Sqeesqad

The book is fun, but the fights are repetitive

Revisado: 10-03-23

The first book was very good, and this book mostly holds up to the promise of the first one. Nick is still entertaining, the lore and everything is still fascinating, and the performance is still great.

But damn the fight scenes are repetitive. The smaller fights are usually still interesting, mostly because they're more varied and end quicker, but the longer fight scenes are quite annoying, They all use the same twist/gimmick to spice the fight up: at some point nick is about to make a killing blow, but then, a new/old foe (re)appears to prevent the deadly strike just in time! It was fun the first few times, but then it kept happening and happening and happening with each (longer) fight scene.

Other than that, I wished Tarkin would've gotten a little more screentime. Despite all the set-up, he really doesn't play a big role in the book at all. But, to be fair, he did only just arrive and hasn't really gotten the chance to gain any strenght yet, so it's entirely possible he'll join more adventures later in the next book.

Also, come on, Nick, you're allowed to spent time with others, you know! You're allowed to make new friends with the people coming to your city, maybe find a girl/boyfriend while you're at it. I get that it's not the focus of the book, but he really does feel like he doesn't have any friends. Like, you'd think that at the very least he'd spent some significant amount of time with Tarkin, but he doesn't really. He just goes off to hunt alone, ocasionally returning to his city. Which is fine. Nick doesn't seem like the person to want to risk others with his own stunts, but he could at least spend some more time among his people when he is actually at home.

Those two things aside, I did really enjoy the book, and I'm still looking forward to the next one. But I hope the social aspect picks up a bit. A character in isolation just isn't as fun to read as to read.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

A sweet listen!

Revisado: 08-25-23

I rather enjoyed listening to this audiobook. While it can sometimes get a small bit repetitive, it never fails to entertain. I mean, it's a story about a dragon made of icecream, how can it not? I can definitely recommend listening to this audiobook.

Ben Farrow's (the narrator) performance was really enjoyable and good. His voice for the youngling dragon remains adorably sweet, and the other voices he does aren't bad either. The only complaint I had was that he, when the POV switched, would continue reading on immediately. A small break would've helped a lot in figuring out the POV had changed. This isn't a big issue, though, since the POV doesn't switch too often. Apart from that, I have no complaints, and I look forward to listening to him again for book 3!

The characters are mostly good. And unlike the first book, there are actually quite a lot of talking characters this time and a lot more social interactions. I rather liked it, since it made Icy feel less isolated. I'm glad he made some friends. He deserves some friends. Sometimes the motivations of the characters feel a little weak and you'll be left wondering why a character did a certain action, but it doesn't happen too often, and the problem isn't nearly bad enough to not recommend listening. This is more a note towards the author. All in all, I liked the characters, though I still like Icy the most.

Which leads me to another thing I liked, which is sadly rather rare within the litrpg: a good sense of naming. Lots of stories always give the characters excuses like "I'm bad at naming things", and then give bad names. It's dull. This story has its own cute little backstory for Icy's name, though. Sure, the name is still simple and a bit on the nose, but that's the point. And the backstory behind it gives the name more depth than pretty much any other litrpg story does. It feels a little strange to focus on something like this during a review, but it's one of the things I noticed and really enjoyed, so I felt it needed mention.

The story is alright. Perfectly entertaining, if perhaps not very exciting. It's a lot of the same as the last book (which is fine, because I really enjoyed that one too). This books shakes things up a bit though by introducing a large scale background event that Icy takes part in, making everything more interesting. There also happens a lot more stuff in the wider world, which we're occasionally told about. They are really rather well timed. Every time I felt the story becoming a little repetitive, an alternate POV would come to shake things up again.

The only thing about the story I didn't like much was the whole thing with the Rose and the Eyeball. I won't spoil too much, but the whole event comes a little out of nowhere. Afterwards, it makes a lot more sense, as events and worldbuilding starts clicking things into place (in a way that shows it was actually thought about beforehand, not put in afterwards to fix the issue). But until then you'll probably be left a little reeling by the sudden plot development.

But despite that, I still really enjoyed the audiobook. And if you enjoyed the first book, I definitely recommend listening to this one too. This book is also generally just better than the first one, so if you're on the fence, I say: try it, you might be surprised

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

The title of the book does the story justice

Revisado: 06-29-23

So, first thing first, I want to make it clear that the score I gave the book is a representation of how I experienced it and not (entirely) a judgement of the book's quality. I don't like like giving bad scores, but I feel it's rather justified here as I'll explain below. There's some vague spoilers in this review near the bottom, so you've been warned.

With that out of the way, I wanted to start of with what I liked about this audiobook. The performance was great. Christian can really do a wide range of voices and accents and do them well. On top of that, the audiobook had sound-effects here and there (like a close door or a gunshot) that I thought was really neat. And on top of *that*, the non-human characters have had their voices modulated to sound a little more distinct and alien. It all falls together to make a really great performance. (Though, for the sake of honestly, I feel I must mention that sometimes the god's voices were very hard to understand. This was rare, though)

Another thing I really liked was how the main character approached the whole situation. He takes it all seriously in a way that I've not seen done before. It's refreshing. (Sadly, this seriousness doesn't carry on through out the book, but I'll talk about that later). Most of the characters are likeable too, especially the grandma. I really like the relationship the main character has with his grandmother. It's very sweet.

Now for the negative bits, and the reason for the title of my review. The book is filled with deus ex machina moments. Basically every conflict, except a few at the start, is resolved by a new ability, some strange event, a convenient ally, etc. The best way to sum it up is this: the main character doesn't get rewarded for solving conflicts (like fights), but gets rewarded so that he can resolve said conflicts. It made the main character feel incompetent and powerless—the exact opposite of the feeling the book was clearly going for.

It would've been fine it was once, but it was seriously almost all conflicts. "But how could the main character keep getting in over his head like that?" I hear you ask. Well, let me tell you.

The main character often jumps face first into threats way beyond his level to actually deal with, often without really thinking about the risk at all (which goes against his described personality, but that's another matter I won't get into). For example, his first real mission is to clear out some village of an infestation. This is fine, but the moment it becomes clear this would be way beyond his ability to reasonably deal with, he just carries on anyway, not so much as acknowledging he's taking a much increased risk. To no one's surprise, he then gets infected and almost horribly killed. He only survives because a captive angel tells him to use its blood to heal and because of a special new ability he gets.

Conflicts like this happen all through-out the book. They can often be summed up as: He took a needless risk, almost dies, but is bailed out before he can. It's rather frustrating to listen to.

But what really made me drop the audiobook (at the ~11 hour mark) was a scene in which one of his friends dies horribly because he just had to activate the obvious trap. Leaving aside the near-complete lack of an emotional reaction (aside from a quick 'he never felt such terrible grief' (roughly) that's thrown in at the end), the character learns nothing from this. As far as I could tell—again, I dropped it not too long after this scene—there was no introspection, no guilt for getting his friend killed, nothing. Things mostly just continue like he didn't just lose two of his friends (one was killed to set up the trap to begin with).

It could've been a great scene filled with emotion, frustration, powerlessness, followed by introspection and a drive to improve himself and never let it happen again. But it wasn't. It was the straw that broke the camel's back for me.

So, I don't want to end on a too negative point, so I want to reiterate that there are definitely aspects I loved about this book. I loved the premise and the start. I loved most of the characters. I loved the lore. But the conflict and the pacing of the conflict just didn't work well. For me, at least. I know from talking with others that I have a much lower tolerance for this kind of thing than most. If the premise intrigues you and you can look past some deus ex machina'd fights, definitely give this a try.

I hope you can find more enjoyment in it than I could.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 7 personas

I loved it. And you probably will too

Revisado: 01-11-23

I greatly enjoyed the first book, and this one is probably even better. We learn more about the various characters, and more about the magic system. I wished Damien had learned a few more spells, but what we get is probably better anyway. With the few spells he has, the fights feel varied, and it feels like he actually struggles too sometimes, and they're a lot less boring than is usually the case with other fantasy stories. I do have a few complaints about the combat scenes, but I'll get to that later.

The story itself was really good, and I enjoyed almost every moment of it. Time is skipped when it needs to be, and we get full detail when we need to. It all feels well balanced, and well paced.

The world building did feel a bit lacking, but that is only normal considering most of the story takes place in either the arena, the cave, a forest, or the mess-hall. This lack of world building didn't really take a way from the believability of the world, or the enjoyment of the story. And from the ending, it sounds like the next book will have much more travelling. So we'll get to see more of the world then.

The performance of Peter Berkrot is good and, in my opinion, really fits the characters. Especially Henry. There was however the occasional slip-up where the wrong voice was used for the wrong character. It happened maybe three or four times in total, so it's hardly a reason to not give this a listen, though.

Now for my complaint about the combat. Not every bit of it felt necessary. There are a two fights in particular I didn't like. The one with Jayce, and the spar at the very end of the story. In both cases, the students decide that they should go spar. It feels a bit forced, and like it's just put there because there hadn't been a fight in a while. So while you listen, it just drags on and on, and doesn't really advance the plot. Until suddenly after the fight something happens that moves the plot forwards.

I think that if the fights had been tied into the plot, like the fight with the Corruption was, it wouldn't have been nearly as annoying as it was. But these were only two fights, and the rest were pretty great.

All in all, despite my issues with the two fights, I really enjoyed this book, and it saddens me that I now have to wait for the next one, because I'm sure that one will be great as well.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

amazing story, and great performance

Revisado: 10-28-22

I really loved this book. Though it dragged a little towards the end, it never failed to hold my attention from the moment he wakes up, all the way to the very end. Unlike experiences I've had with other stories, the well-timed flashbacks never feel obtrusive, and always give interesting, and often useful, information. The side characters in the flashbacks are great too, and I'm actually a little sad we didn't get to hear more of them.
The ending was very satisfying too. While listening, I was afraid it wouldn't be, a fear that grew throughout the last few chapters, but it suprised me in the end, leaving me with w warm, fuzzy, satisfied feeling inside.

The performance is great too. Ray Porter is a great fit for the story. And while there are a few moments that are off—usually in situations where the emotions are high, and the tone and such don't quite match the tone of the story. Or where it's cut off just a little too fast, making it a little difficult to follow—they are rare, and easy to ignore. The added affects for Rocky are also a great addition and gives the characters distinctive voices, as well as really driving the point home that they're an alien.

Overal, this is a great book, and you should definitely give it a listen

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña