Blaise Corvin

Henry and Jason are engaging characters. They have a little knowledge about weapons, armor, and fighting and these are definitely put to the test right away on Ludus. Dolos, the omnipotent god of Ludus, is a jerk but Henry and Jason strike a bargain with him and are determined to win. I am skeptical that Dolos will hold up his end of the bargain. Still, I hope Henry and Jason best him by the end of the series.
The first big hurdle for the guys is to take out some orc-like creatures that have show more taken some human-like captives. Enter Mareen, the first maiden that needs saving. Now she’s not all helpless. She puts up a fight and is quick to recover enough to get out of there with the guys and back to safety where she can fall apart in private. So, she held potential from the beginning…. if only the author had used that potential.
The quests and magic continue from there. Henry is more the reactive, leader type while Jason is much more the thinker. The inhabitants of Ludus know how Henry and Jason got here because either they themselves were brought here for Dolos’s entertainment or their ancestors were. So they offer what knowledge they have to Jason and Henry.
There’s caves and dungeons to explore to gain treasure and the chance to level up your magical skills. It really felt like these characters were immersed in an epic fantasy computer game. Mostly I enjoyed the world building, though there were a few times where explaining the rules dragged things down a bit.
For some reason, Mareen remains our only female character for some time. Also, her destiny is to fall in love. Yep… sigh…. really? Eventually, we get Uulula who is basically an elf. She’s a bit more interesting than Mareen when we first meet her. Both ladies do get some skills but their main focus is to serve as love interests for Henry and Jason. Since there are so few ladies in a large cast, I really needed them to shine and they didn’t. While they had a little depth by the end of the book, they were pretty much cookie cutter, interchangeable characters which was greatly disappointing. Keeja is the one female character that holds my interest but she comes in near the very end of Book 1. I’m really hoping that the author keeps her around for the rest of the series.
All told, it’s a fun, breezy take on the epic fantasy genre even with it’s flaws. I hope Book 2 holds my interest more than Book 1. 3.5/5 stars.
The Narration: Jeff Hayes was the star of this book. It’s his performance that kept me going. All his character voices are distinct and his female voices are very believable. Hayes sounded engaged for the entire book and appears to have enjoyed giving voice to this story. I loved his serious, grumpy voice for Henry and his flippant voice for Keeja. 5/5 stars.
I received a free copy of this book. My opinions are solely my own. show less

My original Welcome to Ludus audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

Henry and Jason suddenly find themselves on Ludus, a strange and violent planet run by the homicidal god, Dolos. They are given a bag of goodies and instructions to either save the world, have a chance to return to Earth, or more likely die in the effort.

The story is an unapologetic fictional creation of a roll playing video game (RPG). Henry and Jason can gain points, improve their magic skills show more and get better weapons and knowledge with their efforts and successes. Ludus is full of Orcs, Goblins, Hell Hounds and other demons who simply want to kill everything and everyone. Ludus is mostly inhabited by transplanted humans, but also a host of other humanoid aliens, some friendly, some not. Ultimately, Henry and Jason must kill or be killed.

There is a sense of unreality throughout the story, like the main characters could simply wake up from a bad dream. They are perhaps a little too lucky at everything they face. And like a video game, the challenges get harder with their greater skills and weapons. Though Dolos says he doesn’t expect them to live, he has given them extreme advantages.

Delvers LLC starts off slowly and takes some sustained effort to get into. But with the effort comes a very entertaining listen. There is plenty of action and clumsy love interests to keep the listener involved. To the author's credit, it doesn't take itself too seriously and is pretty funny. The story is cartoonish and somewhat unbelievable – like a game; but that is the point and is true to itself.

The story is performed by Jeff Hays, who does a very good job. The characters are clearly differentiated and sound true to their personalities. He generally stays out of the way, just giving enough interpretation to allow the listener’s imagination to fill in the rest.

Delvers LLC is like watching over the shoulder of someone playing a video game. It is very entertaining and full of action and video violence. The characters are defined early, but evolve into something resembling real people. Though you really don’t expect them to fail, the action is engaging. If you enjoy roll playing games, or the recent genre of bringing these games to fiction, you should definitely put this novel at the top of your list. A good dose of humor throughout the novel keeps it fun too. Delvers LLC is not listed as a series, but is clearly written as one. It neither ends, nor wraps up the story. If you like it, you will want to continue on to book 2 when it is released. Recommended for the intended audience.

Note: Appropriate for the right young-adult audience. Keep in mind there is graphic violence, sex and adult language. The equivalent of an R rated movie.

Audiobook was provided for review by the narrator. show less

Incredible story. The game lit style just makes the sci-fi/fantasy elements more considered, but the story, the story is amazing.

More a straight up fantasy title, where the protagonists are transported from our world to science fiction/fantasy world. The heroes are heroic, self sacrificing men, the women hot and there are even cat girls. While one of the heroes complains about anime tropes, the novel certainly contains them. The great god Dolos was my favorite character, both funny and evil and a great way to drive the story.