LitRPG Audiobook Podcast 072 - Homebrew, Shattered Sword, Irrelevant Jack 2 You can read the full reviews and show notes if you visit us at: https://litrpgpodcast.com/litrpg-audiobook-podcast-072 “Hello everyone. Welcome to the LitRPG Audiobook Podcast. I’m Ray. I’ll be reviewing some recent and classic LitRPG Audiobooks for you. I’ll begin with: ” Homebrew- Metagamer Chronicles Book 1 (00:53) Score: 7.6 out of 10 https://amzn.to/3hZym3T Shattered Sword (A LitRPG Adventure) Eternal Online Book 1 (12:00) Score: 8.2 out of 10 https://amzn.to/39htuDj Irrelevant Jack 2 (21:09) Score: 8 out of 10 https://amzn.to/3oxStsn ------------------------ Homebrew Metagamer Chronicles, Book 1 By: Xavier P. Hunter Narrated by: Mikael Naramore Series: Metagamer Chronicles, Book 1 Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins This is the kind of book that I love. One of my favorite series is Joel Rosenberg’s Guardians of the Flame series, as well as Terry Irvin, Jr’s triple M series monster, maces, and magic. Both of which center around rpg players who get sent into the world of the game they are playing. Each of them assume the role of their characters, and some live, some die, but the books are intense and I love them. Homebrew follows this concept with a slight twist. The Game master enters the world as himself, and the others all BECOME their characters. Unlike Gary, who remembers everything and knows he is a trespasser in this new world he finds himself in, the others believe they are the characters they made up. It’s an interesting concept that was fun, but it also led the book in a path that weakened Gary. As the GM, Gary knows exactly what is going on and who each person is as they appear and this strips him of his agency since he really can’t do squat in order to help as it could alter the plans he laid out. Thus, what could make for a killer character, the omniscient overseer he becomes a milquetoast bystander most of the time forced to slip in small hints to help his friends. Otherwise, I enjoyed the book. This is the kind of style that I relish, and Hunter really does a great job with it. I just wish it didn’t feel like Gary was shackled for the entirety of the book. The characters have lot of depth and each situation carries a lot of weight in numerous ways. Michael Naramore is a narrator who I haven’t heard in a while, been about 2 years, and I have missed him. He does an incredible job here. I know him from the Kevin Hardman superhero series, and he hasn’t missed a beat. This fella is a five star narrator in a 4 star world. Over all, I really loved this book. It has a great narrator and some wonderful storytelling going on, but that lack of agency smothered me. A lot. In fact, I really docked a few points off because of it. It would have been a completely different book if he reigns had been taken off, and that was all I could think about. 7.6 stars. I highly suggest you check this book out. -------------------------- Shattered Sword (A LitRPG Adventure) Eternal Online, Book 1 By: TJ Reynolds Narrated by: Andrea Parsneau Series: Eternal Online, Book 1 Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins Shattered sword is an interesting book in which a young girl inherits her father’s debt and in order to avoid becoming an indentured servant she joins a game in the hope of earning enough money there in order to stave off the collectors. There are several things that struck me as odd. First, once in game she really doesn’t do a lot to earn cash, and then suddenly she has what she needs. That seems to be what should have been her driving force throughout the book. Secondly, and this was my biggest conundrum, was that when she entered the game she brought her only family heirloom, an ancient sword, with her. You could bring in real world items so long as they fit the game’s theme, and the sword did. For some reason the game considers the family’s weapon to be some superpowered OP item of mass destruction and shatters the sword (Hence the title) into several pieces that the girl has to collect. This would make you think the series was going be about Dhalia, the MC, searching for coin that could be used IRL and collecting the pieces of the sword. And that’s really not what the book is about. The weapon issue is that Dhalia starts off with one piece of the sword and can useit, just not very safely or effectively. Then she sort of stumbles into a couple of pieces, but not because she is actively looking. As harsh as I make this sound I loved the book. Dhalia was interesting, the world was vibrant, and the emotions were genuine. You have a 16 year old trying not to become a slave, finds herself in a hostile land without the one weapon she was counting on having and she isn’t a Mary Sue who can defeat all comers. She’s scared, she’s shy. She struggles. This is what makes the book. Andrea ...
