Sworn Guardian: A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure cover art

Sworn Guardian: A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure

Forbidden Magic, Book 1

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Sworn Guardian: A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure

By: T. L. Branson
Narrated by: Vikas Adam
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About this listen

Gone. They're all gone.

His level. Magicka points. Memory. Everything is gone....

Waking aboard an unfamiliar ship missing all the attributes he spent years earning, Aren remembers little except that his sister, Claire, is in mortal danger.

"Save me. Save the Empire." Those were the last words she'd said to him...or was that even her?

Somehow, he's become an oath breaker, a pariah, and enemy to the throne. With the help of a fellow new recruit to his clan, Aren set's out to find Claire, all while battling new enemies far beyond his level, and piecing together his broken memory.

But still, Aren can't help the nagging feeling that there's something greater at stake. If only he could remember....

Fans of Arcane Ascension and Final Fantasy will love this litRPG/gamelit adventure filled with blood-pumping action and a rich story that'll keep you burning the midnight oil.

©2019 T. L. Branson (P)2019 Aethon Books Epic Fantasy Fantasy Science Fiction & Fantasy Fiction Magic LitRPG

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This book was nearly very good, you have some good world-building and the mixing of technology with an interesting magic system works really well too, so there was a more than solid foundation laid down.

However, the main character didn't really work for me, while he underwent significant changes, he didn't develop anywhere near enough as a character and due to the others putting up with him as readily as they did then made them seem less believable too. His flaws were so clearly demonstrated by the whole issue of the traitor, a sub-plot that could only have been more obvious if the person in question had spent their time twirling a villainous moustache whenever they were in a chapter.

The narrator gave a good performance, enhancing the book with a suitably distinctive range of tones for the main cast throughout.

Overall, despite my criticisms of the main character, this was still an enjoyable listen and a decent start to this series too.

[Note - I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.]

Some good ideas and world-building

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talk about grip you from the beginning! great story and cliffhanger????? I need the next book. Brilliant.

level up??

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I recieved a review copy of this book, and unlike many litrpg books, no attempt is made to justify the RPG elements here, they are simply accepted as part of the logic of the world. You are introduced to these elements through the main character who has suffered from memory loss. After an interesting slow paced introduction the story takes a fast turn plunging the main character into the thick of the action. The narration is excellent and the story is interesting, although for me the switch to the fast paced action occurred a little too quickly as I was enjoying the introductory elements.

RPG logic in a fantasy world

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I was given a free copy of this book by the publisher.

I'd never heard of LitRPG or Gamelit before reading this book, so for anyone else wondering it's fiction where the mechanics of gameplay (stats, levelling up etc) are included and referenced throughout the story. With that in mind I think the author incorporates that aspect really well and very smoothly. If you're a gamer you'll already be set up to understand what's going on in that sense, but if you're not it's not really going to explain it to you. I thought it made for an interesting read, and I quite enjoyed that aspect of it.

The narrator is excellent and I'd definitely listen to more of his work. He's very good at coming up with individual voices that sound different, and his female voices don't come across as forced or as accidental parodies which they can sometimes do with male narrators.

So, the story itself. There's nothing particularly new in this, and it telegraphs its own twist from almost the beginning of the book. The plot's simple, the characters are also simple, and there's nothing here you wouldn't expect from playing a standard RPG plotline - I could actually picture the corresponding scenes from various games I've played over the years, it's all very run of the mill for RPGs. I did enjoy that his characters seemed all perfectly capable and there were no swooning princesses though. And the lead guy? I didn't find him annoying in the way a few other people seemed to on the US reviews, probably because if I were dumped memoryless into a game world I'd probably fare just as badly at first as he did.

Overall it was entertaining enough, but I doubt I'd pick up the next one.

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Ok, so there’s a few plot holes and a few cliches, but despite its faults, this is a great LitRPG adventure fantasy which a great magic system that I would recommend to anyone.
Vikas does some great narration with this book and I was sad when it came to the end.
I hope there’s another on the way soon.

This is my honest opinion of a free review copy.

Sworn Guardian

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This is a little slow to start but does pick up about halfway through as the overall story and characters are quite good. Some of the storyline i found to be a little easy to read but this does fade as you become increasingly interested towards the end.
By the end i was looking forward to the next in the series so this does have promise.
For those looking to pick up i would hang in there.
Narration was good but a little more softening for the females would be better, a common problem.
I requested this audio and have decided to leave my thoughts.

Reasonable but enjoyable

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It's a good tale, engaging characters, novel setting, very listen-to-able. The reason for the 3 stars? It was coming together to an explosive ending when the author seemed to decide to continue to another book - very disappointing especially as there is only one, very late, loose end to hook into the next in the series. .

great story - if you like cliff hangers

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Whilst I enjoyed the world,storyline and mix of magic and technology that the author has created with this novel, I found the main character to be quite unlike able, and I found I had to push through certain parts of the book to carry on listening, as the character grated on me in parts.

Overall despite my issues with the main character the story was good, and had some great ideas when looking at how magic and technology can be combined.

The narration was good and provided added depth to the story.

Good storyline with flawed main character

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