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The plot thickens

Revisado: 08-12-24

I love the easy this series is panning out! The author does a great job of making me empathize with the characters!
Without spoiling the story, this book contains a lot of answers to questions the previous books brought up. We even get a small peak into some of Baelin's mysteries!
The performance is excellent as usual. The writing is easy and entertaining as usual.

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an engaging story

Revisado: 08-01-23

I'll start with positives, which will be easy. the story was engaging. Lovers of Isekai will find this spectacular. the main character is classically heroic: he wants to do good, and doesn't compromise his morality when it's convenient. This isn't to say he's never tempted. he simply chooses to be good. that, to me, is a breath of fresh air in a landscape of every new story being about antiheroes.
The ending is solid enough that you could put down the series here and feel satisfied, but has just enough of an opening that you will be interested in seeing what the sequel has to offer.
The narrator was fantastic! His performance brought the characters to life and captured the feeling of being in a game setting.
my one gripe:
Number one, I don't need a full rundown of the character sheet every few minutes. this probably works better in print where you can easily just skim the info and move on, but if you're wanting to show an incremental improvement, spending a full 3 minutes recording every skill, they're rarity, and their level is unnecessary and mildly annoying.

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Extremely Annoying

Revisado: 10-06-22

I really tried to give this a chance. I wanted a story I could lose myself in, especially for this much run time. this book, however, is just unbearable.
My primary gripe is with the characters. none of them are really complex or believable. they're all cardboard cutouts of common tropes, but done more poorly than most other authors. The main character... The main character is the most annoying little girl imaginable. She's basically Sherlock Holmes if Sherlock Holmes didn't need all of his years of education and was sick in the head of a squeaky little know it all. of course, everyone likes her upon meeting her unless they're evil. When the "grumpy assassin" type character is down to not like her, it turns out he actually does like her but feels like she'll get hurt so he doesn't want to like her. her father is apparently a prominent noble who is supposed to be extremely clever, but displays all the cleverness of the "tragically noble knight" trope.
I recommend you save yourself a credit unless you have very low standards. I couldn't make it through even a quarter of this.

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Great as usual

Revisado: 02-28-22

As usual, JS Morin delivers an engaging story that keeps you listening. my only caveat is that I detect some identity politics reering it's ugly head. The main character decides to go lesbian out of nowhere after having only one almost lesbian experience for which she was decidedly uninterested. It was so contrived that it simply didn't feel believable.
In spite of this, the author is excellent at creating an engaging story, and the narrator also does a fantastic job! Add to that the value of this package for one credit and there's no doubt that this is well worth the listen. it also does a good job of setting up two new possible spin off series to come later.

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great story, bad narrator

Revisado: 06-23-21

Why they took George Guidall off this book, I'll never understand. the new narrator tries, and while he has a clear enough voice, it's dry and utterly fails at any accent outside of New England.
As usual, Turtledove delivers an engaging story with heavy emphasis on the daily lives of his characters. if you like character driven story, this is the author for you! I highly recommend this entire series (all three trilogies).

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This could have been great

Revisado: 02-24-21

The good: Mark Lawrence writes a compelling story and is good at his character work. Even side characters come through with a realistic personality. There were very few slow points in the story, allowing me to easily make it all the way to the end.

The Bad: Sometimes the author forgets that he's writing from the perspective of an uneducated, low IQ child, and suddenly she begins thinking and speaking in overly flowery language. At one point she goes from one moment barely able to string simple words together to eloquently telling a detailed story about her past.
the biggest problem I have is the ending (and its subsequent pieces in between chapters). It tells the story and gives away major plot points in the story. How is any tension supposed to build if you tell everyone a third of the way through the book that three different characters will survive and what they'll be doing? On top of that, the writing in these sections tries so hard to be poetic that it just ends up feeling pretentious and boring. Finally, I can't see a way that this could move into a second book. The rest of the story is thoroughly spoiled now and there's no real mystery.
on a minor note, the twist was obvious. that's a small sin, but still one that irks me a little.

conclusion: if you don't mind spoiled endings and just want the story for its own sake, this is a pretty decent read. it has some difficult parts, but pushing through those few paragraphs gets you back to an interesting story. At 20 hours, you won't feel like you wasted a credit. If spoiled endings bother you, this could be a bad time. at the least, you won't care to read the rest of the books since this utterly ruins any question of what happens with the main character.

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Lost Roman Legion meets Pokemon... and it's genius

Revisado: 10-08-20

When I heard about the bet that spawned this book, I had to read it just for curiosity's sake. The overall quality blew me away.

The Story: I loved the way that the protagonists are facing a competent foe, who keeps them constantly on the back foot. at no time did I think "there's no way that plan will work," or "that character will easily get out of this situation." What's more, you are always wondering how they could possibly escape seemingly flawless traps, and there's never a moment that their success seems unearned. as a result, the stakes continuously seem real all the way until the end.

The Characters: every character is unique, with special strengths and weaknesses, and poignant, developed personalities. As mentioned before, the villains are highly capable. No bumbling henchmen under a barely competent leader. you have a genius spy with decades of experience, and his allies are incredible at what they do in their own right. The main characters range in strength, with one of them being a powerless teenager who is small for his age and not especially brilliant either.
As a side note: Hollywood needs to pay attention to Amara. This is how you write a female protagonist: highly capable and confident, but with very realistic flaws. If you wanted to make a great "Strong woman of color," you would be hard pressed to do better than her.

The narrator: The performance makes all the difference in these books. I've heard great books ruined by a poor reading, and mediocre books elevated by a stunning performance. Both the voice and the performance of the narrator were excellent, bringing the characters to life. I will certainly be paying attention to other authors who employ her work.

Conclusion: This book has everything: Great story, great characters, great writing, and great narration. It's nice and long, so you don't feel like you're wasting a credit, but it never feels like you're wading through unnecessary filler. This is HIGHLY recommended.

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A satisfying conclusion worth the wait!

Revisado: 11-01-19

When I began this series, I remember thinking it was "pretty good." The world building was subtle and just beginning. The more I read, the more I realised that Brent Weeks is phenomenally talented. My disappointment and frustration at finding this book delayed because he had to work a day job was almost palpable.
If ever there was a book with the wait! Please understand that I'm not the "glowing praise" type. I don't leave 5-star reviews, typically, because I can find huge flaws with any story. This is especially true of authors who do "happy" endings, and this story does have that. Every major story arc up to this point gets a satisfying conclusion. You never know what's going to happen, even when you're convinced (for the fifth time) that you've figured it all out. That last part is a particular treat to me as I usually find even good stories predictable.
The last quarter of the book had tears in my eyes in several spots. Apparently Mr. Weeks is very good at writing redemption and portraying the intense emotion of truly flawed individuals that make such perfectly crafted characters.
All of this is compounded by the amazing narration of Simon Vance, who truly makes the stories and characters come alive with his reading! I truly wonder if anyone could have done Gunner half so well.
It's a truly rare thing for me to be so happy about a story. The worst part about it is that it's over and now I have to go looking for another story, fully aware it probably won't live up to this new, ridiculously high bar.

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Better than expected!

Revisado: 10-06-19

So I'm trying to decide what to spend my credits on, and I'm out of books by known authors. I have to try something new and none of the suggestions are standing out. I chose to preview this book and thought to myself "It doesn't sound too boring. I'll give it a chance. " From the preview and description, I expected a linear story focused around a single character. Boy, was I wrong!
The myriad characters in this book are well developed and the story is amazingly complex. Expectations are subverted just enough to make things interesting, but not so much that you're left wondering who the story is supposed to be about. The ending made me immediately want to listen to the next installment! Herein lies the biggest problem: The story is incomplete! You will need to wait for the next installment.
Also, Audible doesn't seem to like the book anymore. This author doesn't show up in searches. I don't know why that is, but it's disappointing.

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Worth a read

Revisado: 08-28-19

At first glance, this seems like a detective novel with magic thrown in. As the story progresses, Mclellan masterfully expands the story until all of the beginning preconceptions are dashed. The story ramps up slowly, but by the end you'll be craving the next installment.
The narrator is skilled, but not as skilled as some others. His voice doesn't seem to have enough range to cover the distinct ways that each character should speak. in spite of this, he had a pleasant enough reading style that it's a pleasure to continue listening long after you know you should go to bed.
4 stars seems apt. A great read that only misses a fifth star by nitpicky margins.

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