Audiobook Review – Germination (Battle Mage Farmer, Book 2) by Seth Ring, Narrated by Michael Kramer (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy/LitRPG
Length: 12 hours
Publisher:‎ Recorded Books
Release Date: August 23, 2022
ASIN: B0B75KY973
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Battle Mage Farmer series
Source: Borrowed Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

“The farm is running smoothly, the local bandits have been pacified, and he is starting to understand how magic works. Though none of that will matter if he can’t get his Doom Points under control.

As Ellie seeks to join the ranks of Class Holders, the mystery surrounding her grandmother grows and the two of them set off to discover the truth. But her legacy as a Witch is not the only mystery that needs to be explored. A strange plant is growing in Ferdie’s field, and it’s given John a new quest.

Meanwhile, a secret organization spreading its tendrils of influence throughout the war-weary world is plotting to destroy the fragile peace John fought so hard to achieve. As the shadows that surround this world are peeled back, he’ll need every ounce of wisdom and restraint he has ever possessed to keep from blowing the whole thing up himself.”

Series Info/Source: This is the second book in the Battle Mage Farmer series. I borrowed this on audiobook from Audible.com.

Thoughts: I enjoyed this a bit more than the first book in this series. This series continues to move slow, but I do really like the world and the characters. My husband and I have been listening to this on audiobook and I think he enjoys it a bit more than I do (although he also agrees it is very slow). If I am not the one driving, I tend to fall asleep while we are listening to this and I think it is just because not much happens. I can fall asleep for an hour and mu husband can give me a one sentence recap of what happened…so it’s just not very fast-paced.

In this book, Ellie is seeking to join the class-holders and John is trying to “grow wheat” in an attempt to progress his quest and stop the apocalypse. Then the strange plant from the first book gives John a side-quest. John and Ellie must venture out from the farm to not only unlock the secrets behind Ellie’s witch ancestry but also to track down a strange inverted mage tower.

I really love the characters in this series. There is a good balance of male and female characters, and they all have intriguing pasts and personalities. I love how we are slowly finding out more about John, and I also enjoyed watching Ellie grow more in power. We learn a lot about Ellie’s past in this book. There are some decent action scenes, and I enjoy these as well.

I struggle with how slow this is moving. Things are described in very meticulous detail and I think this is some of what slows the story down. We still don’t understand why John is gaining apocalypse points and how he can reduce them (although we get a bit more information around that). Also, talk about slow burn romance…John and Ellie are still dancing around each other…I think they brushed hands in this book.

We listened to this on audiobook, and the narration was better on this book. While listening to the first book, we had a lot of issues with John’s voice being too low and soft and Ellie’s voice being too high and strident, this was forcing us to increase and decrease the volume constantly. In this book audiobook, I felt like the sound was a lot better balanced.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I like a lot of things about this series. I just can’t get over how slow it moves and how much detailed description we get. I really wish things just moved faster. That being said, I really do love this world and I love the characters here. I think the beasts and magic are fascinating. I want to learn more about this world and watch Ellie and John both grow and change their power. I just hope I can stay awake through the audiobook to do so! We already started listening to the third book in this series. I would recommend to those who enjoy LitRPG that is a bit light on the RPG side but has some intriguing magic and good character growth. Just be prepared for a sluggish moving story.