Michael

Great Continuation

Revisado: 03-25-20

This book is basically 2 books - there is the first part which has Mark in a similar situation to Jozeph try to establish himself on Anyar. Mark faces different challenges to Jozeph and is more ambitious. This first part can be further divided into 2 parts as well though the split is a spoiler.

Part 2 starts with the Mark chapter from "Tales of Anyar" it is almost a word for word insertion of that story in here "almost". (Chapter ttitle: " Unforseen danger")That story basically starts the plot for the namesake of the book " Passages" and the book finished with the conclusion of the arc which that story started.

Looking forward: This book has moved characters on the board together - the future books will hopefully deal with the interaction of these characters and dealing with the more external threat of the Narthani.

In terms of continuity with the rest of the series the first quarter takes place concurrently with the first 5, the 2nd quarter takes place concurently with book 4 and 5 likely. The 2nd half all takes place after the rest of the series except some of the stories from 5.

This book includes 1 page from Jozephs POV - this is not his story it's Marks story and an Anyar world tour (so there's lots of world building). This book like book 5/is NOT a direct continuation of the events from Book 4. It's more of a background story that will likely be important in the coming story arcs - don't go in expecting anything more as your not going to get it.

Likely Book 5 and 6 are the most skippable in terms of overall plot. I hope that the next book is not another background story from a character introduced in Tales of Anayar as that would get tiresome - it's time to move the plot forward.

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Other reviews are right!

Revisado: 02-08-19

This book was a wish fantasy for libertarian political views, I wouldn't mind this too much but the "adversary" the large government society is propped up to be this horrible thing with few redeeming qualities, but the libertarian society is this wonderland. The problem is one the imbalance and perception of the political views, two the reason I bought this was Military Sci-Fi very little of that going on.

By the end of this book I was ready to just end it it might be interesting to see how the conflict develops between but the conflict here was has so little exposure I'm not invested enough to keep going and nothing else about this book is that interesting.

Oh and there's a lot of sex, references to sex, references to rape

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Might be worth continuing

Revisado: 11-25-18

This is difficult book to review, the story is about a clash of libertarians which have colonized the moon versus the big brother government's of Earth. The MC seems to have a hate boner for any type of government which at times is interesting but at other times seems to be the only defining characteristic of the character ( I hate government's, other people should be able to read my mind, I have an uncontrollable need to control what my love interest does going against the whole libertarian thing) are the basic three thought the main character has.

The side characters (other Povs) don't seem that interesting, and only seem to exist to drive the plot forward. Let's have a perspective from these people so that we can have observers for this plot point.

Also the moon libertarians are very disorganized and supposedly kept a piece of technology out of the hands of government s for a fairly long time ... stretches believability. Besides that the tech was pretty cool, and the talking dogs was an interesting perspective as well.

So this book was difficult to get through and am not sure If I will continue the story as the main character is not very appealing to me mostly because the reasons for his main three plots arent really expounded on. For example MC hates government's great but the reason for that hate is lackluster.

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Amazing Fantasy

Revisado: 08-22-18

This book was amazing. With a well thought out magic system, engaging characters, a plot that pulls few punches, after writing the Divine Cities Trilogy Robert Jackson Bennett strikes again as a fantasy author with a new series that looks to be shaping up to be another great one.

For me this book ticks many boxes that a great fantasy should have. A sense of discovery, abundant magic, society shaped by that magic, a consistent story, and after finishing you feel like you accomplished something, gained a new perspective, and new characters to cherish and imagine.

Tara Sands was a great voice for this novel captures the characters well and the tone of the story. The production was on point.

Not having much more to say and not wanting to spoil the novel the book, my recommendation is: BUY

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Well Executed Fantasy

Revisado: 08-22-18

This is a pretty typical fantasy novel which is not really a bad thing, it has some interesting ideas and some of the actions do come as a surprise but most people should be able to guess what will happen long before the ending.

The audio book in particular is fairly well narrated with distinguishing voices and well done production the narration fits the tone of the story well.

This is not a revolutionary novel, but is well executed and surprinslgy engaging.

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Suffers from Production Issues

Revisado: 05-09-18

Performance (2.5/5) (It's Okay)

Okay the voice of the narrator is not for me but this is not why this performance is getting 2 stars. This audio book is marred with production issues, the most egregious being that the near the end of the first book there is a bunch of editing artifacts that someone forgot to remove and it is very annoying. Imagine having to listen to a couple of pages of the narrator repeating the same line 2x for example "Jack went out to build a spaceship" "Editing artifact sound" "Jack went out to build a spaceship". The voice takes some getting used to but I did listen to the whole audio book, I have a high tolerance for a different narrators.

Story (3.5/5)

I gave this a 4* because I am a fan of these types of book. Those which focus on building, space ship exploration and technological advancement. Those elements are all in this book and I really enjoyed them. Its all the other things in this book that made wince inside a lot and the authors obsession with the Balance of Payments. The Science stuff (great) - the non-science stuff (Politics / Economics / Business Intelligence/ ...) is wince worthy.

Is it worth a credit? In its current state no - if the production issues were solved and you enjoy this type of book then sure.

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Amazing.

Revisado: 04-04-17

This audiobook was quite a ride, thinking about it this story reminded me a lot of the movie Treasure Planet (not the plot though or aliens – more of the feel). Treasure Planet that is for mature audiences (there are no explicit sex scenes) which include an interesting take on AI and Genetic engineering, also has a neat implementation on interstellar travel, and the protagonist is just a bit overpowered (I think some would say Mary Sue-like qualities). (No aliens in the book as far as I could tell). This book is fun – action packed, and most of all an interesting perspective on humanities future.

Overall (4.5/5)

The performance was good, but I think the narrator got a bit excitable in places. I noticed this at the beginning, but there were a few instances in which the narrator speeds up when something exciting is happening – the speed is up all right, but it felt like some of the words were not being enunciated correctly or wholly. I usually listen to books at 2x speed but had to lower the speed to 1.7x to cope with the bursts of excitability. The voice of the narrator fits rather well with the story, and production was good. Note – I am not saying that emotion is bad – I am saying that enunciating each word at the same pace and speed of the last is important – having half the sentence end at double the speed of the first half is not good.

Performance (3.5/5)

The story is told from one perspective, Alex. This is quite an adventure story, from escaping a mind control regime, visiting strange new places, criminal organisation(s), treasure ships, chase scenes, blowing stuff up – sometimes with small nukes, and a few learning montages. People in this society are in some ways designed; there is a fascinating exploration of AI development and also Nanotechnology + some genetic engineering. The story explores these technologies – but I would not classify this as hard science fiction. Alex is different – but does that mean she is not human or is it just a next step? While this book has a lot of cool concepts going on and is very imaginative, the author gives a well-paced story, that is the story came first the cool ideas second.

Story (4.5/5)

Having read both the Kindle version and listened to the audiobook – I feel like both are mostly on par with each other.

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Being a Necromantic Villan LitRPG

Revisado: 03-24-17

I finished the book, and my first thought was that I want more, but also to that nagging curiosity to know what happens next. Awaken Online: Precipice meets the expectations that were set forth in the first book. Overall, I felt satisfied with the listening experience, some of the world building aspects of the book are very well done, while I get conflicted feeling with what some of the characters on what they are doing, I feel like they are the good kind of conflicted feelings meaning that I am invested in the story.

(Overall 4.7/5)

The Performance by David Stifel was basically the same experience as the first book, that is it was a good job. Conversations between characters were easy to keep track of, and I heard the story, not the voice. Production is well done, there were no issues that I caught.

(Performance 4.7/5)

So the story was gripping and addictive, it does slowdown in places but this is 18-hour audiobook, so those are the good places to take a breather. The book does end on something of a cliff-hanger, but that is mostly the author being evil and setting up the next book in the series (which is coming soon I hope 😝). I have conflicting feeling on most of the characters in this story, but all of them feel like they have depth and a background behind them. From the descriptions of the world of Awaken Online it feels like we only have a small glimpse of the entire world, and I worry that it only seems like two groups are effecting the game world it would be nice if this wasn’t the case – (even if only through the background in the news casts).

The story has a few threads going on at the same time: Jason and Company, the AI Alfred, some real-world perspectives, and an Alex subplot. All of these perspectives are interesting, but I sometimes feel like the story is being told with too many povs by the author, I appreciate the perspectives, but it is jarring sometimes to get what amounts to a 1 page pov from a character that will never be mentioned again. At the end of the day, the story was well paced, with lots of villainy!

Story (4.5/5)

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Tpyical LitRPG fare

Revisado: 03-20-17

“This book was given to me for free at my request, and I provided this voluntary review.”

Overall my thoughts on this book are simply That this book did not bring me in, it was not spectacular it was average. The performance was great; I felt what this book lacked was well-written characters. I enjoyed the plot and almost everything else about this book; the characters did not feel like they have depth, or are particularly well executed. None of the characters felt like they popped off the page (well they cannot really cause it is an audiobook). (4/5)

Performance wise the narrator did the job he was supposed to do. Production was good, characters were well diversified, most importantly the voice did not get in the way of the story. I cannot really ask for anything more from a narrator, but on the other hand, this was not the best thing I have ever listened to from a performance standpoint, which is fine. (4/5)

Story – So I already mentioned that the characters were the weak part. The plot was well developed, I enjoyed the worldbuilding, and the pacing was well done. I enjoyed that the story moved from different environments at a good pace, the action sequences were well executed, and I had no problem following what was happening at any one time, I guess I just regret that the characters never captured me. (3.5/5)

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Lost Fleet Continues - Now with more Aliens

Revisado: 02-20-17

Overall this book continues the excellent storytelling of the previous Lost Fleet books so if you have listened to them this series is more of the same, which is a good thing. I highly recommend starting with the Lost Fleet Series since this series starts right after, and has the same cast of characters as the first series (for the most part). (4/5)

The performance by Christian Rummel was great as always, each character has their own voice, and it sucks you into the story cannot ask for anything more. [Listening Speed 1.7x] (4.6/5)

The Story first goal is to wrap up and tie up loose ends from the last series (in the alliance), the rest of the story is a new mission, so there is some drama of going through the syndicate space (but this seems more like a filler). After that the mission attempts to contact with the Alien’s which were in the last series, things do not go exactly as planned to give us an exciting story. Story (4/5)

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