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  • Convergence

  • Convergence, Book 1
  • By: Craig Alanson
  • Narrated by: R.C. Bray
  • Length: 16 hrs and 56 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (1,064 ratings)

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Convergence cover art

Convergence

By: Craig Alanson
Narrated by: R.C. Bray
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Summary

From New York Times bestselling author Craig Alanson comes a thrilling new series that melds action-packed urban fantasy with his signature humor, read by none other than award-winning narrator R.C. Bray.

My name is Kazimir Wolfe. People call me "Kaz", except they don’t. I never use my real name; it’s too dangerous, for me and for anyone I meet.

I’m on the run from the law, who think I killed my aunt, and from whoever did kill her, because they want to finish the job. So, I move around a lot, working construction or whatever job I can find. It’s a lonely life. I don’t let anyone get close...people who get close to me end up dead. Why?

I’m a wizard. The world’s only wizard, as far as I know. I don’t have a wand or a sword, and I don’t ride a dragon. I carry a Glock, and drive around in a beat-up RV with a talking dog.

Yeah. The talking dog was a surprise to me, too. Duke is inhabited by the spirit of a 3,000-year-old wizard from Babylon, and he’s a good dog, but he is still a dog, and that’s a problem. Like, he still thinks squirrels are his mortal enemy. And that I don’t feed him enough. How did the spirit of a wizard reach across millennia, to our time? I don’t know.

The truth is, I’m not much of a wizard, because there’s not much magic in the world for me to work with. But there used to be magic. And magic is coming back as our world converges with the Nether.

Unless I can stop it.

©2022 Craig Alanson (P)2022 Podium Audio

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Don't trust the reviews...

There's not a lot of story here, it feels like a mystery box with a few zany characters that aren't well developed due to too many history lessons and tutorials on how the modern world works.

I think this series will be another one that lasts forever with no real resolve.

I say don't listen to the review because there's a lot of Expeditionary Force fans that clearly love the author and, in my opinion, are over rating this story.

There's a cheap scene with Duke towards the end too that I hated.

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10 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars

Slow. Despite success still hasn't learned to edit

Edit. Edit. Edit. Those are the three things Craig Alanson needs to work on.

Another pretty good concept, but killed by mundane repetition of the same patterns and very slow story development.

R C Bray as always does a good job, but the material is rather limited.

I enjoy Expeditionary Force, largely due to the Skippy / Joe dynamic, and I can see the attempt here for Duke to be the comic equivalent of Skippy, but once the "me hungry doggy, ooooh what's that smell" angle has been beaten to death and still no progress with plot I gave up and moved on with my life.

I almost never walk away from a book without finishing it, but I couldn't bring myself to keep going with this one. This author could consistently loose 4 hours from his books and gain a huge amount in quality.

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9 people found this helpful

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Self-indulgent waffle...

Great idea badly executed. Way too much dialogue. Lots of silly jokes. No story. Saved only by the narrator, although I still feel that I've wasted 16 hours of my life.

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6 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars

Joe Bishop is a wizard. Very Craig Alanson

This was enjoyable but we’re not being offered anything new here. If you’re familiar with ExForce you’ll feel right at home but what’s apparent to me is this would have been much improved by the thorough scrubbing and polishing of an attentive editor.

R C Bray is excellent, as ever, this book feels as if it is written with his narration in mind.

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5 people found this helpful

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Craig do it again and Bray nails it.

While this book might not have been my first choice as it's not normally the genera I listen to. I have been enjoying Craigs books since Expedition force book 4 (as in how fare the series had gotten when I found it and got book one :P) Duke steal the show just about every time he opens his doggy mouth and Wolf is a great character rights from the start. It should be noted that as of this review I am only about 4 hours into the book but it have had my attention right from the start with Craigs awesome way of telling a story and making it interesting. AND of cause it is preformed beautiful by Bray like always!

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So disappointing

I was looking forward to some fresh writing from the author and the premise was promising but the characterisation is markedly similar to Expeditionary force with Skippy as a dog - and far more annoying. The story is sacrificed to long passages attempting to explain the “science” that don’t move the story along. When the story does shine through its great but it’s an hour of listening to meandering unnecessary explanations to get 10 mins of great storytelling. R C Bray did a good job with the material he had but even he couldn’t save it. Finally repeating the joke “I’m a dog” incessantly does not make it funnier. I hate to give up on books but couldn’t get to the end of this one and returned it. Craig is a great writer and I look forward to him returning to form.

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3 people found this helpful

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An excellent start to the series

Yet again the combination of Alanson and Bray has resulted in a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

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3 people found this helpful

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Excellent book establishing a new world

it is an excellent book establishing a new world for Craig. it has a familiar sense to it, as many of its characters are written in a very Exforce manner. the pace is a bit slow, but it picks up towards the end, once the characters are a bit established in our minds.
Bad points in my opinion is all this food talk. seems in all books we get a very detailed description of what the characters are eating

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant

Loved it. Good tale, not my usual fare but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The combination of Messrs Alanson & Bray was, as always, both the attraction and the reward. Thank you both, looking forward to the next adventure.

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3 people found this helpful

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Who's a good boy??

Duke is obviously, that Labrador steals the show from Mr Wolf and he is a great character. Funny. has suspense and intrigue and is a VERY enjoyable story. And Bray is his usual excellence. Highly recommended.

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  • Joseph
  • 03-08-22

How did this get passed an editor?

I'm... not quite sure how this book gets written. I'm about half way through and I'm having to force myself not to bang my head against a wall.

Forget the synopsis. This story has been 'Modern Man Explains Why Tech Isn't Magic To Time Travellers' for HOURS.

Couple that with tedious dog gags and the MC being Joe Bishop 2.0 and I'm honestly struggling with this one.

I'll power through and update this review if necessary. I highly doubt it.

A tip though, maybe don't make magic and the urban fantasy world you're creating as dull as hospital walls?

edit 1: A few more hours in and it hasn't gotten any better. So why update? Just to rant a little more about Wolf being Joe Bishop 2.0. Infinitely, frustratingly self-deprecating, constant random food tangents (likely from a hungry Alanson while writing) and really ignorant, rice-paper thinly veiled social commentary that's really just 'profound insights' direct from the author's mind.

The incident in particular that triggered this little update is Bishop, I mean Wolf, not wanting to show the time travellers from the FOURTH CENTURY action movies because he didn't want to upset them - THE MEDIEVAL TIME TRAVELLERS - with how violent and crappy the modern world can be.

Just... next level stupid.

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  • Rob Bew
  • 02-08-22

yikes

this definitely feels like an author who has never read an urban fantasy. we like magic. the dog stuff was way over done. there are much better options out there than to listen to this painful thing for 17 hours.

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  • august
  • 02-08-22

It's not Expeditionary Force

I wanted to like this book because I love the other books with Skippy! I found my self frustrated by an imaginary dog that could talk. We spent a lot of time talking to a dog and not going into things like plot. It did not feel like it had the same dynamic as the Ex force books.

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  • Jekyll
  • 03-08-22

meh

r.c bray as always was great. story...not so much. just kinda drags on and on. jumps around to past memories and different characters without notice, dry dialog etc. had to return it.

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  • Spankybus
  • 11-08-22

OMG a slow, plodding bore by a master narrator

You will get more action at a retirement center than in this book. Seriously, the Dog is a weak Skippy, main is a redundant snooze....this book is like 75% explaining modern times to new people ad nauseum and another 10% food tangents. NOTHING interesting happens. No action....I am down to just under 2 hours and I am forcing myself to finish. The dog thing gets old...he really is just a morose Skippy...

This is like ex-force if Bishop just rambled into a pod-cast for hours with no point. Seriously, I cannot believe this is the same guy that wrote Ex-force.

White Bray could make the dictionary sound interested, even he cannot save this slog. Such a Bummer.

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  • ROD
  • 02-08-22

the dog angle gets old really fast

I want to enjoy the book... based on the synopsis, I thought I would and yes it mentions a talking dog how ever I think too much time is spent explaining things to a dog or arguing with dog, at least let the wizard take over.. something to move the story along.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 10-08-22

A lot of filler but hopefully it gets better.

Pretty much the whole book is filler. It spends a lot of time with things that have nothing to do with the plot. In general only 2-3 things really happen in the whole book the rest is pointless filler and conversation. Some is funny but most gets repetitive after a while. This whole book could have been over in like 5 chapters with out it. Pretty much nothing happens in the entire book of any importance until the end. Very little is explained other than saying over and over again that the main character doesn’t know anything and it’s not his fault he didn’t know anything. I mean this point is brought up like 15-20 times. Very little is explained about the mystery groups or magic or anything really. Finally at the last 20 min of the book you get a chance but nope ends the book with no more explanation than it had already done. I hope this series isn’t going the same road as expeditionary forces as soon many of those books are just pointless redundant filler. This is maybe half a book at most. RC bray as always delivered a wonderful audio experience.

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  • micheal mcneal
  • 04-08-22

meh-some

rc bray.....good job.
Craig Alanson.... this isnt book 6+ in a series where you can have nothing happen for 15 hours. if you need help hire me. you have to move the story along man. Ive been frustrated with ex-force for awhile (like all the aliens we know nothing about), but im determined to finish. You come up with brilliant concepts and characters then never develope the plot....until the very end. more needs to happen. you are streaching what should be 1 book into 3-4 books. please look back at your early work and bring some of that storytelling and pacing into your work.

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  • Calista
  • 06-08-22

Please get an editor Craig

The subtitle of this book could be “A time travellers guide to the 21st Century”
Two characters are new to the modern world and apparently we have to be there while Kaz fills them in on EVERYTHING. Potatoes, tomatoes, fist bumps, electricity, toothpaste…… throughout the whole book. This is already tedious a few minutes after we meet them.
RC Bray does a fantastic job of bringing the dog to life but I think he (the dog not Bray) may need worming because he’s hungry 24/7.

Craig has spent hours with Joe Bishop in his head and it does reflect in the mannerisms and speech of Kaz. Perhaps when he’s written more of this series and ExForce is done Kaz will develop more of his own persona. There is certainly potential there.

Overall I think the book would benefit most by the services of a good editor who could trim a lot of the “explanations” Kaz gives to both other characters and the reader (I don’t need to know the history of coffee or the composition of bronze -neither adds to the story) and make sure there is always steady plot development.
The scene has been set for what could be a fantastic series and Craig is certainly up to the task but for me it’s off to a fairly shaky start.

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  • Kaz
  • 03-08-22

Loving this

Ok well I’ll admit the name had me a bit biased. However this story is very enjoyable and just because they are out to get you doesn’t mean your not paranoid.

Give this a shot you will really enjoy it.

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