Code Jumper: A GameLit Novel

By: Zachariah Dracoulis

Narrated by: Michael Norman Johnson

Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Code Jumpers...skilled hackers who meet strict criteria, are the traffickers of the new world. Guns, drugs, just about anything else you might need or want in the heavily moderated base game world of Re.Generation, the Code Jumpers can get it for you. As one of the very few people in the US who can dive into Re.Generation without getting stuck, Eddie is one such Code Jumper.

Eddie likes his job, he gets to be a demigod who sells weed and guns to mere mortals every time he goes to work, but following a catastrophic event that affects both the real world and Re.Generation, access to the game is restricted and he becomes locked outside in the dreaded real world. Fast-forward five years to a world where certain cities are becoming more and more dangerous to live in, and Eddie is forced to go back.

Before he knows it, he's jumping around Re.Generation and many of its expansions in a last-ditch effort to stop what promises to be Hiroshima compared to what was a slap on the wrist with the last event. A video game. A terrorist. A hacker and his AI. What could go wrong?

©2017 Zachariah Dracoulis (P)2019 Spectrum Audiobooks

Code Jumper is a great YA Book

With hints of the book/movie adaptation of Upgrade and a small feel of Ready Player One, Code Jumper is a book that challenges future tech. Zachariah Dracoulis is able to convey a witty and sarcastic humor from the main character that is really brought to life by Michael Norman Johnson’s performance.

At points the book can be somewhat confusing by leaving out information needed for the context of the subject. In some cases that information is brought to light later in the book but you may have unanswered questions when you finish the book.

Michael Norman Johnson’s performance really brings out the characters in this book. He is able to truly grasp the authors intention of each character with a voice perfect for the main character.

I would recommend this book to especially young adults (adults is a key word here as their is some MA stuff in the book) who have an interest in future tech who love to escape from reality.

Fun GameLit Novel

Code Jumper was a pretty entertaining, action packed GameLit novel. It has some elements of Ready Player One as it mostly takes place in the virtual reality game world. This book is fairly fast paced and the story is pretty good with an interesting take on the virtual vs. real world dynamics. I enjoy the relationship between Eddie and his AI Quinn and that is probably the highlight of the book. Eddie is a Code Jumper who is essentially a hacker who has abilities that most players don't in the virtual world. The game is called Regen and a large population of the earth partakes in it essentially giving up their real lives to live forever in the virtual world. In the Virtual game world their is a terrorist attack that wreaks havoc on the VR world by the mastermind of it the Messiah. Eddie being a Code Jumper is tasked with putting an end to the Messiah and bring back stability to the game world of Regen.

I mostly enjoyed the book but found the ending seemed a bit rushed and not completely fleshed out. I found the narration by Michael Norman Johnson very good and would probably give it 5 stars but found the voice for the character of Tony very annoying and was not a fan. I know the character is supposed to be annoying so the voice makes sense, I just couldn't stand it. The book was fun, had some interesting plot elements, characters and game elements and was pretty entertaining overall.

"Please note I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

Unique take on LitRPG genre

I have read and listened to a decent amount of books in the LitRPG genre, and this one was fairly unique. Overall the story moved forward at a good pace, with character development and tension. One thing I LIKED is that there was no MMO style chat logs or system messages that can make an audiobook version of a LitRPG book very repetitive.

There were a couple of times I felt the editing could have been better at the beginning, where something was explained only to be explained again a short while later but not so much it ruined my enjoyment of the story.

Interesting idea, I Question the execution

This story had an interesting concept. The "Publishers Summary" gave me enough interest to want to listen to this story.
As soon as it started I was thinking this is not what I expected. Don't get me wrong, I did quickly get involved in this mostly fast paced thrill ride. But only after re-configuring my expectations to align with the reality.
This story had me feeling like something was missing for most of the story. The story was simple and easy to follow, engaging but not in-depth, and mostly on the run. I just felt that it could have been more than it was.

The narration was well done with good voices and pacing that fit the story.

Overall I found this to be a good story that could have been great. Worth the credit for the story as is.

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

You have to pay attention

I received a free copy of this in exchange for an unbiased review. This is totally jarring and all over the place. It's also great. It's kind of a heavy read, but a really good one

Better than expected

This book is easily compared to Ready Player One, but I think that will be the case for almost all future gaming lit stories. It’s hard to imagine a future of games that isn’t VR/AR. It doesn’t capture the attention like RPO but it does a good job in its own right.

Code Jumper took the idea of VR gaming to an extreme but failed to really flesh out the backstory or provide an adequate description of the game. It never really explains how the Code Jumpers function within it. Yes you inherently understand but it just felt lacking. This lack of world building leaves the reader filling in the pieces on their own and never really feeling a part of the world.

Michael Johnson was surprisingly good at his narration. I had never listened to one of his performances before. I think over time and as he develops some of his character voices (mainly female voices) he may become one of the better narrators around.

I enjoyed it, especially the narrator.

Can't wait till the next one, the narrator did an excellent job. Shades of RC Bray at times. Can't say I entirely agree with the litrpg tag as the character only spends time in a simulation and has some control, but thats not a major gripe I guess.

Jump around

If you like GameLit and video games check this one out
I liked how each game world was a different game genre kept it interesting
Michaels narration was excellent eddies banter with his AI was a highlight for me
I received a free review audiobook and voluntarily left this review

Good book about a not-so-good character

The movies District 9 and Avatar go about making likable characters in different ways. Avatar went all out to make characters as wonderful as possible. District 9, the characters are repulsive. Amazingly, the main character is District 9 comes out interesting and appealing despite all the things going against him.

This novel is like District 9. The code jumper engages in a long list of unsavory activities. I hesitate to list them here, because this list of bad activities would scare many off. Yet, despite all that, the character turns out to be appealing as he weaves himself through a code-based world. The character happens to have a few god-like powers that could have been avoided, since they ruin tension. One scene invokes a godpower and the rest of the scene is just mopping up. But not all scenes are like that. The novel becomes more interesting when the main character loses some power.

The Narrator does a great job keeping it all entertaining. So overall, recommendable. But would have been better with less gratuitous unsavoriness and less usage of godlike powers.

Code Jumper is a fun ride in a gameworld setting

*This book was given to me by the author at my request, and I provided this voluntary review.*

3.5 / 5

So the first thing on my mind about this book is the title - "a GameLit novel." I am not sure if this is a new niche sub-genre, or if it's some fancier term for LitRPG, but I felt that this was more science fiction than a GameLit novel. Reason being - there just wasnt the nuances of the game itself (stats, leveling up, etc) that a normal gamelit novel would have. This felt more like a science fiction novel (like Tron, almost) that had the premise or setting of occurring within a game world.

Second thing I took off stars for was for "talking directly to the reader." I really dislike a story when characters in a story stop to take the time to talk to you, specifically, the reader, and not just speaking rhetorically.

So on to the good. The presentation was good - I listened to the audible version. I liked the story overall, and the main character - with his flaws - was an anti-hero that was so irritable, that I ended up loving his character. The edgy dynamic between the MC and his AI was well done, too. There were some plot-gaps and other parts that were leaving me with questions, but the premise was well put together and I enjoyed the MC going through the quests. Plus, with a faux-nemesis named Calamezzi, how awesome is that!

While I think this needed work/editing, I enjoyed it enough overall to recommend it to others.