No. No. No. Spoilers I guess.

No. Just no.
I usually enjoy Marcus's writing, so this review came as a surprise.
From urban fantasy to abolitionism to empire building to alien invasion.
I'm gunna struggle to put my thoughts into words, but hear/read me out.
This story is jarring at best, with paradigm shifts littered throughout. It started as a pretty interesting urban fantasy with the main character trying to profit when he's unexpectedly thrust into a supernatural world. Then it starts toeing the line of abolitionism after he experiances the racism and slavery in this other world, which though alittle off focus was fine with me. Then, it unexpectedly turns into an empire builder after the american government makes a abrupt entrance to basicly kick Marvin and co off of earth for super contrived reasons. Finally ending with an alien invasion and info dump in the epilog.
Character where inconsistent and personalities changed abruptly several times through, especially the MC and heroines.
Its like Marcus tried to follow a trend, got bored midway through and rather than just stop, tried to transition the story into something else rather than waste what he probably spent quite alot of time struggling to write.
I was willing to give him a pass because I liked his previous works up until the epilog. This is just bad. Well written, but bad. I honestly hope that he takes a break to just get his thoughts together.
I don't recommend at all. Really, this felt like a bait and switch and I'm probably not going to continue this series if it ever gets a sequel.

P.S. the narration is pretty good. I hold no real faults there, though the editing can use some work. there was a cut they missed close to middle ending.

7 people found this helpful

All over the place.

Everything is all over the place. The MC acts according to his situation, not according to a set personality. It's like whatever the author needs him to be, he is.
The story is set up with a goal but then suddenly it changes, twice. Normally not a big deal but the characters just seem to take everything in stride and not really being bothered by what happens around them or to their situation.

There was this one part that really rubbed me the wrong way.
There's a character who is a real family man. Happily married for 30 years or something like like. 100% dedicated to his wife and daughter. He ends up following the gang to the other world and is miserable. He wants to go home and is willing to leave his wife and daughter behind. Not really something he would do with how the characters was set up. Everything leading up to it made me believe he would suffer as long as his family is happy, but no. He just wants to leave. Next time we hear about him, his wife has taken another man into their bed and he is completely fine with it to the point that him leaving isn't mentioned again.
Again, something his character, as set up, wouldn't really accept. It just came completely out of left field. There was zero set up to him either being bi or a cuck. And the wife was never shown to be interested in another man.

The author seems to have a story in mind and then just change the characters to fit that story. No one acts according to a set character. If he wants one character to act one way, those around them always accept it without a word.

The characters as a whole are also boring. No one really stands out and appart from the main female, no one gets any character development. For the other characters, they seem to do that off screen, so to speak. One minute they act one way and the next, they are done with their character development and then act like that for the rest of the book.

Overall it feels scatterbrained and rushed. The author has had an issue with rushing his books in the past but this one was especially bad. Only reason it gets two starts is because the narration was well done. The book itself is just bad, stay away. Even if you liked his past work.

3 people found this helpful

not for everyone

The narrators did an excellent job that I managed to finish listening to the end. if the author lived in the real world instead of npc land like a normal person this story would of been awesome and one I would continue to follow instead of return.

its for the woke with to much of the artificial npc language plaguing western cultures these days, Listening to this book is like going to a restaurant and ordering something you like only to keep finding hairs in your food(npc language). and then there is the crutch lazy writers use these days to me its a horse that's been beaten to death by everyone and more people come to it like some pilgrimage to beat the bloated corps some more its slavery witch is like a sign pointing at who the bad guys are the only way to make it more obvious is if the author leaves a note at the beginning telling the readers who are the bad guys and why you should not like them NOT SHOWING YOU.

3 people found this helpful

Meh

Lame how it’s a harem and the mc keeps saying he wants other dudes around. This alpha is beta

2 people found this helpful

Awesome premise

I'm really enjoying this one. Marcus knocked another one out of the park. Dual narration performance nails the characters. I'm looking forward to more like this!

1 person found this helpful

Great Story

Love the twist at the end! I hope the 2nd one comes out soon! wonder what is girl will find out when he has to beat his mother in law

1 person found this helpful

5 stars

Another great book by Marcus Sloss. The dual nareation really brings the book to life.

1 person found this helpful

ok this was good

no really it was good yes it's a harem book but it was really good shifter story also

Fun story

I admit I was a bit skeptical with the MC's Ryan Reynolds fixation, but it was actually a brilliant little character detail that brought the MC to life and I haven't been able to get it out of my head since I listened to this book a couple weeks back. Good story. The harem and fantasy stuff was well done, too. Loved it overall! Hoping for a book 2 one day.

I dig it but…

Please learn about guns if you going to use them as a tool in your writing. Instead of “clip” say “magazine”, or “mag”.
Only 9 guns in existence actually use “stripper clips”, and they aren’t what you think they are. …None of them are “S.M.G.’s”.
Also "S.M.G.'s" are extremely rare type of full auto and usually well known models. You could just say Uzi or mp5, everyone would know what you’re talking about and it gives far more description than a vague three letter acronym. Types of guns also take magazines or mag for short, not “clips”.