I’m not sure where to begin. I suppose let’s start with the story itself.
Normally, I’m pretty forgiving with regards to LITRPG’s and character development. The issue here…there is none. No character development at all. Supposedly we should care about Runner because he can save hundreds of thousands. Okay…I could have gotten behind that notion; however, he doesn’t run into anyone that’s a player in over 3.5 hrs of listening. That means there’s really no banter that can take place except in his inner monologue. He treats NPC’s like NPC’s even though they’re practically snapping their fingers in front of his face saying ‘Yo, I’m right here. What are you talking about?’
So the character development is non-existent. I don’t care about Runner at this point. I don’t care about the story. Hell, I have more sympathy for the NPC’s than the MC right now.
I just can’t do it. I need something more. Even the litrpg elements are lame so far.
Now we get to editing. This breaks my heart. Sound-booth theater is typically top notch in their editing. They dropped the ball here. Sound volume consistently bounces between too loud and too soft. I have a hearing impairment. I can’t keep up with that. The voices and acting themselves are fine, but if you screw the volume editing you kind of kill the entirety of the experience. I’d rather have one of the voices be droll than this particular mistake.
So 2 stars all around. It’s just not something that’s interesting to me. If I had spent a credit on this instead of getting it for $1.99 as an upgrade my Kindle Unlimited, I’d have darn sure returned it. And I’ve never, not once, returned an audible book to date. And I listen to A LOT of books.