Game Over

A Series of Ends, Book 1

By: Derek Edgington

Narrated by: Dee Drew

Game Over takes place in the distant future, in a place far, far away from the planet we call home, in the virtual universe called Elisium.

Imagine a society freed from crime and illness, one sustained by a single, eminently logical system that was designed to seek ultimate perfection. The Sibyl System seeks the elusive state of human perfection, and, through the course of its quest, the System will become its greatest enemy.

Now imagine that a reluctant hero is called to save what remains of the human race residing on what was once proudly called Earth by its inhabitants.

Ekko Everlasting is thrust into the world of the game, No-Life, without any corresponding memories to motivate him to think about anything besides himself. Ekko cares about saving his own skin and regaining his lost self - exclusively in that order - not saving the universe, let alone two of them!

©2016 Derek Edgington Productions (P)2016 Derek Edgington

Good Gamer Lit

I received a copy of this audio book free of charge so that I can write an honest review. There is apparently a slew of books on the market involving gamers. Having entered into the gaming experience early, (Pen and Paper D&D) and consequently on line gaming earlier than most, I enjoy seeing these books become available. This is an enjoyable read and the narrator does a good job. If you like gaming, this is a credit worthy read!

Not for me

(This review is given as an unbiased opinion for receiving a free copy of the book)

I used to love the "choose your own adventure" so I figured I would try out an old favorite over a new platform. Sadly, it was just not for me. I enjoyed the story overall and the narration really was well done, various characters who were easily identifiable and the story itself is very well written but the idea of needing to switch around or even the story breaking to "jump to a new spot" really throws you out of the story. Maybe it's just me, but I will look forward to other works by both Derek Edgington and Deep Drew

Better read than listened to

Any additional comments?

I really struggled with this book. This is one of those books that's better read than listen to in my opinion. I almost threw in the towel and did a DNF. But I requested this book and owed it to the author and narrator to give it my best shot. I have only listened to a handful of RPG books before this story so this may be a case of it's me not the book. Someone who is much more familiar with this genre may really enjoy this book.

This is suppose to be a kind of interactive audiobook. Which didn't work at all for me. I want to put on a book and just listen. I don't just sit and listen. I'm driving, yard work, cleaning or whatever. You can't just stop what your doing in order to skip ahead to the time given to take which ever path in the story you would choose. It affects the flow of the story, makes it choppy and affects your overall enjoyment.

In addition to that the story just wasn't holding my attention especially in the beginning. The way it was setup even without the "options" to skip ahead wasn't interesting enough to keep my mind from wandering. Eventually I was drawn into the story but it's not a book I was dying to get back to listening to. Although some of the characters are interesting I really never connected to any of the them. Not even the main character. They were just there.

Numerous repeated lines throughout the book.

Dee Drew did a really good job with the narration. It looks as though this is the first book he has narrated. Nice voice. Easy to listen to for long periods of time. Some really good character voices. He is a narrator I would listen to again.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator or publisher.

Not my type of Si-fi

Any additional comments?

““I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.”

Meh

The idea of this book seemed really cool. But the execution was clunky and jumped around so much. Made it difficult to follow and pay attention.

The narration was mediocre. Not the best.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Choose your own adventure audiobook!

I grew up a huge fan of the choose your own adventure books. I loved them and loved how the story could be read repeatedly with different happenings and different endings. I saw an audiobook version and had to try it. I enjoyed it but ran into a problem. I mostly listen while driving on an accident riddled, construction covered, very deadly highway in Florida (I-4). So when it came time to choose, I couldn't just pick a "chapter" to jump to, I had to go to a specific minute and second. This was the books Only downfall. Had I been able to
Just say for the hero to do "A" click on chapter 4 for the hero to do "B" click
On chapter 9. That would make the book a 5. In the mean time since I couldn't take my eyes off long enough for the specific adjustments the story got a.l bit jumbled for me. I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

A good story but tough execution

Any additional comments?

First off I have listened to other Derek Edgington books that I really enjoyed. Sadly this isn't one of them. The story had potential, but the execution of the choose your own just didn't translate well into this format. It is hard to skip to the points you need. It takes me out of the story. I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

This book was not meant for audible...

This book is like the choose your own adventure books from my youth. The audio isn't organized in ways to skip to the correct section and choose a complete story thread. Listening strait through makes the story jump all around and makes it confusing.

Editing and Wrong Format for the platform

Let me start by saying that the book is not one that should have been released in audiobook format; at least not Audible. It is quite difficult for me to review it based on the ratings options that Audible provides; story, narration, and overall. The story itself was interesting with some unique aspects from others in a somewhat crowed genre. However, I cannot recommend the book be purchased in audio format for many reasons listed below.

If you like the VR/game genre of books, this one is like those with an additional “Choose your own Adventure” element. At selected points in the story, one is requested to forward the audio to a specific location based on the decision made. This brings the reader to the next part of the story. Story choices in Game Over are not as common as other books in this category, but it is enough that it does not work for me; and I would assume most who use the Audible application.

The book did have action, an evil AI, PvP play, and various challenges to overcome for our main character. I was somewhat surprised to hear vulgar language used in a book of this type. The book also has some darker aspects that may not make it appropriate for younger readers. The author does a good job of keeping the action flowing and there are necessary breaks in the action at good locations also. However, the language could have been removed without impacting the story and potentially opening it up to a younger audience.

Due to limitation in the Audible application and because I often listen to books while driving, the ability to fast-forward to a specific location is not practical. Had the book been published where the choices were instead selectable via chapters and not some random amount of time, it may have easier to overcome this limitation.

Overall the narration by Dee Drew was acceptable. This appears to be his first narration released on Audible; at the time of this review. There were many noticeable places where the book’s audio should have been edited, but was not. Quite a few sentences were repeated with the second being the correct wording and the incorrect one not being removed before it was released. He did a decent job of voicing the many different characters, but again the book should have been formatted using chapter breaks where decisions needed to be made; or the ability to jump several 30 second forwards for yes and another number for no. That would be make the book easier to listen too in this format. The book does not permit enough time delay after being asked a selection for someone to take the action requested before it moved to the default selection.

As stated above, a few times, I cannot recommend this book for younger readers due to the book’s content and language. I also cannot recommend it in audiobook format due to the complexity it adds to one enjoying the book. If the book itself sounds interesting, pick it up in a different format and you may enjoy it.

Not your typical listen, not your typical story.

This seemed like the audio companion to a board game most of the time. I kept expecting a pimple faced teen to knock on my door informing me he was sent via two day shipping from audible with the accompanying board game and that my perception of missing pieces of the story and disjointed dialog were because I was a total noob and was supposed to be listening to the audio snippets as I played the board game. Silly me, I thought I was buying an audio book.

So I went to the store and got a case of Mountain Dew and three bags of Cheetos. I'm still waiting for the rest of the squeaky, pre-pubescent boys to knock on the door so we can get started and I can justify the time I just spent listening to this...that I will never get back.

There were some very creative story premise changes that were new and unique which I can fully appreciate. But a little effort by the recording studio to go through and edit the mistakes and duplicate lines would seem more than a prerequisite if their intent was to put out a story for the masses.

I was given this book for free in exchange for my unbiased opinion, and when the rest arrives and what I have already is finished, I will give it to you!