A Starbrite Man: A Cyberpunk LitRPG

Slumrat Rising, Book 1

By: Warby Picus

Narrated by: Todd Haberkorn

In a magical dystopia, one young man would sell his soul to save his siblings—and the Starbrite Corporation is buying—in this all-too-real urban fantasy.

Seventeen-year-old Truth Medici scavenges for scraps to eat; weathers his parents' abuse; and battles derelicts, killer pimps, and demons in the soul-crushing stretch of desperation he calls home. Even the cops steer clear of the toxic Harban slums.

But just across the canal live the magical elite, with their wealth, flying carpets, gorgeous mages, and custom spell beasts, all thanks to the patronage of the almighty Starbrite Corporation. Getting there, and taking his three vulnerable siblings with him, is Truth's only dream.

When Truth's performance on the Starbrite Aptitude Test surpasses all expectations, it's the start of a new life. Granted use of the System Astrologica, his access to spells, cultivation tonics, and knowledge—not to mention real food—is limitless. But in Harban, even dreams come with a price tag . . .

Turns out, something more than power has been implanted in Truth. Something beyond his control. As the motto goes, "A Starbrite Man Is Always Ready." But for what? Truth is about to find out. Because he's not just fighting to break free from the slums and save himself and his sibs anymore. Now he's fighting the world itself.

The first volume of the hit cyberpunk fantasy series—with more than 900,000 views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!

©2023 Warby Picus (P)2023 Podium Audio

Urban High Fantasy magic religious philosophy

The title I gave this review doesn't cover how well written this book is, so I want to get that part out of the way first. The story and narration are masterful and there aren't any cringe moment where the tone and story don't match. I highly recommend checking this out. Also great RR and Patreon follow once complete.

Crazy good, and defininitly unique.

Urban cybepunk litrpg, coming from city of artem i really like the cyberpunk spell concept. The story is really deep and although mid way towards the end of the book things change it immediatly picks up again. Lots of action, some politics and phillosophy really made me feel immerced in the world.

very good story!

reminds me of the fleabag series
pretty dark, but so good that I purchased the second and third books an hour in lol

Different.

The book and Narrator was really good. I picked this up on a whim and was not disappointed it is a completely different take on cultivation and magic. The distopian and paramilitary corporate corruption is a fantastic idea and probably holds a lot of truth if cultivation and magic was real in in our world. It doesn't go political just corporate greed and control on the masses. I feel it's worth a try, but you have to give it a chance it does start out slow but half way threw you start to pick up on the narrative and the fast pace starts to make since it's a really really good perspective on how our government and corporations would handle everything if magic was real.

First 3/4 was great, last 1/4 was not bad but...

to me it was almost a different book, and I did not like it as much as the first part. I am glad I read it - it was an audible plus free read and I will most likely try book two but am hoping for it gets better. My issue is they changed it so much and did not even give you much time to see how the new story is really going to go - and they then try to leave you with a cliff hanger? I normally won't even continue if they do that at the end but since the first was free, I will give book two a try.