Initialization

Paths of Power Series, Book 1

By: Sean Barber

Narrated by: Roman Howell

Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

A mid thirties truck driver must make hard choices on his quest to get home to his family while the world as we know it comes to an end. 700 miles, no truck, and just his loyal dog to accompany him, can he survive in this new world? A world where The System spawns monsters and mutates plants and animals to absorb and refine essence? Let us find out.

©2022 Sean Barber (P)2022 Tantor

intro

as a truck driver that listens to this genre of audio-books loved and instantly connected to the lead character lol. can't wait for book 2!

it's has the makings to be a good book

it's has the makings to be a good book I like where the Arthur is going hoping he keeps it going

New to the litrpg genre, loved it …..

I am new to litrpg genre. But I can totally say I am addicted.

I started listening to this book while driving to SLC from Denver. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I got into the book. The drive helped me see what the main character was seeing only opposite.

Can’t wait for the second one.

Keep them coming Sean Barber!

I was put off by the reviews

I will have to do a clarification review here because I was put off by the reviews and hesitated getting/starting this story.
First they are technically true. (at least the ones I'm going to focus on, there might be others that I didn't notice, or just don't bother me)

Let's start with the Christian Hate, There is a guy in a small portion of the book (I think he might be in 2 chapters) that is a bad guy, and uses christianity and his position for his own purposes. It is actually pretty realistic in human behavior. The story isn't claiming he's bad because he's Christian, it is he is an a-hole with power, and he happens to be Christian.

The reviews made it sound more targeted than it actually was.

Second, was the gender identity stuff. Ok there is one character that shows up, and has a minor role in the story. I didn't like the character either. Honestly just spent the whole time crying while their young sibling had to deal with everyone. Actually I think it was handled decently. It was actually such a minor part of the story it shouldn't hold any real weight, except that they will probably be in book 2 and we will have to deal with them again. Like I said, I didn't like the character, I think the sibling was like 12 or something, and if you are going to make a kid take care of you because you are too caught up in your own head, I can't really like you. (Honestly should have been crippled or something so it would make sense.

That said, I enjoyed the story and the abundant casual references to other books. I rather enjoyed the journey with the MC. And while the idea of dealing with one character more is slightly irritating, it is nowhere near enough for me to drop the book or hesitate to continue the story.

It was tough to clarify things for fence sitters, and not do any spoilers.

Went from good to mediocre.

I enjoyed the story for the first 3/4, but unfortunately the need for the author to virtue signal just breaks me out of my immersion. It's almost like the author felt he needed to flesh out the book, and threw in some unnecessary and unlikely drama based on current day SJW hot topics that would immediately become irrelevant in a true apocalypse situation.

There's nothing wrong with the narration, but there's nothing good either. It's just mediocre.

Good book

For the most part, I find this book enjoyable. However, I must say that I find some reviews regarding the behavior of some zealots towards women and those individuals who are LGBT rather peculiar because those individuals were very cruel towards those people. Furthermore, if we, as the listening audience, are honest with ourselves, part of this book reflects what’s happening in several states across the country. We don’t have an apocalyptic event that justifies such behavior. Let it be noted that if this occurred, it would not validate that type of brutality either. My only legitimate criticism of this book is that a great deal of it is filler regarding leveling up; however, I will say that this frequently happens in litrpg books.

To much virtue signaling.

Basically the author didn't do anything special in the book and a vast majority of the book is spent on the author showing how virtuous his character is. I get the feeling that there is a lot of self projection between the author and main character. most of the virtue signaling feels out of place and disconnected from what the story is doing. It just seems forced. The biggest problem is the distain the author clearly shows at the end of the book for a particular religion.

Initialisation 4.5 star

Picked it up on a whim and waiting for some pre orders like Randidley Ghosthound aswell as the third book for the Infinite Realm series by Ivan kal to name a few that are amongst the top listers for the litrpg genre Atleast of the ones that will be released next. Anyways thought I mention for few reasons That’s if you have the same taste in books you can take that into account when deciding to give this one a try. All though I don’t compare them in anyway to this book the same can be said in comparing the two books I mentioned aswell. Neither here nor there cause this wasn’t as good as them and even with the other books that I give the same highest salute too. You still can’t ever fully compare them. There just to uniquely different.
As for this book well with in the confines of the rating system. Which I’ll let go of for future reviews aswell as the hundreds I eventually mean to go back to doing with the past. This was a pleasant surprise as you can see I’ve given it four stars across the board it’s not on top tier but for hidden gem of not thinking much going in. I was pleasantly surprised with how entertaining it was. Nothing flashy just steady as she goes with just more depth to the elements the further in it goes. Hopefully the second book will continue with its course at the least or perhaps it will possibly take off and really kick some ass. Worth credit though for all typical litrpg lovers.

Good one

I found it entertaining and definitely scratched that litrpg itch but it did have some moments that made me cringe also it will probably get a lot of hate for the religious nut jobs and the trans teen but to me. it just shows that the author lives on current times and writes accordingly

3.5 stars rounded up.

There were so many references to other Litrpg series, and inside jokes that I sometimes had a hard time deciding if this was an homage, a love letter, or a parody.

But I did enjoy reading it and will most likely be reading the next one.

I did NOT enjoy the narrator on the audible version. I frequently found myself wondering if he had difficulty saying more than 6 or 7 words at a time, as he frequently paused in the middle of sentences for no apparent reason. I was reading and listening at the same time, using whispersync, so I know there weren’t any commas or other punctuation that indicates that he should have paused there. Also, with the way he frequently placed emphasis on strange parts of sentences, it changed the meaning of them entirely.