Shackled

A Dark Fantasy LitRPG (Arcana Unlocked, Book 2)

By: Gregory Blackburn

Narrated by: Christian J. Gilliland

His home forgotten. His trust betrayed. His dreams within reach.

Korrash, an adventurer from the kingdom of Eastmere, is bored. In the weeks since the pitched battle with the Ghoul Nurse-matron, he’s cleaned up so many vampire infestations that he’s on auto-pilot. He’d rather be out honing his heroic magic into something truly legendary.

Occasionally, he remembers that his name is Arthur Mallory: a real person with a family, and maybe even some friends. Trapped in this virtual world, his attempts to log out have ended only in failure and migraines. It’s easier to just forget, especially with otherworldly invaders draining Nightfall’s aether - the source of his beloved magic. He must embrace every source of power he can find if he expects to stop them.

As that power begins to change Korrash, will there be enough of Arthur left to rescue?

©2021 Gregory Blackburn (P)2021 Mountaindale Press

More worldbuilding, more mysteries

Once again this series left me very uncomfortable, but in a good way. the author has this way of blurring the lines of reality and game that genuinely scares me, and i just had to listen through to see how the situations would get resolved. it was genuinely captivating!

the story keeps its darker undertones while still giving us another dive into this whimsical world! the main character felt more mature in this book, definitely more confident.

But there is one thing that irritated me quite a bit, and that was the narration. Usually i am fan of Christian's style, but this one was.. i just that i wanted to like it.
there are more than a few instances where his voice is layered on top of itself, when for example a crowd is chanting or some other things singing, and that just blasts your ear with this sudden incoherrant noise shouting, before returning to his usual calm tone. and in couple other instances there were characters with heavy accents, and i could barely make out a word.

beyond those issues, i would recommend this book! the story is captivating and fun, and i cannot wait for the next book!

Entertaining!

Great performance and story! Second book and it takes you there and back again and then some. Looking forward to book 3.

What happened?

I got through all of it. Although well written, plot is everywhere and no where all at the same time. I didn't mind the personality change of the Mc...its just this felt like a whole bunch of side quest that has little to tie to the main story. Even the ending thats supposed to tie up everything it didn't really. This book is on ADHD mode. I felt like I was listening to an anthology of short stories hope third book is better and I still don't get his status updates or the game system. The magic theory is good though. This felt experimental more than anything. I still enjoyed it but was left felling like I had no clue of "the point" in all of it. Im just as confused as the MC

a little distracting

over all I really like the plot and world created in this story. that being said the constant skill check notifications are incredibly distracting. I found myself taking breaks from listening due to this. it might not be as bad in written form but narrated I had a hard time. the awesome story is the only reason I kept listening.

Failed Attempt for Roll Check Action

Overkill on rolls, criticals, reversals, mitigated effects, too much of narration is logic doing checks on everything. story line is fledgling too. very few get stopped before the end. this is one.

Disgusting protagonist.

The protagonist of this story is the epitome of weakness and incompetence. They are armed with powerful allies and magic but bumble about as if drunk throughout their activities. Some people may enjoy this story due to the setting and some of the interesting ideas the author implemented. I did not.

Interesting Worlds. Great Lore. Worst Characters.

All the characters are empty shells that serve no other purpose then to highlight a very cool, though painfully repetitive, game system and lore.

The main character has a single personality trait. He is a douchebag. That is truly it. He is a d-bag that does nothing but gain more powers that enhance his douchebaggery, until at the end he is the master of douchebags with a dash of evil and corruption.

This is only the second book I have ever REFUNDED, but sheesh, I just can't handle seeing this in my library.

UnClear Logic Patterns

So I liked the first book. There were a few elements that were worth noting, but also a few glaring holes that I hoped would be addressed or at least clarified in the second book. That said they were not. I generally do not give bad reviews, figuring that a one star is basically a matter of preference. That said, this book was terrible. The author constantly makes seemingly random rolls that succeed but are then mitigated by outside factors (factors that are never explained nor addressed at least not through chapter 39 where I decided enough was enough).

The man is being tortured both in real life and in the game, no one seems to care in either. Added to that his roles and actions always seem to be mitigated either by Tier differences or other questionable logic choices. Making the main character able to obliterate a coven of vampires, but then get tortured randomly by a zombie medic. I get that this is supposed to be "funny" as it is referenced numerous times later on by the dread. But really we are being asked to laugh at someone who was abused and is being abused by the system of the game, and the 'real' world that would allow such a game to exist.
Basically the story makes little to no sense and at Chapter 39 there seems to be little in the way of redeeming the main character, he's trash or the society that bred him (also trash).

I hope others find this book enjoyable, but if you liked the first one don't expect the second book to be anything like that.

Confusing and random.

I found the story very confusing. I started the listen over a couple of times thinking I just missed part of the narration, but the story, much like the main character, seems to go in random directions… really just getting bounced around like a pinball. I also don’t understand the draw of a story where the person is in a game, yet doesn’t get to control the actions of his character, bouncing from one insanity filled torturous encounter to the next without any apparent progression or reason. I can get behind a story that has that premise as an element for the MC to overcome, but to slog through hours going nowhere?

I gave it an honest shot, but didn’t make it past chapter 18. Even skipping around after I gave up didn’t strike anything of interest. It just left me frustrated and dissatisfied.

congratulations on ruining a good book

first book was great even though it pained me to have an mc unable to gain money. This book you decided to have the mc turn into a greedy dragon? this book started to make me feel like playing dungeons and dragons with a DM who would force bad rolls to railroad the players into his own path. Just felt icky.
great narration.