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aethelberga's review against another edition
4.0
I quite liked this book, it was a cut above many LitRPG books and I'm looking forward to the sequel. If I had to make one complaint though, it was the sloppy copy editing. It was hard to differentiate between dialog, and the in-game popups and quest notifications as there were no italics or other font changes, common to most LitRPG books. Other than that I'd definitely recommend this book.
lorune's review against another edition
5.0
Real fun read, hoping the next book comes out soon, it ended on quite the cliffhanger :)
riffmonkey's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I actually really like this book. I thought the things Chess was doing and the way the player all responded differently to the NPCs was really interesting. However, almost everything happening outside the game, like with Nate's grandpa or the idiot game guy who went to search through his life, were annoying. Especially Casey from the company doing literally anything else than just talking to Nate. I really hated the ending for that, and I don't know if I will read the second book if it comes out.
raj_page's review against another edition
5.0
I dived in this book without knowing that it is book 1 of a series.
I loved the book and before talking more about it, I want to voice my complaint. I've a staunch belief that book 1 should never end in cliffhangers.
The ending is a borderline cliffhanger. Will give it a 5 star regardless.
I loved the economy aspect of the game. And I always love crafting stories.
[b:The Two Week Curse|40715131|The Two Week Curse (the realms, #1)|Michael Chatfield|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1530687432l/40715131._SY75_.jpg|63328800] made me fall in love with characters who are spending hours doing actual work in order to attain greatness. But in the Two Week Curse, and the subsequent books, the protagonists are nowhere near the best in the world. But they are just genius who bring knowledge and experience from their world to this new world.
In this book, the character is just hardworking in a world where everyone is playing a game. Plus he is polite. And more than his knowledge or experience, his politeness is what helps him more often than not. He becomes one of the best crafter in the world by the end of the book. But here comes a dilemma, what next? If he's already so good at crafting, it seems really difficult to think that the story has any scope to progress in terms of crafting and will have to give it a backseat to other aspects of the story. This is something that can make it or break it for me. Let's see how the writer continues it in book 2.
Another aspect of this book was the strategy. Not really as much as I expected. It is similar to [b:Ritualist|38739408|Ritualist (The Completionist Chronicles, #1)|Dakota Krout|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1519519880l/38739408._SY75_.jpg|60326764]. The character gets lucky. Learns lot of things which just happened to be the things he needed to win later. Oversimplifying it but that's the gist. Right skills right time.
The last aspect of the story that I enjoyed a lot was the real world. Ritualist had just skipped it more or less in the start. Also, if there's such a great game, there might be developers too, right?
They need their story too, right? Another book that handled this perfectly was [b:Catharsis|31211994|Catharsis (Awaken Online #1)|Travis Bagwell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1469407765l/31211994._SY75_.jpg|51865807].
Overall, there were so many enjoyable things in this book. Looking forward to book 2.
P.S.: This is a very clean LitRPG. We need more of these.
I loved the book and before talking more about it, I want to voice my complaint. I've a staunch belief that book 1 should never end in cliffhangers.
The ending is a borderline cliffhanger. Will give it a 5 star regardless.
I loved the economy aspect of the game. And I always love crafting stories.
[b:The Two Week Curse|40715131|The Two Week Curse (the realms, #1)|Michael Chatfield|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1530687432l/40715131._SY75_.jpg|63328800] made me fall in love with characters who are spending hours doing actual work in order to attain greatness. But in the Two Week Curse, and the subsequent books, the protagonists are nowhere near the best in the world. But they are just genius who bring knowledge and experience from their world to this new world.
In this book, the character is just hardworking in a world where everyone is playing a game. Plus he is polite. And more than his knowledge or experience, his politeness is what helps him more often than not. He becomes one of the best crafter in the world by the end of the book. But here comes a dilemma, what next? If he's already so good at crafting, it seems really difficult to think that the story has any scope to progress in terms of crafting and will have to give it a backseat to other aspects of the story. This is something that can make it or break it for me. Let's see how the writer continues it in book 2.
Another aspect of this book was the strategy. Not really as much as I expected. It is similar to [b:Ritualist|38739408|Ritualist (The Completionist Chronicles, #1)|Dakota Krout|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1519519880l/38739408._SY75_.jpg|60326764]. The character gets lucky. Learns lot of things which just happened to be the things he needed to win later. Oversimplifying it but that's the gist. Right skills right time.
The last aspect of the story that I enjoyed a lot was the real world. Ritualist had just skipped it more or less in the start. Also, if there's such a great game, there might be developers too, right?
They need their story too, right? Another book that handled this perfectly was [b:Catharsis|31211994|Catharsis (Awaken Online #1)|Travis Bagwell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1469407765l/31211994._SY75_.jpg|51865807].
Overall, there were so many enjoyable things in this book. Looking forward to book 2.
P.S.: This is a very clean LitRPG. We need more of these.
ckherring92's review
5.0
I don't normally write reviews as I'm not very articulate but this book caught me by surprise. It was exceptionally good. I want to know why nobody is talking about this book! While it does have many of the same elements of the genre as to be expected. It was refreshing and I want to see more. Great work by kit on this one
wolkenfels's review
4.0
A young man enters a fantasy setting MMORPG to craft and make money. A coming of age story that also reflects the conflict between the NPCs that live in the world and the player that acting ruthless towards the NPCs because even bad behaviour has no real consequences.
Wonderfully written. I could sympathise with the main characters a lot (yes plural -there are three characters we follow - but the player chess is the central point.)
I like how the game mechanics were handled. And now i want to read how the story continues.
Wonderfully written. I could sympathise with the main characters a lot (yes plural -there are three characters we follow - but the player chess is the central point.)
I like how the game mechanics were handled. And now i want to read how the story continues.
dlew's review
3.0
theme litrpg
this was new for me. I found it entertaining but wished it was 100 pages shorter and didn't end the way it did although I know it ended that way due to a sequel. It did leave me wanting to know where they plan on taking it but this genre is not for me. No complaints about the book, just not my type.
this was new for me. I found it entertaining but wished it was 100 pages shorter and didn't end the way it did although I know it ended that way due to a sequel. It did leave me wanting to know where they plan on taking it but this genre is not for me. No complaints about the book, just not my type.
klieber's review
4.0
The first half of the book was a solid 5 stars. The second half of the book was 3-4 stars. It’s a great story overall and I really liked the world building in the first half of the book. Great balance of explaining game mechanics with keeping the story going. I would have liked to see the author spend more time on the game side of things.
The second half of the book was heavier on the Real Life side of the fence, and I just didn’t connect as much with that. The story also got a bit heavier than I was expecting which, while not bad, per se, definitely confused the overall tone of the book.
Last criticism: too many unresolved threads at the end of the book, though admittedly I prefer lots of crisp closure in the books I read.
Still, overall this is a great installment in the LitRPG space and worth a read for anyone who enjoys the genre.
The second half of the book was heavier on the Real Life side of the fence, and I just didn’t connect as much with that. The story also got a bit heavier than I was expecting which, while not bad, per se, definitely confused the overall tone of the book.
Last criticism: too many unresolved threads at the end of the book, though admittedly I prefer lots of crisp closure in the books I read.
Still, overall this is a great installment in the LitRPG space and worth a read for anyone who enjoys the genre.