Coming Together

Descend, Book 2

By: David Burke

Narrated by: Daniel Wisniewski, Rebecca Woods

Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

One dungeon floor down, but how many more to go?

Jay and company have survived the initial stages of the experiment. They have had to overcome everything from their dinner trying to eat them to murderous psychopaths trying to carve out a private fiefdom. Worse, they aren't even aware of the impact the dissent among the aliens running this experiment are having on them.

Now, all the survivors seem to want a piece of Jay, which when they are a bunch of hot girls, doesn't seem entirely bad. He just has to sort out who is trying to manipulate him and who wants to be on Team Jay - all the while, finding a way for humanity to survive.

©2020 David Burke (P)2021 Podium Audio

overwhelmed by internal dialogue.

pretty good addition to the 1st book, but i am exhausted with his internal strife over the situation. i understand he walks the moral high ground. it was established early on, i don't need scene after scene of it being discussed either in his head or verbally, just let his actions tell that story.

Book 2 another awesome dungeon level

So I really enjoy the story, Jays group continues to grow and the threat of the forlorn becomes real. You will not be disappointed by the narration as they did another amazing job

Great book, great series.

If you liked the first book you'll like this one. Great series, can't wait for the rest of them to come to Audible.

A long way from home

So the story is great, hybrid fantasy fights with interludes of sci-fi. New questions arise from the ending. if you liked the first keep going. I know Jay will appreciate it!

can't get enough!

these two do an amazing job! with the voices. the story line is very interesting. if you enjoyed herald of Sheila. you will enjoy this!

Excellent 2nd book!

Great story progression, I truly enjoyed the pacing of the story. The characters are dynamic and diverse and the narration is top notch! A wonderful story and a wonderful experience.

It takes way to long for the MC to get interesting

One problem that carried over from the first book is the MC's attitude about teaming up with women. It takes nearly the entire book for him to kind of stop crying about having to take on new teammates, even as the other teams are growing as fast as they can. The end conflict was glaringly obvious, not just from the beginning of this book, but from the first. Not just for the reader even, since the MC had his problem spelled out to him multiple times by multiple people that he trusts, and each time he would either get mad, wallow in self-pity, or just be an idiot and not understand plain english.

That said, it is better than the MC being a womanizing douche, but too many authors like David Burke feel the need to make their harem protagonists hate their own situation in order to justify them "deserving" their relationships. Daniel Schinhofen (amazing author) has similar issues with his MC's hesitating because of not wanting to be a reprobate, but they aren't in situations where their lives are being put in immediate danger by not expanding the polyamory.

Going too far to self-flagellate and moan and whine in order to make the MC 'earn' having a harem is also problematic, because the message seems to be that it's suddenly ok for them to have a harem because they are just so damn unhappy to do it, and put it off, and encourage other guys to take more women so that they don't have to. It's cringeworthy, and especially awkward when you have an extreme premise, like in this book, where their lives literally depend on it. There is no "deserving" a harem, it is inherently unequal, and no amount of being a "nice guy" suddenly makes the situation equitable. That's why we need crazy situations like in this series in order for any kind of non-asshole to be in one. But if you find yourself in a life or death situation where yours and everyone's survival depends on you doin' the dirty with more people, and literally every partner you have is begging you to take on more willing partners, and you aren't manipulating anyone, then maybe just bite the bullet and take one for the team. Because letting everyone die so that you can white knight your way to feeling good about yourself is so much more respectful,

In short, while I appreciate the attempt, this intended noble quality that might be annoying but character-forming in other books is just asinine in this contrived setting, and the MC comes across as a dim crybaby who is fully aware that he's making it more likely that the women he's supposedly trying to protect will get mistreated by others and die.

But, uh, I recommend it, it's definitely better than most harem-fare out there. I just wish the MC was less frustrating, especially since it is easily possible to conceive a character that does recognize the problems with, and attempts to the best of his ability to address them with a harem relationship while taking into account the pressures dictated by the plot, and not sacrificing narrative in order to over-establish certain character traits.

Every change sparks new hope

Loving this series more and more as I continue to listen. The little peeks into the future don't give the whole picture, but it definitely makes one wonder what changes sparked the new future.

Book 3?

Great book!! I can not wait for book 3. This book drew me in and I became more invested as it continued.

Epic AF

I was soooo hooked from beginning to end, especially when that Can't Understand Normal Thinker Jasmine finally got tossed like a moldy salad. Such an amazing story and amazing voice acting and narration. On to the next book!!!