Monster Gear Audiobook By D.M. Gilmore cover art

Monster Gear

A Progression Fantasy Series (Monster Gear Series, Book 1)

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Monster Gear

By: D.M. Gilmore
Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
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After his parents' separation uproots him from everyone and everything he's ever known, Spencer tries to bury himself in video games. That's easier said than done when his game systems are miles away, and the only game shop in town doubles as a smoke den.

Ready to give up, Spencer is introduced to Monster Gear—an augmented reality, geocaching, monster-taming RPG for his phone. Thinking it's just another mobile game, Spencer is ready to try it and toss it aside.

There's only one problem: the monsters are real.

With Zero, his new monster friend, and a guild of like-minded players, Spencer is ready to tackle any challenge the game has to offer!

©2021 DM Gilmore (P)2023 Tantor Action & Adventure Fantasy
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While this will be based on the audiobook version of the book, I’ll avoid critiquing the audiobook quality, pronunciations, etcetera because the author wasn’t a part of making it. This review is strictly for the story itself.

I really enjoyed reading this story. It’s well-written with deep and relatable characters, a solid plot and excellent pacing. Over the course of the story, I really liked the bonding between Zero and Spencer. They have a lot in common and make a great pair. At times, it feels too much digimon, but I’ve always been a huge fan of digimon and other monster tamer franchises

All that being said, I do have 2 big problems. One thing is that it says very clearly that the game is in Alpha, but we never see any bugs, glitches, crashes, or server disconnects. Alpha builds are infamous for being buggy as heck, since they’re early versions of a game, but no one ever points out there’s no bugs in the game. The second problem is the lack of scenes with Spencer’s dad. It’s clear that Spencer hates his dad, but there’s very little interaction, development of his character.

I’m really looking forward to book 2. This has a lot of potential and has a really cool concept.

Amazing World, a Digimon’s Fan’s Dream Come True

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I love the story development and character development. I’m excited for the second book to come on audible.

The characters

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Compared to his other writings, this book feels like a massive downgrade overall, and even if it was written for a younger audience I could see them being frustrated as well. Mostly those who play games similar to how the one in this book is explained.

Imagine if Pokémon/Pokémon Go mixed with Puzzles & Dragons and that is what the game is.

Positives: There aren't many. The cool thing is the alternate world with the Clocktower, and the ability of having the partner able to talk to you and interact with the world

Negatives: There are many, but the big ones is that Spencer is very unlikable. Even knowing his backstory and his struggles, the way it is portrayed and dropped out of nowhere on you in a trauma dump doesn't let you adjust to be ready for it. He self harmed at some point but the way it is handled here is very out of touch and doesn't make me feel bad for him at all, mostly with how he reacts to those even wanting to help him.

And as someone who has played games like Monster Gear, no one in there right mind would do what he is doing, as he just disregards the collection aspect for Zero. I understand making him stronger, but damn just how he is doing it makes zero sense for someone who supposedly and experienced gamer. He can still make zero stronger and collect other allies, and not be the perfect example of: I am the MC, so I get things that legit no one ever managed to do. At least make it believable.

And after a point they get very vague with powerups multipliers. Be vague so that the obviously weaker creature can beat the hell out of a character more then 10 times stronger. He clearly wanted Zero to beat Paradise so stopped giving states when they fought.

Overall this is a writing downgrade for DM Gilmore. And I would not suggest this book unless you wish to be frustrated by EVERYTHING. I finished cause I hoped things would get better but almost no character is likeable. The situations don't make much sense in terms of game progression. And the choices they all make are clearly being forced, not logical choices some of the characters would and should make.

Was Expecting More...Downgrade

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