Really enjoyed the story I had to stop

I really enjoy the story idea. I think it is a fresh and it brings me back to when I played MMORPGs. I would recommended the books. The narrator does a good job. Not great, but good.

This is going to sound ridiculous, but I had to stop because I couldn't stand the main character saying "my inner greedy pig". Every time I heard it I would get a little more frustrated with the book. I think I was only two hours in on this book and had counted him saying it over 10 times. The last straw was when he said it 4 times in the span of 10 minutes.

Decent story idea, good narrator and okay writing.

14 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Great book, but then the half-assed romance.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

If i made a checklist for this book on how it delivers on execution, you'd see a page almost entirely made up of check marks. The only two checks that really get overlooked here are conflict and romance, but these two elements are critical and their lack is a devastating blow to what could have been a fantastic book. Because i understand that some people COULD slug past these soul-draining moments and go on to call this book acceptable, I've rated it a 2/5, however I personally find this book on my short list of worst books i've ever completed.

So, similar to book #1, there is utterly no conflict. Sure swords clash, but the main character is never truly in peril. There is no sustained threat or real consequences he may face. Other people are in peril, but the moment the MC shows up, they're fine so you don't even get the indirectly vicarious suspense of worry that MC might have to struggle to save everyone.

And here's the real condemner - the romance is a half-baked self insertion story (haha) that serves only to stroke the MC's ego by putting his GF in positions where she jealously bickers with other hot girls over who gets to jump MC's bone. Ultimately, the heroine (tally?) wins and gets to have sex constantly. Yay! This isnt graphically depicted sex, nor is it plot relevant, and it also serves absolutely no purpose in building the characters or relationships, instead its more like a wink wink nudge nudge. High five me bro, I just sexed the females! Whats the point? By the end, Tally still doesnt have a personality or purpose other than as a conduit for sexual greatness so why would you detract from all the cool world-building and deific wonder to fall back on cheap allusions to MC's irrelevant sex life.
So, this really seems like something minor, that could easily be overlooked. That's why I made it to book 2, and I'm here to warn you: dont trivialize this.
To validate my point, I'd like to call the book itself to testimony -
MC is pretty much the saint of a semi-evil god thats been relegated to the sidelines.
The god asks his two companions if they want to follow him.
Companion 1 (male) is all like, hell ya! You saved me when good gods didnt, so I'm with you!
MC's girlfriend says, I hear serving you will make me better at sex. If so i'm in.

^True story. 'nuff said. Even if 90% of a book is good, if the other 10% is wretched, pointless, and toxic enough the book will suck.

11 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Solid LitRPG Spoiled by Sexism

Max is back, and he's more powerful than ever. After The Dark One's intervention in the last book, Max is offered an opportunity to grasp more power. A lot of opportunities, in fact. Max is juggling quests, and his allies and clan only seem to be piling more on his plate.

This second book in the series deals more with the political and financial struggles Max faces. There's a lot going on, and Max races from crisis to crisis at a frantic pace. The glimpses we get of the action outside Alterworld were really interesting. The book definitely kept my attention and I had a hard time putting it down on my first read-through. The narration was excellent as well.

I love the LitRPG genre, and this series was my first introduction to it. I bought the first three Play to Live books in 2015, but I didn't purchase the rest of the series. Even though I loved the plot, as a female reader and gamer, the sexism was difficult to read. One example was when Max hired an all female mercenary group to help him level up. He was a lowly level 52 to the women's 140 plus levels, they'd probably played the game for years and could wipe him out in moments. After playing with them for a few days and witnessing their skill, does he respect them? No, of course not. His only thought is that they could use a 'strong male hand'. Ugh. And Taali, who arguably has a much more interesting storyline than Max's, is relegated to warm his bed and be crowned homecoming queen. Double ugh.

I would give this book 5 stars and highly recommend it if it wasn't for the sexism. There is a lot of great LitRPG out there now, so I won't be finishing the series.

9 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

this series is 100xs better thab RP1

After reading a book called ready player one i was sad because i was sure i had just finished the best if not only book of this unique mmorpg genre. BOY WAS I WRONG. Not only does this Series Beat out Ready Player One in Giving me the Mmorpg feelings i havent ever experience outside of a computer screen. i believe the story itself is better as well. you add to the fact that this is a series that keeps getting better book by book. a story that doesnt ever take the cheap way out and keeps true to its roots! i can not recommend this series enough! Worth the Money Worth the Time! and if you are like me looking for something to fill the RP1 hole. You found it 10/10

7 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Continues and improves the first book

I absolutely loved the first book in this story, in part because it let me relive some of my MMORPG gaming days. This book continued the story and moved it forward well. it continued to tackle some tough issues while at the same time developing the main characters.
The only problem that I have is that this book move away from some of the things that I loves so much about the first book: the detailed description of the perks and the normal experience of players in games like the one described. The reason it does this is because the main character continues to get more and more important in the world and gets swept up in some big plot points and moves away form the smaller points somewhat.
This is actually probably a good things since it moves the action along, but I missed it a little bit. Still 5 stars though. It was awesome.

5 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

very mediocre

the book tends to have its most dramatic plot devices at the end of the story. The translation of the book produces quirky expressions. other reviewers are correct, there is very minimal plot and drama. The main character just does his thing as he gets and loses opportunities.

I'm curious about the next book, but I rather not spend a credit on that curiosity. I rather spend that credit on better works.

4 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Not really a series, just one huge book broken up.

this is the second book without it's own distinct plot. there are plot points for the "series" but no individual plot or each book. a promising series, ruined by marketing. if the five decent - sized "parts" in the series had been combined into two or three complete, and long, books THEN it would have been my new favorite series. as it is, I'm bailing at two "books".

4 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Just as Good as Book 1!

This story just keeps getting better and better! As with the first book, I finished this one in one sitting and immediately purchased book three. It's rare to find a series that holds my attention and delivers such a compelling story. Highly Recommended!

3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Sounded neat but

The series should be called My Inner Greedy Pig. I wanted to like it, some of it wasn't that bad but the dialog was off at times and there was the over use of some phrases that killed it, for me. I muscled through the first two but don't think I can do anymore to see if the writing was refined. Some of it was fun , little more tuning in my opinion.

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

good, but frustrating

Generally, authors run into the problem that their characters are so unbelievable, they're unsympathetic or even actively repulsive. Particularly with portrayals of female characters. D Rus seems to have the opposite problem. Leena and Makaria make me want to reach into the book and strangle them (and by extension, Rus) for reasons that are completely in character and believable.

Other people have problems with Alter-world being simply bizarre from a game design perspective, or with Max for being an obvious and blatant power trip character, but honestly that's easily forgiven as the general setting and thus "method to the madness" are deeply fascinating. That and it's better than most of its competitors in that regard; which honestly isn't hard to do.

Final notes, where the ending to the first book was surprising and unexpected, the ending to this book was...IDK, given it's drow, this was totally in character, but then again the norm for the last decade has been expectation violation and that SEEMED to be what was happening in the first book...
Regardless, most of Max's problems are women being women.

8/10, would recommend to a friend.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile