Split the Party

Executive Summary: After a bit of a slow start, this one is as good as the first one, if not slightly better. I sure hope there will be a third book soon.Audiobook: So here's the downside of a relatively unknown author, with an excellent narrator. The ebook of this looks have come out several months before the audio version. Roger Wayne does such a great job narrating this, that I want to keep listening if/when there is a third book. But can I hold out waiting an extra 6 months to do it?If you're an audio book person, you should do this series in audio. Maybe that will help his audiobook publisher hurry the hell up! Audio books are big business these days. I get frustrated (and a bit dumbfounded) when the audio book doesn't come out the same day as the text. It seems especially common among lesser known authors though.I'm going to make it a bit of crusade to increase Mr. Hayes popularity (with whatever little influence my reviews may have at least), for the selfish reason that I want book 3 in audio sooner rather than later. That and I think many of you will enjoy this one in audio like I did.Full ReviewI enjoyed [b:NPCs 22088245 NPCs (Spells, Swords, & Stealth, #1) Drew Hayes https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1400095217s/22088245.jpg 41426688] so much, I rushed right out and got this one. I found the start a bit slow. That was short lived though. In fact there was only one other scene where I wasn't completely sucked into this book.Not only do we get the excellent characters, and RPG in-jokes from the first, but there is a really cool overarching plot developing. So when do we get the third book? Is it now? I'd like it now. Please say it's in the works at least!In this entry our favorite NPCs are back, and now joined by some excellent new characters. Meanwhile in the real world Tim and Russel are also back, but this time with other players more like those I played with in my 20s than the ones I sometimes suffered through in college.I'm particularly interested to see where the main story will go, but in the meantime I enjoyed the main quest and side quests of this book quite a bit. I'm sure it's not a new idea, but I had never encountered a mage's guild with magic doors in various cities, but I totally love that idea, and wish my now bored/retired Wizard had been able to join.My favorite addition is probably the traveling saleswoman though. Sadly between the audio and my general terrible memory (especially for names), I couldn't tell you her name. She makes a great addition to the already excellent cast of characters of this series.Two books in, this series is a ton of fun. I have no idea how many more books Mr. Hayes has planned, but I'm eagerly hoping to get another one soon. In the meantime I'll continue to use whatever limited influence I have on goodreads to get more people to check out this series. If you're an RPG fan, I especially recommend this.Grab your dice and roll along with the NPCs and the players as they take on many well-worn tropes in fun and often humorous fashion.

A completely different plot and some new characters to the mix but the author has done another amazing job of making them worth wanting to follow.