Not ecstatic with statistics

First, let me begin with this.

The performance is fine. I love the story. I love the world that has been built. I love wondering where the story will go.

What I don't love, is waiting to see where the story goes.

With the anime, the status information is displayed along with other things happening on screen. With the book, you can skim-read the information to progress. As you don't need to build so much of a mental world around the information drop. As you are imagining just data, not a scene.

With an audio book? You are stuck there listening. Unless you wish to skip through the book. However, you don't know if you'll skip something more important. Either hidden in the stat information, or between two big waterfall drops of stats from two different appraisals.

And if you listen whilst driving like me, you can't skip around the book.

Just today, I drove a journey that took me 20 minutes. In that journey I had around 10 minutes of stats being spoken at me over two drops.

When I came to make another 30 minute journey, I continued the book again. After roughly two minutes, I got another five minutes stat drop. Then two minutes of story, then another five minute stat drop. Then five minutes of story and another nearly 5 minutes worth of stats! Numbers are rough from what I could tell. But even so, it began to feel very excessive and draining.

It doesn't work very well in an audio book. Infact, I was starting to grow frustrated. As I was quite far in the book, and several times on my journey I've been sat just listening to numbers being read out.

And I know the reasoning of why these stats are there, and when I wrote a review of another chapter I even mentioned that the stats fan feel like bloat. I know there try to built a comprehensible strength difference through numbers. Big number stronger, can she surmount it? But it sounds crazy strong with all those numbers! How can she?

I did feel I could handle it, and just listen on for the rest of the book... and I will. As I want to know what happens. However... it came to apoint in this book, where the Earth Dragon's and Serpant were being analysed, I was actually gritting my teeth. Then when she had moved from a Dragon to a Serpant, I didn't even realise what she was analysing until after the fact. When she had finished and started talking about what she had just seen.

And also there are narrative things hidden within the main casts appraisals. So you try to pay attention, but it becomes exhausting. And I work a job where I'm looking at, and correcting data all day.

I will continue the book, and will likely continue other volumes. At least I really~ want too. However it is becoming a slog to get through these numbers (Another one started as I was writing this review... and it is making me want to stop.)

So, basically I hate the book? No I don't. But I do want to express how the stat drops have become more excessive, and something you will have to bare with if you want to continue with this story. I just hope they calm down again in the future.

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1 person found this helpful

4 hours of stats.

It wasn't so problematic in the previous titles but now 50+ lines of boring statistics every time something new shows up. Felt like half the title was just a list reading exercise.

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