Beginnings

Honestly? It was rough, but I kinda liked it.

The premise is amazing. When I was younger and devoted wayyyy too much time to WoW, I used to imagine the backstory of my characters especially when they first spawn and see daylight for the first time in their lives. BUT this book delves deeper than that. This goes into the xp farming and mind numbing routines of low level characters in mmorpgs. I wanted this book to push on and catch up to the exciting fun stuff, and at times it seemed like it was ready to do just that, but then it regresses back into the mundane every day bull that would make me have to take a break from the game. However, I AM looking forward to the second book in the series as I made it through this one. The narrator grows on you and you start getting invested in the characters. Even though I grew frustrated at times, I still stuck with the story and am wanting more.

I won't be picking up a printed version as I feel this story is best taken in through your ear holes, but if there was a graphic novel, I'd snatch it up.

Give it a try

8 of 8 people found this review helpful

Not bad, not good. It's ok.

Story is ok. Some original ideas, others not so much.

Was not a fan of the narrator or the voices she did.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

Very juvenile and predictable

This seems like a story someone wrote in high school. The comedy is forced and awkward. The characters are 1 dimensional and the only good people are non humans. All humans are racist and the story ends with humans killing babies. This damaged my brain.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

well..

feel like siri is reading me a book the narator just sounds robotic and drones on :/

7 of 8 people found this review helpful

Disappointing character development and narration

So, I actually went ahead and purchased all three of the existing books in the series.

Let's start with the positive. The fairy companion and her interaction with the MC are probably the highlight of the series. Somehow the fairy companion lived on earth and is familiar with Earth's pop culture and periodically brings in pop culture references that help stave off some of the more stale segments of the book.

And the negative (very minor spoilers). While all the characters "grow" in terms of stats and abilities, there is very little character development. The MC, who by the way comes to Terra because he died of a heart attack due to playing games for 3 days straight, is 19 years old and has very little personality. He also doesn't really have any interesting powers or abilities. The author gives him all kinds of different powers and abilities but the MC seems to float from one to another without doing anything that stands out very much. In fact he seems kind of clueless when it comes to developing his skills. Now maybe the author is just trying to avoid making him too powerful too quickly, but after 3 books I'm starting to struggle to stay interested. I really wish I cared about the characters more but they all seem so generic. Everybody likes the MC but it's hard to understand why given his lack of personality.

He ends up dating a "butch" girl who also doesn't seem to change or develop much over the three book story arc. Sure she has kind of a sad back story but she's not much different in book 3 than she was when we first met her in book 1. Even worse she's significantly more powerful than the MC, but anytime there's a really important battle she kind of stands in the wings for some weird reason.

Finally there's the narrator. While she tries hard and does have a number of different voices that help differentiate the different characters I think it's probably not a great idea to have a female narrator when your main character is a male.

Anyways, if you love LITRPG you might like this but so far I've been fairly disappointed.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Good litrpg

So I heard about this book from the Author's podcast (Litrpg) and I was, shall we say, trepidatious partly because I didn't want to be disappointed by an author I had some sort of connection to (even if tenuously) and by the fact that to my knowledge this is his first book. So it went on my "to read" list and kept on getting pushed back until I found out there would be an audible release which I decided to wait for. The good news it's an actually fun book. I'll be picking up the rest with enthusiasm. It doesn't quite hit the upper echelon of this genre but it's far from just meh and definitely worth my credit.

Starting off there are a few derivative plot points such as the "seed of chaos" idea but there are some other ideas that take things into different directions than some of the books with a similar plot point has. Such as the reincarnation aspect and the adopted family helping him catch up to where he should be at his age. The main character isn't, at least as of right now, overly powerful. Nor is he all that obviously different from those around him beyond some of his attitudes towards the non human races and his point of view about certain social mores. The main thing that gives him a bonus early on is a fairy companion and later his adopted families but again, he started far behind what a native in this world would at his age.

There's also hints at a lot of crafting progression though by the end of the book he's still at the beginning levels there. The narrator did a fantastic job and the only reason I gave a four out of five stars is because I can think of some stand out performances that I've liked even more. If I could have given 4.5 stars I would have. This is a solid start for a series and it managed to pull a few chuckles out of me which is always a big plus. Perhaps later I'll look back and think it's worth 5 stars it really depends on just where the later books take us. I'm looking forward to more Mr Mejia.

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

Good Start!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Probably not, not because this book isn't good but because I don't know anyone else who enjoys litRPG books.

Who was your favorite character and why?

MC I don't know I just seem to like the MC most in all books that I read.

Which scene was your favorite?

I don't do spoilers.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Wouldn't make this book a film, I just like audio books and reading much more.

Any additional comments?

I have read a lot of litRPG books lately and I felt that this book was a ray of sunlight in the muddled mess of dumb crap. instead of making a harem story about a sex deprived teenaged boy it seems to focus more on the story! Sure the author needs to work on his writing a bit but this book is definitely a good start to a series that I will be following. If you like the sub-genre of litRPG definitely pick up this title.

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

good story

loved the story loved reading it. however the female narrator reading a male mc for so long made it hard to stay connected to the story. I have the same problem with s male narrator reading a female mc for long periods. if a male or female narrator does a different sex voice for short periods im ok with that and it does not create a disconnect. its just if its the entire book in a different genders voice I can't connect to the story

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

I thoroughly enjoyed this book

What did you love best about Beginnings?

I loved how this was a new approach to the LitRPG type books. I feel like the author is not just writing a book to sell books but is like us who also enjoys LitRPG's and maybe even anime. I did sense a little bit of SAO in here but was different enough to not be the same. I liked the descriptions of how weapons were made, and skills were acquired. I am itching for book 2 to come out I need to know what happens! I hope book 2 is longer, I like longer audio books.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Beginnings?

When Armon decides to ask the kbolds how he can help them instead of killing them. Anyone who plays MMORPG's would just run up and kill them, but he decided to ask them what he could do to help them.

What does Jill Smith bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I enjoyed her voice so much, was a little odd having a female read a male lead characters voice but she was so easy to listen to and dive into the story. Sometimes you have issues connecting to a story or you listen and don't sink in but not with her you are pulled in to the story like you are now also in the game.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

nooooo way! I listened to this over a few days. I might have to go re listen to it. I sometimes will listen to an audio book when I am getting ready for work, or taking a bubble bath and even drifting off to sleep and sometimes I miss a few things.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Terrible...

Since the LITRPG genre can be pretty hit and miss with the quality of its offerings, I usually try to research books before I listen to them or read them. That's why, when I saw this book being specially promoted by Audible, I thought it would at least be passably good. How wrong I was.

After forcing myself to listen to 84.28 percent of this book (I checked), I just couldn't go on. I really don't know where to begin to describe the faults of the book. Almost anything that can be done wrong, is. The characters are both unlikable and unrealistic and those things that are supposed to make them endearing make you hate them more. Though the kobold had some redeeming qualities. The plot is stupid and the narrator kind of just makes things worse.

I think this book might have been fun for YA or younger if it wasn't for the weird and unfunny sexual humor. Though, perhaps that might also be a selling point for some YA... Anyway, unless you have no critical faculties, I would leave this one alone.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful