First about the story & narration: These characters are so much fun. There’s a great balance of personality between the main characters, & I was laughing out loud many times. From the start, I was invested in the story & personal growth. I’ve listened to Travis Baldree’s work for the excellent Cradle series and Elder Gate, & he’s one of my favorite male narrators. I have a library of around 1000 books on here, more than 95% being fantasy. Here, he does the same excellent job and gives perfect differentiation to each character. Importantly for me, he is one of those rare narrators who has figured out how to clearly voice the opposite gender without ridiculous high or low pitch.
Now some more about the genre: I’ve loved litrpg but all the quirks that make the genre so enjoyable also easily turn into unbearable nuisances. One example is the stat lists & changes. In audio form, this is excruciating b/c the entire list is read. Maybe some readers do analyze these minute changes, but I do not. It’s like being forced to hear someone’s blood pressure, respiratory rate, temp, etc, at least once per chapter. When reading, I skip these lists except for the most recent or large changes.
Some authors have managed to handle this aspect, but this particular book is EXCELLENT b/c of the way it perfectly balances the necessity of the updates without overdoing it.
I highly recommend this book for anyone new to litrpg as well as anyone familiar with other series on that area. I’m looking very forward to the next book.