Viridian Gate Online: Firebrand: A litRPG Adventure

The Firebrand Series, Book 1

By: J. D. Astra, James Hunter

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's Summary

New worlds get new kings, and that’s exactly what Abby thinks she’s found in her boss’ hacked code.

With a cataclysmic asteroid careening toward Earth, the VRMMORPG project Viridian Gate Online has become more than just a game, and Abby thinks her boss, Robert Osmark, wants to be more than just its founding father.

Now, Abby holds a hacked key to the kingdom that could earn her a punishment worse than death. To uncover the secret that drug lords and corrupt politicians paid millions for, Abby must dive into the game she helped create and team up with one of its AI creations. It’s a race against the clock as she tries to discover what’s hidden in the secret code before Osmark can crown himself ruler over all that remains of humanity.

From James A. Hunter - author of Viridian Gate Online, Rogue Dungeon, War God's Mantle, and the Yancy Lazarus Series - and debut author J.D. Astra comes an epic new entry into the expanded universe of Viridian Gate Online that you won't want to pause!

©2019 Shadow Alley Press (P)2019 Shadow Alley Press

no good for me

The MC whines the whole story. Thing that she knows best. Then crumbles and has panic attacks. To much internal conflict.

Good, but....

I actually enjoyed the story. The writing and narration were both very good. I got into the story immediately but the constant hemming and hawing of the main character made the second half of the book hard to get through. It was painful!

OMG she is so whiny!

It’s really a shame the writer chose to make his female protagonist such a whiny stereo typical needy female. First of all it’s a shame that this is basically a repeat of the other Veridian game online series but told from Abby‘s perspective. To make her constantly whine about wanting to go home, repeatedly reiterating her conflict with NPC’s not being real, her fears of what the bad guy is going to do-this story for me was tooth grinding Lee annoying! Skipping all of that, if you’re able to, like all of these lit RPG-style books, the setting is quite robust, the characterization is good the dialogue could use some tweaks and again grammatical errors abound if you are a reader who doesn’t mind mechanical errors, sometimes stilted sentence structure and continuity issues, and you’re just looking for a fun story based on MMORPG games, then I think you would love this series. For myself, I’m not able to overlook the many errors as they drag the story down for me and have me constantly scratching my head. Happy reading!

Love these VGO stories

So the great thing about the VGO worlds is that you can pick up multiple books that occur in the same timeline and intertwine with each other’s stories. This is the modern day or the LITRPG Version of Dragonlance/Forgotten Realms of my childhood. My son loves listening to these with me as we drive and fish. This story is the first in the series as viewed through the world by Abby. Since I started elsewhere first it was really cool to see how the impact she had in the other books was started here and developed into what happened there. If you haven’t started VGO yet then start here. The history created here of how she got the powers she has and the knowledge she has is great. I really loved reading this and see how her character got flushed out to the point it was at in other books. Listening to the 2nd one now. I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator or publisher

Good but some irritating things also

Pros
Good story, rich environment and characters, well developed story.

Cons.
Main character is basically in non stop self doubt mode and it is narrated in that way. "Abby" seems to always be wondering to herself and on the verge of tears etc. What could be described in 1 sentence is flooded into multiple paragraphs of her feelings and rambling doubts etc. It just gets annoying after a bit.
Instead of saying (example) 'I walked down the alley following Otto to the Drunken Donkey' it is read as "I paused, I took a step, I bit my lip, Otto was reassuring me as we walked" ..just drawn out and it never stops throughout the book.

Final verdict
3 stars, it would have been 5 stars except for the con and rambling dragging out of situations. The author is good though and has great creativity. Worth the listen = yes.

Make it stop

the plot was pretty cheesey, it was interesting, but didn't really make sense. All the similes and metaphors were like an "eager toddler" crapping it's diaper and made me cringe like the smell of said toddler would. the main issue though was the wishy-washy main character. why does she make up her mind one second just to contradict herself and then re-make up her mind the same way? if her goal is so important, so earth shattering, why does she have gather her resolve every chapter? surprisingly, the NPCs were much more believable than her.

all that said, it was at least offered for free, so if you want a very frustrating book, give it a try. if nothing else, it might make you angry enough to write your own book.

can't stand this writer

I tried the other viridian gate online and it was the same. Everything is overwhelming and drama here and drama there. it just gets on my nerves.

Monologue

Great story, to bad Audio Book can only use one voice actor. Would be nice to give these books a little depth with more than one actor.

Good but too much drama!

I enjoy the stories of VGO and have listened to all of them. Good performance. However there was way too much “female drama”, soul searching, manipulation, etc. I can see some of that as the main character, Abby, is female but seriously! Abby needs to be in therapy. Still, the action, game play items were well done.

I see fire!

Viridian Gate Online is a large and well established universe in LitRPG circles. There are many books in the main series and now several spin off series as well. This is the story of Abby.

Abby comes into this story knowing things that will affect the entire universe of VGO and she is very determined to take action for them. To be honest, this is my only complaint with this book. I have read many LitRGP, but haven't made it to VGO yet. Starting with FIrebrand, I know that I did spoil a few of the major plot points for myself. Having said that, read the main series before you start up Firebrand to keep those surprises going for yourself. Once you get past that, I would highly recommend reading this book!

Enjoyable entry into VGO

It wasn't until after I had finished this book that I found out that it was part of a larger universe that originated from another author who has allowed people to write books within it, but that did not hamper my enjoyment of it in any way as it was a strong standalone book with well-realised characters that fed into a bigger story without harming the one you were reading.

The main characters were likeable and interesting with the supporting cast feeling well-defined and helping to enhance the overall feeling of the book and the world. The pacing and overall feel of the book were helped by the strength of the characters too as they were interesting enough from the outset that your connection as a listener to them helped your progression through the book very well.

Part of the reason that the characters worked so well was the performance of the narrator, helping to enhance the overall story with an enjoyable and distinctive tone that helped the reader's immersion in the story.

Overall, an enjoyable listen that does more than enough for me to look for others in the VGO series.

[Note - I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.]

Great Story

Really enjoyed this book and the story of Abby from her own perspective thank you

Good if a bit Different

VG0 is such a big LitRPG so it takes a lot to keep up the level of excitement and quality writing , luckily this audio does that. I was familiar with the book and liked it so I was expecting the audio to up the game. In certain aspects this was met and in others it did fall slightly.
Due to the work of Armen Taylor we are already familiar with how Abby should sound so this will always be something that side storylines will struggle with when they come to audio.
In this aspect Zeller does a good job as after an initial period approx 2 hours for me I enjoyed her performance without the it doesn't sound like Abby.
This is something someone new to the series may not come across so all credit due the actual performance was very good although the cutter and Jack voices just failed a lot for me as they are my two favourite characters and Armen has such a large amount of time with these two it's very hard to not compare. Cutter especially I found a little too off for my liking.
Overall however this was the hardest bit and I can honestly say until those few chapters I was very much taken with Zellers performance and would probably follow another one of her stories as a narrator.
The writing is top notch so I can only give 5 stars and outside the niggle of preconceptions on how characters should sound I'm giving 5 stars overall.
I requested this audio and as such I have given my thoughts on this for you to peruse.

Great book

Love how James Hunter has expanded the series by letting other authors develop back stories for some of the characters he has created.

This story is on par with the others in the vgo series and JD Astra has done an amazing job on shedding insight into Abbys motives and her character look forward to the next one in the series