Eden's Gate: The Ascent

By: Edward Brody

Narrated by: Pavi Proczko

Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's Summary

Book 6 of the best-selling Eden's Gate series!

As a newly anointed member of the Mage's Guild, Gunnar begins his training under Darion and Eanos. Resistance, staves, and ranged fighting are all staples of any mage, but the pride of being a member of the guild is access to a strange device that helps its members locate areas of powerful magic. 

During a routine outing with another mage, a group of mysterious Magi attack and know more about Gunnar than any outsiders should. They know he's a Reborn, and they know he stole the Fellblade from the Sparrows. Worse, they've captured someone he loves. 

The Magi want a weapon - an ancient weapon - for her return. 

Gunnar must ascend to new heights and come face-to-face with some of the most powerful creatures in Eden's Gate if he's to get another chance at a weapon like the Fellblade. Can Gunnar beat the odds, or is the likelihood of death too much for even the whole of Unity to overcome?

©2019 Edward Brody (P)2019 Edward Brody

A waste of time and money: Book 6 (with spoilers)

***Spoilers***
***Spoilers***
Give up on the stupid love triangle. You wasted my money and time with that crap. You spent all the book on how he feels about one chick or another an STILL HAVE NOT GOT TO THE POINT OF RACHEL. How much time was spent on this BS by now with no end in sight or conclusion. Is this just going to snowball in to a harem series ? yes no? Was this a lesson on how to fleece readers/listeners of cash? That is the only thing i can think of. I had such hopes that this book would be better but nothing absolutely nothing was done in this book was worth the money. I mean it feels like the beach/bath house episode in anime where they use fillers. No story or personal progression but we get to enjoy the characters but no substance.
I hate that crap.
So many things you describe only to ignore them later and I can guarantee other readers who are gamers are screaming at their headsets. If you are self editing your own stuff STOP and get a real one or replace the one you have now. If you are not using beta readers PLEASE START. And use ones that will be honest with you because some one should have told you this was a waste long before i had to do it here.

Basically anything that brought you back from book 5 was missing in this book (unless it was the 3.5 way love mess). The ending was so bad it is not even worth it and you should feel bad about that. I replayed that chapter 4 times to be sure. And yep it is that bad.

Flat out 0 progression. Re hashed story lines we knew from the previous books. MC regressed into a useless whiney lump of indecision and teenage hormones. Just no dude no. You see that and the love bs is what is driving me away from your books. I don't feel you are going to improve. 6 books in and most of the actual plot is still vapor.

Nothing in this book had Pizazz at all.

The narrator was amazing and the only reason i did not give you full 1 stars.

19 of 21 people found this review helpful

Gunnar is an idiot, also the Sizzler needs to stop

So I haven't finished this book yet, but I'm so frustrated that I have to write this review. It's been a while since I listened to this series, and I forgot how badly the author makes Gunnar just repeat the last thing someone said to him as a question. The last thing as a question? Yes the last thing as a question, and it's really annoying. It's really annoying? YES! It's really annoying.

He's been like this for several books, but it didn't really get bad until the last few books. The last few books? YES! I get that the author needs an excuse to explain things to the reader, but there are other ways to convey confusion than this. Other ways to convey confusion? YES! He could simply have Gunnar say "Huh?" or "What?' Or "What do you mean?" Any of those would work. Any of those would work? YES!!

Plus, for Gunnar being so familiar with video games from earth, and using that knowledge to inform his actions in Eden's Gate, he's apparently an idiot when it comes to narrative/story structure. An idiot when it comes to narrative/story structure? YES!! Characters will act in ways, that are PAINFULLY obvious as to why, and Gunnar is just....oblivious, ALL THE TIME. All the time? YES ALL THE TIME!

I would be fine if it was just an occasional thing, or if he learned from his past idiocy, but he never does. He never does? NO! HE NEVER DOES!! His brain seems to only operate on a surface level of comprehension, and he seems to be totally clueless to the importance of those like him (Reborns) in that world. The importance of those like him in this world? YES!!
So he just is constantly flabbergasted, and completely incapable of comprehending when some group is taking action, and showing agency, because he apparently doesn't think this is something that makes sense. Something that makes sense? YES!! Despite multiple instances in previous books that illustrate the NPCs are more than capable, and willing to do things on their own agenda. Their own agenda? YES!!

It's just, SO frustrating, So frustrating? YES! I mostly enjoy this series, as the interactions are fairly good, and enjoyable. Except The Sizzler. Seriously, screw that guy. He's just so annoying I wait for him to die horribly over and over. Die horribly over and over? YES! (I'll stop the repetitive questions at this time, as I think I made my point)

The author doesn't seem to understand relationship stuff at all. All the interactions in this semi-harem lineup for Gunnar, and his reactions to them, are juvenile at best. And his depiction of what is possibly an LGBTQ character is....really bad. From how the character acts, to how Gunnar reacts to him, and the painfully ignorant assumptions Gunnar makes about his motivations.
If the author is trying to portray Gunnar as a complete idiot, then mission accomplished. But I don't think that was actually the intention, it was just the execution is really bad.

This is something of a multi-book review, as I'm thinking back to the previous books, and remembering they were very much like this as well. I'm not sure if I will continue to follow this series, to be honest, because I've found myself genuinely frustrated, eyes rolling to the sky, and growling out loud in frustration at the things Gunnar does. It's just....such an annoying turn of events, and a cumulative set of bad writing choices that is seriously starting to make for a frustrating read.

8 of 9 people found this review helpful

Bipolar

I really enjoyed the other books before this, however this one was not good. The MC can't decide his own personality. Is he a bitch? Is he the type that gets mad and ignores his comrades for no reason? He goes back and forth on different personalities in this one. Also I feel the author is feeling some pressure or something from his publisher because now it seems like he is throwing propaganda in for no reason. It feels like he is forcing this black vs white elf thing for no reason and he adds a gay character but for some reason has to be very specific about how he is okay with him being gay. Like if your going to put a gay character in and the MC has no problem with him being gay then don't make a point about it. It just feels like he is throwing stuff in to make a few people happy and messing it up because he doesn't know how to do it.

12 of 14 people found this review helpful

Just like the previous book but worse

Everything wrong done in the previous book 10x is in this book. The MC has 2 brain cells and the author just loves to put the MC in impossible situations and then have the MC defeat it just for him to lose everything he worked for. In all honesty this book has near 0 story progression and it's just sad to see such a great potential story be thrown into the dirt like this. The events that happened in this book are incredibly forced. This will be my last on this series. May god help you if you decide to continue.

24 of 29 people found this review helpful

Very Disappointed

I found this book to be no improvement in the character development of the MC in fact he stepped back to idiocy. The story was absurdly filled with nothing to add to the overall story arch. The gay / bi-sexual character was not an elegant addition to the characters. If you are going to add such characters do a better job of character research and character development. The obsession disorder of the MC is borderline creepy his inability to pick a partner is disturbing. Especially when the one character the MC risks everyone's life for is an under-cover sheet wearer with more character flaws than a golf ball has dimples.

I really get that these books are not intended to win Pulitzer prizes they are just supposed to be simple entertainment that reflects some RPG game mechanics in literary form but I have to say this book is nothing more than a filler for the series and a waste of time if you really like the RPG genre and you want to be entertain PASS on this book.

11 of 13 people found this review helpful

Spoilers ahead !!!!!!

Ok this book sucked !!!!!!!!! To much romance and the MC constantly goes from smart to idiotic in every book there no progression in the story or loot and the bad guy get away in the end what a surprise !!! Honestly I loved the previous books but this one sucked!!!!! So much!!!!! Sadly this series had a lot of potential but it’s gone down the drain.

13 of 16 people found this review helpful

Spoilers ahead!!

I love the story and the idea of this book series but I'm tired of Gunnar's stupidity. Half the book he's training his mage spells which is all well and good, it helps the character progression, but when he's forced into life or death situations, especially when NPCs are involved, he doesn't whip out his sword and go to town. He tries to wait it out and use his seriously underpowered mage spells to fight monsters and other people that are way above his power level instead of going straight for the kill with his sword skills, which are definitely his strong suit. Even after his elf gf gets kidnapped and they search for an ancient weapon, he's still just using his staff and spells. I spent half the book yelling at him "Gunnar wtf are you thinking?!?!". All in all, the story was okay in my opinion but Gunnar is limiting himself for no reason when he should be putting it all on the line if he really cares about his friends.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

this is his worst book yet

for some reason he decided to make his main character into a retard. I wish I could get my money back for the book

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

Great build up but the ending

loved these books. Though by the end of it I was disappointed with the way certain spells get forgotten in crucial moments. Also don't enjoy the scaling of a characters strength at random points to make the story go much faster. I felt the depth of the story lacked in this book. I'll still listen to the next ones. I just hope the depth gets tweaked a bit.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

save a city, save a friend, save yourself, save...

its nothing new from previous books ... its always save something ... i just want something normal or that progresses a long story line this author never does

7 of 10 people found this review helpful

Another great development

A nice progression to Eden’s Gate - the story felt a bit weaker overall than previous instalments but still very enjoyable and I am eager to dive back into Eden’s Gate for the next one.

Only critique would be when the author used ‘could care less’ rather than ‘couldn’t care less’ several times.

I was expecting the Magi to be the rest of Sung’s teammates so was pleasantly surprised to find it wasn’t as predictable! More please :)

Brilliant

Brilliant book just like the last 5 of them, had some nice surprises in it.

Great performance as ever by Pavi Proczko, but the only reason why I gave the performance 4 stars instead of 5 is because you can easily hear when the different takes for lines where being pieced together due to some erupted clipping at the end of some words.

Apart from that great book and cannot wait for the next one. This book and series is a must read for any rpg or fantasy fan.

Predictable same old

Predictable same old stuff...everything looks bad, everything gets better, then goes bad and ends up all good again with a lead onto another book. I enjoyed the first 3 books and it built on slowly but now the main guy is turning into a superhero with all the toys. I have given up with it now.

We all love Edward brody

Obviously 🙄 Edward brody is the best lit RPG author of all time say anything else and your wrong

Perfect

From start to finish I'm gripped.. Cant put it down. And the author really knows gamers too

Eden’s Gate

I messenger Edward Brody on Facebook just saying I stayed up until audible took my £14.99 a month subscription to get the book. He replied to me saying he hopes I enjoy it! I completely enjoyed it and thought it was brilliant. Thrilling and gets the mind racing at times! The only fault is I always want more, 11hours for me isn’t enough!!

Pack Proczko is a great choice or narrator and clearly puts effort into it as well.

9.5/10. My absolute favourite listen yet of an Lit MMORPG series.

I can only hope another will be out soon!

Brilliant!!!

I have listened to all the books and this one is just as good as the rest!! Amazing series!! Cannot wait for the next installment!!!

Interesting book

Mc doesn't think past some areas... Join because later he can leave.. Give a artifact to someone for a girl without thinking on the repercussions... Come on he is a guild leader right?? But it's a fantasy world I love agreeing or not want more.

awesome as always

love all the books and love how the character development is making me want to know more awesome litrpg

one long quest. zero progress

i thought the voice acting was great but the main character was making daft decisions. the behaviours were on the verge of cringe and overall it felt like there wasn't much progress. the story doesn't seem to go anywhere fast until the end. i love the world. but i was left unsatisfied. however i will be continuing these books.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful