An Enjoyable Advancement of the VGO Plotline

This book is a consequential third episode in a most entertaining Fantasy story arc. It follows Grim Jack and the rebels in the Crimson Alliance as they mount a struggle against the "Viridian Empire" (tech millionaires/über-rich/elitists trying to control the VR world the way they did IRL).
In this one, Jack has to form a classic Adventurer Party (Tank, Ranged Sniper, Thief, supporting spellcasters, etc) to quest for three sacred artifacts so that he can unite the powerful Elven Storm Marsh tribes for the coming final battle. The series is headed towards what promises to be a spectacular climax.
Unfortunately, this book is as unoriginal as it sounds.. leading to a list of my concerns with where this series is headed:
• First, J.A. Hunter is starting to incorporate clichéd tropes in his plot (budding reluctant romances & quarrelsome factions within the rebel alliance, for example).. the author is taking the series in a disappointingly predictable "mainstream" fantasy direction.
• Second, there is a minimization of GameLit features in this third book: Hunter includes metagame reasoning, pop-up notifications, and point-buying discussions, but this book largely reads as a straightforward D&D-styled adventure.
• Lastly, there is now very little tension in combat: Jack's Shadowmancer powers (freezing time, riding a pet Dragon & controlling near-indestructible Monsters) make the game unbalanced. On top of that, the author emphasizes a "respawn" function in his game.. and then expects readers to care about threats to an effectively immortal MC.

Bottom Line: 'The Jade Lord' is well-conceived, well-written, and advances the overall plot in the series.. but is basically a formulaic prerequisite quest.

Armen Taylor once again turns in an above-average performance - displaying impressive voice-acting skills, for example - but his "whisper-shouting" is getting annoying and he continues to read too slowly (setting playback speed at 1.15X helps with some of his deficiencies).
Regardless, he's an excellent narrator and was a great choice from Shadow Alley Press Inc. for this project. Taylor is one of the better narrators I have heard in a while.

This book is a pivotal installment in the overall series - and merits 8 stars out of 10 - but I will be taking a break from 'The Viridian Archives' [Yes, the cost of the books is a factor: Books 1-3 were included with my Audible membership but subsequent books are $21.89 each].
The stories are legitimately entertaining and going further in the series is justifiable if you're enamored with the story-arc, but Jack is getting overpowered and the plot is getting too cookie-cutter for me.

I will likely revisit James Hunter's imaginative VRMMORPG world, but will spend my Credits elsewhere for awhile - R.A. Salvatore does this stuff a little better.

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Great Book

I really enjoy this genre of book. The performance is fantastic! it's a really cool take on the concept having the world end and everybody go into VR and get uploaded.

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1 person found this helpful

Great story!

Really enjoyed the narration. My only negative is the annoyance of reading off all the items stats each and every time an item is found then the main character explaining the positive of the effect. Just need to hear the latter.
I’d also like the books to be numbered such that I can find the next of this series with ease in Audible.

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keeps getting better

Admittedly the first book starts rough, by book two, the story is finally in full swing. Book three is where this author really finds his stride. I am looking forward to the rest of this series!

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