The Song Maiden

A LitRPG Journey (Uniworld Online Trilogy, Book 1)

By: Jonathan Brooks

Narrated by: Anneliese Rennie

Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's Summary

What do you do when you love singing, but you’re unable to speak?

Cadence was born with a previously unknown disability that disrupted the some of the signals her brain sent to her vocal cords and hands, preventing communication through her voice or even through sign language. Despite that, she learned to communicate through writing and, when its use became more prevalent, text messaging. Because of this, she excelled throughout high school and even managed to get into college, rooming with her best friend, Jill.

Unfortunately, her first day of college turned into a tragedy, as she ended up in the hospital after a violent attack. While she was recovering and confined to a bed while her body healed, Cadence was introduced to the NVERS by her best friend, which was a virtual reality system where she could experience a new game called Uniworld Online.

It wasn’t just any game, though; Uniworld Online was the newest offering from Unitech, a company that designed a new method of fully immersing oneself into a game using special technology. Set in a fantasy setting with opposing Light and Dark Factions, the immersive virtual reality game was unlike any other the world had ever seen.

Having never played any video games before, though, she didn’t know what to expect; the attitude of the rude and power-hungry players she initially met in-game nearly made her want to stop playing. After acquiring a particular quest, however, she found that Uniworld was even more complicated than she had imagined. Added to this, she chose to become a Bard class in the game and was able to do something she had never been able to do before, but had always wanted to: sing.

With her new ability to sing, though, comes a whole new set of challenges - and dangers.

Note: contains LitRPG elements such as character progression, quests, skills, stats, and stat sheets. No harems or foul language.

©2020 Jonathan Brooks (P)2020 Jonathan Brooks

Was this meant for children?

Okay...once again we have a very highly reviewed audio-book that is nothing like the reviews make it out to be. Once again I am inclined to believe that either people are being paid to write these overly flattering reviews of poorly written books, or perhaps people are just not very good at determining quality.

Story is very formulaic, with a start that you will come to see as disappointingly similar to all the other crappy Lit-RPG books. Main character with (Insert any generic character/physical/emotional handicap) with (insert any generic family/relationship/personality issue) finds themselves in need of help to address (insert any generic financial/medical/personal trouble) and so is either whisked away to a virtual world to help solve/fix/earn/restore/revive (insert any generic solution to any of the previously identified handicap/issue/trouble)

The difference here is that the prose is just exceptionally awful. I have listened through many disappointingly bland audio books, stomaching the awful naming convention, scenarios and lack of character depth or anything resembling development, but this one was very difficult to get through.

Please, if you are a writer reading this, it is not intended to disparage. I am not a critic, I just hate seeing creative potential wasted for lack of critical feedback. I would encourage any writer to please read really good books and try to pick up somethings from them to improve on your work. This Author is one that I have read other good books from. This one just smack of a hastily put together work to meet perhaps a contract deadline or just not giving too much care what the readers think.

Spend your credits elsewhere, but be weary as the reviews are not as accurate as they could be.

hopes were too high

I got this book because the MC was a bard. the good is that she is the magical kind of bard and not just a lute playing mundane gimmick to expand on lore.

as with almost all game lit the MC has something happen that negates the inconvenience of the real world. it seems a waste of potential as the author insists on mixing above real world event with in game happenings. maybe it will expand more in book 2 but honestly I'm not sure I want to find out.

the narrator was fine, but I took a star off for another wasted opportunity. it's a story about a bard, hearing her speaking lyrics like it was poetry night at a pretentious café when it should be sung, even if the lyrics were meh, just rubs wrong.

in general I wasn't impressed with the story. just another formulaic power trip but with a rarely used class for the MC. if you aren't sick to death of the game lit genre check it out. if you've read more than a few you aren't missing anything.

Had trouble keeping my interest.

The opening is a bit gratuitous. The musician references are going to go over a lot of reader's heads and will not age well.
There are however some interesting hooks that I hope are leaned into in the next books.

This was a fun book.

I really enjoyed listening to this book. It was fun and kept me wanting more. I can't wait to listen to the rest of the series. I have book 2 qued up to listen to as I listen to the very end of this one.

Bard for the win

A woman with horrible luck finds herself with nothing to do but play the greatest VRMMO game. She decides to play the broken dwarf bard class just because she likes music.

This is a very well done story, but it falls into a personal pet peeve. The main character is incredibly over powered for no real purpose. She will destroy a boss mob with a creative use of lyrics.

Work of art

musical work of art, and that ending I was expecting and cant wait for the next book. easily a must read.

Love this book.

I'm bad at reviews so I'll keep it short. I have read the series twice before getting a copy of the audiobook from the author. I loved the books, but the narrator just didn't do it for me. She isn't bad by any stretch, I just felt that there was oddly placed rising inflections a lot and that most of the characters had VERY similar voices/speach patterns. They didn't feel unique. Even the old guy from Uniworld sounded the same as the young female characters to me.

With that all said, I do still love the book and did still enjoy the audiobook. The negatives only dropped the book to 4 stars for me, so was still good and well worth a listen.

so much fun!

first of, this did not read as a J. Brooks book if you've read any his dungeon core series, this is more akin to greystone in feel, and I say that with respect to both as great books, I merely use it to indicate the type of book it is since it's quite different from what I normally expect from Brooks.

I loved the story and the MC is unique and genuine.
the story might have several tropes, but they are well done and entertaining.
I look forward to the next book in this series...

Anneliese did great, the MC outright stating she had a more mature voice than her age would suggest which is Annelieses strongest trait.
only way this could have been better was is all the songs had been sung <3

good listen

i got this as a free book because a subscription to author notifications but would have used a credit. i will be getting the rest when they come out. i have read the books but think I will like the audible version better

Awesome

This book is awesome. Great story line. Im a talker and I couldnt imagine not being able to communicate but I felt a connection with the main character. Really enjoyed it.

Oh, a bard... Wait! It's Great!

And now for something completely different.
Necromancers and the like are good but have been done. But a bard?
I usually groan internally at the mention of a bard, but this is not a normal bard.

The story is very character focused, which is how I like it. A young woman that was born without the ability to communicate with voice or gestures has nothing to do while recovering in hospital after surgery. Her best friend gathers all her money to buy a 2nd hand headset so she can play a new VR MMO while she recovers.
Not wanting to hack and slash she picks a class that she feels comfortable with, a bard. She ends up coming up with ways to user her bard abilities with "out of the box" thinking and come up with her own songs and styles from out of game to give feeling into her songs.

I will be getting the rest of the series.

Very enjoyable

Good story and narrator. Shorter than other litrpg books (7 hours not 20+). But don't let that put you off. This is worth a listen to. I'm on to book 2 now

Unusual premise and fun

I really enjoyed the book. I don't want to give any spoilers so here is my spoiler less review. There were some really touching moments, some laugh out loud moments but a couple of irritating points when the MC Noob-Ness was taken (imo) too far. The story was very original and the narrator has a soothing even cadence, just not great in the few times she was trying, what I assumed, to be a Scottish accent? Overall a nice, mostly light hearted with some grim moments, litrpg book. Definitely give this a read

Beautiful

Great LitRPG series, I really feel for the main character, the game giving her an opportunity to use the voice she never had.

1 hour in, love the story hate narrator

so just over an hour or so in and the narrator is fine when reading but for the love of a great story STOP ATTEMPTING VOICES. If you have Scottish or dwarven blood in it will make you want to swing your war hammer.

I want to know what happens but honestly don't think the appalling accents will allow me as I have to really zone in on the awful noise to work out what the author is trying to say.

👍

Great story
characters are great and Great character development.
performance was great.
Not what I expected at all but very impressed with the story.