Axe Druid Omnibus: Books 1-3

By: Christopher Johns

Narrated by: B.J. Harrison

Length: 52 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

A tight-knit group of buddy gamers. A relentless galactic conqueror. One big ol' axe and a whole bag of magic.

The first three books in the Axe Druid series, a lot of epic adventure!

Chris and his friends had been hearing voices begging for help, but aren’t dreams supposed to stay dreams? When they finally answer the call, they’re pulled into a fantastic world with themes similar to modern role-playing games. The world of Brindolla. This is what every gamer has always wanted…right?

There's one major problem: War. The big baddie of the universe has come to collect another planet for his relentless march. The Brindollan Gods only have the power to hold him back for a short while, which they can only hope will be long enough to give Chris and his buddies a fighting chance. Either this team gets rid of War’s vanguard of minions and generals, giving the Gods a chance to keep him out for good...or war comes for Earth.

The group is ready to dive into combat, magic, and any other obstacles that come their way. No matter what needs to be done, Chris and his buddies will always do it together.

Buy the three-book boxed set today to listen to Christopher Johns' Into the Light, Into the Dragon's Den, and Into the Wild!

©2023 Christopher Johns (P)2023 Mountaindale Press

4 wall

very interesting story telling with alot of 4th wall breaking. in the end still a decent listen for sure.

best book since iron prince

This book is really good for details and it makes you feel like you are the person in the story

Solid series

Story progression is good
Narrator could be better ( his woman voices are kinda wack. Took some time to get used to)
If your looking for knock down action novel this ain’t it. It has more dialog, civilization, and crafting elements than fighting.

Story was still captivating tho and I was able to listen all the way through. I hope a sequel comes out eventually.

Absolutely wonderful read.

Only thing I caught is chapter six at time marker 27 hours and 40 minutes in the second book. The audio seems to jump back almost 40 minutes to before they entered the city.

Slow to start but picks up

I had a really hard time getting thru the first few chapters due to how slow the story starts, added to the fact that the narration is WAY slow. I had to listen to it at 1.5X normal speed, which is the fastest speed I have ever listed to a book before.

Fortunately the story line picked up and I got more into the story and the characters. I do have to admit, some points in the story hit me in the feels a bit.

I was kind of turned off by the author trying to break the fourth wall and interact with the listener, which was more prevalent in the second and third books.

Overall, this is a decent story and I will be seeing how it continues in the fourth book.

harem

I am not a fan of harem novels wish they had tags for that among other tags.

Now this is a proper Isekai RPG story.

I want to go ahead and give a review. Since I received this as a review copy; so I don't want to drop the ball. It's to good a story to not let other know who are looking for a new series to start. I've just started book 2. I just haven't had enough time to listen to this as much as I want lately. I will update this review once I've finished.

I have a pretty decent library of Isekai (that includes LitRPG). I have to say that this story does a great job of giving enough of the standard characters races and creatures to keep it understandable... while keeping it's story unique. Which can be hard to do with so much Isekai on the Japanese and now Western market. The world hasn't been explored much; but that doesn't stop you from realizing how big it is. So much potential for the future of this series. What has been explored is intriguing.

Most of the characters are being developed nicely. While others in the main party are still needing fleshed out. But I'm just starting book 2; so there is time to flesh out the rest of the team. But there is good effort put into developing side characters. Even ones who only show up for a short time. Just enough detail to make sure you remember them; despite their small part of the overall story. The main characters of the hero party are fleshed out pretty well though.

The story flows really well too. To me... it's the right amount of detail. There is plenty of details, so that you are pulled in immersively; without dragging the story down. Not always an easy balance to maintain. I love the characters and their growing abilities. There has been a solid job done on creating each current antagonist. Plus a quality main antagonist is sitting in the background, driving the peril. This is a must have for me. To me; the hero(s) are only as good as the main antagonist makes them.

The Author has a great imagination! The story brings the world and people/creatures to life. I don't want to stop listening. I quickly am imagining myself entering the world; and joining in on the adventure. Which is what a quality fantasy is supposed to do. I am already aware that I will be purchasing the rest of the series. There is no question about that.

So if you want to travel to a Fantasy and Fae world, full of action and adventure... then I recommend this series. If you are looking for a smut series; then this series is not for you. Which is something that makes it even better. It's not PG by any means. But the author hasn't included smut (to cover up for an inability to create compelling storytelling). Nor is it over-saturated with profanity. It is carried along by a great imagination, and great storytelling. Full of characters that you get to know quite well... and others that you want to learn even more about. A story that drives you to want more.

UPDATED: I have finished. And let me say: This book flows like a true RPG game. It has the main quest, with tons of smaller and side quests. While still filling in what's needed to get to know the characters, and watch them grow. Yes, it keeps with familiar beings and creatures (to keep it easy to follow). But also adds in a few unique ones to add that much more. But the adventure is almost non stop. No big lulls, that drag on forever. The antagonists continue to be diverse and more powerful than the previous ones. While still sprinkling in a few lower level ones here and there. The imagination of the author is impressive.

The story telling is very immersive. The language grew "a bit" more crude that I would like. But that didn't stop me from loving the story. The story has a great flow/pacing. It does a great job of giving the stat info that is relevant. Then moves on with the story. So many great characters that you get to meet and know all through the story. Watching the main group each growing in their abilities is fun. They each have their own unique way of building their abilities. Making each one stand out, while they compliment each other to make the team better.

The world has became huge and diverse. As well as becoming more than just one. With each world setting being unique and interesting. This would make a great anime series. I'm really wishing there was more than just 3 more books waiting for me in the series. I am getting the rest of them next. So glad I got introduced to this series.

Other than the over use of profanities; the only downside to this series is the narrator. Now he is NOT the worst I've ever heard by any means. But he still has a ways to go with creating and maintaining different voices. His range of voices is... limited. He also swapped back and forth way to many times from the actual voices he does. It made it a bit confusing at times when he swapped the 2 best voices he does back and forth. I'm sure it was an accident. But this should have been found when he was double-checking his work after finishing each read-through. It throws things off when the wrong voice is speaking another character's lines. It definitely breaks the immersion. But he does have a good strong and pleasant regular voice, and does a good job conveying emotions. The few voices he has are done well. It's just using the wrong voice so many times was annoying. That's why I rank the performance right in the middle.

Extra note: In the original release of this Omnibus, the end of chapter 6 of book 2 was missing. In it's place was the end of chapter 5 getting repeated. But as soon as this was reported... it was quickly fixed. So if you have read others mention this in their review; know that it has been taken care of. This book will NOT be a waste of your hard earned money/credit.

Friends in a new world

It was a little slow at the start, but it picked up. I really liked the Druid character and his royal girlfriend. We had a group of friends in a world they reached through their dreams, and there were some thoughts of their families on Earth, I hope by the end of the series, they complete their quest and are able to go home if they want.