This will be my review of the Tarot series as a whole. Book 1 was by far the strongest entry and the other two books had a critical flaw. It seems as if the entire plot for the series was conceived of at once, with most of the ideas packed into the first book. The second and third book would follow the much more bare bones story outline and structure of the middle and end. Basically, Travis saw the peaks he wanted to hit, but didn’t know the entire path. Unfortunately, he overestimated the amount of content that could be fit into the second and third book. They were weaker for it and I hope in the future, Travis learns to kill his darlings. The last two books could’ve been half their length and it would’ve been a great series. As it is, I took a month to finish the middle book when it usually takes me a day to finish a book. The third book still had the same problem but significantly less so and with a satisfactory climax. Even so, the repetition in some scenes had me zoning out for close to an hour without missing much of anything. Possibly a ghost writer with a word count requirement?
As for the story itself, Finn is actually easier for me to relate to than Jason. His struggles have more weight to me, his wins seem more hard earned, his solutions walking an even finer line between ingenuity and sacrifice. I also like how much the climax of this third book really does a lot to explore and expand upon the concepts of AI and simulated realities, as well as fleshing out more of the world and people of AO. The antagonist was also much more interesting and complex than Alexion has been for Jason. I guessed his identity early on, but he was the most interesting part of the second book. Overall, great plot hidden in a barrage of words. In desperate need of an abridged version to truly make it great. As is, you’ll be slogging along.
Of course, the actual AO story line is much better in terms of story flow, but Jason’s necromancy ability made the whole game so easy for him that I never really bought some of his struggles. As far as wish fulfillment goes, it’s second to none. In contrast though, Finn has a much more self-made quality about him, as the solutions he comes up with don’t feel cheaply earned or any less brilliant. Whereas Jason is basically Mr. Fate-Stay/Awaken Online: Unlimited Bone Works.
Going off these other reviews, I can tell I’m in the minority here, but I just enjoyed Finn more as a character by the end of his arc than I currently do Jason. Jason’s series isn’t anywhere near as much of a slog though.
I recommend listening to the second book at 2.0x-2.5x. Maybe the third one also.