Audiobook Review – Mimic & Me (Mimic & Me, Book 1) by Cassius Lange and Ryan Tang, Narrated by Jeff Hays, Various (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy/LitRPG
Length: 16 hours and 57 minutes
Publisher: Soundbooth Theater
Release Date: August 16, 2023
ASIN: B0CDCM4F92
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Mimic & Me series
Source: Audiobook from Audible
Rating: 3/5 stars

“Damon has become a monster…sort of.

Betrayed and left for dead by a group of slaving nobles, he thought there was nothing left but to bleed out as he counted the number of bricks on the ceiling. But fate had other plans.

Moments before Damon’s death, a gelatinous, gluttonous mimic reveals itself to him. Fearing a more gruesome and horrible death down the mimic’s gullet, Damon offers the food in his pack—sandwiches, cookies, and everything else! Encouraged by the (admittedly forced) generosity, the Mimic fuses with Damon, enhancing his body and transforming him into a half-man half-mimic monstrosity.

Once a poor, down-on-his-luck scout, Damon now has new capabilities far beyond anything anyone on Basania has seen before.

The only problem? His new bodymate’s insatiable hunger for cake…and human flesh.”

Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Mimic & Me series. I got this on audiobook from Audible.com.

Thoughts: This was an okay LitRPG. I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook quality was amazing. I wasn’t a huge fan of any of the characters here, but the premise is unique and fun. I never found myself really drawn into the story at all. The writing was only so-so and the dialogue felt awkward.

Damon is a Scout. Scouts are lower class adventurers in The System; they are taken advantage of by the nobles and never allowed to advance. All that changes for Damon when he offers a Mimic a sandwich, and the Mimic decides to merge with Damon. Now Damon is something very different, and he can gain powers, levels, and new skills by eating other adventurers. I mean it is a bit yucky but Damon is kind of here for it.

What did I like about this….Well, the audiobook quality was amazing, and the Mimic voices were especially well done. The premise is intriguing, and I thought watching Damon gain new and unique powers in odd ways was somewhat interesting.

What did I not like about this book? Well, all of the characters in here are kind of jerks and mostly out for themselves. I didn’t really enjoy any of them. Partly because of this, I never really found myself engaged in the story. The other reason it was hard to engage in the story is that this is basically a party-building book. Throughout the book, Damon encounters new people that end up joining him, hence forming an adventuring party by the end of the book. There isn’t a solid main storyline really.

I also struggled with the world here; it is controlled by The System which is never well explained. It is just accepted that all these characters live in this odd System run world. I am going to assume later books in the series get into that more, but I will never find out because I didn’t enjoy this enough to continue the series. The writing here is okay but not great, dialogue is awkward at times, and the pacing is only so-so.

My Summary (3/5): Overall this was an okay LitRPG with an intriguing premise that ended up not being all that engaging. I liked the premise and the audiobook quality. I didn’t enjoy the characters, the world, or the lack of an engaging story. I finished it but won’t be reading any other books in the series. If you enjoy classic dungeon delvers but with a twist and mean characters and lack of world-building don’t bother you, give this a try, I guess. It wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t that good either.