A missed opportunity.

This could have been a great opportunity to completely wrap the story up. instead it was 85% wrapped up, and a few uninteresting threads were left for another book. I dont think I will be getting the next one. None of the crumbs left for me to follow seem very interesting.

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2 people found this helpful

strange ending

no stats to speak of, very strange ending that isn't a cliffhanger, more like a wtf moment... the first books were great but I don't know if I want to continue this series.

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Not as good as the others

I was less impressed with this story as the author choice to go with overwhelming odds and a lot of whining and crying by the main character. The story would be a lot better without all the whining and bemoaning she does.

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love this series.

I love this series and most of the voices. a bit too much sound effects for my taste but really well done.

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Fantastic, with a slight bit of confusion

This was another steller entry in the Stone-haven series by Summers.

Though, perhaps this is confusion on my part, but I thought the MC's all knew that whats her face had died already at the start of the book... but the book uses that reveal as a key plot point... This could have simply been me mis-remembering the last book though.

The soundbooth crew do an amazing job as always, and summers does as I've said already, a steller job.

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Series has run out of steam before the finish

*Spoilers Follow*
This series took a bit to grow on me. The premise of events taking place both in the real world and a VR sim MMORPG was a different take. I really got into it, as the pacing and tension were well done. The characters weren't exactly deep, but mostly likeable enough. The previous book was probably the strongest, at least to me. But now the series has run out of steam, with this volume falling completely flat at the end. Which is really too bad.

The best part (and where it gets its stars from me) involved Haley's struggle with her impending real world death from a fatal autoimmune disease. The entire book could have easily been about how, or even if, Haley's consciousness / "soul" could transfer into the virtual world, with all the ethical and scientific baggage that entails. Instead, the most interesting part of the entire story is little more than a sideplot, with her actual soul transfer super easy, barely an inconvenience. The other players have some decent buildup from previous volumes, but don't really have much to do in this one. And sadly, the characters of Stonehaven are just not interesting. Seriously, I couldn't care less about any of them. They feel like single-purpose NPCs, which I know defeats the whole premise. The dwarves are especially annoying, cliched stereotypes. You know what I'm talking about: Scottish accents (okay, that's true in all fantasy these days), hit things with hammers, obsess about beards, get drunk and act stupid. They're basically obnoxious frat boys / girls. I honestly felt nothing anytime one of them was at risk of getting killed, and kind of wish they'd all snuffed it.

And speaking of super easy fixes, the defeat of the unstoppable demon army in a one-shot that involved Devin sitting in a stone chair was really anticlimactic. And now, their nemeses for the next book go from an unstoppable demon horde to toxic gamers, who are only introduced sporadically in this book ... seriously? Every scene they are in is SO ANNOYING!!! They're cardboard stereotypes with zero depth and no agenda other than being obnoxious jerks. Sure, at the end, they and the NPCs of Stonehaven have been warped somewhere unknown, with Devin and company having to save them in the next book. But honestly, I just don't care. Nils, the toxic player leader, is so obnoxious, I refuse to read a book with him as the antagonist. His traitor-in-waiting, Ashley, isn't any better. Had this story focused on Devin et al trying to save Haley's spirit before she dies, with the final book them all battling the demon horde, would have been fantastic. Boring NPCs being rescued from toxic games (if, indeed that is the entire plot of the next book), just doesn't interest me at all.

Sadly, while I enjoyed the previous books, think Carrie Summers is a very talented writer, and the performances from Soundbooth Theatre are excellent (hence the performance 5 stars), the series for me ends here.

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more of the same

it's pretty hard to say much this deep in a series, if you've liked it this far, you will like this one too :)
both writing and narration remains high quality

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A good balancing act!

More great plot twists and jumps between the mundane and the terrifying! I loved it!

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Looking forward already to the next book!!!

Just a great addition to the Stonehaven League. The world is right in the trope of what the genre is, but the way the author gets us, the readers, to fall in love with their characters over the series is great. The progression of skill development for the main characters is at a steady pace, and the unfolding of story plot, it is enjoyable. Its been fun just listening to the series in the background, before bed, or just as an escape to my own mental theatre. Looking forward already to the next book in the series!

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