Taylor Y.

Poorly Conceived and Poorly Written

Revisado: 01-12-25

This is one of the more poorly conceived and written books in a genre that has plenty of clunkers. There is poor syntax and bad grammar throughout. And, as others have noted, the plotting of the book is convoluted. It’s isekai plus apocalypse plus academy?!? That’s putting a hat on a hat on a hat. I truly can’t believe this thing isn’t sitting at under 4-stars. I wish I hadn’t paid the discount KU price so I could get a refund on a credit.

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Painfully stupid characters fail to see the obvious.

Revisado: 09-22-24

The full cast performance and sound effects were done incredibly well. But the material was entirely lacking. It was like reading poorly conceived YA. None of the characters who are supposed to wise and experienced can see what is painfully obvious to any listener who isn’t in a coma. You should skip this one.

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Stilted Writing Coupled w Stilted Narration

Revisado: 09-12-24

This is some of the clunkiest and stilted writing I’ve encountered in a genre that already has too much of both.

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Keep reading

Revisado: 06-18-24

Note to self: Quest Academy is a series that you have put on your series to keep reading list.

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Well-crafted entry in the Artem series.

Revisado: 02-29-24

This is a very well written entry in the Artem series. As is the case with most cyber punk genre pieces, the world building favors pastiche over exposition. The author relies on the reader to piece things together. It is done pretty well here. And the narration is top-notch.

The story has a bit of an Ender’s Game quality, with the MC finding himself forced to rapidly advance through artificially accelerated education and training. The story suffers a bit for this as the rigor and structure of the academy setting and curriculum is largely abandoned after being introduced. The listener is thus robbed of the satisfaction that comes from a fully-realized academy progression arc.

With that said, Chapman’s focus is clearly on the internal lives of her characters in a way that distinguishes her from many in the litRPG/progression genre. While refreshing, this focus only highlights the book’s biggest deficit—absence of any interpersonal opposition for the MC. Instead, the MC easily and quickly wins over detractors. Indeed, several other characters—nearly all of whom are more experienced, wealthy, and politically powerful than he is—absolutely bend over backward to help him. By contrast, almost all human opposition he faces is institutional, abstract, and remote.

While it can be frustrating to listen to stories where the MC faces nothing but unrelenting and undeserved opposition, e.g., wuxia cultivation tropes, Chapman has overcorrected. Here the MC receives practically immediate support and affection from numerous powerful characters before he has done anything to merit that kind of response. There is a hinted-at explanation for why this is happening, but that doesn’t make a story where everyone loves and supports the MC any more interesting to listen to.

Nor is it clear why the MC is so driven to put himself through hell to get stronger so quickly. He has a devotion to the cause that seems entirely at odds with his background. And while we hear him say that he has to get stronger, nothing in his internal life or thoughts seems to justify the intensity and urgency of his drive to do so and throw himself at the enemy. We are told that the security situation is dire and they really need the MC, but we aren’t given any reason why this street rat plucked from the slums cares so deeply about a city and community that never cared about him.

I’m being hard on this book because it has such promise. Chapman is talented and there is some very good writing here. The book is worth your time and I am hopeful that the deficits I’ve identified will be corrected as the story develops and matures.

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Very well written

Revisado: 11-03-23

Another solid entry in the Jeziverse. Christopher Boucher and Jessica Threet do an excellent job going right up to the rim without going over-the-top. Well worth your credit or your $7.49 (with KU).

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You Should Ignore the POV Complaints

Revisado: 09-19-23

The negative reviews are completely baffling to me. Sure, when I was 10 and reading fantasy, it would frustrate me when an author switched pov away from the protagonist to side characters. But as I became exposed to better and better writing, I developed a level of reading sophistication somewhat beyond the expectations of a 5th grader.

This is a well-crafted story where the development of important side characters is long overdue. If you’re no longer wearing a retainer, you can safely ignore the complaints about too many povs. It’s a very good installment in the series.

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DNF

Revisado: 07-16-23

This is YA and the writing is just a bit clunky. The plot is okay, but it’s delivered at a choppy pace. Characters seem to act in whatever manner is necessary to move the plot. Reads like a first draft in serious need of a rewrite.

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Great story, but so so much JH/SB yelling

Revisado: 06-24-23

Really great story. Like the set up. Good in-depth world building with MC heading toward a satisfying OP without crossing over into unmoored power fantasy. I have a few nits — mainly, some oft-repeated mannerisms that start to wear out their welcome.

I like Jeff Hays as a narrator and appreciate that SB is on a multiyear journey to really dial-in their style of immersive voice acting. But I think the yelling and screaming in this one is over-the-top. There is no middle ground. We go from a very subdued soft Thomas Shelby style narration of the MC to top of your lungs shouting. It’s so jarring that it actually breaks immersion. The voice is capable of conveying the urgency of a yell without blowing out the listener’s ear drums. Moreover, some yelling in the story happens from a distance but is delivered at full volume as if right on top of the scene. And it happens a lot. Every exclamation point in this book was treated as high-decibel shouting. I hope the SB folks dial that back for the next installment.

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Solid Premise Bad Pacing Continuity Issues

Revisado: 06-05-23

Watching this MC get continually taken by surprise at things that were implicitly and sometimes explicitly revealed to him in earlier chapters is really infuriating. It has a solid premise and NH gives his normal four star performance, but this story just lurches along with an MC who is supposed to be an unreliable narrator, but has a level of cluelessness that really doesn't make sense in the context of the story. Lastly, if you introduce the idea that all young magic users must go to academy in the first couple of chapters of the book, waiting until the last couple of chapters for them to actually get there is really unsatisfying. This is especially true when the middle chapters are peppered with pointless "will he/won't he" go to the academy scenes despite that he has already committed to do so.

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