Mark of the Fated Omnibus, Books 1-3

By: Ricky Fleet

Narrated by: Adam Stubbs, Erin Bateman

3 Volumes in One Offering! An impending apocalypse. An opportunity to prevent it. The challenge? Earn humanity's survival by saving fantastical worlds from their own destruction. Simple, huh?

The vast comet should have destroyed us...

When it slowed, then landed, everything we thought we knew about the universe changed. And for Mark, things just got far stranger, and much more dangerous.

They came from another dimension, condemning our selfish, greedy ways, but sensing in us a potential to change. So when they chose Mark as a volunteer in their deadly trials to save the human race, how could he say no?

Join him on his quest for loot, levels, and powerful abilities. He'll need them all as he fights in kingdoms large and small, battling demons and dinosaurs, vampires and robots, orcs and... fairies?

For Mark, the price of saving the planet looks to be a world of hurt. Maybe he would've been better off if the comet hadn't landed so softly, after all?

©2022 Ricky Fleet (P)2024 Royal Guard Publishing LLC

Engaging and enthralling

This one caught me a bit off guard with how much I enjoyed it. I hadn't ever heard of it but gave it a shot with the listening time to credit I figured if it was decent it would be worth it. I am very glad I did now and am eagerly hoping for the series to continue. If you enjoy the genre you should be happy with your purchase. The over-arching story is interesting and leaves you wanting to know what comes next and the nature of what the characters have to do makes each book a contained story on its own. The interaction between the characters is good if not the greatest there is growth for most if not all of them as they experience more and more. Overall while not the best I've ever read it kept me interested and wanting to listen for over 80 hours and anticipating the next book eagerly so I say it is definitely worth the credit.

Best series of the year

What a great deal, this is such a great series. This omnibus was hands down the best investment of the year! I can’t wait for the next installment.

Great Storyline!

This story was definitely worth the money, it kept me entertained consistently throughout the entire series. 100% get this if you enjoy stories in this genre, you won't be disappointed.

Great series and Great deal!

The entire series in one book for a credit?
I had to get it!
I was not disappointed.
Aliens trun the earth into an apocalyptic video game and Mark, the MC, and others need to save the world by playing the game.
A story well worth your credit!
I'm giving this book 8.5 out of 5 stars.

Suspenseful and intriguing

This series draws you in and captivates you. it makes you want to keep listening!

Listened till chapter 8, gave up

I listen to this story until chapter 8, felt I gave it enough of a chance but I could not relate.

Couldn't Get Through Book 1

First, I fully admit I DNF.
Second, spoiler warning, some examples may be used from the story. You have been warned.

For anyone thinking of getting this omnibus, I suggest you go and read the reviews for each individual book. While most are glowing reviews, the truth is in the neutral to negative reviews, but of course, your mileage may vary.

For those that have gone out and read reviews for each individual book, I'll say this, I had not real problem with MC's snark. I hadn't gotten to parts that some point out where he's cracking a joke during a grim situation. My beef with this story is in the following:

MC is an extreme animal lover to a fault. This is even pointed out by the alien mentor he has although the author forces it to be a "good thing" since all of humanity (from the aliens' perspective) are vile and violent creatures who are worthy of genocide (I'll get to this in a moment). But yes, MC is such an extreme animal lover that he worries over killing giant rats that want to eat him. He worries about if they're real or not and felt the pain of him defending himself to the point that the aforementioned alien mentor has to calm his conscience by telling him that the monsters in the "game" are just constructs for the game without any real feeling. The odd thing is when MC faces off against a Dryder with a human upper body, he has no real qualms about killing it and to be fair, I had tapped out here after this fight so I don't know if he agonized over it like he did with the rats.

This is also inconsistent as others have pointed out. Couple this with MC's sometimes there, sometimes not there cowardice. Sometimes he is agonizing over having to defend himself and kill monsters and enemies and sometimes he's ready to run away and sometimes when the author realizes he's dragged this on enough, the MC just suddenly gets over everything and goes and fight and act like a bada--.

With that said, MC is also a gigantic whiner. He's supposed to be an adult (I don't recall the age) but no where near fresh out of high school or college if I could recall. He chose to join the "game" to save Earth, but later the author tries to justify MC's wishy-washy inconsistent nature by having MC claim he didn't fully know what he was getting into. Ok. Cool. The first few times you'll probably be forgiving. The rest, you'll probably start getting annoyed and your annoyance level will start going up like mine. He whines and complains constantly like a angsty teenager. I wouldn't have had such a gigantic problem with this had the author not had the MC criticize the powers of the world for their stupidity in not figuring out the aliens were far more powerful than humanity to a godlike level. Yet, when MC gets in the "game" and has his alien mentor, he runs his mouth at the being constantly complaining about this or that, being snarky about this or that---all risking the alien's ire. Thankfully through the mighty power of the godauthor, MC has no consequences for this. He also knows the aliens are watching and he openly berates them and says things. Again, I'd have maybe a minor irritation with his juvenile antics had he not been high-and-mighty judging world leadership from his armchair when they made the mistake of thinking they could stop the aliens and didn't recognize their power. So, to me, MC came off as a gigantic hypocrite, only the run-his-mouth variety.

As I said, to the aliens. There were a few problems I saw with them in regard to the plot. Fleet was aware enough to have MC cover them and ask questions in the story, so I'll leave those alone since they seem to be part of the plot reveal in the future. But the one I feel I can still speak on is the hypocrisy because despite all MC's snark and angst towards the aliens (and yes I realize it's justified, but still) he didn't ask this question. I feel that any story that has supposedly "benevolent environmental/universal friendly" aliens think that killing off humanity because of our "evil ways" not recognize that they're committing genocide = "an act of evil' has a philosophical problem. This does, at least to the point that I got. There's an implication (I'll admit) that not all of the aliens are of one accord on this hence the "games" as the MC's "mentor" admits in the story. But still. (Like I said, it appears Fleet is aware of some of this and may touch on this later in the book or later in the series, but I felt safe to bring it up since where I tapped out, MC hadn't brought it up, so, not a gigantic deal breaker)

So, your mileage may vary. Vast majority seem to give this book high praise. Some that do admit it has its problems and many if not all come from the MC. From his squeamishness to kill bad monsters trying to kill him, his constant dumb decisions, and his constant whining and childlike complaining and angst, I tapped out.