On the Shoulders of Titans

Arcane Ascension, Book 2

By: Andrew Rowe

Narrated by: Nick Podehl

Length: 24 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's Summary

Corin Cadence finally has a firm reason to believe his brother, Tristan, is still alive. Unfortunately, finding more information isn’t going to be easy. Tristan appears to be entangled with a clandestine organization that calls themselves Whispers. And Corin’s last brush with the Whispers didn’t exactly end well.

As much as he wants to follow that lead, Corin has more pressing problems to deal with. Sera is still suffering from a mysterious malady that has stolen her voice and her magic. Corin knows that a portion of that is his fault, and he’s determined to fix it. His mother is still off in another country, and there are growing odds that she’s involved with a conspiracy to overthrow the visages.

Corin has also been branded with a new magical mark on his right hand - one that even veteran climbers don’t seem to recognize. He’s going to need to figure out how it works, otherwise it could be more of a vulnerability than an asset.

Corin still hasn’t finished his first year at Lorian Heights. If he fails his final exams, he’ll be sent off to the military and lose his chance to investigate his brother’s fate. And finally, there’s the issue of enemies. He might have made a few of them.

The biggest problem? He’s not sure if Jin, once one of his closest companions, is one of them.

©2018 Andrew Rowe (P)2019 Podium Publishing

Fantastic, in more than one sense

It isn’t often that I encounter fantasy with so many passing nods to nerdy tropes. It’s even less common that the work normalizes inclusion. Not only is Corin likely Ace (possibly spectrum?), but non-binary folx are a normal part of this world. This book also addresses some of Corin’s trauma at the hands of his garbage father. As a genderqueer ace person myself, I’ll definitely be keeping my eyes on this series.

Great Story. Distracting elements.

Author deeply interested in pressing an agenda within the story. It was very distracting.

Ending seemed rushed and a bit inconsistent with some of the "power level" rules established throughout.

Nick could read me a cookbook and I'll sit for every word.

Fills a void.

I was super excited for the second book in the series with the ramp up of the previous. I just couldn't get into this one the same way. There was interesting magic, a few exciting scenes, but it was also very fluffy and dragged in many parts. Corin can get very annoying, and it starts to grate on you. I'm not saying to skip it, but don't expect the same excitement as the first book.

A great continuation, just as good as the first.

First off, I think that the other readers who are giving this story 2-3 and even some 1 stars because they are complaining about the political view on genders have completely allowed their prejudice to cloud the splendor of the story. To be clear I am a straight man and literally could not care less about gender politics. For people on the fence about this because of those reviews, I would like to offer that the entire portion other people are complaining about is all of 3-5 minutes long and is literally talked about twice for less than 3 minutes each time. Although I can clearly see how this reflects the authors views and the current political climate I am amazed that people are giving this excellent story such low reviews for all of 4 minutes of audio and one character being nonchalantly referred to as they or them instead of him or her (literally completely unobtrusively) and in addition to that although it was not the most graceful way to include a quick opinion the author does use an at least semi viable way to bring the subject up and uses it in the context of the story. It still feels a little bit forced but I don't think it is as horrible as some reviewers would like you to believe. If you are like me and don't care much for what people want to call themselves or don't really care about politics and other peoples made up problems then i think the story is well worth listening to and is a great successor to the first, and the issue that other reviewers are bringing up is not even enough to make this 4 stars instead of 5. It's like literally .00001% of the story.

As for the actual book, if you liked the first one, you will like this one. More of the mystery unraveled! More mysteries introduced! Epic battles! Structured magic! If you liked the first one this is easily 5-stars. I love that the main character uses intelligence to solve issues with a limited set of hard rules and tools. It's so different compared to some books where the character has a ton of unfair advantages. I have listened to tons and tons of litrpg and although this is a bit more light-rpg I think that this is one of the top books and is very entertaining on top of being well-written, much moreso than many other books in this sphere. Highly recommend.

WhooooHoooo!

Amazing! Fantastic! Extraordinary! And any other words of excitement and awesomeness. Well worth the purchase.

What happened?!

The first book was amazing. This one however felt like a veggie burger, no meat.

When does the plot start?

Returning this book as around 10 hours in, the only thing that's happened is a never ending series of duels, along with Corin practising to increase his mana (or whatever it is).. Even with narration increased beyond race-caller speed I just can't take it any more.

The prospect of a longer version of (something like) book 1 sounded good. Unfortunately this isn't like book 1. It's a book about a level-up grind, without the interesting bits to go with it.

1 Star and returned for something less painful.

Bad story

Nick did a amazing job however the book is just bad. The story is kinda boring and the main character has no real depth.

Eh...

This book was disappointing after the first one. Never hooked my interest. Also I am all for characters with diverse sexual orientations, but I do not think that that should be a characters defining characteristic. It feels like the author would rather push a agenda rather than tell a story.

Fun and Interesting take on LitRPG

This is a fun second book that I enjoyed. As others have noted, the characters can fall a little flat, and sometimes the story seems to needlessly meander, but I still think it's worth the time. I like the authors take on the encounters the characters go through, and their ability to overcome obstacles with more than brute force. Cunning and intuition are rewarded just as much as hack and slash problem solving.

All of the comments about the "political SJW being shoved down your throat" stuff are grossly overblown. Yes the author has a character that uses genderless pronouns. No it isn't shoved down your throat for a full chapter. It is introduced in a single exchange, and then later in that chapter the reasoning behind it's introduction is tied in as a part of the world's Pantheon. After this, it's utilized as the characters would view it. Socially normal. That being said, if you're the type of person that's triggered by the bare mention of gender neutral pronouns, don't get this book.

Great story, Main character got on my nerves

Start with the good -
I like the story. The magic system is interesting, although I think the whole 'School' thing is a bit too Harry-Potter-esque, but I did like that it was basically a literary dungeon crawler.

Now for the bad part - Sorry Author.
The main character was really really annoying. I reckon the author was projecting his own insecurities into him, but I don't know.

So the main character is socially awkward, and doesn't understand social cues and avoids other people if he can. Doesn't drink at all. Doesn't really care about romance or sex, because he's focused on his selfless goal, and intellectual pursuits. He hates physical contact - Not a big deal normally, but it's mentioned literally every single time someone touches his shoulder or he takes someones hand. He is smart - as can be seen from the stuff he does, but his school grades don't reflect that because the teachers and exams are biased, and don't take note of all of the new discoveries that a mere teenager is making (another annoyance) in a world that has had this magic for hundreds of years.
Basically, he is the personification of the standard Redditors self-image. I think my main point was that a lot of these traits don't develop the character in any positive way. They just make him sound whiney and annoying and none of these traits help to move the story along at all, other than to 'ex machina' the reasons why a teenager who is living away from a pretty strict and oppressive home for the first time isn't checking out girls/boys of their own age like normal people do. Some parts feel forced enough that is almost like the author only realised the omission later, and needed to show-horn in an explanation and so used his own experiences to fill the gap. This may go a little ways in explaining how the only people who get along with the main character is a family member, an old friend, a social outcast and an exchange student - Everyone else in the school is depicted as sneaky/suspicious or a straight-up jerk.
Then there is the gender neutral stuff. There was a whole section where it's explained that some people choose their gender and it's normal in their country. Same as the main characters traits, it did not add to the story at all. It was a pointless affectation which was clearly the author using the book as a soapbox for his own direct opinions - It was just so..... Out of sync with the universe.

All that being said - The Narrator is amazing, I forget that it's one person doing all the voices sometimes!
I'm getting the next book in the series now, as the story is good, and I'm invested enough to see past the main character!

It’s fine, Nick Podehl is a BIG plus.

The story is fine, although Corrins behaviour can be a bit frustrating at times. He gets easily sidetracked and his social awkwardness can be a bit annoying at times but I guess that’s the way Andrew wanted it. My two favourite characters are Lord Teft and Karis and Nick have them the perfect voices. Overall the book is fine, after reading book one I don’t imagine not reading this one as it answers a few questions from the previous one, it’s also quite long which was a definitely a plus for me. The only thins I would change would be the MC but besides that everything would stay the same.

good listen

ill be short here , the first book started so badly i wondered for a while if i should get this one . Iam glad i did it was way better than book 1 !

excellent!

highly recommend for any Harry Potter, Grimnoir fans or other magic lovers.

Fantastic concepts, few funny moments as well as thrilling. One you'll find difficult not to binge on.

this > Harry potter, love the magic system.

came from furnishing the light bringer series. wasn't disappointed. brilliant. funny and interesting. onto the next book!

Fun and interesting

The second part of the series was just as good as the first one.
Some parts were more interesting than others, but overall it was a pretty good experience
Nick Podehl did a very good job with narrating, but that shouldn't be a suprise at this point.
8/10 would recommend.

good book maybe not great but I enjoyed it!!

perhaps not the best book ever written but I really enjoyed it. Good narration.enjoued the humour, and liked the characters.worth a read,/listen.

Wonderful Continuation of the Series

Andrew Rowe managed to write a great follow-up to the amazing Sufficiently Advanced Magic book. Just as gripping, just as satisfying and with more character development that just adds intrigue to the overall story.

Part of this series success in my eyes is Nick Podehl, who I think may be my favourite narrator. He brings such uniqueness to each character and his accents are wonderful. This was a great listen and I can’t wait to jump on to book 3 in the series now!

Good sequel!!!!

Love the story, but was a little bit disappointed with the direction the romantic storyline is going. Still an amazing story can't wait to listen to the next one!

Loved loved loved

Just so so good! I love the magic system in this so much and there is a perfect mix of fighting and politics. Also, a real challenge for fantasy is making it epic enough and that is definitely achieved with the levels power between the characters.
Most importantly, the narrator has done such an exceptional job that I am genuinely blown away! The amount of clearly distinctive character voices and accents is just jaw dropping.
I listen to multiple audiobooks a day and for the first time in over a year I had to drop the others to listen to this full time. Exceptionally entertaining.
Thank you