Reading the plusher’s summary of Fateseal, I was absolutely certain that I was going to love this book. I mean a new LitRPG featuring a cool magic system, a world engaged in a complex political struggle/war, and a tough female protagonist? Yes please! Yes, there were hints that there would also be a romance angle, but I’ve never been opposed that. While I don’t tend to ever read straight up romances, I can freely admit to being a bit of a hopeless romantic and can totally appreciate any story that includes a romance angle if it is done well and enhances the story. Just look at Die Hard 1 & 2, one of the main reasons John McClain goes through all that insanity is because he loves his wife so much. Sadly, I have to say that for me Fateseal failed to deliver on just about all the promises made by the publisher’s summary. Now I say just about all, but not quite all. There is definitely a romance happening, but it just doesn’t come off as feeling real. There’s no real logic as to why Cerys, our protagonist, eventually falls for Idris (main male lead). She spends more than half the novel perpetually pissed off at the guy and then suddenly she’s fine with him, more than fine crazy in love with him? Where was her pivot point? If there was one, I must have missed it. But that’s fine, forget the romance angle for a minute. My real problem with this book is that other than almost nothing happens. Now, I know you what you are thinking, the book is 18+ hours long surely something happens. Okay, you’re right. There is an excessive amount of smiling and smirking taking place, but other than that there is almost no action. What do I mean. Okay, so the first few hours are spent with a bit of an introduction as our main character tests out a new MMO. This starts out promising enough. We get hints at how this world is divided, demons and humans kind of living together and yet also at odds with each other. The humans being shown as the superior power in this world, setting them up as the bad guys, which I was fine with. Then we end up learning that this virtual world, isn’t really a game but rather a real world and that the gods of that world are bringing people from our world into this one to one their champions! Surprise surprise! While not all that original-it’s a plot that has been done, and done well, in many LitRPGs before, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. So our heroine must decide which faction she’ll fight for, but only after she gets a chance to check out both sides. She leans toward the demons but the demons won’t say yes until they see what her world is like. Why should it matter? Not sure, but that’s just the way it is. So despite two very brief trips into this virtual world, it isn’t really until hour 7 (yes 7) that she makes the permanent crossover into this new world. I’m fine with slow burn set up, but even so 7 hours does seem a bit excessive. But again, I’m not really that mad because honestly the set up stuff is interesting, The political conflict narrative the author is setting up is fairly interesting. But okay we are now crossed over and, in case you had forgotten, Cerys has been brought over to be a champion for this faction. Let me repeat that. She’s been brought over to be the demon’s CHAMPION. So naturally, all the demons hate her? Wait, what? Yes, the vast majority of the demons she interact with seem to hate her. Hey I’m here to help, to fight on your side! Really? Oh, great, well we hate you anyway. Keep thinking on that one for a while. Now let us look at the fact that this is supposedly a LitRPG. I read and listened to quite a few, maybe you have too. Certain things pretty much are a necessity for LitRPGs. Character classes, skills, battles, leveling, adventuring. Okay, so it was 7 hours before Cerys really picked a side and got into the world. It wasn’t until the 9 to 9.5 hour mark that Cerys ended up picking a classes and skills. And she picks what sounds like a cool character class: a Shadow Dancer. Now this Cerys, the person who is supposed to be the demon’s champion, while meets with grandmasters, none of them actually seem to have any time to train her. They unlock an ability or two for her, but training? No, they claim they are busy training the influx of new characters, which happen to be the people from earth who are just playing the game, not the person who is supposed to be their savior. Make sense to anyone? Okay, fine. Surely, Cerys will train on her own, she’ll do quests and stuff, because hey quests are pretty much a hallmark of every LitRPG, right? Certainly seemed to be in every LitRPG I ever read or listened to until now. Yeah, not this one. In fact it wasn’t until the thirteenth and a half hour mark that we even see Cerys take on a creature. Yes, you read that correctly. Aside from a single kill she made while trying out the demo in hour 1 of the book, this is the first time fights. If this is how the demon normally operate, it’s no wonder they’re being crushed by the humans of their world. Okay but we’re getting close to the end so surly things are going to pick up. There has to the some action, right? I won’t keep you in suspense, the answer is no. In fact with only an hour and a half left in the book the main focus of the story shifts to Cerys being excited about getting a pony (or rather the demon equivalent of a pony) and there is a long protracted discussion about the fact that the food Cerys has been eating has in fact been the flesh of magical creatures.
Such a shame. I wanted to love this one, and feel like it could have been great. We had all the right ingredients: fairly cool characters, unique character classes/magic, very intriguing political conflict, humans being brought into the world to be proxies for the various gods … and yet nothing actually happens. A LitRPG without quests? Without any battles? What we got was nothing but empty promises and a convoluted and nonsensical romance.
Okay so if that is the case, why is it that I still plowed through this entire 18+ hour book in a bit under 3 days? That’s easy, because of the term behind this production. Soundbooth Theater. Honestly I’ve listened to Soundbooth Theater books for years now and the team just keeps getting better and better. These guys and gals could perform the phonebook, a Chinese takeout menu, an auto repair manual, or a set of stereo instructions and I would listen to them, that is just how entraining they are. So while I cannot say that I enjoyed this story, I still enjoyed the heck out the performances from Annie, Jeff, and everyone else from Soundbooth Theater.
I was given a free review copy of this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.