2.9 LitRPG book reviews
Lit RPG genre has been around longer than you might realize. In recent
years it has enjoyed a new trend in the market and the books are gaining
fame.
Anime and manga are full of the virtual adventures but the
concept has been out for a long time. Now with ready player one about to
hit cinema, we will be seeing a trend explosion i expect.
Today I am going to review two books in this genre. Both are in the top sellers of Amazon however there is one big fundamental difference between the two. Awaken online are young adult. Viridian gate is Adult. This means while they share genre, core target audience is separate.
I am a big fan of this genre. It is safe to say i have probably read most manga and watched every anime with it since .hack//sign and lain.
Western approach had only recently caught up for me so now I can enjoy a lot more.
So this was the first of the new litRPG I picked up. It was top of the lists on Goodreads and Amazon and the front cover caught my attention right from the get go.
That cover is great and is a fine example of the 'less is more' approach to good book-covers. It would certainly catch me in a bookstore. I liked the book enough to get the second one, but it wasn't perfect.
Brief summary:
A young kid is picked on, abandoned and betrayed. He jumps into the new very expensive vrmmo to blow off steam.
I am not going to recount more than that for the plot because I dont like spoilers.
Technical writing:
The writing is a little sub -par. Readable but the author needed someone to cut his repeated sentences and whittle out a lot of overused moments. There were typos and a number of incorrect word use that felt like it had seen a beta but not an editor.
Where this story excelled was the concept and fight scenes. These were masterful.
Characters:
The characters had clear direction and the fights had great pacing and flow.
I found the villain was too 1-dimensional. He was mustache twirling responsible for all the woe in the universe when we already had plenty reason to hate him right from the get go.
Overall:
There is good character arc with Jason (the MC) and the ending was solid. The epilogue made me want to read the next book but i took a break from one series and looked into the next.
Overall it was a good YA despite technical writing issues.
The premise didn't hook me- world is being destroyed. Only way to escape it is by vrmmo that you wont ever leave.
However, given some of the other options I decided to give the sample a go. The writing in this one was much better than AO.
I was glad I took the chance.
Technical writing:
Immediately I had a solid and interesting character we the reader weren't coerced into sympathy over. His problems and goals were personal scale and relatable.
I found side characters great in this book and the prose hooked me a lot more clearly.
The premise was more a framing device and the book wasted no time in moving into what I wanted to see.
There was a lot less infodump.
I liked Grim Jack and especially Cutter. They feel like rounded characters.
There was a bit of deus ex toward the end however, but hopefully later books don't have it.
My review for Viridian Gate is smaller because there was a lot more happening in this book, I felt, so I don't want to spoil any of it. If you are a deep reader like I am and you want to get into the genre, I think I would recommend Viridian Gate over Awaken Online.
Genre itself:
Both books were extremely "just the beginning/start of a long epic" which while good may discourage some readers as you want self contained novels where you can. Don't get me wrong - they weren't 300 pages of nothing! A lot happens- immediate plot is resolved. Characters learn and grow. However I felt we were seeing that very early start of the epic tale. There is much more to come. This is good overall.
I'm big on the whole 'first book should be self-contained' and both of these managed to pull that off while enticing me to want to read the second.
I did try to pick up the Chaos Seed book, but after five pages of comical bad-guy telling us how dastardly and complex and evil he is, I got bored. The actual opening, as a result, really didn't hook me.
Anime and manga are full of the virtual adventures but the
concept has been out for a long time. Now with ready player one about to
hit cinema, we will be seeing a trend explosion i expect.Today I am going to review two books in this genre. Both are in the top sellers of Amazon however there is one big fundamental difference between the two. Awaken online are young adult. Viridian gate is Adult. This means while they share genre, core target audience is separate.
I am a big fan of this genre. It is safe to say i have probably read most manga and watched every anime with it since .hack//sign and lain.
Western approach had only recently caught up for me so now I can enjoy a lot more.
Awaken online:Catharsis. By Travis Bagwell
So this was the first of the new litRPG I picked up. It was top of the lists on Goodreads and Amazon and the front cover caught my attention right from the get go.
That cover is great and is a fine example of the 'less is more' approach to good book-covers. It would certainly catch me in a bookstore. I liked the book enough to get the second one, but it wasn't perfect.
Brief summary:
A young kid is picked on, abandoned and betrayed. He jumps into the new very expensive vrmmo to blow off steam.
I am not going to recount more than that for the plot because I dont like spoilers.
Technical writing:
The writing is a little sub -par. Readable but the author needed someone to cut his repeated sentences and whittle out a lot of overused moments. There were typos and a number of incorrect word use that felt like it had seen a beta but not an editor.
Where this story excelled was the concept and fight scenes. These were masterful.
Characters:
The characters had clear direction and the fights had great pacing and flow.
I found the villain was too 1-dimensional. He was mustache twirling responsible for all the woe in the universe when we already had plenty reason to hate him right from the get go.
Overall:
There is good character arc with Jason (the MC) and the ending was solid. The epilogue made me want to read the next book but i took a break from one series and looked into the next.
Overall it was a good YA despite technical writing issues.
Viridian Gate Online: Cataclysm by J.A.Hunter.
Hook:The premise didn't hook me- world is being destroyed. Only way to escape it is by vrmmo that you wont ever leave.
However, given some of the other options I decided to give the sample a go. The writing in this one was much better than AO.
I was glad I took the chance.
Technical writing:
Immediately I had a solid and interesting character we the reader weren't coerced into sympathy over. His problems and goals were personal scale and relatable.
I found side characters great in this book and the prose hooked me a lot more clearly.
The premise was more a framing device and the book wasted no time in moving into what I wanted to see.
There was a lot less infodump.
I liked Grim Jack and especially Cutter. They feel like rounded characters.
There was a bit of deus ex toward the end however, but hopefully later books don't have it.
My review for Viridian Gate is smaller because there was a lot more happening in this book, I felt, so I don't want to spoil any of it. If you are a deep reader like I am and you want to get into the genre, I think I would recommend Viridian Gate over Awaken Online.
Genre itself:
Both books were extremely "just the beginning/start of a long epic" which while good may discourage some readers as you want self contained novels where you can. Don't get me wrong - they weren't 300 pages of nothing! A lot happens- immediate plot is resolved. Characters learn and grow. However I felt we were seeing that very early start of the epic tale. There is much more to come. This is good overall.
I'm big on the whole 'first book should be self-contained' and both of these managed to pull that off while enticing me to want to read the second.
I did try to pick up the Chaos Seed book, but after five pages of comical bad-guy telling us how dastardly and complex and evil he is, I got bored. The actual opening, as a result, really didn't hook me.
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