• Viridian Gate Online: Crimson Alliance

  • An litRPG Adventure - The Viridian Gate Archives, Book 2
  • By: James Hunter
  • Narrated by: Armen Taylor
  • Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (7,496 ratings)

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Viridian Gate Online: Crimson Alliance  By  cover art

Viridian Gate Online: Crimson Alliance

By: James Hunter
Narrated by: Armen Taylor
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Publisher's summary

October, 2042.

Three days ago, Jack Mitchel saved his life. By dying.

He dodged a world-ending bullet - in the form of an extinction-level asteroid, cannonballing toward Earth - by successfully uploading his mind into the brand new, ultra-immersive, fantasy-based VRMMORPG - Viridian Gate Online. Unfortunately, he's also stumbled headlong into a secret conspiracy that will transform V.G.O. into a new feudal dark age.

Jack expected to live out his new fantasy life in peace, but now he and his misfit crew of rebels are the only ones preventing a tyrant emperor and his regime from taking power. Thankfully, everything isn't quite as hopeless as it seems - Jack has a plan. Sort of. With only a handful of supporters, he's going to get the jump on the bloodthirsty empire, by snatching one of their key cities right from underneath their noses. In order to pull off the impossible, however, Jack's going to have to develop his formidable Shadowmancer powers, raid some ridiculous dungeons, and make some shady allies - allies who may be more dangerous than the empire itself.

©2017 James A. Hunter and Shadow Alley Press, Inc. (P)2017 James A. Hunter and Shadow Alley Press, Inc.

Featured Article: Level up with 25+ awesome litRPGs


LitRPG means Literary Role Playing Game. Simply put, it’s the book version of watching someone play a video game, usually one that’s set up like an MMO (massively multiplayer online) RPG. It’s a blend of sci-fi and fantasy, depending on how it comes to be that our main character ends up living inside a virtual reality. the point of LitRPG is not how we get there, but that we get to be in this virtual reality period, living life as a badass video-game character. Beat the grind and submerse yourself in these addictive LitRPGs.

What listeners say about Viridian Gate Online: Crimson Alliance

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Huge plot holes and lazy story development

Great narration – poor story.

The premise is good, but the writing is way to formulaic. Plot holes – ugh, plot holes and lazy writing for days!

So the main character is supposed to be an experienced gamer, but is constantly making mistakes that would make even a casual gamer cringe.

He is presented as this genius smart guy, and all of his friends and associates are impressed with his ideas, strategy, and wit. He makes ridiculous far fetched plans and decisions that always work out, but when faced with simple problems with glaring answers are presented to him, he ALWAYS (as in every single time) makes the obviously bad choice and has to be bailed out by his friends or “barely scrape through.”

Let's talk about his outlook/attitude: he flips between arrogantly cocky, a beacon of virtue, even keeled, constantly second guessing himself, and full of self doubt. Instead of choosing a character mentality (smart guy, cocksure asshole, Mr. Virtue, emo kid, etc.) the author tried to do it all, and it leaves you with a bi-polar, sometimes schizophrenic who is frequently high on coffee and sugar. Be ready for some whiplash.

Is there a serious/semi-serious fight happening? Things start off well – take a turn for the worst – and right at that point where things are going to go terribly wrong or maybe somehow work out – this is when the main character decides to ponder the meaning of life – or the price of beans – or what his favorite color is or should be (you know – to build suspense) – then he makes the right choice and hooray it somehow works out. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

It is very frustrating because the premise is great, and the overarching story isn't bad either. It is the details that ruin this series.

Does it get better later on in the series?

No.

It doesn't.

The author uses the same old formulas and patterns over and over. Which is a shame because with just a little bit of rewriting this could be one of the best series in the genera. It really had that much potential, but I'm 5 books in and it is just the same pattern repeating endlessly.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

No Sophomore Slump Here

Book two of VGO really continues to build upon the first, and brings about the beginning of a plot line that was set up early in the book one. As things go, this book really steps up its game and the action and intrigue really get supercharged. The plot advances at a pleasurable pace, and at no time do you feel like there were unnecessary parts of the tale. Everything fits together like perfect little puzzle pieces, and no part is just thrown in.

We get a nice epic battle, and a great confrontation with the big bad we want to see get an uppercut to the jaw with a war hammer. There are alliances struck, and sacrifices made, and this plays out like a great classic fantasy. We even get a nice little "Matrix" styled moment at the end.

Grimjack is someone you can really appreciate, and Cutter is worth listening to every second he appears. I have to laugh, as Taylor really makes the thief sound like Mick Jagger (at least in my mind). Abby finally gets some attention, and Grimjack manages to concoct a plan that might just help him get some breathing space.

The characterizations are pitch perfect, from the stoic Russian to the battle ready Texan. The story keeps amping up, and the plots pacing picks up with every turn of the page. In no way does the book suffer a sophomoric slump like most sequels do. It somehow manages to take what came before it, and improve upon it. As I said, Taylor does some great voicework, and he gives life to numerous characters. Even though I did receive a promo code for this review it in no way influenced my considerations of the material, and in fact, inspired me to be more honest. In fact, getting a code generally makes me harsher as a reviewer as I am more often concerned what someone like Me will decide based on my review.

If this review helped, please press the YES below. Thank you immensely!!!

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Really enjoyed this second book, narration is ok

UPDATE: Armen has actually improved quite a bit. I actually enjoy listening to him now, and hope he continues!

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I absolutely loved the second in this series. It has since become one of my favorites.

I may be a bit spoiled by my two favorite narrators that make up the bulk of now 180+ audible titles (Jeff Hays and Nick Podehl). I think before I found them, this narrator would have been excellent. But now small things bother me a bit and take me out of the story for short moments. When a character is yelling or shouting, the narrator instead whispers a faux yell, similar to what my daughter's do when emulating they're favorite TV characters or are roleplaying when expected to maintain an 'inside voice'. It's a small thing, I know but I can't get past it. Some of my favorite moments in other books are when Jeff/Nick narrate a particularly intense scene and they're characters issue valiant, fearful, or angry quotes in a powerful voice. I get the opposite here, and it's disruptive to my immersion on the story.

That said, I absolutely love Cutter's voice. He's a joy of a character, and his voice is perfect. Each other voice is distinctive and easy to identify.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Love the premise

I love the premise of this book, but I do have an issue. This book feels rushed. I feel like the series could easily be spread out in to 7-8 books

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Another home run for Hunter

There were two moments of sheer brilliance in the book that made me hoot aloud, several that made me laugh hysterically, and many that made me bite my nails. This litRPG adventure had my blood pumping, my gut turning, and got me writing a review as passionate as the writing.

Well executed, fair amounts of humor, plenty of adult chuckle moments, and enough blood shed, loot collecting, and boss slaying action to slick any gamer's literary lust.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Anticlimactic and pretentious end! Ü

Why are the characters in key moments just morons, unable to jug a health potion, but just starring for minutes how others get obliterated. Why is the book antagonist just perfectly tailored against the protagonist. Wouldn't make any sense in game terms. Just sounds like an absolutely unbalanced op class. But then just dies in the most boring and telegraphed way possible. And of course he won't come back as part from the demonic hordes some time in the future. And just leave the wannabe philosophical mumbo jumbo out at the end. Just killed the enjoyment of the whole world. There is not much to uncover anymore. Makes next installments pretty much obsolete.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great listen

Book 2 was action packed and exciting. A fun listen and narrated very well. I would definitely recommend this story.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

I have 4 problems here. minor spoilers.

From least to most, my problems with this book are as follows:

Good old american values. Mostly a lot of patriotic nonsense sprinkled around. It was a little distracting. I have a hard time stumaching patriotism on a good day. But in a world where the united states, nearly every country in fact, no longer exists? seriously? Can we please just move on from that? A new start and all. There is only so many times I want to hear "my dad/brother/myself/uncle was in the military, therefore..."

We kept getting hung up on pondering if the NPCs count as people. He just can't decide. This might be more of a nitpick, but I really just don't get why he can't just agree, that for all intents and purposes, they are real. That he doesn't need to disregard their past because they suffer from last thursdayism. And he doesn't need to disregard their lives by saying things like "its just a game". He lives there now. No going back. From what I can see there seems to be very little difference between "Travelers" and "NPCs".

Some characters are rather contrary to themselves. We are told Vlad is stoic, but we meet him in the middle of an emotional breakdown. Further he seems rather cheerful and emotive. Abbey is prone to emotional stress but is somehow able to expertly manage what can only be described as a meteoric rise of a faction. God knows how many people show up in the span of 10 hours and things are going perfectly. This is not the work of a woman who bursts into tears when she sees enemy factions pop up. After, mind you, she actively decided to fight against Mr. Evil. This woman is literally the one who involved the MC in this war and she is crying about their chances. Lastly the town they are in. This town is notorious for being isolationist, but insists on being the faction base. which, as the chieftain said, will bring in lots of new people. like moths to a flame.

The battles were boring, and very gory. Bordering silly. Usually the fights feel like everyone is standing in a line waiting to get whacked. And it always seems that he is attacking hordes of enemies. With only one AOE damage spell. That he uses maybe twice in the entire book. All the other enemies get hit with single target attacks. As for the silly gore, even if we ignore all the exploding limbs or heads and the guts falling out everywhere. He says stuff like "I smashed the spiders skull with one blow!" Well, my friend.. spiders don't have skulls. I know the author meant its head. But that's really all i can think on the numerous occasions that he smashes spider skulls.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Vanilla pound cake

As in this is an enjoyable audiobook to listen to (in spite of the annoyingly, over-dramatic narration), but its nowhere near a 5 star LitRPG series. Sorta like if the only thing for dessert is vanilla pound cake, you’re gonna eat it and it might even be pretty good, but given multiple options, you’re probably going to go for something else.

That said, it held my attention fairly well, and the only thing that was actually bad about this audiobook was the often hammy narration... It wasn’t Vikas Adam bad, and I was mostly able to ignore it, but it did regularly pull me out of the story.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good, but could be better

I'll be brief. This book, like the first, has a lot of potential but suffers both in writing and in narration in a way that makes it feel forced. The prose is overly dramatic, pressed too tightly with similes and metaphors. The narration makes you feel as though every other word is deep and suggestive, demanding your complete attention and investment.

It simply lacks balance. In order for the analogies to carry weight, there needs to be a good deal of simplicity to surround them. Same goes for dramatic emphasis in the narration. Not everything should be the most important thing.

As for the story, it's pretty good. The climax fell a little flat, but it was still enjoyable overall. The sequel is out, and I am interested in it, but I'm going to need a break from listening it. I don't think this series is one I could binge - with all of the forced dramaticism, my eyes would pop out of my skull from being rolled too much.

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2 people found this helpful