Joshua

It’s a good series, but…

Revisado: 01-25-25

Without giving spoilers I figured I’d give a heads up to people before they buy this series, so here goes:
1) This isn’t a format you can read (listen to) just some of the books, look ahead to see if you’ll like the story because once you start you’re in for the long haul; also, depending on how good your memory is you may have to listen again because these books take time to be made into audiobooks.
2) This isn’t a great narrator, he’s not horrible at giving the characters some basic tells so you know whose talking at any given time, but he is a little robotic and slow, fortunately you can speed up the recording, I found that going at 1.15 was enough to compensate for the lackluster pace.
3) Given what I just said, I’d recommend either waiting until this series is all out or wait for a really good sale, I got them all for less than $3 a piece, so I’m happy with my purchase, but if I’d used credits I wouldn’t have been happy.
4) About the format some more, there are currently 20 books that make up this series and not all of them are even in English yet.
5) There is an anime, maybe try watching it to see if you like the setting/characters, this will put some spoilers into your reading (listening), but it worked for me. (For example, I tried getting into the Shield Hero because the idea appealed to me, but I just couldn’t get past the way the main character acted, and that’s a hugely popular series.). Side note on this one, there is an anime, but like most anime they only get as many seasons as the fans watching it demand, so you will get more from the light novels, and that brings up another series I am currently listening to, Mushoku Tensei, where I actually didn’t like the main character in the anime, but find him acceptable in the light novel, so maybe give a listen to the samples too. In that series the first five minutes of book 1 gives you a heads up on just what kind of guy the protagonist is.
6) This series is an isekai/harem, so if wish fulfillment bothers you or you want your main character to suffer the high highs and low lows western stories tell authors they must have for a successful story then this is not the series for you. Seriously, be prepared for plot armor and over powered characters who are rarely challenged, this might eventually change, but 8 stories in and the thing to remember is this is about having fun.

If you can keep these things in mind, and it doesn’t put you off, give the series a chance, you might just find that, like me, you want to see Kelvin’s adventures play out and experience the simple joys of a battle junky getting his fix over and over.

Last note: This is a harem with a group of very attractive women, but it’s not an adult book or a steamy romance, so he has sex, but it happens off page.

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What If Indeed

Revisado: 10-19-24

Let’s be honest, haven’t you ever thought “I wish…” or “If only…”, well why not ask yourself “What if?” The idea for these stories came about a long time ago now, possibly even before this author was born, and they came from new authors looking back on old stories and thinking how they might have done it differently, then, one day, one brave author pitched an idea for a new comic book idea and that Marvel editor said “Why not…” and history was made. From that point on stories like this one were born and shared with a wider audience, and if you’ve ever wondered just what might need to happen to make Loki, god of mischief and evil, worthy of lifting Mjolnir, then this story is for you.

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It's worth a credit, but...

Revisado: 03-09-24

The story isn't anything new, it has elements of Star Trek and occasionally Star Wars, and the author doesn't really succeed in making the listener care about the characters, but it did make me want to know how it would end. The worst part of the experience was the narrator though because it's mostly monotone, he doesn't give any unique voice for each character, nor does he give any kind of emotion to any scenes; a great narrator can make a poor story good, but an only okay narrator actually takes away from a story.

The story has a few problems of its own, I'm almost done listening and I still don't really know what any of the alien species look like, the author also doesn't give a good explanation of the history of his world, for example, the humans at some point in the unknown past left Earth and don't even remember it at all, so much so that when Sol (our sun) is repeatedly mentioned no one knows why they should know that name. The action scenes are not so great either, so what's good here? Well, it comes down to a couple things, first, it's one credit for fifty three hours, and second, I genuinely want to know how it ends.

The last issue for me and audiobooks is whether or not I can see myself wanting to listen to the story again and if I would recommend it to a friend, and the answer to both is 'maybe'. I can't really see myself listening to it again, but it can be a lazy choice to just push play and listen without having to search out another story. Anyway, if you're looking for a classic Sci-Fi series that actually ends and you're okay with getting a book you probably will only listen to once this might just be for you.

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It's a good story, but...

Revisado: 04-08-17

Where does TFS Ingenuity rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Not the best, but far from the worst. In terms of a military space story it dots the 'i's' and crosses the 't's', but it doesn't stand out as something great, and as I get older I find I'd rather listen to something I know is great than something that's just ok.

What other book might you compare TFS Ingenuity to and why?

The closest series I could compare it to is Christopher G. Nuttall's "Ark Royal', and it doesn't compare all that favorably I'm sorry to say. They're both stories that I'd put in my maybe category of ever wanting to listen to them again, or even continue the story. To be fair, I liked the story of "Ark Royal', it was the narrator that I didn't like, whereas TFS has the makings of an interesting story and a narrator who I've liked in the past, but I just couldn't connect to the characters.

What does Jeffrey Kafer bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

First, as stated previously, I've liked Mr. Kafer's performance on several other works, the problem is that those stories all had one thing in common: a fun main character. Mr. Kafer reads in a steady, somewhat monotone voice, the characters get a little distinction so you can usually tell who's talking, but he shines when he has at least one character that is benefited by a dry wit or heaping helpings of sarcastic or self deprecating humor. Really, this stories characters were too bland to make interesting by the way a voice actor says a phrase, which is just about all they can influence. That answers what Mr. Kafer's reading brings to the book, but the question of comparing his work to reading it yourself is false. When buying an audiobook you aren't buying it to hear someone else read it because you think it's better that way, you're buying it because it lets you experience a book while doing something else. Personally, I discovered the joys of audiobooks when I was a cart pusher for Wal-Mart, a job that gives relatively few chances to interact with others and involves hours of mindlessly wandering between cart returns and the building, picking up lose carts on the way. At that time in my life I was so desperate for something to occupy my mind that any story would do, all it had to be was barely interesting enough to distract me from the drudgery.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, there was nothing special about the book, it was ok and I don't necessarily regret buying it, but without creating characters to care about it's hard for me to imagine wanting to continue with it.

Any additional comments?

In summary, it's not a bad story or performance, but it doesn't match my preferences of character driven stories. The one consideration that might one day lead me to buy the next book is that this was so obviously world building that maybe the next one somehow makes the listener care what's going on as more than background noise while they go about their lives.

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Easily entertained

Revisado: 03-15-13

What does Mirron Willis bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I'm pretty sure I could have done a better job, but hopefully he did better when he recorded the other books of the series.

Any additional comments?

I bought this purely to see if I'd be interested in this story, and, as the headline says, I'm easily entertained, so I will be giving the series a chance. A reviewer of Mech 1 said that it needed a prologue, well this is it. The story, while not the best I've ever listened to - even just in this catagory - is still good enough for cheap enough that I feel this is a good introduction to a series.I'd be willing to give a chance to. My only real complaint is the narrator who sounds like he phoned in the performance, that is to say that it was very robotic and took some getting used to. More objectively the ratings should be:Overall: 4 starsPerformance: 3 starsStory: 4 starsbut I bumped my rating with hopes that the problems I had with this first installment might not be present in the full length novels, and, as previously stated, I am easily entertained.

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Understand what you're getting yourself into

Revisado: 04-09-11

This is a very good story, one that everyone should read or listen to at least once, but understand this, this story is unlikely to be something you ever want to experience twice; indeed, finishing it once was hard enough. I say this because this is a very powerful story, with many character deaths, and only rarely are those who die people you won't like, many of them will have you either angry at the author, in tears, or both. There are some very damaged people in this story, not least of whom is the main character.

This story is not pretty, it's not something young children should be exposed to. They'll either be too young to really appreciate what's going on, or they'll be tramatized, as, in all likelyhood, will you be. The story should be okay for anyone from there teens on, but do not begin lightly what cannot end happily. This isn't a fairy tale, it's a post apocaliptic tale on some of the worst, and best, humanity has to offer.

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