War Aeternus 2: Sacrifices

By: Charles Dean

Narrated by: Jeff Hays, Annie Ellicott

Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's Summary

Desperate to save as many people as he can from a horrible fate in the cruel game of the gods, Lee and his small group of friends abandon the relative safety of Satterfield for the great city of Kirshtein. Tensions within the city have reached a breaking point after the arrival of an enemy Herald, and Lee is soon caught up in the struggle for power.

Captured, imprisoned, and forced to fight for his life on the blood-soaked sands of the Kirshtein arena, Lee has to figure out how to survive long enough to mend the rifts in the broken city before it falls apart completely. 

Armed with new skills, joined by new allies, and up against his most dangerous enemy yet, Lee's bid for survival in the War of Eternity takes on even higher stakes as he learns the what true leadership requires. Now, with an ominous new threat looming in the distance and an army on the horizon, Lee has to answer one question: Can he pay the price of victory?

This is the second installment of War Aeternus, a popular LitRPG Gamelit book that focuses on the adventures of Lee, a regular office worker stuck in a game-like world.

©2017 Charles Dean (P)2018 Charles Dean

It's more than Miller time!

Its Miller Time!!!

Holy cow. As much as I have enjoyed The Bathrobe Knight by Dean and Haygood, the Bearded Lord of Bacon and Booze has really created a brilliant series in which a regular Joe, Lee, finds out that he is related to a powerful god named Augustus, and that he has to participate in a competition between gods and their heralds known the Faith Game.
I loved book one, but honestly, book two completely amped up the story and made it so much better as it has progressed far more than I would have ever hoped. Dean has seriously upped his game. I’m talking he went from playing old maid to strip poker. The writing is far improved, the story is far tighter, and the characters are so interesting. I really cannot say just how much I enjoy the paladin of Justice, Miller, and Lee, the MC, as people. You really get to know a lot about them in this go around and the rest of the party. More importantly, Lee learns how to magic up some of the most delicious beer anyone has ever tasted.
Lee and Augustus still have some issues in their relationship, although I begin to sense that the old shapeshifter has a lot more to him than he lets on. Lee finds a gal pal back in the real world, and finds out that her family may be just the right fit for him even if they did try to kill him. This book really hits its stride with the arena battles, and Lee learning to adapt and improvise on his feet in order to survive. The big bad for this book is another herald, and Lee has no idea of what he is getting himself and Augustus into when he decides to take him down; still this is all good fun. Or is it?

I’m not going to lie. We do have some tragedy here that cannot be downplayed, nor would I want to. It really lends some gravitas that book one was needing. It did choke me up, and made me feel for Lee in a way that I have not sympathized with a character in a looong time. We also get to know about Miller’s own tragic backstory, and you will see just how deranged Dean can be to his best characters. The man is utterly merciless. I LOVE it. For me, the best scene came with the confrontation of the team with the psycho lady Firbolg. She was, hands down the best fun psycho character I’ve heard in 10 years. She was written and played perfectly, like a master with a Stradivarius. Man, is Dean on fire with this story or what?

The narration here is proof that two people can make an entire world come alive. Jeff Hays, the mystical master of the Vocal Arts, and Annie Ellicott combine their talents, powers, and skills into one amazing audible adventure. Without a doubt, my favorite voice in this book is Hays’ Miller. If I hear him for more than 30 seconds I spend the rest of my day talking to everyone like him. The fools think I am just doing an Ah-nold impression. Annie really pulls at your heartstrings in this book. This is twice now that she has almost made me cry, and I am no gurly man! You cannot ask for better, and it was nice to see the pair of them handling things rather than the whole squad. This really felt like a narration rather than a production, and that is just what I am looking for.
This book has some startling revelations, and simultaneously creates new mysteries. Lee learns how to handle his magic, and yet realizes that he really doesn’t know enough yet. He does a lot more than just creating golems now. So, we get some serious growth, development, and powering up in this book. All signs point to book three being even bigger and better, and the way that Dean has been promoting the new character, Jade, I fully expect some joy joy feelings when book three hits. All I know is that I’ll be around as long as Dean keeps pumping out quality material like this. Don’t miss the train, get on board before we leave the station.

Keep bringing the Bacon, Oh bearded one!! To be fair, I may have been a little less generous in my video review, this book is easily one of the best I've ever read, it is exponentially better than book 1, and deserves more love than I can give it alone! 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. 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!!!

As seen on the LITRPG AUDIOBOOK PODCAST, please check it out on Youtube.com

9 people found this helpful

Wow amazing

I kinda excepted the ending , but was still very sad
Great book worth every penny

4 people found this helpful

chapters out of order book starts chapter 8

the first chapter is 8 finish book then go back to chapter 1 it sucks I thought book skipped bunch of time then got to 8

3 people found this helpful

outstanding story

I really want to say the book was really well-written and that the backstory for Miller was greatly done and that the development of characters was something that I agree greatly appreciate especially since the pain and the hurt felt so real

4 people found this helpful

How to do this book justice?

I gave Book 1 three stars, but Book 2 gets the highest of five stars.

In the 50 or so series I’ve read, not one has had a Book 2 that so much improved on Book 1.

Compelling, humorous, thought provoking, intriguing, and with many characters you really, truly care about. I could not put this book down, and carried my phone around, stayed up all night, and never stopped listening. This book is quite an achievement in the genre.

I’m going to have to move some other LitRPG series down my list of the best to insert War Aeternus, maybe all of them.

You’ll still need to start with Book 1, but don’t be turned off by the almost incoherent direction and awkward narration. It all starts to come together, and Jeff Hayes shows the consistency here in Book 2 that we’ve come to expect from him.

1 person found this helpful

This series makes me laugh

The series is great, the characters are compelling, but best of all, the humor actually makes me laugh.

1 person found this helpful

awesome

I never wanted the book to end. I can't wait to get to the third book and continue the story.

1 person found this helpful

The books just keep getting better

This book was very well written and very enjoyable. I really loved the character development of miller. Kinda glad of the ending book was getting a little bit boring with all the heterosexual romance drama that we are so use to seeing. The challenges are main character is facing are very well written and feel like real challenges.

1 person found this helpful

I think this one was better than the first book

as title of this review says I think this books was better than the first book. I think it was a little annoying that at the end of every chapter it has the 2:00 minute character sheet review, but that is really the only gripe I have about this book.

1 person found this helpful

another fine addition

like watching a really good anime unfold, eagerly awaiting the next book in the series, well done.

1 person found this helpful

GOOD BOOK

I have over 300 audible titles and I have to say that the narration and performance of this book is one of the best I've heard. It's a compelling universe with a great story and awesome characters

Brilliant

I loved everything about the audiobook. The narration was excellent as normal. The book was well written the only complaint I have is Amber died.