Thoughts –

I saw this book in some of the LitRPG groups, and seeing there were some reviews that talked in depth about it, I noticed the audiobook and thought I’d give it a chance. Also the narrator I actually really like this narrators voice, from some of his other audiobooks.

So here we go. Some of what I liked.

In terms of story, the idea that the game creator kills 5 million people, eeek. Starts out hitting the ground running for sure, and eases us into this plot with some pretty horrid ways to think. The fact that anyone who has a crappy life, for whatever reason can enter the game and live a totally different life, seems a real sure fire way to get the rest of the human population on the cards for suicide. And that’s one of the biggest plot points in here. That even after the game is turned on, and 5 million people die, that others are killing themselves.

The MC Gunner, is a really down to earth person. And that is what made me love this story more than anything, he hates spiders, I’ve only ever known one guy run from a spider and he was 6ft3 and pure muscle, but he couldn’t stand them haha. So the depth to this character and his reasoning inside the game when he gets there is excellent.

The narrator really has a good soft and expressive voice, he’s super easy on the ears and speaks with amazing clarity. I’m watching him for more books for sure. : )

Some of the things I wasn’t so sure on and I think could have been worked on and what I’d liked to have seen a bit more, of, but of course all my own personal opinion.

In regards to the POV shifting from Gunner to those out of the game, I think this was set up well enough in advance, though I would have essentially liked some more from that POV and maybe even from Gunner and his Girlfriends family. There was a lot of extra potential to really dig in from that view to make us think and feel more for the characters in the game and those out of it. Even from the POV of someone desperate to get in. I think that might have tipped the odd for us really then wanting the people on earth to save them and close the game down.

There were some really overused words in here and a decent editor and proofreader would have chopped a massive amount of this out. I think Pavi did a great job of working around some and still maintaining the flow of the story with only slight bumps in me wanting to click stop. It takes a lot to bring me out of the story world when I’m listening, but there were some in here, that were really avoidable with the right people behind the author.

Story world and game mechanics.

I am a firm believer of you can do whatever you want in your own written world. There’s no need for you to stick to tropes and things done in the past. So, these are easily moved past by myself, but I liked them and it brought this story away from tried and tested methods.

I noticed some other reviewer’s comments on gore, swearing and sex. In all honesty, I’m a varied reader and writer, listener and reviewer. To me this was not over the top for this genre, coming into it having read some reviews I actually expected a lot more and then was disappointed that there really wasn’t.

Gunner really does stick true to his nature. He might see other creature/people in the game as beautiful and visually appealing, but he also doesn’t sleep with anyone, and his mind is consistently thinking of and he’s active in searching out his girlfriend. I think most gals would love a guy to be that honourable and don’t the statistics actually say women think more about sex than men do. I think this was very well written in regards to the portrayal of a young man in a fantasy world, despite it being now his ‘life’ and he’s no way out.

The author and narrator do get 4 stars from me. There are some things to work on in the future, but I believe they will be and I’ll look forward to more, this was defo a little shorter than I’m used to, but a big hook into the world that is Edens Gate and the life that Gunner and his friends now have.