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.

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.