Going Rogue

By: Drew Hayes

Narrated by: Roger Wayne

Length: 15 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's Summary

Adventuring is a costly affair, and while the tolls are often paid in blood, gold can drain away just as quickly. The party's trek out of Solium and across the lands of Alcatham has left them with only a handful of gold between them. Fortunately, they have drawn near Camnarael, Alcatham's capital, where all manner of quests - and rewards - await. But all is not as expected in the capital. Unusual occurrences have been happening throughout Camnarael: figures in the shadows making unsavory bargains, attackers harassing innocent parishioners, and adventurers from all over the land gathering to partake in a Grand Quest offered by the royal family. Most curious of all are the rumors that speak of a strange artifact serving as the reward for this rare and legendary quest...an artifact that sounds just a bit too familiar to the former NPCs.

©2016 Andrew Hayes (P)2017 Tantor

Great continuation of the series

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, but only if they listened to the 1st two.

What other book might you compare Going Rogue to and why?

none really. This is the continuation of a great series and it feels like it could be ongoing thing, which is great because there's so many aspects they could explore or pathways they could go down.
I don't really listen to fantasy books, but Drew Hayes is such a great author which is why i gave this series a try. Was glad i did, however it means i haven't really got much to compare it too.

Which scene was your favorite?

No particular scene, just the overall plot construction. For example why does the mage selling stuff along the way purposefully give Gabrielle the axe that takes blood and life?, the girl that sells Russell & his sister the latest module of the Spells Swords & Stealth game, and the company behind it all. It all sounds really intriguing and i will look forward to the next instalment.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No extreme reaction. In fact at the start i was reluctant to listen to it because the genre of this book is more pure fantasy. Whereas the last few books i listened to were Sci-fi fantasy, and i wasn't quite ready for the change. But once i got back in it was great. There's little explaining of what happened in previous books, each character has well developed back stories that so far we have just heard the tip of the iceburg... and it's just overall a great story.

Any additional comments?

Drew Hayes is now my favourite author. I would highly recommend anything by this author, including even listening to him in podcasts and interviews talking about how he writes or constructs all the different books he's writing.
Every single book i've listened to of his is fantastic. I normally don't like fantasy books, but this one is intriguing and even exciting. The twists and this latest plot directions.. even though you could see coming was great!

6 people found this helpful

Never a Full Moment

I must admit, I wasn't expecting the tale to go this far. I was not only surprised, but pleased as well. Hayes has put together a group of characters that you can identify with. My fear, as the series went on, they they would become just another group of adventurers. I was not disappointed as the characters maintained their solid backgrounds and proved true to their core.
The other side of the fantasy role playing coin was just as exhilarating. Although it was roughly reminiscent of the book series, Critical Failures, it departed sharply from the vision of ALL players being foul-mouthed jerks, to show most are actually heroic and caring without being overwhelmed with hack and slash mentality. As a gamer, I applaud the author showing a more realistic view of great gaming.
What can I say about Roger Wayne? He is a joy to listen to and his portrayals of each of the characters brought a gleaming, brilliant light to the printed word... like magic! He could actually teach a few things to many of the audiobook narrators out there about character separation, distinction and actual performance.
Not only do I recommend this book and the series of which it is part, but the author and narrator. They seem to work very well together as a team. Wayne is also highly recommended by me and I suggest seeking out the many other books he has done.

8 people found this helpful

3rd book in my favorite guilty pleasure series.

Can't wait for the next book! Perfect fantasy escape. Entertaining and fun. Makes me want to play DnD again.

7 people found this helpful

Such a Fun Series

I really enjoy the D&D type of genre, and when an author can incorporate real people pulled into a game world, and do it well, the books are just good reads. Drew Hayes does this in this series.

The characters are interesting and diverse, the story is captivating, and the narration is very well done.

I highly recommend this series if you enjoy the genre.

2 people found this helpful

Liking this series more and more

Book three and I'm looking forward to more. It was a bit of a rocky start to the series, but with each passing book the characters in both worlds are getting more and more fleshed out and in depth. The forward facing stories have a typical and yet atypical path and the back story gets more tantalizing.

Don't read these thinking you are going to get a revelation in storytelling that will garner those elite artistic awards that float about for scifi and fantasy tales very deep and obtuse or abstract and psychological. This is at its core a fun and interesting new look at a world (well, two really), where the player and the game finally meet and have to come to terms.

Book three takes us on another adventure into well, the hall of adventurers that leads to sprites and wolves and yes, there may even be dragons. Intregue is light, as is politics and cleverness, wit and wisdom is key.

We get new characters to work with, previous villains rear there heads and odd magic changes the futures for some yet again.

it's fast paced,. It's easy to read. It's well written. It's well read. I am very much looking forward to the next book.

2 people found this helpful

A fun series ramps it up!

The funny, intriguing, and engaging tale that started with NPCs continues beautifully in this third installment. The unfolding of the background plot drew me forward and left me eager for the next volume. The great cast of characters gains depth and becomes even more delightful. The writing keeps a great pace with Drew's particular turn of phrase. The narration is excellent and just plain fun. Highly recommended.

2 people found this helpful

AWESOME

What did you love best about Going Rogue?

THE QUEST THE CHARACTERS ALL OF IT

Which character – as performed by Roger Wayne – was your favorite?

ALL OF THEM BUT I'M FALLING FOR THISTLE

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

ALL OF IT

Any additional comments?

WHEN'S THE NEXT!!!!!!!!!
HOW MANY PIECES OF THE BRIDGE ARE THERE? WHAT'S WITH GABBY'S AX? WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO RUSSEL AND HIS PARTY? AND WHO IN THE HELL IS BROKEN BRIDGE PUBLISHING? N*E*E*D T*O K*N*O*W!!!!~!~!~!!!!!!!!!!!!

5 people found this helpful

Drew and Roger crushed it again.

Loving this series. Nice balance of humor, RPG tropes and fantasy. Can't wait for 4!

6 people found this helpful

A continuation of a GREAT D&D adventure!

I have to admit right off that I am a big Drew Hayes fan-girl.

These books, honestly everything he writes is fantastic. He has a way of turning the typical tropes of any setting on their head and makes you rethink what you though you knew about being a nerd, gamer, geek, dweeb, whatever. Being a lover of fantasy for decades now, and devouring so many creations from that setting, its fantastic to see a new perspective, or old perspectives made new and different.

His characters are always believable, relatable and engaging. You can actually see some character set in their old ways while their fellows progress and grow. The story is rich and wonderful. The reader does a good job on this series as well, pacing, voices, timing, all good.

I would highly recommend any Hayes novel

1 person found this helpful

Great fantasy story

Narrator is fantastic, gives good personality to each character. Good story overall, can't wait for the next one

1 person found this helpful

Books keeping up high standard

This book was my favourite in the series so far. I enjoyed the addition of the perspective of the the 2nd group playing. Great narration and storytelling and you I found myself finding anytime I could to listen.

Great book

Second reading and I still absolutely adore this book I can't wait to see what comes after the next one.

3rd Part of the S,S & S series - Still going stron

A great idea with cracking characters, the whole series has been a joy to listen to and I eagerly await installment 4.

An interesting take on the LITPRG and fantasy genre, from the NPC's point of view.

Another excellent story.

this is another great story and I look forward to the next book when it comes out.

starts slow but then gets rolling

starts of slow with a lot of exposition but later on gets it's groove.
all together I enjoyed it a lot

Great Adventure

Loving this series and cannot wait for me. was really happy to see the third book released and I would say it was better than the second.

keep up the good work!!!

Great fun! A must for any D&D fan

I bought the first book knowing nothing about it or Drew Hayes, thinking it would be some poor D&D fan-fiction. i was SO wrong.

I loved all 3 books and really hope there's more coming!

Absolutely brilliant story and very well performed

I have thoroughly enjoyed this series and found it to be a wonderful introduction to Drew Hayes. His style of writing is fantastic and I am thoroughly looking forward to reading (and listening to) even more of his books. I hope he writes more of the Spells, Swords and Stealth series as it is absolutely awesome!!!!

Well worth the the time.

After the enjoyable, but perhaps somewhat slow, second book in the series, Going Rogue picks up the pace - and keeps it throughout - despite being considerably longer. Longer perhaps, but it still seemed to finish all too soon.

As expected the characters are developed, and all three groups are given the limelight. If you've been reading the series thus far, you're unlikely be be reading a review of this installment (as you'll simply have just bought it!) but in the interests of not giving away any spoilers, the forces behind Broken Bridge Publishing continue to work their mysterious plan. Still, I have no idea what that plan is, but with more pieces of the bridge "in play" the pace - and stakes - are increasing.

Now I just need to find another series to immerse myself in until book 4 is released.

An improving series!

What made the experience of listening to Going Rogue the most enjoyable?

Going Rouge builds on the world created in books 1 & 2, keeping the elements I enjoyed the most, however in Book 3 Drew really takes the time to develop the storyline with more care. Its almost as if he wrote books 1 & 2 as a sideline distraction, then thought 'Oh, these aren't actually too bad, I'll give book 3 a proper go :)

What other book might you compare Going Rogue to, and why?

There's a fair few LitRPG books out now, try Alterworld series by D. Rus (the crazy Ivan as I like to think of him :) or search for Cosimo Yap, like I will be doing if he doesn't hurry up with book 2 of ''The GAM3'' Grrrrr...

Which character – as performed by Roger Wayne – was your favourite?

Roger Wayne (apart from sounding like he should be narrating Westerns :) isn't my favourite reader. That being said, he is good enough that at no point did he distract from the fun of the story, sometimes, that's all a listener can ask for.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Don't expect high literature, its a book with dragons and half Orcs for Pete's sake. It is a decent romp through the genre and a bit of escapist fun.

Any additional comments?

The length of the books are increasing and they are much the better for it, looking forward to the next installment :)