intrigue and actually exploring and challenging it's actors. Regrettably the latter does not achieve it's full effect due to the brevity of the work and the heavy focus on it's protagonist. Which is incredibly well written nonetheless. Lastly, at times internal monologue or debating get's increasingly muddled and hard to follow without analysing sentence by sentence. A lot of alluded plot avenues also never see fruition, which makes me hope for thorough editing or a revisit in the future.

To sum it up, I view this story as a flawed yet inspiring masterpiece detailing the rise of a villain through the lense of his inner struggles and absolutely worth the read.

I came into this story expecting a comedy like Vainqueur the Dragon, but was suprised to see a rather different tale in front of me.  Instead, I read an incrediblely well writen tragedy.

It is set in a Norse mythology world and is centered on a man who has died, then managed to escape from Helheim and realizes that what people believe to be true about the afterlife is fundamentally wrong.  Thus, he sets off on an epic quest to change the world and defeat Death.

It's very well written but a classic tragedy all of the way through.

Seriously, the title says everything. With Vainqueur The Dragon, he did what I thought impossible by keeping every new chapter just as fresh and humurous as the very beginning. After reading the first 11 chapters of Never Die Twice, I have no doubt that pattern of quality will continue! 

Nice story, refreshing view point and I am a sucker for villian point of view Stories.

I usually don't write reviews so early into stories (read all the chapters but there aren't a lot). 

I know Void's writing ability from other novels, so this is an advance I'm willing to give.

I really like the setting, motivations, writing style and just about every scene so far. 

Good grammar, though you get a word out of place every few chapters. Author fixes errors and his writing grammar is very pleasant to read 

A misunderstood genius who is trying to conquer death. Never Die Twice is a beautifully written piece, skillfully combining folklore, myths and legends to write a grand new tale. With deep characters, story progression and world building Void Herald's has created a captivating story.

This is another great story by Void Herald that doesn't overstay its welcome and is very quick to get through over the course of a weekend. The characters are wonderful and memorable. There were no problems with the grammar likely because the story was already completed when I read it. If you want to read a story about a villain who is trying to change the world this story is it.

Okay, so I'm not sure if Walter actually counts as a rationalist, since the term "utilitarianism" never comes up in the story, but I suspect that rationalists would approve of him. His entire character is built around his quest to give immortality to everyone, including everyone who died throughout history.

As for the story itself? It hit a lot notes that I like. A villain protagonist, an impossible quest, and something of a "rage against the heavens" plot brewing in the background.

My only real complaint about the story is the characterization of some of the heroic cast members opposing Walter. In a lot of ways, their objection feels forced. They feel really petty whining about the MC's "selfish motive", when he's the only person making a serious effort to stop the end of the world.

Never Die Twice is notably different from the other two stories by Void Herald that I tried to read in that the focus is the plot, rather than humor. That's not to say that it doesn't have funny moments, but the story is pretty serious overall. In my opinion, that's a good thing. So if Vainqueur or The Perfect Run seemed too silly for you, I still recommend that you give this a chance.