Start the Game

Galactogon Series, Book 1

By: Vasily Mahanenko

Narrated by: Bill Lord

Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's Summary

Twelve players set off through the online world of Galactogon, lured by the game owners' promise of an enormous payoff. The question is, who will survive to tell the tale? Which of the 12 is a potential hero - or a traitor in the making? Which of them will defend the weak, and who will become the ultimate evil overlord? A knight or a coward? Each of the 12 will have to choose his or her path. Each will keep a poker face. But if the billion-pound prize calls your name, you can't conceal your choice. And you will do everything to lay your hands on it.

©2015 V. Mahanenko; English translation copyright 2015 by Boris Smirnov (P)2017 Tantor

Pretty good story. But many inconsistencies.

I liked the story overall and likely would rate a 4 without the inconsistencies I noticed. There were a few but one that was obvious was earlier in the book he talks about how if a player in game didn't eat after 4 hours they would start to get hungry, but you could log out and back in to reset. Later on though this in game food eating was completely different and was worried about dying on a remote planet from lack of food... I am like why not just log out to reset? But apparently the rule changed. The narrator annunciated well and I liked many voices, but I eventually got too annoyed with the loud swallowing and other noises that kept getting through to the reading.

great book

good story
didn't care for the narrator

spoiler
i hate cliffhanger hanger endings
don't see any point for them
if it's a good book I'll buy the next one if it's not I won't

Story started out slow and Narrator voice ruins.

Bill Lord was a terrible voice choice in my opinion. While he ABSOLUTELY sounds like someone who is mostly friendless and only socializes online. I also could not get into the characters or problems

Ready player one without the 1980's

i was hesitant to purchase this. I love The Way of the Shamen series and did not think the writing style would work with sic-fi. I should never have doubted, great start to a new series.If you're in to litrpg this will fall into the top 5.

Narrator doesn't get it

Here's a story about online games, gamer culture, and tongue-in-cheek fantasy & sci-fi. The protagonist is a professional gamer - clever, resourceful, and charismatic with a sarcastic gamer sense of humor.

The narrator completely ruins this first person story. Instead of the sarcastic gamer personality the text begs for, we get this god-awful affectation with heavy aspirations that's better suited for a smutty romance novel than a LitRPG.

I love Vasily Mahanenko's Way of the Shaman series which had great narration. But I really struggled to get past the narration in this one.

Good

Not what I expected from the other reviews. Yes there is a cliffhanger kinda. Yes it's item levels instead of character levels. But the author does an excellent job filling in all the details I enjoy in litrpg. The story kept my attention throughout the entire story and the narrator's voices are distinct enough to tell one character from another. Overall very well done.

whats next? im waiting eagerly

loved it from start to finish im only sad it endedso soon and have to wait for the next one.

favorite author on audible

We need part 2 to this right now. if you love tech and games there is no better author than Vasily

I mostly have a problem with the mix of the vocals

First off I’d like to say I enjoyed the book it was enjoyable, but what really got me was the audio. I found myself cringing to the swallowing or almost gulping and different mouth sound the reader would make and at times even smacking noises. I studied audio engineering and have recorded a little bit of vocals myself condenser mics pick up a lot of extra annoying sounds I mean everything, however it is so easy to edit this out in the mixing stage. And there are techniques the reader can do to minimize these sounds like using pop filters and pulling back your head to swallow. Honestly it drove me crazy I hate lip smacking, and gulping noises. I found it hard to get through the story.

wish

I wish I listened to this book way sooner but the cover kinda kept me away but love smart characters

start the game

I really enjoyed this book but I just took a long time for the next one to come out end up having to read listen to this one

Has potential but is poorly executed

Im not sure how much the translation has to do with it but i found myself bereft of repeatable charecters.

almost as good as The Shaman Way series

If you enjoy any form of mmo/rpg, the book will give you a very pleasant time.