Sew You Want to be a Hero

Threadbare #2

by Andrew Seiple

Threadbare has not had a very good time of it, recently. His little girl has been taken from him, and he must travel the kingdom, finding allies old and new, living and dead, to help him rescue Celia. Fortunately, he's got a voice now, and access to all those fun skills he couldn't use before. He may only be a very small teddy bear, but he's got the persistance to plow through dungeons of rascally raccoon monsters, the wiles to turn a town full of undead on its ear, and the sanity to survive an encounter with a mediocre old one. However, Threadbare's little girl is growing up now, and her own path is hard, and brutal. Will she even have a use for her old teddy bear, when they meet again? Will they both survive the encounter? Contains profanity and violence, and a creepy villain who likes tentacles way too much.

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Fiction, Magic, Humor, Adventure, Young Adult

303 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 25, 2018

Reviews

[Narilka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once upon a time there was a teddy bear who had lost his little girl.

And so starts Sew You Want to Be a Hero, the second book in Andrew Sieple's Threadbare series. It's been five long years since Threadbare's little girl was taken away from him and he must travel the kingdom to find her. Luckily, he has his voice now and is learning how to use all the neat skills he couldn't access before.

Turns out those skills are a lot of fun and pretty darn powerful when used in the right situation. You can tell Seiple is enjoying expanding the world he's created and the classes and skills for the characters. Threadbare skilling up his modelling job by putting on the oddest fashion show in history had me laughing out loud. Turns out the model job is surprisingly useful, especially for a golem. Threadbare (literally) makes several friends on his journey and each plays a role on the party. At this point I'm not sure which of the side characters is my favorite because I love them all.

We are also given a few chapters from Celia's point of view. Celia has had a hard time of things in the five years since they've been apart. It makes her chapters a little uneven as there's a lot of background info to be filled in that slows the pace slightly.

Tim Gerard Reynolds continues to knock it out of the park with his audio narration. He has so many different, distinct voices for the characters that sometimes I forget there isn't more than one person narrating the story.

I have completely fallen in love with Threadbare, the misfit toys and Pulsivar. Saving the world is just a bonus at this point. Fair warning, this story ends on a cliffhanger. I'm glad the trilogy is complete so I don't have to wait to see how it all ends.

[Soo · Rating 4 out of 5]

01/27/19 Mini-Review:

5 Stars for Narration by Tim Gerald Reynolds
4.5 Stars for Threadbare & Crew
3.5 Stars for Plot
3 Stars for Cecilia

I love the quirky characters and how they rally together. It's heartbreaking, laughter inducing and packed with lots of attitude! This was a fun sequel to the series. I found out that there's only one more book to go and I'm a little worried. There's a lot going on behind the scenes and I'm not sure if one book will be able to settle matters to a tidy finish.

Cecilia's POV portions of the story were a roller coaster ride. Some of them were great and some of them were a drone that had to be read because it matters. This book had an ending and then two info dump scenes. Cliffhanger antics. It's not terrible but I'm glad I got into this series when it's finished vs in process.

You get a better take of the classes and how abilities can function. Lots of disaster filled romps to train, bond and rocket into stronger levels. The humor has become more raunchy but only if you have a dirty mind. So getting both sides of that was hilarious!

*crossing my fingers* I really want a satisfactory ending to the series! Let's see how it will all wind up for our small bear and his team of big hearts in little bodies.

[Lazybee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as great as the first one, but passable.

[Jon Von · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't write a review for the first book. I rarely read a sequel only a couple of weeks after reading (well, listening to) the first one. And is number three loaded already on my phone? I'm a little torn on saying they're good but they have one or two things that set them out and make them fun to read.

One is that Threadbare is an interesting character. It's a LITrpg, so this is an adventure where the characters have stats and abilities (character points and mana pools, sanity meters, buffs, and debuffs). However, the way the protagonist interacts with the structure is very creative. Compared to other LITrpg books, this series has a distinctly thorough and clearly explained RPG interface with a lot of detail in battles and intricate subsystems. And then you have Threadbare, a two-foot-tall Teddy bear, magically animated by a wizard with a mysterious spell. And soon, the huggable little golem is going on adventures to save the little girl who once owned him.

Threadbare is basically like a robot, in that he is a curious, genderless being who only wants to love. But finds himself not only forced into combat and, surprisingly, being quite good at it. In this sequel, he becomes a formidable magician and military leader. In the first entry, way back at the start, Threadbare was a conscious Teddy bear who was ridiculously stupid. He wasn't even able to speak until the end of the book! He was doing battle with toys and doing damage to himself just falling over. He had an epic battle with a bird! But now, thanks to comedic mishaps with the undead and an unmistakable sense of fashion he has become a sort of brawling necromancer bard, able to place the souls of other characters in the bodies of toys; including a cloth fire-breathing dragon a puppet vampire. There's even a bit where he learns what sex is and becomes very confused. But all through, he's a weird little alien artificial intelligence who acts like a huggable little teddy bear and just wants to protect his little girl. He also has a little girlfriend! It's a recipe for success I tell you.

But then there's the book. It's ok. Seiple affected a more classic fantasy approach with the first book and was subverting it with the LITrpg aesthetic and bringing in a little bit of sci-fi. The stories have an essentially humorous tone but a lot of the actual jokes fall flat (sometimes crash and burn). It's always a reminder that these things are made for teenagers when a villain turns into an anime cat girl. But the second book digs into some ideas about how to progress the story and we get three distinct acts, the last of which culminated in a big, strategic battle. The middle act is a bit fight against a cult of very silly HP Lovecraft universe wanna-be (led by a villain named Hatecraft).

The story takes place five years after the first book and Celia, the Teddy bear's little girl owner, is now older and needs his little golem's help in an intertwining story. The way the two plots develop and converge is thoughtful and shows the beginning of a grand design for the series. I was surprised by the direction the ending took and look forward to that third book (already preloaded).

Overall, interesting protagonist, thoughtful use of LITrpg mechanics, surprisingly good story, but the lame sense of humor and obvious YA leanings make it kind of embarrassing for an adult to read. No one has to know, right? That I read children's books?

[Chip · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Perhaps a little lacking vs the first book - not sure if due to middle book syndrome or lacking originality (in comparison to, and now that I’ve read, v1) - maybe both. Continues to be reminiscent of ELLC in terms of the protagonist teddy bear, who repeatedly lucks into classes / levels - here so often and repeatedly it seems fated. Guess we’ll see in v3 if that’s just deus ex machina, or if there’s a finger on the scale. Some surprising plot twists during the latter part of v2 that set the scene nicely for v3 finale.

[Miche · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the story and the characters, but the pacing suffered with stats overload.

[Kirstie · Rating 4 out of 5]

After shit went down at the end of the last book I knew this book's ending was going to throw a bomb at me, but I certainly couldn't have predicted exactly how big a bomb. If the ending of the last book was too big a shift in mood/tone for you then don't continue on, because Seiple is going to kick you in the teeth, while you're down (and I love it ;p )

Characters who we only saw for glimpses in the first book come back and get significantly more page time in this volume, so it feels like the cast grows a chunk, but really we only spend a lot longer and look more deeply at those characters. I especially enjoy the extra time with Madeline(I'm listening to them via auidobook so apologies if that's a misspell).

I loved the Lovecraft references and the Trogdor one too too. They're put in in such as way as well where people who know what's funny about 'Outsmouth' will chuckle, but people who don't won't be left feeling awkward and like the missed the punchline, which is good because I've had a friend complain about not getting references in the Ready Player One book and how it made them feel like they were 'left out'(and they use that complaint as an excuse to never try LitRPG).

Again, every level up and skill up gets a quick run down of what stats shifted and what skills were learned by the rank up, but the only full skill sheets thrown at us are in the prologue and epilogue. I prefer this method because being slogged with character sheets at the end of every chapter murders a books pacing.

Overall the book was still fun, interesting, and smooth moving, but there was something missing. Just something small, not a huge demerit, but it wasn't quite as riveting as the first book. Perhaps because the novelty wore thin, or maybe that there was a drop in stakes since death seems to be a much less final problem. Either way still a good book and part of a thoroughly enjoyable series.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute but also violent litRPG. Well done audiobook. probably a 3.5 book but the audio reading makes it interesting enough to beat 4.

[Gareth Otton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did enjoy this second book, but really this review is 3.5 stars rounded up to four. Despite that being a good rating, that’s a bit of a shame, because I absolutely loved the first book in this series and I had high hopes for the rest of the books. While this one definitely isn’t bad (It’s actually a highly enjoyable book, I don’t want you to think otherwise), it also didn’t live up to the promise of the first book.

There are two main reasons I can think of for why this book didn’t work quite so well for me:

1. Threadbare talks - This was kind of an inevitable change because it made sense for this character to grow into this ability sooner or later. The problem was that in doing so you lose some of the charm of the first novel, and definitely lost the power of the show don’t tell model that the author is forced to use with a mute character. I compared the previous book to Pixar’s WALL-E for this same reason, the writers having to go that extra mile to create this character without ever actually hearing them speak for themselves. Losing that touch in this book felt like a step backward strangely and I felt like there should have been something else new to replace it.

2. Too much of a good thing - One of the reasons I loved the first novel is because Threadbare was a special character, almost to the point of being unique. This unassuming toy constantly proving that he is more than what he appears on the surface was the ultimate underdog story and made the protagonist special. In this book though, multiple other “special” toys are created, each with their own unique twist maybe, but all of them taking away the uniqueness of Threadbare’s character. Therefore, by the end of this book we went from a once in a life time character, to a one amongst many character. Like with the previous point, this felt like we were losing something from this novel that made this story special, but nothing new had been added in to replace it.

Overall though, a lot of this might be personal preference and me just not quite liking where the story is going. It is well written, still enjoyable, and I am looking forward to reading the next one, but this isn’t quite what I was hoping for after finishing the first book.

[Chris Velazquez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally I've picked up the second Threadbare book. It had been a while since I read and enjoyed the first one, and I pondered how this one would hold up.

It's rather funny in how time passed for me between each book, as the second book begins five years later. Now with the ability to speak, and getting stronger and stronger as he sets off on his journey to reunite with his dear Celia, Threadbare ends up encountering allies both old and new, enemies and trials and tribulations and a whole lot of messes, especially as they encounter a very peculiar town. And as this goes on, we also get some chapters focusing on Celia, now a teenager and a knight in her father's army, showing us connections she has made and how she has advanced and grown stronger as well. Overall, the book strikes a good balance at giving most of the characters enough attention so we get to know them well enough overtime, both old and new.


It also helps that the action is thrilling, the ocassionally comedic narration and rather parody-like takes on certain things throughout the story help lighten the mood, especially since the story can get quite serious at times and very violent, and you can't help but feel bad for some of the folks who end up dead. If anything, I wish we could have gotten to find out what happened to other characters we met on the first book, as one barely appears and others don't appear at all. The book also moves a bit too slowly at times, I was hoping for Threadbare's group to get a move on a couple times, though it was mitigated by the great dialogue and character interactions, and with how the narration moves into certain POVs, such as Pulsivar's and also tha of an extremely well spoken villain. Overall, another solid entry of this series, and I look forward to reading the third.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book #: 33
Title: Sew You Want to be a Hero (Threadbare #2)
Author: Andrew Seiple
Popsugar Category: Basic: A book about a hobby
Popsugar Category: Basic: A book about someone with a superpower (magic)
Popsugar Category: Basic: A book featuring an extinct or imaginary creature (orcs!)
Popsugar Category: Advanced: A LitRPG book
Goodreads Category: A book from one of the top 5 money making genres (fantasy)
Goodreads Category: A book with a monster or "monstrous" character (orcs!)
Bookriot Category: A book in which an animal or inanimate object is a point-of-view character
A-Z Title: S for Sew
A-Z Author: S for Seiple
Format: E-book, Personal Collection
Rating: *** three out of five stars

My wife downloaded all three books to our e-library. Our phones are connected, so we can share the e-library. This has become my waiting-in-line e-book of late. Threadbare, the hero, has become a golemist himself. So, as humans and orcs die in battle, he captures their souls and puts them into toys. He now has an entire adventuring party of toys, dolls, puppets, other teddys and marionettes. And a winged dragon dolly that can actually fly! This has all become a little too cutesy for my taste. I've downloaded new e-books, it may be awhile before I get around to reading book three of the series.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun listen. Our hero Threadbare is back again after spending quite a while getting himself out from under the house that collapsed on him at the end of the previous story. I liked the plot better in this book than the previous one, there were more complex elements and more interesting character interactions and we got more backstory explaining in part why things, in the kingdom anyway, are the way they are.
I dinged the story a star because there were a lot of puns & pop-culture references that just seemed kind of jarring and took me out of the story (references to "11 herbs and spice", ROUS's, et al), because there was a scene at the end involving daemons and souls and an encounter that didn't make sense the way they explained it, and also because in an audio-book format listening to someone just read pages of status screens is a second-cousin to fingernails on a blackboard. I don't know that there's any good fix to this but it grates on the ears.

[Horia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book follows up on the first book's expectations and delivers a good litRPG story.

That said, the first book is better. This one, I felt it started really strong, close to the value delivered by the first, and then as the story progressed, it branched off from the gullable and lovable teddy bear in the woods story and move to a war battlemap with high stakes and a dark background story.

For me this means by the end of the book, the style lost exactly the thing that sucked me into the trilogy in the first place.

As books pile up in a litRPG series, something needs to drive the progress bar. Usually it's either the power creep, or expanding the plot from local stakes to kingdom, world or cosmic levels.
In this case is the latter, while I would have enjoyed waaaay more an over powered version of threadbear while keeping the gullable and lovable personality.

I may read the final book in the trilogy if/when it would be on sale.

[Ozsaur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just as fast paced, fun, and adorable as the first book. But. This one is a lot darker. It also felt rushed in places, and confusing in others. The cast got bigger and harder for the author to handle, though it only showed in a few places.

I didn't like the that the book felt like it had multiple endings. So many threads (heh) needed to be tied up, that it took a lot of explaining, and set-up for the next book.

I still adore Threadbare! But so much time was spent on other characters, that I felt not enough time was spent on him. That's why I felt like some of his characterization felt a bit shaky.

I did enjoy the snappy dialogue. In spite of everything I said, I do like the other characters too, especially Misses Fluffbear and Celia. And Pulsivar!

Still fun and charming. Lots of action, and good world building.

[Chris Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

The juxtaposition of cute toy characters in a dark world and occasionally gruesome events is a great dynamic and keeps things balanced from being too silly/cutesy or too dark/brooding. Along with an interesting story line and likable, unique characters makes this a fun and engaging read.

The one issue I sort of have with the story is the low stakes death currently has. Dozens of people have died at this point but very few of them are 'gone'. Sure I like that Threadbare is building a toy army, but all that someones body being destroyed means is they need to be stuck in a new toy. That said, I'd rather have all those characters that died be saved than be gone so... ya, mixed feelings on it.

[Dangiras · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty much as good as the first one, just maybe a bit less plot development, more focused on action and expanding on new side-characters + a set up for the final quest and confrontation. Pretty much what you would expect in the middle book of a trilogy.

However (and that is the most important thing) - Threadbare is still the most teddy bear of all the teddy bears that ever teddy beared in any story I know! He's a perfect character to cheer to when following his story and he pretty much made me forget all the small nitpicks I had throughout the story (mainly on secondary pow chapters).

Loved the first book a bit more, but not by much - still a great story and same quality lovable characters.

4.5/5

[Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb

Once again a masterfully crafted story and characters, with many changes, yet many welcome similarities. Not only is the story great, but the words... oh my, the words are wonderful. Expressive narration can be done very badly, but here it is done to perfection. (I lost it for minutes after reading “Mopsy was gone, baby, gone”. I kept bursting into laughter like a crazy man. Knowing the characters and beasts involved makes it work even better, and it still makes me smile to even think of it. That’s excellent writing, folks.)

If you like the GameLit genre, and you love the works of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, then you need to read this series. Two thumbs up (unless you’re a stuffed dragon doll). Very Highly Recommended.

[Donna Marino · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knocked my five-star rating down to four for the second book in the Threadbare series because I felt as if the middle bogged down. Once the characters are split into two groups, readers are tasked with keeping many new characters separate and distinct. In addition to the ballooning character list is the ever-increasing plot complexity. For readers to keep everything straight, they must stay very alert and engaged. This requires great talent from the author, who must keep the plot interesting and exciting. I feel as if Seiple failed to do so during the central part of the plot. Otherwise, the text is once again fun and innovative. This series is proving to be one of the best examples of litrpg on the market.

[James Madere · Rating 5 out of 5]

More great fun from Seiple and Threadbare. If you've read the first book, then you know you'll be in for more clever humor and easter eggs. I won't spoil any of them, but I'll say that I was guffawing at the subtle Linux jokes.
I was happily surprised to see the return of the eastern-accented vampaih and the Caribbean half-orc shaman. Those two add a lot of humor and color to an already quirky ensemble. Also the nods to Lovecraft (with tongue planted firmly in cheek) were as hysterical as they were inscrutable.
As with the first book, my only big gripe is how fast the story comes to a close. There is a relatively decent pace to the narrative, but in the final few chapters the plot goes into MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE.
Regardless, I'm looking forward to the next book in the Threadbare saga!

[Vincent Archer · Rating 4 out of 5]

How do you deal with a necromancer teddy bear?

You don't. You face it, and hope for the best. The second tome of the adventures of the Threadbare (or Dreadbear, as it is sometimes called) deals with the rise of the necromantic abilities of said stuffed bear, as it tries to rescue his little girl. What makes the volume interesting is, of course, all the detours needed to reach that point, then the exact way the non-plan works.

There's a passage where stuff is a bit hurried, in my opinion, but it still does make sense. And like any good middle book in a trilogy, it does set up stuff for the last book, even if it does not end in a straight cliffhanger-cum-conclusion like the previous one. Good stuff(ed bear)!

[astaliegurec · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andrew Seiple's 2018 novel "Threadbare, Book 2: Sew You Want to be a Hero" is quite possibly even better than the first book in the series ("Threadbare, Book 1: Stuff and Nonsense"). It's much darker (as expected from the ending of the first book), but still a fun, interesting read. Just like the first book, about the only thing I can complain about is the unjustified and useless swearing dropped throughout it. Of course, while I'm complaining about that, I guess I could complain about the sexual innuendo, too. But, thankfully, that's just innuendo and nothing more. As with the first book, I'm rating this at a Very Good 4 stars out of 5.

[Aya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Threadbare: 2
After the main events in the last book, there's a timeskip. Five years later, Threadbare sets out to find his little girl, Celia, but the first order of business is to recover Missus Fluffbear, who was stolen by raccants at the end of the last book. On his quest to find Celia, he runs into old friends and levels up his skills. More details of the author's world-building are doled out here and there, hinting at a well-thought out design. The author must be a programmer, the daemon in-jokes are kinda hilarious. Other references also add to the sly humor. Another well executed story. On to the sequel!

[Jack Vinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somehow this one didn't strike me the same way as the first installment, which felt shiny and new in terms of the main character being a stuffed bear that comes to sentience thanks to fun fantasy magic.

In this installment, the bear has survived the dread ending of the last book and tries to right some of the wrongs that were done to him and his friends. There is a lot of litRPG advancement of the characters, which felt like it dragged quite a bit. The end of the book wove together a couple threads and moved very quickly. I was somewhat surprised that the culmination of the story came together so quickly.

[Signed copy, purchased at AcadeCon this past November.]

[Red Alibi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the first one.
Now that everyone's levelled their intelligence and wisdom there's realistically nothing that set them apart from normal humans when you're reading the book. They could all be undead and one necro and the story would pretty much still be the same.

Most of the charm, I learned, is the fact that it was a stupid teddy bear doing stuff heh. The comedy got very stale too. And the few characters with the "accents" are really annoying.

Plot's good...ish. Pacing way too slow. Lots of grammatical errors and typos. It was a struggle just to finish this.

[Ahmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd say this one a slight bit worse than the first book, because the elements that make the first book enjoyable take a back seat here, and the focus is on plot development. The plot is not very convincing, the dialogue is not quite convincing either, and the books suffers. Still, the litrpg elements are there and they're a bit more present than the first book, too.

So, if you've loved volume book, read this one.

The cover art is really great, though.
I wish there were other illustrations in the book.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dear god this book started with stats. I hope that the bear doesn't constantly access them throughout the book now that he can talk.

Okay. That was pretty funny when a raccoon was dancing McHammer's "can't touch this", and pulled out a giant hammer.

I hope that the author doesn't use his Scooby-Doo and Cthulhu side mission to fill pages and stop threadbare from reaching his little girl.

This book is getting more interesting the longer I read it. i will definitely be reading the sequels.

3/5 Stars

[James · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book turned this series into a disappointment. This book was a struggle to finish.

The author completely toned down the humor from the first book and what humor is there, is Dad-joke level cringe. By making the bears able to talk and essentially making them as smart as people was easily the worst decision made by the author. What a bore this book was; without the humor of the first book this series is just generic trash with really, really annoying characters with annoying dialogue (The vampire. Ugh. No, having her talk that way isn't funny nor cute.)

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the first book

The first book was fun and fluffy. In this book the tone turned a little angry an unjointed. Some of the plot twists were rushed. Some of the reasoning didn't link.

The author seemed to fail at times his bear-ttitude

The new main plot line does not pass the power level to believability or suspension of unbelief quotient.

Great main character and bear-kick but trying to over stuff the details left the book lumpy and clumpy.

[John #Audible · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a book that started up beat and fun in book 1, book 2 takes a hard right turn into the abyss. No real hero work, just always getting his ass kicked. Then you have alll this god damn build up and the author knifes you in the back and twists. When a author does stupid crap like this, there is ZERO point to get invested into ANY characters no matter what, because they will keep doing something like they did for the shock factor!

[Gabby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Threadbare rules!

I loved the changes and team composition in this book with the stark contrasts to changes in the towns as well as surrounding areas. However as much as I loved the changes to Threadbare, Pulsivar and a few others (not to throw in spoilers) I found the changes to Celia insufferable and a few ideas brought in very confusing changing the matrix of the world. I will be very interested in seeing where it goes from here!