Dane H.

Enjoyed revisiting this world, but had problems

Revisado: 03-31-25

Let me first say that I enjoyed the book. And the narration was good enough, though it didn't wow me. Haymitch's back story has been long overdue, and it's every bit as tragic as we suspected. A particularly fun aspect of the book was the host of familiar characters peppered throughout the story, which added to our understanding of them and their connection to Haymitch as well.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

However, there was a glaring issue with the story that made me want to bang my head against the wall. Why did Haymitch ALWAYS have to be away from the other characters, especially when they were killed?? It made for rather dull storytelling choices by Collins. I felt like Haymitch wasn't actually part of the main story, since he kept choosing to be off on his own little side quests or pity parties, away from everyone else engaged in the primary battles. This problem was glaringly obvious to the point I rolled my eyes when he inexplicably chose to remain behind from Maysilee, my favorite character in the book, which of course led to her being immediately killed off within seconds. And he never told Maysilee about what he had done! That really irked me, ugh. Like he wouldn't whisper the truth of what he'd been up to into her ear at some point, when it was extremely clear that she could keep life-and-death secrets to herself.

In the end, as a result, other than Maysilee, I didn't feel much of a connection to any of the other characters, not even Lenore Dove, because they just were never around throughout most of the story. At the very least, I'd rather that Haymitch didn't immediately abandon all the Newcomers (and Lou Lou!) when the Games began, after he spent all that time allying with them and making them trust him. Just feel there was so much missed opportunity for more interesting storytelling.

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Meh, this one just didn't work for me

Revisado: 03-21-25

I'm a sucker for a royal-meets-commoner romance, but this one fell flat for me.

First and foremost, the main love story did NOT work. There was no build-up to it. It was simply heart-struck love at first sight in the new neighbor's home, and the pair were just together from there on. No funny foreplay or meet cute. Just a boring meeting the neighbor by bringing over a quiche to welcome him, and they were inseparable from there. The only conflict was the old jerky closet-case lover Carpenter Timmy, and that lasted all of five minutes.

The whole Roman (Greek?) gods plotline seemed unnecessary, like just random characters trait to add "depth" to the story, but it really just came across as being forced into the story. Especially the end with the "fighting the bull" plot point. Wtf was that? It was so random and dumb to wrap up the story.

I was indifferent to the Italian aspect of the story and characters, including the narration. (The narration was ok. No idea if his Italian accent was good or not, but it was thoroughly 'Italian'.) Would I have liked the story better if Adam was some secret English royal duke or some such? Maybe. But the author was wanting to play on the culture clash aspect of the story, which ended up being rather minor, mostly food and language related.

There was potential with the story, however nothing really worked, as it felt like the plot points were either forced or went nowhere. I did like some of the characters, primarily Celibate Jason, his sassy sister and fierce mother, as well as Secret Royal Adam's supportive brother. I loved the idea of the bookstore cafe, had high hopes there, but nothing really happened with it, and it was abandoned by Owner Jason by the end of the story I guess? Timmy had the potential to be perhaps the most interesting character, but like most plotlines, he just disappeared without any redemption, which is too bad.

In the end, I had to increase the Audible play speed to 1.5x to trudge through as quickly as possible. Would not recommend this one, even if you're into Secret Royal stories.

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Series End....and I Find Myself Sad to Let it Go

Revisado: 06-17-24

First, let me just say, I completely recognize that this story and book series will definitely not be everyone's cup of tea. But I ended up really enjoying it for what it was and was sad that it came to an end, and rather abruptly unfortunately. I half wondered if the author had just become burned out on this world and these characters and was ready to move on to something new.

The entire series is a progression-based storyline, though maybe "storyline" is too strong a description. Essentially, everything is about the characters and their safe zone finding ways to level up over and over and over and over, until the 1-year anniversary is reached of the System taking over the world, at which time aliens will be allowed to come to Earth and create havoc. All the leveling up comes in sometimes interesting ways, and sometimes not. If that's not for you, then perhaps consider skipping the series.

I'm not a gamer, so I found myself thinking all of the widely varying stats for each character (and place and weapon and ability) was really clever. The author clearly knows his gaming stuff and wrung out every bit of that knowledge onto the pages.

As a result though, the story (again, if you can call it that) suffered from a lack of connection with regards to outside relationships. For example, the heroes journeyed to a nearby newly discovered safe zone created by a bunch of college folks. A dungeon in that safe zone housed an octopus-person boss in a water world that ended up being friendly (I really enjoyed the uniqueness of this dungeon and boss). Mark (the MC) became good friends with that octopus-boss (Octavius). This was in, what, Book 3 or 4 I think? I kept waiting for Octavius to show up again, but he never did. I wanted the heroes to return to that safe zone to visit with Octavius, perhaps share new things learned with each other after months apart, strengthen each other. I was hoping Octavius would somehow find a way to visit the heroes' safe zone (Anyport). (I didn't quite get the whole Octavius II octopus character, who got placed in a large aquarium and then his growth just....stopped? Like, absolutely nothing new grew with that character. It just became a slightly more sentient animal that the MC occasionally visited in its tank and talked to in order to get stuff off his chest. Why didn't it grow physically and mentally at the same rate as the original Octavius? I mean, cute character I guess, but not sure what the point was.)

For that matter, NO ONE ever visited Anyport, even though it became widely renowned for its size, its heroes, its entertainment, safety, food, transportation, etc. Not even the nearby farmer friends or even the dwarves. Everyone just stuck to their specific zones / houses, which in the end made everyone feel more like NPCs than real people. Along those lines, hardly anyone ever cared or mentioned anything about missing friends and family. That alone should have been a HUGE part of any storyline of an apocalyptic nature.

I wanted continued interactions with all the various creatures and people and places that the heroes came across in their adventuring. The giant crows? They just disappeared the last couple books, but I really enjoyed them and what they might have become and created amongst themselves and with the nearby townsfolks. So many interesting characters and places, but alas, they all tended to be one-and-done.

In this aspect, the extreme "linear-ness" of the story to get from Point A to Point B to Point C without looking back (other than their own Anyport city) was a mild disappointment.

The handful of interesting characters that did recur (e.g. Amy or Reggie or the main Police guy whatshisname) did not really develop, not really. I would have loved delving more into Amy's or Reggie's lives. Perhaps Mark could have taken Amy on a mission to Greece or some such, let that "kid sister" relationship really bloom. Same with Reggie, the boy genius techno-wiz. These cute amusing characters became what amounted to merely features of Anyport - the city's messenger and tech support.

One minor complaint: As a gay fan of the series, I would have loved some gay people / couples at least sprinkled around the various safe zones. There was one instance of a gay guy in Greece that was used as a joke to make Rob (the big strong guy) extremely uncomfortable. That wasn't cool. Anyway, I guess gay people were too stupid or something to survive in this world, oh well.

Still, I did ultimately enjoy the progression nature of the main heroes with their stats and growing abilities. Until the ending.

We spent 8 books waiting with anticipation of reaching the 1-year anniversary and the aliens arriving to take over the world. As Book 8 progressed, I was like...we're running out of time, is there going to be a 9th book, what's going on....

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

Then, with about an hour left, the heroes' time was up and the aliens were allowed onto Earth. WITH ONLY AN HOUR LEFT IN THE AUDIBLE SERIES! Seriously, wtf. There was what felt like a forced duel with an alien, then we immediately skipped ahead 3 years. W.T.F.! No! Everyone's stats had tripled, they were essentially god-lings. There was a sudden confusing battle with another alien kingdom. The End. O.M.G.

Honestly, it was a let-down. While I found myself missing the characters after such an abrupt ending, I felt cheated that I didn't get to experience barely anything of what we spent 8 books anticipating. and whatever journey they ended up taking to get them all to that three-years-later point.

So, Dear Author, I'd buy a sequel series of these characters if you wanted to go back and explore that 3-year period once the aliens were let in and the stakes became real for the heroes with everything they'd built and learned. I'd be here for it. And I'd LOVE a 'Day One' book that showed the chaos that ensued when the first System message came out and then took over everyone's lives. There was merely an off-hand comment or two -- "cars crashed, lots of people died that day". EXPLORE THOSE FIRST FEW DAYS ON A WIDE-SCALE GLOBAL BASIS!

Oh, and finally, I thought the narrator did a great job. Not sure why some reviews called him terrible or flat or whatever. I liked his different voices for the individual characters. No complaints, and certainly did not come across as a "cheap" option for narrating the books.

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My first deck-building LitRPG….

Revisado: 11-17-23

….and I absolutely loved it! I can’t comment as to its originality, as the story/genre was all new subject matter for me. However, it’s enjoyability was extremely high, so I’ll be searching for others. The narrator was fantastic with his many varied voices. There’s even a bonus narrator’s bloopers to end the Audible, which I’ve never had the pleasure of hearing bloopers before either with these books. Will be jumping right into Book 2, while keeping an eye and ear out for (hopefully) a Book 3 soon. Adding author to favorites to follow.

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Good grief, save your money

Revisado: 04-10-23

Lips flatlined. Lips flatlined. Lips flatlined. Lips flatlined. Lips flatlined. Lips flatlined. Lips flatlined. Lips flatlined. Lips flatlined. Lips flatlined. Lips flatlined. Lips flatlined. Lips flatlined..... See how annoying that is, Misters Russell & Holden? Not to mention it's a stupid, non-sensical description of someone's lips. Why in the world would you think it's ok to use the phrase once, let alone 50 times over the course of the series?? Stop, for the love of God! Made me want to stick forks in my ears every time by the end.

Anyway, got that out of my system! Lordy!

Ok, the compound's not featured much in this book, which makes you wonder why it's so important by the end. The focus is on two towns -- one has been taken over overnight by a couple psychopaths with everyone following along because why not, and the other is the supposed good guys town whose mayor is related to old Farmer Frank in the compound, though they don't get along. Drama!

One of the psychos is Gary, former resident of the compound and best friend of Abram. The guy has nine lives. Spends the entire book strong-manning, murdering, and basically being the psycho muscle for the main REAL psychopath, Palmer (aka Black), who is the new walk-on leader of the bad town after murdering the original beloved leader, who also seemed to have no qualms killing folks in his neighboring towns if they didn't do what he wanted. The reader patiently waits the entire book for their come-uppance.

Here's perhaps the biggest writer's no-no of the series (SPOILERS AHEAD, if you care)...... If you build up these two REALLY bad guys all series, and point us toward an ultimate showdown with the good guys (i.e. Abram & Nick), then you have to give the readers a satisfyingly grand finale showdown! However, in a complete thud plop of writing prowess, main psycho Black dies in a confusing train accident (granted grotesquely) with barely anyone noticing or caring. And Gary just dies (I guess?) when his SUV drives into a bottomless puddle of radioactive waste? We're not even "shown" him dying. Did I miss a final chapter from his perspective? I guess we're supposed to assume it was the same death as Black, melting off into the sludge. Is there a Book 4? Will he use one of his nine lives (again) to come back and seek revenge on the compound? Hopefully not. Just let this series melt off into its own radioactive sludge.

I should also mention that I didn't care for the narrator. He didn't distinguish between the voices enough, so it was very confusing at times as to who was talking or thinking, when I cared enough.

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Power Goes Out -- One Minute Later, TOTAL CHAOS!

Revisado: 04-10-23

This was just not a very good book or series. My OCD made me complete this short three-book series though, so I'll also do a final review on Book 3.

My primary complaint is how quickly civilization just absolutely fell apart when the power went out. It was literally within minutes. People started looting and shooting. The Purge movies are more believable. At the beginning, the government is suppressing the truth about the solar storm. Even the scientist neighbor hasn't clued in at all. Then within an hour or so, everyone has figured out the truth though there still isn't any official announcement, and they're all on the road clogging up the highways and emptying the gas stations. Lootings and car jackings have begun, whether the threat of the solar flare lives up to the rumors or not.

Most of the characters aren't very likeable either, and they act illogically. The most egregious is the psycho Gary, who literally wants to toss the main protagonist Abraham's daughter out of their secret / not-so-secret compound, calling her useless and a drain on resources, yet Abraham is all "He's my best friend, I'll overlook it." Meanwhile, literally everything Abraham has planned and is doing is to protect his wife & daughter. He's super perceptive when the plot requires it, but is a complete dumbass otherwise. And the Joshua character was such a dumb plot device. I actually liked him at first as a rare nice guy Nick & Co. came across, but it quickly became clear what he was when he somehow followed Nick & Co. to the compound, was refused entry, promised them they'd regret it, but is still supposed to be a nice guy, even though he's the source of all their troubles, supposedly.

The narrator is not very good either. I couldn't tell the difference between most of the characters, so I often didn't know who was talking or thinking.

If I could go back, I would not have started this series.

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Talented folks but…

Revisado: 02-18-23

Not my cup of tea. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this. While I like the premise, the entire thing (a stage play? live audience podcast?) felt like forced absurd humor. Like a throwaway SNL skit that lasted for an hour and a half. Even the Gottfried reveal kinda just left me sad what with his passing last year. I ended up cranking the speed up, which I only very rarely do, in order to get through the audiobook more quickly. Not a recommendation for me.

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Absolutely. Perfect.

Revisado: 07-04-19

Oh. My. Word. This Audible book was absolutely perfect from start to finish. The narrator (Ramon de Ocampo) brought the characters to life, and his voices were spot on. And the humor! I cannot tell you how many times I laughed out loud. So many brilliant lines. I want to steal every one of them and say them in my real life. Every character was hysterical in their own way. Even more, the storyline provides us left-leaning folks (I'm assuming you're left-leaning if you're interested in this book) with something of an alternate reality re-imagining of the political landscape since 2016 and going into 2020. I may or may not have teared up at certain points regarding that. In any event, I'm issuing an immediate HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ALERT!!!

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Instant favorite!

Revisado: 06-07-19

I cannot stress enough how much I LOVED this Audible book. From the story to the characters to the humor to the future possibilities. But especially the narrator, Ray Porter. The way he can bring different characters to life with various voices is inspired. You'd swear multiple people are narrating. I'm a big fan now and will listen to any book he's narrating.

Anyway, I want to tell anyone and everyone to listen to this book. Though I suppose you'll need to be a fan of sci-fi and/or end-of-the-world type stories, otherwise it may not be your cup of tea.

Please please PUH-LEASE have sequels in the works!!!

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Great story, fantastic narrator

Revisado: 04-21-19

Scalzi has created a wondrous little novelette. The world feels fully imagined, and I'm hoping there are other stories in that world as I was sucked into it immediately and to the end, as short as it is.

And Zachary Quinto makes for a fantastic narrator with his warm, deep and varying voices. There were moments I forgot it was just one person narrating, which I suppose is the mark of a great narrator.

Highly recommended. And hope there are more to come from this world.

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