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tori does not feel smart, trial made no sense

Revisado: 05-27-22

everyone said tori is smart, one of the smartest man. dr menaical, said she is smart, the narrator said she is smart. but what smart thing we saw her do? almost none.

the very first time i saw her being smart is to make a device that make sand glass and burnt kevin a bit. this is quite good, but it would be nice if we can see how was her thinking process, what glass to use, how her experiment failed, any smart way to feed her body heat into her newly made glove. or just a hint here and there hinting us she is tinkering something without telling the audience the whole thing would be nice

if she is smart, when kevin met her, dr menaical should at least have some security measurement around her like "DO NOT let this girl use your phone!" in the testing room or some magic orb following her to send a warning if she try to do some tech thing.

if she is smart, when kevin gave her the lighter that can shock her for training, she should be able to at least tell something is off from the lighter, or at least show us after she got the lighter, she dissemble it to see what is it inside. or at least scan it to check

if she is smart, when she met the droids in the test, she would not be just melting them down for cores. a tech gal like her should be thinking o salvaging the droids and build something to increase her survival at first sight of the droids

kevin asked the right question, why dr. meniacnical did not train her himself. his answer is unthinkable, "she is too smart, i don't want her to be like me, i want her to be like her". This is NOT how most study work. for example, you have a young child who showed very talented in painting. Yes, the child can totally study politics or sociology and still be good at painting. But if you want to cultivate the child into a grandmaster of painting instead of starting WW2? you put the child with great artist teachers, those teachers will teach about sketching anatomy, coloring, shadows and contrast, and at least teach the child most painting techniques and theories before letting the child to find his style. Dr menianical should at least be able to recommend her some text books to read, lead her through some difficult engineering/tinkering, discuss how her suit should be, what difficulty of her suit might need to overcome, teach her some advance mathematical or physics theories, or help her figure out what kind of materials combination work best in high heat situations, etc.

kevin is also a weird one, i understand he want to lay low. but he was the best among the best, the top of the world. he should not be working in an environment he don't like. a head manager in a branch is much better than a manager in a big company. a head manager in a branch at least make him the boss of location and can give him a lot of freedom. this would give him more freedom and he can just leave early if he don't want to stay in the office.

the unnnecessity of the apprentices trials:
In the middle of the book, the apprentices faced dangerous trial.
I get it is important to train would be guild members to work with each others, but why put them in dangers?
The purpose of the training is to make the apprentice to learn to work with each others, and also abide the code, that's it, right? nothing said about putting the apprentice in danger situations.
(if you are at war, and you need ELITE soldiers, soldiers that can only born from trial of near death, than ya, maybe it justified the death, but the guild only wanted people that can work together and abide the code)
The death threat is totally unnecessary for the other apprentices. from the guild point of view, as long as the guild members can abide the code and work together, you should be ok to join and no need for the death threat. Death threat for tori at first made sense, she is too smart, powerful and too rebellious to let loose, but the others? they just became a metahuman and bam, go through some trial or we will have to kill you. it made no sense to me.

i think, the logical method to do is to have tier system, for new metahumans who don't want to join the hero and just want to control their power, well, just train them, drill them the code and release them when they can control their power. done.
for dangerous metahuman AND rebellious ones like tori, drill them the code, send them to some small heist and observe if they can adhere to the code. if they pass, release, if not, retrain of death
only after passing the code test, should they thinking about giving members dangerous trials. and it must be voluntary. The trials are for people who have AMBITION. only then you give them big Heist trial or whatever area they want to do.

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Refreshing take an Audiobooks, very high quality!

Revisado: 04-09-21

My first impression on this audiobook is that this is not a book! This is a full on TV series! Every character is voiced by different people, every environmental background sound, walking boots, missiles firing, button tapping, electronic beeping can be heard clearly. wow! it blew me away. I never knew audiobook can be presented in this format. Now I kinda want audiobook have this high quality. and it has a full orchestra for the music! wow! The story wise is a good start, conflict between human factions, a serious threat about food shortage, some glimpse on the alien culture. this is only the start of the story, so I will wait for more episode before I fully review the story. Just some critics on this new format of audio book: Sound effects: Sometimes environmental background sound effect kinda went over than the conversation. Not necessary louder, but enough that I missed some words the characters are saying. Hope the background sound effect/ music can be separated more with the conversation in he future. Narration: It would be nice to add in some narration to describe the scene a bit. The sound designs, voice actors and the dialogs are VERY well done here, I can tell about 85% of what is happening from the boot walking sound, beeping, cup clanking, and how the characters subtly imply or hint on the scene. However, sometimes I really hope for a narrator to just narrate the scene out. I remember a character said in awe something about the size of a ship or something, I really wanted a narrator to say more. No need to narrate every scenes, just a few scenes here and there would be enough. voice actors: I don't know why, but sometimes I have trouble telling who is talking, is it the main protagonist? or the leader of the fleet? I myself sometimes am not good at differentiating different people voice in real life, in this type of presentation, it is hard to determine who is talking. A single, good narrator like Michael Kramer has the uncanny ability to subtly voice out different characters but we still understand who is who. I don't know why, when there are actual different voice actors, talking, I have difficulty telling who is who. maybe the narration of "A said, B said" might alleviate this situation. Can't wait for the next episode.

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TOO SHORT!!! SO good! (too much prompts reading)

Revisado: 07-12-20

Arrrghhh! The story has to end when things start to get interesting! I love this book, but I am conflicted about the prompts reading. One of the main attraction of this kind of book is the upgrades and the growth the main character can get. At first, it was new and fun. but now it become a bit cumbersome to listen through the stats, and listen to the protagonist described the stats and how much he grows. maybe can cut down the numbers a bit and provide a sheet of reference if the reader choose to read, then describe the new growth/skills/talents/decisions. The whole prompts reading made the book short, like about 30% shorter. I think there was 3 consecutive chapters just on prompts. Again, while it is nice and necessary, is there anyway to cut down some numbers reading? There is one whole chapter I just skipped... because... I was having dinner at that time. I can definite see the author's style/choice of writing to include that. it was definitely funny. but I have to skip it. Ugggh but all in all the worse feeling I have now is that I need to WAIT for the next book! Love the narrator, Nick Podehl, so much! His can really make different voices and accents with ease. His own touch of voice really brings to book to live. How long do I need to wait for the next boookkkk?????

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Fateseal review - forced/odd rules, deus ex machin

Revisado: 11-27-19

I am only at around 20% of the book, but i need to comment of its.... Forced/odd rules

I know sometimes an author has to... Make  things happen, or force some rules on the situation, so the story can go where the author want.

But in this case, i think the author try to force something, it made me felt the whole situation... Forced, or odd.

The very first thing i feel forced is the gods/deity. They totally come out of nowhere. I can't believebthe author do a deus ex machina in the middle of story.
the protagonist log out to avoid certain death, and she woke up with strangers in her room, she reacted as most people would to strangers suddenly appear in their room, but when they say they are gods and pull her back to the game, wanting herbto be their champion, she just accept it.

A normal, modern person would at least in denial for a bit: "but... Gods don't exist" or "ok, dev team, stop playing", or "nope, i just want to play game, dont get me into this champion thing. "

The protagonist just kinda rolled with it, she did not object, and started doing research and stuff.


The second odd thing is: the protagonist did not riase alarm to her team/friends. The protagonist seems to be a team leader of an online guild. We only saw her best friend Alice. I liked it when they compare notes. It sounds like what experienced player would do. 

When something like a God show up that can control and forced player to go in and out of the game  and appear out of thin air, protagonist did not raised ANY alarm to any of her friedns or report to the news/developer. She just gave an half-assed reason of "nobody will believe me if i talk"

The most important odd thing is the protagonist don't talk to her friend Alice about the consequence of being a human Champion 
After learning the ultimatum from the human empire, it is either sacrifice her friend, alice, or herself to the human, the gods told the protagonist something about not tell her friend, alice. and also, iris, one of the godness, send an email to her to not to tell alice.
Or else what? What is stopping protagonist from telling alice, her dearest friend, to warn her about the bad fate in front of her?
A normal human reaction would be: f*** that, gods or no gods,, Imma gonna tell the world about this and ask all the player to boycott this human empire! my life or my friend's life is at stake!
It felt really weird and cold for the protagonist who did not at least try to reach out to her good friend to warn her about the consequence of being a human's champion.

In the old days, people love to watch opera, sometimes the stories ended with "Thus god come and solve all the problems for everybody", we now call this lazy story writing "deus ex machina". This story... really deus ex machina hard. The gods sounded more like management team than actual gods. They come to solve the conflict between the protagonist and the demon king when there was an misunderstanding, they made out weird rules for their subjects to follow (must get a champion, but did not specify why and what the champion need to do exactly, the champion must tour both sides before making a decision). Some rules seems to be added last minute or spontaneously by the author without previously mentioned (if you don't choose to be human champion, we will choose alice as human champion). the godness personally come and collect protagonist soul so she can tour the human place. The story never explain why the gods are playing this game.

The time limit/due date is REALLY flexible, at first, the godness say she can only give the protagonist at most 1 day to consider, after the protagonist made her decision,  the demon king said he need 1 week in human world. and the godness agreed and sent them to human world. So.... the time is actually flexible? It just felt weird and suddenly the 1 day due date become irrelevant.

I think i might continue the story. see if i can swallow the rest. or not, maybe i will refund for credits

edit: just read a bit more, turns out the protagonist will tell her friend over a dinner. it felt really weird to wait for a dinner to discuss something so important and dire. just tell her immediately through the phone!

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Glims to the future of space

Revisado: 07-03-19

i love a science fiction that pay so many attention to details.

i have never imagined politics in space like. now i have seen it. well, listened it.

i really like how the news are presented in the book. different people/faction will report different point of view of the news and thus it feels very real life.

i have never seen clash of ideas between characters. it is quite thought provoking when the two main characters come together and discuss an action. Both have solid, but drastically different point of views. it was hard for me to decide who is right or wrong.

the book feels like a detective story. keep digging through layers of facts to expose the real truth.

one of the character, Miller, has a really good character arch. don't want to say too much here, but i did not know it is so interesting to see a character spiraling down.

Highly recommend this book.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Author need to have more experience in life

Revisado: 05-18-19

This review is wrote from a personal and technical standpoint on how the story can be improved. The author has published books, I haven't. I am also only at Chapter 16 of the story, about 40% of the book. Therefore is review might not reflect the actual quality of the book. I just can't be bothered to continue reading.

Oh, and spoilers alert up to chapter 16 .
(However there are not much actual spoilers... nothing important really happened)

First of all, I need to recommend the author has come out with a very cool and innovative special skills, Siphon: the ability to steal 1% of whoever the protagonist touched. (maybe it is a DnD thing, but still interesting enough to stands out a bit from other stories.)

The set up is also nice, The protagonist, Jade, was bedridden and crippled before, now she is healthy and able to grow.

The narrator is very good. I can differentiate most of the different characters and Jade has a very cute voice.

Basically these are the good points i can think of.



CHILDISH
What the book strikes me immediately is... childish.

As reviewer "Umaros" (03-21-19) mentioned, "The MC has no struggles, nothing to overcome. Everyone loves & fawns over how amazing she is for the majority of the book, and she doesn't have to try to succeed."

Some characters, like the two maids, immediately become friendly to the protagonist when they saw her, and tell her and teach her a bit about the world. The healer's wife grab her to get healing, and let her eat.

Some characters, like the ... hostel manager, was mean and angry to her without reason at first. This is actually OK, because some people in real world is really like that, but the author did not show the protagonist questioning why he is mean to her or any reason for the character to be mean to the protagonist.

However, once the character learnt that the protagonist, Jade, is a healer and has a chance to get into the academy, he basically become a big brother and help Jade.

This is where I say the author, Jay Boyce, need to have more experience in life.

In the story, Rafael (the hostel manager guy), tell Jade he will bring her to interview for the admission of the academy. Jade decided to take a bath before going to the interview, Rafael lead her to the interview, and then they are 1 hour late. Rafael apologized because he only booked the interview this morning, and the interviewers are 3 guys who are almost as young as Rafael. Jade decided to be friendly and all cheerful with them, and they all love her for it. they asked a few questions, jade demonstrated her water magic, and she was accepted. when Jade and the interviewer walked out to go to library together (so they can watch her rub the library pass on the librarian face), Rafael was there wating for Jade.

I have so many questions...
why did a hostel manager need to help a would be student to book an interview?
why didn't the hostel manager bang on the bathroom door when they are going to be late?
why did a hostel manager need to lead a would be student to the interview?
(maybe because Jade is a traveler/healer, hence she got special treatment. If this is the case the author should show other people surprised to hear Rafael is taking Jade to interview personally)
Why the interviewers are 3 young guys? Shouldn't some professors (older people) do the admission interview?
(they did mentioned they are experts in different field... but it still feel weird...)
why didn't the interviewers asked about her education from other world?
why didn't the interviewers ask her why she want to join the academy?
why NOBODY asked her what Jade's original looked and feel like?
Why is Rafael waiting Jade to finish interview outside? Don't he have somethingbetter to do?
Why are the interviewers accompany Jade to see her rub her new library pass to the librarian who denied her entry? Don't they have something more important to do? (the interviews! usually the interviewers in real world are super busy during the college intake/application time.)

Jade seems a bit entitled sometimes. I don't really remember where I felt it (maybe when she demanded a room to stay, or how she act towards the guy who don't let her into the library because she has no pass). But this might be a good character arc if done correctly.

In the story, right after Jade learn light magic, she bump into a glasswork shop and strike a business deal with the glassmaker to use her magic. This is where I feel like the author need more life experience. A job/business deal should not be this easy. Why wouldn't other light mages, however rare they are, strike a deal with the glassmaker before? It is such a lucrative business! A better story would be she saw the beautiful figures, but the glassmaker complaint about the light mage is charging too much but not making the light pretty enough. So jade asked to bring one back to test, the glassmaker insist she have to buy. Jade have no choice so she pay. she have to take some time and lesson to learn how to infuse the light correctly and not crack/explode the figures. Finally because of hardwork and dedication, her lightweaving is better than the current light mage and she strike a deal with the glassmaker.


Weird, time wasting conversation
The author seems to be more of a "Gardener" spectrum. There are two types of writing, "Gardener" tends to keep writing and writing (Stephen King), "Architect " likes to plan things out before writing (George RR Martin).
There was a part Jade are not sure what name is who during the interview, she spend sometimes addressing them in her head as "maybe-stephan", "maybe-Eric" and the asked their names to confirm. This might be how the author want to show Jade try to be buddy-buddy to the interviewers, but I feel this is unnecessary and can be done better.


Show vs tell
The people around Jade keep telling Jade that Healing magic is very rare. I as a reader only hear people saying healer and healing magic is rare, but i don't feel that it is rare. This can be done better. The author can show the reader that people are hurt but don't dare to go visit a healer because they are too expensive or they can't find a healer. Or Rafael should show heavily interest to drag Jade to the interviewer immediately to show how desperate the academy need a healer, or people should immediately talk to her when she heal the little girl bruise.




Backstory/lore
Seriously?
Jade never think about her parents?
Never think about going back to her world with her new, healthy body?
Where are other travelers? Are they super powerful like Jade? what are they doing now?
What are the monsters? I am at around 30% of the book for the word "monster" to pop out. It feels like monsters are not very important in the stories... but apparently they attack?
How do they attack? what do they do to people?
Is there a kingdom? is this a republic? is the school inside of a city or surrounded by forest? I am at 40% of the book and still dont know the geography and politics outside of the school.
The author did say Jade love to read and already asked for books on these topics. but I am already too tired or disinterested to know.


THE IMPORTANT WHY
A great story will answer a question: "Why is this story being told?"
Disney nail this in their movies, there is a clear theme/premise in each of their movie.
Why is Siphon being told?
What is Jade's action trying to prove?
I don't know.
at 40% of the book, she seems very happy to have a healthy body, overpowerful special skill, and people who a friendly to her.

I am trying to get a refund now. If the book get more interesting, please let me know.

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Surprisingly deep

Revisado: 05-11-19

I wanted to find a romance story, hopefully to find a female character. hmmm and this book seems to fit my search, so i just try.

At first it was OK, just some royal inheritance story line.

then they princess need to grow to inherit the throne, that was nice

Then the journey to inspect the army come, that , i think, is when the story really pick up. It starts to get interesting.

I did not see the twist coming. the author did a good work for the book!

What i am disappointed is that the author like to reveal/narrate the fate of the characters . It kinda feel like spoilers. We got the hint, don't say it out loud.

the romance is nice, how the characters fall in love with each others is well written. I can see their love, but I myself cannot feel it, maybe it is my preference.

in the middle and in the end of the book, i can start to see some fantasy element coming in, hope to see more in the future.

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Vague hints and grinding for level

Revisado: 01-31-19

Why. Did. I. Finished. The. Book?

I have to say, the author did a good job at the foreshadowing and hinting, i kinda like vague hints thing. I kinda guessed the it, but I was wrong in the end. That was quite good.

What I don't like is the GRINDING. It seems like they are having fun in the game. But it was NOT FUN reading how they grind their level. Most of the time, there was only 1 formula:
0) talk about the game developement (and hidden agenda the creator have)
1) vague hints
2) get power/skills/magic
3) go to some place with friends + grind for experience
4) nemesis showed up briefly
5) yay, level up
Rinse and repeat.

That happened like what, 3-4 times?

The fighting is summarized and shorten. There was no excitement in the fight scene because the protagonist and friends are GRINDING for power. So only boss fight worth some mentioned. But that also sometimes summarised.

Can't really relate to the protagonist, can't really like the world. It is not a world, it feels like a normal MMO world where the NPC means little than quest givers. I have read other books with MMO that has NPC that made me like them.

The narrator is not bad, just went overboard for some male voice. it feels fake for some characters, but most of her voices are OK.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Non-immersive narrator and Info dump

Revisado: 01-31-19

Please note that I am at Chapter 3 in the story, but i have lost interest.

First of all, the Narrator. John Lee has a very... formal reading voice. Like when teacher call you up to read a text book, You used your most professional sound to read the text book. I can't immerse myself into the story because of this.

The author likes to Info-dump. At the start of the second chapter, he said "Let me tell you the story of myself". Then go into rant how the protagonist ancestor come to be. Very text book like. Somewhere in Chapter 2 or 3 the author also start talking about how the tree sap might form the stone, because the protagonist is researching his magic books. It is really boring listening to the lore like that.

I am not sure if the story will get more interresting further down. but I have lost interest and is returning the book now.

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Cool idea of human got stripped off technology

Revisado: 01-19-19

What happened if interstellar travel human being landed on unknown planet, got stripped off the interstellar technology, and have to survive alien attacks?

This book made a very good story about this question. and planted many questions. hope i can read the next book!

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