Days of High Adventure

By: Elliott Kay

Narrated by: Tess Irondale

Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's Summary

Gaming with friends offered what Amanda missed in her dreary college life: friendship and excitement, the thrill of combat for a good cause, and the chance to be a hero. Neither Amanda nor her friend, Eric, ever expected to face the suddenly real world of their fantasy adventures. But when a careless joke draws the ire of a dark wizard, both must rise to the challenge.

Leveling up has never been so hard...or felt so good.

WARNING: Days of High Adventure contains graphic violence, graphic premarital sex, graphic violation of college housing regulations, rampant geekery, multiple dismemberments, impalings, bad language, nudity, drug references, consumption of alcohol, destruction of private property, paganism, theft, arson, slavery, reptile-on-human violence, improper placement of hazardous materials, money laundering, illegal immigration, tax evasion, poor workplace standards, unwed cohabitating couples, kidnapping, assault under color of authority, bearers of false witness, human sacrifice, desecration of religious sites, unsafe work standards, uncredited film quotes, and references to games falsely accused of Satanic influences. There may be dungeons and/or dragons herein.

©2014 Elliott Kay (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Very fun read.

First, I wanna say that Tess Irondale, who seems to have emerged solely for Kay's books, or has adopted a new moniker, has given a fantastic delivery. Easily one of my favorite narrators now. If she did adopt a moniker for these books, I wish I knew what other name she goes by to track down more titles. I hope to see more of her here.

This is a really fun story. It has much of the whole "transported into fantasy world" trope, but the characters are good and the story fun and interesting.

Others have said the story is too short, and I think that's because we like the characters at the end. They're fun and interesting, they grow and become more powerful, they make friends and lovers, and, generally, make us eager to spend more time with them.

I disagree that it's too short because it's a complete story, and it's satisfying when you're done. Kay could have pushed longer but he'd have had to introduce a handful of subplots and I think the whole thing would have gotten convoluted fast.

As it stands, you'll have a really fun 4 hours, and those in the DnD know will catch a few references.

Every DM on the planet wants to do something like this, but I think Kay nailed it here. :)

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Visit another world, but don't stay too long . . .

Full disclosure here, this is a book that you might consider to be gamelit or you might not, for me there is enough to justify calling this story a LITRPG, even though it really skates the boundaries of the genre. Days is set in the real world, and focuses on a gaming group (meets criteria #1), the group includes several people, but only two of them are really relevant to the story. During the gaming session, the MC, a young lady named, Amanda begins to joke about the main bad guy’s name, Beldinab. She calls out to him over and over, like he was Beetlejuice, and the GM warns her not to do that. Later on, she does so again, while she is with another gamer, Eric, and this time Beldinab hears her and pulls them into his world. Thus meeting criteria #2 of gamelit rules. From there, the two become slaves and have to figure out how to escape confinement, and make their way back home. Sorta sounds like Criteria #3 to me. Anyway, the story is actually interesting and is told in a very appropriate amount of time. Any longer and it would have totally failed, any shorter and it would have missed the mark. The characterizations, story, plot, and pacing really flow. The only thing that threw me was the sudden appearance of the sex. NO, I DON’T look for disclaimers, or I would have seen that it had a warning about sex. Nor did I notice that this was the very same Elliot Kay who writes the Series Good intentions which is just chalk fulla naughtiness. I like to go into things blind, without expectations. The sex doesn’t take away from the story, nor does it overwhelm, but neither can I say it adds anything. It’s just there. There is a lot of character development for Amanda and Eric, and the story hinges on their growth. There is also a pretty kick butt barbarian babe who you should thoroughly enjoy. The world they enter is dark and drab, and starkly merciless. Which matches up to the description the GM laid out.
Tess Irondale does a pretty good job here. She has a voice for each character, and you can feel the disdain the bad guys have for the rest of the people round them. She doesn’t amaze me, but the job is handled well, and there are no issues with the audio.
Like I say, this is a close call, but for me, it fits the Lit Criteria, and the deal sealer came when Amanda realized that the magic spells were laid out exactly as 4th edition spells were in her game. Personally, this is more of a 6 out of ten stars, but I would be happen to revisit the characters, and see how they handle their return to our world, or fare in a return trip back to Beldinab’s digs. Give it a try, it won’t overwhelm you, but it is good for a getaway of a few hours. Even though I did receive a promo code for this review it in no way influenced my considerations of the material, and in fact, inspired me to be more honest. Getting a code generally makes me harsher as a reviewer as I am more often concerned what someone like Me will decide based on my review.

If this review helped, please press the YES below. Thank you immensely!!!

As seen on the LITRPG AUDIOBOOK PODCAST, please check it out on Youtube.com

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

great

hopefully this book becomes a series I want more I actually like the story it's a very enjoyable story it's definitely short but really good pick it up if you don't like it return it but if you're into Dungeons & Dragons and Conan or any fantasy of the type definitely get it

I came in with too high of expectations.

I think I came into this book with elevated expectations. After the unexpected success of NPCs that I reviewed last year, I was hoping this would be a similar thing, a fantasy novel based on the idea of real world characters interacting with a gaming world and having real world consequences.

Don't get me wrong, there is no problematic elements in this book. There is nothing I find objectionable (unlike the Slave Harem idea from Wild Wastes), in some ways it was worse, it was just meh. It felt like there wasn't enough details, but the weird part is I couldn't tell you what details were missing. On top of that, it was all the standard tropes, nothing that interesting or new.

The technical writing is fine, the story is clear (mostly) but it just doesn't have a spark for me. I do realize the fantasy world in the book isn't quite the niche I prefer in fantasy, but it still just didn't have a spark. even the sex scene wasn't interesting to me.

I guess maybe I should be happy this was a short audiobook (a little over 4 hours). So it didn't waste too much time.

Not bad, not good

If you could sum up Days of High Adventure in three words, what would they be?

fresh, predictable, swift

What do you think your next listen will be?

something more "deep"

What does Tess Irondale bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

great performance, more lively than if read by myself

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes, but also because it is only 3 hours long

i like it but with cavets

The narrator is great and gives characters with quirks and personality. The story has good action and moves along. Problem is story is too short and characters become strong too fast. Still story is good for the length presented

Great novella.

The story was so captivating that when it ended I found myself wishing it went on a bit longer. It starts off a bit slow but quickly draws you in so give it a chance. Great read and characters for day-dreamers to find a connection with. The narrator isn't the best but will grow on you.

Too short :-/

I wish it were longer as its got a fun premise but like this review, it's not.

I truly loved the story

The narrator was superb I only wish it was more indept and a follow up story.

Totally fun romp!

Grabbed this audiobook on a random sale. Short but sweet fantasy romp, filled to the brim with silly tropes, and totally right up my alley. Sometimes, you just wanna eat cake. Sometimes, you just want to hop into a fantasy world, meet fantasy babes, fight wizards, and high-five your inner teenage self. I will absolutely check out more from Elliot Kay. Great and engaging narration by Tess Irondale as well. One small note: The accent Irondale used for Fallon at times reminded me of Borat (No offense, Ms. Irondale). Made me chuckle a couple times, but it didn't take me out of the story.