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A review by jenbsbooks
The Regretful Lives of Richard Bell by Shawn Inmon
3.0
I've really enjoyed the premise of this Middle Falls series ... love the "what if" possibilities of different choices. The first several books were included in KindleUnlimited with text and audio. The later books just the Kindle copy, audio available but needed to be added on for a fee. I went ahead and bought several of the later installments during some Audible sales.
While I liked this one in the end, I struggled at the start somewhat. The MC just isn't a very likeable character, the choices he makes aren't great, even given multiple attempts. Some really tough situations, with his wife, his mother, his brother ...
It was a bit frustrating for me, to have "an event" in his early life alluded to, but we're not told what happened until much later in the book. Something with his brother(s) ... there were three boy, not just two, one is missing his arms and has served a prison sentence for manslaughter. FINALLY, it's addressed, but not until 3/4 of the way through the book.
In the first several/many Middle Falls, our characters are "reset" to a certain time in their life. Always the same spot. At some point (book 12 or so?) the workers at the Universal Life Center start getting a little more flexible/creative in switching up the "restart" point. In some ways, this is a bit of a cop out ... these characters can't get it "right" until they go back far enough or to a certain point to change a specific event that was the "lifechanging" thing. The MC here is flopped all around, back to his middle age, then back to right before his death, then further back, further back (until that "unexplained event" with his brothers that has been alluded to but never explained).
Here, like some of the other books, the MC has to grapple with marrying a woman just to get his children (will everything be the same, will they be the same kids?). Having been estranged from his family for 20+ years, will he now step up and take care of his aging mother (who killed herself after being put in a home in the "original life"). In a couple scenarios, the MC is able to take advantage of knowledge (Microsoft will do well, buy stock ...) but when reset further back?
Some SPOILERS ... I thought the whole "treasure hunt" thing was a bit off the rails, and the first experience (did he kill those two guys, yes, somewhat self-defense, but was that never investigated, did he get off scott-free? Hadn't he only taken a small portion that first time, was that enough?) Then learning to work with gold as a way to "clean" it in another life ... it was all over the top. Really? Did our character LEARN a lot (yes, some) and improve, or did he just prevent a bad accident that had impacted everyone, and get rich, and in that one FINALLY get things right? When life was going smoothly and he had oodles of money, yeah, life is good.
The whole Brandi (mistress in the original life and first redo) ends up marrying his son in the final life? Really? And ALL THE ARTIE'S references. Was there NO OTHER PLACE TO EAT? I was so sick of Artie's. I'm pretty sure the owners of Artie's were in a previous story, but it was too much.
While I've enjoyed this series, I think maybe I'm at a stopping point ... at least if I have to buy the books. If they (17+) are in KU with audio, maybe I'll try jumping back in.
While I liked this one in the end, I struggled at the start somewhat. The MC just isn't a very likeable character, the choices he makes aren't great, even given multiple attempts. Some really tough situations, with his wife, his mother, his brother ...
It was a bit frustrating for me, to have "an event" in his early life alluded to, but we're not told what happened until much later in the book. Something with his brother(s) ... there were three boy, not just two, one is missing his arms and has served a prison sentence for manslaughter. FINALLY, it's addressed, but not until 3/4 of the way through the book.
In the first several/many Middle Falls, our characters are "reset" to a certain time in their life. Always the same spot. At some point (book 12 or so?) the workers at the Universal Life Center start getting a little more flexible/creative in switching up the "restart" point. In some ways, this is a bit of a cop out ... these characters can't get it "right" until they go back far enough or to a certain point to change a specific event that was the "lifechanging" thing. The MC here is flopped all around, back to his middle age, then back to right before his death, then further back, further back (until that "unexplained event" with his brothers that has been alluded to but never explained).
Here, like some of the other books, the MC has to grapple with marrying a woman just to get his children (will everything be the same, will they be the same kids?). Having been estranged from his family for 20+ years, will he now step up and take care of his aging mother (who killed herself after being put in a home in the "original life"). In a couple scenarios, the MC is able to take advantage of knowledge (Microsoft will do well, buy stock ...) but when reset further back?
Some SPOILERS ... I thought the whole "treasure hunt" thing was a bit off the rails, and the first experience (did he kill those two guys, yes, somewhat self-defense, but was that never investigated, did he get off scott-free? Hadn't he only taken a small portion that first time, was that enough?) Then learning to work with gold as a way to "clean" it in another life ... it was all over the top. Really? Did our character LEARN a lot (yes, some) and improve, or did he just prevent a bad accident that had impacted everyone, and get rich, and in that one FINALLY get things right? When life was going smoothly and he had oodles of money, yeah, life is good.
The whole Brandi (mistress in the original life and first redo) ends up marrying his son in the final life? Really? And ALL THE ARTIE'S references. Was there NO OTHER PLACE TO EAT? I was so sick of Artie's. I'm pretty sure the owners of Artie's were in a previous story, but it was too much.
While I've enjoyed this series, I think maybe I'm at a stopping point ... at least if I have to buy the books. If they (17+) are in KU with audio, maybe I'll try jumping back in.