The Greystone Chronicles: Book One: Io Online

By: Dave Willmarth

Narrated by: Laurie Catherine Winkel, Jeff Hays

In the latter half of the 21st century, Alexander and his guild mates play Io Online for fun and to earn a living. It's the largest VRMMORPG on the planet, and the source of income that supports families around the globe. While completing a rare First Kill dungeon in hopes of epic loot, they discover that demons have once again invaded Io.

Given the chance to test a new experimental immersion system, the veteran players must give up their high-level characters and begin again at level one. As they work through the noob zone quests, they discover that the new immersion system allows them to play in ways that hadn't been possible before. Casting is faster. Movement more fluid. Even magic itself behaves differently. They quickly run afoul of a party of player killers and become the targets of an entire PK guild bent on spawn-camping them until they leave the game. War has been declared.

The fight expands into populated areas, where innocent citizens are murdered, and player accounts are terminated. The guild works to help citizens rebuild what has been destroyed, but are repeatedly forced to stop and defend against enemy attacks. After the gods of Io and a powerful being of darkness get involved, Alexander and his friends learn the hard way that their in-game actions have consequences, both in the game and in the real world.

Soundbooth Theater has had the honor of working with Laurie Catherine Winkel once more, in the first installment of the epic Greystone Chronicles. Her bright and light performance matches the tone of this Gamelit romp about friendship and community, while perfectly framing Jeff Hays' performance as the male cast.

The Soundbooth Theater team for this production:

• Laurie Catherine Winkel - narration, female characters, and Fibble!
• Jeff Hays - male characters
• Dalton Lynne - proofing, editing
• Justin Thomas James - production, editing, mastering

©2017 Dave Willmarth (P)2018 Dave Willmarth, Soundbooth Theater

Io, Io, it's off to the VRMMORPG I go!

Shew! This was a fun book. It has a lot going for it, so let me get the easy stuff out of the way first. I am a huge fan of Soundbooth Theater. Jeff Hays is my favorite narrator. Those tow facts mean that I was going to get this book no mater what. Seriously, Hays is a Master of the Vocal Arts, and if anyone can make a good book amazing it is him, BUT lo and behold he didn't do all the heavy lifting. Nope, Laurie Catherine Winkel takes the lead narration slot, and is kind enough to let Hays do the voices for the male characters. I have to say that I am being continually blown away by the talant that SBT has under their banner. So, be aware that the sound quality and narration just blows your expectations into orbit.

Next, the writing! Well Doggies this too is top notch, grade A stuff. The characters are all fun, and I would have a hard time narrowing out a favorite. Alexander has a cool side story about his being healed via his immersion in the game, but that plot line isn't resolved by the end of the book; so I guess that will be looked at in another book! Yeah!! Another one!!!! The action is really great and the book speeds along. You know it is good when it is three AM and you don't want to stop listening even though you have to get up a six. Yeah, it pulls you in deep.

I can see some people complaining that the characters are too overpowered, and while that might actually be the case I have found it to be the norm for a book in this genre. Just look at the uberleveling in Awaken Online and you will see my point. So, I do not hold that against the storyline at all. In fact, I've pretty much come to expect it. Willmarth knows how to hold your attention and make things exciting. I'll certainly be anticipating book 2!!! Even though I did receive a promo code for this review it in no way influenced my considerations of the material, and in fact, inspired me to be more honest. In fact, getting a code generally makes me harsher as a reviewer as I am more often concerned what someone like Me will decide based on my review.


If this review helped, please press the YES below. Thank you immensely!!!

superb story even better performance

one of the best books in this is genre that I have ever read. The performance was over the top and was a complete Joy. The character interplay brought back memories of fun times both doing tabletop role-playing games with friends and also the new and current multiplayer online games with friends I can't wait to enjoy the next

Excellent!

This was a very entertaining book with excellent narration!
This was my first LitRPG audiobook and I will certainly be looking for more.
This has all the elements of a good MMORPG and took me back to my World of Warcraft days, almost makes me want to start playing again.
The fact that the main character, Alexander, has a medical condition that made his dad develop the game for him was an interesting aspect.
It hit a little bit of a lull about 3/4 of the way through where it seemed a bit repetitive but anyone who has played a MMORPG knows that they do tend to be very repetitive to leveling.
The narration done by Laurie Catherine Winkel & Jeff Hays was highly enjoyable and I will be looking for more by these 2 narrators and SoundBooth Theater.
I received a copy of this audiobook at my request and this is my honest unbiased review.

Great, but...

I truly enjoyed both this book and the narrator's. It has a wonderful open world, unlimited routes, and you don't get bogged down by the characters quests or constant pop-upe. My one problem is that once the characters started fresh, they only ever put points into their stats once. Nearly finished with the book and the main character has short of 20 stat and skill points left unassigned, taking away from the idea that the character is strategic. It makes me feel that the character isn't necessarily smart or skilled, but knows he's lucky and will always find away, skill and logic be damned.

Dang Mr. Willmarth!

So I have to say, I went into this book with both expectations and reservations. My introduction to Dave Willmarth's writing was The Dark Elf Chronicals, which I can't wait for more of, so this set the bar pretty dang high. The problem of course is that with high expectations because of one series sometimes the writing doesn't feel the same. Sure we want new stories and characters, but we want to feel the style of the author and sometimes it changes very jarringly between stories.

Dave writes different stories with a comfortable familiarity. Being part of a FB group in which he is quite active, I was encouraged to check out this series...and when the Fibble hit, the party really got started! Y'all just give it a go, you're gonna like it a whole lot.

loved it!

I love the characters, the storyline is awesome, the only hang up I have with it is everybody seems to be laughing all the time...seems kind of forced to me. Other then that small complaint I genuinely enjoyed!

the narrator isn't very talented maybe just green

she needs more inflection and maybe should stick to stories like Peter cotton tail. the story seems to lack the bitterness which is life to a small extent.

Awesome to have a male and female cast

This story I have read and now listened to, absolutely loved how there was a male voice for the male characters and a female voice for the females plus Fibble. There is a section where the male actor speaks in a dwarf voice without a breathe and it was impressive. Dave Willmarth, you have a great series and blessed with 2 voice actors who do an amazing job on your characters giving them even more depth.

FIBBLE!!

The story moves along nicely, and has several elements that aren't quite what they seem at first.

Laurie Catherine Winkel is the Princess Leia of ..

RPGLIT I love her voice and listen to many titles she narrates. This book is well worth a listen.