Tyler

Not Believing It

Revisado: 01-31-25

The author is really failing to sell this gamer fantasy. Ready Player One was a masterwork, this feels more like a NaNoWriMo idea project he wrote for funzies and never bothered polishing. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and the story to turn out to be a simulation, or hallucination. The fact that the main character wasn't fully buying in was what was keeping me going, but the more he believes it, the less I do.

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Not Believeable

Revisado: 02-22-24

The story is interesting, but the characters are underdeveloped and their motives and actions, and even parts of the setting itself, just aren't believable. Furthermore, the author treats his characters like disposable plot devices. The moment a secondary character starts to get some real development, you can be certain that they are going to die in some jarring way in the near future, or just disappear entirely. The main protagonist and antagonist just aren't compelling enough to make me want to finish the story on their own.

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Here come the NotSees!

Revisado: 08-02-23 El oyente recibió este título gratis

This is a thrill ride! Pretty much from the first page you know something is up, but Church lulls you into a sense of security until GUT PUNCH and from there on you are in survival mode right along with the characters. There are a couple of flaws in the plot (certain characters make decisions that don't make sense), but these are trivial compared to the quality of the rest of it. And the characters are so real. Even characters who are only briefly seen have meaning and importance and an implied backstory, without it seeming overwrought. I literally cried at several points because I was so involved, and when I finished the book I had to process for several minutes (okay, an hour maybe?). I loved every single minute of this listen and look forward to more of Church's work.

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Could use some cleaning up, but a solid story

Revisado: 07-22-23 El oyente recibió este título gratis

I enjoyed this very quick listen. I did NOT see where it was going, but that is not for lack of foreshadowing! The story itself is a tidy little tale exploring the effects of grief, depression, and substance abuse on an already unstable mind. My only issues are that the composition is a little unpolished and I wasn't sure if I was supposed to like the protagonist or not. The author frequently uses repeat words in the same sentence/paragraph (for example, "He walked toward the cabin. In the cabin, he found...."). A good editor could fix that need for varying vocabulary, and it's not so distracting that I couldn't enjoy the story despite it. And the protagonist seemed stuck in a victim mentality, while also seeming to fall prey to some tenets of toxic masculinity: the need to repress emotion, the need for others' approval to feel worthy, resorting to substance abuse instead of seeking psychological and emotional support. This may have been intentional and I just missed the point a bit, since it does seem that lack of accountability is a motif here. Overall I enjoyed it and would read more by the author, if only for the deft psychological twists he seamlessly creates.

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Not Quite There

Revisado: 06-14-23

Another stellar performance from R. C. Bray! The author shows promise, but this book isn't quite at a professional fiction writer level yet.

I really enjoyed the gritty, post-apocalyptic setting which centers around a desperate struggle for survival of a remnant of humanity who managed to survive the cataclysm, and there are a couple really good characters in this book, but it needs more.

The author spends so much time killing characters off that it leaves them without adequate time to develop the ones who were spared. Most of the characters feel disposable, so the reader doesn't feel much when they end up dying. We hardly knew anything about them, so they just felt like a plot device rather than a person.

The setting feels more than a little contrived at times, and its clear that the author hasn't been as thorough in their research as you need to be (especially when writing science fiction) in a few places.

The foreshadowing is lacking in places as well, leaving the reader feeling jerked around by sudden and unpredictable plot developments.

The ending was probably the biggest mistake the author made, though. The character from who's perspective about half the the novel is written gets excluded from any sequels (barring an awkward retcon of the drama at the end of this book), leaving us to start almost entirely over with the cast of mostly underdeveloped characters who remain. The ending would have worked if this was a stand-alone novel (it still would have felt a little rushed, in my option, but it woild have worked), but it doesn't work for a series.

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Not great, not awful

Revisado: 05-08-23

This story is a fairly quick listen and very interesting setting. The characters are varied, although I found the main character annoyingly self-deprecating. The author also used several phrases far too many times (if I hear "my peach wood sword" one more time, I SWEAR....) but the narrative was quick and easy to follow. I liked it enough that I plan to read the sequel in the hopes that the author will have corrected some of these errors.

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Engrossing, enthralling, entrancing.

Revisado: 05-08-23

I listened to this in one day. I couldn't stop. It will rip your heart out and keep you guessing at every turn of the page. There was nothing which pulled me out of the narrative and every loose end was tied up nicely and in a way that made sense. I suspected one of the ending twists from very early on, but I couldn't be sure and the twists and payoff were excellent. All of the characters were well-developed. This is the first time I've read this author and I will definitely be reading more!

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A decent wrap

Revisado: 05-04-23

there were several parts that felt a bit rushed, like certain important characters that die off camera. come on guys... but over all, a good wrap up of the action built over the first two seasons. I'm wondering what happened to Skrizz though...

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I Think I've Outgrown this Author

Revisado: 02-10-23

If you like Brandon Sanderson's writing you'll probably love this book. Personally, I can no longer stand the way he writes. His writing is on the verbose side (especially in action scenes), his dialogue is uninspired and dry (especially his near exclusive use of the word 'said' to indicate speech, there are other more descriptive words, Brandon, just saying), and his plot development contains far too much 'tell' and not enough 'show'.

Sanderson's world building is very in depth and integral, and his magic systems are intriguing, but he seems to lack a profound understanding of what makes people act and interact the way that we do, which causes his stories to come off a little flat and unbelievable. In short: phenomenal settings, with uninteresting and predictable characters and plots.

I've also been listening to Michael Kramer for years, and before I became aware of better narrators/voice actors he was alright, but now I realize that he painfully overacts most of what he reads, and that extra emphasis he puts on the last sentence of every chapter (whether the context warrants it or not) has become more than a little grating. R.C. Bray, Nick Podehl, or Simon Vance he is not, he doesn't even rate a Scott Brick or a Stefan Rudnicki.

I feel like I've outgrown this duo, which is sad, because I used to really enjoy their work. If you haven't yet, then don't let this jaded reviewer's discontent ruin your enjoyment of the Cosmere. But if you're like me, and the shine has come off of this particular apple, know that there is better fiction out there, and better voice talent.

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Galaxy's Edge this Ain't

Revisado: 12-12-22

big fan of your other work, but this one just doesn't do it for me. the setting is really hard to believe, and the main character is obnoxiously long-winded. It's also rather disappointing how much of the world building is borrowed directly from D&D and Tolkien. GE has StarWars moments, but it isn't SW all the time.

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