AlterWorld

Not for people who are expecting a 4.5 star book

What disappointed you about AlterWorld?

If you're just looking for a fun story about a bunch of people stuck in a video game, and aren't too particular about quality, then you'll probably enjoy this book. If you're just looking for a fun read, go ahead. AlterWorld isn't necessarily awful, just sub par, but I was expecting A LOT more given the book's 4.5 star rating. So this review is really for people who are expecting a story that reflects the stars it's received.

Characters were flat and predictable, with nothing particularly special about them. Dialogue was cringe-worthy at times. The story itself doesn't do anything out of the ordinary either, and the writing is at about a high school level (to be fair, the author is very young). I don't understand why this series has such high ratings–it's average at best, and is completely undeserving of the 4.5 stars. Getting thrown into a video game world is an interesting (albeit overdone) topic, but the author could really benefit from developing his character/plot development skills, and could ESPECIALLY work on pushing his writing skills further.

25 sur 29 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

Sophomoric

What would have made AlterWorld better?

The writing style was immature. The author frequently introduces scenes with over the top characterizations hinting that the fight is unwinnable which the character proceeds to mundanely win anyways. The book feels like a male fantasy scribbling.

It also ends in the middle of the story with little if anything resolved.

Has AlterWorld turned you off from other books in this genre?

No. This book feels poorly planned and executed, which probably reflects the writer rather than the type of book.

What does Michael Goldstrom bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The reader is competent and expressive. He has to work with the writer's exaggerated narrative, though.

21 sur 25 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

One Of The Best Books I Have

(I am not going to give a synopsis of the story because you can look at the description and the other review and get some good ones)
These days it takes a lot to get me to really rave about a book. I have over 400 books in my audible library and I have listened to almost all of them because I have a long commute almost every day. I bought this book on a whim, not expecting much out of the idea of real life mixing with a video game. I have read books before where a human mind gets trapped in a video game, or where people bring video games into real life, and other compounds of the two. This book, however, surpassed them all.
I have some background playing video games. I am a bit of a gamer now (on steam) and played World of Warcraft as a teenager for a couple of months before I realized that it was sucking my life away. But I have never forgotten that time and the fun that I had on that MMORPG, going on raids with other players, leveling up my character, joining a clan and deciding which stats I wanted.
As such, the my inner nerd had a nerdgasam about an hour into this book and I haven't looked back since.
There was a time, about three hours in, that I thought that although this was a fun book, it was not going to be very deep as far as themes and character development. I couldn't have been more wrong. The book and the series that follows (I am on book three right now) deal with some very heavy themes indeed, from life and death, to government involvement in personal life, to revenge, to rape, to the concept of eternity, to slavery, to greed, to what makes things right or wrong... The list goes on and on. It has been a while since I listened to a book that did such a good job of involving deep ideas while still moving the story forward in an such an interesting way. The main character also kept my interest all of the way through while continuing to change and grow as a person and as a game character.
The narrator for this book is also excellent.
One other thing: I figured out part way through that this book was translated form Russian to English. The translation is flawless however, as can be seen from the fact that I didn't even realize it for quite some time.

86 sur 105 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

Loved Ready Player One or Snowcrash? Skip This!

Full disclosure: I have not finished (slogged through) the entire book yet, but I think I can give a pretty heartfelt review at this point.
The concept of the book seemed interesting: The idea that you can BECOME a part of a MMPORPG for real and forever, leaving your corporeal body behind. But it rapidly became obvious that this author has some issues.
This is like some uber-gaming nerd's wet dream. Every woman is lithesome and willing. Max levels up with amazing rapidity. Every other player is awed by him or jealous or immediately his bestie. Only he could possibly have thought of this non-traditional character designation.
Getting back to the women, they are alternately: weepy, grateful when he picks them a flower, require rescuing, sex crazed and/or "such a girl/child." I've yet to hear him run across a warrior woman - and I'm not holding my breath.
Listening to Max detail how he grinds through leveling up is interesting at first, but becomes tedious rapidly. And the number of times he has spectacular luck in battle is beyond believable. For example, he happens upon a battle between another player and red bear. In the course of things, somehow the other player gets killed, JUST BEFORE the bear dies, meaning lowly Max gets credit for the bear kill, gets all the dropped treasures. One of them is a Soul Stone which he incarnates as a zombie and, voila!, has a ridiculously-leveled bear to do all his fighting and therefore his levelling. Max then sits on his butt while the bear does all the work (I even bored myself writing that explanation).
I have never played Everquest, but my sources say the game in this story is remarkably similar.
Additionally, I understand this is a Russian author, but there are some weird word usages - possibly translation errors, but weird.
I'd say, give this a pass. I won't be wasting time on the sequels.

16 sur 19 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

Didn't live up to the reviews

It's a very slow walk through of a dull player playing a dull game. It's a very drawn out step by step guide of an unbelievable character just plying a fantasy role play game. It doesn't even feel like a book. No story, no plot line, you are just reading about someone else playing a very dull role playing game online. Total disappointment.

15 sur 18 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

Like Watching Experienced Gamer Play on Easy Mode

This was like watching over the shoulder of an experienced gamer playing their favorite game on easy mode. Some of the game mechanics or graphics might be interesting but the actual game play is boring because there is no challenge or tension to the game. In this case, the hero of the game has never actually played the game and yet, he still strolls through each encounter. I kept waiting for the conflict, thinking maybe it was just a long set up. Briefly, there was the possibility of some IRL conflict but it passed uneventfully and unresolved. Maybe it's taken up again in book 2 and this book was a really, really long set up that gets interesting in book 2. I'll never know.

3 sur 3 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

Fanfic

This felt like a fanfic, serialized into many parts for best monetary advantage. I was uncomfortable with the cigarette and torture sections. I wasn't all that convinced over the way perma-mode seems to keep going while the servers are down. All in all, mediocre.

3 sur 3 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

Plotless

Mindless RPG isekai with no direction. Bored out of my mind. This might have been a new thing back in 2014 but doesn't hold up today.

3 sur 3 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

Sci-fi VR Story

Who wants to read every single step about playing a frigging video game? Way too much detail!

3 sur 3 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

I wanted to like it so much

I still wish I liked it! It's a great concept and the narrator does a great job. The problem is that instead of a compelling story you feel like your watching your older brother play a video game and you'll never get a chance to hold the controller.

7 sur 8 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.