Patch 17

By: G. Akella

Narrated by: Zach Villa

Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

A new update arrives to the ultra-popular online game, Realm of Arkon. With Patch 17, the level of immersion experienced by players in their gaming capsules has made virtual reality indistinguishable from the real world. But every gamer's dream becomes a nightmare for Roman Kozhevnikov after he gets confined to Arkon against his will. And not just to Arkon, but to its deadliest zone - Demon Grounds. Playing - or rather living - as his character Krian, it's not just about survival for Roman. He longs to exact revenge for his banishment to the virtual world where the sensation of pain has reached 100 percent...

©2015 G. Akella (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Pretty good

There’s a lot to like about this series. The premise, the characters, the chain quests, the NPC/Gods/Players relationships, and especially the personality and insights of the main characters Kirin & Max.

But the negatives are there too. The overwhelming number of epic items, unique quests, and overpowered characters make them less remarkable. Long readings of stats. The same formula used book to book: player has doubts, gets confidence boost, faces impossible odds, something saves the day, player succeeds. Over and over.

Then there is the number of books, each around 10 hours, released every 3 months. Nine books - that’s over $100.

It would’ve been great to combine these into 4 books at 22-24 hours each. As it stands after book four, I don’t think another $57 is worth getting to the end, when I already have a fairly good idea how it’s going to develop. Maybe I’ll skip to Book 9 and read the ending. Idk.

Not sure if its the story or me.

Like I said I'd not sure if it's the story or me, I typically like stories when the characters struggle with mundane tasks of early character development. Not to spoil the story, it certainly does this in the beginning, but then it takes a meteoric jump. I'll listen to the next in the series.

Something get's lost in the translation

I don't speak Russian, so I'm just guessing, but I feel like this series could be a household name, well in the homes of ppl who like LitRPG.

Idk if it's the translation, the narration, or if it's the cultural differences ...most likely it's some combination of all three. Regardless, I'd recommend giving the series a try.

The narrator does a good job, but he also talks a little fast and seems to gloss over important bits. Also, I think he doesn't quite deliver the drama and epic nature of the fight scenes. I think I might enjoy this book more if I read it for myself.
He def doesn't grab ur attention, it's easy to get distracted and all of a sudden find urself being lost wondering: where r we? what's going on? and how did we get here?

Main complaint, is the MC doesn't think for himself enough. He just goes along with whatever is happening around him. Maybe that'll change in the next book. Also other than one extensive discussion, which struck me as being too much info, the MC doesn't really take you through the process of deciding how to allocate stat points to develop the character. If you enjoy that sort of thing, then this book doesn't really do much of that.

bad with names

it's pronounced looooo fee that's the only negative that I really have for the book other than that it's fine standard litrpg novel

Intelligently written LitRPG

This is a great example of the newly-popular RPG book. These are a fun read for anyone interested in Fiction/Fantasy but they are especially appreciated by those who have played some form of role-playing game (e.g. Dungeons and Dragons or other die-20 game). In fact if you haven't played such a game before some of the nitpicky details about game dynamics and rules can be tiresome and even baffling. This is my only criticism of this book that I can think of. It is so well written with none of the 'amazing' plot twists other books use to force the story where the author wants the book to go (e.g. suddenly magic rules don't apply for this character or a trained assasin is taken out from behind by an amateur who was not detected -- those type of situations that go way beyond the scope of 'suspension of disbelief '). The plot unfolds at a comfortable pace and is easy to follow; the end is satisfying while leaving you with plenty of incentive to move on to the next book in the series. The narration was a joy to listen to; in my mind audiobooks are only as good as their narrations and this one is excellent. Characters are easy to keep track of because ZV gives everyone a unique voice, I love that - it means I can relax when I listen and don't have to work so hard to keep track of who is whom. This was a wonderful book for this old DnD veteran but I think any Fiction/Fantasy fan will enjoy it as well. This book is Whyspersync ready and as I'm writing this review the Kindle book is being given for free! Check it out, you might just get the deal of your life! Even if you come upon this review too late don't worry - it's definitely worth a credit; give it a try, I hope you'll agree with me. Happy listening!

typical

litrpg where lvls don't matter as in lvl 65 vs lvl 300 is a not a problem with a idiot mc

Great story

This is a good story so far one thing I find funny is the mispronouncing of luffy zack you should go watch an episode of one piece in your spare time lol other than that great job narrating.

Good. AVERAGELY so !!!

MC gets power leveled & then settles down to normal leveling: he guesses this & it's not confirmed that the AI does this to compensate him for ??? / listen & see :}
Story, combat & leveling system, are ALL a bit TOO simple: so, it's a faster paced book, but a bit hollow to be TRUELY good.
Performance is good, with different voices, so long as there isn't TOMANY in a scene: but tend to blend a bit, if a lot of characters are in a scene.

Masterfully Written and Performed!

This book really had me pulled into the world and feeling along with its characters. I cannot recommend this book more to anyone who likes the LIT-RPG genre

Did Not Finish.

Wasn't my cup of tea. the narration was decent I just couldn't get into the world or MC. Combat wasn't very thrilling.