I’m back with another LitRPG series for this week’s Bookish Wednesday. It’s “From Humble Beginnings,” Book One of the On Astral Tides series by Ship Teaser.
Plot: The book starts off pretty simply and predictably with the main character Akio being offered to be one of the few chosen humans to be inducted into a universal system early in order to safeguard the world. Honestly, it’s not bad, but it leans super heavily on tropes that are common in many stories.
Characters: The main character Akio isn’t an idiot, and he realizes his faults. He also works towards being more prepared, so I don’t mind him too much and this applies to the other characters as well. If I have one complaint, it’s how the audiobook was put together, and not anything about the plot, the characters, or the writing.
Audiobook: Unfortunately, the audiobook of this is atrocious. First off, the narrators can’t pronounce various Japanese names, so those with even the most basic knowledge of the language will be frustrated by that. Secondly, their narration is just horribly done so that it makes every thought the main character Akio has sound ridiculous. This also applies to every female character as well making them sound like brainless bimbos. And that is horrible when you’re talking about characters with a lot of depth, but whose voices are not well represented.
Overall: I don’t mind recommending “From Humble Beginnings” to you all with the sole caveat that you should stay away from the audiobook version.
For those who like: LitRPGs, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, and Urban Fantasy.
Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, Trope Heavy Plots, and Horrible Narration in Audiobooks.
