The Crucible

Reclaimer, Book 1

De: Waldo Rodriguez

Narrado por: BJ Harrison

From the ashes of a dying world, a god will rise.

As an out of shape nerd, Gabriel Rivera had more pressing issues than outlandish things like godhood: Evacuating the city, joining the military, and protecting his family. Simple right?

Everything changed when the PAC invaded.

When the grim fate of his world is revealed, Gabriel joins the Reclaimer Project to save his family. A lowly F ranker, he's weaker than even the worst recruits. Good thing he's too stubborn for his own good.

Through blood and sweat Gabriel aims to grow stronger and rise above the rest.

Deadly traps lurk around every corner, mysterious factions move in the shadows, and dormant powers within him manifest in wild and dangerous ways.

Battered, bruised, and beaten, Gabriel refuses to stay down. For only in the fires of The Crucible are legends forged.

©2022 Waldo Rodriguez-Santiago (P)2023 Tantor

very good.

very thorough, and well thought out. consistently takes itself seriously and Harrison's performance excellently compliments the atory

Emotional yet thrilling

I loved the thoughts of trying to escape your situations by hiding yourself from everyone else. Only to be shown that the only way out of your individual torture is by communal growth.

Good scifi with a heavy military presence

The book is good, I enjoyed it greatly. I look forward to what comes after The Crucible

fantastic new world, very compelling characters

this is a fantastic new world with really compelling characters. we do not yet get to the root cause of what is going on to make this training happen but it is building!

It has potential

So, it's interesting and little plot armor to be found, rather brutal.

Now there is tons of moral questioning and self doubt and loathing, tons and tons of teenage angst of doing the right thing.

Then there is niave points where the "bad guy" of the book is in the right and the MC just throw a fit because he doesnt like the fact. Like leaving someone to die who would die and couldn't be saved but trying to could get them all killed. He doesnt like that fact so whines and blames the other guy for it, even though it's not the others guys fault. The MC is just upset at the other guys brutal blunt honesty about the fact of the situation and not sugar coating it to make the MC feel better.

So if you like the holes idealist who ignores facts to try to make everything seem black or white. This might be for you. If not you might at times lean towards the bad guy of the story and find the MC a niave idiot.

While the premise is interesting the program is supposed to take place over 2 years and 3 phases with the first phase being the first 3 months. Without to much spoiler, this book only covers the first phase. So the pacing is a little slow and makes on worry the whole series might be about training and not what comes after or takes 5 books to get to it.

So if you like school training completion books this is great, if you want them to get on with the actual story of what the training is for this might be a slow series for that if at all.

A great hard fought origin story

Many reviews compare Reclaimer to The Hunger Games or The Maze Runner due to its young adult cast and trial-based structure. But let’s be clear—this series marches to the beat of its own war drum.
At its core, Reclaimer is not just about dystopian pageantry or puzzle-box arenas. But a militaristic journey, gritty and grounded, where the trials are less about spectacle and more about survival, leadership, and inner reckoning. This is the origin story of a hero in the making—one who must navigate not just external threats, but the battlefield within.
The main character is thrust into the first of three trials, each designed to forge more than just physical strength. Leadership must be earned, purpose must be discovered, and inner demons—well, they don’t go down without a fight. And all of this while trying not to die. No pressure.
This series has serious potential. If book one is any indication, we’re in for a ride that’s as intense as it is introspective. I’m looking forward to seeing where the next chapters lead.
And hey, if surviving deadly trials, confronting your inner darkness, and leading a squad under pressure doesn’t scream “fun weekend read,” I don’t know what does. Just remember to hydrate—both you and the protagonist are going to need it.

Teen with bad stats trains to be Top Gun

It's the future, and the world is near collapse with huge storms and lack of resources.

The teen MC is rated as having average intellect but all other stats the worst possible. In D&D parlance, where stats range from 3 to 18 at the start, he has INT&WIS 10 with all other stats 3. One incongruity right off is his "lowest possible charisma". The MC does not act like a person everyone wants to avoid. The military training exercises mainly just make him short of breath.

In short, his F-rank status (worst possible) doesn't seem earned. However, he's also been evaluated as having a "high potential." Still, he has really low stats, so he asks why he is there. "That's above your pay grade." And then the young MC sent into training with lots of expensive equipment. The other recruits then tell the MC how terrible he is over and over and over and over and over again.

If you like a book in which the MC is insulted for the same reason and in the same way many dozens of times, maybe you'll like it. For me, this fails “Show, don't tell” -- we don't need to be told about terrible stats this many times. A similar story is Summoned! -- The MC there really does have terrible stats, but works hard them. This story tries to be a Recruit Teenagers with Attitude trope, but fumbles.

Narrator does a fine job with what he's given.

Hypocrite of the year

The main character is such a depressing hypocrite with a massive hero complex that gets so annoying along with his incompetence. BJ Harrison did a great job and the plot was pretty good along with the other characters. The main character kept me on the fence about finishing the story. Not too excited to move on to the next book. I hit the skip button a few times during his repeated expositions about his obsession with Alexander and his lust for being the only person allowed to care about or help anyone.

Great audio book!

good story. dislike 22hrs for just the 1st phase. Hopefully se and book gets further into the story

Noice.

I enjoyed it. Not ground breaking but at the end of the day I was entertained.