Michael P.
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Endless Online: Oblivion's Blade
- Endless Online Series, A LitRPG Adventure, Book 1
- De: M.H. Johnson
- Narrado por: Wayne Mitchell, Lisa Aust
- Duración: 10 h y 53 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
Val had returned from his latest tour of duty scarred in body and soul. Barely able to walk and drugged to the gills for pain, he thought his killing days were finally behind him. He couldn't have been more wrong. Endless Online, a hyper futuristic game where players could truly live another life...
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Yeah... uhhhhh.....no
- De Travis Cole en 03-23-19
- Endless Online: Oblivion's Blade
- Endless Online Series, A LitRPG Adventure, Book 1
- De: M.H. Johnson
- Narrado por: Wayne Mitchell, Lisa Aust
Endless Online is Endless in its Endlessness
Revisado: 04-18-23
This is more a review of the first five books in the series than just the first book. I will say that I appreciate that the author has several new takes and twists on the LitRPG genre. The overall story is engaging and has enough things going on to keep it from feeling to linear.
To address some other reviews, yes this does incorporate more harem elements a ways in. It does, at least, offer some explanation and context. Does it add value to the story? Not particularly. Is it as bad as many make it out to be? Not even close. Also, the author keeps the intimacy much along the lines of PG-13 fade to black and come back to cuddles. This is a plus for me, because I wasn't looking for erotica.
And yes, as some noted, the writing isn't perfect. There's a lot of instances of monologuing that goes on way to long in what seems like attempts to wax poetic. It seems like very bad guy loves calling their enemies worms and monkeys and has a pain vat obsession, to the point where they start to seem like bad guy carbon copies with interchangeable monologues. It doesn't, however, get so bad as to kill off enjoyment of the story. One thing that did increasingly frustrate me throughout the first five books is the extreme over use of the word "endless." There were endless moments, endless heartbeats, endless seconds, etc., etc., etc. And they repeated so often it would pull me out of the story and make me think "Couldn't they throw in a couple different adjectives once in a while?"
Great effort by WM and LA with the narration. It's obvious they put a ton of energy into the performance. Even with the crunchy bits, they try to put feeling and snark into what some might have read as bland character sheets/system messages. Maybe even a bit too much energy here and there, but really I think the narration performance really adds value to these books.
In summary, sure the writing isn't perfect but I am enjoying the tale and will continue. High energy/effort narration is definitely a plus for the experience.
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Defiler
- Monster Breaker Book 3
- De: Isaac Hooke
- Narrado por: Luke Daniels
- Duración: 11 h y 52 m
- Versión completa
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The Darkness has taken Malem. The Breaker fights for Vorgon now. But that doesn’t mean Malem is going to let anyone harm the five women he’s bound to. They give him the power to control monsters, after all. Besides, they’re super hot. Vorgon doesn’t like the devotion Malem shows his women, so the evil demon decides to send him on a fool’s errand - his mission is to infiltrate the kingdom of the Tree Elves and Break their queen. No easy task, given that she is surrounded by an army of bloodthirsty fighters and merciless mages, not to mention a crapload of monsters.
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Defiler
- De Amazon Customer en 10-30-19
- Defiler
- Monster Breaker Book 3
- De: Isaac Hooke
- Narrado por: Luke Daniels
Hard Read Even if You Enjoy the Series
Revisado: 02-18-23
As others have noted, this book is a hard read/listen if you are invested in the series. I get the whole mind control thing, but damn it is hard to listen to the MC being such a d_ck. I found myself needing to take breaks of a day or two between listening sessions before I was ready to continue listening to what is essentially "adventures of arsehole." I think I need to pause for a while before continuing the series as well. Already have them in my library but just need a break from the series after this book. If you are like me and enjoy being emotionally invested in a story's MC, you may want to skip this one, reading a short summary and continuing the series in the next book.
LD is a really good narrator and performs with his usual quality. No complaints there.
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Cinnamon Bun: Volume 2
- Cinnamon Bun, Book 2
- De: RavensDagger
- Narrado por: Reba Buhr
- Duración: 14 h y 54 m
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Broccoli Bunch is getting the hang of the explorer lifestyle, and loving every minute of it. Her adventures have dragged her and her new best friend Amaryllis across entire countries in pursuit of more fun, and even more friends. There are dragons to intimidate, tournaments to lose, and secretive plots to stumble across!
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Similar to The Godking
- De Sara en 04-21-21
- Cinnamon Bun: Volume 2
- Cinnamon Bun, Book 2
- De: RavensDagger
- Narrado por: Reba Buhr
Still Saccharine Sweet and a Nice Story
Revisado: 03-06-22
As with book 1, the MC remains relentlessly and unrealistically saccharine sweet. Her tendency to want to run up to anyone and everything and immediately ask to be friends is more than a bit unrealistic. With that said, however, it is a fun story with well-flushed characters. We also get to see more of the world. There are some light romantic elements that are non-traditional and could be a problem for someone who has difficulty hearing about anything outside of human/human and m/f romantic interest. Let me be clear though, there's nothing sexual, just some romantic elements.
Narrator clearly put a lot of work into the performance. Good energy/emotion and it is easy to identify who is speaking.
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The Mountain Valley War: 2nd Dive Concludes
- World Tree Online, Book 3
- De: M.A. Carlson
- Narrado por: Anneliese Rennie
- Duración: 24 h y 29 m
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Thrown into a conflict beyond the scope of anything Bye-Bye ever imagined, he will be tested in ways he never imaged. Whether that means stopping a war or just taking the girl he likes on a date, he certainly has his work cut out for him. Tensions are rising and if Bye-bye and his friends can’t put a stop to a brewing war, Anvilton and Hammerton might just destroy each other. That is, if the other adventurers don’t destroy them first. With the odds stacked against them, will Bye-bye and his friends survive the Mountain Valley War?
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Audio Issues
- De michael en 11-27-21
- The Mountain Valley War: 2nd Dive Concludes
- World Tree Online, Book 3
- De: M.A. Carlson
- Narrado por: Anneliese Rennie
Voice Work Improved but Production Declined
Revisado: 02-27-22
With this series, we continue to see nice world building and character development. We also start to see more of the greater conflict emerge. Major characters feel unique and engaging, and I found myself caring about what happened. (Even if some of the unnecessary ploys to provoke an emotional response were pretty transparent/obvious). The main story stands well enough on its own.
Narration is what leaves me with the most mixed feelings. I felt the narrator's performance continued to improve. This was overshadowed, however, by a marked decline in production quality. There are spots where small clips seem to ne missing. Even more obvious, was the number of instances where a sentence or two are repeated. On one occasion, a statement was repeated at least 3 times in a row (and one may have had slightly different data). These production issues did have a notable negative impact on the experience.
I was given a promotional copy of this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this honest review.
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The Duchess of Hammers: 2nd Dive Begins
- World Tree Online Series, Book 2
- De: M.A. Carlson
- Narrado por: Anneliese Rennie
- Duración: 17 h y 23 m
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Bye-bye is back! Just a week since the 1st Dive came to an end, Bye-bye and his friends find themselves in Root City, a city built up around the World Tree itself. This sprawling metropolis is filled with potential and danger in equal measure. Barely logged in and just starting to put plans in place for the month-long dive into the World Tree Online, they are quickly entangled in a quest with far-reaching consequences, should they fail. They are also in charge of ensuring Duchess of Hammerton survives the next week to make it home.
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FIXED (was: Recording corrupt)
- De Randy en 11-22-19
- The Duchess of Hammers: 2nd Dive Begins
- World Tree Online Series, Book 2
- De: M.A. Carlson
- Narrado por: Anneliese Rennie
Good Characters and World Building
Revisado: 02-24-22
As with book 1, this installment excels with well developed major characters who feel real and you can get invested in. Sure, the aspects of romance are excessively juvenile, with adults acting like pre-teens experiencing their first crush, but that is honestly not an uncommon trope for the genre. Here we see a bit more fighting than the first book and an increasing number of forces at play in the world.
Narration has improved since book 1, most notably with more natural tone/pace when going over the crunchy bits. Definitely a good choice to move away from the simulated robot voice used for this in book 1.
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House of Dolls
- House of Dolls Series, Book 1
- De: Harmon Cooper
- Narrado por: Neil Hellegers
- Duración: 9 h y 29 m
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Hate your job. Win the lottery. Get a superpower. Roman Martin is a normal guy until he happens upon a winning lottery ticket that grants him an incredible superpower. Unfortunately, Roman has to keep his new power a secret, and in a society that separates superpowereds from half-powereds, that's a big deal. There's also his troubled past, a dark secret that constantly looms over him, his coworker's mysterious death, and the fact that Roman is being blackmailed by two beautiful female spies at war with one another.
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Not great but certainly better than average
- De The Story Adict en 02-08-19
- House of Dolls
- House of Dolls Series, Book 1
- De: Harmon Cooper
- Narrado por: Neil Hellegers
Good at what it intends.
Revisado: 02-10-22
I found this first installment of House of Dolls successful at being an entertaining and casual harem/superhero story. There is some decent plot work and world building. I also liked the bit of a new twist on the genre with the animated dolls. It may not be groundbreaking stuff, but it is done well and enjoyable. While the MC is quite lecherous throughout, the descriptions of sex acts is kept pretty brief and relatively infrequent. Personally I like that, as I find most attempts in the genre to describe that stuff in detail is more cringe-worthy than enjoyable. Overall, recommended of you are looking for a casual and entertaining harem/superhero tale.
Great narration, as always, by NH. If you are familiar with his excellent work, he keeps up the quality here.
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The Extinction Cycle Boxed Set
- Extinction Horizon, Extinction Edge, and Extinction Age (The Extinction Cycle, Books 1 - 3)
- De: Nicholas Sansbury Smith
- Narrado por: Bronson Pinchot
- Duración: 25 h y 31 m
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The worst of nature and the worst of science will bring the human race to the brink of extinction. Master Sergeant Reed Beckham has led his Delta Force team, code named Ghost, through every kind of hell imaginable and never lost a man. When a top secret medical corps research facility goes dark, Team Ghost is called in to face their deadliest enemy yet - a variant strain of Ebola that turns men into monsters.
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Simply Fantastic
- De John Davis en 12-06-18
- The Extinction Cycle Boxed Set
- Extinction Horizon, Extinction Edge, and Extinction Age (The Extinction Cycle, Books 1 - 3)
- De: Nicholas Sansbury Smith
- Narrado por: Bronson Pinchot
Alright Tale ... Good Value in Boxed Set
Revisado: 01-31-22
I will preface this review by saying this isn't my typical genre of interest. I am generally not drawn to zombie and/or military fiction. I thought it worth a shot as a boxed set though.
The good: We see some good character development with central characters, and have several developed enough to make you care about what happens to them. With a couple seemingly immortal examples, major characters are not guaranteed to survive either, helping to keep things engaging.
The less good: quite a few things are so implausible that they can pull you right out of the story. Some things that are supposed to be science just don't make logical sense, and it is major parts of the story, not just passing little things. Also, some premises to make folks into villains are a bit ridiculous. Yes, people can be petty, but some of the decisions and why go far beyond foolish. It's like: Military expert - "This seems like a trap, we have seen x, y, and z suggesting this huge trap issue. We should pause or at least gather more intel before rushing forward." Science expert - "Please, we have this science points a, b, and c to explain why this is a huge trap issue. We need to pause at least briefly enough to get info about the likely trap." Decision maker - "You are all stupid and cowards, I am going all in because I've got this all planed out based on my childhood fantasies of greatness." *sigh*
Narration starts out a bit stiff in book 1, but BP slips into it more in books 2 and 3. Really the first book felt mainly like traditional narration of someone just reading aloud. It also seemed to be reading too fast, so I slowed playback down to 0.90x and that helped. In books 2 and 3, we see increasingly more of a performance, where characters are distinguished a bit more.
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Beginner's Luck
- Character Development, Book 1
- De: Aaron Jay
- Narrado por: Rhys David
- Duración: 11 h y 5 m
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Miles Boone is finally an adult and able to roll up his permanent character. He will join the Game that the world has become. Most of the planet is now dominated by feral AIs and nano who behave as all the monsters of man’s imagination. Every adult left alive plays, striving to keep the the AI and nano from wiping us out completely. Success in the Game is survival itself. Success in the Game is success in life. If only the game wasn’t rigged against anyone who isn’t a member of the Party.
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A solid 4 star book with a few non-fatal flaws...
- De Christopher en 09-03-19
- Beginner's Luck
- Character Development, Book 1
- De: Aaron Jay
- Narrado por: Rhys David
Some New Takes on the Genre
Revisado: 01-04-22
I tend to listen to or read a fair share of LitRPG, so there tends to be a fair amount of commonalities/tropes of the genre. I really enjoyed how this story puts a new spin on much of it. We get a taste of the dystopian world, the intrigues and betrayals, and see a bit of the game world. There's also quite a few references to the greater conflict at large, and what's to come later. I feel it is important to note, as the series title Character Development suggests, the story spends a good amount of time with the MC's inner monologues. Even through the action, it feels pretty cerebral as it focuses more on the MC's thoughts than the actual fighting. It felt to me that this was a conscious choice of the author and was able to enjoy it as such, though I can also acknowledge it might be a turn-off for some folks.
I found the narration to be good as well. I believe it's my first experience with this narrator and feel he pulls it off nicely. He has enough range to easily know who is speaking and there's a good amount energy/emotion. While listening, I had the thought his voice sounds a bit similar to Kurt Russell and that ended up sticking with me throughout. :)
One production note, within the last couple of hours of the book there's a strange intermittent beeping (more like a cell phone bloop actually). At first I thought it was my phone acting up and I tried closing apps, restarting, etc. Then I realized I could skip back and it happens at the same spots. So I tested further by playing the book with the PC Cloud Player and it was still there. Pretty conclusively part of the recording. It isn't a huge deal, but was distracting during periods where it happened frequently.
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Tallrock
- A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Farming Livia, Book 1)
- De: Xander Boyce
- Narrado por: Andrea Parsneau
- Duración: 12 h y 22 m
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Matt is running from a life that he no longer wants, and he’s found a solution. By logging in to the newest game, Livia, he gains chances that he can’t get anywhere else. Matt chooses to cut out a new life for himself on the edge of civilization, by venturing to the frontier town of Tallrock. As soon as he gains his class, the newly minted Cycle Mage has one goal: farming.
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unexpected results
- De anonymous en 02-14-21
- Tallrock
- A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Farming Livia, Book 1)
- De: Xander Boyce
- Narrado por: Andrea Parsneau
Great Character-Building Start to LitRPG Series
Revisado: 01-03-22
I found this LitRPG book fun and engaging. Thus far it is mostly character development and early settlement building, but it does the character building in a nice way. We have some major characters that are easy to like and some characters that are hints of trouble to come. This book's plot progression is on the slower side, but that is okay with the focus being on characters, their start in the world, and a little bit about their outside world to understand more about why they are who they are. We see hints and teasers of greater conflicts to come but see very little actual conflict in this first book.
Narration by AP is amazing as always. I have never been disappointed with any if her performances and her performance definitely adds more to any book.
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Corruption
- Unbound Deathlord, Book 3
- De: Edward Castle
- Narrado por: Jeff Hays
- Duración: 18 h y 43 m
- Versión completa
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With great corruption comes great power. Jack is pretty sure that's the way the saying goes. It's a good thing, too, for the war in Ter’nodril, which he’d hoped would spell the beginning of the end for the DIR, instead left him corrupted, body and soul. The good news is that the Fallen used the Blight that now fills his veins as a weapon in their war against the gods themselves. He’s sure that he can find a way to use it, too, to destroy Valia Online once and for all. He even knows exactly who he'll test its power against first: Manhart.
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just not as good as the first 2
- De DippingDave en 04-01-21
- Corruption
- Unbound Deathlord, Book 3
- De: Edward Castle
- Narrado por: Jeff Hays
Good Story, MC Still Not Very Likeable/Relatable
Revisado: 12-24-21
Plot and world building of this story are still good. Character development but all except main duo are almost non-existent. MC is still not very likeable or relatable, but he isn't quite as reprehensible as in book 2.
Narration by JH continues to be fantastic and definitely adds to enjoyability of the book.
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