Adam Bogovich

Good sweeping story, that misses the character dev

Revisado: 04-06-23 El oyente recibió este título gratis

Overall, this was a great story and had a lot of great ideas throughout. Performance was spectacular. My main gripe is that the overall character development was lacking. I felt the characters should have been a lot more different by the end of book 5 than they ended up being.

I also have no idea if it's in the cards, but there is a lot more to dig into in this world. I like the slow role dolling out of information into the past, but there is a huge amount of loose threads to pull if there are any follow-on stories. If that were to be the case, I would LOVE to continue the story.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Great story and i hope there's a follow up

Revisado: 02-23-23 El oyente recibió este título gratis

The story revolves around underwater mech units and their pilots. There are a LOT of new terms and ideas that are hard to place early on in the story, but things start to click eventually...just in time to learn more terms once the fighting starts. You don't get enough time with most of the characters for them to be too nuanced, but the relationships (friendly and antagonistic) still feel real enough.

The narrating and the fight scenes were done very well and I would definitely be interested in a follow-up after the world changing climactic event.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Traditional YA tropes in a fresh wrapping

Revisado: 12-08-21

In the beginning, you get a lot of the traditional tropes with a technological society that isn't quite what it seems, but it quickly becomes a bit more of a mystery. This is mainly because some of the supporting characters don't explain things fully, which pans out as you go through the story and slowly unfold the things that the race of Maglans have forgotten. I also appreciated that the normal romance sub-plots didn't take over the story like they do in a lot of other books.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

a good mix of tech, magic, and tomfoolery

Revisado: 11-05-21

Interesting yet outlandish tale starting in the dark ages, but with a unique look at how magic could work. Made for an interesting story and had some good characters to carry the plot forward. Honestly, the worst part about the book was the voice used for the main character Tung. It fit the character but it was quite grating.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Interesting new world with a lot of character

Revisado: 10-26-21

Not gonna lie, this is one of those books that confused me right off the bat with a lot of new terms/definitions/concepts. But, after a chapter or two, it settled in and it was a really good read. Normal light vs dark dynamic is uprooted in the third act with a good twist that sets up future books really well. I also like how the author treated the protagonist at the end of the book...cleverly left him much like he was before the climax through the use of a hero scapegoat. Overall, looking forward to more in the series!

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

showing the best and worst of humanity

Revisado: 10-26-21

First off, this book is an obvious hit to everyone's thoughts about COVID. There's nothing wrong with that, just a statement. It runs through how different families and personalities would treat a pandemic like COVID, except on a much faster timeframe and even less certainty in the early stages of research. This is not a story about finding a cure or anything like that, it's merely about survival and doing what you can to help those you love. All that I can get behind.

The downside was that it seemed like the author had no faith in the reader being able to retain information. I can't count the number of times that certain things were repeated (i.e. how the virus is transferred); by the second half of the book, I started rolling my eyes when there would be ANOTHER entire paragraph reiterating what we had already heard.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Hard to take in at the beginning, but ended well

Revisado: 09-02-21

I really liked this book overall. But, I will say it was quite difficult to keep up with the relationships between the characters. Some names were similar and I kept getting them confused, and I know there is at least one set of siblings that I don't remember the names for. I'm sure that a second read through would make things much easier to understand, but on my first go through, i was pretty lost for the first half or so. The overall world building got to a comfortable spot, but it was a very jarring start.

The overall story was good, and had a nice set up for future stories. The foreshadowing was very heavy with Jace; so much so that i'm confused how none of the other characters even remotely thought about it before it happened.

Performance was really good!

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Interesting take on a medieval YA

Revisado: 08-30-21 El oyente recibió este título gratis

I really liked this series. The characters were fleshed out enough that it kept things interesting. Some characters could have been served with a bit more development to make transitions less jarring (i.e. Terrance in book 3) but overall it didn't really detract from the overall story for me. It was a good length, where it never felt like it was dragging along. Performance was great!

My biggest complaint is actually the inner monologue of Neil in the 3rd book. I understand the point of it, but his depression and imposture syndrome was hit WAY too hard in my opinion. it was weaved into just about every sentence. Half way through the last book I just started rolling my eyes every time he felt sorry for himself.

I would be incredibly interested in either a follow-on or prequel story that goes deeper into the types of magic that can be learned or the evolution of dragon friends and bonds

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Better than the first but a lot of the same issues

Revisado: 07-26-21

The overall story is better than the first, and definitely increases the tension and stakes. Although, I am surprised at the lesser number of character deaths than in the first book. The writing seems to have gotten better as well, but there are still times where the author's choice to throw thesaurus words into casual conversations and internal monologue just make me roll my eyes.

The narrator still is not my favorite, I'll just repeat what I said in my first review: it is just personal preference that the cadence and the way certain words were pronounced just took me out of it a number of times.

There are also some inconsistencies that just kinda bug me. i.e. there's a part where the main character gets a message from another character and "it has three words"; then in the very next chapter, that same message "had two words".

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Great Story; many YA troupes but well written

Revisado: 07-20-21 El oyente recibió este título gratis

Utopian City in a Dystopian World? Check
Protagonist is an outsider? Check
Neutral guy is the chosen one? Check
Evil Adults run an evil corporation? Super Check
Love Triangle (that the protagonist doesn't even know is happening)? Check

All that said, I really enjoyed it. I got vibes from a LOT of other YA series', but it stood out on its own through the premise. The fact that it is a world flipped on its head from most stories is very intriguing and interesting to follow along. The character development was minimal overall, but I can see how things can take off in the next stories. They left you off with a lot of unanswered questions (as expected) and I'm excited to listen to the next book to find out what direction the author chose to take.

The narration was great as well. Great diction and differentiation between characters. Was successfully able to bring emotion into the right scenes.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas