Joe

Overly political, doomsday prepper porn.

Revisado: 01-01-25

I picked the title up expecting a sci-fi apocalypse story with some raunchy bits. I was willing to engage in some suspension of disbelief for what I was hoping would be a fun romp. Unfortunately, the author used this to shoehorn in his political ideology at every opportunity.

The pre-invasion world is falling apart? Well, that’s because social support programs stole all the money from our brave military. People unprepared for an alien invasion? Gun control kept them from having the weapons they need. Need a straw-man minor antagonist? How about some lady with an autistic kid screaming about entitlements.

Never fear! Our gun loving, ex-military man with a tragic backstory will lead a plucky group of survivors using the powers of millions of dollars in supplies from deus-ex-mother-in-law and everyone just automatically treating him as the leader.

The performances were a struggle as well with lots of unnatural pauses.

The concept had merit and I tried to give this omnibus the benefit of the doubt. I gave these issues a pass for the sake of world-building in order to get to the meat of the story. But by the end of book 1, it was still slapping the reader in the face and I couldn’t take it anymore. I could not finish and returned the title which is something I have done only twice before despite having over 350 titles in my library.

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Serviceable, but the series is losing momentum…

Revisado: 10-14-24

I feel like the series is flagging for me. The narration is top notch and the combat remains a high point, but so much of the banter feels forced and many of jokes miss the mark. Many of the background and support characters feel hollow, like NPCs who only exist to provide a specific interaction with the main characters. Additionally, it feels as if the protagonists frequently act out of character or do something stupid just because the author needed a way to advance the plot. Things like that break the immersion too frequently for me to get deeply invested.

I finished this one, but I don’t think I’ll get any subsequent books in the series.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Solid motivation, OK Advice- Worth a listen

Revisado: 08-04-24

I'll preface this by saying I love Robin, she's great at motivating you to get out there and put in the work and this book delivers in that respect. Hearing her personal stories of motivation and how she overcame challenges was helpful. Her performance was great, she's a dynamic and engaging narrator.

There were parts of this book that just didn't land for me. It's a neat story that she was able to walk away from law to pursue her dreams, but it comes off like she saying people stuck in unfulfilling circumstances just don't want it enough. She gears a lot of the advice and motivation towards novice runners such as myself, but then spends lots of time discussing ultramarathons which is something she acknowledges only 0.5% of people will ever do. Finally, she recommends an alkaline diet which is completely unsupported by evidence.

In short, if you like Robin's personality and coaching, you'll probably like this book. Her running "why" is great and will get you out the door. If you're looking for a running "how," you'll probably find the advice insufficient and somewhat inapplicable.

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Mark Thompson did the best he could with what he had to work with.

Revisado: 05-14-24

Mark Thompson provided excellent and immersive narration, as always.

Unfortunately, the ambitious premise fails in its execution. Billed as the High Council getting back in touch with the common people, the story feels forced in places and the primary antagonist is one-dimensional.

Some of the banter between Council members is entertaining, and I did gain an appreciation for some of the Council members. Overall though, this book comes off as inconsequential filler and can be safely skipped.

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Save yourself the time and the credit

Revisado: 03-11-23

I wanted to like this book. I’m a huge Star Wars fan and I loved Fallen Order. Instead of a Star Wars story, this feels like describing a video game play through. The insistence on including game mechanics (enemy types, health packs, environmental hazards and obvious game bosses) ruins the immersion. I just couldn’t stick with it.

I gave up after the first 90min and returned the title.

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A bland retelling of stories you already know.

Revisado: 09-07-20

I was pretty disappointed by this book. As a longtime Star Wars fan, I was excited at the prospect of a Clone Wars anthology that would expand upon the lore and offer new perspectives on familiar events like “A Certain Point of View” did. Instead, we get several Clone Wars story arcs told from the perspective of a main character that beat-for-beat retell the story from the show. If you’re enough of a fan to be looking at this book, you probably already know these stories well enough that the book won’t add anything for you.

The production quality was high, as always. The one original story was actually exactly what I was hoping for, but it’s not strong enough to carry the rest of the book.

Overall, this book can be safely skipped. Spend your credits elsewhere.

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esto le resultó útil a 10 personas

Fun, but hurt by not being an original story...

Revisado: 07-28-20

I love Dr. Aphra as a character. She's the Star Wars Universe equivalent to Indiana Jones if he was morally bankrupt. She is an agent of chaos that pairs well with hilariously homicidal analogs of C-3PO and R2-D2. The audio-drama does a great job adding real depth to her character and backstory.

As always, the production values for Star Wars content remain high. Everything from the fight sound effects to the subtle background music immerses the listener. The full-cast voice acting is excellent.

The only drawback is that this is an adaption of the Marvel Comics Darth Vader run. The episodic nature of that comic meant that the adaption jumped between episodic plot-lines quickly. While the overall story arc was good, the adaption meant that Aphra bounced from one bite-sized adventure to another without giving the listener a chance to become invested in the stakes, antagonists or big picture. It frequently feels like we're following a supporting character through a much bigger story (which happens across multiple Marvel Comics Star Wars lines) and the listener only gets enough glimpses of the big story to feel like we're missing out.

Still, if you're a Star Wars fan, it's fun and worth a listen.

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Very funny... until the politics ruined it.

Revisado: 07-07-19

I started out really enjoying this book. The jokes were plentiful and the author does a great job using the multi-verse to provide some unexpected comedy. Unfortunately, there are several points where the book deviates from the nerd-centric humor and injects overly political commentary which sends the momentum screeching to a halt. I had been planning to listen to the entire series, but if it's going to keep up with the unneeded politicking, I guess I'll skip.

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esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

Exciting as plain yogurt.

Revisado: 03-25-19

I came into this book with an open mind. I've listened to several LitRPG series and was intrigued by the premise. Positive reviews on Audible convinced me to give it a try.

Unfortunately, the interesting foundation could not carry a story full of bland and unlikeable characters. Most of the character's problems arise due to their own poor choices and there is no obvious reason why the characters make bad decisions other than they needed to so there would be a story. None of the protagonists have character arcs or development. These problems constantly broke the immersion and made it hard to become invested in the story.

I get the feeling that humor was being used to attempt to mask the weak plot, but most of the jokes failed to hit home. Aside from a few good lines that honestly did make me chuckle ("Orc Scum" comes to mind), most of the jokes relied heavily on locker-room humor and the lack of variety grew stale quickly. The humor wasn't offensive, just bland.

By the second half, I just wanted to get the book over-with and listening felt like a chore.

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Ambitious... but doesn't deliver.

Revisado: 02-04-17

What was most disappointing about Tim Lebbon’s story?

Minor spoilers for the series ahead...

The story doesn't really fit the Aliens or Predator mythos. They take away some of the defining aspects of those two groups. The Aliens are traditionally hive-minded simplistic killing machines? Let's find a reason to make them organized. The Predators are tribal and motivated by "the hunt"? Let's find a reason to make them allies to the humans. Also, we can talk to them now. The humans are still the worst characters. The bad guys motivations are hollow. The human protagonists are one-dimensional. If you're a fan of the gritty feel of the universe in the movies, you get a generic sci-fi universe with plenty of plot convenient technology that constantly prevents suspension of disbelief.

The series is a serviceable time-sink, but for a fan of the franchises it's more frustrating than entertaining.

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esto le resultó útil a 21 personas