Darklands Online

Darklands Online, Book 1

By: David Bushman

Narrated by: David Reimer, Jessica Weyman

Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

It had been a number of years since Kurt had last played a video game. That all changed when his state wrestling bid was cut abruptly short. With nothing but time on his hands, Kurt relented to explore a VRMMO with his younger brother.

Having been transported to a world ruled by magic and the strength of a blade, Kurt now must call upon skills he has not used in years. As the lines between reality and the game begin to blur, Kurt must figure out just what is going on with Darklands Online.

©2020 David J. Bushman (P)2023 David J. Bushman

so good my man.

I personally loved it. David and Jessica knocked it out of the park. very excited to hear book 2 now! a slice of life story with some good laugh out loud moments.

Outstanding book

Hope the next episode is just as good. 😉😄 😄 😈😈😈😈 😈😈😈😈😈😈 😈😈😈😈😈😈 😈😈😈😈😈😈

a good start with some issues.

while this is a great YA for litrpg, there are no real twists outside of the usual hero tropes. Great intro story for a litrpg beginner, but nothing ground breaking.

My favorite LitRPG

I read plenty of LitRPG this year, but this book was my favorite in the genre.
I'm just not a big fan of real-world LitRPG where characters for some reason get a HUD and start leveling in reality. I'm more old school and prefer the roots of the genre, which are clearly set in VR.
As the title of this book reveals easily, the story is set in a digital world, the most advanced MMORPG the gaming world has ever seen - Darklands Online.
We follow Kurt and his brother Greg playing the game. It's Kurt's first time and his younger brother shows him the ropes. Similar to the concept of the Oasis in Ready Player One, if the player dies in Darklands Online, they lose all progress and everything they owned and have to restart from scratch.
So, this game is serious business and soon Kurt will find out that some players are taking it very seriously...
I really liked the game world the author has created. I was thinking many times: damn, I wanna play this game, too!
A land shrouded in eternal darkness, that's totally my jam.
But world-building isn't the only thing I liked so much about this book. I think the author also did a great job with the characters. Kurt and his brother are likable boys and with Carmen and Bae we also have two strong and cool female characters.
Interesting female characters are something the genre is lacking in most cases, where authors describe females as sex bunnies or damsels in distress with the occasional support role. It was very refreshing to read a LitRPG book that actually took the effort to flesh out the female characters and make them real people. Not to mention that the girls are kick-ass!
Way to go, let's hope more LitRPG authors go that way eventually.
I listened to the audio version and think the performance of the narrator duo was flawless. Both do a great job bringing the different characters to life and I really liked that the female voices were read by a woman.
I'm looking forward to book 2 and hope the author will write many more books in the future!

Great story so far

loved the idea of a hidden quest line that no one had found up till them

awesome story!

I really enjoyed this book! didn't want to pause it at all! a really cool world design! looking forward to the next book!

Great start!

I was a little iffy in the very start, but before I knew it, I was full immersed! A good start to a new series, I can’t wait to see where the story goes from here!

Solid introductory novel

The world creation is good. The game world is interesting. Most of the book feels like a setup for future novels. The end twist was nice and really piqued my interest for the next book. I loved have two narrators for male and female characters. They definitely increased the value of this book for me.

Good start, easy to listen to

Well written and good story. Excited to see what is in store for the main character(s) and how the books will evolve! Easy to listen to, with not a ton of things you need to remember for the story arc.

Exciting LitRPG

Kurt's brother has been driving him nuts to join him in playing the new DarkLands Online, an immersive VR game that the developers want to feel as realistic as possible. When they start playing Greg quickly dies, becoming a Wisp and haunting his brother. In doing so he becomes a walking/floating tutorial. While Greg wants Kurt to focus on the main storyline Kurt decides to follow a seemingly boring side quest since it was one Greg had already done anyway. In doing so he finds a whole new aspect of the game that intrigues him and has his brother nervous. Could it be possible that on his first day Kurt's character Turk has already uncovered something no one else has managed since launch?
I received this audiobook from the author in exchange for an honest review. This approach was different than many others I do simply because Anna Mocikat, who I have done reviews for frequently over the last 2 years, suggested this series to me and they reached out at her recommendation after I gave her the green light. I value Anna's opinion and she has yet to steer me wrong on a book, this one included.

While I am relatively new to VR/LitRPG books I haven't found one yet that I don't enjoy. This book reminded me a lot of Evan Klein's book series Immersion Online in that character stats were displayed while reading. I have to admit that I think I would have enjoyed this book more if I had read it versus listened to it. The narrators were great and I have nothing but good things to say about them. It was just the notification chime, I swear that noise was more annoying than Navi.

Anyways, on to the important part: this book. Readers are drawn in from the beginning to find out where this mysterious path will lead and how everything will play out. DarkLands is a unique read as I have yet to stumble across the concept of whatever you can do in real life reflects how you can play the game. With that I loved every aspect of it, including the authors subtle tip of the head to older videogames. I look forward to what this series holds in the future.

My favorite character in the book was Grins. Not entirely sure why, he just seemed like a loveable asshole. I will say that I knew about Greg's little RW surprise by the end of chapter one. By the third hint there wasn't a doubt in my mind. I won't give it away, because it was something that gave me pleasure being right on. Not the situation, mind you, that'd be terrible. But, that I found the crumbs the author was dropping.

Truly an amazing start to a series that, while it doesn't answer all questions posed, stops in a good place. You don't feel like you are missing part of the story while still left wanting more.