First off let me state that this book is not terrible or even remotely bad, however it isn’t a 4 or 5 star book in my opinion. If I could have I would have given it 3.5 stars rather than the 3 I’d rated it, since by audibles definition a 4 star book is “Great” and a 3 star book is “Pretty good”. I asked myself if I would recommend this book to a friend and and as I honestly couldn’t see myself going out of my way to recommend it I went with 3 stars rather than 4. This doesn’t mean many wouldn’t enjoy this book, just that I don’t think it’s a book I’d personally recommend to friends and family.
After reading a few reviews I went into this book believing I was in for a bit of fresh creative writing, sadly that wasn’t the case as this book follows the typical over powered main character almost straight from the beginning route without much work or effort to become stronger, at least in his present life time. By present life time I mean this book also uses another over used going back in time with vast knowledge and experiences plot as the method to how the main character becomes over powered. similar to Reborn: Apocalypse. It’s honestly a bit disappointing to read another book with a main character becoming over powered simply because he or she has a knowledge cheat sheet from a previous life. It also is a little annoying that even though the main character was brought back to a time when he was just becoming an adult his ways of thinking and personality are that of a boring old man, which makes him a somewhat boring main character. His old man mentality also makes things a bit awkward especially when he interacts and even groups up with those of his age, which leads to a lack of chemistry in my opinion. I am all for a wise and practical main character however it’s a bit much, again making the main character slightly boring who doesn’t seem to relate to those around him, except in memories of his past life.
The narration by Jeff Hays is once again well done and is one of the main reasons I gave this book a chance to begin with. His narration is always great and tends to make any book a better experience.
That being said I will be keeping this book and may give the second a chance as I stated above this is not a terrible book and is fairly well written with an interesting story outside of the back in time aspect, just not the fresh and amazing book so many of the reviewers wish you to believe it is, as even the card system used is not new in the fantasy or lit rpg genre. It’s a solid 3.5 star book which many should enjoy reading, just don’t go into it with 5 star expectations.