Picking Up the Pieces

By: Prax Venter

Narrated by: Christian Fox

Length: 10 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's Summary

After escaping from the clutches of his demanding AI assistant in succubus form, Mark was thrust into the Crystal Heart gameworld after it had been left running for hundreds of years. Tasked with building his team and healing the corruption caused by the two warring artificially intelligent entities, Mark heads out into the unknown to enthrall compatible fighters and figure out his next steps. 

With their new, magic compass in hand, Mark and his beautiful Enthralled begin the search for the scattered pieces of the broken Crystal Heart. The journey will send them to the far corners of the gameworld to face challenges that test their strength, their courage, and their bond.

As their adventures unfold, Mark begins to worry about what will happen to his cherished friends, teammates, and lovers if they actually succeed.

Warning: Contains graphic sexual scenes.

©2018 Prax Venter (P)2018 Podium Publishing

More than I hoped for

The action in and out of combat was more than I had hoped for. A great sequel to the first book and filled with so many of my personal fetish’s that it was almost required I listen by myself. If ya get my meaning. The only way it could have been better is if the narrator was female. Christian was awesome but the more erotic a book is the better with a female voice.

dick, pussy, now you know 1/3 of the book

This is bad. So here is the layout of the book. go out of there hideout, fuck now kill something. Go back to there hideout, fuck. It reads like a 15-year-old boy wrote this. There is less of a story than the first book. But I know that you read the first book so you're going to get this one. Good luck I do hope you like but I could not take it.

Too much sex

I never thought I would ever write the words in the title, but this book is less a story and more a porno novel. Admittedly the author has a wide variety of sexual descriptions but the amount in this book leaves little content to move the story along.

Female narrator needed

The story, book and premise was hot, and very interesting, with just the right amount of story and erotic tension between the main Character and his harem, but my only complaint is that it was read by a guy, I prefer these types of stories narrated by a woman, would make it that much hotter.

Excellent 2nd book in a powerful series

I want to start by apologizing to Prax Venter for me taking so long to get to this. I really wanted to, and then after I did I wanted to save it for this episode of the show. Now, last time he gave me some flak for misspelling the names of all of the ladies in his book. So, first, thanks for actually reading the review, and second I work in audible format, so I took a shot and did it all phonetically. You hafta cut some slack sometimes.

I really liked the first book, it had one of the best time compression uses I’d seen in LITRPG, and I thought it was smartly done. Also, having the MC sort of wake up in the middle of a groundhog day styled replay was neatly done, too. So, after the first book I was expecting some big stuff, and man Prax didn’t let me down. I think book two is an improvement and that it shows some great development. The characters get a chance to grow and come into their own. I also think that Venter streamlined his writing style as nothing feels like it doesn’t belong. Everything is there for a purpose, some significance, or deeper meaning. I’m not saying that you’ll get an existential crisis from reading the book, only that the writing improved and stays on point. Venter doesn’t stray far and afield, he gets into it and remains on course.

So, how naughty is it? Well, we get frequent and descriptive sex breaks that do not detract from the story. It never came across like it does in some books, for example I listened to an audiobook called The Last Colossus which is about some people trying to survive a Megaldon attack, and they get onshore of an island that then has a volcano beginning to erupt and they decided to have sex as the lava flowed around them. Sex scenes are all about timing, and that was poor planning on the writer’s, Michael Hodges, part. Venter doesn’t have that issue as th sex scenes feel natural and fit nicely into the story.

To avoid spoilers I will say that the ladies make some discoveries about themselves that makes them not to happy, although I suspect that there may actually be a real-world resolution coming in book three. The story is progressing quite nicely and I can’t wait to see where it goes, although I also want to get my hands on the audio of Irreverant Jack, too.

Fox does a good job on the narration, and I won’t complain about the pronunciation of areolas this time around. I will say that he is one of the few men I have heard narrate a naughty scene and didn’t make me a little uncomfortable. I do prefer to have my naughty bits read to me by a lady if possible. Otherwise, it is a lot like me reading a Penthouse Letter to myself out loud. It doesn’t turn me on.

The story and characters have rally grown and shown improvement, and I really like where the tale is going. Final score8.3 stars.

Not sure what I expected

After being pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed all the characters in the first book; I had to listen to the second one. This is a series of books I plan on following and one that I hope doesn’t end anytime soon. It would make a hell of an anime too.

good book, odd ending.

not bad not bad not bad at all. also they changed the ending thingy to some British guy, what's that about?

What a roller coaster ride!

A wild ride of action, passion and ecstasy, culminating in an unexpected twist... one hell of a continuation that leaves you asking what's coming next. Can't wait for the next adventure.

Second Book Same as the First

Christian Fox turned in another great performance.

The overall story by Prax Venter was enjoyable. However, I noticed the same problem in this book as the first book. Too many pointless sex scenes that added nothing to the characters or story. More than once I found myself going, "Didn't we just finish a sex scene?" when a new one started. After the half way point of the novel, it began to feel like the scenes were just there to pad the length of the book.

Quest Complete?!?!? Or is it????

Such an amazing follow-up to a great story! Strong female characters take the lead and we see the team grow into a "family". With a home. Great twist at the end, but don't fret, we received closure. Author is a pro at this genre. So glad I found this story. Definitely worth the credit. Enjoy!


Not a children's book. Please 18+ only.