Craig Lewis

Like a peek into my own mind

Revisado: 04-21-25

It was kind of surreal listening to this stream of consciousness novel. I was reminded of all the times as a child I would stare out the window and have my own version of a bird flying through the rectangle, and off my mind would go into the depths of elsewhere.

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An Excellent SciFi Gumshoe

Revisado: 06-26-23

Oliver Wyman delivers an excellent performance of an early 20th century gumshoe navigating the far future. Larry Correia has created one of the most fascinating and enthralling scifi worlds I've read in a while. I'm completely drawn in by the plot connecting Lost Planet Homicide to Ghosts of Zenith that continues to develop. I need at least 16 hours more of this, and hopefully all my questions are answered at the end.

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Very entertaining

Revisado: 06-22-23

A fun little thriller. Fast paced, with surprisingly good character development for such a short story. Very well voiced by all the performers.

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A near flawless performance

Revisado: 09-05-22

I only have two minor things to note on an otherwise flawless performance.

The first being that there could be a longer pause in the narration when switching scenes.

The second is that in an interaction between Kalzidar and Madroria, it's clear that Mr Wayne reversed the voices for this interaction.

Aside from those two minor things, it's a marvelous book and I can't wait for the next installment!

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Interesting premise, iffy execution

Revisado: 03-30-22

I'm still in the he fence about reading the rest of the series, but leaning towards not. I still have issues with the world building for the author's story, as well as issues with the inconsistent rules for levels of technology that are allowed/disallowed.

It's unclear to me if the author wrote this as a thought experiment, or if the author was planning on introducing magic/mysticism into the "modern world". What is evident is the author's fetishizing of the SCA and Wicca.

One of the issues that is bothering me quite a bit is how very "pro European lineage" the narrative is. I don't believe that the author is a white supremacist, however there is an extreme lack of multiculturalism in this novel. Coinciding with this is how the author shows how industrious the white people are portrayed, and how not industrious most of the people of color are. Most of the PoC in the book are cast in a bad light. Hispanics and Asians are former gang members who sign on with The Protector who controls Portland. Indigenous people are aloof and mistrustful of outsiders to an extreme. To me, every character who isn't Caucasian feels like a stereotype/caricature, and it's left me feeling as though the author has lived a very sheltered life.

Considering it was published in 2004, it feels more like it was written in the 60s trying to predict what the future would be like.

The best I can rate this is a 2/5. Ultimately it feels lazy, inconsistent, and slightly bigoted/out of touch.

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Good story, but not the best choice for narrator

Revisado: 11-10-20

William Dufris is fine as a narrator, but not for this series. Todd McLaren set the bar with the first two novels for establishing Takeshi Kovacs as world-weary and hard bitten; his gravelly serious voice is the perfect fit for the character. Mr McLaren also didn't have an issue of mispronouncing the character's own name like Mr Dufris does.

William Dufris is better narrating something more light-hearted, where his softer, warmer voice is better suited.

Personally I didn't care for the decision to edit the audio for the phone or flashback sequences. It felt completely unnecessary, and acted more as a crutch for Mr Dufris' narration.

Overall it's could be a solid audiobook, but I feel that the narration doesn't do the writing justice. It's hard to take someone threatening to kill you seriously, when they sound like a favorite uncle.

edit: Apparently there is another version of Woken Furies that is narrated by Todd McLaren, but it's not available inside the US.

I cannot stress enough how much I dislike William Dufris' narration of this novel.

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Frustrating Read

Revisado: 09-11-20

It was frustrating to listen to due to the humanity of the characters. The main character's inability to set boundaries with the pivotal antagonist, while having very set boundaries with other characters was very real, and very maddening. I felt at times both the desire to console and slap the pivotal characters throughout.

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A gradual but inevitable letdown

Revisado: 08-22-19

What initially started as a fun "got dropped into a fantasy game" story turned into an Excel spreadsheet spinning it's wheels. The author started to open up his world with some interesting characters and world locations as well as quiet for his main character. Unfortunately, the author decided to do nothing with any of the world building he began. The characters retreat to a single location and then stay there. We're teased with the possibility of other humans possibly entering the game world, and add far as I know that never occurred. I couldn't even complete the final book in the series because I grew so bored and frustrated. The character never grows. Both wonderful and terrible things happen to him, and the author writes how the main character will remember and lean from these events, but there is no character growth. Additionally we're supposed to believe that a med student aged person has the emotional maturity of a 16 year old. The entirety of the series can be summarized by saying, "I'm winning because my stats keep going up". The author is obsessed with character stats. This is supposed to be a "literary role playing game", not "literary min-maxing".

There are better "lit-rpg" authors and series out there. I would recommend any of them as opposed to this series. If you feel like you have to read it, read the first book then stop. It never gets better.

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Getting lost in itself

Revisado: 04-24-17

At this point, Mr Vance's narration of this series is the only redeeming quality. The author seems to be falling into the "Robert Jordan trap" of having initially created a compelling world with in-depth characters, and now is unwilling to let the series come to a natural end. Personally, I feel this story could have (and should have) been completed with three novels. However the author doesn't want to get off the gravy train, so he has elected to make seemingly minor changes to his characters all in the name of "character development" in order to sell more books. With characters that have successfully resisted personal development for 2 novels, for them to suddenly decide to change just so the story won't end feels cheap; it leaves me feeling like I've been taken for a ride.

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Becoming an exercise in frustration

Revisado: 04-24-17

While there are still some strengths to the story, it's quickly growing stale like day old bread. It's far too easy for the reader to lose track as to the "why's" the main character is moving from one principality to another. Some story elements introduced in the first novel never show up again (caravans to travel long distances because fast travel and portals between cities no longer exist). Additionally, as many times as Roman states to himself/the reader that he's now completely invested in the game world now being his only world, he continues to reference the outside world. And without the ability to return to the real world, why is Roman so set on getting revenge on Cheney? I can understand wanting to thwart him in game due to the new twists the author injects into this installment of the series, but still looking to get revenge for locking Roman into a world where he's effectively immortal and a Marty Stu to boot? It's getting old. And Zach Villa mispronouncing words is also getting old. How many books does it take for the producers to listen to Mr Villa's efforts before they tell him it's pronounced "ree-ay-gents" (along with all of the other words he mispronounces on a regular basis)? A regent is something else that has nothing to do with chemistry/alchemy.

I'll most likely continue with the next novel when it becomes available because I'm a "completionist" and I'm enjoying the plot-line involving Max and Luffy. But if there aren't some serious changes made to the story, and if Mr Villa doesn't get a "proof-reader", then I'm going to call this series quits and I'll have to go back and change my previous reviews.

If you love a fantasy setting with a Marty Stu, then you'll probably enjoy this series. If you're looking for a series with more substance to it; deeper characters with a more compelling world and story, then I'd recommend you move on to something else.

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