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R.S. Lee

  • 24
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  • 5
  • helpful votes
  • 213
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Funny! I love the twists and turns 😂

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 05-31-25

I expected this to be pretty low brow—but funny —and it is! I was pleasantly surprised by the twists and turns, which add to the humor. I'm also surprised that this book is more emotionally intelligent than the title and description led me to expect.

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Less compelling than earlier books

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 05-20-25

I really loved the earlier books and this is still entertaining, but it is much less compelling to me and I'm considering whether or not I want to listen to more.

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Totally broken talents/skills; fun to listen

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 08-12-24

Even though the talents and skills are totally broken in the story, I find it really fun to listen to. I particularly like that they try to normalize therapy for people who have experienced trauma.

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Fantasy, action, mystery, and romance!

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 07-21-24

I was pleasantly surprised when the mystery weekend appears in this story. Listening to this sort of reminds me of watching the Witcher, but with a female lead. I think I like this now than A Court of Thorns and Roses

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Streaks of sadness enter this volume

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 06-10-24

Another delightful book in the series, in which I was surprised to encounter streaks of sadness. I have mixed feelings about this: I enjoyed the light-heartedness of the earlier books and yet the author beautifully humanizes depression in this one, building awareness and empathy,

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Wow, what a masterfully written story!

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 02-18-24

This story has elements that remind me of other stories (a few elements remind me of the LotR), but recast in such a way as to be entirely original.

The story developed in ways I didn't see coming.

The narrator is great: steady, with gravitas, and just creepy enough at the right moments.

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Ends unsatisfactorily; many elements seem familiar

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 02-14-24

I know there is a commercial incentive to end books in a way that motivates readers to buy the next book, but I generally dislike when authors—or their editors/publishers—choose to end a book in an unsatisfactory way.

This book is okay and the narrator is great, so I planned to rate it four stars (three for story, five for performance), but the ending is annoying. Oh well: I know now not to buy any more books from these authors. 🤷

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Even better on the second listen!!

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-27-23

Great story telling and intriguing world. The narrator seems like a great pairing with this story.

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Solid story; Great narrator voice/performance

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 06-01-22

The book's initial hook is not ideal (I did not find the main character's reaction to things very credible), but I really enjoy the story nonetheless. If you like other similar LitRPG books, I recommend not getting too hung up on the first chapters and seeing what you think as you get further into the book. However, the book stands much more on action and world building and has much less dialogue.

My only reason for giving 4 instead of 5 stars for "Performance" is a nit: pronunciation of one word ("differing" vs. "deferring" — the former from context pronounced as the latter). I am prone to nitpicking word things due to autism. I suspect the following is more a criticism of the editing/production rather than the narrator, but I don't know the process used for audiobook creation. Furthermore, as I have listened to the second audiobook, I have noticed only two words that sounded unusual to me and dictionary consultation shows that one is the correct pronunciation of an unusual word and the other is an alternate and equally good pronunciation of a common word ("clique": "ˈklik also ˈklēk" according to Merriam Webster).

I think that this narrator is generally as awesome as my favorites such as Michael Kramer or Nick Podehl and his voice has some similar resonant qualities to Michael Kramer. As I grow increasingly fond of hearing him, I find it easier and easier to disregard the occasionally odd-to-my-ears pronunciation of certain words and now that I see that some of these odd-to-me pronunciations are correct, it should get even easier for me.

I don't know if other narrators all know how to pronounce almost all of the words they read or if they have production teams who catch any errors they make during editing. In any case, when I listen to actual play Dungeons & Dragons, I notice that even brilliant actors (Matt Mercer with "slough off") make mistakes similar to what I noticed in this audiobook ("differing" vs "deferring" if I recall correctly).

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Deceptive duration

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 04-02-22

This book contains a free preview of another book, which means the total duration is about 38 minutes shorter than the advertised duration. Since the book is plenty long, this would normally be no big deal but it was rather disappointing to have the book feel like it began to end abruptly while audible was telling me that I had over an hour left. The cliffhanger on top of that was a lot. I love Andrew Rowe's writing and I really enjoy Nick Podehl's narration. I just wish that free previews weren't bundled into what audible advertises in books. With its billions of dollars, Amazon could make this a separate, free download.

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