LitRPG Audiobook Podcast 056 - Eight-Bit Bastards, The Crafter: Legacy, Equalize, Endless Fantasy Online, Life Reset 3
LitRPG Audiobook Podcast 056 - Eight-Bit Bastards, The Crafter: Legacy, Equalize, Endless Fantasy Online, Life Reset 3
“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: ”
Eight-Bit Bastards: Levels One and Two (01:23)
Score: 8.0 out of 10
The Crafter: Legacy (16:43)
Score: 8.4 out of 10
Equalize: A Post-Apocalyptic LitRPG: Ether Collapse, Book 1 (28:19)
Score: 8.3 out of 10
Endless Fantasy Online: The Phoenix Kingdom (41:32)
Score: 7.8 out of 10
Soundbooth Spotlight
Life Reset: Hobnobbing - New Era Online Book 3 (01:04:33)
Score: 8.2 out of 10
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Eight-Bit Bastards: Levels One and Two
By: Joshua Mason
Narrated by: Michael Norman Johnson
Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
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Joshua Mason returns more powerful than ever in his new series 8-Bit bastards. Personally, I look forward to the next books in his series including sixty-four bit SonsofBitches, eleven megabyte mother fu (Shut your mouth). Mmmmhmmm. Seriously, I enjoyed Mason’s Steam Alley book, but this one is where he seems to find his stride. He has substantive strife between his party members based on past actions, as well as the very subject of that strife being a reason for them to come together, that being the MC’s libido.
The premise is fairly simple, like an 8 bit game, People enter a virtual world where they will live out eternity; the game fills up and is shut down to any more entrants. There are multiple worlds and levels in the gameverse, but even that is not enough to keep the inhabitants from having seen it and done it all. All except for one eight bit game level that the players cannot game in because it drives them nuts. The game AI just so happens to shunt anyone caught trying to break into the game into that level and keeping them locked up there, don’t worry they can hack it have been indoctrinated to it before any other game worlds, but they are permanently trapped. Bad news for our heroes because one of their descendants has just gotten himself exiled there and they have to go off to free him.
That’s the premise, and the audio is comprised of two books in the series. They are fun jaunts and funny as hell in some spots. I really liked Nessler, the goofy boatman who calls everyone homeskillet and fires fingerguns at them. The story moves along well, and does a little spotlight on each character as they get their new classes in the 8 bit realm. I enjoyed the book(s) a lot and think that this is a cool world to visit, and I appreciated that we started the entire book already in game and didn’t have to wallow through going into the FIVER/Diver stuff or watch the characters muddle around picking their classes. Heck they were even skilled enough that they worked as a team pretty efficiently. This made the story move quicker, felt distilled (as if nothing extraneous was involved), and that we were able to get down to brass tacks rather than playing jacks waiting for events to unfold. There is also some intrigue and behind the scenes machinations going on that keeps things interesting. The only question that really through me off is that there is a player who takes copious notes throughout the book, and gets upset when his notes are ruined or lost, and yet everyone there has a photographic memory of anything that happened to them after they arrived, so there is no need to get upset over ruined notes as you could literally rewrite them line for line. Otherwise, I think it all worked well.
Michael Norman Johnson does his job. Like I said there are some honestly funny parts in this book ,and Johnson is half the reason they work. He could have seriously stubbed his toe trying to get Nessler right, but he nails the guy’s personality in just his voice, the same with the note taking party member. I enjoyed his pacing and his inflections, which gave the nice subtle hints as to what the characters were thinking. Mason made a good choice with Johnson. And here’s a disclaimer, as Forrest Gump once said, “No, we are not relations, sir.” So he earned the good word all on his own. And I totally need a Nessler Plushie now!!
Final score, 8 stars. I had fun with the book, which was mason’s intention all along, or else why would he call it 8-bit bastards? You’ll enjoy this too.
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The Crafter: Legacy
By: Outspan Foster
Narrated by: Ramon De Ocampo
Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
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Outspan Foster has been diligently working to better his craft in every way. Any time I’ve seen him on social media he’s talked about new techniques he’s picked up or lessons he’s learned from other writers. Hell, he gave me great advice on characters and their agency in a story, and now it is something I notice all the time. Do they have agency or are they just along for the ride? He’s even got a good partnership going with Blaise Corvin and had cranked out some great stuff from their pairing. I actually expect a Veilverse book from him soon. The point is, he’s grown tremendously as a writer and I tell you now that Crafter has just, in my eyes put him in the upper echelon of the writers in the LITRPG field. He has just become one hell of a heavy hitter.
Legacy deals with a young kid named Wick, good name choice because you just know this kid is going to kick ass (Leeroy Jenkins). Wick makes a sacrifice that grants him advantages that few people ever have and . . . .here is the best part, he uses these new advantages to slowly and methodically destroy the people that hurt him or his own people as he also made himself stronger over time. I love treacherous characters, and Wick is one of these guys that spent years waiting for his plans to come to fruition and he sets out to make everyone pay. How awesome is that? So, Wick may be a little OP but if he is it is because of choices that he made and the manner in which he handles the fate he is dealt.
The story holds your attention completely. It has some great powers and abilities as well as amazing characters ranging from the people that support Wick to the ones that try to destroy him. His underlings and friends are just as interesting as wick, and I also appreciate the time spanning qualities that Wick’s revenge takes to unfold. I mean, if you’re going to crush somebody take the time to do it right.
I think that my favorite scene was where Wick goes to confront the head of the thieves guild in his city and unexpectedly gets hit with a Spanish Inquisition!!!! that leads to unexpected results. It was fascinating in watching the real brains play with and parry one another as they circled on another in a sort of game to determine who had the stronger will. Like I say, even in a scene where no real fighting takes place, Foster manages to keep you on tenderhooks. Masterfully done.
My real surprise came in checking out Ramon De Ocampo as the narrator. I knew him from the D&D novel The Stone of Tymora, and I realized as I listened to him that he had also done the Level Up Series and I have to say as much as I liked him there, he has really gotten better and just nails it here. Each character was distinctive and easily stood out from the other voices so that I always knew who was speaking. He was dramatic and serious, and added fun and humor so I think that he has only proven that he was the perfect choice for Foster to use.
My final score? Considering that I’d put this up against Dean, Hunter, Corvin, Krout, and Willmarth (just to name a few) I can’t low-ball this. Great revenge tale, amazing characters and magic system as well. 8.4 stars. Welcome to the big league OF!
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Equalize: A Post-Apocalyptic LitRPG: Ether Collapse, Book 1
By: Ryan DeBruyn
Narrated by: Luke Daniels
Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins
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What can’t I say that isn’t good about this book? Not much. I really enjoyed I a lot and think it is comparable to Shadow Sun and System Apocalypse for end of the world styled fun. It has a unique and yet familiar system, an enjoyable MC, the seeds of a budding romance/love interest, a cool monster companion, and best of all people die. Yep, DeBruyn doesn’t keep things cuddly in his end of the world scenario and it seems like no one is safe. There was only one bit that sort of threw me off, and that was a POV change as we shifted from the MC to another character just so we could get an update on happenings elsewhere.
The story starts up in the great white north, in the area of the Algonquin park. Rocky, the MC, goes on an annual trips sans his partner (his dad) who has just died. While there the ancient earth goddess Gaia awakens and reboots the world to the way it used to be before she took a long nap. Suddenly everyone gets HUDS and can level up, on the flip side monsters appear and start wiping everyone out so it sort of equals out. Rocky just wants to get home and find his family and that of course is when everything starts getting in his way.
The writing is tight, fast paced, and energetic. The characters are well fleshed out, and thankfully not everyone is a likable cuss. There are some A-holes, and as I said, not everyone makes it so seeing well developed characters bite it is a nice jolt to the system.
The concept that buildings and kayaks can suddenly animate into huge golems is pretty cool, and considering that you have to consider what places like New York City or Chicago would look like after all this mess. You would have some monsters that made King Kong look like an organ grinding monkey. While the story is a slice of life it doesn’t feel like one. Rocky has a goal that he struggles to meet, he just gets ambushed a lot along the way due to circumstances.
Overall, this is an apocalypse book that like the others I mentioned earlier, isn’t what I consider to be postapocalyptic. I see barren wastelands and Mad Max scenerios when I think end of the world. Shadow Sun, System Apocalypse, and Equalize are all world resets where things change instantly from normal to gamey in the span of seconds., so I’m thinking these are Apocalit books. The only thing I have to ask is why everyone had to get knocked out to have the change take place. I would have liked Gaia just make an announcement about the way things are going to be from that moment on.
My only real issue in the book is the MC’s non-use of cuss words/swearing/vulgarities. Now I know that I often tout family friendly fair, but I am a man who loves to paint the air with obscene words in new and unusual ways and it drives me crazy when someone wants to swear and cuss but uses stuff like rubber baby buggy bumpers in their stead. Shut the front door, go fork yourself, they pain me to hear, and the only thing I have to console myself with is the fact that there is an explanation in book 2, so I better get it to see what’s up.
Final score? I really liked this book. I gave us a new progression system, it kills off characters like an exterminator huffing a can of raid, and was fun from the first page to the last. 8.3 stars. I look forward to bigger and better things.
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Endless Fantasy Online: The Phoenix Kingdom
By: Devin Auspland
Narrated by: David Neilsen
Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
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First timer Devin Auspland dives into the Litrpg genre and makes a decent first impression, but does make me wonder about a few things. So here’s the synopsis, While acting as a game tester, Luke Patterson gets stuck inside the game along with every other player by some outside hackers. It’s a familiar event in Litrpg, and so I think if you are going to go a well traveled path you really need to stand out compared to the other books in the genre that do the same things. I think Auspland walks a tight line but he creates an interesting story.
The first thing I’m going to say is that this is a family friendly book, this is something anyone of any age can pick up and dig into and it in no way talks down to the reader. I’m just saying that my kids could listen to and enjoy it as much as I, a grown man can, and not feel like I’m missing out on some cooler things in lieu of getting a wider audience. I really wish that some writers would realize that it doesn’t hurt to bring in younger readers, as they will be the people to carry on once the first guard fades away.
The only way the book seemed to be more PG than PG-13 was in the very black and white contrast of the characters. The bad guys were completely bad, and the good guys were entirely white knights. There really didn’t even seem to be a shade of gray in the players. One thing that really struck me as odd was the way Luke is inundated with information about how hard it is to learn magic, and just the fact that he has magic and has unlocked his affinities basically gives him a free ride into the guild. What’s weird is that when it comes time to choose his class he opts to become a hybrid ranger beast master type, after all he’s handy with a bow and he impressed the guy selling pets so that’s what he opts to do. Huh? Why make such a big deal of the rarity of magic and then go that route? I was expecting some Elminster/Gandalf type of stuff and wound up with Legolas. Not that it affected my enjoyment of the story, but it was definitely a WTF type moment when a magic class was overlooked. Granted, he still had magic but wha-huh on that.
The story is well paced and has good characterizations and it holds your interest without a doubt. It also has a good cast of characters aside from Luke, and it was nice to see characters do “the right thing” just because it was the right thing even if it was a hopeless situation for them to succeed.
David Neilsen does an OK job on the audio, there were some slight things that I picked up on, but my real beef came in the reuse of certain voices for different characters. I don’t ask for a lot, but having the same voice for multiple characters can be confusing. Kind of like how Luke Daniels really only has one or two female voices. Neilson give his all, and I respect that effort.
Final score 7.8 it is a fun family friendly book and I would happily listen to book two. I think you would too.
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Soundbooth Spotlight
Life Reset: Hobnobbing
New Era Online Book 3
By: Shemer Kuznits
Narrated by: Jeff Hays, Laurie Catherine Winkel, Annie Ellicott
Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins
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I must say that I was slightly surprised that this book ended the series. I literally had no idea going in that this would be the last novel, and while I am glad that I got some closure I am sad to see it end. This is a damn good series and I am going to miss it. Want to know what shocked me was how long the first two books are in comparison to the wrap up. Thankfully, this does not feel truncated, and it doesn’t end all in a flowery garden.
In fact, I kept thinking that there was more to come as the book went on. IN fact, I wondered several times how anything was going to be resolved since the other books were over 24 hours in length. Needless to say, Kuznits pulls it off plausibly and entertainingly. Sadly, aside from some liberties taken with a certain shadow, no torture takes place in this book.
The story is set, for the most part in a Hobgoblin city that isn’t too kind to non-hobs and outsiders are treated with less than a modicum of respect. Oren and his team need to establish a trade route in order to help his village survive the upcoming storm of players and along the way we get arena fights, backstabbed deals, some new friends, and a conclusion to the Guy vs the world saga that has been going on since book one. I won’t say who wins.
I have to say that I like that the series did not end on a super happy note and that there were still some questions that needed answered, as it does leave a door open for further novels in the future. The ending, for what happens with the MC is pretty realistic, and in a gritty series where he kept pushing boundaries I’m surprised he didn’t end up pushing daisies instead.
My only complaint is that this book seems like it was rushed to the finish line. Honestly, I was expecting something along the line of maybe 7 books, and that for some reason about midway through Shemer decided he’d had enough and just started wrapping up plot points. Aside from that the book is pretty good. 8.2 stars for a strong finale, coulda been more but there were several things that we readers wanted to know, but never got the answers to.
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For LitRPG Audiobook Podcast, I’m Ray. Keep listening!!!
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