Brightblade (2nd Edition)

UnderVerse, Book 1

De: Jez Cajiao

Narrado por: Wayne Mitchell

A realm aside from our own. The center of the realities. Home to every spectrum of magic.

From the beautiful to the terrible, it was all held in delicate balance by the Eternal Emperor and his immortal children. For 10,000 years, the empire was the bastion that protected the sentient races from the darkness, but the revolution, and the War of the Gods has changed all that . . .

Jax seems like a regular guy, except that he fights creatures from a strange place called the UnderVerse in his sleep, leaving him covered in horrific scars when he wakes up. The mysterious disappearance of his brother five years prior has forced Jax into a holding pattern, with a job he tolerates, a girl he kinda, sorta loves . . . until he's kidnapped and given a stark choice by his asshat of a father: Go to the UnderVerse in reality, travel to the capitol of that ruined realm at the center of reality, and open a portal for the Noble Houses to return home . . .

Or die, slowly.

That's the good news. The bad is that he has to survive the arena first, to prove his right to go. Twelve will enter, only one can leave . . .

©2022 R J Cajiao (P)2022 Tantor Audio

Please use a female for female voices

The girl voices are really really bad sounds like they have beards. The male voices are good though with a heavy South African accent. The stats are unnecessary if he didn't upgrade them saying zero many times doesn't make it better when he finally gets a stat point. I wish these books would just do the whole stat sheet once at the beginning and once at the end

Wonderful

I love the stories each book gets better and better. The first books of the series is always hard for me to get through because of the intensity of the narrator. But in the later stories it becomes necessary couldn’t get through the next book without his dramatic flair.

Interesting story arc. Poor narrator

The story has a really interesting plot. The narration was very cringe worthy. The MC is a true idiot that is hard to stomach.

Horrendous narration

What is this accent? Sounds like a bad rendition of Russel Crowe fighting around the world from South Park. So so so bad.

This narrator is truly something special.

Sure it was a great book and boon to the LitRPG genre, but that Narrator! Over 10 years of listening to audiobooks and I've never had an experience like that. Cheers and kudos!

Drama Queen Narrator ruins the book.

The story, while not original, is solid. It would be worth reading it. However, for the audio, the narrator decides that everything needs to be said in a voice thick with emotion. While this might sound great, imagine reading about the main character sitting down for dinner and the narrator gasping the words out like bending his knees to sit were the act of a true hero risking his life and limb. I hope that gets you the picture. Not for me. I could not finish it.

I like the diversity of characters

The accents are hard to understand sometimes, however it's well written and detailed but not overly so. The narrator reads it well. I feel like he understands the story very well and he doesn't rush through it which is very appreciated. I love the diversity of characters in the story. The normal d&d races are here along with the less popular races. It feels like you are truly in the realm. Thank you for writing and reading a fantastic story..

An dark epic story

A great start to an great story. The audio sounds better and the darker approach is nice. Such an amazing series.

series review

let me start by saying at this point i am nearly 170 hours into the series. ive commited and will likely continue it to the end.

there is a lot to unpack, so lets get the narration out of the way. yes, the narration(particularly for jax and tommy) is very off putting. this is made only worse by knowing that he is capable of normal voices. you do eventually get used to it, but i still wrinkle my nose at how obnoxious it is occasionally.

the story overall lacks real direction. Jax generally just floats along with the breeze from point to point, with impotant plot elements conveniently dropping in his lap as needed. when that doesnt work. his righteous anger sees him through. that being said, it is interesting enough to keep the bird brain mostly engaged. just try not to think too hard about whats happening.

the skills and abilities are interesting. but often times theyre introduced, only to be completely forgotten about. sometimes they show back up occasionally, sometimes theyre just gone. there doesnt seem to be any relevance to stats and reality, all of the numbers just become arbitrary concepts that they act like matter. but never really seem to make any discernible difference.

the biggest issue i have personally is the confusing and constantly present politics of the series. it honestly feels like taking a teenager in the 90's and explaining modern day SJW mindset and having him explain it back.

theres at least one(generally multiple) long drawn out parts where he just preaches, and virtue signals about how we should be and how wrong it is to be racist or sexist, how accepting we should be. but its painfully clear that the writer has a juvenile understanding of all of these concepts. most women are either there to be treated as eye candy, a toy to throw themselves at jax, or a focus for virtue signaling. multiple times through out several books he talks about how endearing they think his willy-copter is... not a joke.

honestly im not sure who to recommend this book to. it isnt terrible, but everyone will likely find large portions of the series either obnoxious, distracting, or both

Second time through and I was HOOKED!!

Listened to Brightblade half-assed my first time through. Mostly driving and other activities that required some thought and was really unable to give 100% focus. My initial thoughts were mediocre at best and I was having a hard time following the narration.
As I no longer had an extra Audible credit, I chose to re-listen to Brightblade. I now could keep up with the accents- understand the Narrarators tone of voice- it was day and night in understanding the authors intent and I Fucking Love It. Actually gonna purchase the next in the series and move on from there- THANK YOU Jez Cajiao and Wayne Mitchell y'all fucking rock