Secrets and Strife: An Isekai LitRPG

I'm Not the Hero, Book 2

By: SourpatchHero, Tommy Kerper

Narrated by: Nick Podehl

The nonstop action and antics continue—and the hero-sidekick relationship is turned on its head—in the second installment of this thrilling fantasy series.

When quiet Orrin and his extroverted best friend, Daniel, were transported to a strange RPG-based world, not much changed between them. Daniel became a hero of legend, while Orrin remained his unobtrusive shadow. Only when they faced a particularly lethal foe did Orrin step out of his comfort zone and display his true worth—with powers he didn't know he had. Of course, Daniel got all the glory, but Orrin doesn't mind. He's just happy they're both still alive.

However, they are given little time to celebrate before a local authority offers them the chance to explore a newly revealed dungeon. They can hardly refuse, as the adventure would bring them within spitting distance of the woodland realm of the elves, which is currently enduring an attack by the neighboring country of Odrana. So Daniel and Orrin hope to get stronger conquering the dungeon and then lend a hand in the war.

And though he's not typical warrior material, Orrin has his own set of magical skills to bring to the quest. Skills he's surprised to learn shouldn't even exist. And for good reason: it seems his ever-growing abilities have the potential to elevate him far beyond his bestie the hero....

The second volume of the hit LitRPG fantasy series—with more than 600,000 views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!

©2024 Tommy Kerper (P)2024 Podium Audio

almost didn't continue the series but glad I did

so much better now that the narrator isn't just pushing a button every time the word, hero and other repetitive words are used it was the only thing wrong with the first book. I'm glad I gave the second look a shot

Mattie

why does Mattie always get mad, they barely know her, did she tell them all of her secrets, will her secrets get all of them killed or imprisoned? Orrin needs to stop wanting her approval.

Shorter than I'd like, but very enjoyable

If you liked the first book, you'll enjoy this one as well.

Performance: As in the last book, I think Nick Podehl did a great job creating unique, distinct voice for each of the characters. He also dropped the immersion-breaking robotic/monotone voice for announcing game mechanics (spells, skills, etc.), which I think is a major improvement. My only small complaint is that the two main characters' voices seemed less distinct in this audiobook than in the previous one. I could still tell them apart based on context, but I think Podehl's performance in the first book gave them more distinct/unique pitch and speech patterns.

Story: The story was great once again! I appreciated the further development of some characters' relationships and the increased details on the world/system lore. I also loved seeing the progression of Orrin's skills and the way he uses the abilities that are exclusive to him.
I really wish there'd been more to this book, especially with that cliffhanger ending! This audiobook wasn't much shorter than the previous one, but it seemed to go by much faster. Maybe that's because I was already hooked on the story and was binging it from the start. Maybe that's because of the cliffhanger ending making it feel like a less complete story/arc than the first book. I lean toward the latter, because, as I was nearing the end of the audiobook, I found myself feeling like there was more plot progression in the first book.
Lastly, there was an important plot point that felt extremely reminiscent of a very popular series (keeping it vague to avoid spoilers). That isn't to say that this series is copying that other series. Authors are bound to have similar ideas or draw inspiration from each other. The handling of the plot point was different enough to be its own thing. I just happened to have listened to the other series very recently, so it was hard to ignore the similarities, which I think detracted from the story a bit for me.

Bloody Brilliant

A fantastic next book, but truly evil to end the book the way it did.

I love the story.

I really enjoyed listening to the 2nd book. I wish it was longer or for the next few books to be out by now.