Luke Massey

Good, but lots of noise and exposition

Reviewed: 02-17-25

The story itself was good, if a little bit cheesy or cliche at some parts. It was never enough to undermine the story itself, but was noticable enough and worthy of mention.

There are a few things that were incredibly frustrating, however.

First, the racket at the start of each chapter. For whatever reason, the Narrator or their company or the Author decided to have each chapter start with an absolute racket of windchimes and other metal objects being struck. It was louder than the rest of the audio, and I had several coworkers comment on them being able to hear the noise from my earbuds while several feet away. Every time the racket started, it was harring and immersion breaking *in the extreme*, and every single time I considered dropping the audiobook entirely and opting to read it on kindle instead. I will he doing so with any and all sequels, that's how annoying that sound was.

Second, the Narrator read everything slowly and dramatically, often times slowing down further to emphasize important moments or increase the gravity of a statement. That isn't to say the narrator did a poor job - she was fantastic, by all measures except speed. I found myself listening to the story at 1.2x speed, bumping it up or down a notch as necessary. Even then, some parts of the story felt agonizingly slow. It was incredibly frustrating, and I often found myself fast forwarding because...

Third, the exposition was excessive and oftentimes POV breaking. The MC knows things she shouldn't know - or it is made to sound that way with how it's written. It could be just Third person information for the reader from the narrator, but it wasn't made to seem that way. It seemed like the thoughts and considerations came directly from the MC. Also, rhere are several conversations that come off as entirely unnatural, seemingly used explicitely to explain the magic and technology of the world the MC finds herself in. It was blatantly obvious, at least to me, when those moments occurred.

Overall, the story is good. I will not be listening to any more audiobooks under this narrator, however, and will instead opt to continue the series on Kindle.

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A refeshing MC & a cathartic listen

Reviewed: 01-26-25

This story is incredible. The MC knows what she's about, and she doesn't beat around the bush at all. She see's problems and acts to find solutions for them, and managing the risks and repercussions in a satisfyingly realistic way.

Also, the narrator is freaking incredible. She put exactly the right spins of emotion into the dialogue, especially where the MC is concerned, and it was fantastic.

The ending was sooo worth the build up, too. Super cathartic, given what the MC had to go through to get there.

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1 person found this helpful

Max and the Ending

Reviewed: 12-26-24

Max the Axe is my new favorite character.

Also, I hated the ending sooo much! It makes me want to see what revenge Everly will have in the next book, and I am so ready for it. No matter whatshe does, the ending of this one justifies it completely.

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Binged in one sitting, again!

Reviewed: 12-05-24

This entire series has been just incredible, and I genuinely can't wait for the next book. It's been so engaging that I find it almost impossible to pause, and ended up listening to the entire book in one go today.

I love so many things about this story, but I'll just list the big ones. Before that, I'll say that I honestly cannot think of anything I disliked. I may be frustrated with the MC's caution with regard to her psychic capabilities, but I understand it and it makes sense for her to be so wary. It's one of the reasons I'm looking forward to the next book, though, as it seems to be building up to her acceptance of the ability.

That said, the biggest things I love:
First, the focus on the main character, and almost exclusively her point of view. Many stories are written with POV switches to give the reader context as to what's going on in aspects of the story the MC wouldn't be aware of, and while that does happen in these books, it's almost exclusively at the Epilogue. Here, the goings-on around the MC, and her plans being slowly put into action, are the entire focus. I am really happy with that. I don't tend to be a fan of numerous POV switches because they're so often overused.

Second, the scale of things. It started off with the MC running away and barely scraping buy, and she gradually turned into a large-corpo busting pro mercenary. The stakes are getting even larger with each book, and the MC is rising to the challenge every time in entirely reasonable and believable ways. The risks are becoming more known, and her concerns (and subsequently our, the readers, concerns) are more fleshed out as she finally starts to measure up to the scale of her enemies. She gets smarter, learns from her mistakes, takes the advice of her friends, and trains relentlessly. It's all earned power and readiness. Super well done.

Lastly, the budding romance aspect. It's been mentioned in the past couple of stories that she's interested in a relationship, but couldn't see it reasonably, or safely, occurring. Even in previous books, when it was acknowledged, it was disregarded by the MC for those reasons. Now, it's finally something that is actively being explored by the MC, if a bit hesitantly. I found myself rooting for a certain crushing girl to find her way into the MC's heart, but... well, I'm still hopeful, but the author may have dropped the ball there. That's just my opinion, though, as sad as I may be about it. Regardless, the point is that romance is potentially in the air now - and I'm excited to see the MC explore it, even if my headcanon disagrees with her choice (lol).

10/10, will definitely re-read the entire series a couple years after the final book is published. Probably several times.

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1 person found this helpful

Everything "in an instant".

Reviewed: 07-05-24

I enjoyed the story enough to buckle in for the rest of the series, but I'll admit to some frustration with the writing.

But before that - the good things. The world building is amazing and intriguing, and it kept my interest almost single handedly. On top of that, I was constantly asking to know more about the MC - which is great. She was interesting enough to keep me curious. Even better yet - she wasn't stupid. She displayed competence all throughout the story, even if she was a bit rash at times. She also grew throughout the story, both physically (power) and emotionally (trauma management). It was all handled pretty well.

On to the bad - the whole "in an instant" thing. This is my biggest complaint, simply due to annoyance. The author seems obsessed with expressing that things happen very, very quickly, but instead of saying that in different and unique ways, they repeatedly use "in an instant". EVERYTHING happens "in an instant" all throughout the story, even late into the second book. From launching an attack, recieving an attack, moving (be it the MC or her opponent), or even something as mundane as opening a door (literally, it was used to describe the MC opening a door quickly).

The issue with this is two things.

Firstly: an instant is... well, instant. it's supposed to denote a speed which would equate to what could practically be called teleportation, at least when concerning the moelvement of someone or something. This is clearly not what the author means when they use it.

And secondly: if everything is instant, then NOTHING is. It eradicates any sense of speed or timing when used so, so much. I can legitimately say that I haven't the foggiest idea of what the average speed of our MC is when compared to others, or others compared to anything else.

One final issue I have is the MC is kind of, but also not really, carried by others through her mental developement and recovery. Instead of learning to handle herself, she's basically spoonfed her cure by others, and that was a bit diappointing. It wasn't executed poorly, or written poorly, or anything major - it was just less than I'd hoped for.

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It's weird in both good and bad ways.

Reviewed: 04-22-24

First I'll start by saying that I ultimately enjoyed this book. It held my interest and I fully intend on moving on to book two and beyond, provided they do the same. If you like litrpg (lite), cultivation, or dungeons, this should be healthily up your alley. Give it a shot.

Now that that's out of the way, I'd like to complain about how utterly strange the story is. The MC is a 13 or 14 year old boy starting out, and while he does show his immaturity in a believable way early on, it's quickly chucked out the window. When the story transitions to him being 15 or 16, it l's like he's become a full grown adult man with maturity and mental stability to match.

For example, when it's stated that he's about 15 (maybe 16 at the absolute latest) years old, he is apparently mature enough to have an intimate and CASUAL relationship with a girl his age. They apparently discuss it, and are aware of the "temporary" nature of their relationship and proceed from there.

Now, sure, kids that age can definitely be sexually active. But they definitely are not casual about it. That's a level of maturity that teenagers simply do not have.

I feel like this might be prudish, too, but it also goes into how all the kids his age are going to parties and getting shitfaced and hooking up fairly regularly. It's told as if it's their standard method of winding down. At 15 and 16 years old. It's freaking weird.

I'd have given all of this a free pass had he and his peers been maybe 18 or 19. I'd have actually agreed with and understood it if he and his peers were 21 or 22, maybe even 23. But 15? 16, at most?

That's just... weird.

Again, it's not a bad story at all. Worth a read. But I seriously had a hard time finding the MC and his peers' maturity to be believable. That was definitely was the most damaging to my immersion into the story.

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jargon and fluff

Reviewed: 03-04-24

The idea behind the story is great, and the goblin culture and city was wonderfully put together.

Sadly, I found the main character insufferable. He constantly spouted empty platitudes to "reassure" his followers. There was literally nothing backing what he said, ever. He constantly makes empty promises, and is protected from failing to accomplish them by a pretty clear plot armor arround him. I couldn't handle this... soullessness.

It just feels hollow.

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1 person found this helpful

completely unexpected

Reviewed: 12-25-23

I was suggested this book many times by not only kindle and audible, but by some friends who enjoy similar stories as I do. I had always put it off because of the title and summary being so... silly.

That was a massive mistake. This book is the epitomy of "don't judge a book by its cover". I wish I read ot earlier.

It made me laugh and cry with joy. It also got me invested.

I am seriously impressed. Anyone on the fence about this book like I was, just take the plunge. This one is entirely worth it.

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I'm disappointed

Reviewed: 08-30-23

I like the concept and the idea behind the story. It makes for a fun world with fun characters and enjoyable missions and such. The narrator is great, and most of the side characters seem decent so far.

I say so far because I could only get 27 chapters in before I couldn't put up with the MC anymore. I want to preface this with the fact that I understand people suffer from social anxiety, and I know what it's like to some degree due to personal experience and history with people affected by it. That being said, the MC is simply too much for me. The writer seems to want to make the MC completely incapable of communicating to or with anyone.

She never speaks her mind, she never disagrees with anyone, she never defends herself, she never acts like a human being. She is perpetually a void of shyness and self deprecated internal rambling that goes absolutely nowhere. All of her decisions are effectively made for her by the people around her, and she doesn't feel like the main character even though she's shoe-horned into that role.

She's not a person. She's not made out to even seem like a person to anyone else. It's become way, way too frustrating to listen to the story any further, and it's slow even at 1.4x speed.

I'm so disappointed, because the story has so much potential being squandered by an NPC of a main character.

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3 people found this helpful

Loved it

Reviewed: 08-08-23

I thoroughly enjoyed the story overall and am excited to get started on book two.

That being said I have one criticism - and please note this is a personal opinion and may not reflect what most of you potential readers may think. My one issue is the differing POVs from what I personally saw as side characters. This wasn't aggregious by any means, as it was not frequently used throughout the story. For me, though, even the few times it was presented, it felt like a waste of time. Important background story information was revealed through these POVs, but I know there are better ways to get that info across without detracting from the main character.

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