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War Aeternus: The Beginning  By  cover art

War Aeternus: The Beginning

By: Joshua Swayne,Charles Dean
Narrated by: Jeff Hays Soundbooth Theater
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Publisher's summary

Lee is a quiet and unassuming office worker who leads a life of solitude, comfort, and routine. Day in and day out, he shuts off his brain, keeps his head down, and goes about doing his job and minding his own business. That is, he does until a drunken god shows up randomly one day and whisks him off into another world, demanding that Lee serve as his pawn in a game between the gods. Now, trapped in a completely different world full of danger, magic, and creatures he's never imagined outside of fairy tales and video games, Lee has to figure out how to stay alive long enough to make it back home.

Soundbooth Theater dives into another instant RPG Gamelit classic in War Aeturnus. With this piece of reverent comedy and philosophy about the role of belief in our modern times, Charles Dean has filled a void in the world of Gamelit by creating a Candide for the genre. Not only will Lee's exploits with his psychotic sidekick, Miller, make listeners laugh and spit out their Mountain Dew, it may even convince them to get off the couch for a little while and explore the world outside of video games and fantasy.

The Soundbooth Theater team for this production:

  • Jeff Hays - Narration, Characters, Production Supervision
  • Dalton Lynne - Proofing
  • Alex Tate - Production, Editing, Mastering
©2017 Charles Dean (P)2018 Charles Dean

What listeners say about War Aeternus: The Beginning

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

For Beginners.

TL;DR It is a decent LitRPG. Chapter 8 and 9 are likely the highlights in my opinion.
Edit : Second book is much better and is full of interesting character development and an unraveling plot. If you like series, then this wouldn't be bad if you can get through the first book.

Problem 1: The Main Character - The first hour or so is indeed hard to get through. Lee, the main character, knows nothing. I suppose it is appropriate that someone would be disoriented after being plucked from their life, but it is exaggerated a bit too much for my taste. If you consider that he is an avid gamer, every gamers dream is to be in an actual game at least once, they should at least be able to cope or recognize the signs quicker.

I suppose the intro is the way it is for the purpose of explaining things to readers who have never touched a game before, but then why would they get this book?

Problem 2 : Narrator - Jeff Hays is a mastermind in voice acting. I love his voice range and control. My problem lies more with the fact that he mixes up the voices. He has a voice for narrating surroundings and actions and one for the main character. The issue is that when the character thinks or has an inner monologue, Jeff Hays swaps between the narrator voice and the MC voice. This presents the problem of not knowing the context of the information provided; If the character is talking out loud or just thinking.

It is more difficult to put these words on paper than to actually experience it. If the narration isnt something that you are avid about or are not a nitpicker, this will likely not bother you.

It is very generic in the sense of being whisked away to a different world, being trapped there, and having to survive or die for real. Nevertheless, after having completed ongoing series like "The Land", "Dungeon Lord", "Life Reset", "Unbound Deathlord", my standards are extremely high and this book is a place holder while I wait for the next book in one of said series. If you like this, check the others, I guarantee you will enjoy them.

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68 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

fast forward to an amazing story

the author does something rather amazing he allows people to make a choice do you want to listen to the character sheet if no fast forward and in doing this he gives the people choice of listening to his amazing story in two ways if you're the hardcore gamer who likes to listen to the character sheets go ahead do so otherwise skip the next chapter something else is by doing this we get to really get into what's like for mpc's show me how some people treat them as second-class Citizens While others treat them as equals and the effect that has on gameplay

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26 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The Best performed audio book I've heard.

I have over 300 audible titles and I have to say that the narration and performance of this book is one of the best I've heard. It's a compelling universe with a great story and awesome characters. I can't wait for a sequel.

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24 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

amazing imagination and theological insight

War Aeternus takes on the everyman imagination when it comes to how gods work. From the mind of Charles Dean comes a hilarious account of a god looking out for its offspring by taking him from his dull world into a game like world to break his mind free from living like a drone. depending on how religious you are, you may take offence but I spoke with Charles before reading this and I knew that his intent was not to offend. when someone thinks their thoughts are crazy and another friend tells them it's normal.... this is that friend in the form of a book. hilarious. entertaining. and down to earth. very much worth your time. recommended snacks while reading. bacon and blueberry waffles. and beer. lots of beer.

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15 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Don't recommend this one

Really struggled to get into the story. The story really never seems to get anywhere fast. It dragged too much and i got quite bored with the story.

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13 people found this helpful

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  • E
  • 06-22-18

Not a single likable character.

This book starts with a full chapter long prolog because the author is apparently super proud of his cliche framing device. It then proceeds to introduce the main character as a spineless lackwit. That's when I stopped listening because, honestly, why would I want to listen to that?

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

infuriating characters

Miller ruins this story for me. His ridiculous OTT zealotry gets grating really fast. It really doesn't help that his voice is modelled after Schwarzenegger, making it all the more irritating.

Lee is a terrible protagonist and doesn't help matters either. Him continuing to let Miller run his mouth is almost as infuriating. I found myself yelling at my phone like a mad man countless times: 'Shut him up!' 'Say something and stop internal monologuing!' etc

Finally, the RPG elements are super minor and inconsequential. This is a regular fantasy story that very lightly sprinkles on LitRPG elements - not at all what I'm looking for.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Performance Issues

The voice actor is not consistent between the narrator's voice and the main character's inner thoughts, which throws quite a few portions off balance. Fortunately, I did not find this to be an issue in the sequels, which significantly increased my enjoyment of the series as a whole.

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9 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

a very interesting story

a well written take on the reluctant protagonist, good game design and a nice premise on the world itself

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8 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Jeff Hays, what are you thinking mate?

Jeff — your accents are garbage, mate. Sorry to say it direct, but I can’t listen to this audio. Your narrator voice in other works is great — neutral and easy to listen to. What happened here? Your “southern US” accent is just ... not. Sure, you add a twang here and there. But tell us — which regional accent did you study & emulate for this professional production?

Next, there’s a character whose accent is described as a “mix between a British talk show host and a Northeastern American news anchor”. Yet somehow you voiced him as a mix between early Arnold Schwarzenegger(!) and a shitty brogue.

I’m upset to waste a credit on what might be enjoyable GameLit, but is unlistenable garbage. Condolences to the author — I’ve no idea about the story.

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7 people found this helpful