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  • Shadeslinger

  • The Ripple System, Book 1 (A Fantasy LitRPG Series)
  • By: Kyle Kirrin, Portal Books
  • Narrated by: Travis Baldree
  • Length: 21 hrs and 32 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (626 ratings)
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Shadeslinger cover art

Shadeslinger

By: Kyle Kirrin,Portal Books
Narrated by: Travis Baldree
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Summary

Corporate flameout Ned Altimer dreams of leaving his world behind. So, when Earthblood Online splashes onto the VRMMO scene, he dives in and never looks back.

His advantages are twofold: exclusive access to the game’s three-day Head Start period, and a ridiculously handsome talking axe named Frank who has knowledge of the game’s deepest secrets...if the magnificent Frank ever feels like sharing them.

But those advantages also make Ned a target. Once the Head Start period ends, his fellow players will stop at nothing to rip that suave, violent, yet disarmingly charismatic axe right out of his hands.

In 72 hours, the greatest manhunt in gaming history is set to begin.

It’s gonna be a lot of fun.

©2021 Kyle Kirrin (P)2021 Portal Books

What listeners say about Shadeslinger

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Incredible and immersive.

Hooked from start to end. The world building was fantastic, the character development and interaction were sublime and the plot fantastic.

The narration truly bitter everything together and portrayal of Frank frequently has me in stitches. I am new to this genre of books, but truly an amazing introduction. Can’t wait for the next instalment.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A class act!

I love the world Kyle has created and whilst I thought frank was a weird addition, and a bit of a duck at the start, he is absolutely core to the success of this book. The relationship between Ned and his talking axe shouldn't be a compelling one but it is brilliant. Can't wait fir book 2!!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Slow burner

Slow burner but when it gets going it’s thoroughly enjoyable!
Frank adds a light hearted comedic part to the story and gives it that little bit of a push to get to 5 stars across the board

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

good solid entry into a new universe

I said, he said, said. those are the most common phrases and it will drive you nuts.

the world is a little convenient. but the
story has to progress of course.

not bad at all. I fully recommend spending a token if litrpg is your thing .

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Good Read

These days I often have issues getting interested in litrpgs as after reading enough of a genre it all seems to blur together, but this book was surprisingly refreshing and enjoyable. My only quarrel with it is that there is only 1 out in the series and I want to be read the next installment already.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Difficult to continue

The MC was given everything in life, yet amounted to nothing. His only chance at not being a waste of air is succeeding in a virtual game.

I held out until Chapter 15 or so, but this feels like listening to a steamer playing an MMO that is a mix of Lineage 2 and WoW, doing grinding and starter quests.

The writing is mediocre, there are lot of annoying repetitions like “fair enough”.

The only saving grace is the narration, mainly gave it 4/5 because after Dungeon Crawler Carl, Nothing is 5/5 :(.

My suggestion is take your credit elsewhere, use on this only if you have nothing better to listen to.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

It's a description of game play.

Not fantasy. The game play just happens to be in a land of fairies and monsters and pirates.
But it's not fantasy. it's a description of winning stuff in a game and how well they work.
there's no real fantasy world. the characters exist for the game and have no real world.
the story is nothing more than a description of game play.
The narrator is quality though.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not good

This review comprehend the first 2 books.

I liked the story at the beginning, even though it is kind of boring from time to time but the narrators kept me engaged because they narrated a few other very good book series which I'm have yet to find something of at least equal quality.

The quests are getting more and more boring as the story goes on, the characters are pretty nice (at least the few main ones) even though they really needed some more character development, the fighting scenes are boring.. I don't get at all excited or interested in any way to know how it's going to end.

It feels like the story has not enough solid growth, but the base idea is interesting.

In the second book, if you didn't get bored by then.. you'll get in the second part of it. The quests accomplishing time is longer, the boring fighting time is longer and you could very well use it to fall asleep faster.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Eh

I listened to the first two audiobooks. They were... okay. Some parts were a bit interesting; other parts were quite boring.

This isn't some cosmic world building. There's no fate, nor any strong conflict. It's just a guy who wants to play a game vs some other guys who don't want him to play the game. The main character has some grandiose hopes for this revolutionary game, but they're yet to be realised.

There are maybe 5 deep recurring characters overall. Two don't appear very often. Another one turned into a joke character in the second book, for no logical reason other than that the author thought it was funny. (I suspect the author never heard of idiom dictionaries.) The fourth is the protagonist. I guess Darling is also nice. Character-wise, the author did okay.

There's definitely good humour, and the character interactions are usually good. Barring House, they all have a place in the story that makes sense.

But the game itself (or how the MC plays it) is less interesting than modern MMOs. And that's saying something. It's just a chain of quests and group battles with a hint of character creativity every once in a while. The story is well written, but there isn't much of a story. If any modern game was this bland, I wouldn't play it.

I can't imagine listening to even a few hours if it weren't for Travis Baldree narrating the books so well.

But hey, there are lots of game-like fight scenes. If you're into that, you hit the jackpot. So many contrived boss mechanics... it's uncanny how some aspects almost feel real and then you're hit in the face with contrived scenarios to remind you that this isn't a story, it's a game.

My opinion is that if you've run out of better LitRPG, feel free to give this one a go. But don't expect much to happen. Even Awaken Online with its atrocious writing/narration is more entertaining, and I hate myself a little for saying that.

As for me, book 3 isn't out yet so I'm probably going to drop this story for good. Momentum and house chores are the only reasons I listened this far.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Average

if its intentional to hate the MC who has clearly never achieved nothing in life nor in game then they have suvceeded! boring narration and bland story. ends okay and the world is very interesting

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