LitRPG Audiobook Podcast 062 - Chaos Rising, Light Lordy, Tusk and Blade
LitRPG Audiobook Podcast 062 - Chaos Rising, Light Lordy, Tusk and Blade
“Hello everyone. Welcome to the LitRPG Audiobook Podcast. I’m Ray. I’ll be reviewing some recent and classic LitRPG Audiobooks for you. I’ll begin with: ”
Chaos Rising: The Realms Book Six - An Epic LitRPG Series (00:32)
Score: 8.4 out of 10
Light Lordy (11:25)
Score: 7.5 out of 10
Tusk and Blade - A LitRPG Novel: Exodus Online, Book 1 (21:28)
Score: 8 out of 10
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Chaos Rising: The Realms Book Six
An Epic LitRPG Series
By: C. M. Carney
Narrated by: Armen Taylor
Series: The Realms Series, Book 6
Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
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Once again we go to the Realms with Carney, and once again he pulls the rug out from under us. If you read the last book, and if you haven’t I have to ask WHY Not, you’ll recall that the series protagonist, Griff, vanished like Thanos’s snap had traversed the realms and eliminated the hero altogether. Griff was forcibly logged out and sent back to Earth.
This leaves it to the rest of the Griff Groupies to do what they can to defend the realms while they search for the errant Griff. Who gets put in charge? Why, Lexx, the ever mouthy NPC who can’t seem to keep in contact with his player for more than a few minutes without being separated from him. If you recall, Lexx lost Griff at the beginning of the first novel, and ended up getting stuck in a time loop until he could figure a way back. The reunion was short lived. Lexx is a reluctant hero and would love for anyone else to become the group leader, but he is forced to shoulder the responsibilities.
The search leads Lexx, Erat, and Vaughn to some unexpected places in their quest, and suddenly find themselves at odds with the lords of Chaos. Are they princes? I know one is a woman, so princes is out, but that also disqualifies lords. Anyway, you get the point, the embodiments of chaos are pushing their way not only into the realm, but also towards Earth. Yeah, things are looking really bad for our crew. The only thing I thought that he was going to do, but didn’t was hit Lexx with the chaos lightning, which would have made for a major turn of events in Lexx’s world.
This tale just solidifies my love for Erat. I think he is my favorite character of Carney’s. He’s both naïve and child-like while simultaneously the most wise and self-sacrificing of the group. Lexx earns his title as leader, and the ending is yet another cliffhanger that Carney loves to leave us with. For a great guy he really is an SOB sometimes.
Armen Taylor continues to prove why he is such a big deal, and absolutely carries this story like superman holding a pebble, i.e. its no sweat for him. The man is a machine, and manages to keep his voices straight in spite of what seems like 100 characters, but also manages to infuse them with pathos and ethos. Honestly, his Erat really hits home with me. His Vaughn, too.
Final Score, 8.4 stars. This is a fun ride, and Carney keeps you anticipating the next book with the way he ends each tale.
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Light Lordy
By: Brent Tyman
Narrated by: Christian J. Gilliland
Length: 6 hrs and 19 mins
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Light Lordy is a . . . . light little litrpg story that tries really hard to be fluffy and funny. It has a lot of jokes and if you like Anime then this is the book for you. The story is pretty simple, a simple guy, leon, who loves manga stories and hot babes. The more scantily clad the better. He ends up getting put into a VR world that actually lets him live out his manga fetish to the Nth degree. The dude hits the Jackpot as he is super handsome, over powered, and up to his neck with the ladies.
One of the odd moments occurs when Leon goes to a slave auction and buys a celestial being. Now, he is of the light order, and as such is the purest being of light the world has ever seen. Most stories would set it up that he would buy her and set her free, but that’s not how it works here, and I applaud Tyman for not doing the expected.
The story is thus, an evil shadow demon is taking over every city, village, and home it can and destroying anyone with a light affinity and subjugating the rest. Leon builds a bevy of babes to help him along the way, and for the most part somehow manages not to have any sex for the longest time (I can neither confirm nor deny that he ever gets some, cause’a spoilers). He also gets engaged to someone and accidentally is given the task to stop, well I think you can guess who he has to defeat.
To me, the book was a lot like putting the lecherous monk Miroku from Inuyasha in as the lead of a book. The MC isn’t rubbing his ladies bottoms, but he makes it clear that he lusts for them. Those are a lot of the jokes, so if that is your kind of humor this is right up your alley. The book is just over six hours long, so it honestly flies by.
Gilliland does a nice job narrating. He made the story fun, and brought Mr. Light to life, and he managed to make the MC simultaneously sound silly and serious, which is no small feat. I think he handled this story well, and it is his storytelling that made the book feel quick. I’ve listened to a lot of books that were under six hours and they felt like they were about 14 in length.
Final Score: 7.5 stars. It’s a decent story, well told, with good narration, but it feels a little like we are trodding familiar ground. I will happily read the next book.
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Tusk and Blade
A LitRPG Novel: Exodus Online, Book 1
By: Lavelle Jackson
Narrated by: Alan Adelberg, Anneliese Rennie
Series: Exodus Online, Book 1
Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
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On occasion I do my reviews backwards. I tend to wait until the end to talk about the narration, but in this case, getting to hear a new narrator who does a good job makes me want to discuss them before all the other stuff. So, this is a combo of power, Anneliese Rennie handling the female voices and Alan Adelberg tackling the male stuff. And since we are talking about Lavelle Jackson here I am going to make a comparison to his first Varnoth book. In that book, I lamented the fact that Jack Voraces didn’t do any kind of a voice for the cat man, and I’m kinda curious about that since having listened to Vainqueur the Dragon I know he can do it. Alan on the other hand actually gives each orc a unique voice, but still manages to make them sound orcish. I think he did a great job, and even managed to keep the MC’s human voice viable as he thought to himself. My only issue is that for a small chunk of the audio’s beginning Alan seems to really blow through things at high speed. I actually thought that I had accidentally hit my audio speed up to a setting of one and a half. Then it calmed down and got into a nice flow and steady rhythm. Anneliese does a great job as the ladies, and manages to inject the right tone for each woman that Necro has his eye on, whether it’s the War Chief’s daughter or the battle hardened warrioress. The make a great duo.
Jackson pens a tale about a suicidal loser who leaps off of a bridge and bungles it so badly not only does he survive, but he manages to turn himself into a quadriplegic. He makes a deal to be perma-loaded into a top secret VR world, and in return for letting them pick his race they overcompensate and make the MC OP. It reminded me a lot of the protagonist in The Good Guy series. Logan takes the name Necro Redhammer, and then proceeds to never use a hammer. I keed. I keed. But its true. Necro goes on an all-out rampage against wrong doers, and manages to cheese off the wrong people/person. Spoilers! I have to wonder if Jackson isn’t planning on placing Varnoth in this particular world. I would like to see the two MC’s team up. Varnoth did wake up with amnesia, and he could have been a player who got burned out of his memories. Something to think about Lavelle. Anyway, Necro ends up becoming his clan’s only hope and then begins to decimate its numbers as he separates the clan’s wheat from the chafe.
There were a few issues I had with the story, but they were small. First, the MC is a life long loser but he doesn't carry that mentality through the whole book. It's almost as if he switches over into Hulk mode a little too easily. I would have liked to have seen Necro worrying he was going to screw up when he fought. For some reason, as an orc he was suddenly uber confident. I get that he knew he was OP, but I would have liked to have seen him develop and change as the book went on. The other issue is that the big bad doesn’t really make an appearance until the final third of the book. I would have liked to have seen some scheming and manipulation of Necro before they finally clashed. I’m sure you know that I am not a fan of slice of life for the most part, but Jackson managed to keep my interest and he had Necro do some cool things.
Final Score, 8 Stars.
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Thanks oh so very much for watching everyone, I do appreciate you taking the time to watch or listen to the show. If you want to support us, you can like the LitRPG Podcast facebook page or the YouTube Page, or just share and like the video. I’m going to ask for more suggestions for the ‘Is it LIT’ segment, I’ve got a good one for next time, but will always need ideas. Please leave comments or suggestions in the comments below, and feel free to tell me whatever you like. I enjoy the feedback.
For LitRPG Audiobook Podcast, I’m Ray. Keep listening!!!
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