This was a good and entertaining read, LitRPG that isn't some person being absorbed into some virtual reality read but set in an RPG world. Our heroineThis was a good and entertaining read, LitRPG that isn't some person being absorbed into some virtual reality read but set in an RPG world. Our heroine gets a common class when the stones reach her village to bestow the class and life quest - she is a messenger girl. She was hoping for something more exciting, that would get her travelling. Pedlar would have been okay - but messenger girl? Coupled to this very common class, which isn't good enough to get her into an adventurer's guild when the time comes, is a legendary life quest. Not common. Not rare. Not epic. Legendary. And that quest is to get a loaf of bread from the neighbouring town. Just how legendary can a quest like that be? It is light-hearted, I wouldn't call it comic as such. There are no sex scenes. But there is a development of a gay relationship. This seems to upset some readers, so if that sort of thing puts you off an excellent read, skip the read....more
A fun book and I'm busy with the next one. It starts with quite a long exposition on the history of this particular world. Pay attention, it comes bacA fun book and I'm busy with the next one. It starts with quite a long exposition on the history of this particular world. Pay attention, it comes back to bite you. Very much LitRPG, but without the stats and levelling stuff. These are adventurers grouping together to get some interesting quests done. ...more
There is a video game called Hoard, in which you are the dragon. You burn villages, you collect gold, you kidnap princesses - and in so doing, you levThere is a video game called Hoard, in which you are the dragon. You burn villages, you collect gold, you kidnap princesses - and in so doing, you level up. Maxime J. Durand may well have taken that game as the inspiration for this book. It is incredibly silly, incredibly funny - and it is a game. The dragon in question, Vainqueur, has been burning villages, collecting gold, kidnapping princesses for as long as he can remember. But he's never heard of levelling up until someone tries to take a rapier from his precious hoard. In the conversation that follows -he does like to talk to thieves to find out why they are stealing from him before he eats them - he discovers levelling up. He also discovers that people will pay him gold - and build his hoard - to do everything he would do anyway. Thus the first dragon adventurer is created. Things go well until he eats a questgiver. With such a huge bounty on his head, adventurers come from far and wide to try to kill him. It gets tedious after a while, and he decides to move his hoard. He finds a suitable castle, but it is inhabited by an unspeakably evil wizard who - omg - turns his gold into lead! Thus we have his first dungeon adventure. Thus the game - I mean story - progresses until he finds one thing more precious than his hoard. If you are not an avid gamer, you are unlikely to enjoy this book. If you are, then before you join him in battle, remember it's --For the Hoard!...more
Gamers can be real jerks. If you've every spent any time in Shing Jea on the North American servers of Guild Wars, you'll also know just how potty-mouGamers can be real jerks. If you've every spent any time in Shing Jea on the North American servers of Guild Wars, you'll also know just how potty-mouthed and crass they can be.
These kind of jerks are the heroes of this book. Completely selfish - one guy lets locked in the walk-in freezer by accident - and it really takes a lot of banging and shouting before anyone notices he's in there.
And of course when the game starts - a game called called Caverns and Creatures - they become even bigger jerks. Small wonder the cavernmaster ends up sending them right into the game, to deal with their own stupid behaviour. I would love to do that too.
You don't have to be a Dungeons and Dragons player to appreciate this book. Any RPG or MMO should give you a a good background. You do need a high tolerance for smutty, misogynistic language, but if you're a gamer, you're probably used to that.
This book is a kind of coming-of-age for the jerks in question. They do actually start growing up and taking things more seriously, though their language doesn't improve much. By the end of the book, you may find you actually start liking them. And then the book ends, very suddenly.
I did go out looking for the sequel, but it's not out on audio yet, so I'll just have to wait. If you're in the mood for non-serious, light-hearted, fantastical entertainment, this hits the spot, especially if you're a gamer.
If you're not a game, it'll also give you a tremendous insight into how your kids actually talk and behave online....more
This is a really silly book. But sometimes, one needs silly. Also, I think it would help if you had an idea about computer programming.
Essentially, soThis is a really silly book. But sometimes, one needs silly. Also, I think it would help if you had an idea about computer programming.
Essentially, some nerdy guy without a life discovers that we are not all powerless objects controlled by some remote god. We are, in fact, powerless subroutines in a computer program. Now it's really easy to change a couple of parameters here and there, and thus change your life completely. It's also really easy to overstep the mark and find yourself in deep trouble with the law. If you were prepared, you set up an escape route into the past so you can figure out how to solve the problem your meddling created.
At the point our hero catapults himself into Medieval England, it becomes immediately obvious to the reader (and our hero misses it entirely) that he is not the first. And thus starts a humorous fantasy romp with an undemanding plot and high entertainment value.
If you enjoyed John Scalzi's Redshirts, then you'll want to read this book. The protagonist (he doesn't want to be a hero) is a zombie called Jim. To If you enjoyed John Scalzi's Redshirts, then you'll want to read this book. The protagonist (he doesn't want to be a hero) is a zombie called Jim. To him falls the lot of saving the world, although really, all he wants to do is die properly.
He has trouble achieving this, despite the fact that a number of people have taken a serious dislike to him. Firstly, there are the adventurers whom he consigned to a painful death while in charge of the Rat Pit. Then there is the Priest, Barry, who presides over a Church that resurrects fallen Adventurers.
The problem is that nobody dies anymore. The more he tosses himself off the highest tower - as do most of the zombies in his immediate circle - he always gets shooed back into his body, which the helpful Melissa stitches together and reassembles as best as she can. And then he recognises a rogue that he was sure he had killed the previous week.
It's all the fault of the Fusion, which took place about forty years after he died. It becomes his quest to find out the source of the Fusion, and destroy it, so that he may die peacefully. But the Adventurer's Guild has different ideas, as they are turning a handsome profit.
It was an engrossing book, and the audio version led to the bathroom being soundly scrubbed, all the ironing being done and even a certain amount of weeding before it came to an end....more
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