Distopia

Land of Dis, Book 2

De: Robert Kroese

Narrado por: Phil Gigante

Set a thousand years (give or take) before the events of Disenchanted, Distopia tells the story of Wyngalf the Bold, the legendary hero renowned for ridding the land of Dis of the scourge of dragons. The story begins as Wyngalf, a young missionary for an obscure religious sect, arrives in the port city of Skuldred. Desperate to prove his worth to his superiors, Wyngalf finds himself drafted into leading a missionary voyage across the sea to the semilegendary land of Dis. Accompanied by a beautiful stowaway named Evena and an oddball goblin who has been shunned by his clan, Wyngalf is continually thwarted in his attempts to proselytize by various practical concerns - chief among these being the fact that the land of Dis is being terrorized by a fearsome dragon. Wyngalf realizes that in order to prove his faith and get Evena home, he must summon the courage and resourcefulness to defeat the dragon. But what if his faith isn't enough?

©2015 Robert Kroese (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

A good listen, though not as funny as the first

If you listened to Disenchanted (the preceding book, which is actually not entirely required in order to listen to this one as it occurs long before the first chronologically), you would come into this book expecting something hilarious. It's not quite that.

This story was a bit more serious than the first. It had its moments of humor, though, evoking thoughts of Monty Python's Life of Brian. The "unlikely prophet" was an interesting take, and the cerebral goblin who had to constantly apologize for interrupting and for having an intellect of his own was definitely good for some grins. Still, they're no Boric the Implacable, and the story didn't quite have the same...zaniness? I'm not sure. It was good, overall; it just wasn't quite like the first one.

Phil Gigante turned in an absolutely excellent performance, though. He's one of a scant few narrators that I'm convinced could read me the dictionary and make it entertaining.

Fun and on point.

I'm a fan of high fantasy and the Dis series fuses modern real world social, political, and economical climates with funny D&D type characters and settings. Very entertaining while presenting objectivity to an otherwise cut and dry genre.

more stories from the land dis

the land of dis has many stories to share with us and this is one of them. pretty fun book well-written characters and great narration

Another Entertaining Tale of Dis

I loved "Disenchanted," the first book in the Land of Dis series, and I wanted to love this one equally as much. Unfortunately, while still entertaining and at times exceedingly amusing, I don't think "Distopia" lives up to its predecessor. I quite enjoyed Evena and Tobalt, and even found the dragon, Vern, was a delight every time he made an appearance, but I simply couldn't get into the character of Wyngalf. In the first book, the protagonist, Boric, was often aggravating, but his willingness to partake in the adventure was at least redeeming, considering the audience is being asked to invest in his story. In this one, Wyngalf is simply... aggravating. I don't have a lot of patience for reluctant heroes who resist taking personal responsibility, and so his nay-saying and self pity quickly became obnoxious. Fortunately, he ultimately had little choice in the matter, and forces beyond his control kept the story moving because otherwise if it had been his choice, this book would have been a whole lot of nothing.

The story was still quite humorous, the overall plot interesting enough, and Phil Gigante's narration phenomenal, that I generally feel positively towards the book. I only wish the main character was marginally less unpleasant. In the end I'd still recommend this one, if for no other reason than listening to Phil Gigante is always a treat, with the strong caveat that the main character kinda sucks at being a hero.

[spoiler below]

Also, I HATED that Wyngalf and Evena end up together in the end - he made such a point early in the book about describing her as a child, that I was supremely disturbed when he later decides "oh, I guess I'm into her." Even if she's 16-18 (I can't remember if it said exactly how old she was beyond "a teenager") and acts mature enough to set out on her own, the switch from an adult looking down on a child to an adult interested in a romantic partner was unsettling for me, especially considering the book takes place over the course of less than two weeks. Of course, there really aren't any other women in the story, so if you want your hero to get a happily ever after with a love interest, the options are pretty limited in this one.

Good story, excellent narration

Book 2 of the series. Fantasy with a good bit of conedy. A good read and well worth it.