Guild Master

A LitRPG Adventure (Tower of Power, Book 1)

By: Ivan Kal

Narrated by: Ryan Burke

Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Morgan used to be a pretty normal guy. He went to college by day and played online games by night, leading his guild into new conquests - until he got hit by a car and a dude wearing a wet suit appeared in front of him. The man offered him a new chance at life in a world he had created, a world with similar rules to the games Morgan loved to play. There is the promise of great rewards and power, he says, if Morgan manages to complete the Tower of Power. Stupid name, I know.  

Morgan didn't usually trust strangers who seem to have god complexes, but he was in a pinch. There's a crazy-looking dude saying he is technically not a god on one end of the tunnel and a blinding light on the other end - and he was really not digging the light.   

So he accepted the offer from the surfer god-not-god.  

Getting dropped into a strange new world with no idea what the rules are was not something Morgan was a fan of; and in this strange world, it seems like everything is out to eat his face. It was a good thing, then, that he stumbled onto two half-elf twins willing to help him get the hang of this strange new world.   

Now, all he needs to do is survive long enough to reach this tower.

©2018 Ivan Kal (P)2019 Tantor

YA novel

22 y/o male who thinks and acts like a 15 y/o + copy paste senario's from other litrpg books

I wish ratings still mattered

Teenagers, Why

OMG
Why is the main character a 22 year old teenager. The story revolves around teenage innocence and stupidity. I could not finish it.

Fine time filler if you can shut your brain off.

The overall story idea for this book is not new, but that is not a bad thing. Someone dies, god-like figure offers an alternative, queue western isekai story. The concept of the new world is interesting. A bit of a different take on how things work, and how the game-like elements fit into the setting. Good stuff so far. The overall plot is honestly pretty good as well, if not a bit predictable. The thing that kills everything for me is the characters and their interactions.

There is no effort at all put into the characters. The main character is about as cardboard cut-out 'nice guy power fantasy' as you can get, and the rest of the characters in the book exist to make him look better. Literally the first woman he meets in the book is bombshell that throws herself at him. The other male party member is a voice of dissent that always talks up against the main character right before the main character is proven right. None of this is wrong I suppose, but there is nothing to digest with this story. The best attempt at character building I can remember was a hamfisted approach to hinting at a 'dark past' and 'repressed memories' of the main character. Now when I say hamfisted, I mean the whole story comes to a halt for a bit while the author sits there with a megaphone and whispers that the main character is bottling up his old memories. As cringe-worthy as that was to sit through, it literally gets brought to the surface and resolved like 1 chapter after it is first 'hinted' at. Like what was the point.

I might be being a bit harsh on this book, but it was just tough to get through for me. If I had to summarize the overall 'feel' I got from the book, it would be 'store brand Emerilia'. If that is what you are looking for right now, this might just be the book for you.

worth the credit.

definitely worth the credit. only complaint is that for the story arc it borrowed elements form other stories. i.e The Land series and Two Week Curse.

lacks the umph and intrigue.

I can't help but feel the story was written simply because they could. All of the characters lack significant development and depth. including the MC.

makes it difficult to relate to any of the decisions being made throughout the story since the whole story fills like it you are just getting the surface. also it feels like alot of content has been removed.

hate when books do that. not sure if they are purposefully trying to reduce listen times. which is a bad goal. longer books are better.

Avoid at all costs

I almost threw my phone listening to this. terrible waste of time. If I produced something like this is any line of work I have ever been in I would have been fired.

If you are a fan of RPG at all save yourself and skip it.

A bit of a rough start but now my favorite!

I have to admit that I almost returned this books a few chapters in but so glad I did not. This is now my all time favorite audio book. The first few chapters where rough and like Stephen R. Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane's Thomas Covenant character I did not like this stories protagonist at first. But Mr. Kal adds a great supporting cast and fortunately you get to see the main character mature. I have been an avid reader, table top game player, and MMO fan for a very long time and have ready many books from this new LitRPG genre. Frankly a lot of them leave me wanting and feeling cheated but something about this story and the way it plays out really grabbed hold of me and won't let go. I have listened to this story 6 times now and have already purchased the kindle version of the next book in the series and pre ordered the audible edition. The author's approach to game theory and how magic might work has been very interesting as well as refreshing.
Now to be fair and honest a few areas do draw some fair criticism but I as can see improvement as this story arc develops. I am so enthused about this author that I am even checking out his original sci fi works and hope to see more from him. The Narrator does a fantastic job as well and was an excellent choice for this story.

slow start.

Good start to the series. There was some nice character growth. Most people seemed very naive.

Guild Master

Truly a good story.
I found the “game mechanics” a bit lacking, but not that it took away from the story, but actually reinforced the “game” world.

I liked how most of the stuff played out, but I did find the MC to be a bit of a dullard here and there.
(How do you not use one side of your abilities except to do one measly thing.)
(I had a thousand ideas running through my head, and was just waiting for him to do one of them and realize he’s capable of being OP, but NO....)

Overall though, even with my want to critique the MC, the book was a true 5 star start to a series, and I hope it continues as good or better.

MC is an archer..

That's right, you heard me. Author had th gall to make his protagonist a god damn, lame ass fucking archer. He even has arrows that make plants grow! It's so adorable! Maybe he'll find himself a strong prince to protect him one day....So stupid.

Great story to get lost

I started this one not being sure, it turns out I love it.

Good story, easy to go through and overall really fun

Fantastic especially if you like MMORPG games!

Not my normal read but I was gripped from the start and can’t wait to continue to listen to the rest of the collection.
I normally settle for Rom coms but just fancied something different and I used to play MMORPG games as a kid so I could really relate to the storyline

Brilliant

So I just finished so far all 5 books and wow the story characters I really like all of them . I can't wait for the next book . Ryan Burke did nice job .

Guild Master

what excellence start from this authors first book in this series looking forward to the next

Good story, narrator needs training

I've enjoyed the first three (and free) books in this series. The Narrator has got a nice range of accents. There's at least two different English accents in there, one of which (Lucius) is very good (I'm English, and can spot dodgy accents), but the narrator really ought to learn how to put the proper emphasis on words. He gets it completely wrong about every third sentence. It's not enough to ruin the enjoyment, it just takes a bit of mental work to work out what the author actually meant.

On the subject of the author - his mastery of the English language is rather lacking in some places ("the body off of which he got the sword off", or "this world in which he found himself living in" to paraphrase a couple of examples. Another was the use of "swang" as the past participle of "to swing", whereas in the next sentence it was (correctly) "swung").

You won't find all those in the first book, I'm referring to the first three in general here.

Would I buy the following books? They're rather short to be worth one credit, to be honest, so I'm not sure. If it's down to "use it or lose it", then definitely, but there are other books to buy before that, I think.

First of kind for me. Not the last

Im interested in the fantasy RPG world, but never actually played it, always wanted to. I’m aware of it enough to be able to recognise the mechanics of it in this story.
I really enjoyed this, it was a very fast paced story that left no time for you to become bored.

I will 100% be listening to the rest of the series and will then try others in this genre

Nice easy going story

I enjoyed this little listen. Perhaps lacked depth but as a freebie a great choice

Level up

If you play mmorpg or ttrpg’s then you should enjoy this story. It’s about a person who starts a new life in a world that is based on killing monsters and gaining levels. Whilst the writing is fairly basic, the story is actually rather good. I was so engrossed that it only took me 3 days to listen to the whole book (normally would take me a week+). I’m looking forward to the next book. Narration was good so overall well worth listening to.

Like a board-game, I can almost hear the dice roll

It actually simulates the basic experiance of role playing games quite well. Rather improbable situations that lead the characters into themed environments where they assess (often wrongly) and plan thier attacks. Situations change unexpectedly and suprise the characters at about the right rate, and there aren't many "in a single bound Jack was free" moments. However, there is quite a lot of "admin". If you like long lists of abilities and strengths, each with a number, then this is for you. Personally, I was reminded of that bit in 1984 when the tele-screen announces that the chochlate ration has been increased to 25g per week, and only Winston remembers that last week it was reduced to 25g. I lost track... but I wasn't too bothered about it and tended to skip forward over these admin parts.

I don't think this sort of structure works particarlly well as an audiobook,

Its an RPG, so it is more of a quest (linear sequence of events each following from the previous and leading to the next) like the "Hobbit" or "Lord of the Rings", than an interconnected story with a plot, Character development is mostly a case of the levels and admin numbers, which are difficult to remember without taking notes.

I was a teenager more than 40 years ago, and it did bring a few memories back. Memories of what I did for hours in my bedroom before I had discovered girls (happier, simpler times). :)

Ryan Burke narrates well. His voices are approporiate for each character (no daft accents) and different enough to keep things from getting too confusing.

surprisingly an excellent listen

really enjoyed, entertaining and refreshing. uncomplicated and overall a decent book, will be moving on to book 2