Micah

Pretty good...

Revisado: 03-27-25

For those quick scrolling... so far it's worth it. Narrator was weird at first... but easy to get used to afterward. So go ahead.

Now... For the more in depth bit.

I'm near the end of the book so I'm going to edit this once finished. I nearly stopped the book and returned it when the MC got put into a "Summoner" class. I hate the idea of that power set. I would hate to have to communicate to another being for use of their power. I really hate that. it's just so clunky and impersonal... also personally weak. Some of my all time favorite M.C's are strong and they have their own power that THEY control. Vince and Globe from Superpowereds. Lindon and Aithan from Cradle. Let's say Henry and Jason from Blaises own series. Jason especially. So the whole summoning thing nearly made me quit then and there.
... but it's Corvin... He will always deserve my attention and as many chances as can be given. Like his series with Nora. Written well enough, but the narrator really goofed it up. I'll never return it and I'll even reread it when I need to. But when She was narrated properly in the newer books... that "HAZARD!!!!" gave me effin chills man. So he gets the benefit of the doubt. And so far it seems as if he is doing a good job. Already ordered the 2nd one.

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Good story.

Revisado: 03-11-25

Quick Points. Series is worth reading. Worth the credit(s). Narrator is good.

Now... For the pros and Cons. Mainly Cons. I like this series and will always keep up with it. I just know that I like to know the negative things about a series for some reason. I don't like getting really into a series and then a book comes out that just ruins the whole thing because the author decided to get into politics during the writing and takes it out on their fantasy world.
Thankfully this author doesn't do that.
The cons for this are small. Like units of measure for example. How far something is... how much it weighs... tall, short, temperature, etc... The author needs to PICK ONE and just stick with it. MC is using his orbs to travel. Talking about "Mph" and the author immediately translates it into meters or whatever. No one thinks like that. it takes me right out of the narrative everytime he does that stuff. He does it a lot. Then the word "ki." It is pronounced wrong in the first 2 books. Pronounced "Kai" instead of it's proper "Key." Then Sophia. She's thinking about how she won 5th place in some USA team thing... uh... So... She's American? What about Michael? Shin? That stuff is ALL over the place. Shin is Asian... yet his last name is... what? "Hopefell?" or some weirdness...? These are a mix of Author and Narrator issues.
When he talks about ANY kind of energy it's always "Cool energy." Not like saying "hey that's cool." But like the energy has a... low temperature yet moves like air and is almost ineffable or whatever. It's fine a few times... but he does it with EVERYTHING. Come up with a different descriptor. There are nearly 8 billion humans... the skill shop pages to get your abilities is like 40 something pages... it should be WAAAAY bigger than that.
Then the rating system. "B-Rank, A-Rank, S-Rank." I like this a lot... and he really should have stuck with it. He uses a different one on the 3rd book. Really hope he goes back.

I say all that.... but know that these are all just small nitpicks that don't hurt the "goodness" of the series. Just hope the author sees this I guess.
Good stuff man. Thank you.

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It's okay... but now I'm not so sure.

Revisado: 12-14-24

I like OP characters. Granted... he's not TOO OP but yeah... I have to do this in a way that doesn't spoil it. I'm worried that he's lost all the work he put in. By the middle I had already gotten the second book, but by the end I was left contemplating returning both. I'll go through the second a bit before I decide. Don't like all the monologuing by the baddie at the end. I mean... come on. And then what she did to his body... worried he's gonna be freakin weaker. And THEN the summary of book 2... Dude... There is ZERO redemption for that thing. Z.E.R.O. And to have that thing in the story so much... ugghh...I'm dreading it. Baldree is one of the greatest that does the job so there's nothing to complain about there mostly. Anything that comes up is of course the authors fault. Normal speaking chapter... quiet... start of the next.... AAAUUUWAAAHHHH!!!!!!!

Seriously dude. Sigh... if the next one turns out way better and gets back on track then I'll make sure to make that plain in the review. if not... then they're going back and I'm getting my credits back. Hope that isn't the case though.

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Super Bummed

Revisado: 11-17-24

So I like the series for the most part... but the problems it has are REALLY hard to ignore.
1st... Pavi. (The narrator). One of the main "baddies" at the end of the last one and through this one... The vampire chick. I am literally having to fast forward through stuff that she is in because of the narrator. He's made her sound like some vacuous girl that was transplanted from the 90s movie Clueless. Did the same thing with the character Pretty Peak and that girl she was with. Its just straight bad. Wtf man?....
So if you can get past that then the problems stem from the "magic sysytem." It is ALL over the place. I mean seriously. There's no wrapping your head around it really. I mean... you can sorta GET it... but not really. it's way too ambitious because the implementation is so bad. Though it may not be as bad as it seems I guess... maybe he's putting too much metaphor or just bad at explaining stuff. idk. I'm making it sound like I don't understand it at all but that's not accurate. He really should just keep anything above the main characters grade out or something. idk. It's really hard to explain why I don't like it because it's so convoluted. So my reason becomes convoluted as well. Need a debate with the author or some Stan to explain it properly I guess.

Not saying the series is bad... Just saying that those 2 issues are pretty annoying.

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Good stuff.

Revisado: 07-16-24

First... It's Baldree so narration is top notch. Series is great and well worth the cash or the credit. Moving on.

I want this story to continue. Not the story of the Luke kid at the very end, but Rick. He finally gets a hold on the Kettle and I really REALLY want to see that. There's a whole story line to chase down with Alger. Hopefully one day the author will go back to this world. I suppose I need to get on her socials and look around. She's probably talked about it or something.
Cons?... Eh... No real big ones. Rick's whole view of what it takes to get out of poverty was a bit ridiculous and juvenile. His Demon had the right of it.
The thing about getting out of poverty is how much you're willing to put to that goal. In our boring powerless world you HAVE to ignore drugs. From firsthand experience those are what will keep you there. From the time I was born to when I was 27 I never made one step outside my circumstances. Have the talent (artistically) but addiction just stole everything from me. Rick going through withdrawal was pretty gripping for me. Ragast even more. It wasn't until I was like... idk.. 29? 30? Wasn't till then that I was able to start finally keeping jobs... saving a little... NOT pawning everything. And none of that is our economic models fault. It was MY fault. Sure... it would have been easier if things are cheaper and all that... but our system allows that when it isn't abused and we are allowed to innovate without all the red tape and political interference. Hard core righties stagnate everything by making everything about their book... and hard core lefties stagnate everything by making it all about their cultish obsessive ideological hang-ups. Sensible is never in style. But hey ... look at me ranting. Lol. Just talking to myself, ranting into the void now.
Oh well... anyway... Book is worth it. Hope she continues it.

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Glad it's continuing.

Revisado: 06-28-24

Glad it is back. It's good so far. There's like 2 hours left for me... I'll know for sure when it's done. So far its worth it.
The only problem I have is this... shouting words for spells. I REALLY don't like that. I can get behind the occasional "Word of Power" or whatever... but these nonsense syllables and claiming they take less than a second? No. Look... Nonverbal is the way to go. Please.
Idk... Maybe it's already headed that way and it just hasn't gotten there yet. Really hope it does. We shall see. I'll edit if it'll let me. Audible always changing stuff they shouldn't and all that.

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Love it... but

Revisado: 04-13-24

I love this series for the most part. I really do. The one thing that gets me though is Shallon and Callidan. (Never seen them written so I'm guessing). The thing about these 2 characters is the part of their personalities.
Shallon refuses to accept anything. Holds herself back so much that it just gets tiresome. Just constant denial at all times. It's infuriating. And then Callidan... ugh... The pity party is literally endless. I understand what a "reluctant hero" is... but man. Come on. I've taken like a 3 or 4 year break since reading any of this because the characters just won't get past these... traits. Surely they will grow out of these things eventually right? Damn... Idk. I just want these people enjoy their freakin SUPER POWERS and USE them. sigh....
Still a good story.

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Great story.

Revisado: 04-01-24

First... Story is good. Narrators are great. I like this series very much. it's very much worth the money or credits or whatever.

Now I just want to talk about how I feel about our 2 MCs. Cal and Shallon. (Don't know if I'm spelling her name correctly. Don't care).
I like them for the most part... but what I really don't like is their... inability to progress. Their progress is slow and painful constantly. I know... it's supposed to be... but sometimes it just gets so tedious. Cal dealing with his depression so much, SO MUCH that he doesn't do ANYTHING. I suffer from depression... but I think having superpowers would immediately perk me up. At least a little. And Shallon... I get that she has PTSD. I do.
But she freezes so much that she's dug herself into a hole by the time she acts. They both do that. Sigh... I just wish they'd both be more excited about having superpowers. That's really my only complaint. It is what it is.
Still.... really great story.

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Good series.

Revisado: 03-14-24

So I like the series so far... narrator is good. Worth the credits or money. I do want to add something though... Jokes are totally lost on Tala. Really good jokes. Like the one Rain told her earlier... "You are what you eat." Then she says "what are you eating?" Then Rain says "Babies."

That is a funny joke.

Then in this book Master Jevin played a good one on her. Acting like he had been waiting for 800 years for her to come out of Kit. Even Terry joined in. It was funny... and she got like... truly offended.

Talas sense of humor is broken. It's painful. Doesn't hurt the story or anything. Just something I noticed.

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A review in progress.

Revisado: 02-20-24

I'm still reading. I like to get on here after I've read a couple of hours for an initial review then finish it as I finish the book.
This one is pretty important to me because I'm a huge fan of the first book. I'm also a big fan of Travis Baldree. That does give me a very small bit of bias, but not very much. I have almost 700 Audible titles. I love a lot of different narrators and I know if the right person does the job then it's possible to change narrators and still have a good book.

So... why the low rating so far?... There is a bit of blame to put on the narration. It's not really his voice that is the issue... it's his acting chops. Baldree ACTS out his reading. This guy is reading with an incredulous voice. HUGE difference. Baldrees narration is decidedly better. Not because of his vocal range, but because of his acting skills. It's like Wil Wheaton. I don't think I'd get along with him as a person. He takes EVERYTHING too personally and doesn't know how to act like a normal human... that being said he narrates books and when I see that he's on a book I know that at least it will be narrated Well. He isn't good with voices. He's one of those readers that puts the gravitas in HIS voice. Doesn't need to modulate his voice for it to BE good. This narrator has a good voice, but his acting is clunky as it can be. Which alone isn't enough to kill a story.
Which brings me to my criticism of the author. Dude... some authors can write a book, then go work on something else, then go back to something else, then go back to another thing. I don't think you can. Or if you can... you didn't spend the time to get back into Jake's mind before you did. Jake is nerfed. He got much more competent by the end of JMM 1. All that time on an empty world had him prepared to act once his portal worked. Here... an example.
What human wouldn't KNOW EXACTLY EVERY LITTLE THING THEY HAD IN THEIR POCKETS FOR THAT WHOLE TIME???!?!? That book written by the Dragon God for example... Jake didn't READ THAT A THOUSAND times? Seriously? This is the problem with time powers. People make them and then the character they have that HAS them doesn't USE them. Or they make these paradoxical blunders that can be avoided. Jake has lost all of the common sense he seemed to have from before. All of his ability to watch and listen. It really seems like a different character. I bet that if I listened to that story he wrote during the interim I bet I'd find who Jake is acting like. It's just sad that he no longer seems like the same person.
That all being said... I'm not going to quit if I can help it. I'm gonna finish it and if it gets better I'll update the score I gave it and add to this review. I'll add to it regardless to say whether or not things changed. Let's hope so. That first book is so good.

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