The Chosen One

A LitRPG NPC Adventure (Prophecy Approved Companion, Book 1)

By: Tevagah

Narrated by: Annie Ellicott, Gary Furlong, Jeff Hays

Length: 15 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Qube was designed to die....

As the cheerful childhood NPC companion who helps the [Player] learn the world during the start of the game, it was only natural that the big bad would kill her at the end of the tutorial, kick-starting the [Player] on a quest for vengeance.

The only thing is, no one told her that.... And this particular [Player] doesn’t like to play by the rules. Being a chaos-loving gremlin, he glitches her out of her programming loop and drags her on various adventures. They'll grapple with friendly sharktopuses, evil emperors, and what it means to be a person.

On the way, they pick up equally unlikely party members, with Qube breaking the world in increasingly strange ways as she seeks to be the very best companion ever.

All the while, Qube herself slowly realizes that her reality is not quite what it seems....

Experience the start of a GameLit/LitRPG series about an NPC freed of its programming loop and brought along on a player's journey of adventure and power progression. A loving parody of old-school games, Dungeons and Dragons, and every player who has ever thought, “What happens if I do this?”

©2022 Aethon Books (P)2022 Aethon Audio

Wow!

The narrators really got into the parts. The story was a unique take on the litRPG genre. I really really recommend this audiobook.

I was given this audiobook for free and have voluntarily left this review.

Unfortunately this book wasn't for me.

Unfortunately I wasn't in the right audience to appreciate this gamelit book... even though it had been narrated by Soundbooth Theater Productions, where some of the best narrators work... They couldn't fix the book for me. They couldn't fix the slow beginning or that Qube was such a ditz, even Qube the Chosen One realized that she was being a ditz, but due to her programming couldn't help herself. And don't even get me started on how much I disliked the Hero. So yeah I did not finish the book, maybe if I'd had a bit more patience I could have power though and gotten through to the nougat.
...Okay that sounded a little harsh. So I girded my loins and listened a couple more hours... but unfortunately, 5hrs in, I still 😕 haven't changed my mind, sigh 😔. Qube is less of a ditz and more importantly able to control what she says and even able to start making some decisions on her own, always a good sign. But the Hero is definitely a putz.

Amazing story, and incredible production quality!

Ever wonder what NPC's think about when they watch you roll instead of walk? how fast-travel looks from their perspective?

this is the story of an NPC trying to make sense of her world while following the Chosen One on his quest to defeat the Evil Emperor.

if she can get him to stop breaking the world.

it's an incredibly fun listen for anyone who ever said "that makes no sense!" when playing a badly coded game.

sequence breaks, glitches, stealing everything not nailed down.

one of the best stories to ever come over from royalroad.

Fun book

very enjoyable and light hearted. Pokes fun at crazy game logic. i really enjoyed how the main player is a typical game exploitationist.

Sexy Screaming Spider Lady!

This book was WILDLY entertaining. I couldn't get enough of the ridiculous but clever names. Eagerly awaiting a sequel and more fun. Great stuff!

Bland for 90%

The book is bland and stiff for about 90% of it, maybe hitting a joke or two, with the only thing going for it the fact I was at work so didn't have time to find another until the end, only finding a pace towards the end.

As for narration, I don't really enjoy Annie's one voice that she can do, screechy high pitched temper tantrum, less so for hours on end with actual screechy tantrums in the book.

Not a fan

This is a story that starts with potential and then dies. Written from the perspective of an NPC, the Prophecy Chosen Companion has to follow an annoying exploitationist who wants to break the game. Since the companion was supposed to die at the end of the tutorial, the rest of the game world doesn't recognize her existence. the rest of the story is the same batch if jokes, "I tried to talk to the store owner, but was ignored. I tried to fight a wolf, but was ignored. The hero made me steal from the store, and since the clerk didn't yell at me, they obviously want me to steal from them."

Aside from that, the characters who obviously have names before the game starts never use their names after the hero shows up. the party members names: the prophecy chosen companion, chosen one, sewer bard, sexy screamy spider lady, and definitely bad guy. listening to a combat sequence with these names is a headache and takes away from the fun I want to experience as a listener.

this book is an interesting experience, but not one I wish to repeat.

The disconnect between the tech and the game.

First, the premise is solid, I really like how the NPC's are conditioned to behave certain ways for the benefit of the player, even if the inner dialogue of the MC points out the cognitive dissonance, but then the conditioning steps in. There's some fun elements, about the play eating random herbs to learn their effect, even thought they're poisonous and he has to get cleansed.

That's the good things...

The way the game-world is described, how the NPC's will question wording or phrazing from the player, even having obvious censoring. But at the same time can't adapt the least, I think the best illustration is the "twist" in chapter 7, Supposedly it should be a classic hero motivation, someone dies which adds a personal element to the hero's struggle, but due to a glitch/exploit can't kill, but proceed to cut empty air, kick empty air, pick nothing up to prevent resurrection... Then the killed but not killed NPC becomes invisible to the game for no reason, the npc's have already reacted to visual inputs, like staring at the player as he walks on a table, exchanging glances with each other, yet the MC is just invisible now...

Add to that a point a little later, someone guards a grate by standing on it, the player sprints/runs into the NPC, and instead of getting angry, or reacting, the npc gets pushed to the side...

I could go on, but I think my point is made, there's just huge gaps everywhere between what we're told, and what happens, it goes from a interesting plot with annoying elements, to an annoying story, annoying hero, and the MC not using her newfound freedom from conditioning to call out the idiot hero, and somewhere is the buried plot.

My favorite audiobook!

I loved listening to every second of this book! The author is so clever in how they reveal information about the world to the reader while leaving the other characters so confused by everything the Chosen One does. The narrators do a fantastic job, giving such life to the different characters and I am especially impressed by the sound effects (like Sewer Bard's guitar). I will be relistening to this book until the sequel is released!

So Funny

I totally loved this book. I had a stupid grin on my face the entire time I was listening to it. It was just so amusing to listen to an intelligent game character trying to reason out why the world around her worked in such weird ways, and why the chosen one kept ignoring people while looting their homes. It was just too funny. I can't wait to continue with the next book. Qube is just too cute.