Gwen

Disappointing after the first one.

Revisado: 02-12-23

I loved the first book, but not this one. It reads as though there should be a message, moral, or idea... it may be a failing on my part, but I did not find anything worth while aside from a glimpse into the authors ideals on morality and power.

Very much an "and then this happened" type book. I would return it except I listened to the end waiting for it to redeem itself.

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Basic power fantasy, cartoon characters

Revisado: 08-13-22

Narrator manages to make another MC (this one a practically lobotomized, street hardened, young adult) sound like a petulant 4-6 year old.

Potentially interesting world building and mechanics, fairly shallow characters.

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Combat Log With Detailed Breakdown

Revisado: 09-13-21

Was really looking forward to this book, mostly good, some combat is well written... and then there is the repetition.

Far too often the author breaks down combat into detailed thinking about ability - ability description - mechanic explanation - ability attempt - ability effect (usually repeat of ability description) - effect explanation - repeat.

While this would be acceptable if it were done occasionally at particularly significant moments, or when exploring a new ability, it is done a lot. I almost forgot what we were doing before the start of the latest description of an already familiar ability, a lot.

Unfortunately I find the above really slows down combat, and breaks immersion.

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Not a Dungeon Management

Revisado: 08-26-21

Not a Lit-RPG
Not a Dungeon Management
Not an Adventure
Not a Comedy

Well written MC/villain and character interactions, but the Publisher's Summary for this book describes only the starting conditions of the book, and implies the book will be something it is not. I feel like this book/series could have been amazing but falls short by trying to include too much without giving any one element (with the exception of MC and his goals) the care and attention it requires.

Levels and abilities seem arbitrary and do not correspond well to actual power except where combat is hand-waved or as an excuse to do or not do something. If it were not for some lore related content, I would say the story would be just as good, if not better by leaving out all mention of levels and system abilities entirely.

While it starts to include Dungeon Management elements, it features near the start of the story, and only sporadically mentioned afterwards. Adventurers and their deeds also only feature in this book in the way a generic farmer features in a starting town of most classic hero-fantasy or RPG.

Unlike the Publisher's Summary, this book contains very little humor that I could identify, with the exception of a few slap-stick pranks the book is mostly focused on the drama reacting to events.

I feel like this story would have been better written more like a dark-fantasy novel starting from the MCs childhood and without so many flashbacks... But that might just be me.

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esto le resultó útil a 27 personas

Bad video game

Revisado: 10-08-19

This reads like an angry & arrogant child playing a bad video game, and constantly fails to suspend disbelief.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Good, but not for everyone

Revisado: 07-19-19

This book should come with a trigger warning. While it does not go into explicit detail, the number of references and details around rape and sex trafficking warrant being forewarned for those likely to be more upset than most by these topics.

The author does a great job of world building and I loved the detail regarding the mechanics of this fantasy world and the systems within, though I understand that the brief tangents and segues for detail could be edited for better flow, and may disrupt the experience for those that are less interested in these things.

I found the plot and development of the characters within the world to be well written with no great twists or surprises. There were, however, a number of significant and realistically timed reveals. A solid first book from a new author with room to grow.

I personally quite enjoyed (most) of the book, and look forward to a sequel (if there is one), which I hope to be even better written & edited.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Disappointing

Revisado: 04-30-19

Reads like the first draft of a teen-age power fantasy and wet dream turned screenplay.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Good Performance, good language, ADHD writing

Revisado: 11-19-16

What did you like best about Cephrael's Hand? What did you like least?

Skilled voice actor, with characters that apparently have rich histories within a vast world with nice descriptive language.

What could Melissa McPhail have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

After listening to the book for 5 hours I was unable to immerse myself in the world and was left with the distinct impression that while Melissa McPhail has a rich imagination and has created diverse character, she could not decide on a story or series of events to follow.I feel too much was attempted in this one book, and it would have been more useful to either use other narrative techniques to convey events, or to split this story into separate concurrent narratives or sequential narratives following only a couple of primary characters each.More time should be spent with each character before jumping to another so as to better understand who each character is, and to become invested in the events surrounding each individually.

Have you listened to any of Nick Podehl’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This is the first, though I enjoyed his performance.

Was Cephrael's Hand worth the listening time?

No.I regularly read & listen to books ranging from 10 to 60+ hours each with various pacing and styles.I listened to this one for 5 hours and simply could not bring myself to continue nor care about the characters or the world, as the narrative was jumping to drastically different characters & places with little sense of coherence and without any sort or resolution or proper introduction, this is a shame as I really tried to immerse myself in this book.I went so far as to see if this was a continuation of another series in the same world that should be read/listened to first, with no luck.

Any additional comments?

Compelling VA performance let down by authors writing which shows great descriptive potential but fails in so many ways. I could not recommend this to anyone, unfortunately. I may try picking it up again but I see this as a prime example of a good author attempting to encompass too much too quickly within one book.

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esto le resultó útil a 43 personas

Great performance. Good narrative. Okay language.

Revisado: 04-10-16

The authors conflation of terms (speed, acceleration, etc) as a basis for psuedo-jargon was annoying but forgivable considering how the narrative draws attention. This is especially so given the compelling performance.

Had the jargon been more appropriate, this would have been my first entirely 5 star rating.

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