Sworn Guardian: A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure

Forbidden Magic, Book 1

By: T. L. Branson

Narrated by: Vikas Adam

Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

Gone. They're all gone.

His level. Magicka points. Memory. Everything is gone....

Waking aboard an unfamiliar ship missing all the attributes he spent years earning, Aren remembers little except that his sister, Claire, is in mortal danger.

"Save me. Save the Empire." Those were the last words she'd said to him...or was that even her?

Somehow, he's become an oath breaker, a pariah, and enemy to the throne. With the help of a fellow new recruit to his clan, Aren set's out to find Claire, all while battling new enemies far beyond his level, and piecing together his broken memory.

But still, Aren can't help the nagging feeling that there's something greater at stake. If only he could remember....

Fans of Arcane Ascension and Final Fantasy will love this litRPG/gamelit adventure filled with blood-pumping action and a rich story that'll keep you burning the midnight oil.

©2019 T. L. Branson (P)2019 Aethon Books

Yep!

Vikas Adam can do no wrong. If you liked Dakota Krout's LitRPG books, it might have been because of Vikas because wow! He does it again. The book itself is more like Arcane Ascension in that it's not really stat heavy, there's no VR or games or anything. But it was dope.

Decent

I got this book via promo code. It was really interesting and fun and easy to follow long. I enjoyed the characters and how everything was explained during the world building. I am very interested to see where this series goes and will definitely purchase the second book.

alright

I myself thought it was alright but honestly I have tried reading and/or listening to several different books in this genre and can't get into it. However my brother who is a huge gamer really enjoyed this book.

Amnesia?

Okay... I've gotta admit, at first, the whole amnesia thing almost made me turn this off and return it. Cliche—done before. Got the T-shirt. But here's the thing... cliche's are what they are for a reason. It worked. It was smart. I'd listen to this again.

great first entry

I had begun by reading this book but the narration by Vikas adds a tremendous amount. would definitely recommend the audio version if you're into gamelit/litrpg

Not bad...not great

Overall the story was not bad, it has my interest peaked enough to read the next book. Though there were a few frustrations *Spoilers below*.

I think this is just a personal preference, but I don't enjoy reading a story when the main character has lost their memory and has no idea what the heck is going on. The beginning of the book was hard for me personally because of this. The other thing that really frustrated me was that I knew immediately who the spy/traitor was once that was brought up, it was very obvious to me, but for some reason was a huge surprise to the characters in the book. I wish this was somehow less obvious in the story, because it felt like the author wanted the reader to be surprised about this.

Lastly, on the audio side of the book, the editing didn't seem to be done well. There were a ton of large pauses in reading in parts there should not have been pauses, I think I mostly noticed this when a transition would move from when character to another, like if the different character voices were done separately and then all of it spliced together poorly. This was distracting throughout the book.

Excellent 1st book in this Series

I really wish the next book was already available on Audible because I wanted to continue reading/listening to the story. The main characters are well written, but I almost from the start figured out who the Traider was which was a bit disappointing. I like books that make it hard to pick out the bad guys.

Interesting story and amazing narration

I really enjoyed this book. The story is interesting and Vikas Adam is one of my favorite narrators. I recommend this!

A Fun LitRPG Adventure

This was a very fun and enjoyable LitRPG story, with amazing narration. I can not wait for the next book.

Note at the time of this review Audible did not have chapter tiles for this title.

This tile was provided free for review, however, these are my honest thoughts and opinions.

Great start to an epic story

This story was not quite what I expected. It starts as a typical LitRPG but early on it turns into an almost Games of Thrones level of palace intrigue. The game elements (status screens, level up, etc) are much less frequent and less detailed than other stories in the genre. I'm not saying that this is a bad thing, just not what I was expecting. The world is a mix of SciFI and Fantasy elements that is refreshing.

All of the characters (and there are many characters) are well fleshed out and it was easy to feel concerned about them. Aren can be a bit dense at times but he is kinda messed up so that's understandable. The story is generally fast paced and the fight scenes were exciting. I can't wait for the next book in the series. It feels like it will need at least 3 books to complete the story, or maybe 5 depending on how things go. I've never read (or listened to) anything by T. L. Branson before but he's now on my list of authors to watch for.

Vikas was amazing as usual. Truly a superstar voice actor. Each voice was distinct and felt appropriate to the character. While I knew there was one narrator it felt more like it was a full cast production. That being said there were a few times when there were lengthy pauses in the dialogue that felt like production issues. It was really jarring but it only happens a few times near the middle.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.