There's something building here

Well, that was a bit of a surprise...

As I pointed out in my Five Trials blurb, I wasn't really sure what to expect on this second instalment as the potential was there for a serious downward spiral. But, Mike Truk came up trumps with this - loads of character development and there is actually a genuine plot and backstory developing.

What I find genuinely appealing here is that major traps such as unexplained magic powers developing as needed are avoided, we get a magic system that is explained and characters that actually learn from their mistakes. Yes, our MC Noah does on occasion perform overpowered feats, but he is usually trying to do something along the lines when it happens...

So, in summary, we get good characters with back stories and development and good plot (sometimes telegraphed) development that for me would survive removal of the harem element.

Leo Barnabas does an excellent job - the only thing stopping me giving him 5 stars is the occasional bit of over-excitement when the situation doesn't really merit it. He also does a generally good job of giving each character an identifiable voice but there are the odd slips where a couple of characters are a little too close in their assigned voice.

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Genre busting.

Is this a character-driven Epic fantasy novel?
Is this Erotic Fantasy?
Or is this progression fantasy in the vein of The Wheel of Time or Mistborn?

The answer is yes.
I was a massive fan of Five Trials.
It was a book I tried on a punt with relatively low expectations. It turned into one of the most pleasurable and surprising reading experiences of 2018.

So to say that I was 'looking forward to this book' would be a massive understatement.

In reality, I tempered my hype with my fears and experiences gleamed from books in this genre:
- An MC who never learns
- An MC who never fails
- Unexplained magic being integral to the plot, but remaining vague and unexplained
- Companions who become identikit, fawning puppies with zero motivations or conflicts.
- Flat or none existent character arcs for MC or companions
- Enemies and goals and worldbuilding that's generic, window dressing or just unoriginal.
- A book where the overall story fails to progress.

In every single aspect, The Hindering Ones obliterates my fears. It builds upon the solid foundation of Five trials, and races on ahead into an ever-expanding world of complex characters, obstacles and perils. Noah reacts, messes up, learns, and grows. From a pant-wetting accountant to a spell-slinging, sword-wielding super-mage. And with him, not only do his companions go through huge amounts of growth, secondary and tertiary characters have more character development than I've seen from MC's in most books in this genre.

Magic has a system. Its explained in a way that allows you to appreciate it's complexity but also lets to envision why an opponent might be as strong as they are, or how Noah could overcome them. This means that when the time comes to finally kick-butts, you get a supreme sense of satisfaction. This book is incredibly internally consistent, with its rules, logic, its sense of progression, and world building.

And then the story. It's uplifting, compelling, draining, wonderous and rewarding. It's a journey through a wasteland, it's a coming of age story, it's a learning one's self-story, it's a story about friendship and hidden enemies, about love and scars and loss and glory.
It's a LONG book. And you will feel exhausted after reading it... not because it's boring, but because for every minute that you read or listen to it, you will experience tension, a feeling of things sliding and progressively getting worse. However, although this isn't the end of the journey and plenty of things are left unresolved, by the time you reach the end of this book you will feel a sense of resolution, progress, and hope.

So if your looking for simple escapism, be warned. This is one hell of a ride!

Leo Barnabas was excellent in his narration, the diversity in voices, the emotion and personality injected into every sentence. Absolutely top work.

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6 people found this helpful

All the Main Character does is whine...

Superb narration, great world building, (mostly) engaging characters & a pretty damn good story - what could possible spoil the book? The MC's constant whining internal monologues, constant whining at his companions & constant whining at other notable characters could and did. I listened to the first third of the book (10+ hrs) then gave up.

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1 person found this helpful