Quest Accepted

XP: Unlocked, Book 1

De: J.S. Grulke

Narrado por: Kieran Flitton

Getting in was easy. Getting out will be the challenge of their lives.

Trapped on opposite ends of an immersive virtual reality fantasy game world, Evan and his sister Audyn embark on a quest where the choices they make can tip the scales of life and death. Their only hope lies in learning magic, crafting, skills, and forming unlikely alliances, to confront an evil intent on destroying them.

They must rely on the power they find both within the world and themselves to survive, before they are locked in forever.

©2018 J.S. Grulke (P)2019 J.S. Grulke

Start of a Good Story

Quest Accepted seems to start out a bit slow, but builds into a nice story. The take on the characters being in the world and the nature of the enemy are a new twist. There's plenty of emotion and reason to get invested. This story is worth a listen, just don't give up in the beginning when you may feel slowed down or frustrated with characters.

Narration by Kieran Flitton is overall solid. He has enough range to help you differentiate between characters and conveys emotion well. The only thing that seemed less successful was fight scenes. I don't know if it needed more pauses or fluctuation in speed (or ???), but action sequences didn't seem to come as alive as they could. But again, overall a well done performance.

I received this audiobook for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Fun YA LitRPG Adventure

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

XP:Unlocked is a LitRPG aimed at a younger, family friendly crowd. LitRPG if you're not familiar with the term stands for Literature Role Playing Game. Basically it is story is told through the lens of playing a video game.

In this case the brother and sister have become trapped in a video game world without any memory of how they got there and in order to escape they have to complete their epic quest. They are assigned races and classes seemingly at random and it is fun to see them adapt to their role in the game, learning skills, crafts, spells, mastering classes while acquiring better weapons, armor and items while the dangers and the stake continue to raise inside the game and out.

The characters are relatable, and I particularly liked some of the side characters and companions they meet along the way as well as seeing how the different siblings adjust to the mechanics of the game.

The story is easy to follow - there are the quests each of the two siblings are engaging in and the occasional snippet of what is happening outside the game. We learn more about them and their plight as the discover it. By the end you come to see how they have grown and come to care about they world they inhabit as well as each other. Even if you are not well versed in role playing games you should be able to follow along.

There are some twists relating to what is actually going on and while this volume does provide a suitably satisfying quest there is a definite sequel hook set up if you aren't ready to say goodbye to these characters just yet as well as rewarding re-reads now that you know what is actually going on.

The narrator does a great job bringing characters to life, even small roles and uses several different accents as well as character voices. It was easy to listen to and I would be interested in hearing them read other books as well.

If you're new to the LitRPG genre this would be a great starting point for you or your kids.

Neat

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review. This was very neat. I liked that this LitRPG world was more generated for younger listeners, so no harems things like that. It gives a different perspective of this genre. very well done, can not wait to read more.

One heck of an adventure!

This story had me on the edge of my seat from the moment it started! The narration and imagery performed was absolutely amazing!

Can’t wait for book 2!

Great Young Adult LitRPG story

When brother and sister, Evan and Audyn, find themselves in an in-development virtual reality MMO game, they find that this game still has some things that need correcting. First off, they can't log out. Second, they can feel pain. In a fantasy world where everyone carries sharp steel and many can throw around magic, the game is not as fun as it should be.

To make maters worse, they do not start in the same area and quickly realize that they need to find each other if they have any chance of getting of this game. Their adventure starts to teach them confidence in themselves and their own abilities, and also that they can and need to make allies.

This is the start of a new series that is very young adult friendly. There is no language or "adult situations" that seem to be so common in LitRPG stories. Even proved to be a very interesting and enjoyable character. Audyn's arc took a bit longer to get interested in. Both her and one of the other characters in her arc were rather whiny and abrasive. They both got better as the story went on, but it was enough for me to be disappointed when Evan's chapters ended and Audyn's began

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.