This was a fun book. If you’ve listened to a lot in this genre then I recommend it as a beginning to a series with potential. If you’re new to the genre I might be more inclined to point you towards some of the real sprawling adventures with massive worlds and a lot of depth.
From that intro you can probably predict the rest of this review. This book was enjoyable and well written. The characters were engaging and I was pretty hooked from the beginning. The plot was very linear. It pretty much just chronologically followed the main character, and it read more like a trapped-on-a-desert-island, survival tale rather than a novel that is attempting to build a fully fleshed out world.
That’s not a bad thing, but it does keep this book from reaching beyond being an entertaining adventure. The narration was solid just like it always is from Travis Baldree.
The only real issue I have with this novel is the same one I have with almost any audiobook whose run-time is less than around 9.5 hours… it’s hard to pack enough plot, character development, and world-building into 8 hours and still have the listener come away with a feeling of satiety.
This audiobook like many other “short,” fantasy/GameLit, series installments ends with a climax and resolution that feel rushed. To the listener it’s almost like the author really had to pee and decided they needed to end the book before they had to run home and change their pants.
I’d say that this was about 3/5’s of the length this story needed to be to make it feel like a fully realized novel, instead of jan installment in an episodic series. All that said, I also don’t want to belittle the efforts of a new writer’s first major work. Jessica Hicks has done a much better job with her first book than most other authors in this genre.
So in the end, I do recommend this book with the one caveat that listeners should manage their expectations and enjoy it as a good beginning to a promising series, if not a book that truly stands on its own.
I will say that I am eagerly looking forward to the next release.