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

Fascinating dichotomy of light and dark material

I had never read this book before listening to this audiobook. The song maiden made me think of those children with cancer or with abusive parents that come out of that situation with the brightest outlook on life. I never understood how they could go around making everyone else happy when they had such terrible things in their life. I felt the same about this book, but I didn't have to understand it to enjoy the perspective. The song maiden has a very unique story and allegory to modern life, while being set in a video game format.

A wonderful LitRPG Bard’s Tale!

You read that right. The Song Maiden is a great story in the LitRPG genre where the Main Character is a Bard. The MC has a disability but she does not let that affect her. The storytelling is well written and the Narrator does a wonderful job bringing the world and characters to life. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves the genre and to newcomers too.

A dynamic duo of a great LITRPG story and awesome narration

First, if you haven’t read/listened to anything by Jonathan brooks, then this is a great place to start your addiction. As you wait for the 2nd in the series (after you devour this one) check
Out his amazing dungeon core LITRPG’s. 2nd you have the narration here done by a vocal professional Anneliese Renee. She can get her voice depth to lower than an f below middle c which allows her to create a variety of voices for the characters Jonathan created and that she brings to life here for us. Now let’s get to the story. We have a child who is born withi ne ability to Speak but with the ability to recall everything she hears, the hearing version of photographic memory. In a moment of lapsed attention something terrible Happens to her when she hits her college years. In her recovery she is introduced to a virtual reality immersive gaming experience. Here she can speak and forget the pain her body is in as she recovers. Using her unique talents she takes the class of a bard and the fun begins. I don’t want to give away too many spoilers. We have gaming, immersive world building, versatile NPC’s, pvp, guilds, quests, hidden classes, hidden quests, and a cliff hangar that will leave you dying for the next one To come out. I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator or publisher

An enjoyable beginning.

Although it shows as one of his earlier works this is still a wonderful story by Jonathan Brooks. The characters are interesting, and, if you can put away your typical gamer rush, the setting itself is also interesting. In some respects it feels like Cadence does a better job of enjoying the world of Uniworld Online than the other players do, which really helps to set the feel and tone of the story. The only notable flaw is that Anneliese Rennie really needs to work on her pauses when narrating tables and section breaks.

portal litrpg at its finest!

Jonathon did an excellent job building the story, the game, and the characters. The only thing I didn't enjoy was the fact that the MC felt she was in a committed relationship after one hug with another PC. Odd but a great story overall!

Work of art

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

another great series

listened to the whole thing in one day it was too good to stop. The story was unique and the story moves at a great pace. I am so glad I was able to pick up all three at once because I plan to start the next one right now

fun gamelit adventure!

Great story and narration!

A college student with a rare condition that makes it so she cannot speak finds herself gravely injured. While in the hospital recovering she gets the opportunity to play a VR game to pass the time. Gifted with the ability to now speak, she is delighted and quickly finds herself in a grand adventure that has her speaking, singing, and playing music during her adventures!

Anneliese does a fantastic job with the narration truly bringing the characters to life in this wonderful story!

I loved this book and can't wait to find out what happens next!

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.

Loved this book!

This is a great start to a series, loved the series. Loved the narrator and how they did an awesome job.