The False Hero, Volume 1

By: Michael Plymel

Narrated by: Mason Born

Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's Summary

Disillusioned businessman, John Lawrence Locke, finds himself summoned as a hero to another world, filled with monsters and magic! With his body reverted to the age of 15, the 33-year-old's mind is filled with the possibility of battles and adventures, like the ones in his favorite video games.

Unfortunately for him, life isn't always so convenient. Betrayed by the very people who summoned him, he's condemned as the False Hero and forced to flee for his life. Alone in an unfamiliar world and hunted by all of humanity, he takes on the alias of Lutz and uses his gaming knowledge to quickly adapt to the world's strangely game-like mechanics.

©2021 James Michael Plymel (P)2021 James Michael Plymel

give it a chance

it took quite a bit for me to get interested in it. because to me it was seemed just like a shield hero knockoff. once it got to a certain point though I was hooked and I actually prefer this story over the shield hero one. I do recommend if you plan on bringing out such short volumes to package them because on audible a lot of people don't like to spend so much on just a 6-hour book.

Good but...

This was a good story, but remarkably similar to Rise of the Shield Hero.
Four heroes summoned, check.
Trash king called Trash, check.
Slave purchased with blood slave tattoo, check.
The other three heroes work together, check.
Talks of betrayal while doing "good" quests, check.

shield hero 2.0

if you like rise of the shield hero, this would be up your alley.

Almost couldn't finish due to narration

I didn't care for the narrator, there were odd pauses and inflections. It was jarring.The story itself was amusing, though I don't plan to continue thr journey in audiobook forum.

Meh...

It's exactly what you expect. Anime levels of cringe and plot. Starts as a another variation of Shield hero and becomes Code geass

Fantastic

Mason Born did a good job. I enjoyed the story and look forward to book two. As for the writing, the pacing was smooth, fluid, and the story wasn't a cookie cutter novel. Give it a try, you'll see what I mean.

A fun read!

I really enjoyed it! I can't wait to see what Lutz does next. It was well written and I enjoyed the way the narrator portrayed the main characters inner monologues and the moments where he plays the role of "the false hero". Highly recommended!

Excellent story

It’s an excellent story but a little bit simplistic and taken a lot from some other anime series. If it continues like this then it will definitely be an excellent Book series, I look forward to the next book.

good story bad performance

I loved how the characters developed through the story but, unfortunately, the narrator was not able to bring the characters to life. it felt kinda dead

Stumbles

I quite enjoyed this.
Narrator does a good job for the most part tho it's almost like he is one breath away from stumbling lines most of the way through this and the following books.

Not bad

Start was to similar to shield hero and could only compare while listening.
Get about a third in and that’s when the story takes a turn.
Story and writing are quite basic but that’s not a bad thing and quite gripping.
Definitely eager to listen to the rest.

the rising of the false hero

tl;dr- starts off as a clone but when it steps into its own it takes the best parts of the original along with it.

might as well get it out the way first: yes the book starts out VERY similarly to the rising of the shield hero. until the 1/4 mark it might as well be a clone, yet I listened to the whole thing and the others out at time of writing.

why? it's fun. Lutz is a good isekai protagonist. he's naive at first, but obviously gets that stripped away quickly. skip forward a few months and he's beaten, half broken and eager to make a run for it. it's a little unrealistic that MONTHS of torture didn't leave him a jibbering mess, but I'm fine with 'a wizard did it' considering the setting and story.

when you get into the actual adventure part of the story, you find it very light on the 'gaming' aspect of year magic system. but, honestly, I kinda prefer that. LitRPGs not set in an actual game have a hard time organically justifying the game mechanics (and audiobooks especially have problem conveying stat sheets you'd just skim when reading a book). here the game mechanics do what they need to to progress the story and that's it.

I also like Lea ( the blue haired girl on the cover) I got a little nervous when you learn she's 19, but thankfully she's still treated like the actual (elf) child she is, sending her into combat aside. she might be my favourite character of the two we spend time with. she obviously has a growing crush on Lutz but like her biological age its handled more like a 'when I grow up I wanna marry you, dad' situation (the wholesome kind, mind you).


*minor spoiler for books 2 and 3 ahead*

the pseudo-harem lutz gets has an uncomfortable amount of actual little girls in it. so far they get treated like lea--see wholesome family dynamic--but that can turn sour if done poorly. I'm going to keep up with the books as they come out on audible and will edit my review if the worst comes to pass.

Great book

it's a great start to the series I look forward to seeing what happens next

A great start!!!

An amazing start so far, very engaging as I've listened to the whole thing in one go. Also a likeable MC. definitely recommended.

Solid start

It’s a solid start to a new series narrator did a great job and the story catches you