Pathways

Dark Elf Chronicles, Book 3

By: Dave Willmarth

Narrated by: Justin Thomas James, Jeff Hays, Laurie Catherine Winkel

Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's Summary

Mace and Shari continue to pursue their mission to eliminate the Black Flame. Nearing the city of Graf, they and the crew of the Sea Sprite were ambushed on the river. After suffering losses and stopping to make repairs, they have been approached by two drow thieves walking out of the woods. An epic battle awaits them in Graf, where they’ll try to eliminate Garya, the drow priestess who has become master of the Black Flame.
 

Griff and Lisa are leveling quickly so that they can join Mace and Shari at Darkstone. But they need to risk a trip to the real world surface for a food run, and are unaware that two monstrous zombie titans are awaiting them at the grocery store.
 

Another survivor is found! One with the skills and knowledge to potentially speed up the process of getting them all permanently uploaded into the game. But he’s far away, and facing real world challenges of his own.
 

The kingdom building continues, along with crafting, epic battles, diplomacy, new magic spells, legendary loot, and intrigue. But can all the humans survive the zombie apocalypse long enough to upload themselves?

©2018 Dave Willmarth (P)2019 Dave Willmarth

Not the end...

I went into book 3 expecting this to be the end of the series as a trilogy. While nearly all plot lines have been tied up nicely, there is still further to do and explore without giving away any spoilers! The additional real world characters introduced are just fantastic, adding to the complexity of the growing story. I will happily be picking up book 4 when available.

What an increible story

Just when the getting was getting good. Damn. Damn, damn, damn. I am going to start off this review with a disclaimer. This is the last book in the series, Master Willmarth will not be continuing his adventures with this world or these characters due to sales, and that is no reflection on the storytelling. This is one of the best series I’ve ever read, and a rare one in which the real world story was just as compelling, and maybe even more so, than the story set in the game. It was just intense and amazing and it gripped your attention the whole way through. Honestly, if you haven’t read there go and get them, even lacking a conclusion it is well worth it. Just please, do not contact Dave Willmarth and ask him to just pen a finale. I know, bold words for a one-eyed fatman who basically did the exact thing I caution you against to Charles Dean and his Bathrobe Knight Series. If you need to contact him, just thank him for giving us such an amazing set of books.

That said, DE 3 really does begin to blossom into a rough and tumble tale of survival, which can be heartbreaking, per the mother and kid scene, and adventure, per the MC setting himself up as the ruler of a new land. This book is like being in a knife fight. Some of the cuts are quick and painless, and others drive in so slowly that when you finally feel it it is far too late to do anything about it. Then there are stretches of furious flurries of strikes and parries that are fascinating to behold. No matter what you think the book is fun, but you are coming out of it bloody. That speaks a lot to Willmarth’s writing style. He knows just what buttons to push (Dakota) and when to hit them. He creates vibrant characters that you connect with so easily that it is scary.

This book we see the MC finally close out one of his quests, and then begin building a new homeland for himself and the oppressed people he suddenly finds himself surrounded by. Also, dangers in the outside world start getting a wee bit more dangerous for the survivors and there are a few close calls for everyone. That’s the saddest part, we were really getting some of the most intense writing in a post apoc world as you could get.

As a certified SBT product we get several incredible narrators to help board up the doors and windows against the zombie apocalypse. The first being the man known to the world as JTJ, or Justin Thomas James, the man with a voice like smooth bourbon on a chill night who narrates and voices the main male players. I personally am a huge fan of JTJ, and I am sad that he seems to be losing some of the best series. I know that this closes out the Dark Elf Series, Afterlife online is concluding soon, and He no longer does the Cherry Blossom Girls. At least he has the Hawke books and Archemi online to work with. He just does an amazing job. LCW, or Laurie Catherin Winkle as she is better known, voices the lovely ladies, and damn if she can’t be sexy or silly, or both at the same time. I always enjoy her being paired with Justin as the two have a dynamic chemistry that is hard to find. Laurie clearly has fun with the characters and is so easy to listen to. I could literally listen to her read the phone book to me. Jeff hays leaps in and plays a few minor NPC roles, and I like that he manages to keep a hand in each production of Soundbooth. Hays, as I repeatedly state is my favorite narrator and I am always overjoyed to get to hear his voice however limited an engagement it is.

Like I said, this is a sad thing to see end, but it well worth the journey. Final Score 8.4 stars. I will really miss this book.

Not terrible but some flaws might drivr you crazy

I listened to the 1st 2 books and loved the Concept. The over all story and performance are definitely not pad and I do enjoy the characters but there are some major issues.

1) I usually experience and expect higher quality audio from this group however for this book many many times the ending of a word is cut off and I can only blame editing because I highly doubt the narrator would stop speaking in the middle of a word. It is very annoying and distracting and if you listen for it eventually it becomes all You do and could easily have been fixed if they listened to the audio before releasing.

2) I don't mind that a main character needs to be very powerful but in books that are well done like the land you still believe that no matter how powerful this character is he just barely gets by or can still die at any time . Unfortunately mace makes the story almost unbearable because he is so overwhelmingly powerful and never struggles with anyone. He is a master Sorcerer and yet somehow has a rogue build as well with superhuman abilities. Can be invisible incredibly dexterous and it's just too much. There's no anxiety there is no struggle.

3) This flaw is so badd that it almost might be number 1. Mace is essentially evil and a bloodthirsty maniac. Every single time he speaks with anyone he is a bully and a jerk. I get that there are times when intimidation is necessary but he is so unnecessarily ignorant at times. Every single person he talks to he threatens to slit their throat. Not only that but what takes me completely out of the story is that someone as sweet as Sherry not 1 time in any of the books tells him to calm down or relax or is even shocked or outraged at how utterly violent he is. He slits people's throat rips out their hearts and front of them and never does anyone even say anything. It's simply not realistic. In every other book or story or movie or television show when a character acts this way someone would say something. I genuinely liked mace and in the 1st book. The explanation was that he had to pretend to be that way in order to act like a drow but it got so much worse to the point where I didn't even like him anymore and it was never even addressed

4) This last flaw is for folks that love LITRPG like I do. I love regular fantasy books but ever since this new genre I have really been fascinated with it. This book has an overall lack of leveling skill trees or any sort of progression. They are at times mentioned but it is almost like they are in the way because although this is presented as a video game it really doesn't act like it. In other books I got so incredibly excited when characters would level up and they would present a skill tree and almost like I was deciding with them what to get. There is none of that in this book and when it is mentioned it is so casually or the character has already gained 10 levels and they only decided to tell you about 1. Over all I was ready for this book to end and I'm not sure I would listen to the next out of anything other than obligation

I still enjoyed the zombie concepts and Griff as well as tex. This book is by no means terrible and there are a lot of areas that have pure potential. But this book definitely dropped the ball

Please Stop already!!!

Another series ruined because someone thought it was a great idea to put cheap distracting sound effects in the background of the narration. Also, probably because of the sound effects, the narrator sounded more like a amateur gold announcer.

Disappointed

The way this series ended was very disappointing and if it is over I wish that I wouldn’t have started it.

Dave does it again!

Great story and narration!

The gang is back and they come out of the gate swinging! The Black Flame is pure poison, and Mace isn't having any of it! With a kingdom to build, an evil guild to slay, zombies in the "real world," and a shortage of food - life is about to get a little hectic. Good thing they met a crazy Texan Orc who is willing to give them a hand.

I love this series and this book is just as good as the rest of the series!

I can't wait to find out what happens next!

Skippy! A Texas Gunshow, and Dark Elves!

The performance by Soundbooth Theather compliments Willmarth's writing style very well! This most recent installment in this litrpg series is just as captivating as the last two! Fresh and flowing the narrative keeps you hooked all throughout. Amazing part of this series is that both the "real world" and the "game world" involve threats to life and limb. A great take at combining the infected or zombies in the real world with classis RPG gameplay is a refreshing new look at the litrpg genre.

I like the sound effects

The sounds and background noises were lightly sprinkled in on this production. For me, it added to the enjoyment of the book.

This story is as great as the previous two and even more brutal when the MCs enter the real world. I wouldn't mind if author spent an entire novel on just the real world lives of everyone.

This series is one of those rare ones where I stop what I'm listening to and start these immediately.

Not believable, characters are just blah

Okay so in the first two books I absolutely loved the characters. You could tell that they were living in a hard time and you could relate with their emotions. With this book a feel like Mace and his constantly flip flopping of this I am a great guy but I can immediately just kill someone without remorse. That is not how it is in the real world your emotions don’t work like that. It really hurt my ability to relate to the MC and really turned off this whole book for me. Even someone with a military background who has been in war can’t just flip like that. So the book was average imo compared too the first two books. I hope it is fixed in book 4 and we get away from this unbelievable character emotional progression

This book is amazing.

This is an amazing book I can't get enough. I am very sad to see someone gave it a one star I can tell you that this book is definitely a fun ride and one that even after just finishing I still want to listen more. The stronghold is getting bigger things are settling in for some solid base building. The real world and the game are starting to feel like they are just as important. Get ready to love this book.

we need book 4

really wanting to hear the next installment in this series, from start to end it was epic

absolutely love this series

excellent addition to the series great character development and story content and excellent narration as always

Don't get this book, the Author has abandoned the

Don't get this book, the Author has abandoned the series
Don't get this book, the Author has abandoned the series

Well Sh1t--No!! I need more.

No spoiler, cliff hangar ending need more books in this series Please!! I want to know what happens next..

Excellent tale & brilliantly performed

Excellent tile brilliantly performed the only issue is that towards the end of the recording there are some sentences that of chopped off making it difficult to follow in some sections. But the story is fantastic and I cannot wait for the next book please Dave Willmarth Write more!