Edda Gaia and the Origins of Ragnarok

Ether Flows, Book 2

By: Ryan DeBruyn

Narrated by: Steve Campbell

Length: 14 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

A school for pinnacle elites. The eldest ruling Planetary God. Ancient Guilds attempting deicide.

Azrael has chosen to take revenge on the newly formed guilds, specifically the ones that instigated the destruction of the Sovereign Empire. The plan is to take it slow and build his strength, but as soon as he begins farming for Etherience, Azrael is embroiled in the planetary schemes and guild machinations.

The politics and scheming is more complicated than he could have ever imagined, and now he must scramble to keep his newly won freedom…and his life. The only benefit he finds to being on a planet filled with the oldest and most cunning powerhouses? His eyes are truly opened to the special kind of irresponsible confidence born of speaking casually with a God, a unique class, and the Sovereign Halls teachings.

There’s only one hope: Azrael joins the Atlantean Academy, and bets everything on his connection with an entity he can’t hope to understand.

©2021 Ryan DeBruyn (P)2022 Mountaindale Press

great story

Ryan's writing has continued to get better and better. This chapter gives great depth and understanding on the series. Throws some Norse mythos in to the loop. You finally start to understand the bigger picture and some connects to other series in this world. I can not wait to see the next book in the series.

just awesome

I can't wait for the next book to come out in this series and the other. I can only think of one of them author who does something similar and both are done very well.

decent sequel that left me wanting more

Ryan jumps right in as if you just read the first book which I can't help but feel is a bit arrogant given how long it was between book 1 and 2 being published...
there is no attempt to remind you of what happened in book 1 or who the characters are...
this is the reason for the low score on story...
if you read book 1 recently, you will have a much better time than me...

Steve does an amazing job with what he has to work with and I truly enjoyed my time with him in my earholes

great addition

I would go as far to say this is one of the best etherverse books yet, really enjoyed it keep up the great work.

Story is amazing ...

I really dig both of the series Ryan has written however the person doing the reading is terriable constantly miss-pronouncing the main characters name is super annoying.

Another great read by RDB

Great story. Fun. Progressive story line. Would recommend. Also, big fan of the universe and how things are starting to connect! Excited to see where it goes.

Only weird thing is the age being 8 but looking 18. He’s a kid with a man’s body and being the MC he is “the ish”. Making these women thirsty. Idk. Doesn’t play a huge role,

Nice Continuation

This was a fun read. The character development and world building were good. A good book 2. I think it might be better than the first book.

Ehhhh....

tl;dr: meh. finished. won't reread. 3 (real) stars.

So, to start, I want to say I don't like giving less than 4 stars because I know how important these ratings are to lesser known authors and I want to allow for personal preference. I did finish the book. The story was fine.
That being said, I am skeptical I will continue this series. It has been quite a while since I had read the first book, but I found this to be a less enjoyable listen. I highly recommend rereading this first book prior to this one. There are nearly zero attempts to remind the reader of anything that happened previously or even who people are.
I'll start with what bothered me most. The dialogue is stilted; it's filled with exposition and often feels awkward or unnatural. I am extremely lenient when it comes to this issue. I love litrpg, and pulpy scifi/fantasy in general, so the fact that this stuck out to me was frustrating.
This leads me to my other main issue, references. The MC will compare things in the story to things in our world, things that he couldn't know because they don't exist for him. For me, it kept things tonally off and end my suspension of disbelief. Especially when sometimes our real-world items are then described.
Best/Worst example: a character gets a special meal. a character gets nachos. we are told "a plate of chips, cheese, ground beef and toppings" just... why?

Finally, descriptions. I had trouble visualizing scenes throughout the book. Occasionally, I would have to reread passages multiple times to understand what was going on. This happened most frequently during the battles, breaking up the flow and ruining what little tension there was.
I'll lump in the accents and character appearances here too. Many felt cartoonish, with the worst two verging on stereotypes, I could forgive all that if I could just tell them apart. By the end, I still had to use context and guessing to differentiate between two of the most prominent side characters. Luckily it doesn't matter which of them says what.

LitRPG + Mythology = Perfection

Ryan and Steve have done it again! What a great continuation to the Ether Flows/Ether Collapse universe.

Azrael is learning to adapt to a life away from the Sovereign Empire and becoming a bit more human (and less unfeeling robot, sorry Az) while adjusting to his increasing powers as well. I really enjoyed the school setting of this one and love the Mythology elements that are worked into the series.

Ryan's writing keeps getting better and better and Steve, as always, does a fantastic job with the narration!

fantastic continuation of the series!

Great story and narration!

The crew is back, and facing unexpected challenges!
they make it to a new planet and seek to delve dungeons to increase their power, but the politics of the guilds refuse to leave them alone. Seeking opportunities they join an academy, but will this be enough to free them of the politics of the guilts?

Steve does a wonderful job with the narration!

I really enjoy this series and can't wait to find out what happens next!