The Outlaw

Phantom Server Trilogy Series, Book 2

By: Andrei Livadny

Narrated by: Todd McLaren

The Eurasia fleet has entered the Darg star system. The unsuspecting players look forward to the adventure of their lifetimes. Zander alone is now facing a harsh and unpredictable "alternative storyline". The girl he loved is gone. His nervous system is impregnated with artificial neurons that contain fragments of ancient AIs and their identities. Zander's body is implanted with alien artifacts that allow him to survive in the deadly cyberspace of Phantom Server. But his unique development branch pushes him toward the edge of the precipice where his every step may become his last - where the future itself is vague and uncertain.

©2016 Andrei Livadny. English translation copyright 2016 by Irene Woodhead and Neil P. Mayhew (P)2016 Tantor

need 3rd series

very hard to put down. has a very good story line BUT start with book 1 for sure.

mind blowing

this book absolutely captured my imagination and kept me entertained cannot wait until the next book comes out.

The BEST LitRPG I have ever listened to!!!

The Outlaw is the second book in the Phantom Server Trilogy. This book begins immediately following a cliff-hanger from book one. However the plot takes an immediate sharp turn in which Zander finds himself alone with no safe respawn point and no logout ability. The new Update introduces all new gamers ignorant of the danger to be found in 100% authenticity and who are wary of Zanders ever growing abilities and seeming mysterious knowledge even while they have to rely on him for survival.
The author does a great job of defining incredible obstacles as each hard won discovery brings more questions as Zander strives to survive in a game he cannot afford to loose! The action keeps building and building all throughout the book. This is an exciting and fun book!

More Focused & Entertaining Sequel

What made the experience of listening to The Outlaw the most enjoyable?

The second book is more fleshed-out wrt main plot line and didn't focus too much on the crippling potholes in the previous book. With the focus of this book changing to character development and interactions with the virtual world becoming his reality, the new direction is refreshing and a great encapsulation of how it would feel to live in a MMOFPS. The ignoring of the previous plot is perfect by changing it to rather people staying in the game until death (virtual better than real life or less boring), is a better use of the technology rather than an evil corporation unable to develop AI so they kill people they are developing the game for to get the data they already had without having to kill them through neural scanning.

Have you listened to any of Todd McLaren’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

The narrator's performance had been excellent and handling of female characters had improved in this audio-book compared to his previous performance.

Enjoying LitRPG, but

Enjoyed the story and the narration immensely, particularly with no familiarity to tech RPGs

Character skills development and pacing in LitRPG is fun. It can be greatly accelerated or explained by 'level up' avoiding the some-months-later gaps in other stories.

That said, I think LitRPG is already in a rut regarding the link between real and virtual worlds. Every author has a major plot element involving a magic link and eventual merge of real and virtual worlds, and the level of interaction between the two is the only variable. A trope I'm not sure LitRPG can avoid.

I'd like to see other commenters list Authors in the genre