Continue Online Part Three: Realities

By: Stephan Morse

Narrated by: Pavi Proczko

Length: 17 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's Summary

Worried for his sanity after poor in-game choices, Grant Legate’s sister, Liz, blocks access to Continue Online. With no way around the restriction, he ventures into a new world—a VRMMO game based in space—called Advance Online. There he must help his companion AI, Hal Pal, overcome an identity crisis, race to the center of the universe to bring back his true love, and figure out where he stands on the scariest implication of all; AIs are bringing the dead to life.

©2016 Stephan Morse (P)2017 Stephan Morse

Different

I have to start this by saying I have been a massive fan of the first two books in this series. I believe Morse is taking a fairly unique look at the LitRPG genre and I remain excited for the final two books to make their way to Audible. That being said:

This was an extremely long sidetrack into an almost unrecognizable situation and backdrop. The main story arch, which I assume will be the purpose of the 5 books in sum, is present. But almost nothing that made books one and two so immersive returned here. This isn't a pronouncement that it was bad, not at all. It's just reality.

The eventual "payoff" if one could call it that comes in a 20 minute dialogue during the final moments of this installment.17 hours to get to 20 minutes of actual meta progression is a risky move under any calculus. It is my assumption that Morse expects this interaction to make the previous 17 hours of listening into a gee whiz or ah ha! moment. I imagine it is fairly clear that I didn't fully fall into that camp.

All in all it felt like a very long filler episode in a great series. Yes, it's still worth listening. Yes, the overall plot gets advanced to some degree. But, regardless of those positives one can't help but feel mildly disappointed. At least that was the reaction of this listener.

As stated at the beginning I will most certainly listen to the remainder of the series when offered and highly recommend the series as a whole, even with this hiccup.

14 of 16 people found this review helpful

Confusing Plots

To many Plots within Plots for one book the author should have narrowed his focus. Because we were flipping between realities, it got confusing and hard to follow, losing cohesiveness of a fine novel. Though still I recommend this book, it is with regret because this audio book could have been a lot better if the Author could control his focus. The Plots cause confusion and can be hard to follow, they are to numerous and lose the reader to easily.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Definitely a detour but still good

This series exists in the LitRPG genre but pushes the cliches out of the way to show a deeply thoughtful story. Be warned. The online world of continue is replaced in this book with Advance Online. It is a Sci-fi game set in space.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

The change of pace was unexpected but good

I wanted more Morogul's Gift and Echo but laser and spaceship battles was interesting as well.

The pull of this series is the main character's relationship with the voices of continue online, Hal pal consortium, his twin sister, nephew, his ailment and his deceased wife. The rest is topping and serves as background to the story. Can't wait for the next installment.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Do some people dream of electric sheep as well?

What did you love best about Continue Online Part Three: Realities?

The main character. These books really dig deep into important questions: what is real; what does it mean to be alive? What is most important to a man? We get to ride along with Grant Legate while he struggles with these.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Mother. I was glad to finally hear a bit about what she was about.

What does Pavi Proczko bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His voice acting is excellent and he really makes the characters come alive. I thought there was something with his cadence that made it easier to imagine the place settings in the virtual world.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, I wanted to. I had to do it in two as its a bit long for one sitting.

Any additional comments?

I've read the entire series. The audiobook for book 3 really added to the experience.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Second Time's a Charm

I don't handle change well, and the first time I read this I think I kept waiting for them to get back into the game and setting that I had grown attached to and become invested in.
Spoiler: they don't go back to Continue Online much or at all in this book.

The 5th book came out, so I decided to read through these again before reading it, and I had planned on skipping ahead if this particular book got too boring or annoying. But once I no longer had the expectation of them getting back to what I was attached to, I was able to appreciate this book for what it was.

This book was amazing and it does all tie in. I'm invested in the characters. I'm invested in the story and the growth and I'm captivated by what will happen in the future. I really enjoy the HalPals.
This author builds an amazing world and the first two novels, and I was able to get invested in this world as well and start to put the pieces together to see it for what it really was.

I really liked the series the first time, and I tore through it this time.
I cannot recommend it enough. It is one of those series that left me staying awake way too late because I had to keep resetting the sleep timer to find out what happens next.

Main character is depressing, incomplete, and irritating

I forced myself to go threw this book. The world is good but the main character is mind numbing. You have been warned!

space? really

inconsistent. just throwing space into a story and pulling characeters over that dont even play? wtf? ruined the story

great book

This whole series has been wonderful. It's well written, well performed too. I would really recommend this series to anyone who enjoys RPG games and stories.

I hate the protagonist.

I had hoped that the protagonist would develop into a likable character, but the longer I listen, the more I hate him. This book is a challenge to listen to. I make liberal use of the skip forward 30 second button to get past the multiple introspective monologues to make the book tolerable. It is a solid story that I want to finish, but I find myself getting annoyed and have to turn it off.

Disappointed !

The first 2 where great, this one really disappointed me, so much that I’m feeling generous giving it 3 stars.
The only way to fix this is by continuing the story with another book which hopefully is on its way.

Recommend only if book 4 is out.

My mistake I’ve just noticed that audiobooks 4 & 5 are available ( I just purchased them ) so now I can say yes I do recommend this book/series especially for gamers.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Total regression<br />

The main character totally regresses and becomes an even bigger wuss who can't stop complaining makes him so unlikable I had to stop listening