Audiobook Review – BuyMort: 30,000 Leagues (Shopocalypse Saga, Book 4) by Damien Hanson, Joseph Phelips, Narrated by Wayne Mitchell (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Post-Apoclyptic/Science Fiction/LitRPG
Length: ‎15 hours and 58 minutes
Publisher:‎ Podium Audio
Release Date: January 16, 2024
ASIN: B0CQMRLPB1
Stand Alone or Series: 4th book in the Shopocalypse Saga
Source: Bought on Audiobook
Rating: 4/5 stars

“Now, just a month after Day 1, mysterious beasts are plaguing his land. A powerful armada tears through the sea. An angry Beholder threatens his workers…

And a powerful tsunami has signaled the arrival of an even more powerful affiliate. A singular monster that assimilates its workers into the ever-growing hivemind that is its corporate structure, Kraken threatens not just to end Tyson and his fledgling affiliate. It threatens to destroy Nu-Earth itself.

As bull markets turn bear and hostile agents vie to corner the local market, Tyson must find a way to not just bankrupt his rivals and hold on to his market shares…
He must find a way to unite the planet.”

Series Info/Source: This is the fourth book in the Shopocalypse Saga. I bought this on audiobook to listen to.

Thoughts: I enjoyed this but not quite as much as the last couple books in the series. Tyson is being tugged from place to place and seems to struggle to initiate any change on his own. He has very much turned into an enforcer in a larger group. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the additional POV added; I just didn’t like the Captain very much.

This seems to start some time after the last book ended; I actually felt like I had missed a book or something. But no, there is just a decent time gap. Tyson and the rest of the Silken Sands crew are working on taking more territory from Darth when a new threat arises. They have to combat a powerful tsunami and find out that a group called Kraken is turning the Earth against itself in order to make a profit. Tyson and crew will have to figure out how to mitigate this new threat before Kraken very literally tears the Earth apart.

I continued to enjoy a lot of the characters in here and how they have grown throughout the series. I feel like Tyson was very much not in control of his own destiny in this book, he is constantly jerked around between locations and used for his toughness and abilities. While his leadership really shined in the last few books, this book focuses a bit more on his weaknesses and brings to light how much he depends on some of the members of his affiliate.

I did not enjoy the additional POV added with the Captain. I didn’t like him as a character and thought these portions didn’t really support the overall story or move things forward. They felt like extra fluff and drew things out even more. I have a feeling that the Captain will continue to be a major character in future books, and I find that disappointing. We didn’t see a lot of Mohls, Dufus, or Phil. At times, the book felt long and like it’s suffering from a bit of that series bloat that happens as a series goes on and on (the books in a series getting longer and longer with each book).

This was still action-packed, and I thought the way things ended really set this up to become a bigger world and story. It’s kind of hard to describe this book at this point because so much has happened in such a short amount of time. If you enjoy the series, I think you will still enjoy this book.

I listened to this on audiobook, and the audiobooks are very well done. Mitchell does an amazing job keeping all the characters straight and conveying emotion and energy. This is a really wonderful series to listen to on audiobook if you like audiobooks.

This is a LitRPG, but not as heavy as some and a bit of a different take on that genre. While the first couple books were very post-apocalyptic/survival themed the last couple have been more sci-fi themed.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I really enjoyed this but not quite as much as the previous books. Tyson is very much shoved into situations rather than taking leadership and making decisions. The new POV added seemed to dilute the story, and we don’t see as much of some of my favorite characters as I would have liked. However, this is still action packed, full of dark humor, and there is a lot of character development. It almost seemed like there was too much going on in this book. That being said, I enjoyed the story and will continue to read it, I really enjoy this on audiobook a lot.