Battledeck Academy

Reborn Assassin #1

by Harmon Cooper

Alistair Blackstar's life is about to take an extraordinary turn...

On the cusp of entering the prestigious Lumina Battledeck Academy, Alistair harbors a dark within him dwells Ghost. A reborn master assassin hellbent on revenge.

Bound together by fate and magic, Alistair and Ghost embark on a dual journey of vengeance and discovery.

As Alistair navigates the arcane halls of the academy, mastering battledeck spells and summoning skills, Ghost seeks to unravel the mysteries of his untimely demise.

Their worlds collide and intertwine, revealing a threat far greater than either could have imagined...

Don't miss the next action-packed LitRPG Series from Harmon Cooper. This isekai magic aacademy adventure features a three-tiered LitRPG card system that revolves around summons, wand-based spells, and abilities.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Magic

564 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 16, 2024

About the author

Harmon Cooper is the author of over sixty fantasy works. His bestselling series include Pilgrim, War Priest, Cowboy Necromancer, and Tokens and Towers.

His series, The Feedback Loop, is one of the earlier GameLit works first published in 2015. An earphone award winner for the series Death's Mantle, Harmon won the LitRPG/GameLit Audiobook of the Year award for Sacred Cat Island, narrated by Legends and Lattes author Travis Baldree.

Harmon write progression fantasy, cultivation fantasy, and LitRPG/GameLit.

Reviews

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Solid editing, weak plot

This reads like a Youth novel aimed at the 10-14 crowd.
Legendary assassin is reincarnated, proceeds to skip building physical stamina, magical power, earning funds or gaining knowledge before trying to take on the 5 most powerful members of his former guild.
At every move the assassin acts dumber than the poor, under educated, under nourished orphan kid whose body he shares.

On the good side their where no noticeable spelling, grammar or formatting errors.

Some swearing, no sexual situations to the point I gave up reading.

[Dayna · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars! I listened to the audiobook for this one, and I'm so glad I did! The audio added so much more fun to the book and the characters in it. Alistair is an orphan who is accepted into a battle mage school, a new program, where he is quickly shoved into a card system with not much explanation. He is able to make friends with another new boy, Juno, who does know what is happening, thankfully. This book is filled with teenage boy hyjinx, but also about making friends in school and learning about a whole new world of being a battle mage. Not only that, but Alistair also has a reborn assassin sharing his body now, who is absolutely bent on revenge of those who murdered him and caused him to take residence inside of a teenage boy. The switching was entertaining as well as the summons that Alistair comes to find. Ziggy is hands down my favorite, and I would like my own little shoulder slime. I look forward to the next book and what it shall bring.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new series from Harmon Cooper - always something to celebrate, and indeed you will, for this Isekai academy experience will blow you away!

Not only a three-tiered LitRPG card system with wand-based skills and abilities, but also a solid story, in-depth engaging characters, and THE most wonderful summons. This book is full of charm, friendship, enemies, vengeance, is action-packed, and SO much happens. The author has such an easy-to-read writing style that you will zoom through these pages. Adored the David Bowie connections, too.

I don't want to spoil anything for you, but, in my humble opinion, this is the start of another excellent series. I couldn't put it down! Loved this - absolute quality.

[Laurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a new type of gameLit for me it had an original (to me at least) LitRPG card system with wand-based skills. It starts with our MC, Alistair Blackstar, current resident of an orphanage in Lumina, getting a letter of acceptance to the Lumina Battledeck Academy.

Alistair makes friends and enemies throughout this book, and get's a few helpful "Summon" creatures he can call on for help. I particularly loved his badass slime Ziggy and his shadow fae Noctarii.

This was a solidly entertaining tale with so much more to look forward to. I'm for sure getting the next book when it comes out, but on audio because the folks at Soundbooth Studios made this 100% more amazing.

[Andy Zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been a Harmon Cooper fan for some time. This series start off with a great book where a deadly assassin and a fledgling mage get their lives inextricably tangled. One is on a mission of revenge and the other is a clueless magician trying to survive his first year in the magical academy.

It's an uneasy alliance as the mage must tolerate the assassin's ruthless behavior and the assassin must learn the magical abilities of the mage.

There's a lot more I can't tell you! Read and find out.

[Zalfan · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5 (rounded up, because it is the first book in the series) - Flawed, but probably good for the write audience (early teens)

The good
Grammar
The system is different from the usual
Animal companions are always a win

The bad
The plot is not anything special.
Both the MCs are uninteresting. Ghost is inconsistent. I think the author seeks the coolness factor rather than consistency (at which he fails as well). Alistair is a generic naive MC

[Ian Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like the slime

When I read the title, I thought: " Oh, no... Yugioh."
But no, More a Pokemon with wands and Hogwarts and other stuff. The whole bit with the reborn assassin makes this so very interesting as it's not reincarnation but more a possessing spirit. Old guy and young kid in same body. This leads to all sorts of awkward situations and hijinks. Definitely a great read. I think this could be one of the author's best series. No harem. Great read.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing Start

Cooper rides in with another new series as we have an academy using deck levelling and a revenge story all in book one. A lot happens, and without spoilers, the hints we get about what to expect in book 2 look phenomenal. After enjoying this time to hit the audio, which looks as good, if not better.
Well done for another series to get my teeth into.

[Brian Busby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved it , it has a brilliant storyline and a great cast of characters.
Unfortunately it's one of those books that is difficult to review without giving spoilers
But what I will say is it deserves more than those 5 stars .
Who knows what the next book will bring, I am so looking forward to seeing it.
I absolutely recommend this book

[James Bravo · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. I was legitimately bored.

This novel had a fairly weak plot imo. It really dragged. Little action. Little sense. I was hoping for this cool assassin and got a shy kid in high school. Like a a bad anime. I think I’ve read other stuff by this author and been similarly disappointed. He just pumps out fairly generic stuff.

[Aaron Eichler · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are hearing things

Team slime is on the rise. I loved the shadow fae. He is so funny and useful. The voice change between the student and the assassin is awesome, and I understand why he was originally freaked out. The choice of a slime as a first summons was interesting, but we all know that slimes are really powerful once they evolve.

[Devan · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I’ve had better” lol

I liked it only in the sense that it was a CardLit story. I’m a sucker for these. Other than that, I had to force myself to finish it.

Everything lacks depth in my opinion. The card system was lackluster for instance. You would think that if the MC had a world class assasin in his head there would be some cool training in the book for the MC to pick up his skills. No, but he does go jogging though lol. Don’t think I’ll read book two.

[Phi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such an interesting premise, and I loved seeing the characters develop and grow throughout even just this first book in the series. Such a fun read! I highly recommend the audiobook because Sound Booth Theater always does an absolutely fantastic job, and you can't really beat narration by Jeff Hays. I can't wait for the next audiobook to be out!

[Matthew Cramer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very fun story. Most of the time I don't like comparing books but most of this feels like a better shot at Harry Potter. The card magic is a combination of monster summoning and magical ability. The assassin aspect is in good taste and not stereotypical edge lord I worried it would be. I also appreciate that book one does not cover Alistar's whole first year.

[Sarah Axling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whoa, this book is spectacular!

Reborn Assassin is a wild ride. I absolutely love the premise. It's fun and exciting, and impossible to put down! I love the characters (squish?) and it's super fast paced and so fun! Absolutely recommend!!

[James Riley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good

I really liked this book. It had great characters and lots of action, as well as a good amount of humor. I'm really looking forward to the next one.

Highly recommended.

[Danny Cannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it

I am not one for battle deck books but I absolutely loved this. The author nailed it!
I listened to it on Audible too and the people at Soundbooth Studios really know what they’re doing. I hope the next book comes soon.

[Michael Marciano · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really unenjoyable

Just could not get behind the story had a lot of holes in it limited development of any characters or the world itself. Very much felt like the other just kind of made it up as he wrote it

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great by Harmon Cooper

I highly recommend this book! This is a great beginning, and I can't wait for more!
Read this you won't regret it.

[Tiffany Taylor whiting · Rating 5 out of 5]

love this book

Harmon has done it again. A reborn academy book was just what I was needing and to have a possession type as well was brilliant

[Johnie C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good one sitting read

I enjoyed reading this book very much and I recommend this book to anyone who likes LitRPG and progression type of books with lots of action.

[Richin109 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

Interesting twist of a typical litrpg series. Really like the possession/partnership. I also like the use of a card system.

[Bim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun read of betrayal and twists with no shortage of action, humor, and witty characters. It doesn’t disappoint. Highly recommend.

[Lester Covax · Rating 2 out of 5]

Scooby-Doo characters

[Thomas Wolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Way, way too YA. Stilted single voice YA to boot. Kernels of good ideas written in a painfully OCD style. Adults keep far, far away. Great Matt Dinniman led me to this. Oh well. Kiddos, have at it.

[Lenron Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely love the book and can’t wait to see what comes next!

[Carson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great characters and an isekai with a twist. It's fantastic and I can't wait for the next book in the series. Also the Audiobook is a fantastic treat.

[Paul Alcantara · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome world

Fun world building and a great card system. Honestly one of the better versions of summons and card style systems.

[Murphies_law · Rating 2 out of 5]

Best suited for young teenage battle deck fans. For me it seemed like a mix of battle deck, high school drama and pokemon..

DNF

[Reinaldo Muralha · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some repeated dialogue (asking if the assassin's master was alive) and some more incongruencies