Reality Benders Series Boxed Set

Books 1-4

By: Michael Atamanov, Andrew Schmitt - translator

Narrated by: Rudy Sanda

Length: 49 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Countdown: At long last, an extraterrestrial civilization reached out and made the First Contact. The end of their message showed humankind how to access a mysterious game. But as people figure out this mysterious game, the countdown timer ticks away. And no one can say exactly what will happen when Earth's safety is no longer guaranteed.

External Threat: Gnat is on his voyage with the Shiamiru, all the while trying to find backup for humanity among the great spacefaring races. Gnat does not expect gratitude from his leaders for taking such matters into his own hands, but when have laws and rules ever stopped our intrepid hero before?

Game Changer: Our suzerains and defenders the Geckho are also caught up in this all-encompassing conflict. Gnat is with the Shiamiru crew on the front lines. He's just changed class to Listener and his friends find themselves right in the thick of this grand interstellar war....

Web of Worlds: The enemy has grown stronger and more numerous. How can our world possibly stand up against such an enemy? Our only hope is the bravery and tenacity of our best fighters, those who'd rather die than surrender. Well, that and a starship captained by one lone mage.

©2018, 2019 Michael Atamanov; English translation copyright 2018, 2019 by Andrew Schmitt (P)2021 Tantor

Good Listen

Good story. The publisher pack is definitely worth the price. I will purchase more of the series.

A worthy box set

While the book had a number of places where it fell short, overall, Michael Atamanov had written a fairly interesting litRPG novel. I won't go into detail on the shortcomings since other commenters listed them well. What I will say is that the science parts of the SciFi were written well and the primary characters were well-defined and mostly acceptable. The Earth terrain was Russia some time in the not to distant future. The main character, Gnat, was that of a person way out of his element but through guile and luck, manages to advance quickly. Rudy Sanda performance was spotty. Some characters voices, like Gnat, came off, quite well but others, mostly women and some aliens, were cringe-worthy.and some almost comical, like the adolescent Paladin who came off like someone from Georgia ... the Georgia no where near Russia, that is.

The narrator has changed starting in book 5 to one of my favorites, Neil Hellegers, so I'm very much looking to continue the series with his performance.

Overall, 1 credit for almost 40 hours of SciFi is a great deal as I recently put it to the test listening to it during a grueling 7 hour travel experience.

One of my favourite

This series is one of my favourite. I have read them all and more then ones. Totally recommend this series to other people. The author also has other good books that I recommend to look into

Great box set

I have really enjoyed this and other cyber-world books translated from Russian authors. A definite candidate for rereading.

Amazing Si-Fi story

this is a great way to get into the series, after listening to the first two books I was completely hooked and will be listening to the rest 100% worth every penny

Great audio book

Great audio book. The story is captivating. the narration is also very good very. too bad the narration in book 5 is not as good.

Quality LitRPG Chaos

Do the game mechanics make any sense? Nope. Is the romance campy at the best of times? Yep. That doesn't detract from an otherwise wild ride through space, politics, and war. Stat increases and rogue backstabs included.

It's good bang for your buck considering the length, and the aliens with all their quirks and power Dynamics are refreshing compared to the great value-brand elves, orcs, and goblins that saturate the genre. It's a straightforward, fun ride worth the price if you don't go in expecting fine wine. Think generationally refined space vodka. It burns and tastes like every other vodka, but you vaguely remember meeting an alien and dancing together before blacking out.

Atamanov is always a win…

… if you like litrpg style books. I started with his Dark Herbalist series which is amazing.

This series is equally strong. It starts a little slow as Atamanov follows the path of the Hero’s Journey setting up the “normal” life. I have gotten in the habit of skipping the first 2 chapters of any litrpg book. That said this series has a good start up and more interesting than the standard: “the hero’s life is horrible and the game is the only salvation…”. This series is much more interesting.

The rules content is very light, almost not important. More like icing than cake. But if you really like crunch you might initially be disappointed.

The story is fun, fast moving and character driven. Atamanov does a great job of showing, not telling. Even the lengthy sections of exposition are done in fun character mode.

The best part: This is an unashamedly Russian story. That may turn some folks off, but I found it wonderful to be exposed to the cultural filters and framing of a different country at the same time as I was learning about an imaginary universe. It was a bold move to keep it Russian focused and a good one. Thank you for being brave, Mr. Atamonov.

The narration is strong. I ran it at 1.2x, but that has become my standard. This narrator was still clean, clear, and comfortable to listen to at this speed. He tries for different voices, and gets much better over time. Not yet: RC Bray, Ray Porter, or Luke Daniels quality, but solid. I would normally give 4 stars for this, but he really does grow wonderfully across the 4 books.

Highly recommend box set

A very unique and interesting story line that is very LITRPG as well as space invasion. Very well written and read.
Only issue I have is the sudden ending with an unfinished story. Box set does not mean complete series.
Thanks for the great story.

Narrator's character voice not consistent***

Story is entertaining, well written-- although third book bogs down a bit. Author is a bit misogynistic at times, but I think that is more a Russian mindset thing. It's a bit irritating but not a deal breaker.
My biggest complaint is that while the narrator does a good job with all the different characters, somewhere in the third book, the narrator seemed to forget the voice he used for (Minnow?)--- the Dark Faction princess. Suddenly I was blasted with this shrieking, horrible, nails on chalkboard fake falsetto when she spoke that reminded me of a poorly imitated Edith Bunker. I actually found myself grimacing every time he did her voice. It was quite different from the voice used for her in the first two books. I'm really confused on how that made it through editing.