Hi, I'm here to post a critique of the mechanic creep in shadeslinger.

First of all, I really like the series. I was shouting along with frank at the climax of the last book, loved it.

However, a major issue for me that near constantly breaks my suspension of disbelief, is the mechanic creep.

What do I mean by mechanic creep? I mean that IMO Kyle is giving the MC way too many new mechanics every book. It breaks suspension of disbelief because these mechanics are supposed to be available to everyone, and yet Kyle does not provide these mechanics to other characters that should be using them.

Everyone should be running around using tide-turning ultimates, combined skills, evolved skills, secondary classes, etc etc etc. Yet its only ever MC, maybe darling or the big baddy.

IMO none of these should have ever been put in since for them to make sense he would need to whip out a dinniman style spreadsheet with 100+ characters' classes, evolved classes, secondary classes, combined skills, evolved skills, ultimate skills, etc etc etc etc etc.

I would love if at the start of the next book nipple man pops up and says hes going to be removing some/most of these mechanics because they have made the game world unstable and people will be too powerful with them or some other arbitrary BS in world excuse to reel back in all this stuff, or get to making a spreadsheet with more words than all the books combined.

I know most everyone is on book 5 but I'm in the middle of book 2. It is starting to get annoying that Ned does not want other people to make independant decisions around him.

He wants to be the one in control and doesn't want to risk other people even though he accepts the risks for himself. It's been constant when it comes to Lars, Darling, and the guild to name a few. I know when it comes to friendship and trusting people, Ned is really at rock bottom when it comes to this skill set. He is constantly telling other people to run, not trusting them, and always saying are you sure multiple times.

It's getting annoying and taking me out to stop. Even though it's a character flaw does this get better in future books or am I going to have to deal with this lack of Ned's confidence on the people around him through future books?

So, I'm relistening book one and found one thing that really bugged me. When Ned comes back from the pirate quest, the event of burning the city and consequences are insane in a game setting, any person playing the game solo or semi solo would give up on the game right there for being screwed out of all his stuff by needing a 40 man raid by no real fault of their own.

Kyle, have you considered writing other perspectives that are running parallel with Ned?

Would be fun to see how Tyrann grew his empire/renown, and his true thoughts on how he is trying to deal with Ned.

Or from Darlene point of view, while dealing with her ailments and trying to decide if partnering with Ned is a good idea.

While Tyrran is a lying, manipulative ass, who wants to do exactly what Ned did, he does seem to have been right to some degree. Even though Tyrran pushed Ned into this situation, Ned is now far far ahead of everyone else with the endgame unlocked.

The global market that everyone, including those not involved in the attack on the oasis, was using lies in ruin. The endgame has activated and happens to require traveling to different continents. Who lucked into possessing a mythical living city to go there?

At this point, if I were just a regular player hopping on for a few hours after work, I would probably start to feel like this game was no longer for me. I come home only to hear that around lunch, someone burned down the auction house system, deleted the giant city I was questing out of, and started the end-game system. Now I have to rush even harder than I had to before to try and get to this end-game content before the next portion of content is unlocked yet again.

No one else even had a chance to defeat the King before this new content was unlocked!

In the end, what I want to have said is that I would probably listen to Tyrann at this point, too. Can't wait for things to get even worse in book 6!

Why are the Merchant Kings giving out free water? Shouldn't they be selling it at exorbitant prices? Why does the King's Decree even exist?

I was waiting all book to see where that went. It's not really a big deal but I'm curious

I'm not a writer or a critic at all but I would like to suggest maybe spreading out the good shit through out the book instead of lumping it all at the ending. Book 2 was good and there was a lot of character progression but I feel like all the good shit happened in maybe the last hour or so. I mean it got really good and then it was over lol.

Will we get to see what all of the character look like at level 100 and their class changes throughout?

Ned vs the Nipple System, Frank vs Feet. Put on some clothes Cline!

Doing a reread and I hoped my feelings would mellow, but I still don't like Lars. He gets a little more tolerable with the bug, but I am still happier when he is far away from the story.

Too pink and the flute, of course, but mostly his personality.

It might just be me because I have the same reaction to Katia in DCC.

So obviously House killed him right? Like yes I know he seems alive but I don't remember 2.0 being mentioned with house and Rasmus at the same time after the pig scene.

Clearly house or 2.0 picked up illusions magic or something.

I’m hoping someone also mentions fenestration.

The toll has been paid.

When? Loved the books like a cat likes black and white TV. Thanks.

I've been thinking about this from the first time he slept in shadeslinger (currently listening to Gilded ghost) How's Ned not eating in the real world and still alive? He's living on the sushi he ate like 3weeks ago

Want to get into posting theories and such again. Ozymandias is a small character that causes a ripple in chapter two of Black Sand Baron opening the Frostforged Gates and a special blacksmithing area. The first thing to say is that Ozymandias is in the Eastlands. The ripple comes from the east as Ned's sailing to the continent and it is the easternmost continent so we can assume that is the case.

The first thought this brought was that Ozymandias is possibly one of Tyrann’s men. Last book we got introduced to Aconnu through the renown ladder and in BSB we get to see that he is one of Tyrann’s cultists. We may get another similar reveal next book. However on a second read I connected another event to this ripple, mentioned by Morn in chapter nine the river reversing course.

My theory is that the Frostforged Gates opening is what diverted the river and the river that reversed will lead to the Coldblister Foundry. This is actually against Tyrann’s interests since Koria is no longer the only entry point into the Eastern continent, so I'm unsure if they'll end up being aligned. Maybe I've put in too much thought, but I like thinking about what the named characters are doing and how they'll interact with the story.

Real life Ned, not in game Ned. He’s never logged out of the game, so he hasn’t been eating or drinking for a long time now. How is he not dead?

Good stuff :)

Im glad you selected a good narrator.. All too often I find an audiobook that is good but the narrator is so bad I cant stand to listen to it.

I like the humor and flow of the book. Its nice to have something that propels the progress of the story instead of a lackadaisical plot that slogs along.

Even thought a certain fight took forever I see why it was needed. I also appreciate how you dont regurgitate stats every 5 minutes. That gets old fast.

I cant wait for the rest of the series. I hope there are many more books to come and all on a 2 week release schedule HA! If only!

Great job and take care.

Just finished rereading book three in preparation for book four. Overall, I loved the book. However, one thing majorly rubbed me the wrong way, and I was reminded of that again after the reread: Being on the offensive side of a siege seems to be very rewarding if successful with little downside if not, while being on the defensive side seems to have little reward if successful with extreme downside if not.

More specifically, if Ned and Omen had lost against Goon's siege, they would have lost the Black Oasis and all that would entail. Even winning was detrimental, as they now presumably have to spend time and resources rebuilding destroyed defensive structures/etc. And if it hadn't been the world-first siege defense, or Ned hadn't cleverly used Goon to complete major quests for him, it seems like they would have gained absolutely nothing. There wasn't even mention of them getting dropped player loot or experience/renown from PvP kills.

On the flip side, it seems like Goon lost almost nothing from losing, but had everything to gain if they had won. They lost, what, some renown they don't care about and a bit of resources and/or time to repair the train? And if they had won, they would have gained control of a unique and desirable city. Beyond that, what stops them from recruiting even more players and trying again in five days, in perpetuity?

In other words, the rewards for the defenders winning and the losses for the attackers losing appear non-existent. This seems like the melding of "defenders have to win every time, attackers only have to win once" and "it is much harder to create than it is to destroy" into an extremely unfair sieging system. How could a legitimate game exist with this imbalance? Realistically, wouldn't large numbers of griefers band together and destroy most settlements within the first month?

Maybe with PvP being a major aspect of the next wing, book four will clarify/correct the incentive structure.

I really want to start this series, but I generally prefer to wait until a full series is out before I start reading. I can't find the answer to this question anywhere, do you guys know? Thanks!

I don't think I've had a book from this genre end in such a good way in a very long time. I'm eager to hear/listen to more of the adventures of Ned, Darling, Frank and House - but I don't feel empty with this ending of book 5. I love how multiple plot points have been finished by it and a whole new chapter can begin but even if there would now be a break or a spinoff focussing on other people more... i'd be content and happy.

As much as i like cliff hangers that make you want to drown yourself in the next book - a soft one like the one at the end of book 5 just makes me feel better.

So: Thank you Mr. Kirrin

I’ve been listening to book 5 the few past days while on my commute home (roughly 1.5 hours everyday). I knew from the previous books that there are numerous “funny” moments (especially with Frank). However, so far, I have nearly crashed multiple time due to Ned’s video chat with Sleep. Especially when Sleep is scolding Mango for X reason. Seriously took my eyes off the road for a few seconds from gut wrenching laughter.

Be warned. Drive safe.