Not LitRpg

This is not a litrpg like i thought from books cover. possibly there's a saying that should have helped me from making this mistake but here we are. i didn't really enjoy the narrator. and the story wasn't interesting enough, in my opinion, to rectify the narration.

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It needs a bit of work

One of the things that I truly dislike in fiction stories is when writers do not give any context for the world the characters are living in. Wixley does this and I found it a bit irritating. The story ends up being okay, but I was aggravated by the way it was told.

Johnson does an okay job.

It is, overall, an okay book.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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I enjoyed it!

This book was like diving into the "matrix conspiracy" but in a whole different perspective. I loved the whole book from start to finish and couldnt get over the complexity of the characters and storyline. definately would reccomend especially to tech lovers!

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1 person found this helpful

Dust jacket is misleading

I received a free review copy of this book, at my request, and am voluntarily leaving this unbiased review.

The dust cover for this book promises intriguie, deep connections, and an compelling mystery.

Unfortunately, what we get is a bland, emotionless experience with a mystery that is revealed to the reader fairly early. It is NOT a mystery story, if you are interested in a mystery this is not a story for you.

The story is written more like a play, with narration to set up a scene and then almost non stop dialog. There is little to no inner thoughts of the characters and we are left to infer their emotions from their described facial expressions. Of course as most of the characters are broken in some way, this does not lead to any significant insight.

The world is also not fleshed out well, for example the "suicide woods" are not explained properly in the book, and the concept really only exists on the dust cover. Relationships are forged, but with sparse emotional context and any real description of feelings or motivations, they feel hollow and un compelling.

The mystery hinted at, on the dust cover, takes the main character some time to fully understand. However, as the audience, we learn about it very quickly. I know there is a market for this, as it is the formula of "Columbo", but it is not something I enjoy. The rest of the characters' "journey" involves bumbling towards the answer and then the result of the answer. However, the is not the stress of human emotions, but a sci-fi "twist" (for the character not the audience).

The worst part of this audio book was the narrator, Clive Johnson. He did the entire book in the voice of Saruman (Christopher Lee) from the Lord of the Rings movies. Everything was monotone, emotionless, without inflection. The men all sounded the same, like Saruman, and the women all sounded as through
Saruman was pretending to be a husky woman. This was easily the worst narration I think I've heard. I wonder how the book would have changed with a better narrator.

Ultimately I gave this book 2 stars because I enjoyed the concept. The potential mystery and the sci-fi elements of this book were interesting, a little unoriginal but interesting. However the execution, in my opinion, failed at every stage. Ruined mystery, lack of emotional connection to characters, lack of world building, terrible narration.

I will not be continuing this series.

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Sim Sim Sim

I was hoping for more of a Ready Player one vibe, but once I stopped hoping for that, the story took on its own shape and was good. The narration also paired very well with the story.

Note at the time of this review audible did not have chapter titles for this title.

This book was provided for review, however, the thoughts and opinions are my honest review.

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Futuristic

This is a very deep psychological sci-fi thriller can be confusing at times. I did enjoy the characters Felicity Devon; her father Dante computer genius develops a supercomputer that takes control of their lives in virtual reality. Felicity enters into woods and befriends Jonah (his sister is taken by trafficker) both search for her sister Elley as well as many family secrets when the computer takes over. Recommend if you enjoy different sci-fi. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. Thank you

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Mind-bending!

Solid story and great narration.

When reality and the virtual world blur together the shadows rise up!

This one was interesting. It was a mind bending psychological thriller with a well done story and solid narration. While it wasn't quite my flavor, I recognize that a lot of people will really enjoy it.

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Mono-toned non mystery

I have been going through my books, and found that some that I had listened to I hadnt posted a review, these ones wont be as detailed as ones I have listened to recently but I wanted to be sure they still got the marks I would have given them, had I thought about them at the time.

I want to say, I chose this story for the cover itself more than what I read in the description. I never read the reviews until after I have listened to the book itself and have my own point of view on it. This book gives you the mystery answer too early in the book, There was some areas that needed a lot more explanation in them.

Narrator seemed to be bored reading this and too mono-toned for the book. If read by someone else, it might make the story come to life so much more than this.

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Sad review not what I was hoping for!

So I have to leave this review and it saddens me. I couldn't even finish the book. I restarted the book over 10 times trying to get into it. I couldn't follow the storyline and I am not sure if it is because of the writing or because of the reader. The reader's old-style voice makes a book about Sci-Fi all wrong. I kept trying to place the books time period to the medieval era or about that when there was no electricity or running water.

So when the technology is in play I'm confused and have no idea what is really happening. If this book is re-read by a different reader it may actually improve the story. But for now I cannot finish the book and it was not enjoyable.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Awesome Scifi novel

Overall a very interesting story, with deeper scifi plot elements that unpack the further you progress through the story. It even has some Post-Apocalyptic aspects that really take it further. Overall the story is well written and the performance is OK, the tone he sets for the story and characters is a bit dry at first, but after a chapter or two you will be used to his style!

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1 person found this helpful