WOW!...Glad i risked that credit!!!!

I've been scrapping the bottom of the fantasy barrel for a while now, trying to find a good book after listening to almost everything audible has to offer. I finally STRUCK GOLD. This was a fantastic book and im eagerly waiting on the next one.

The story itself isn't particularly original. The protagonist finds himself stuck in a time loop and decides to take advantage of the extra time while also trying to figuring out the reason behind said loop. Think 'Groundhog Day' or 'Re:Zero' for those who watch anime. But this book shines in areas that i personally adore the MOST in fantasy books. The character development is great. The main character is not blatantly overpowered but he is still pretty competent, he's timid but he's not a coward, he's not a vagina magnet but he's not a blushing clueless introvert either. The Magic system is *CHEFF KISS* fantastic. The protagonist is in a scholastic environment so most of the book is expository on how spells, alchemy and other magic systems work. That shit is like DRUGS to me, i LOVE that. If your a Fan of the "Spell Monger" series or "Art of The Adept" you'll like the work the author did in this book. It was all explained in ways that made it all seem relevant to the plot and growth to the character and not just there to fill a word count.

HOWEVER. I can understand how a reader might be fatigued by all the....*learning*...and want the scenario to move forward a bit faster. If your not a "Brandon Sanderson" fan, or prefer a more streamlined story it might not be for you. It would be a tough listen if i didn't give the book at least 90% of my attention. Since the protag is in a loop, it was easy to miss what he does 'differently' since i was listening to him have the same convo with someone for the 3rd time and might space out.

Still i loved this listen. I really hope i see more from this guy and SOON. =5/5 safe purchase.

p.s: You might see some other people say the same old shit like "the narrator ruined it for me". This guy is juggling like 6 different accents in the book and at least goes through the effort of making everyone sound distinct. Hes no Nick Podehl but he did a good job. I can forgive the guy if 2 of the 10 different voices he does sound annoying. If people think he's a bad narrator then they really haven't listened to enough books yet. LOL

10 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Amazing In Every Way

Wow! The world building is incredible and thorough, the magic system feels alive, the characters are animated and captivating (thanks to both the author and the narrator)... I could go on gushing about the book but truthfully if you want a good in-depth review I suggest checking out the one by Xavier. Couldn't have written a better one myself.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Great novel

Great story line. A gripping and engaging tale. Well performed reading. Can’t wait for the second in the series.

Hard to start. Worth sticking it out

I almost returned this within the first hour of listening. the narrator is definitely skilled, but weird pauses and some super annoying voices / accents. I read a lot of reviews, and don't usually leave one. But I want to say this is worth cringing for a few hours to get used to it. the storyline is amazing and such a detailed magic system! after finishing this book I immediately downloaded the 2nd in the series and at this point I wouldn't want a different narrator. It grows on you! I did speed it up to 1.15, which is rare for me. totally glad I stuck it out.

18 hours of never ending time loop

I bought the book as many reviews were glowing. I would have appreciated a bit more honesty. If you like time travel and never ending time loops (think 18 hours of groundhog day but at the end you're still not free) then this is the book for you. Sadly, I am not such a person.

The story has potential, but I am so tired of the time loop, I doubt I will bother to finish the series. In my view it's not worth the money, unless maybe all the books were bundled for one credit, or it was part of the audible plus books.

Fantastic Story with Awful Voice Direction

The story is excellent, very impressed. Pretty much everything you could want. There are times when I ask myself "Why would he not just do it this way?" or "How could he miss the obvious answer?" but the book always answered my question in a meaningful way.

I could not finish the book, I got about halfway through and just shut it off. I want to be very clear, the narrator has a fantastic voice for voice acting and narration(although there is a tendency for overacting), but holy cow, what a mess. Every person has an extreme accent and is so varied that it's just jarring to go from one to the other. Not only that, no one sounds like these people in everyday conversation. Some of the characters are straight up so annoying to listen to that I instantly hated that character (like the protagonist's little sister, NO ONE SOUNDS LIKE THAT). I think if Jack Voraces put the brakes on his acting and allowed the story to tell itself with his VA in the background, it would be an easy 5-star.

I just refunded 3/4 the way through and bought on kindle.

LESS IS MORE!

Summary: Book is fantastic! Author, great! Narrator, a lot of room for improvement.

I almost didn’t read this book cos of the jarring nature of the choices the audiobook narrator chose for certain character voices and accents. The sisters voice for me was okay. It was the mother’s voice that drove me nuts! Kinda like a parody of a posh British woman but 10 times worse! I started and stopped and restarted this book 3 times because of it, before pushing through the first 2 hours. After that it became way better, for various reasons.

1, There was less of the mother’s voice and he made better choices for other characters but still had a few weird decisions.

2, I broke a rule of mine and listened to the audiobook in 1.2x speed. So his cadence and rhythm was a bit more natural and not as excruciating to listen to.

I actually think he has the potential to be one of the best audiobook narrators out there. But he has to be more deliberate and thoughtful about his decision making when it comes to character voices and his tendency to over exaggerate pauses and “over-act” scenes.

LESS IS MORE has never been more applicable to any performance than this in my opinion. Less strange pauses in the middle of the sentences. Less dramatic sharp intake of breath at the end of sentences to emphasize every word a character says. Less accents. and even Less range in variety of accents.

It’s too much of sensory overload. You want the voice and performance to almost disappear into the background and the story to be front and centre in your mind as you read the book, but in this case, you keep on being yanked out of your immersion.

Imagine the best singer in the world. Capable of incredible vocal tricks — (riffs, runs etc.) and all the good stuff — but instead of picking and choosing where to use them, they use it on every single lyric and syllable in that song.
It’ll lose its power and beauty and become annoying and terrible real quick. Maybe you can put up with it for a 2 minute song, but an entire hour long album? I don’t think so. What if that album was over 20 hours long!? Nightmare!

His work will benefit from a way more subtle approach IMO. Please study other audiobook narrators, Travis Baldree in particular.

Just read the kindle version

Fantastic story but the narrator is unbearable. It's like they're focused on overacting and not just telling the story.

I love it

Narrator did amazing and the story was well written. Can't wait to read the next arc.

Commitment is rewarded

This is a great example of being slightly annoyed at the start to incredibly rewarded at the end. The voice acting was top notch and the story will keep going.