It's no accident that I love this series!!!

I have to say that I am rather pleased to see the return of Hal Dix. When this book was first announced I thought it was going to center on his daughter, and revolve around her adventures inside of the world that Hal forst found his way into. That wouldn't have been bad, but you kind of get to know Hal pretty well, and you like him. Alot. His daughter would be fine for a second series, but I really want to see how this plays out with my man Hal.

The book itself does sort of follow the same path as the first one, there is a prophecy, and Hal gets pulled back in to help out. Oddly, he has no memory of the prophecy, even though he knew about it in the first book. This is where I begin to suspect that the book really did originally focus on his daughter, nd they modified everything to fit Hal. That being the one very small piece that they missed. No big deal.

I also get that Hal was "reset" when he reentered the land of magic, but I would have liked to have seen him build upon some of his old thieving skills, but you have to stick with the premise, so he now gets to play the part of a fighter, rather than skulking in shadows. I must admit, as much as I missed the burglary Hal, I quite enjoyed his turn at being a warrior. The Davis Duo really know how to craft a story, and have a flair for action and adventure. I can't wait to see what they come up with next, I believe that they have the Accidental Mage planned. If they go further, I would love to see their take on an Accidental Bard. Anyway, even though the story does mirror the first book in several ways it still comes off fresh and fun. Swords are brandished and battles rage, and poor Hal is right there in the middle of it all.

Hey, one of my favorite narrators is back, Mr. Roberto Scarlato, and he cotinues to do an amazing job. Scarlato, and awesome author in his own right, has some major vocal skills and he knows how to pace a story, set a mood, and splash some emotion into a line when t is called for. I always enjoy listening to him, and hope that he sticks with this series. Book one was where I was first introduced to his narration, and since then I've really gone out of my way to listen to things that he's done. Listen for a little bit, and you'll be peeking into his catalog too!

I do appreciate the cover, something few people ever discuss, but it isn't nearly as cool as that of the Thief or Mage book. It just comes off like a city guard scanning the horizon, and so is kind of generic. Sorry, it is nice to look at, but does not make you say "Holy Cats!" That's a shame, since the cover is what draws most people in to inspect the book.

The series is really shaping up nicely, and I really have to say that you are missing out if you haven't read any of it yet. It's no accident that I enjoyed the heck out of this book, oh, and while it is made for adults I can see no reason why kids couldn't listen to this book at all. It is good for the whole family, if you don't mind a main character who gets a little stabby! Even though I did receive a promo code for this review it in no way influenced my considerations of the material, and in fact, inspired me to be more honest. In fact, getting a code generally makes me harsher as a reviewer as I am more often concerned what someone like Me will decide based on my review.

If this review helped, please press the YES below. Thank you immensely!!!

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6 people found this helpful

love this series

can't wait to start the next book. I love this series and this author. excellent writing, captivating, it's a nice escape from reality.

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Great sequel to the first book

I really enjoyed this book. I thought the narrator did a great job too. I really hope the further books of this series are as well thought out.

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1 person found this helpful

pretty good, could be longer.

this read like two short non descript stories in 1 mediocre book. the first was better.

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Book 2

I have enjoyed listening to both of these books. I will be looking forward to book 3 in the series. It’s a fun fantasy read about a person going to a fantasy world.

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8 people found this helpful

Another great adventure

In the first book, he traveled to the world and became a thief, gaining thief skills as he traveled around and proceeded to overthrow the oppressors in the city, leveling up attributes (brawn, wisdom, speed, ridiculously high luck etc) and thief skills like acrobatic dodge, taunt, backstab, etc. In this, he goes back and situation needs him to travel as a solider, so he changes his class to warrior, keeping all attributes, but losing all thief skills (until he matches the same level of experience as his thief class. Then all becomes unlocked). I've really grown to like this series. While the first one was a lot simpler steamrolling a lot of situations with crazy amounts of luck, in this one things get a lot harder, with much more dangerous situations, highly skilled/strong enemies with magic weapons, and large scale fights. The characters are pretty likeable and the main character already has a wife and kid, so they basically seal away any sort of romance side story that might complicate things. In the 3rd book, he becomes a mage. It's a pretty fun series to get into.

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a great second book

such a great book. and good ending. of course I already want the next book in the series.

and I also need spin offs for the non main characters!!!

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1 person found this helpful

Hal becomes a Warrior in this brilliant Sequel!!

The 2nd in the ‘Accidental Traveler’ series is almost better than the first, the impact of the first book makes it a powerful contender, but the second book has a lot more action, and Hal, returning to Fantasma, takes on an entirely new role, and this allows him to explore so much more of the land, his abilities and meet so many more characters, and not just humans.
In this book, Hal has to leave his ‘Roguish’ past behind, as the role he must take is more ‘Fighter’ orientated. As such, he changes Class, becoming a straight Fighter Class, (And thus unable to access his Rogue abilities until he reaches the same level with his Fighter Class).
Whilst you might think that this means that the book goes back to a boring ‘Level 1’ type thing that we went through in Accidental Rogue, it is very different. Being a Warrior for a start means that Hal has to change his entire fighting style, which is both interesting to read about, and highly amusing at times (Hal is so lucky there is healing magic)
In this book, Hal has returned to try and find Kay, who has gone missing whilst on a mission, and everyone fears for her safety.
Hal has learnt that time moves differently in Fantasma, and, that it is not a game at all, that the world is actually a real place, that a Mage of incredible power used a powerful spell to pull him into to help them. However, to Hal, the world still operates like an RPG, which offers him a unique perspective, and allows him to interact with the world in a very unusual way.
This book has just about everything you could want from a LitRPG.
For starters, the Authors have the entire RPG aspect down to a fine art, with Hal using an interface that allows him to access his ‘Inventory’, as well as his skills, allocate points when he levels up, learn new abilities/skills e tc. This RPG element is spelled out nicely to the reader, but it is not done excessively so that every 3rd page you are reading the Main Characters stats and flicking pages trying to find the actual story (Seriously, I had a book like that recently, it was even worse when it was an Audiobook!!)
The Character work is brilliant. Hal fully believes he is from our world and time, and acts like it consistently, using a lot of goofy and somewhat nerdy references to things back in our world (there are some great Easter Eggs in this book, homages to other Fantasy series, Sci-Fi Series, Movies – you just have to pay attention!), these references make the book rather enjoyable for the reader as you get to pick up on the differences in culture. The Authors have also done a really great job of making sure Hal has a difficult time adjusting to this new world, he doesn’t just walk in and get it straight away, it is confusing to him (although one thing that none of these books go near is how these characters deal with a lack of things like toilet paper or toothbrushes, and the sudden lack of addictions like Coffee and Sugar that the body would crave and go into withdrawal for – that isn’t a criticism of this book in particular though, as I have not read a single book yet that has done it. At least this book mentions some of the things that Hal misses in his real world). Overall Hal is an exceptionally well written character, and he really makes this series. Kay is wonderful as Hal’s ever faithful sidekick (although she is absent for a lot of this book). One of the funniest characters in the book is Colin, the very Quirky guy that outfits them for missions, seems to know exactly what they need. He has more knowledge of equipment than anyone I have read, and he is just hilarious.
One of the really great things in this book also is we get to meet some non-human characters, the most common being Goblins. The Authors have also done something surprising and made Goblins not only intelligent (well more intelligent than they normally are!), but they are also more neutral, in that they are just living in the forest, or caves, or wherever, and they are happy to make alliances and friends with Humans or other creatures as long as they keep to them. It was fun to read a book in which Goblins are not just dumb animals, and in which they can be bartered with, communicated with. It made for a really fascinating part of the book.
Overall this was a really great read. It covers all the LitRPG elements so well, and Hal gets to smash and slash things with a sword and shield this time around, which was something entirely different, and it was written really well. The characters just continue to get better, and so does the story. This is just such a great read. I can’t wait for part 3, but at the same time, I am going to be so sad when I finish it to!!
As with the first book, the Narration is just outstanding. Robert Scarlato is amazing with his narrating skills, he does an incredible range of voices, both male and female, very clear to understand, exceptionally clear with great pronunciation, so he is very easy to listen to. He has a really nice voice as well, and reads at a great tempo, so that you can listen a little faster if you like. He puts a lot of passion and power into his voices, making the story a lot of fun to listen to, and really easy to engage with. This is easily a book where it is so much better to listen to the Audiobook than to read it, as the Narration is just so brilliant.

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Narrator is incompetent.

Dear Mr Scarlato,

If you don’t know the very basic difference in pronunciation between cavalry and Calvary you have no business narrating audiobooks. Truly cringeworthy.

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A fun story but inconsistency and illogical choices makes it frustrating

I generally am pretty lenient with reviews, but this story had just enough “oh COME ON” scenes in it that it was frustrating to listen to. Sometimes it was just the massive level of foreshadowing that made the next thing in the plot a foregone conclusion. Sometimes it was a horrifically stupid choice by a main character. But the ones that really bugged me were the fight scene descriptions where a character would do 3 or 4 significant actions before any response by the opponent in an effort to make a battle go a certain way.

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