If you’re looking for something to listen to in the background without your full attention, this is a great trilogy. If you’re an active listener, it’s probably not for you. My likes n gripes follow. Not taking the time to spell check so proceed at your own peril.
The good: There’s a lot of story to dig into and a fun magic system. Honestly, with a good editor, this could have been a great trilogy.
The bad: (Some plot reveals follow)
Story – While EA Hooper has some great ideas, the execution is lackluster. I was taken out of the story by commonly reused adjectives, often within the space of several words. Sentence structure often felt very ‘first draft.’ The journey read like an instruction manual at points. (basically, Vincent went over to the tree. He looked at the branches. The branches were brown. There was a monster nearby). Vincent is stuck on a specific world playing house with his dead wife for what seemed like half the story. It’s excruciating. At other times, I wasn’t able to suspend my disbelief. For example, there is a party that goes on for weeks, maybe months, in which we are told several characters sing karaoke for 3 days straight and another group play beer pong for a week. I can get behind magic monsters in a vr sim gone crazy, but no one would sing karaoke for more than a few hours before getting bored.
Narration – The main narrator delivers a fairly bland reading, which makes it difficult to invest in characters. He has a tendency to annunciate ‘rrrrr’ heavily, so much of the story sounds like it’s being recited by a sleepy pirate. This makes battles feel tedious and character dialog (especially from Vincent) present as fatigued. When he voices different characters, it’s not so much a different voice as it is THIS GUY ALWAYS YELLS or sounds exactly like the main character. The other voice actors give it their best, and there are a few who deliver. But there’s this one female, the one who plays Vincent’s wife, who comes across as constantly apologizing and it’s not great. You know that one friend who whine-talks like they’re in trouble their parents? That’s the voice. Every time she spoke all I heard was, “But you can’t break up with meeeeheeeeheeeeee.”
Characters – Most characters are one note. The main character is altruistic to a fault, and it gets boring. Others vary in personality and some are enjoyable. I would have enjoyed more character growth overall. I’m a fan of LGBT representation in the media I consume. Unfortunately, most authors fall into the sexy lesbian trope. And to be fair, EA didn’t go play the hot-lesbian-flips-because-main-character-is-irresistible card. Anyway, I can’t remember the last time I read something with a gay dude or trans person. I get it, it’s easy to use lesbians because of straight male fantasies. It would be nice to see an author actually take a chance in that realm.