City in the Clouds

Rise of Kers, Book 2

De: Daniel Weber

Narrado por: Justin Thomas James, Jeff Hays, Annie Ellicott, Dorrie Sacks

Despite his victory against the Guild, Kers soon learns that there is now an even greater target upon his cloudy back.
Typical.

Then there’s the small matter of Marwan, the Dark Lord who wants to take over the world, and the Jade Citadel sortie that is on the verge of collapsing. Not to mention the fact that he now has to ‘get along’ with his neighboring core and deal with a mysterious orca-like monster that has started flying nearby…

Oh, and he also has a new floor to generate and fill with fresh challenges and mobs. Yes, creepy dolls that wear your friends’ faces will be included. Also, mastodons.

Will Kers learn to fly and save those who plumb his… erm, heights? Or will he crash and burn, a victim of those he cares for?

Two things are certain; Selena will get her pizza and Kers will only get weirder.

©2023 Portal Books (P)2024 Soundbooth Theater

awesome

story was deducted a star because it ended on a cliffhanger...

great book that builds upo. everything in book 1.
if you liked that, get this asap

SBT actually improved their performance from the first book...
among other things vex is now a little easier to understand while remaining the same little firecracker

Sound booth blew down the doors

I like this series a lot but the performance was legendary.
I can’t wait for an epic conclusion in the next book.

Terrible ending

The ending absolutely destroyed my trust in this author. That was the most distressing ending to a book I have ever read. But, ofc, it’s a cliffhanger. Idk that I’ll be returning to this series after that.

kind of imaginative, characters flawed

Sticking well to the dungeon core ecology of other titles, as always it's the choices that are different where things get interesting. Not very deeply are they, the methods/decisions, different but good characters and stories can do some serious heavy lifting.
The story is largely predictable with some interesting bits, the many interludes can be an unwelcome interruption. The interludes stick around way too long for what they add to the story/perspective; with the notable exception of the primary party who let's us experience the interesting elements of the dungeon.
The characters are the weakpoint here. Main character Kers is portrayed as forgetful and panicky. The other Dungeons are largely one note but more enjoyable when in the scene. Capital G god is incredibly reasonable at first before turns out they're awful, yet again. The Royals are fun, that confidence and competence would be welcome more in the story. Finally the elephant in the room is the abusive egocentric fairy Selena. Her constant outbursts, threats, cruelty, and unilateral decisions are not called out by any characters nor is she humbled. Her foul behavior pulled me out of the story on multiple occasions. She drags the story down too much, a more enjoyable gimmick than her could have gotten a +4 star rating.

She's not the first character I've seen with these flaws I can't quite understand this blindspot in so many modern stories.

Significant Audio Quality Drop

I don't know what happened, but this second book has a big change in audio quality. I listened to book 1 & 2 back to back and it's a very obvious change. The narrator sounds slightly garbled and like there's a blanket between him and the mic. Then, there's a lot of cut-ins and a post recorded audio that was added later where the sound doesn't match the original main narration audio at all, which makes it stick out a lot and the cut-ins happen all the time in almost every chapter.

Removed two stars for the production quality alone.

Story was great, narration was good-ish except for the production aspect. Not sure who's to blame for that.

The fairy got worse... but the story is still enjoyable

Medusa and Selena were pretty obnoxious both were just disrespectful and took no consequences for the behavior. Selena needs a rewrite, she really throws me out of my enjoyment every time she berates or whines at Kers.

Why Is There A Cliff?

It’s ok, definitely enjoyed other books in the genre more. Was a bit surprised while listening to the epilogue that there might be a third series thought this was the last in the series. But what I don’t enjoy about this book is due to the epilogue it ends on a cliff hanger….

Not as good as the first book

I had a hard time getting through the first half of this book, I must admit that I liked the first book more
It got better for me in the second half, ill see what the next one brings

Good transitions with interesting characters

It's a good transition with some good characters and shows great promise for the next book. It's interesting that they go from the main character to exploring more of the side, characters and dealing with the enemy

only a few chapters in but had to grab the first

I was gifted a code to review and the characters hooked me fast enough to grab the first book so I could listen to the entire story.