LitRPG Audiobook Podcast 053 - Power Mage, The Dark Lord Bert, The Village of Noobtown, War God's Mantle: Underworld
LitRPG Audiobook Podcast 053 - Power Mage, The Dark Lord Bert, The Village of Noobtown, War God's Mantle: Underworld
“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: ”
Power Mage (00:20)
Score: 8.4 out of 10
The Dark Lord Bert (11:19)
Score: 7.8 out of 10
The Village of Noobtown (17:43)
Score: 8.3 out of 10
War God's Mantle: Underworld (30:57)
Score: 8.2 out of 10
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Power Mage
By: Hondo Jinx
Narrated by: Andrea Parsneau
Series: Power Mage, Book 1
Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
I’m gonna admit that Hondo Jinx has quickly become one of my go to reads. Coupling his pen with Andrea Parsenau was pure genius as it make this a MUST LISTEN type of books. I fell in love with Jinx’s style in his Dan the Barbarian series, which was a facetious version of Robert E. Howard updated with some Bob Guccione’s sensibilities (as in the harem sections). Power Mage is more of a Modern Louis L'Amour take with the Cinemax styled storytelling added for flavor. The difference here is that instead of guns the players have psionics. It’s as smart way to differentiate itself from his Barbarian series, i.e. no magic and still keep up the hardcore MC. This is gamelit, as Brawley does progress in power, too.
The story itself is pretty fast and pulls no punches, my only issue is the way in which it starts off, with Brawley saving a cat. Honestly, cats are great swimmers, and I didn’t see any real reason for him to empathize so strongly with the cat’s plight other than as a Mcguffin to get things going. Past that petty piece of publishing the story really flows. It has great characters, an intriguing premise, and rocks out to a great start. The set up is pretty good, too, as there are characters that we only see for one or two brief scenes that you know will become bigger players in the future. My favorite character is Sage, smart chicks is sexy! I absolutely cannot wait for the rest of this series to hit.
Andrea is in danger of being burned at the stake for her work her, because it is pure magic and I can only think that witchcraft is responsible. No fuggle could ever do what she does without the aid of some mystical intervention. She really is amazing, and I love that she literally narrated the book in Brawly’s voice rather than reverting to her own when he wasn’t speaking. That is some serious dedication and just another reason I become more impressed everytime I hear her tell me a story. I wish I had four hands so I could give her four thumbs up.
Final score 8.4 stars. It is a great beginning novel with tons of potential. I can’t wait to see where it is going.
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The Dark Lord Bert
By: Chris Fox
Narrated by: James Gillies
Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
This is a cute and short little romp in the world of a minor goblin nestled well within a goblin horde. The story is light on the game aspects, although I’ve said it a thousand times, I only need enough to know that a story is gamelit, and the game elements actually are used well in the book for me to qualify it. So, while you aren’t bombarded with states or tons of game features what you do get works, and works well.
This is a short story and so this will be a brief review. The book details how one little insignificant goblin rises from being a nothing to becoming a dark lord as the title suggests. AS I said, the story is cute and has funny moments, and I think Bert is well crafted. Some bits really nailed it, such as all of the “wizards” showing up to claim a territory that Bert cleared out, or the cursed archer who only seems to be able to shoot his opponents in their junk. I think it is worth a listen, and since it is quick it won’t cut a lot into your other listening. The book is not deep, but it is just meant to be a romp of silliness and in that regard it succeeds.
Gillies also adds to the humor with his reading style, and really gets Bert’s voice just right. His proper English voice fits the story well, and it felt like Mr. French was reading to me. He has a very pleasant tone to his voice that is almost hypnotic.
Final Score, 7.8 stars. I think that it is a very light gamelit that is infused with humor and characters that will keep you interested.
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The Village of Noobtown
By: Ryan Rimmel
Narrated by: Johnathan McClain
Series: Noobtown, Book 2
Length: 13 hrs and 43 mins
Pause
Book 2 upholds the great start that Book 1 began. There is no sophomore slump here. I want to tell you that this is a rare book that is consistently funny. Rimmel not only pens aclever tale but his humor is incessant and always on point. I never heard a single groaner or thought that a joke fell flat. Not even when it came to the Fecking Puma Forest. In comedy three is a magic number for jokes, after the third reference you step away and let the joke go. Rimmel takes that belief and beats the hell out of it with the Fecking Puma forest. Fecking puma jokes were everywhere, even out of the Fecking Puma forest. In fact, he takes the joke to a whole new level when he is given a quest to kill 50 pumas. Just fecking brilliant stuff.
Jim returns and finds that getting his town up and running is only one step in a journey that forces him to walk on hot coals for a thousand miles. Fortunately, Jim gets a new badger pal who only adds to the funny business going on in Noobtown. The badger is a riot. I think that Rimmel is an amazing writer that can tell a great story but infuse it and improve it with humor. It reminds me of Ugland’s good guy series. This is a fresh and fun take on town building that you do not want to miss.
If I ever get to write a comedy laden novel, European and not African, I fully intend to do everything in my power to get Johnathan McClain to narrate it for me. This man is perhaps one of the most nuanced readers of funny business I have ever heard. He uses every vocal tool he has to elevate the power of the jokes Rimmel has written. His inflection, characterization, pacing, and accents takes the story and makes it sound like Chapelle, Williams, and Dangerfield all came together to write this book. He is brilliant and I never heard one joke fall flat, In fact I firmly believe that his work made this a better book. McClain, I have my eye on you!
Final score, 8.3 stars. Rimmel and McClain riff off one another like Pryor and Wilder, like Monty and Python, and Abbot and Costello. This is a duo that makes listening more fun than it has a right to be. Oh, and the Fecking Pumas made it a fun romp, too.
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War God's Mantle: Underworld
The War God Saga, Book 3
By: James Hunter, Aaaron Crash
Narrated by: Armen Taylor
Series: The War God Saga, Book 3
Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
Pause
How do you say goodbye to an old friend? I don’t. I just pretend that they are still hanging around just down the road. I plan on doing that with this series, even though the Evel Kniviel of writing, Aaron Crash and the master of LITRPG craft, James Hunter, left an opening for more books in the future.
I’ve been a fan since day one, and it is funny how certain books make me remember where I first listened to them. For the completionist chronicles I was vacuuming my front porch and for War God I was in the storage room at work cleaning. Everytime I start a War God novel I am instantly transported back to the time I was cleaning that room. Anyway, this is a good book that just had two flaws as far as I could see. First, one of my biggest complaints about the Percy Jackson series was that every thing had a deadline. If you don’t have my thunderbolt back to Olympus before midnight on Thursday I will destroy the world. Every book was like that. I’ve noticed with VGO and War God that timer deadlines appear in almost every book. For example, here they have eight hours to do a certain something before all hell breaks loose. If it was VGO it’d be a death’s head quest. I get that you need some sort of Sword of Damocles hanging over your character’s heads, all I ask is that it gets mixed up a little. The second issue was when the team was in in a certain place filled with fire, and a stack of Jim Dresden books fell into the inferno not once was the line, “The books were on fire, and it wasn’t my fault” ever uttered. Alas and alack, such wasted potential!
I was glad to see that the book defied expectations and didn’t provide a 100% happy ending for all the amazons, and that we were given some hope for a new quest that could spearhead another trilogy.
The amazing Armen Taylor narrates and does his usual amazing job. The guy just has an incredible voice and really knows how to tell a story. I can see why he is such a go to guy in this business.
Final score 8.2 stars. A nice way to wrap things up Although I definitely want more of the new god, now that he’s just getting his footing. He’s leveled up, time to see him really get into some action.
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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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