Realm Between Series # , The Realm Between

A LitRPG Saga (Books 1-3)

By: Phoenix Grey

Narrated by: Neil Hellegers

Length: 24 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

Will refused to admit to the HR lady at Radical Interactive that he'd never played their debut virtual reality MMORPG The Realm. With the company's failed attempt at entering the gaming industry, they switched their sights to focus on smaller scale educational programs.

Being a beta tester for Radical Interactive was not the dream job that Will had envisioned, but he had hoped it would get his foot in the door to one day becoming a graphic designer for the company. He never realized that he was literally signing his life away.

Now a phenomenally successful company, Radical Interactive was secretly working on something behind closed doors that would change both the medical and gaming industries forever. The Realm was reborn. The only problem was that it wasn't a game - at least not to those trapped inside.

Dumped into a fantasy world filled with nightmarish monsters, awe-inspiring magic, and way more walking than Will thought he was physically capable of as a nerdy desk jockey, he has to navigate the perils of The Realm and unravel the mystery of how he came to be here and how to get out. Fantasy meets real-life consequences in a game that could mean the difference between life and death.

©2018, 2019 Phoenix Grey (P)2021 Tantor

A more real take on LitRPG

I liked how an injury was real and not just “you lost 10 hp.” They caused the character to wince, favor that part of the body and not just shrug it off. The world was interesting, however the writing on the whole, especially in books 2&3 was weak. There was no real climax to the story In 2, and I felt like the climax in book 3 happened about 2/3s of the way through. Not my favorite.

The protagonist is a rabbit.

I feel mixed. The writing wasn't bad but the story feels boring. I'm trying to decide if it's the other hundreds of books I've read or listened to altering my views on this title. I don't want to slam the writer so I'll list some basic points.

-The MC is basic. He's the nothing special guy in gaming. Never thinks outside the box and follows the full tutorial with no personal vision. It feels lacking at all times.
-No connection points. Nothing draws me to the story or the characters. I keep listening hoping the next scene will bring the excitement but its rabbits, another long section where the protagonist is happy to complain about basic skills and is farming rabbits.

That really sums it up for me. The protagonist is a rabbit. He's the guy that logs in on day three and tries to join, gets upset if you don't quest with him, but won't take a second thought at learning anything about anything or advancing. The guy at work that loves to complain about your pay difference but watches videos for 3-hours before complaining that someone interrupted his lunch. This shit made me write this... That in itself should be a clue on what you'll feel listening to this.

It's a shame because the writing feels decent.

c'mon really

for an MC that grew up playing VR MMOs n such. the MC is incredibly stupid. I mean come on. sure a blow to the head is what landed him in there, but does he have to be this stupid a long with the apparent helplessness. No one growing up with his background supposedly in video games, should be as dumb as he is...If anything he should have a leg up on it.

decent listen

how you ended the book. should lead upto a better ending leading into the next book.

Unique storyline but I just wasn't engaged.

I listened to this book because I enjoy Neil Hellegers narration. This series is okay, but I didn't find it super engaging. I believe it was somewhat futuristic (I sense the MC started in a world in the future based on tech) as the MC talked about being shocked at seeing things like trees and grass, and never having gone fishing.

The problem is that the MC- and reallllly all the supporting characters- just aren't particularly engaging or fun. Also, the MC has not figured out why he's in the game at all after THREE BOOKS?! After knowing what he signed? I have difficulty with the fact that he doesn't care about returning to his own world enough to even spend more than short paragraphs worth of time on thoughts of his family/prior life.

Also... sometimes the text feels a bit repetitive. For example, there's a knight later in the book whose name is mentioned in what felt like EVERY sentence- or alternatively, he refers to him as "ahole knight"... all of it is very repetitive and I was tired of hearing the dude's name.

This book feels more science fiction than fantasy in many respects.

The main character

I can’t believe that as the story goes on the main character never becomes more settled and decisive in his life choices

Disappointment

Disappointed in how badly this was written... the MT seems like a 10 year old brat that has never experienced life... the narrator seems very new as well and had no depth to his performance. Overall it is extreme waist of time...

can someone call the waaambulance

the main character complains too much. he's in his fantasy world but cries about everything

Well, I hoped...

I got the omnibus for books 1-3, it was ok, a bit on the lack luster side, and the repetitive level ups for all skills just seems like the author was trying to fill words for the manuscript, rather than writing a book. The start had a great premise, and it wasn't too bad, MC definitely had issues, and was socially inept from the start.

However, once he is in the Realms, he becomes a complete idiot! The author keeps yawing back and forth between morality and greed, and it just depends on whim on what the MC or the characters are going to do. When one of the brothers is killed off, one that was causing most of the issues, not sure how, but, issues for the MC's personality, I thought, maybe the auther realized they screwed up.

Unfortunately, no... the author had to bring said dead character back to life, just to ensure stupidity continues!!!

I did go ahead and get the omnibus for 4-6, praying that the author may have gotten some advise on how to write. Unfortunately, no, it got worse, and by book 6, the author shows they can't handle story progression, especially since the MC dies multiple times in previous books, and yet, somehow survives to continue on in the first 1-5 or so books with no leveling penalties or loss of XP, yet, by book 6, the MC dies, and all of a sudden, he loses more than 1/2 of his levels in everything, his survival tied into another new character introduced in the book, with no idea who or why he is in it.

Then, the stupidity becomes a gross parady of moronic writing. The only good thing that happened, sometimes, is that the leveling gets smarter, not sure if it was the author or the narrator who got tired of repeating leveling notices 4-7 times in a row, over and over, complete spellouts, before finally going" Your skill archery leveled from 4, 5, 6 and gained, etc... but, yet, for some reason, the main combat form he also first started with, and was his best, was nerfed so bad, he didn't even use it for most of book 6, and the constant whining and character stupidity was astounding!

I hate to say it, but, I don't recommend this book, and I will not be getting more in the series, the author doesn't care or doesn't care to learn how to truly write, because, come on, 10 books in the series, and the first 6 were pathetic, with no learning progression or solidity of character evolution, with a full reset in book 6, because the MC was getting too powerful, and after nerfing him, he can't even remember to use his magic he fought to get for most of books 1-5.... bleh!

On a good note, the narrator tries his best, and does a good job at making this mockery of a series into something reasonable, unfortunately, the story just doesn't survive due to the author's obvious lackluster writing.

so slow

so the concept is good but the storyline is so slow,the MC is a petulant moron and defiantly not a gamer, why can't I kill the rabbits and birds for xp ....because they aren't worth it moron, I wanna see the mythical sirens that kill men, but I wanna....he feels like a whiny little kid.
the only good character dies....not gonna finish can't do it