Absolution was a book that I didn’t know much about going in. I know Sloan is a fantastic author so I went into it with pretty high hopes even though I wasn’t sure what I was getting into.
It read like a post-apocalyptic/dystopian LitRPG. Now, the way that I read this, it wasn’t really a LitRPG – but it has the same levels and level up features that they usually do. In my head it was sort of a dystopian future where everyone is basically a number now.
The storytelling and character building in this opening book of a series was good. There wasn’t a ton of it early on – it was sprinkled within and I really like that. I felt like I knew enough about the main characters that I could guess what was coming next but not enough to always guess correctly – making the story a surprise throughout.
Overall, the story was enjoyable and since it’s a series I’m be curious to read more of. It wasn’t perfect and had its flaws but the good definitely out paced the bad. I can see some of the books that it’s said to read like (especially Ready Player One).
Throw in the narration by Gary Bennett and it takes it to another level. I thought that he did a great job on it and really helped take a story I wanted to read and turn it into a story I enjoyed listening to. He was able to give the characters some feeling without turning it into a full production.