Too much convenience

Blunt TL;DR
Main character felt bland and too much of a Mary Sue, going along with little to no obstacles.
Feels like a faceless grunt, who's getting power-leveled by plot convenience.

Full:
"Art" doesn't encounter anything that he has to come back to or can't complete, thanks to whatever conveniently perfect skill/thing he got the previous chapter.
Example:
-An old and mundane song book, found in a completely random and unrelated mine turns out to be the perfect thing to make the bard ignore the incredibly steep price for the info they needed to get into the mages guild.
-Conveniently gets a passive charm ability, right before they need to go back to the town they were chased out from. Where they also need to sweet talk their way into the thieves guild.

The story is getting Hard Carried by the narrator, who I already love to death from previous works. But I'm repeatedly broken out of immersion by how whenever they come to any pause because of an issue, they just power through. "Art" even gets a few moments of doubt which could be a great way to flesh out the character, but end up brushing it aside as if it never happened.

Seems like an inexperienced writer or an early work. Wouldn't recommend to anyone for other reasons than to learn how important struggles and setbacks are for character building.

[I made it halfway through]

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Surprised me

Really enjoyed the world for this book and I was surprised how much I enjoyed the story.

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1 person found this helpful

A hiddem gemofpower

Was like listening to a feature length RPG movie, but with the action, quests and character/world building to keep entertained throughout. The narrator was the cherry on the cake, top tier narration really well suited to the main character especially, but doing a great range of voices that were all enjoyable.

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3 people found this helpful

Loved it!

A really fun and exciting story with some great character development. The narration from Travis was excellent (as ever!) and he really brought the world, and the beasts who live in it, to life for me. Definitely worth a listen!

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2 people found this helpful

Solid Start!

This book introduces you to Art and Nails, Nux and Shadow Weaver and their adventures in the full immersive RPG, Beast Realms.
The story is well written and does not fall into the trap of making the main characters overpowered, you see them grow along with their companion beasts.
The world building is excellent, and the game mechanics are easy to understand.
Travis Baldree's narration is excellent and he even sings a verse of a poem/song here and there.
Definitely Recommend!
Now on to the next in the series.

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1 person found this helpful

Good idea, slow moving at times

The concept of the novel was good! I enjoyed the character (and pet) progression. I saw how it aimed to be more realistic - MC is not super overpowered however at time I felt this was taken too far and I felt like he came across a lot weaker than others. I enjoyed the action parts however felt they were few and far between long filler parts and slightly awkward relationship scenes.

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1 person found this helpful

fantastic

great little listen fast progression never a full moment !
looking forward to book two!!!!

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1 person found this helpful

A epic book!

A fantastic story, great characters and wonderfully narrated.
I look forward to the second book.

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What is a man

Bad story bad character make no sense not coherent not connected not make sense just bad regret purchasing I am human btw oga booga

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wish I could get my time back

Main character is a a complete moron who's decisions are cringe worthy throughout, wish I could get the time I wasted listening to this back.

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1 person found this helpful