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Dodge Tank

Crystal Shards Online, Book 1

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About this listen

"There's only one rule … don't get hit."

Ryan's life sucks.

His brother is a jerk, his mom is sick, and his legs are next to useless thanks to a neurological disorder. Plus the world ended two centuries ago from nuclear war. Now, what's left of humanity live below ground, with the only escape from reality being the massive VR world of Crystal Shards Online.

But even in the game, Ryan's life sucks. Unable to play a combat class due to his condition, he works as a miner, earning barely enough to get by and not nearly enough to afford the operation that will save his mom's life.

When Ryan discovers an item that grants the ability to dodge any attack, however, he has the chance to become one of the game world's most elite and sought after players: a Dodge Tank.

But for someone who's never played a combat class, success isn't so easily had.

To save his mom, Ryan will have to overcome his disability and level his way to the top. But the real-world consequences are more far reaching than he ever could have imagined and the fate of not just his mother, but humanity itself, may be resting in his hands.

©2018 Rick Scott (P)2018 Podium Audio Fiction Science Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy Fantasy Classics Game Adventure LitRPG
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Came across this book by chance, thoroughly enjoy it from start to finish. So well written, story enthralling, fast paced and I’m going to start listening to the sequel right now. Brilliant

Brilliant

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great onto the 2nd book right now
sword art online meets ready player one. dunno which came first but similar premise

great read

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Really fun listen and makes me want to buy the next book, but there were a few plot holes and some confusing unanswered questions. After reading the reviews for the next book it seems like those issues haven't been fixed, but have gotten worse so am going to stop here.

Good listen, but issues with plot holes

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Don't be put off like I was initially, this is up there as one of the best I've listened to.

Weird title and picture, great story...

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First off this is my first listen to anything of the "LITRPG" genre and only my second audiobook, but it's a genre you kind of know what to expect these days with anime such as Sword Art and movies like Ready Player One following the theme.

The story itself isn't too complicated and it ends with you wanting to move on to the sequel. If you like MMO's and the fantasy of delving into a fantasy game world this book does a good job making it feel like a real MMO with various fantasy locations, an auction house and game mechanics you'd expect to see. Though I feel a lot of the books influence can be heavily linked to Final Fantasy 11 with the jobs (particularly the Ninja, the focal job of the protagonist), the skillups system and some of the way the locations felt.

The performance by the reader is solid, the voice is always clear and he does a decent job of various characters as well as the "game" messages.

For the main positives I'd say it's a fun story of a characters growth and it never really goes anywhere too unexpected, though by the end more mystery and interesting things start to happen, as such the ending makes you want to continue onto book 2 and see how things play out.

On the negative side I'd say the vocabulary used isn't too interesting or varied, you'll hear a lot of "What the heck!?" and "Woohoo" throughout. Descriptions aren't anything too imaginative or creative but it doesn't hurt for the genre it's in, you wont find yourself hearing any words you aren't familiar with so it'll be an easy listen for young listeners. Sometimes hearing the "stats" and "game messages" can get a bit irritating since as a paper format you can imagine it being a block of text easy to glance over like a character sheet, but being narrated it begins to feel repetitive.

Overall for my first LITRPG I did enjoy it, I will check out the 2nd book and it has made me more interested in the genre as a whole. If you have nostalgia for FFXI or a desire for a VR based MMO book that has some fun in and out of game elements, I would recommend this book.

Very reminiscent of Final Fantasy 11

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