AndrewP

Two hours of content stretched to 7 for no reason

Revisado: 03-29-22

This short book should be far shorter (if publishers valued the time of readers). You can get all the worthwhile content, and save some hours, by only reading/listening to chapters 2, 3, 6, and the afterword. Honestly, you can skip chapter 6 but I felt like it was the only chapter added to the premise outlined in chapter 2. It also felt like the least bloated of the example chapters. The other chapters are filled with unnecessary pages (like the history of Yoga... not why I'm here Mr. Author). Chapter 6 talks about some tips to improve dexterity based or mechanical skills that I have used in the past.

This book is not unique at being unnecessarily bloated. Most books on business or self improvement could be boiled down to a 2-5 page essay that brings the reader the same content. Is there some value here? Sure, if you stick to chapters 2, 3, and, if ambitious, 6.

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One of the best fantasy fiction series of all time

Revisado: 06-03-21

I first read The Farseer Trilogy in over 20 years ago while in middle school. To this day the series sticks with me and Robin Hobb has forever earned a spot as one of the greatest world-builders of all time.

What stands out to me most about this book, and series, is the ability to build a fantasy world with very little reliance on the common tropes found in fantasy books. Instead of spawning a Tolkien clone Robin Hobb has built something truly unique. The Skill and the wit are mysterious because they are unique "magics". The mysteries come late in this book but create so much fertile ground for the series to sprawl out as it moves forward. Very few pages are wasted. Each page brings something relevant to the total story. Admittedly, the first book starts pretty slow but it takes time to build a world when you don't borrow from well trodden fantasy worlds. Eventually all the treads come together and it is worth the build.

The Assassins Apprentice does not present a hero who always wins. Instead, Fitz almost always loses. His life is tragic. His world is tough. Good does not always triumph. The story is great because every failure create a complex web of outcomes that keep you engaged to read more of the series.

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Good LitRPG entrant, terrible name

Revisado: 10-04-19

The name of this book nearly kept me from giving it a shot. The name screams “jumping on the fad” and not in a good way.

The book follows all the LitRPG tropes - character trapped in a game rule world, little/no hope of leaving, an intelligent companion, an unbalanced protagonist, and some settlement building (I suspect a future book will lean heavier into this aspect). That said, it is one of the better written and paced books in this space. The characters are well written and don’t rely on being over-the-top to be interesting. The running “Jim” joke really fell flat to me. Feels like a D&D table inside joke.

I’ll gladly read future releases for this series.

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Was this written by a teenage boy?

Revisado: 05-31-19

After discovering the LitRPG genre by reading "The Land" series I've started a slow, and often unrewarding, quest to find other good LitRPG writers who have an original take. Unfortunately, too many of the authors out there are like Blaise Corvin. Instead of developing characters they focus on poorly written character lust. The story was clearly written page by page without an actual outline or plan. The objection on women by LitRPG writers gets quite old. There are other ways to develop a romantic relationship between two characters then just having the male character(s) drool over T&A.

Jeff Hays is pretty much the voice of LitRPG. He's the narrator on a number of series and generally his performance is solid. In general he does a great job with this material but the audio quality (maybe an audible issue) was subpar at parts. Specifically, the female voiced parts often sound like were recorded with a $2 microphone.

Unless I come across a free copy of future books in the series I'm done with Ludus. It is not particularly interesting, doesn't bring much new to the table, and ends poorly. The last three hours came across as extremely rushed.

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Fun but generic

Revisado: 11-12-17

The premed is of the book is laid out very plainly at the beginning of the book. The first three chapters read like a book written by a high school sophomore but it does improve over time. The ham-fisted nature of the first three chapters had me reaching for a new book but since other reviews are so promising I gave it more time.

The characters are poorly developed and tough to like. Compared to most fantasy stories the protagonist, while technically an underdog, is given a mountain of advantages. Seems like the writer wanted to skip past the "grind" and move toward the adventure.

Regardless, the series has some promise and I'm hoping that after writing one book the authors skills are more developed in the second. The narrator is great and the added sound effects great an experience that is a bit unique.

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