This novella was book 3.5 in the Outcast in Another World Series. This series is a very fun mix of LitRPG and portal fantasy. A great mix of action, sThis novella was book 3.5 in the Outcast in Another World Series. This series is a very fun mix of LitRPG and portal fantasy. A great mix of action, slice of life, cool magic, interesting characters, and fun fantasy creatures and races.
This novella switched things up a bit. Instead of Rob we got Jason as the lead character. We had glimpses of Jason in the main series but this novella let us get a true feel of what was happening back on Earth as Jason, thanks to his contact with the portal, was the lone person on the planet with access to magic and the ability to level and truly fight back against the creatures spilling into Earth through the portals!
It was a pretty fun tale. Definitely on par with the quality of the main series. Jason was different from Rob but equally as likeable and easy to root for. The setting was regular Earth but with Jason fighting off hoards of monsters with help from the army.
It was a surprisingly engaging tale. The story was not hurt at all from the switch of lead character or from the fantasy world setting to a modern day Earth trying to fight off a potential apocalypse style invasion of blight infected creatures.
All in all I was really happy with this novella. I honestly think this is a rare LitRPG series that seems to be getting stronger with each new instalment. I’m going to dive straight into the 4th book of the main series and after that I’ll definitely be happy to follow Jason again in the next novella!
Rating: 4 stars.
Audio Note. Neil Hellegers did a decent job with the audio. Dude struggles a bit with the female dialogue but outside of that is a good narrator. ...more
This was a good third instalment of KamikazePotato’s Outcast in Another World Series. The series is both portal fantasy and LitRPG. Our lead characterThis was a good third instalment of KamikazePotato’s Outcast in Another World Series. The series is both portal fantasy and LitRPG. Our lead character, Rob, was sucked into a mysterious portal that deposited him in a fantasy world with an RPG style magic system. The series has a solid mix of action, intrigue, mystery and fun character dynamics.
I’ve found a lot of LitRPG series fade badly in quality once you get past the first or second instalment but I’m happy to say that was not an issue for this series. This third book was the strongest in the series so far. It lacked the odd lull sports of the first two books and even the action scenes were getting more engaging and exciting.
Rob remains a likeable lead and he is supported by a good cast of secondary characters. This is a well drawn fantasy world with some cool magic and fantasy creatures.
It was a highlight to meet the Fiends and the Merfolk in this instalment.
Rating: 3.5 stars. I’ll round up to 4 stars.
Audio Note: Neil Hellegers did a decent job with the audio. If he had a flaw it is that he struggles with the female dialogue. ...more
This was a solid second instalment in the Outcast in Another World series. The series is both portal fantasy and LitRPG. Our lead character, Rob, was This was a solid second instalment in the Outcast in Another World series. The series is both portal fantasy and LitRPG. Our lead character, Rob, was sucked into a mysterious portal that deposited him in a fantasy world with an RPG style magic system. The series has a solid mix of action, intrigue, mystery and fun character dynamics.
This second instalment had Rob and the Elves having to leave the village after it was effectively destroyed by the Blight. It was an interesting enough tale. Rob has to try and continue to level up himself and his new allies fast enough to get them powerful enough to survive the various threats the faced on their journey. He also had to keep an eye on the threat of “levelling high” that drove a lot of his fellow humans insane.
I like this fantasy world. Humanity has been wiped out after a battle with an alliance of the five other major races (Elves, Dwarves, Merfolk, Harpies, and Dragonkin). The reappearance of a human in this world is not a welcome one as the allies lost about half their populations in the war with humanity just eight years previously. It added an additional edge to the typical fantasy intrigue and survival story as Rob had to deal with a lot of animosity and racism on top of the usual “sucked into a dangerous fantasy world” issues.
Rob is a likeable lead and the supporting cast are well drawn with their own distinctive personalities and skills.
If this series has a flaw it is the fact that the action scenes are a bit dull and the stat updates can drone on. The good news is the stat updates tend to come in their own chapters that can be skipped.
All in all this is a solid portal fantasy/LitRPG. I’ll definitely press on to the next instalment.
Rating: 3.5 stars.
Audio Note: Neil Hellegers did a decent job with the audio. If he had a flaw it is that he struggles with the female dialogue. ...more
Human Insanity by KamikazePotato was a solid LitRPG novel that blended action and intrigue with a character driven story.
The story followed Rob, an oHuman Insanity by KamikazePotato was a solid LitRPG novel that blended action and intrigue with a character driven story.
The story followed Rob, an ordinary man who acted swiftly when a pitch-black portal tried to wrap his best friend in chains. He stepped up without thinking and found himself ensnared instead. Before he knew what was happening he was transported through a portal into a world where magic and RPG-like stats determined one's survival. Rob’s new reality was far from welcoming as he soon discovered that he was the last surviving human after a cataclysmic war! It was a fun premise.
The worldbuilding in this series was very solid. The world Rob is thrust into was dominated by five major races: Elves, Dwarves, Merfolk, Dragonkin, and Harpies. This uneasy alliance of races banded together to wipe out humanity, fearing the humans' unique ability to level up rapidly, a trait that made them powerful, but also dangerously unstable. Humans often fell victim to the “levelling high,” an addictive rush from gaining power too quickly which drove many of them to madness. Now, as the sole remaining human, Rob had to navigate this world carefully by balancing his need for power with the constant threat of losing his sanity.
The majority of the story in this first instalment of the series took place in an elven village where Rob found himself both an outsider and a dangerous curiosity. The village is where he spent most of his time in this first book learning about this new world’s rules and forging tenuous relationships with the very reticent Elven locals. All the folks in this world lost friends and family in the war against the humans (the war wiped out all of humanity and around half of the other races populations) so half the villagers wanted him dead just for existing! KamikazePotato did a good job of bringing this village to life. There was a bit of intrigue and drama with the intricate social hierarchies and the underlying tension that Rob’s presence created.
One of the more enjoyable aspects of the story was Rob’s growing relationship with Kira, an elf who was something of an outcast within her own community. Kira was a likeable character. She was smart, tough, resourceful, and empathetic, yet still a little vulnerable as she had to struggle in a society that doesn’t fully accept or respect her. Rob’s relationship with her evolved naturally throughout the story. It started with mutual curiosity after a chance meeting and developed into a genuine friendship based on shared struggles and mutual respect. Their dynamic added an emotional heart to the story making the challenges they faced together feel even more significant. Her presence also helped Rob from wallowing in loneliness and despair in this awful new world he found himself stuck in!
While the novel mainly focused on Rob’s experiences within the elven village it hinted at the broader world beyond, offering glimpses of the other races—Merfolk, Dragonkin, and Harpies—that dominated this realm. These brief encounters teased the potential for future developments and adventures in the later books.
The action in Human Insanity was a little dull but at least it was not overly long. The combat was not just physical as Rob had to carefully manage a delicate political situation and carefully manage his stats and abilities to avoid falling into the trap of the levelling high that others in this world so feared as a curse of humanity. This constant balancing act between gaining power and maintaining his sanity added a layer of psychological tension that added an extra dimension to the usual survival tale.
I liked the fact that this was more Isekai or portal fantasy than regular LitRPG. This was a real fantasy world with a magic system that was intricately tied to the RPG elements of the story. The way stats influenced every aspect of life in this world added a unique layer of strategy to the story. Rob’s journey was as much about understanding and mastering these systems as it was about surviving the dangers that lurked around every corner.
While the book is mostly well-paced there was occasional moments where the focus on grinding or stat management slows the story and it had a few dull spots. That said, on the whole this was pretty readable despite its few flaws.
All in all Human Insanity was a solid portal fantasy/LitRPG novel that mixed action with character-driven storytelling. Rob’s journey as the last human in a world that both feared and hates him was compelling enough. Rob himself was a pretty likeable guy which made him easy to root for on his journey. Not the best book I’ve ever read but I’ll definitely move onto the next instalment of the series.
Rating: 3.5 stars
Audio Note: Neil Hellegers did a decent job with the audio. If he had a flaw it is that he struggles with the female dialogue. ...more
This was a disappointing book that felt like a bit of an Isekai/LitRPG mash up. The focus was on action/adventure but the book just never managed to lThis was a disappointing book that felt like a bit of an Isekai/LitRPG mash up. The focus was on action/adventure but the book just never managed to live up to its solid premise.
The concept was actually pretty fun and promising. Sylver was a top tier necromancer from a regular fantasy world who was killed in a massive betrayal but found himself thrown forward in time with a chance at a new life and a new body. Only this time around a LitRPG style magic system had taken root in the world.
It should have been a fun story but disappointed on pretty much every level. The writing was dull and unengaging and never sucked me into the story. The description of the characters and settings were sparse and so poor it was difficult to imagine what anything looked like. The worldbuilding was lacklustre. It was a bog standard dull fantasy world with nothing memorable going for it. The characters sucked. Sylver was the stereotypical murderhobo lead character. A total sociopath who murdered and tortured folks for personal gain. The secondary characters were completely forgettable and not a single one of them made a lasting impression on me. The plot itself was pretty aimless. Sylver had no real goals beyond just levelling up in power and just stumbled from one random place to the next in order to achieve that goal. It was actually quite dull!
I lasted 15 hours out of the 20 hour runtime in audio before I pulled the plug. I could have finished as there is nothing particularly offensive about this story but, honestly, it was just boring. I did not engage with the writing, characters, or plot in this one even after the 15 hour time investment so I just decided to move onto something else. It is a shame really as the premise was potentially fun.
All in all this was a bit of a bore.
Rating: 2 stars.
Audio Note: This was narrated by Garrett Michael Brown. I felt like he did a decent job with the general narration and with voicing Sylver but his accents for th3 secondary male character voices were all over the place and his voicing of the female characters was truly atrocious. ...more
This was a cozy fantasy LitRPG romcom. A niche concept for sure but it should have been my particular niche which only made it all the more frustratinThis was a cozy fantasy LitRPG romcom. A niche concept for sure but it should have been my particular niche which only made it all the more frustrating that I never really gelled with this tale!
This one sucked me in with its fun premise and catchy blurb:
A reluctant heroine finds unexpected love when she's sent to assassinate a lonely dark lord in the first book of this cozy romantasy series.
Sadly it just never worked for me. I was never sucked in by the writing and the humour failed to land for me more often than not. It was a shame, really, as it was an earnest sort of cutesy slice of life romcom that had plenty of good ideas but that just never quite managed to put them together in a way that made for a compelling read.
Rating: 2.5 stars. I’ll be kindly and round up to 3 stars here on Goodreads.
Audio Note: This was narrated by Laura Horowitz and Johnathan McClain. I quite liked the performance by Horowitz but struggled more with the performance of McClain. He was solid with the general narration and gave a very enthusiastic performance but some of his character voices were just awful. ...more
This turned out to be a pretty good portal fantasy. It offered a nice mix of action, adventure, romance and slice of life. It also had a decent balancThis turned out to be a pretty good portal fantasy. It offered a nice mix of action, adventure, romance and slice of life. It also had a decent balance of gritty and hopeful moments.
The premise was intriguing. Years ago, emissaries from another world, called Geamhlúrt, arrived on Earth looking for help to save their world which was being overrun by monsters. In the end, they created an online game, Gleamheart, which mimicked the abilities and conditions which the Geamhlúrtan powered heroes had to face, using it for research and to find suitable candidates to be summoned to Geamhlúrt as replacement heroes. Now, desperate for help, the Geamhlúrtans have summoned thousands of unsuspecting gamers to their world in new, super-powered bodies.
The summoning to a new world is a pretty big shock and a transition for the humans even with their new bodies and superpowers and that possessed the powers and appearance of their gaming avatars. It is especially disorienting for our lead character, Angela Fury, because even with the careful selection process by the Geamhlúrtan in place to prevent just such traumatic transitions she finds herself in the female body of her gaming avatar not the male body she is familiar with from her old life back on earth!
The tale turned out to be a very enjoyable read. Angela had to deal with being torn to a new world, being gender swapped, and with coming to terms with the fact she and the others had just been uprooted and conscripted to fight monsters in a world that was losing the war against them.
I really enjoyed this one. It was a great portal fantasy. It had a typical LitRPG setup with gamers being sucked into a game world but once summoned there was no stat system so this played like a regular portal fantasy. The fact the world was real also added the true stakes to the happenings which added emotional emphasis to the events. The world was a fun one with cool magic and monsters.
I liked Angela as a lead character. She was easy to root for as she was mostly a good person just dealing with some crazy happenings as best as she could. She did end up as one of the more powerful summoned but was definitely not overpowered and had to join and work with others to have the numbers necessary for dealing with hordes of deadly monsters. I also quite liked the fact that a lot of what made Angela a natural leader was tied to who she was as a person and not to her superpowers.
I also really liked the pacing of the story. We were not immediately thrown into monster battles. The humans got summoned to a training area and had some time to adjust to their new bodies, powers, and circumstances. There was also a bit of mystery as the Geamhlúrtan were low on folks who could communicate in English and mostly just left the humans to deal with things on their own which lead to a lot of confusion and some early issues as the humans basically had to build their own society.
I actually liked the realism in the way the humans did not always find it easy to deal with their new lives and how it was difficult to adjust to a new world when they could not communicate with the locals due to the language barrier.
This was just a really fun tale that mixed action, adventure, slice of life moments, and even some romance as the humans adjusted to a new world and had to deal with the responsibilities that came with their powers while simultaneously dealing with some resentments over the summoning!
Angela was an easy to root for main character but the book also benefited from having some decent secondary characters to support her. Those main secondary characters all had distinct personalities of their own and their own individual powers and magic.
All in all this was a really fun portal fantasy with a gender swap twist that ended up just being a small element in a very interesting portal fantasy.
The ending was a tad abrupt but I guess that is the result of this being a web serial rather than a typical novel. I’ll absolutely press on with the next four parts of the serial in the next book bundle as I definitely want more of this world and story!
Rating: 4.5 stars.
Audio Note: This had no audio unfortunately. I listened via the Alexa option from Kindle. It is definitely not the same a proper narration but it was tolerable. If this gets a real audio I’ll definitely buy it as I’m 100% sure a proper voice actor could really enhance the listening experience. ...more
My thoughts on this LitRPG are mixed at best. It had a super fun premise and some story elements I liked but ultimately was let down by average writinMy thoughts on this LitRPG are mixed at best. It had a super fun premise and some story elements I liked but ultimately was let down by average writing that made it difficult to fully engage with the story and a main character that was just a tad too hypocritical to be easily likeable.
What sold me on this book was the claim that this story was going to be like Morningwood but without all the rape and peadophilia that made that series impossible to enjoy. Sadly, this book never quite managed to live up to that promise but it did have a very similar premise and was blissfully free of the more disgusting elements that taint Illiev’s works. Mimic & Me was just…not great reading.
The story was solid. Damon, a low level scout in a typical fantasy RPG world, had been hired on to guide a party of pompous rich noble adventures on their first quest through a starter dungeon that had popped up in the area. Damon’s scout class was pretty useless for combat but he specialised in sensing traps and monsters so could warn the team of impending monster attacks or disarm traps. Things went awry for Damon when he learned something about the nobles he should not have and they decided to stab him and toss him in a room with unknown high level trap fully expecting he would bleed out or be killed by the mysterious trap. Luckily, or unluckily, for Damon the mystery trap turned out to be a sentient high level mimic. The mimic, bored and hungry, was sick of languishing in a dungeon and decided to bond with Damon and get out there to see (and feast upon) more of the world!
The story had so much potential but was let down by a few things. The first was the writing. It was adequate but I was rarely fully sucked into the story. The second letdown was that neither Damon nor his mimic companion were quite good enough as characters. They were not terrible but Damon always came across as a bit hypocritical in the way he, rightfully, decried the way the awful nobles treated folks all while committing pretty similar acts himself. That annoyed me! The mimic was OK. It was a good mix of funny and threatening with its love of both cakes and human flesh but it was just never quite as cool or hilarious as it should have been.
I did like the fact that this was more gamelit than LitRPG in style. There was no VR world here. This was a regular fantasy world with a typical LitRPG style fantasy system. I tend to prefer that as it increases the stakes when everything is real for the characters in the story. It was also not a story that got bogged down in endless repetition of the stats. You got enough to follow how Damon was progressing but not enough that it was boring.
All in all this was an average LitRPG style fantasy tale that never quite lived up to its potential given the intriguing ideas powering the story. This book has a sequel but I think I’ll bow out of this series now.
Rating: 3 stars.
Audio Note: This was a Soundbooth Theatre production so the quality was good. We got Ryan. H. Reid as the main narrator with additional dialogue support from Jeff Hays and Dorrie Sacks. The narration was good and I did like the fact they had a woman narrator doing the dialogue for the women characters. ...more
This was a fairly average Dungeon Core LitRPG series. It had some fun ideas but never quite managed to live up to its potential.
I have to admit I strThis was a fairly average Dungeon Core LitRPG series. It had some fun ideas but never quite managed to live up to its potential.
I have to admit I struggled a bit to finish this one. There was just not enough in the story or the writing to hook me through the 42 hours of audio in the complete series box set and by the time I got to this final book my interest was definitely on the wane.
We did get a satisfactory conclusion to the invasion story arc at least.
Rating: 2 stars.
Audio Note: Miles Meili did a good job with the audio....more
This dungeon core LitRPG was fairly consistent in quality with the first two books in the series. It is pretty average in terms of quality. A fun storThis dungeon core LitRPG was fairly consistent in quality with the first two books in the series. It is pretty average in terms of quality. A fun story but it has too many dull spots to be anything better than just OK.
This third book was a continuation of what we got in the previous books with Tacca continuing to grow her dungeon and power but we did learn a bit more about who was behind the destruction of the cores that had been plaguing the land.
The plot is fine and the characters, while nothing special, are mostly easy to root for. The thing that holds this series back is the lacklustre worldbuilding, the boring dungeon building segments, and most of all those long stat readouts that mean absolutely nothing and which regular readers likely just skim but which drag on forever in audio!
I’ll read the 4th and final book but only because I got the whole series as a box set.
Rating: 3 stars.
Audio Note: Miles Meili did a good job with the audio. ...more
This dungeon core LitRPG was fairly consistent in quality with the first book in the series. It is an average sort of tale.
This second book had TaccaThis dungeon core LitRPG was fairly consistent in quality with the first book in the series. It is an average sort of tale.
This second book had Tacca continuing to build her dungeon and welcoming her first real raiders. We also got a bit of mystery with the subplot about the mysterious core killings that had the Fairy leaders worried.
The story was OK. I feel like this series has decent ideas but never quite gets the execution right. Some of the happenings suck me in and are quite interesting but there are a lot of dull spots that drag the story down while both the world building and characters feel a tad vague and simplistic. In particular the dungeon building is really boring while the volume of stat readouts are super dull in audio!
I’ll press onto the third book as this series does has some fun elements and I got the 4-book audio box set for a single credit but this series will never be a favourite.
Rating: 3 stars.
Audio Note: Miles Meili did a good job with the audio. ...more
This was a pretty average dungeon core LitRPG. It has a fun premise but never quite managed to translate that into a fully engaging story.
The idea ofThis was a pretty average dungeon core LitRPG. It has a fun premise but never quite managed to translate that into a fully engaging story.
The idea of the story was good. Cursed Dungeon Fairy, Tacca GloomLily, is supposed to be a helper who assists dungeon cores but her curse means that all her cores keep dying. Things go from bad to worse for the hapless dungeon fairy when a dying core manages to die in a way that kills her body and sticks her soul in the now vacant dungeon core!
It could have been a fun tale with Tacca being a weird dungeon core expert thanks to her helper training and it definitely had a few fun moments in the early stages but the problem was that when the dungeon building got started it was all just a bit too dull. Too much stats being droned on about and not much else happening.
Tacca seemed likeable enough but the rest of the characters were too throwaway to matter. That hurt the story.
Rating: Meh..I’ll be kind and give this 3 stars.
Audio Note: Miles Meili did a good job with the audio. ...more
I was a tad disappointed with this Isekai style reincarnation fantasy. It played out like a bad anime which was a shame as the premise did have a lot I was a tad disappointed with this Isekai style reincarnation fantasy. It played out like a bad anime which was a shame as the premise did have a lot of potential.
The plot was intriguing enough. Adelheid, the young Seventh Princess of the Vuldar Empire, has just awoken from a Sleeping Beauty style curse. The twist being the fact she does not remember her life as a child princess but rather has memories of a whole other life lived in a place called Earth!
The story followed the main POV character Adelheid as she used her Earth knowledge and experience to help in her own political aspirations for the throne. She also had to learn to control her powerful mana/magic before it killed her…or worse.
It could have been a fun tale but for some reason it all came off like a very average reincarnated in another world anime. We learned next to nothing about Adelheid’s life on Earth and next to nothing was made of the fact that an adult suddenly found themselves stuck in the body of a child in a bizarre new world where magic, monsters, and weird creatures were real things.
Meh…I doubt I’ll move onto the next instalment as this one was a tad uninspired and dull but at least it was not an actively offensive tale.
Rating: 2.5 stars.
Audio Note: This was performed by Diana Richardson but she had the support of Blaine Maddox for the male voices. I felt like this worked well for the audio and that both narrators did a good job trying to breathe some life into this tale. ...more
This was a good second instalment in Tevagah’s Prophecy Approved Companion series. It built on the strengths of the first book and eliminated a few ofThis was a good second instalment in Tevagah’s Prophecy Approved Companion series. It built on the strengths of the first book and eliminated a few of the weaknesses and was an improvement in general.
This series is adventure/comedy LitRPG with a fun twist. The twist being the fact the POV character is an NPC character coming to sentience while following around the human Chosen One player on his quest through a fully immersive futuristic fantasy RPG game. The coming to sentience elements did tend to give the story a slightly YA coming of age style tone but it was still a tone that worked well for the story.
I felt like the story was a bit more meaningful and interesting in this second instalment as The Chosen One and the game development team behind the futuristic RPG fantasy world setting of this story had become aware of the developing sentience of not only Qube but of the other characters as well and were actively monitoring their development. It was also a big plus for the story that the support cast were coming to sentience in their own right as it really added the depth to their characters that was lacking in the first two thirds of the first book.
Qube is a pretty fun lead character and it was as enjoyable as ever to see her learn and grow over the course of the story. Even The Chosen One had a bit more depth to his character as he realised his companions were more than just throwaway game pieces so had to adjust his attitude a bit. That even lead to a few touching emotional moments in the story!
All in all I felt like this was a good instalment of the series and that the story seems to be going from strength to strength. Looking forward to the third book and the continued growth of the Chaos Crew!
Rating: 3.5 stars. I’m rounding up rather than down this time to reflect the fact that I did enjoy the second book more than the first book.
Audio Note: This was a Soundbooth Theatre production. Annie Ellicot did the main narration and the female voices WB it was supported by Jeff Hays and Gary Furlong voicing various members of the male cast. Plus there was some singing, music, and sound effects in the production. Not as much as one would find in a Graphic Audio by a long shot but definitely some. As always I felt like the Soundbooth team did a fantastic job with audio. ...more
This was an OK adventure/comedy LitRPG with a twist. The twist being the fact the POV character was an NPC character coming to sentience while followiThis was an OK adventure/comedy LitRPG with a twist. The twist being the fact the POV character was an NPC character coming to sentience while following around the human Chosen One “player” on his quest through a fully immersive futuristic fantasy RPG game. The coming to sentience elements did tend to give the story a slightly YA coming of age style tone. Not that such a thing is a negative!
I really did love the concept of this one. NPC leads and AI coming to sentience are two of my favourite LitRPG tropes. We followed Qube (an NPC character) as she accompanied the human player on his quest to save the world from the Evil Emperor. The twist being the fact that Qube was supposed to just be a character that was the Chosen Ones childhood friend who introduces the player to the game world before dying and providing the Chosen One with the motivation he needs to leave his village and start his quest to free the realm from the rule of the Evil Emperor that murdered his childhood pal and who is oppressing the realm in general. The “game” went awry from the get go as the player was more obsessed with glitching and crashing the game than actually completing the in game quests. His first major glitch was to ensure that Qube survived and accompanied him out of the starter village. It was from that point that Qube started to become sentient and eventually began to question the nature of her world.
It was an OK tale that never quite managed to live up to the potential of its awesome story concept. The tale we did get was readable enough to be worth the investment just not quite as fantastic as I hoped it would be.
Qube was a fun and easy to like lead character. The biggest issue is that outside of her everything from her world, the game story quests, her companions, and even the human player “Chosen One” all felt a tad disposable and meaningless. Qube coming to sentience was the only thing in the story that had any power to make me emotionally invest in the happenings. The good news is I felt like that issue was beginning to get addressed towards the end of the book as more of the AI characters started to become sentient and the player began to suspect that Qube might be than just a regular game character and started to question the moral implications of what that would mean if true. I’d have loved Tevagah to lean more into that part of the tale but much more time was spend on a mix of hit and miss humour and fairly dull in game questing.
This was a solid read so I’ll definitely move right onto the sequel but the biggest criticism I can say about it was that it reminded me of both Curious Beginnings (with its NPC lead and humorous adventure) and Artificial Jelly: Book One (with its very similar premise) and that The Chosen One unfortunately lacked the same fun in the action/adventure elements as compared to Salvos and lacked the true emotional depth of the story we got in Artificial Jelly.
Rating: 3.5 stars.
Audio Note: This was a Soundbooth Theatre production. Annie Ellicot did the main narration and the female voices but she was supported by Jeff Hays and Gary Furlong voicing various members of the male cast. Plus there was some singing, music, and sound effects in the production. Not as much as one would find in a Graphic Audio by a long shot but definitely some! As always I felt like the Soundbooth team did a fantastic job with audio. ...more
This second volume in the I’m In Love With the Villainess series felt like it was a satisfying conclusion to Rei and Clair’s story. The series is a biThis second volume in the I’m In Love With the Villainess series felt like it was a satisfying conclusion to Rei and Clair’s story. The series is a bit of a crazy Isekai romcom.
The story in this one was a continuation of what we got in the first book. Rei continued her slow burn attempts at getting Claire to fall in love with her while the main plot of the dating sim game she was sucked into played out its French Revolution style storyline!
I felt like this second book did a better job with developing the very slow burn romance between Rei and Claire which definitely benefited the story as in the first book it never overly felt like Claire liked Rei half as much as Rei liked Clair. In this one a better job was done on developing some balance in the relationship which made it a lot easier to root for.
The other plus for this second volume was the character development. Even beyond the work done with Rei and Claire we got to learn a bit more about a few of the main secondary characters and that helped add more depths to those characters and the story as a whole.
The flaw of this series is the fact that the worldbuilding is very basic and simplistic and the main non-romance story arc was a tad flimsy and dull.
One the whole this was an OK series that never quite lived up to its super fun premise or potential.
Rating: 3 stars.
Audio Note: Courtney Shaw did a decent job with the narration. She really leaned into the anime style and tone of the story and dialogue. ...more
This crazy romcom had a super fun premise but never quite managed to deliver a story that lived up to its full potential!
The idea behind this story wThis crazy romcom had a super fun premise but never quite managed to deliver a story that lived up to its full potential!
The idea behind this story was fun. Ordinary office worker Ohashi Rei wakes up in the body of the protagonist of her favorite otome game, Revolution. It is a dating sim! The main character is supposed to choose between three of the realms princes as her romance. Rei had no interest in doing that. Instead she had her heart set on romancing the games main villainess Claire Francois. Claire, the school bully and scion of a high noble family in a medieval magical European type world, is understandably aghast by this turn of events!
The should have been crazy fun but while there was a very heavy focus on the humour it never quite landed in a way that worked for me. The same was true of the world building which was very simplistic and of the story itself. Even the very slow burn romance between Rei and Claire never quite clicked for me. Pity as the building blocks of a crazy fun romcom were present here.
Rating: 2.5 stars. I’ll round up to 3 stars here on Goodreads.
Audio Note: I felt like Courtney Shaw did a decent job with the narration. She really leaned into the anime style and tone of the story and dialogue. ...more
This fourth instalment of the Restart Again series was a solid entry in the series. Not quite as strong as the third instalment but better than the seThis fourth instalment of the Restart Again series was a solid entry in the series. Not quite as strong as the third instalment but better than the second instalment.
The premise of this series is fun. Our main character, Lux, finds himself in a new fantasy world isekai style. The problem is this is the third time it has happened to him and he still has no idea why! There is also the fact that with three previous worlds and lives behind him Lux is getting frustrated about losing the folks he cares for in those other worlds. He is also growing tired of being caught up in the sort of Chosen One nonsense that has got him in trouble in his two previous worlds!
This 4th book had Lux and his team resting a bit, doing some more magic and fighting training, and then getting on the road to deal with the next artefact before it came with an issue.
The story was fine. The slice of life stuff and character relationships are the best bits of the series. The action can actually be really dull and boring. Which is weird as the premise seems like it should be a lot more fun what with the magic being fairly cool and with Lux having to deal with two weird mystery entities that constantly plague his mind.
This was OK but nothing special. I’ll read the 5th instalment if one appears in audio.
Rating: 3 stars.
Audio Note: I do feel like Alex Knox does a great job with this series. Decent general narration voice and very solid with the dialogue. ...more
This third instalment of the Restart Again series was probably the best one yet. It felt like it got the balance right between the plot/action elementThis third instalment of the Restart Again series was probably the best one yet. It felt like it got the balance right between the plot/action elements of the story and the romance/slice of life elements of the story.
The premise of this series is fun. Our main character, Lux, finds himself in a new fantasy world isekai style. The problem is that this is the third time it has happened to him and he still has no idea why! There is also the fact that with three previous worlds and lives behind him Lux is getting frustrated about losing the folks he cares for in those other worlds. He is also growing tired of being caught up in the sort of Chosen One nonsense that has got him in trouble in his two previous worlds!
This third book had more slice of life stuff as Lux settled into his new home and developed his relationships with his new family and friends. It is a tad low key and slow paced but pretty fun. We also got a lot more progression in the development of Lux and Lia’s magic. Some action as well as some new monsters emerged that had to be dealt with.
It was a solid third book. Not my favourite series but it is readable enough stuff.
Rating: 3.5 stars.
Audio Note: I do feel like Alex Knox does a great job with this series. Decent general narration voice and very solid with the dialogue. ...more
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