Beyond All Expectations

A Science fiction fantasy LitRPG Series

By: Michael Chatfield

Narrated by: Tristan Morris

Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

The event of myths and legends has started! The first spawn points have started to open, issuing forth creatures and people that were banished from Emerilia long ago.

Dave and the Pandora’s Box group are advancing their plans and building projects as fast as possible. When an opportunity arises to take their projects to the next level, they’re going to have to use all of their tricks and crafting abilities in order to seize it.

The Stone Raiders and the Terra Alliance that they have formed will undergo its first baptism. The time of peace has ended.

In this event, they need to be the strongest to protect what they care for. Either they will die again and again losing levels and people of Emerilia, or they will be able to stand, their strength growing to new heights.

©2017 Michael Chatfield (P)2018 Michael Chatfield

Better but annoying and frustratiing

It bothers me how the narrator says "tube". He also still can't say "woohoo" correctly.

I will start with the good. The first half of the book is full of action and dangerous situations. There is a no nonsense feel and things get done without any fluff being added in. (The fluff comes back though) This is where the positives stop so hold onto your pants.

First off, the amount of repetition it infuriating. Starting with the the way the narrator talks, his inflections, and the pauses in between words leave so much to be desired. Throughout the books he doesnt change the way his characters talk. This wouldnt be a big issue, Except the author uses the same phrases and expressions dozens of times, even hundreds of times, throughout the series.

Information is repeated and reiterated multiple times through each book. It is redundant and annoying that I have to sit through the information again and again. Next there are the character sheets, I have said it once and I will say it again, it needs to be managed. 4-5 minutes each taken out of my day for a simple two or three things changing is absurd. State the highlights and move on. (Dont get me started on the class quests and castle descriptions).

Next! The sense of danger is gone. For how much the author says "Emerila is in danger" or "The fate of Emerilia will be changed forever" doesn't add up to anything. No one is really injured or dies. Where is the sense of dread and loss I felt at Boran Al's Citadel? Or even when facing the Lich in the Alef college? No one is in true danger and that takes the excitement out of the story. Even one characters brush with death was swatted aside by literal plot armour. I could see it a mile away.

Moving on to the baby. Dave and Dea's kid, why is she here? She has added nothing to the story except maybe one heartwarming exchange when she was born. There were no problems with the pregnancy, the baby wasn't kidnapped, the baby never even had a damn fever. There is no worry! It pisses me off when there could have been such emotions produced if something happened to the child during pregnancy, the rage Dave and Dea would have if the baby was kidnapped, or even the simple parental confusion and worrying over the baby having a fever. As far as I am concerned. Koi is a useless and completely neglected character and plot point.

As a side note I think Fire and Mal's child's name changed from Daniel to Desmond between book 7 and book 8, but I may be mistaken.

Concluding... I like series instead of novels.
This series has taken a lot of my time but my heart is barely in it like it was in the beginning. It may seem like I am looking for things to find fault with, but after listening to 8 of these books, they just seem to jump at me one after another. Even for all of its faults, I still find myself smiling and enjoying the book at times, making it all worthwhile. In for a penny in for a dime.

TL;DR : The narrator is lacking in his performance and the story is a sense of "Shock"/"Wow" factor being rinsed and repeated. There is no sense of danger or real threat. The author seems to be just prolonging the books. I have mildly enjoyed the series and recommend it if you enjoy long winded stories. I will continue out of etiquette, however I do not have high hopes for the later books.

Why is the story less about Dave???

I’ve really enjoyed the series, Michael Chatfield is a phenomenal writer, but why are we separating from Dave? There was very little interaction with his character....I hope that on the following books, he returns as the main character. Still a good book though.

Pre-review

Reading the reviews is sometime hilarious. I know I am still going to be annoyed by the 5 minute character sheet reads, adjust a few stats right back into another 5 minute character sheet read. That is absolutely horrible and probably annoys a Lot of people.
That being said I am just purchasing book 8 right so I guess it wasn't annoying enough to keep me from finishing the series.

One of the reviews by Kindle Customer titled "a great story" who is reading a science fiction Litrpg book complaining about the science? magical coding and spells are cool with them but not how they handle Hydrogen. LOL!! BTW, from reading the review I dont see the issue with the science. Hydrogen is/can be solid, it is one of the lowest density solids. Yeah you have to get it down to −434.45 °F for it to be a solid but I don't see an issue with that on another planet. I guess I will have to listen to the book to figure out what the gripe is, cause from the review that is exactly how Hydrogen works or could work.

I will update the review after the listen is over. Can't wait to start

not my favorite in the series so far

narrator read almost the entire book like it was the last chapter it got a bit annoying other than that good way spend a couple of hours

Good but...

have you ever watched a show that you love just loved and the same thing happens alot i.e. the good guys winning all the time? by that I mean you know they are going to win no matter what? that's kinda what's going on here. I love the series the only thing is there isn't enough doubt being sold to convince me things are more on the edge and you dont know which way the scales are going to tip

what a sorry sack of soggy crap.....

I don't even know where to start. This series started out with promise but has devolved into a mixture of repetitive boring crap and a sappy romance novel. There are so many scenes of cuddling, kissing, snuggling, looking longingly and deeply into each others eyes while he wraps his big strong arms around her. touching her so deeply to the center of her very soul. It makes me want to vomit. Michael Chatfield needs to move this story along and stop trying to make everything so deep and meaningful. I honestly don't know if I can finish this series. Books 6, 7, and 8 could be condensed down into one book.

Great series great voice actor

so glad that I discovered this series. I know the whole thing is finished but I'm really enjoying the voice actor and and patient enough to wait and hear how this whole thing finishes.

This is a good series!

I have liked these books and I am looking forward to listening to the last three when they get recorded! Keep up the entertaining work and never stop writing books that make people feel good at the end of each one.

Another solid entry in the series

Warning: Spoilers in the last paragraph.

As the pre-penultimate book in the series, a lot of setup was done, while filling the gaps with large and small battles, after the buildup in the last book it felt a bit deflated. A necessary evil in a tale being told in 10 volumes.

Having read them as they were released originally (rapidly released, Chatfield produced a book a month I think) it is good to see an editors work in the audiobook... 'tis but a scratch :). The narration is the same excellence I expect.

I just enjoyed the book overall less than I wanted.

Love the OP crafter taking on all challenges. Knowing the ending, i would have loved to see the last three volumes of the series told over at least five.

Consider the pacing. A full book for becoming a dwarven master smith. This book works through all but two major enemies of M&L, birth, expanding operations to two more planets, firehosed Ashal Kingdoms introduction and status with 3-5 more major allies to the alliance, forging a new WoP, then Daves full circle to Rockbreaking comets. Heh, complaining Id like more is it's own endorsement.

one of my favorites

I love the series. one of my favorite ones. I've listened to it more than 15 times.

want more!

brilliant never thought that when starting the first book i would fall in love with a book series as much but have to admit this series has done it and fits so many genres sifi, gamer lite, fantasy, adventure, comedy and even romance and never gets to a point where one is over shadowing the others just the right blend cant wait for the next book to come out on audible want to finish the series as soon as possible