Melanie

Good story. Poor primary narrator.

Revisado: 11-13-23

The story itself is intrigue and the world is well developed. The pacing is good with interpersonal relationships interspersed with intrigue and action. The spicy scenes are where the author shines.

Unfortunately it’s all brought down by a very flat and dry delivery from the primary narrator. He’s supposed to be a military man but he feels like a military robot. He has alternate voices for characters that are good but dialogue delivery is still very flat. Even during spicy scenes. The co-narrator is significantly better at delivering a performance.

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Not enjoying the Narration

Revisado: 12-15-21

Unfortunately, I'm really not liking the decision to switch narrators within books in a series. First off, the 'voices' for the characters were established for me in the first book. Switching to a new narrator is a bit jarring, particularly one whose voice is so different. Second, Carol's someone raspy, older sounding voice doesn't fit with the characters she's reading for. Additionally, her pacing barely changes, if at all, when reading deeply contemplative portions and fast paced action. This gives little difference between the two and makes the combat scenes drag on. There is no sense of urgency and they become boring. I find it hard to focus on what is going on. My problems aren't all with the narration, however. The music composed for this book doesn't seem to fit. I'm all for making new music for the books and not just rehashing the Imperial March or the Rebel's Anthem all the time, but the music created for this just doesn't FEEL like Star Wars. The action music is just 'there' and doesn't add anything to the performance. I also miss the inclusion of sound effects. I don't think they had any of the whining engines or screaming blaster sounds that you typically get in a Star Wars audio book. I'm giving the story a 3 for now mostly because I didn't finish listening to the book and I honestly can't remember much of what was going on due to being bored with the performance of it. It seems we are switching focus away from Quell a bit and more towards other members of Alphabet Squad as well as Shadow Squadron. This is good because we can get more varied perspectives on what's going on. I'll just have to read this book physically when I'm done with "The High Republic" books and see if January does a better job in the sequel. For now I might move on to Thrawn Ascension. So long as Carol isn't reading any of THOSE. I just don't think her voice works for action packed narration.

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Mediocre Story, worse performance

Revisado: 12-09-19

I wanted to like it.

Turning into a dragon in another world? Fun and exciting, yes?

But when everything is rushed with little to no character development, how can you come to care about the story.

There was very little world or system development, it was almost as if the author assumed the reader was experienced in the world already. Or at least litRPG type stories in general (which I am) but it would feel odd to first time readers. There was no development of this specific alt world power system.

His ‘romance’ with the main female character was hyper rushed and seemed based on nothing.

Villains showed up with no development, only to vanish pages later. With little indication of their motivations or anything to make them feel like fully fleshed antagonists. One is even ‘redeemed’ seemingly in the next sentence after declaring that Evan will never win. Evan simply responds with the equivalent of “yes I will” and the villain (apparent compelled to attack) responds with the equivalent of “I believe you can save us.”

And through it all, the audio performances are very over-the-top. Over acted. Lines are delivered with unnecessary emphasis. Accents feel cartoonish at best. It feels like the readers should be reading books for 5-6 year olds. And with one lack luster sex scene, this book clearly isn’t for kids.

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Great adventure. Steamy eroticism.

Revisado: 12-18-18

I enjoyed this book immensely. A well written adventure in a genre (alt digital work) that has quickly become packed with content. This one rises above many, especially if you want some steamy sex mixed in.

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Enjoyable. Fun. Sexy. Little real conflict.

Revisado: 06-14-18

I'm really enjoying these stories. Fun and sexy. Really enjoyable so long as you aren't looking for to much strife and struggle.

The characters are fun and the performance is great. But, from relationships to the core conflict, everything comes too easy for Sean, who's basically a Mary Sue who can handle anything despite being new to all this. Not a problem if you don't want an edge of your seat experience.

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Fun and sexy supernatural story

Revisado: 06-08-18

I enjoyed the characters and the situation. Build up was a bit fast, especially in the relationship department. And the conflict against the main protagonist feels more like nuisances than a Threat, but overall fun. I'll be getting the rest.

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Good story. Not a Star Wars story.

Revisado: 11-09-17

This is a really good story. It just doesn't feel like Star Wars to me.

Star Wars elements feel wedged into an unrelated story to make it "Star Wars". Like a Dug described as "particularly nasty". Sound familiar? Probably because that's how Sebulba was described in Phantom Menace. Besides, e woman who's tail is being related only ever knew of one Dug, so how would she, out the narrator, even know how nasty he was in comparison to others of his species? The alien's presence doesn't even add anything to the story, other than to remind you "this is Star Wars."

Also, directly quoting Anakin Skywalker's whiney diatribe about sand when the rock wall dwelling Skrie ask General Hux about it feels as forced and awkward as the original delivery of that line.

The story itself does very little for Phasma's legend because, as Captain Cardinal laments, "this is Siv's story." We do get a little about hey personality and how she views the First Order, but I'm more interested in how this grown woman from a desert planet with little tech managed to so quickly acclimate to life in the advanced, militaristic Order. Basically, we don't see enough of her. But that's probably to maintain her "mystic".

The idea of a red Stormtrooper captain named "Cardinal" seems anachronistic to me. How likely is it that this galaxy "far, far away" and "a long time ago" has the same word for a red bird. I can put other word usages aside as a method of translation, but this particular choice is far too specific.

The story overall is good. But it didn't give me what I want, considering it's supposed to be about Phasma and you get very little, honestly, about her. And it didn't even feel like Star Wars, forced Star Wars references not withstanding.

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Excellent world building and storytelling.

Revisado: 09-26-17

I truly enjoy the rich world Rothfuss created. He's as much of an Edema Ruh as Kvothe.

And so is Podehl. I feel like I'm in the inn, listening to Kvothe myself.

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Fun Story, Sometimes silly performance.

Revisado: 12-15-16

the story was fun but with at least one pretty blatant rip off of a famous fantasy novel. (not that all d&d based books aren't a "rip off" of said book).

The performance was sometimes silly, with some courtiers sounding like valley girls and merchants sounding like southern hicks. But with so many characters, James had to do SOMETHING to make them sound different.

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A long, slice-of-life D&D story.

Revisado: 10-14-16

No great heroes or epic quests here. just people surviving in the biggest city on Faerun.

The performance was stilted and over or under acted at times.

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