Matthew

The worst writer and story I’ve ever read

Revisado: 01-26-24

To start she writes on a grade school level at best. But the absolute worst about this book/series/author is how she completely degrades the gay community. I think she enjoys torturing the characters and honestly no gay men think/act/talk like this. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pejorative like “dickhole” used so many times in my life! Childish! And they are supposed to be in their 30s!? If you are a deeply self loathing, childish drama queen who is a perpetual victim, this is the book/author for you. Michele has no business writing M4M romance/fiction. Because she writes like she secretly hates gay men!!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Same unpolished story told a thousand times

Revisado: 06-16-23

I am more than halfway through and I am struggling to finish this book. If I do its only because I hate to leave things unfinished and nothing else. Save your credits on this story,

The whole of it is under developed and clearly rushed. So many things occurred that make no real life sense at all simply because it was not thought out fully or properly. If you listen/read this you will have a lot of WTF moments. The story is rushed, and poorly developed, lacking sense in a "why would they do that" moment, and then it seems a good deal of pointless fluff was keyed in to fill it out the story which felt pointlessly rushed.

I most especially want to point out the insanely redundant and over done victim mentality. In LGTBQ culture this is over-done to death and so utterly tired! It shows complete lack of creative forward thinking. Here we YET AGAIN have a bullied gay kid who does not know how to properly stand up for themselves and put the bully in their place. The worst part about this over played narrative in this particular novel is how his "best friends" basically allowed it to happen for "reasons", really!? Unforgivable! When will this culture grow out of the need to be a victim and give us something to feel good about?? It's sorely needed. So if you have triggers when it comes to bullying, steer clear of this train-wreck. Sprinkle a ton of needless self sacrificing for an emotionally unhealthy neediness, self abasement, and a romantic connection that lacks actual connection, the entire story left me questioning whether I really wanted to even finish this novel.

Over all save your credits, this book needs a lot of work and I am not surprised Disney signed on to bash another tragic gay kid with powers story, although I am sure they will tweak the writing to make it better than it stands, still an absolute must miss!

*Note to the author - stop being so creatively lazy and write a story that empowers our gay youth, stop making them victims!

P.S. The narrator did a good job with what he had to work with, although he needs to upgrade his sound equipment if he wants to continue to do this professionally.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Returned the title, save your credits!

Revisado: 04-03-23

Poorly written. Excruciatingly redundant that will grind your nerves!! The MC is an absolute moron and a perpetual victim. I am completely sick and tired of books that make the MC so completely useless and pathetic!! We need more empowerment these days, this story type is old, worn and utterly tired! Save your credits, listening this is akin to torture.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Supernatural Talent

Revisado: 01-20-23

How any person can write so well is a gift and a mystery. Simply spoken, this novel and series is legend. Brandon’s talent, supernatural!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

The Good reviews must be pure fanboys…

Revisado: 09-28-22

There is so many things wrong with this story it’s hard to begin. For one, the main plot. It’s shallow. At 3/4th the way through the book there is no world building what so ever. No groundwork on the rules of magic at all, it’s not even vague. All you know if that the main is “the most powerful mage in the entire world”, hundreds of years old. Yet he is a total amateur, has no real control, looses almost every battle without his demon saving him, and is the very definition of victim, oh and he whines a lot about it. He is excruciatingly unlikable!! But that pales in comparison to his love interest. A very, very poorly written Demon named Havoc. He only attribute that defines him as a demon is that he’s a megalomaniac and narcissist. how the author even imagined that this type of personality would be lovable or endearing is unfathomable. Their relationship is codependent lust at best. All they do is nag, whine, and fight. Their relationship is like nails on a chalkboard!! I think she was going for ‘funny’, but it wasn’t, it was torture listening to them interact. Towards the end I was hoping for a Tragic ending where the main gets killed and ends this God awful story!! Finally, there is copious amounts of sex between men that was clearly written by a woman who does not understand sex between men! This book is a total pass!!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

The worst book ever, hard to finish!

Revisado: 08-01-22

I enjoyed the first two, mostly. The most unlikable character, Quinn, is now the MC, unfortunately. Worst of all he is whiny, maybe it’s the narrator, or how he is written. Either way it’s torture to endure! Perpetually a victim, continuously making foolish, rash, and stupid decisions. With a childish “stomp your foot”, stubborn, irrational, and immaturity that’s grates on one’s patients, Quinn has learned nothing from previous experience! He blames himself for the wind blowing the wrong way and desperately seeks to make himself a pathetic martyr. Halfway through the book my assumption is either 1) The author is in a dark place and channels a depressing story or 2) really enjoys tormenting her MC! Either way she builds an MC that is filled with self pity, self sacrifice, self loathing, and overwhelmingly cantankerous. No part of this novel will leave you feeling good. Just bored, angry, annoyed, sad and disappointed. I truly struggled finishing this novel. The narrator is good but needs to work on not sounding so whiny!!!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

I really want to love this story….

Revisado: 01-13-22

As stated this has a lot of potential, but someone should have proofed and edited this writing. There are so many things wrong with it. To begin, it’s narrated like it’s a children’s book which is grating on the nerves. The narrator needs range and proper inflection. The next most crucial is improper detail. I actually had to skip an entire three chapters as it’s so boring, redundant and details the reader simply does not care about it was upsetting just trying to sit through it. It’s against my nature to not finish what I started. I tried so hard to just power through, but in the end it was like being slowly tortured. And on that note, I really and truly wonder about the psych of the author. His very long and deeply descriptive writing on the slow painful torture of the main character all throughout the book balances on the edge of sociopath! You get the feeling he writes this story so he can brutally torture a person, at least like it’s some sick fantasy. Then being narrated like a weepy children’s book takes it to a whole other level!!

Then we get to artistically thinking things through. The author sets the stage as if the main character is vastly powerful, creative, and a true savant! But when the rubber hits the road he becomes utterly and completely useless!!! Every…Single…time…this as well as being a perceptual victim, yet more opportunities for the author to painfully torture him. Many, many, all too many things make absolutely no sense whatsoever to the point where the listener finds themselves screaming “Seriously!?!”, or “Wtf!? You have to be kidding me!? Why!?”. For example. (((Story detail spoilers ahead)))….The main gets his face and skull collapsed in when he takes a face punch by a 7 foot stone golem. Ok 1) that’s an instant kill. 2) he we go again!, more overly descriptive and vulgar torture, whining and painful crying. This of course happens as the main is about 70% healed from being beaten to death! All this happens over many hours and chapters with all the tiny minute details of his painful and torturous healing process. Now this! Here we go again. So when the main decides to start healing, does he heal his face, mouth and eyes so he can talk, eat, and see!? Nope!! He works on his ribs, legs, arm, HIS PET KITTEN!!! Everything but these crucial components of survival. Spending the rest of the book blind and communicating via hand squeezing!! *^%#} seriously!?!

I bought this book and was determined to finish it. So buyer beware!! This story, character and world had loads of potential, but this author will utterly destroy it with violent fetishes and a deep love of pointless chatter. Hours of my life I’ll never get back!!!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Another great Mercedes Lackey book destroyed!

Revisado: 10-07-21

This happened to the Last Herald Mage stories as well. Great books, unbelievably horrendous narration!!! I can’t help but to wonder, does Mercedes vet these narrators before she hires them?! To begin, does the narrator even consult Mercedes on proper pronunciation!!?? Kevin Utterly butchers and decimated this series with his ridiculous pronunciation that is complete torture to listen too!! Since when is Darian pronounced Dairy-on, and in a VERY annoying over enunciated way, like there is a dramatic pause between dairy—on, ugh!! Captain Savil (sah-vil) becomes Say—vill, and the list goes on! Given how often these names are read it fast becomes like fingernails on a chalkboard. It gets worse, he mispronounced just about everything else and reads these mispronounced words in a very whiny staccato fashion. Making the characters come across as insecure, whiny, and immature. It’s awful! From there Kevin inconsistently uses Transylvanian accents for the hawk brothers and griffons, more exaggerated with the griffons. All in all it sounds like an extremely poor acted Dracula book! The Hawk brothers are more Native American types, where the heck did he get Transylvanian/Romanian!?! Again, Mercedes? Did you even approve the way Kevin butchers your books!!??

All in all the narration alone made this book and series pure torture. I listened because Mercedes Lackey books holds a special place in my heart, and my heart breaks to hear it done so horrible and annoying.

I highly recommend avoiding this audiobook!!!!! If you love this book and series, this audible will utterly ruin it for you!!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

If you style is depression, failure, and weakness

Revisado: 05-07-21

I read the author was “in a dark place” when she wrote these novels and wow does that come through!! The writing is good, the world-building and mythology is great, but the overall story is draining and will try the patience of a Zen Monk! You can all but count on the protagonists being a pathetic and perpetual victim who has a viscous habit of only being capable of ALWAYS making the wrong decisions. She blames herself for rain being wet and overall is extremely unlikable. The Antagonist on the other hand is basically God. Unbeatable, unstoppable, will always win, eternally smarter than everyone, and the MOST unlikable being you’ve read!! Clearly the author needed to vent “kill them all and let God sort them out”, as well as channeling her darkness into a series that oozes hopelessness, neediness, victim-hood, and just plain depression all around! If I want to drown myself in hopelessness I’ll turn on the news! But when I read a fantasy novel I’d like to believe that the “Hero” at least is competent! “Alina” is supposed to be so powerful that she is the “first ever” to wield this kind of power, yet she couldn’t defeat a crippled, blind, deaf and dumb bunny rabbit. I always finish what I started, but this is the first series I will put down and never pick up again!! Thumbs down, save your money!!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

The importance of Good Narration

Revisado: 04-15-20

I liked the story, characters and premise. I feel like this is a world and storyline I could really get wrapped up in. But the one thing that changed all that was the narration. My best descriptive is mono-toned. Whether scene or character it all bled together in “blah”. It honestly made it hard in a way to follow the story. The feeling of listening is akin to hearing one long, dry and never ending run on sentence. Details being lost to droning. The narrator tried I think to add character to each character but failed miserably. I do hope the Author uses someone else next story as if this is their go to, I’m dropping the series.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña