Sacrifice

Isekai Fantasy Adventure (Pawns Rebellion Book 1)

By: Patrick Underwood

Narrated by: Marcus Jahn, Sarah Goldstein, Actors Everywhere

Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

They say power corrupts the soul. Sometimes you take the risk.

I was just a cop on my beat when the world ended. My last memory was of an alien death ray ripping me from existence. When I woke up in a strange world, I should have just laid low. Figured out the rules of this place before I got involved. But, when you see a woman running from slavers. Well, let's just say they got what they deserved. Only problem is that makes enemies—demigods with the power to bind the magically gifted women of Timeria to their will. I can stop them, with powers bestowed by a god. But, they come with a catch; I must bind these women, the Chosen, to my very soul. Just like the demigods I want to stop.

©2021 Patrick Underwood (P)2022 Royal Guard Publishing LLC

Story was interesting enough to slog through

While the story was very interesting, there were several annoyances that kept me from fully enjoying it.

One was Marcus Jahn again sounding incredibly whiney. The MC is supposed to be a former marine and police officer, whom he sometimes makes sound like he is on the verge of tears and being generally whiney.

The other is how the antagonist is handled. Every time it switches to his perspective it's him raping women through mind control. And yes, it is rape, they were coerced to join by deceit, torture or threats. It's even more tasteless when one of the women is the main protagonists first bondeds mother(who btw was first shown to be resisting but then the next time was a completely brain dead bimbo slobbering c**k).
If the plan is to have her freed, as that is where it looks like it's going, I don't trust the author is good enough to handle the trauma that would bring in a tasteful manner, more like he'll just have her killed to "motivate" or just conveniently lose her memory of the time under.
Either way the mother could have been used better as a ticking clock that the MC has to fight against to free before the antagonist breaks her will completely.
Those sections just made me cringe every time.

it's ok for what it is

the voice actor was very poor making the main character sound like a whiny little kid and but the female voice actor does a good job

narrator

absolutely worst male narrator I've ever heard. how could they release this. with that idiot narrating. just wow!

A decent listen in the genre

This was a good listen that delivered exactly what you would expect. This story doesn’t recreate the genre but also doesn’t fall prey to a ton of tropes. It is a solid listen for those looking.

The MC is reasonably likable and we learn alongside him. He has some short comings and decidedly makes poor decisions. These fall in line with his character though.

The narrators did a great job of bringing the story alive. The effort is there to hear and makes it an easy listen.

This story is a solid 3.5-4 but I give it a 5 due to how Amazon treats ratings.

highly entertaining

an interesting harem Isekai where the mc is a cop and former marine the interactions with the women of the story with the mc and main villain are unconventional and not something I have ran across before. for me this title has a big highlander vibe and an looking forward to book 2 to see how it plays out

Very enjoyable listen

First, the MC is actually almost relatable for someone who was transferred to a new world. The voice actors a great and bring life and depth to the characters. Since you can't please everyone, I have some complaints. However, I'll keep them to myself since I think they are my personal views based upon my life and experiences.

Anyway, this is not a fast-paced listen, but it is also not "Slice of Life". I'd say medium paced with a pinch of "SoL". It's a good combo and really works for this book. The sex scenes are tastefully graphic. They are also segregated between protagonist and antagonist and set a tone for the good and bad mc's. My biggest issue is the wait for book 2.

A good start for Patrick's fantasy career!

This is Patrick's first published book into the genre of fantasy and Isekai. The MC is strong but the story could have been made better with a bit less forced interaction from the MC and his acquired harem. The ebook needed another editor pass and a good proofread, but the audio version seemed to flesh out a lot of the issues whether it was the narrator or not is unknown. Overall an enjoyable read in the genre and I look forward to the second book in the series. Audio Version: The dual narration worked well in this and both narrators did a great job bringing the story further to life for us.

good listen

I thought this book was very entertaining. the characters and the story were great. the narrators did a great job. i look forward to vol 2

Great story but

I love the story and would love to get the second book, but I don't think I can stand the male voice actor for another book unfortunately. It feels like he was purposely WAY overdoing everything he said, like he didn't care about the final quality of the experience at all. The female voice actor was great though

tries to hard

hard to listen to with the male narrator, he tries way too hard to give emotion in the wrong ways and exaggerates too much.