Revenge

Assassin's Wrath

By: John Elijah Cressman

Narrated by: J.S. Arquin

Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

They came for him, but they got his wife and daughter!

Gage Cross was a retired assassin from another world. A world he only vaguely remembered as Earth. Since being dropped onto this new world as a boy, he’d become one of the best assassins on this planet.

He’d left the life of an assassin behind—given all of it up for a woman named Alani and his daughter, Shaunna. He was supposed to live a simple, peaceful life far from the political intrigue of wizards.

Then his old life caught up with him. Assassins came. They burned down his house. Far worse, they killed his wife and child. Now, Gage will use every skill and ability in his arsenal to find the person responsible and make them pay—and no one will stop him.

©2022 John Elijah Cressman (P)2022 John Elijah Cressman

Sometimes revenge is best served hot.

This is one of those “Nothing left to lose” stories. Not saying it is not good. It is, and I am looking forward to book 2. Gage Cross was a boy pulled from his world (earth) to this new world where he grew up and “played” the game and with the “screens” and “quests” until he was ready to retire and have a family. But the game would not let him leave it. This is a slice of life and gamelit RPG that starts off making you feel for Gage and how and why one can and will go to their limits and beyond for the ones they loved.

Good story poor execution

Good story and where it was going, I just couldn’t finish because the author had to remember you in every single chapter that, his wife and child had been killed and he’s seeking revenge for that. You would think I’m exaggerating when I say that but believe me I’m not. How the story started also shouldn’t of happen because we now know how it ends, yes it ends where we started, usually by the time your at that point it’s the middle of the book, but nope the end.

I just couldn’t get past how repetitive the author was with so much of the writing like how he’s an assassin, or how he couldn’t get caught no matter what or everything was over. How surprised he was with being out of the “game” for 5yrs and how much things had changed.

The narrator was great other then he seem to get really quiet at times.

Interesting, but it stabbed itself on its own knife

This story was good but fell into the pitfalls that’s have plagued the fantasy genre for a long time.

Story:
Refreshing take on the “Outworlder” trope of the many LitRPG’s of today as well as the AI system which was very factual and need to know. HOWEVER, the quest system is extremely underused. You get it in the very beginning of the book and then in the very end. To a point where it skips a bunch of steps? It didn’t make sense. 50 chapters in and were still on the first or second goal and then it skips to 9. It just didn’t connect. It also skipped a major plot point that could have easily been a quest but was never used. So it seemed to me the rules of the Quest System weren’t fully fleshed out.

I dug the revenge plot line, I liked the magic system and how that was built into the world. I like how the MC wasn’t perfect. He was a man who cried and had fears, it felt 3-Dimensional. HOWEVER, most of the female characters are immediately described by their breasts and the two main female characters that the MC talks to for more than five minutes are sexualized immediately. They both try to “reward” the MC with sex after his heroic duties and it comes off all bad and completely takes you out of the story. The story doubles down to make a point and it’s just completely unnecessary. Frankly it ruined the book for me mostly.

Narration:
I thought there narrator was good when he was narrating. But there wasn’t much in the character voice range and it felt like they were always yelling at each other. Maybe that’s a sound mixing issue? I only mention because I felt it took me out of the story a few too many times.

Good story with some flaws (IMO)

I enjoyed the overall story and tone of it. Think John Wick type story.

Regarding the flaws, there is a quest system however it is inconsistently used and by the end I still had no idea what event would/could trigger a quest. Additionally, the main quest of the story simply jumps from part 2 or 3 all the way to 8 with no explanation in-between.

Another big issue for me was the fact that majority of the femal characters where presented in a manner that they owed sexual favors to the MC for saving them. If they didn't owe him any sexual favors, it included odd sexual references that really didn't add to the story.

The narration was consistent. While not a huge range for the variety of characters, I always knew who was speaking.

Overall worth a listen if you enjoy John Wick type films...and yes I'm aware those include plenty of inconsistencies themself.

Great book

Good stuff here folks. Lots of action, great storyline. Good narration. You won’t be disappointed with this purchase l.

Good Book

Was a very enjoyable listen, the fight sequences were very well written. Can't wait for the next book in the series to come out!

Good Listen

the story flowed well and the narrator did a good job. I'm interested in seeing what the second book will bring.

Fun Read

This was a LitRPG/GameLit book set on a different world than earth. The main character was abducted really young and had to carve out an existence in this new world as an assassin. He was one of the best, but retired to start a family. Life was good. Then assassins attacked him and failed. He sought revenge from that moment on, leaving bodies in his wake… only to find that the guy who ordered the hit wasn’t alone. That is where the book ended. Obviously setting it up for book two. This was an enjoyable read, with lots of action and not a ton of the normal LitRPG game stats clogging up the pages. Non stop progression of the story. Great descriptive writing. This book leaves the reader wanting to keep reading to find out what happens next. My favorite thing about the book is the main character's Shadow Abilities. They come in very handy in tight spots.

Fun listen

I enjoyed my time. I don't like how Amazon forces me to write words.