The Bystander

The Game at Carousel, Book 1

By: Rob M. Lastrel

Narrated by: Adam Sims

Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

In a town where horror movie tropes come to life, one’s only chance to survive is to play their role, in the first book of a spine-tingling gamelit series.

When horror-obsessed Riley Lawrence and his group of college friends arrive in the small town of Carousel for their Centennial Celebration, the few decrepit cars parked in the street don’t scare them. But when they enter a locked building, an animatronic usher hands them each a ticket, and the lights dim, Riley realizes they’ve entered the inescapable patchwork of a horror movie set. And they’ve each been assigned an archetype—Scholar, Athlete, Eye Candy, Final Girl—to play out as the curtains rise.

Assigned the Film Buff archetype, Riley’s doomed to repeat a pattern: knowing exactly who the killer is but never surviving the attacks himself. After all, film buffs may know what’s coming, but they’re always the first to be hunted down. Until, that is, Riley learns he can avoid a death or two by exploiting the Oblivious Bystander trope. It seems monsters and killers won’t harm him as long as he can convincingly pretend he hasn’t noticed them.

To make it through this deadly game, Riley and his friends will need to leverage their tropes effectively to determine what’s trapping them there in the first place. But as the rounds continue and escape seems farther and farther out of reach, they’ll be forced to ask themselves: Would they survive in a horror movie?

The first volume of the hit LitRPG horror series—with more than three million views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!

©2024 Rob M. Lastrel (P)2024 Podium Audio

So original!

A fantastic read. Very engaging in a unique setting. I can’t wait for the next one!!!

I love the Trope System

I was following this story back when it was on Royal Road and the edits for publication have only made it better! I love the added story bits and the expanding background! Truly an excellently horrifying tale of people stuck in the worst situation!

unique look at litrpg

this one is definitely for those looking for a unique twist to this genre. I enjoyed it yet want to see how it develops

loved everything about it

fresh idea in the crossroads of horror fiction and litrpg, but mostly its good because of the obvious Love of the genre and talent the author has. highly recommend

A Fresh take on the litrpg genre

This story is a really unique one in this genre instead of swords and sorcery you get horror movies and clichés the trope system is a really cool take on classes and skills. There are a few points where a decision doesnt make perfect sense to me but that happens in horror movies all the time so it still fits and is nothing that really brings the story down. The narrator does a good job though an occasional line lacks some of the emotion that seems like it should be present, though its rare. Definitely recommend this book and hope to see the sequel soon

Living the movie life isn’t as glamorous as you might hope!

If you’re not sure about the story because of the horror, don’t even worry about it, give it a try. This story is more about characters having to ‘live’ through movies as if it was real life, with all that entails. Lots of mystery, character deaths that aren’t necessarily permanent, and a rewarding outcome when the players do well in their assigned roles.

Well worth it.

That said, the narrator may have struggled a little bit with all the voices of different characters. Still enjoyed it though so your mileage may vary.

A Good Introduction

This book is great. It definitely leans more into humor than horror. The story and characters are great, but the story does suffer slightly from a lack of suspense. The training wheels essentially stay on until the end so there is not a lot of exploration and the missions the group goes on are selected to learn the ropes. Overall i would give the book 4.5 stars and I'll start reading more on royalroad.com

Worth a read

I’ll just start by saying I’ve been following this series since the early days on Royal Road. This book grabbed me immediately and I religiously read whenever a new chapter is posted. With that being said I listen to a ton of audiobooks since my job requires me to travel a lot. I had high hopes for the audiobook but the narration missed the mark for me. Every character either sounded nasally or like they were on the verge of tears Silas in particular doesn’t sound like a showman at all. Arthur was the standout voice for sure. Still deserves a huge congratulations on getting published and can’t wait to see how the rest of the game plays out!

Very good story

It's such a unique setting and system, one of the best executed LitRPGs! I love this so much! Voice was a bit dull to me at first, but it gets normal and I think it fits the tone of the story.

Shlock Horror LitRPG Greatness

I discovered this book before it was officially published and loved every second of the journey - the uniqueness of the setting and the twist of litRPG on top just scratch an itch I didn’t know I had.

Can’t wait for the next book!