LitRPG Audiobook Podcast 069 - Noobtown Book 4, UnderVerse, Hero of Thera 2
LitRPG Audiobook Podcast 069 - Noobtown Book 4, UnderVerse, Hero of Thera 2
“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: ”
Dungeons and Noobs - Noobtown, Book 4 (01:24)
Score: 8.3 out of 10
A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Series, Book 1) (07:45)
Score: 8.2 out of 10
A Thousand Drunken Monkeys: Book 2 in the Hero of Thera Series (14:07)
Score: 7.9 out of 10
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Dungeons and Noobs - Noobtown Book 4
By: Ryan Rimmel
Narrated by: Johnathan McClain
Series: Noobtown, Book 4
Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
If you have enjoyed the Noobtown series thus far then you will love book four. It is a total blast with revelations and resolutions finally occurring, and while some doors are definitely closed one or two really big doors open. I mean really big doors, like those of the Castle Church in Wittenberg , Germany where martin Luthor nailed his paper that held his 95 revolutionary opinions that would begin the Protestant Reformation. Lil history there for ya.
BTW, the doors really aren’t that big. Even more history for you. Would you be intrigued if I said that you might finally get to see what happened to Charles? That Badgelor is basically Santa claus? That there might be a demon door involved and may Jim goes through it? Well all that and more might be revealed!
Honestly, it was a fun ride and I wish that Rimmel cranked out books like Ugland, because those to guys are fekking funny, and I appreciate great humor in my novels. Truly, though, there is some grief and struggles that Jim must endure. There might even be a bit of betrayals going on, yes, with a plural s at the end.
Over all it seems like the series may be getting a refresh in the next book, as we finally get to see the big bad come to town and Jim is determined to meet the man head on. Badgelore is in the groove as well, and any of the team that made it out of the dungeon will be down to help. Am I saying not everyone makes it? No that would be spoilers, but the people who make it out would certainly be motivated to stop the inevitable doom that is coming.
McClain is in sync with Rimmel in much the same way that Helligers is with Ugland. He does one hell of a portrayal of not only the various characters, but the world around them as well. He has perfect timing. And the bit about a lotta things being pumas made me crack up from just the way he said it, and from now on, I’m not going to use the word plethora. I’m using puma instead. Score one for the noobs!
Final score 8.3 stars! Good things are here, but better are coming!
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Brightblade
A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Series, Book 1)
By: Jez Cajiao
Narrated by: Wayne Mitchell
Series: UnderVerse, Book 1
Length: 20 hrs and 4 mins
Holy Moley. Where do I start with this?? This book felt massive. I mean there is a ton of world building and character set up that brings a depth that you don’t often get in Litrpg just because of the way that you have to get into the game and then start trying to level up.
Don’t get me wrong. I have some hard and fast rules that I live by, and one of those rules is getting into the game ASAP! Brightblade doesn’t do that. In fact, it takes its sweet time getting there, but in this case I can say that it is legit world building as it does so. We don’t get corporations or programmers in the background, instead we meet Jax, a gruff but well meaning guy whose life is sort of passing him by as he coasts along. Jax has an attitude and terrible dreams in which he kills and is killed every so often. Back thing is, he wakes up with actual wounds from his dreams. Turns out he is a rare individual who can cross over into another world, and in doing so he can maybe reopen the portal for all the refugees of a cataclysm in the magic realm allowing them to go home.
Jax is an intricate and interesting character who is quick tempered and anti-authority. He then is placed into a position to help the very people he hates, and he eats a crap sandwich so he can potentially find his missing brother. When Jax finally makes his way to the magic realm he ends up doing a tower crawl. The book itself is like a punch in the face, or a sucker punch, because it never lets up, much like Jax. The world is so rich and vivid that I could literally see a real RPG based on it working incredibly well. The violence is fairly graphic, as it should be, sword cuts aren’t boo boos after all, Jax swears a little less than me, and the sexual situations are a little low, but enough that I wouldn’t let my kids listen.
The narration by Mitchell is great, and I mean that. His take on Jax’s gruff in yer face attitude was brilliant, and if I had to pick a flaw in any voice that he chose it would be that of the spore mother, because she just sounded like a crazy person, and not an ancient lurker in the darkness. Either way I have to say my respect-o-meter nearly broke as I listened because he crushed it with the voices, and even dished out a Sean Connery homage that made me miss the man terribly.
Final Score 8.2 stars. Why? I do have rules and one of those rules is getting into the game in a timely manner, and while I can overlook some aspects of that some readers might not. Otherwise this was an incredible book. I cannot wait for book 2, seriously 20 hours just flew by.
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A Thousand Drunken Monkeys: Book 2 in the Hero of Thera Series
By: Eric Nylund
Narrated by: Jeff Hays
Series: Hero of Thera Series, Book 2
Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
Nyland returns to his Hero series with this second installment, and in many ways he continues to weave a powerful tale. The book is action packed and often feels like an old-time kung-fu flick come to life, or an infusion of Jet Li’s and Jackie Chan’s style of films. To say the pacing is frenetic would be an understatement. The Litrpg portion offers numerous options for Hecktor to take, be it a new skill or branch to follow. His partners also seem to diverge from the standard as we have a druid who is also a thief, or is it a thief with a green thumb. Hard to tell but its not something you see every day.
The only drawback that I perceived was the slow pace that the characters themselves are progressing. If this were any other style of book, or a different genre then it wouldn’t be noticeable, but the level cap for the game is something like 100, and at the end of book 2 the MC hasn’t even hit level 10 if I recall correctly. Either way, the quest, the main quest, sees very little progress made. I mean it is barely scratched upon. So while the story is captivating, it also seems to go nowhere fast.
Great writing is only enhanced by amazing narration and we have a book featuring a solo Jeff Hays. Hays is amazing in an ensemble, to be sure, and he makes a great partner when he brings in someone to do the ladies voices, but it truly when he is on his own that he absolutely shines. He practically goes super nova here. Hays has fun in a lot of spots, and you can tell that he digs the material, but he is also able to go super serious in the span of seconds. As much as I love the other SBT members, Hays is a superstar who seems to pop in for supporting roles far too often and it was nice to have him handling everything. It gives the book a distinctiveness that it deserves in a catalogue of incredible series,
Final score, 7.9 stars. Nyland has a great gift for writing intense action scenes, creating interesting characters, and holding your interest in the most mundane situations, but for as good as this book is I think it falls into the trap of “this is an open ended series” and absolutely minimal progress is made in key areas. Primarily the main questline. We don’t even get to getting to it until the near end of the book, and then its barely touched. Revelations aren’t quite so shocking if you can anticipate things at all, and so this becomes just another slice of life book. That’s fine, but I need some forward motion so that I am not wasting time on a series that progresses slowly compared to one that actually moves the story along. So, as good as it was it did lose some points for just that reason.
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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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