I Ran Away to Evil: A Cozy LitRPG Rom-Com

I Ran Away to Evil, Book 1

De: Mystic Neptune

Narrado por: Johnathan McClain, Laura Horowitz

Duración: 17 h y 3 m

Resumen del Editor

A reluctant heroine finds unexpected love when she's sent to assassinate a lonely dark lord in the first book of this cozy romantasy series.

Henrietta Doryn has never enjoyed fighting. She'd rather be in the kitchen baking cookies. But it's her duty as Warrior Princess to face off against the forces of evil. As such, she's unceremoniously shooed from her kingdom to go eliminate the all-powerful Dark Lord next door.

Keith Monfort has never enjoyed ruling with an iron fist. He'd prefer to be in his workroom tinkering with practical magic. But it's his duty to lead the Dark Enchanted Forest and the forces of evil. So when Henrietta shows up at his door, he's only too happy to invite her in for tea to talk it out instead.

Can this unlikely pair prevent war between their two kingdoms? Where do their true loyalties lie? And when will they finally confess their growing feelings for each other?

Blending the best of love stories, fairy tales, and whimsy—with just a dash of mystery provided by the soothsaying Madame Potts's enigmatic announcements—I Ran Away to Evil is a deliciously delightful start to a charming romantic-comedy LitRPG series.

The first volume of the hit LitRPG romantasy series—with more than a million views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!

©2024 Jessica Marie McIntosh (P)2024 Podium Audio

A Lovely Cozy with Depth

Henrietta Doryn of Drendil, "Level 67 Warrior Crown Princess," is the only child of King Simon and Queen Thalia who really wanted a son (they call her Henri). As is so often the case with fictional royals (maybe even with real royals, but I don't know any of them), the weight upon Henrietta's shoulders is massive, but she bears it with grace. She sets out on her journey to kill Keith Monfort "Level 83 Arcane Sage, also known as the Shadow Magician, Evil Overlord, Dark Lord, His Royal Viciousness, and the ruler of the Dark Enchanted Forest of Nilheim," with the realistic expectation that she will probably not survive.

I Ran Away To Evil is like a hug. As I listened to this audiobook, I spent so much of my time smiling. It constantly brought to mind the word "hygge" (a cozy and contented mood brought about by comfort and friendliness). Henrietta IS hygge personified. She is so sweet and friendly and would have to try really hard to make an enemy. Despite Keith's title and the fact that he has minions, he is a fair and kind ruler.

I don't want to give away too much of this book because the story is truly sensational. I don't want to take away your experience of what happens in Rufus's dungeon, the specifics of the contract that will allow Henrietta to spend time in Nilheim, and how exciting a story can be even if the emphasis is more on kindness than killing.

The narrators, Lara Horowitz and John McClain, are spectacular. Horowitz is the perfect voice of Henrietta and provides variation in voices so you don't get confused about who is talking. McClain's narration gave big Phil Hartman vibes. He also had great variation in character voices.

With I Ran Away To Evil, Mystic Neptune gave us far more than a great story. She gave us characters with depth, some social commentary, reminders of the importance of consent, how paperwork is a universal bane of everyone's existence, and to maybe learn about people ourselves instead of taking their titles or other people's opinions of them at face value.

Neptune gave us alliteration that gave me ASMR chills, pop-culture references, and dropped some extremely quotable lines about mental health, recovery from trauma, and valuing yourself and your own time.

This will absolutely be in my constant rotation of comfort books and I cannot wait to listen to it with my son.

Thank you so much to Mystic Neptune for providing me with the ARC to this book in exchange for an honest review.

Serious Litrpg fans will probably hate thi, but...

For a book that is far more silly and juvenile than i would usually like, i found myself enjoying the characters and their interactions with one another quite a bit. It's pretty well written, and sticks to it's theme reliably. The world building is interesting, and the MC's act (for the most part) more realistic than your typical romance protags. All and all, if you are looking for some harmless fun to relax to, there are far worse options.
That said there are some things i think others might dislike about this story. 1. The litrpg elements are pretty pointless and seem to only be there out of some obligation to the genre. honestly the story probably would have been better if the author had just done a straight up romantic fantasy rather than trying to to cudgel in a system they were not all that interested in. Shrug, the system is used, just not in the way most serious litrpg readers would enjoy. 2. I am sorry if this is a bit harsh, but i have to admit that sometimes i felt like the author got all their knowledge on psychology, relationships and socialism from watching Tik Tok videos. It isn't wrong per se, but it also isn't very serious either. I personally found it amusing, but i see a lot of really angry e-mails in this authors future complaining about either their "woke" agenda or their shallow leftist interpretations. lol 3. i didn't like he male narrator very much, all the female voices he did made them sound like they just had a stroke or something. It was pretty jaring compared to the female narrators more mellow voices. Frankly the story would have been better if it had just been her, but that is a subjective opinion i suppose.
If my little complaints didn't deter you, i think most would have a good time, (even if it didn't have the steamy bits i like in romance stories)

Warm and cozy litRPG

Sometimes you just want the leads to meet, slowly fall in love, mangle some mooks, and foil a conspiracy. A cozy listen. The male narrator goes a little hard on the esses sometimes, but otherwise good narration.

Fun, cozy, enchanting!

I really enjoyed this story! I’ll be listening to it again very soon. Fun adventure, with various tropes turned on their heads. I’d like to book a few sessions with Rufus, if someone will tell me how.

Loved the cameo by Jacque The Whipper!

Did not like the annoying voices the male narrator gave to all female characters except the female MC, but it wasn’t enough to keep me from listening to it. Get a different narrator for next book, or have them learn different voices that aren’t ear-destroying.

Relaxing and Hilarious. It subverts your expectations in the best way.

I recommend this book to anyone looking for a relaxing story that will make them smile and laugh.

This is a great slice-of-life book. The story mostly focuses on the numerous characters and their fun interactions.

His Viciousness King Keith is a dark overlord with a very unique way of running a kingdom (his dungeons are particularly clever). It works surprisingly well. Watching him interact with his would-be assassin who he is both terrified of and interested in is also hilarious.

Henrietta the Hero is an interesting blend of joyous naïveté and hardened warrior. She’s a fun character as no one seems to know what to do with a potential murder machine that is so chipper. It was entertaining to see her explore the kingdom and meet new people.

I found this book to be funny and sweet. It starts off strong. I was laughing out loud in the first couple of chapters. The middle meanders a bit but everything wraps up strong.

Both narrators did an amazing job. Johnathon McClain especially was perfect for King Keith. His deadpan delivery was spot on.

Overall I definitely recommend this book.

Love at first sight

A very wholesome story about two crossword lovers. It’s a well worth the point , a lot of fun and interesting moments

Puma ☑️

A fun read. The characters are likable and have depth. The world is interesting. The mechanics aren't obnoxious. And the author doesn't overdo the LitRPG.

Oh and the have a guard who does inspections named Puma.

Super fun and cozy light read

*Warning, you will want cinnamon rolls and scones while you read this book.

Food cravings aside, the story is fun and the characters are lovable. If you’re looking for something cozy and low stakes to read this is definitely the book for you.

Fun story with interesting world building

The story is fun and interesting and the characters are entertaining. There is an excellent balance of action with character building and world building. I loved learning about the Dark Enchanted Forest and the people in it. The characters felt authentic with good personalities and believable character flaws. The story has a little bit of everything and felt well-rounded. The romance elements were well balanced to the surrounding plot and neither the adventure / intrigue part of the story nor the RomCom part of the story felt out of place. I look forward to learning more about the world and the class system in future books, as the foundation established in this one was interesting!

Overall, this is a lighthearted listen that will certainly make my “replay” list when I am looking for a fun, easy listen.

The female narrator was excellent and really captured the main characters personality well. Her variety of voices was good and she had a nice range of emotion and inflection in her voices.

My only complaint was the male narrator - his voice for the main male character was fantastic, but his female voices are subpar and didn’t contain any of the inflection and patterns of the female narrator. His non humans races were often overdone making them into a caricature compared to the female narrators more believable voices for non human races. That said, it was only a small portion of the narration and didn’t detract from the story, it just didn’t really capture the side characters appropriately.