The Grieving Lands

A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure

By: Gian Carlo Peirce

Narrated by: Jack Jacobs, Faye Bishop

Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

How much would you sacrifice to slay the gods?

Gesthe is a world where the whims of gods and magic hold sway. Cruel and capricious gods force mortal champions to fight and die in their eternal game.

Taken from his world and his memories stolen by the Divines, our hero takes up the name of the first and greatest of heroes, Gilgamesh. He is forced to adapt to the game-like world, assimilating skills and dark abilities that he can barely comprehend.

Will this be a hero’s journey, or a descent into madness in the pursuit of greater power?

©2023 Gian Carlo Peirce (P)2023 Royal Guard Publishing LLC

Good start for a new LitRPG series

Our MC wakes up in a new world and is immediately accused of great crimes and jailed.
Now he must understand his new situation while trying to also remember his past.

The MC is a very callous about his situation and doesn't flinch away from using random people or as he calls them, NPC's as test dummies for his new abilities and spells, many times causing them great injury.

Good narration by Jack and Faye. I do hope Faye gets more spoken lines in the next book.

Looking forward to the next book in this series.

A true masterpiece

With its masterful storytelling, rich world-building, and well-drawn characters, it is an experience that will stay with you long after you've finished listening.

Cry From Pain

The Grieving Lands is a great title due to this main character feels so much pain throughout this book that even inanimate objects feel sorry for him. Jack Jacobs and Faye Bishop do an amazing job with making each character feel unique and Jacobs does a great job showing the pain of the character. Gian Carlo Peirce has created one of the most complex worlds I have ever listen to and I am looking forward to the future of this series!

A world where gods and magic reign supreme!

The Grieving Lands: A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure" by Gian Carlo Peirce is a thrilling journey into a world where gods and magic reign supreme. The writing is immersive, whisking you away to a realm filled with divine whims and relentless challenges. Jack Jacobs and Faye Bishop deliver a captivating performance that enhances the story's depth. Dive into this exhilarating adventure and discover if our hero's quest leads to heroism or madness.

I'm glad I got this book.

A friend of mine gifted me this book with the expectation of an honest review, and I'm glad he did.
After reading the book blurb, I was less than excited to listen to it. It sounded like it was going to be another of those Chinese student cultivation cookie cutter books that are so prevalent in the LitRPG genre currently.
Man, I was pleasantly surprised.
This book was not even close to what I was expecting.
The author creates a great new universe that is different than a LitRPG fan is used to, but also similar enough to be readily recognizable as what it is.
The MC gets captured by slavers right at the start and is given a quest by the system to escape and progress. And, of course, those goals are not easily achieved.
Awesome writing and narration.
I give this book 7 out of 5 stars and will be impatiently awaiting the next book in this series.

Not as dark as I thought it would be…

I was initially hesitant on this one due to the name and the blurb. Didn’t want a super dark story messing with me. Thankfully it isn’t. Though there are those moments of cruelty due to a world based on the whole “might is right” cliche. But it isn’t anywhere near as bad as a cultivation series I have read…
I did have trouble keeping my focus and attention during this book sometimes. I’m not sure exactly why. I just wasn’t super into it. The character and eventual team are alright for the most part. The MC is NOT a big idiot in the beginning which is refreshing.
This story has the feel of an eventual clash between gods/goddesses through intermediaries. With those individuals probably going to getting the shaft. This is just my theory, nothing really indicates this is going to happen for sure. So it will be up to the characters themselves to not allow there games of the powerful to consume or tear them apart. To not cause them to drive them insane or down a dark path… unless they want one.
The magic and progression systems isn’t very complicated. I found the ability to meditate on his thoughts and memories from Earth to train his intelligence and wisdom. Which is pretty cool.
The world building isn’t the best I have I heard but it is above average.

The narrators do a pretty good job and have a nice selection of voices for various characters.

I thank Royal Guard for this review/code copy.

enjoyable first book

Promising start to a new series, if you listen to a ton of audiobooks like me it will likely take you a little bit to get used to new narrators but otherwise it hummed right along. bonus points for having both a male and female voice actor

Fantastic

I love this series it is such an awesome way to promote rapid character development in the early days. The performance is amazing as well.

Good Book

This was a good book for the LITRPG Isekai genre. The MC isn't given much in the beginning and has to fight for his life multiple times while trying to learn about his new life and new abilities. I would suggest giving this book a try to fans of the genre.

Jack Jacobs and Faye Bishop gave a really good narration performance, that really helped to move the story along.

Wow, great job!

I received a free copy to give my honest opinion, will try to avoid spoilers. You know what makes for an enjoyable character? One that learns the hard way. Our MC has to learn trough pain and effort while trying to survive a bad case of culture clash. No gary stu here, we have a good ole "Adapt or Die" situation.