Excellent new series

Unlike the action packed adventures Harmon usually does this is a more personal close up review of a player who after losing his town to player killers decides to seek revenge by becoming a player killer and going adter them. His character shunned by the rest of the world in general gives us a lighter side with his companion a massive Wolf adaptly named Wolf (what better name is their). His personal quest for revenge and his levelling give us some great one on one interactions and background to his personality making this a great read. Although not as action packed as a lot of Harmons work it's easy to feel for Oric and to quickly feel for his quest and its motivations.
The audio version does great with the usual skills of top narrator Jeff Hays as main narrator with our female lead played by Annie Ellicott adding a bit extra in with her talents, this helps pick up the book from very good to great.
This is the first book but i feel invested in our hero so im looking forward to his book 2 due out soon.

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Anyone can climb in a video game.

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The dream team of author, Harmon Cooper and multi voiced narrator Jeff Hays, come together again with the first of a new series set in the Proxima Galaxy.
Eric's body might be held in suspension somewhere in Chicago, but in the world of Unigaea, his incarnation as Oric Rune lives as a killer player, despised and feared by others as he and his only companion, a pony-sized Tagvornin wolf, seek vengeance and destruction on the Drachma killers who destroyed the village he had created and loved during a previous lifetime there.
Written in the first person , the reader follows Oric as his personal quest proceeds, alongside him as he fights and kills, remembers and plans, and often struggles simply to stay alive. Because Unigaea is an unforgiving world where to die means to return to the very beginning with nothing more than memories that can be brought back.

Jeff Hays is, as always, wonderful as Oric, his versatile voice expressively conveying the player's thoughts, words and deeds. From exhausted to elated, and everything in between. Plus Jeff is also almost everyone else, each character, be they male or female, dwarf or Governor, given their own distinctive and very appropriate voice. His ability to consistently and flawlessly switch between so many would be awe inspiring were it not for the reader's immersion in the story preventing such speculation. And there are no production problems to jar the listener from total absorption.

The one exception to Mr.Hays' cast of, if not millions then, at least, dozens is the entry of Annie Ellicott as the fun loving, thrill seeking, militia leading player, Sam Raid, towards the end of the book. Her beautifully cadenced voice is warm, filled with laughter and captures the essence of her flirty somewhat crazy character well. A really nice addition to the already excellent narration.

I am not, and have never been, an on-line games player but I do so enjoy the LitRPG genre when it is well written. So much is possible in these real feeling but make believe worlds. And so much can also go wrong where the code is king! After a slightly (though action fi!led) slow start, in this, The Last Warrior of Unigaea, Harmon Cooper again shows his mastery as story teller of imagination and wit. A terrific book, in every aspect.
Highly recommended.

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