I know I’m being pretty vague with this review, but honestly I worry that if I start parsing the good and the bad in detail, I’ll end up writing all night.
Unfortunately, when the writing is bad the narrator makes it worse. The narrator switches between being pretty good and being pretty bad depending on how good or bad the writing is at any given point. The writing is passable and the editing is awful. The ideas behind this book are amazing and the story is pretty good.
I honestly had no expectations going in, was angry when I thought it was a Tower of Heaven Rip-off, and eventually came to embrace the MC, the setting, and the story. It is that extra bit that makes a good narrator stand out. Stubbs really narrates well, and manages to convey everything that Kerr put into the story, plus a little more, I think. He was hardcore and a font of knowledge that simply gave him an edge. What could have come across as imbalanced simply played well with the character and the story. I didn’t even feel like the MC was over powered, and was happy when he retained skills that he’d trained for when the clock was reset. The book is well paced, smartly written, has some cool progression powers and is draped in an appropriately apocalyptic setting. As I said, it starts off in the vein Towers of heaven but then neatly shifts into a book of its own. The MC was interesting and he was playing the “I know the future card” very close to the vest. So much that I am pressed to say that it might be a little bit better flow wise. The book quickly differentiated itself from Tower of Heaven and stood on its own. So close it is scary as in I was ready to make accusations of plagiarism, but I kept listening. Basically the first chapter is practically identical Cameron Milan’s Tower of Heaven novel. I’m gonna tell ya, this book almost threw me into a right anxious fit. But the whole series, is so far, a solid read. It really does, and there it is very close, but as the book tries to be original and succeeds, there is a reason other authors haven't tried the same, it can be complicated to write a story. The only reason it isn't a 5 is because this deserves to be compared to some of the best books in the genre. The story itself is quite interesting, and a good read. The voice is "clean" easy to listen to, and at no point was I annoyed by the speaker. I am hoping that the next book in the series, will bring the story together a bit, and bring back more cohesion to side characters that have been ignored in the latest books. The side characters are also fun, but are side-lined in each "realm". Even as he is "re-inventing" himself, with forward knowledge. But if you can suspend the glossing over, of the time-line paradox issues, then the books are a great read. The concept of timetravel is introduced into this book, and so far, I have also read, not just heard these books, the concept isn't dealt with in the most believable way.
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