Gamer Maven Heaven

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes........ it is a Professional job from the sound to the narration and the story.It is great for all ages.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Enjoyed them all the narrator is very good.

Which scene was your favorite?

The image of all the Data miners working in their particular virtual world.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes it was fun and interesting.

Any additional comments?

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

28 people found this helpful

Good. But just good.

I liked the story, and I liked the characters. It was worth the credit, but the author took a good plot and decent characters and left it at that. I think the story was missing some depth and also missed the opportunity to make this more than just a decent LitRPG book.

I will buy the next installment. However, I must put in the caveat that I'll buy almost any LitRPG book that has been decently edited and isn't coated in a stiff funk of poorly written, laughably sad, and unimaginative sex fantasies that are barely creditable even to someone with the maturity of a 13-year-old band dork.

5 people found this helpful

a wonderful book brought to life by stellar cast

Listening to his book was exactly as I had imagined it while I read it. I love the effort that the people from soundbite theater put into this story. I was imedieatly pulled in and wasn't ejected until the audible credits at the end. S.L. Rowland did a he'll of a good job writing the story and the narrotors sealed the deal.

defienetly on my need to listen to list.

5 people found this helpful

So so

NOTE - there are spoilers in here...

I really felt compelled to write my own review here after seeing so many 5 star reviews, which was part of why I decided to listen to this one in the first place. It bothers me when there are so many 5 star reviews when it's not really deserved because I think that misleads people. If you listen to as many litrpg's as I do, you get a good feel for which ones are really amazing, which ones are decent, which ones are meh, and which are plain terrible. It's like digging for gold, and most of the time you end up with tin, but occasionally you find something rare and high quality - this is not one of those.

Don't get me wrong, the this is not a bad piece in general. The voice performances are actually very good. It's just everything else is pretty lackluster and generic. The post apocalyptic setting has been done before, but much better in other novels. The boxes was a pretty obvious rip off of the stacks from Ready Player One. In fact much of the novel borrows from that book. Multiple vr worlds, a vr girl love interest, best friend in vr, a world spanning tournament\puzzle, etc. I get it, lots of writers take story elements from other books in order to build their own story, but there was so much here that it was a real distraction since I kept being reminded of that other book as I was listening to this one, and thinking how much better the other was even though RPO is not a litrpg.

The character was also just not very interesting. Very few foibles or quirks or endearing elements. The humor with the best friend was decent, but never laugh out loud. The love interest was simply meh. No real passion or spark or deep investment. For the auxiliary characters like the dwarves I was confused as to who was an npc and who wasn't. The initial character's op aspects that allowed him to power up fast were never explained in terms of how it was applied (was it percentage based? was it a hidden trait? what exactly did the miners get that allowed this?), it's sudden removal as a bug felt more annoying because it was never explained rather than be concerning.

The rpg parts of the litrpg were pretty bland and felt half baked and inconsistent. Very little time detailing the mechanics in general so if you like that kind of thing you will be disappointed. There's a lot of time spent discussing the stats, but the skills are all wonky. You need to go to trainers to learn a melee skill like lunge attack, but spells like waterfall that do tons of damage come from books that just randomly appear on kills? And how exactly do the classes work? The main villian is a powerful death knight, so why wouldn't everyone pick that class since it was so powerful? Is that something rare? I understand there's a endless amount of classes that would be possible in a multi-world scenario, but there still should be some kind of detailed focus on a couple classes and consistent skill system. Either that, or ditch the rpg part and focus on the lit part.

Sadly lit part was again not very strong. Is there any real drama or tension? Sort of. Does the main character really feel connected to his avatar? Kind of. Pangea is supposed to be where everything happens, but whenever he gets into the world there doesn't seem to be a strong feeling of tension or excitement. Why is that? I can't really explain it. Maybe it's because there is not enough detail put into the world itself as the story rushes along? The novel itself is fairly short, which might explain the lack of depth put into these things. I don't know. Overall I just felt something was continually missing.

Is this worth listening to? I think if you aren't looking for one of those rare and exceptional litrpgs then sure, this is an "ok" litrpg to try out. It's not bad, it's not great. There's definitely worse litrpgs out there. But it's not a 5 star entry in my opinion, so just keep expectations realistic.

4 people found this helpful

Great Performance and Story

I loved the performance. The two narrators for the characters and tone of the novel perfectly. The story was well written and left me wanting more. I can't wait for the sequel.

4 people found this helpful

great story!

awesome story - top notch narration!

fun and compelling story kept me on the edge of my seat - narration really brought the characters to life

great audio book - well worth a credit

buy it - you won't regret it!

1 person found this helpful

Not just a pretty face...this one stands up

this book really grew...in the beginning I was thinking this was a ready player one RIPOFF but by the end I was cheering for the main character and dreading what may come. absolutely worth the listen

1 person found this helpful

Fantastic LitRPG!

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

This being a Soundbooth Theater production, I knew the narration would be great. And it was. Anyway, this was a fun and highly entertaining LitRPG story. The game mechanics and world building were well done and were balanced well with good dialog and humor. At 7 hours, I blew through this book really fast. I hope there are more from this author/narrator team really soon!

1 person found this helpful

LITRPG it’s like a bag of chips, you can’t have just one

There is so much to be said for this series/genre that it overwhelms one to even try. LITRPG is amazing, it’s every gamer/dungeons and dragons/cosplayer/bibliophile dream. To be able to fully immerse yourself in the game/fantasy world and experience it all. The worlds economy is based off of the game with the elite being able to purchase what they need to make the characters great and the port just working the base jobs to keep their real life selves alive. Thee are special elite chests that are hidden throughout the world, developer chests that will grant one riches and powers enough to change their status in life. And now after years of gaming the developers are offering a challenge with a reward that will have everyone in game trying to win. In this story you will find spells, comrades, enemies, challenges, alliances, betrayals and some truly amazing battles and quests that would make any Saturday night basement game group drool in anticipation. Enjoy it and grab every book with a LITRPG tag that you can! I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

1 person found this helpful

WOW!

I loved this story about a young data miner who stumbles into fame and fortune when the online entertainment company he works for hosts a competition with a 100,000 gold piece prize. Noble heroes, nasty villains and a real world mystery to solve make this story exciting and absorbing. There's plenty of in game action to keep you coming back for more.
I'm thrilled that this is book one of a series and that there are likely to be more great tales in a similar vein, but it also works really well for one and done fans who don't like commitments. The story is neatly wrapped up with it's own sort of happily ever after.
This story offers everything I look for in a book and easily earned my 5 stars.

1 person found this helpful