Pearl of the South

World of the Changed Series, Book 2

By: Vasily Mahanenko

Narrated by: Alex Knox

Earth was never the same after World of the Changed. Humanity was reduced to two camps: monsters thirsting to kill, and players doing everything they could to survive. The squabbles people had spent their time on before? Gone. If you wanted to live to see another sunrise, you had to work with everyone you could, from other players to game functions.

Mark Derwin, the most advanced player through the initial period of the game, knew all too well that his level was no advantage. Far from it - the game owner didn't tolerate anyone who got too far ahead. The only thing the owner wanted was for Earthlings to disappear without a trace, giving up their resources to be extracted.

But not everyone was willing to bend the knee before alien intelligence. In fact, some had begun to fight back against the game.

©2020 V. Mahanenko; English translation copyright 2020 by Jared Firth (P)2020 Tantor

Kindle Unlimited and Audible Review

While I'm still giving this 4 stars this book was largely a step down from the first as even most of the game mechanics moot. A bit of the larger picture painted in the first book has been revealed but the main character still hasn't done what he set out to do at the beginning of the first book. If you're here I am going to make the leap that you've finished the first book so I can safely say the following. The view of females remains unchanged from the first book, helpless, slaves, mindless bodies for breeding, and the first semi competent female he meets is still helpess and basically worthless. Combat and action in this book has become run, hide, wait, push single button. The story and plot advances decently and while I finished it I'm on the fence about recommending it. If you liked the first one you will probably like this one, if you're on the fence after finishing the first one feel free to skip this. The narrator does a fantastic job but even that didn't stop me from falling asleep and having to rewind 3 times. I'm not sure if I'm going to read the next book but if I can't find something else to start in the next few hours I probably will give it a chance.

Great book!

I've listened to a few of the authors books now and they keep getting better and more varied. The story is fast paced and holds your attention. Thank you and I hope your next book comes out soon.

not for me

I really don't like the minimum word count requirements for audible reviews. . . .

Love the story. Hate the narration.

The story was again masterfully crafted and i loved every second of it, or at least i would have if not for the narrators incessant breathing. Throughout the entire series thus far i kept hearing him breath in almost everytime he stopped reading. it wasn't annoying at first tho it was easy to pick up on and hard to shake after noticing.

Causal Mysogyny

It would be a good book if not for the casual misogyny. The single female character (the ms'ds sister) is a McGuffin, not an actual character. Any other references to women references them as sex objects. If you didn't notice, you should be worried. I'm sure the author didn't and that is quite telling.