Full Disclosure, i’m about 13 hours into this book, with 6 to go, i’m not sure if i’m going to finish.
Positives first: Narration is good, there was a weird bit at the beginning where Vex’s voice didn’t have the rapid/distortion and, while he was a little easier to understand, i did not like it. It was re-added at some later point. Otherwise, the production was generally good and up to the standards i expect from Soundbooth Theater.
Now, the negatives… i struggled to enjoy or even stay interested in the story. The first book was a lot of dungeon building with Kers and Selena coming up with interesting solutions to Kers’ special circumstances. The first book also had a core group of “human” characters that gave a different perspective on both Kers’ dungeon and the world.
Some spoilers to follow.
… This book started with a Nerf Bat, that altered a lot of what made kers interesting, and introduced confusing and outlandish workarounds. Further, our plucky group of Dungeon crawlers have very little screen time in this book (so far). So the majority of the perspective is from new humans that i dont care about and from Kers.
ah, Kers. He was kind of a loveable dolt with moments of genius in book 1. This book he doubles down on his willful ignorance and becomes essentially subservient to: his fairy, his champions, the heros, and his new housemate. In this book his moments of genius are present, but are without any justification. He doesn’t understand basic dungeon mechanics but continues to essentially invent new magic systems/devices if the plot needs it, or if it would be cool.
Book 1 Selena was playfully sarcastic with moments of unbelievable arrogance; Book 2 Selena is completely insufferable, she’s mean-spirited and selfish, she ignores her duties most of the time, or just does whatever she wants without consulting anyone else. she is always right and anyone who disagrees with her deserves to be chased around and berated. Medusa is almost as bad; and at times Vex is as well.
SPOILERS !!!
Finally, the relationship between Kers and the City is just…. eww. i dont have a better way to explain it. The relationship went from non-existent (essentially strangers) to instantly sexual (in a weird “neither of us have bodies” way) and its very uncomfortable. compounding the weirdness is how Kers otherwise reacts like a tween with his first crush, all distracted, blushing, and self-conscious. and maybe thats the biggest problem, in terms of Dungeon life, Kers is basically a child and his new girlfriend is at least decades old. So her pursuit of him feels like an older woman pursuing a child in an overtly sexual manner. Just,no, please stop. I’m not opposed to dungeon romance, but this is creepy.