Christopher

Engaging as always but not as good as earlier books.

Reviewed: 04-20-25

I enjoyed listening to this book on the whole, but there were some pretty annoying writing flaws in it. They are somewhat reminiscent of Cajiao’s lesser series or some of Eric Uglands numerous offenses. In this I’m referring to main characters who aren’t necessarily geniuses but are definitely capable of logical thoughts making completely unbelievable mistakes or oversights, which also just so happen to increase the drama of a boss fight. Also, having the overpowered (and in this case Godly) MC get totally wrecked by a minor enemy in the middle of (you guessed it) a boss fight with no explanation for how or why this would happen. But of course it is because of this rock-bottom moment that the plot armor which has been waiting in the wings has an opportunity to elevate the OP MC to even higher ascendency.

I hate it when reviewers use the term lazy writing as I don’t think you can be truly lazy and write a 20+ hour book. But in this case I’m very tempted. I feel like Cajiao needs to get some better beta-readers or start listening to their criticisms if they pointed out these clearly flawed plot devices.

Regardless, in spite of my complaints I would still say it’s worth the credit, but I’m just a bit disappointed that this book didn’t match the quality of the previous installments.

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It was entertaining but not as good as the preceding books.

Reviewed: 04-17-25

This story was a side-quest. Though the author did a good job of wrapping up the loose threads left at the end of The ShatterPlate War, the rest of the book didn’t really advance the main storyline much. While I’m sure it set up a bunch of things for the next book, this book’s plot felt very much like something an author might release as a bonus novella or an x.5 installment. Regardless, if you’ve enjoyed this series then you’ll probably enjoy listening to this audiobook just like I did. However, just go into it knowing that it doesn’t have the expansive scope of the previous books in the series.

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Highly under-rated. You should buy this audiobook.

Reviewed: 02-15-25

I’m only being slightly hyperbolic when I say that it’s a travesty that this audiobook has a lower rating than many of the worst LitRPG offerings on Audible. Not only is the writing intelligent and the story extremely engaging, but even the narration is leagues above the standard for the genre.

I can only assume that this book fell victim to reviewers who lack the attention span for stories that go more than ten pages without the MC adding a new, “totally, super-hot babe” to their harem or 17 pointless fight scenes… but more likely all of the above.

If you’re even interested enough in this book to be reading this far into the reviews then I can guarantee you won’t regret spending your credit on this audiobook.

-Review ends here, below is just me hating on audible’s stupid 5-point system:

I don’t give effusive reviews to audiobooks that don’t truly deserve them. I also try to make my reviews, first and foremost, helpful for potential listeners so they can trust that I’m not the author’s family member trying to hype up a POS. However I find it infuriating that audible’s review system is so useless almost all of the time. Having to dig through several thousand 4.4-4.6 star books just to find the few needles in the overwhelming sh*t-stack makes me want to send angry letters to all the reviewers who treat Audible like Yelp and review books on a binary system of 5 stars or 1 star. With five stars meaning that they finished the audiobook and 1 star meaning the author had one sentence in the third chapter that was:
-too “Woke”
-too conservative
-too religious
-not religious enough
-not the right kind of religious
-has too many swear words
-doesn’t have enough T&A
-Too gay
-Not gay enough
-boooooooring
-or had a plot that was too complicated for them to follow while they were simultaneously driving a vehicle, talking on the phone, parenting, writing reviews on stuff they never bought on Amazon, sexually harassing someone on TikTok… and sexting their side-piece, while holding up the drive-thru line at McDonald’s, because they have unreasonable expectations of minimum wage employees who probably deserve bonuses just for actually showing up to work and dealing with the BS that a job like that requires them to endure every day.

Thanks for coming on that journey with me… Feel free to flag this review for not being concise enough to deserve more than 1 star.

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4 people found this helpful

It was good.

Reviewed: 01-24-25

I enjoyed this audiobook. It comes off as a good first novel. If the author continues to improve their craft I will look forward to their future works. That said, it was good but not great. For me the inner turmoil was a bit ham-fisted and could have used a bit more nuance and subtlety. The narration was adequate but I felt like the narrator, while skilled, was not always a great match for the material.

All in all it was definitely worth the credit, but there’s room for improvement.

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Not bad. Though the title seems unintentionally ironic.

Reviewed: 12-21-24

This audiobook very much felt like the first novel by an author with some potential (hence the above review title). So the plot was interesting and had well-defined characters and pretty good pacing… but it does have its flaws.

A lot of the MC’s inner monologue was overwrought and cringy. There were a plethora of missed opportunities and missteps with the game mechanics, and the world building was very myopic in its detail. The plot was interesting and engaging but the overall story arch had some holes and could have done with a more deliberate structure.

As for the narration, it was above average, though if you’re like me and don’t like narrators who over-express the dramatic descriptions and MC angst then you will find some of it to be a little annoying. I’m sure plenty of listeners won’t even notice it judging by how many people think Daniel Wisniewski is not a ruiner of every audiobook that he has ever narrated.

On the whole I would recommend this if you’re in the same spot as I am, and you have already listened to every single GameLit audiobook on Audible (that was written by an author who’s level of intellectual and sexual maturity has made it past junior high school anyway). This isn’t the book I would hand to someone who has never read LitRPG/Gamelit before, but it does fine when your only other options are audiobooks with covers that are dominated by cartoon boobies.

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Far, far above all of the other farming cultivation stories.

Reviewed: 12-20-24

Every time I come to the end of one of these books I feel a little heartbreak. There isn’t another author writing right now who is so able to create a world and characters that are able to so thoroughly pull me in… and make me want to stay for every minute.

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Pretty good with a big caveat.

Reviewed: 12-06-24

While somewhat slow to coalesce this story was a compelling and enjoyable one to follow. It does take a while to get into the meat, but still I found the narrator’s voice soothing and the adventure fun. For the first half of this book there was nothing objectionable, but there also wasn’t a whole lot of effort to make the story anything but a pretty generic Isekai/LitRPG by numbers affair. Fortunately, the story eventually introduces more characters and plot and the audiobook went from pleasant background noise to something I was actively engaged in.

It continues that way through to the end. Now for the caveat…

I personally don’t mind a cliffhanger ending in most cases. Especially if the cliffhanger comes after a certain amount of plot resolution and a proper climax. Unfortunately, in this case the author made an inexplicable choice to end the book right before the climax with absolutely no resolution whatsoever-ever. It’s like you are sitting on the couch watching a movie and right before the hero walks into the villain’s lair, your mom walks in and turns off the TV and tells you to go to bed. Pretty frustrating, especially considering how long it takes the book to meander into the plot.

I still gave this book 4 stars for a few of reasons:
1. I enjoyed listening to it and at no point (before the last two seconds) did I want to slap the author.
2. the narration was good and didn’t interfere with the feeling of immersion.
And 3. if the next installment was available right now, I would pick it up instantly just to find out what happens next.

So what I’m say is that essentially, this audiobook is way better than 85% of the Isekai/LitRPG titles available on Audible even if it’s not perfect. So in an effort to make this review relevant and helpful for people like me, I’m grading on the curve. So if you’re like me and have already listened to all of the even remotely not-terrible audiobooks in this genre then this book will satisfy while while waiting for another audiobook that isn’t narrated by Daniel Wisnewski or Wayne Mitchell.

Although if cliffhanger endings send you into a blind rage then I highly recommend you wait to listen to this until the second book comes out so you don’t end up pulling your hair out and screaming at the ceiling.

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2 people found this helpful

Every installment a hit.

Reviewed: 12-04-24

I’m not prone to effusive reviews, but I can’t resist joining the masses on this one. If you’ve made it this far in the series then you probably don’t need to know more than the fact that Plum Parrot is still writing at the top of their game.

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1 person found this helpful

Extra star given for not having harems nor inexplicably stupid characters.

Reviewed: 10-12-24

If you liked the first book then you will like this one too. Honestly, for me this is a four star book which means it’s really good, but not perfect. If the slow pace of the overall plot from the first book didn’t bother you then you’ll be fine with the second one. That said, while I was engaged and entertained all the way through this book, I was a little disappointed that the plot did very little advancing by the end.

It’s tough when you have 6 main characters to follow. Balancing their individual perspectives with more overarching developments is really not easy. The author does a great job switching between MC’s without making the book feel choppy and keeping the story cohesive. But in doing so well at that we end up with a bit more of a slice-of-life experience than a faster paced storyline.

Again, the audiobook was great, I just feel like my 5-star rating is a bit disingenuous. However when a really good audiobook only has three ratings I feel compelled to give it an extra star just to keep it from falling into the doldrums of the sub-4.6 star purgatory that many good books struggle to ever make it out of.

This is why 5 point rating systems for nuanced things are idiotic. And why any of the tens of thousands of audible books with 4.3 star ratings could be the best audiobook you’ve ever heard, or so mind-numbingly terrible that it damages your psyche permanently.
…And there’s no way to know which is which beforehand! It’s frustrating.

Sorry, just couldn’t help myself from going on a little rant. I blame coffee.

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2 people found this helpful

Good story with less than perfect narration and writing.

Reviewed: 09-04-24

TLDR: Good plot, engaging throughout. Writing was not bad but also not great. Male narrator not my cup of tea. Female Narrator was good. I will pick up the next book but as with all Royal Guard Publishing books I will do so somewhat warily.

For those of you with more time on your hands:

I did enjoy the story and some of the characters in this book. In my opinion, this is one of those series that you follow because you want to find out what happens next not for the quality of the writing and narration. The writing isn’t bad but it’s also not great. Unfortunately, it shares the same issues that a lot of the subpar LitRPG books that Royal Guard Publishing releases…

For instance, this book is not funny. The “jokes” are always forced at best and at worst the only way you know that the “joke” even exists is that the author has to tell you that the characters, “fall out of their chairs with uproarious laughter!!” Meanwhile, I’m thinking, “wait what are they laughing about?” Then I rewind and realize that the annoying sidekick character said his catch phrase for the fifth time in this chapter. Also, if the word “antics” is used more than once in a GameLit book then it’s almost always a red flag for the author writing characters or banter which are supposedly funny but are very much not.

Another example is when the characters are made aware of something, or even discuss that thing enough to make it totally obvious what conclusion to draw, and then two chapters later the MC is scratching their head and saying, “I wish I knew about this thing,” Making the reader/listener super frustrated. No one wants to follow an MC who is unintentionally dumber than they are. For whatever reason the lesser of R.G.P. books often struggle with giving the MC and the reader enough info to figure something out only to have the MC be stumped or just totally oblivious. It’s super annoying.

I could go on giving in depth examples but I’ll just leave it at one last common flaw which is that the secondary and especially the tertiary characters and locations all end up feeling like props or outlines that were never fleshed out. These less important characters are generic archetypes whose motivations are opaque. The scenery/locations don’t feel real or they aren’t fleshed out enough to give the reader/listener any true sense of place.

So what I’m trying to say is that if you’ve listened to a number of Royal Guard Publishing’s audiobooks and noticed that there’s a bit of a chasm between the well written books and the much larger portion of not so well written books, then this one does lean more towards the good ones, while still suffering from some of the flaws of the very much not so good ones.

As for the narration, it’s not that Adam Stubbs is bad at narrating. It’s that Adam Stubbs falls into the category of narrators like Daniel Wizniewski and Wayne Mitchell. Which is to say that while they can do the actual reading part with some skill, they seem totally unable to differentiate between a mundane description of some wallpaper, and the climax of the ultimate fight between good and evil. I say this because they will deliver both bits of prose with the emotional subtlety and discernment of an obviously well-used dildo sitting on your mother’s coffee table. Which is to say their performances are overwrought and hyperbolic for every single sentence of the entire book. Which ends up being too much for me by about the 4th sentence.

Adam Stubbs is by far a lesser evil than DW or WM, but he’s from the same neighborhood. Mia Fothergill did a fine job with the female voices and I would have rather had her narrate the whole book, but wcyd?

So finally, in summation this audiobook was entertaining and I will most likely give the next one a try, but depending on how discerning you are about your GameLit you might either think I’m crazy because this is one of the best LitRPG’s of the year, or you might think I’m crazy because this book needs a rewrite and a different narrator just to be listenable…

Or you might be like me and you’ve listened to every LitRPG and GameLit audiobook on Audible that is worth listening to and more than a few that aren’t and so you’re looking for books that don’t totally suck and will be entertaining while you wait for the next installment of the 35 other series that you will snatch up and devour as soon as they are released. If that’s you too, then give this one a try and you probably won’t regret it.

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6 people found this helpful