Guillermo

So Wonderful

Revisado: 04-14-25

RinoZ, if you're seeing this, you're an amazing, wonderful author. I thought your Chrysalis books were incredibly delightful, and now this Book of the Dead is so friggin' good. Thanks so much for sharing your work.

And Phil, if you see this, your narration is delightful as well. Thanks :)

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Children's Book for Adults

Revisado: 02-18-25

This is a fun series. I'm almost done with book three so far, and these are books I estimate are written for nine to twelve year olds but good enough that adults like me can enjoy them. It reminds me a lot of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew where there are crimes but nothing truly scary. The main dungeon's philosophy is literally of love and trying to help people. Of LitRPG I still prefer books like Battlemage Farmer, The Tower, Beware of Chicken, Everyone Likes Large Chests, Primal Hunter and several others genuinely intended for adults. But this Dungeon Life series is a very enjoyable.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Awful Characters

Revisado: 01-14-25

I was only able to tolerate a few hours of this book. The characters are all pushovers and meek and hate life but do nothing to make their lives better. They want to die, and it makes me hate them. There is nothing likeable about the characters. They just go around being bullied by everyone and do nothing. And the story creates a fake world where every single person is either a bully/gangster or a victim. It even stereotypically says all New Yorkers chew gum non-stop and fast. There is absolutely nothing credible in the world, and there is no reason to waste time following these awful characters.

After a few hours of hating the story I skipped ahead chapter by chapter, and it never changed. The characters are figurative walking zombies, dead before they're dead.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Imperfect but Excellent

Revisado: 01-10-25

Book one of this series introduced two characters. Zach represented popular, mainstream opinion and, frankly, idiocracy. Ryun represented individual freedom, strength and personal ethics. Zach was introduced in this story as a reprehensible and awful man. I hated him. Sadly, the series went on to follow Zach's story as much as Ryun's. All the way through book three Zach never got good. I hated every scene with him in it.

Book four seems to be finally fixing this. It still follows Zach as much as Ryun, but gradually Zach is becoming less awful. I don't quite hate him as much.

Another major flaw of the series is that through book three Zach got the Monty Hall approach of getting all his powers as gifts, unearned and undeserved. Book four is starting to fix this.

Negative aspects aside, I love the writing, the politics and interactions, most of the characters and the world itself.

While the series began as the Atlas Shrugged of Literary RPG, it's finally finding its own voice, no longer a rewrite of an Ayn Rand novel. I have already progressed to book five of the series and am happy with both the author and the narrator.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

What A Rip Off

Revisado: 11-27-24

I bought the four books on sale today thinking I'd be getting 60 hours of books for 32 dollars USD. I then discovered they['re only one hour each, and I couldn't return them because Audible doesn't accept returns on books you buy with cash.

I just finished book one, and there's NO story. It's literally just one hour which introduces one character in addition to the main character. It's like one or two chapters of what should be 120 chapters. And the writing is awful. I have no desire to listen to the next three books even though I got ripped off by Audible and now own them.

In addition, that hour is really only about 25 or less minutes worth of writing with the rest dragged out by loud music and special effects. And the special effects don't even match the story. When it says her weapon is suppressed, it's exactly as loud as every other weapon in the hour, for instance.

I hate this book and am so sore at Audible. Also I'm legally blind (it's the reason I do audio books instead of paper books), so I genuinely thought I was buying four full length books. I've bought thousands of books from audible since 2010 (I have two platinum accounts), and this is my worst purchase ever.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Uninteresting

Revisado: 11-20-24

I like the author, Will Wight, a lot and listened to all 12 Cradle books so far. And Travis Baldree is a wonderful narrator. But this new trilogy is terrible. I simply don't care at all for any of the characters, and it makes caring about the plot impossible. I've had to take a break every hour or two to listen to music to build up the motivation to return to this book. We're expected to care about the plot and characters because of cliches like "save the children" or "save my mother" or "save my village" without actually making us care about any of the characters before those plots kick in. I will not continue this series, but I will continue the Cradle series.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Wish I Had Stopped On Book 7

Revisado: 11-03-24

I enjoyed the first seven books very much. But by book 8 and 9 the series became a combination of absurd and formulaic.

Example of bad soliloquy: "A warrior cannot live without honor" and then commences to do something he knows is outright wrong to his own morales.

Example of tiresome formula: Create an enemy who is a little tougher than the heroes, and then spend most of the book just giving all the heroes stronger skills without work. They just have to wish it. Not enough skill during fight? Just wish it. Now they have enough.

Hero is being killed and torn apart? He just wills it to not die. Absurd.

I'm so tired of this series. I got book 9 because it was on sale even though I already saw the downward spiral with book 8. I will not continue this series even for free. There are so many better books.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

So Incredibly Boring

Revisado: 08-03-24

I got about half way through the book before giving up on it. I spent the last hour trying to figure out why it's so boring, but I can't quite put my finger on it. The narrator has no passion, the story is uninteresting, the jokes are flat, and the overall audiobook lacks any sense of poetry, humanity or character arc. I've listened to countless thousands of audiobooks (I'm legally blind so listen to them nearly every day all day), and I will remember this one as one of my greatest wastes of time. For those who like southern redneck style humor, the Undying Mercenaries series is way more fun.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Electric Guitar Over Narration

Revisado: 07-10-24

I get that this series target audience is virgin boys age 14 to 18, and among books of that target audience this is decent. I have no problem with silly jokes and poop humor and blatant appeals to emotion because the writing throws in just enough adult philosophy this can help the naive get a little contemplation on major topics. However, the book is littered with combat music over narration, organs over narration, pots and pans clanging over narration, and when the credits at the end listed electric guitar for credits (an end which was torture to reach because so much of the book is ruined by cacophony), I knew I'm done with this series and will not punish myself anymore. This book's biggest flaw is its production.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Disappointing

Revisado: 06-07-24

I loved the first nine books of the series. The strength of the previous books was the rich conversations, the characters, the interactions, the growth and development and the humor. Most of book ten has none of this. Most of book ten is just simple narration without the richness of the first nine books. I wouldn't be surprised if this was secretly written by a different author. I'd rather believe that than the likely explanation Neven Iliev lost his love of storytelling and his characters. I'll probably still get book eleven when it comes out because I did love the first nine books, but I'm not actually looking forward to another in this series if it continues like book ten.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña