Mitigating Risk

Nora Hazard Series, Book 1

By: Blaise Corvin

Narrated by: Emily Beresford

On Ludus, life is often cheap. Nora's childhood hadn't given her many options. With nowhere else to go after losing her family, she joined an old friend in a street gang and found an unlikely home there.

But unfortunately, tragedy is about to befall Nora. Grudges from the distant past and movements of shadowy organizations may take away everything she is familiar with and all that she holds dear...possibly even her life. Danger has never stopped her before, but survival may require escaping her old life and embarking on an insane, desperate journey. On the way, she might even accidentally stumble into both an incredible opportunity and an incredible burden. Unfortunately for her enemies, Nora was no pushover before...and that was before discovering super powers!

Contains mature themes.

©2018 Blaise Corvin (P)2018 Tantor

great book

I have listened other Blaise Corvin books but was a little hesitant with this one being that it was read by a different narrator, well there was no need for hesitation. the story great and the narration is on par with some of the best I have heard. I would definitely recommend this book.

Another foray into Ludus, although, a little rough

Nora is a huge leap from Jason & Henry. I get that this is a growth story, and it has some interesting concepts such as Nora's tasking, but Nora's monologing exposition and ineptness was starting to take its toll near the end. After Jason's and Henry's logical and adept approach to their issues, it was frustrating listening to Nora and how much of a selfish coward she was until she became triggered.

Also I think too much of the happenings to Nora relied on mysterious luck, and is being heavy handed with no explanation -- now that I think about it, Blaise could be hinting at A's (only listened to audiobooks) ability and it could be affecting the events of this prequel. I do really like the Ludus world and look forward to what Blaise has to bring us, but this book was a bit rough after the Delvers series.

Emily's performance was ok, and she could do an ok array of men's voices, but I developed a pet annoyance of how she very frequently drew out and inflected the last syllable of the last word of the sentence.

great sideline story on ludus

The story started slow and initially the main character seemed to be a clueless dumbass. This changed after her best friend dies. She then goes on to grow and become who she truly is instead of hiding.

great story

the story is great. it is a fresh angle on litrpg with the use orbs to level. the world building and mythology are intriguing. there is enough to get you interested and wanting more in book two. the mc is a strong female who has to work to get where she is.

happy to get some backstory

I think that maybe a narrator in addition would be welcomed.i found that with the voice not changing it was hard to track who was speaking

Nora is an amazing character!

This time around, we get a native Ludan perspective to flesh out Corbin's Ludus world, and she's quite likeable. If you've read Delvers LLC, I recommend you give this a try. The beginning of the novel may be a bit overwhelming, as you get a lot of information about people you don't yet know and you get it very quickly, but by the second chapter, Corbin's amazing storycraft kicks into high gear. The narration is superb as well.

Mitigating Risk- Too short want more.

I want to start off by saying that I've read this book before I listened to it. I read it back and forth twice, and greatly enjoyed it.
There were some key points I thought were worth mentioning about this book.

1. It functioned very well as a stand alone. I know a lot of readers are going to be coming here from Delvers, and that's great. But if you hadn't read delvers, this book is a great starting place too. The reason I mention this is I had read Delvers, but my wife hadn't. We were listening to the same book, she seemed just as happy with it as I was.

2. Risk existed. I know it's the name of the title, but the number of times I was honestly worried (and for good reason, as you'll find out very on) whether a character made it were plentiful. It added suspense and tension to a genre filled with ease and relaxation. I thought it was very well done, but this is one of the most stand out features of Blaise.

3. Character development. Loved it.

4. well thought out power system, interesting choices from protagonist. Snarky ai style character. Loved it all.

That said, the voice narrating was different than the one I had in my head, so while I gave her a 5 star, it was just because I was worried that my bias had tainted me when I thought about giving her a 4 star. So I let the wife pick and she said 5 stars.

Great book!!!

This is a great beginning of a new series. I could see this being someone's first Delvers book for sure, but it's really fun for someone who is a delvers fan. Nora is tough, brave, and comes across as very real. Some of the deaths at the beginning were surprising. I will get the next book for sure.

Great story, though a bit short..

I loved the story, can't wait for book two! Only around 8 hours long though.

I really liked it

it was a great listen, I want more book, much more book.I am really looking forward to book 2.