So I almost turned off this book after the first few hours. I was having trouble keeping attentive because it went into a very long “reading of stats I don’t care about” mode. I enjoy this genre in AudioBook format but sometimes “Unabridged” means the narrator is continually reading everything off a characters stat sheet.
I don’t really care about the world’s game system all that much. I know that it exists and that it has rules. I like to know what the rules are going to be, but I don’t need to be told over and over again that activating power strike has a medium stamina drain and does whatever. Once will do. After all, this isn’t a real MMO, we’re not talking about a balanced, fully fleshed out game system.
But what this book did in the second half redeemed it. It put away the tediousness of the game mechanics and just told a story. It was awesome. It had me hooked. I went through the second half of the book so much more quickly and enthused than the first half.
As always, the performances by Jeff Hays and Annie Ellicott were great, and the added audio effects they’ve done is a really nice touch. I hope the third book takes after the second half of this book and focuses on story over mechanics, not the other way around. Hugo seems to be a very good storyteller when he gets the worldbuilding out of the way, so to speak.