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A review by thetigerwrites
Oblivion's Blade by M.H. Johnson
3.0
I want to start with a warning, this isn't a full story, it's part 1 of a story, and I hope book 2 is the conclusion.
what did I like?
I love the worldbuilding; both that of the Endless online world and that of Val's 'real world'. I love the small details dropped here and there differencing his real-world from mine. and how almost all the worldbuilding for Endless online is done through people talking about it, instead of Val experiencing it.
I love that when Val is dropped in the world of Endless online, it feels like he's out of his depth, instead of having landed in the tutorial stage.
I like the conceit of the RPG elements, even if at times some of them feel arbitrary, and is the 'system voice' has for too much personality. I expect in the book itself it isn't too bad, but in the audiobook the narrator takes is over the top.
What didn't I like.
For as much as I enjoyed the Real World, there's too much of it. all we needed was two chapters, maybe three to set up who Val was, what he had suffered, and what he needed. then we could have jumped into the adventure.
There are far too many recaps. multiple times in the story Val goes over what happened to get him there, even though we've read it, and it was already recapped before that.
the book needs a story editor, continuity is broken in a few places, and at least one chapter is entirely irrelevant to the story.
in the end, this is an interesting story that could be much better with the help of a good editor.
what did I like?
I love the worldbuilding; both that of the Endless online world and that of Val's 'real world'. I love the small details dropped here and there differencing his real-world from mine. and how almost all the worldbuilding for Endless online is done through people talking about it, instead of Val experiencing it.
I love that when Val is dropped in the world of Endless online, it feels like he's out of his depth, instead of having landed in the tutorial stage.
I like the conceit of the RPG elements, even if at times some of them feel arbitrary, and is the 'system voice' has for too much personality. I expect in the book itself it isn't too bad, but in the audiobook the narrator takes is over the top.
What didn't I like.
For as much as I enjoyed the Real World, there's too much of it. all we needed was two chapters, maybe three to set up who Val was, what he had suffered, and what he needed. then we could have jumped into the adventure.
There are far too many recaps. multiple times in the story Val goes over what happened to get him there, even though we've read it, and it was already recapped before that.
the book needs a story editor, continuity is broken in a few places, and at least one chapter is entirely irrelevant to the story.
in the end, this is an interesting story that could be much better with the help of a good editor.