Kinson

Hold On, What?

Revisado: 08-05-24

Initially this tale is woven into an engaging tapestry of wonder, horror, and introspection. By the end it falls so flatly on its own face that Voldemort has a long hooked nose by comparison.

Playing off of themes used quite frequently in this genre of books, the first book lays the groundwork for an intriguing story. Was the plot missing some story elements that would otherwise explain key moments? Sure, but that's how you make a setup. Character intros? Some of them definitely lack more than one character trait (the Angy Boi, the Loose Cannon, Healer (tm) and I Don't Understand Social Cues But I'm A Manipulation God (copyrighted)). Overall, a well executed first book.

The second begins to unravel the preconceived notions of the first, laying down room for a deliciously terrifying plot twist that truly sets the stage for some fun. Still some holes, but still acceptable. Have the characters changed? Nope, but that's fine still. Do we have any concept of the inconsistent number system being used for life/damage/stats? Nope, but you never really do in these kinds of books anyways. Have the stakes changed? Actually, yes, drastically so.

And then this book happens.

Stomping in with the same messy characters, the same established meta as the first book only with NO GOING BACK to the real world, and no tug on the ol heartstrings when it comes to plot because everything feels pre-scripted to work out as quickly as feasibly possible, comes our main rat. The rat that, in the first literal 5 minutes of this book, is referred to as a Jesus Rat. Their Messiah. Lo and behold.

The ending feels far too rushed and half baked compared to the rest of the plot. They get to the final boss fight, and you feel all the wind come out of the authors sails when they introduce "all" of the froggies into the fray, minimizing what should be this epic finale. They then have the audacity to make the crow and rat fight, only for a moment, before the rat becomes God (for "reasons", I swear -_-) and arbitrarily brings all his buddies back to life. Where's the final test to see if they're actually dead? Where's the attempting to right the wrongs of the company who killed you, as you promised? What happened to all the events of the 2nd book? At least make it a cliffhanger of sorts if you're not going to answer plot questions and just be done.

Overall, incredibly disappointed with the ending. Not a fan of the narrator generally (some of his character voices are brilliant, but his usual speaking tone is grating), but putting it to 1.5x speed helps make him bearable. The series is worth a read through, but you're better off dreaming up your own twist ending if you're looking for any kind of real completion to the story.

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While Intriguing...

Revisado: 04-22-21

A series with a fabulous premise, filled with witty banter and interesting, detailed encounters both combat and social. However, a few complaints must be properly addressed.

- [ ] No real character progression. The characters remain pretty much the same throughout the series, with the only indicator of change being time passing and someone mentioning “how much you changed”.
- [ ] No relationship progression. As in, the characters never end up having any meaningful relationships with each other, and appear to categorize people simply into friends, enemies, and unknowns.
- [ ] No consequences or serious losses. Until late in the series, when (spoiler alert) an intense singular character loss occurs that we are unable to resolve fully, there are no lasting repercussions for any action taken by any of the characters that would cause them to grow or progress.
- [ ] Entire scenes reused, word for word. It feels like a bad case of deja vu or terrible audio editing, and I had to check multiple times to ensure I had not rewound the audio by accident.
- [ ] Ill timed interruptions. Story progression occurs either through weird interruptions that yank you from the story -
- [ ] Or constant introduction of characters through “suddenly killed”. Someone needs to pop up now? Then the enemy you’re fighting is suddenly riddled with holes from an unknown source as you rush to see where the shots were fired from.
- [ ] Ignoring proper military channels at every turn. The combats are fun and incredibly detailed, but for the expansive world that is created there doesn’t seem to be any real use of military tactics and strategy so much Overwatch, Valorant, or CoD Mobile offensives.
- [ ] What happened to Synapse Points?? They totally disappear later in the series!
- [ ] Inconsistent characters.
- [ ] The voice actor has a few issues (female voices, weird intonation, speaking soft when it says they yelled and talking loud when it says they spoke, and talking in one voice when it’s a different character speaking). But overall, his range is quite impressive, and he definitely has a voice for audiobooks.
- [ ] Too descriptive when it could be colorful, and far too colorful when we really need description. It could’ve used more metaphor or simile to draw in the listeners mind and engage active thought. The fine curvature of a gun, or the rippling of muscles across ones back are well and good, but the figure cloaked in shadows with a voice as deep as space needs to be alluded to, not described.

All in all, a great sci fi series, with an astounding premise, but could use a few tweaks.

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