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Shooter #1
Freshman Drive
Deke dreams of a better life and that means money. Money and influence like the type earned by those who play at the peak of the sport he loves. The elites of the NBA.
A small-town kid from a trailer park in Canada, Deke already had all the odds stacked against him. Yet, even with his slim chances he got recruited as a scholarship athlete. He joined the University of San Pandero in California and took his first step on his road to the top. He was flying high, until he landed–landed wrong. The doctor’s planned recovery time ruined his season. That changed Halloween night when Deke tried to save a teammate. His hobbled flight from the goons beating up Ronnie would change his life forever.
The harrowing escape ends when Deke finds an unknown needle sticking out of his leg. Uncovering the syringe he discovers its contents already injected and a video game-like message scrolls by with a deadly ultimatum.
Deke makes the only choice he can, and downs the vial of glowing blue liquid in a single gulp…
A small-town kid from a trailer park in Canada, Deke already had all the odds stacked against him. Yet, even with his slim chances he got recruited as a scholarship athlete. He joined the University of San Pandero in California and took his first step on his road to the top. He was flying high, until he landed–landed wrong. The doctor’s planned recovery time ruined his season. That changed Halloween night when Deke tried to save a teammate. His hobbled flight from the goons beating up Ronnie would change his life forever.
The harrowing escape ends when Deke finds an unknown needle sticking out of his leg. Uncovering the syringe he discovers its contents already injected and a video game-like message scrolls by with a deadly ultimatum.
Deke makes the only choice he can, and downs the vial of glowing blue liquid in a single gulp…
- GenresUrban
530 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 31, 2021
73 people are currently reading
1391 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
July 7, 2023
This is a testament to the authors that wrote the story that they were able to turn a fairly inane subject, like a freshman basketball player into a very entertaining cloak-and-dagger story, with some very unpredictable twists and turns and some good system mechanics that really worked to push the story forward.
June 5, 2023
Book one
If I'm perfectly honest, if it hadn't been for the many glowing reviews I probably would have dropped this book early or skipped it completely.
Number one, I don't like basketball. Number two, I really disliked the MC for a good chunk of the book.
The reviews are right though. This is a good progression story. The MC slowly improved as a character and in such a way as to be believed. He is still pretty stupid, but I guess I'm a bit of a nerd.
Overall this is a good story and I look forward to things picking up in book two.
8/10
If I'm perfectly honest, if it hadn't been for the many glowing reviews I probably would have dropped this book early or skipped it completely.
Number one, I don't like basketball. Number two, I really disliked the MC for a good chunk of the book.
The reviews are right though. This is a good progression story. The MC slowly improved as a character and in such a way as to be believed. He is still pretty stupid, but I guess I'm a bit of a nerd.
Overall this is a good story and I look forward to things picking up in book two.
8/10
June 9, 2023
Wow, just wow
I would never have thought that a sports-based LITRPG would grip my attention like this. A basketball story, no less!
The emotional depth of the characters combined with the driving plot served to grab hold of my attention and refused to let go. This is an extremely well-written book.
The system is intriguing and the execution of it throughout the story was light and perfect. It enhanced the action without overwhelming it at all.
The characters are so well written that they feel as close to real as you can get. You truly feel Deke's physical, mental, and emotional struggles as you read. So well done!
I would never have thought that a sports-based LITRPG would grip my attention like this. A basketball story, no less!
The emotional depth of the characters combined with the driving plot served to grab hold of my attention and refused to let go. This is an extremely well-written book.
The system is intriguing and the execution of it throughout the story was light and perfect. It enhanced the action without overwhelming it at all.
The characters are so well written that they feel as close to real as you can get. You truly feel Deke's physical, mental, and emotional struggles as you read. So well done!
June 7, 2023
Well written, great characters and an interesting storyline. I really enjoyed this one even though the world of basketball is completely foreign to me.
June 5, 2023
tortoise
This is very slice-of-life, that life being a freshman collegiate athlete. With all that entails. As a result, the pace is slow. And the MC is not OP…yet.
A lot of sexual innuendo and teenage lust, but nothing truly graphic. Not something I’d want on Audible for all to hear, but I’m a bit of a prude.
Well written, with multiple sub-plots and solid supporting characters.
I will pre-order the sequel. And I am not a fan of basketball.
This is very slice-of-life, that life being a freshman collegiate athlete. With all that entails. As a result, the pace is slow. And the MC is not OP…yet.
A lot of sexual innuendo and teenage lust, but nothing truly graphic. Not something I’d want on Audible for all to hear, but I’m a bit of a prude.
Well written, with multiple sub-plots and solid supporting characters.
I will pre-order the sequel. And I am not a fan of basketball.
June 1, 2023
surprisingly good
I really enjoyed this one, surprisingly since I’m not a huge basketball fan. Good character development, the mc really improved over his freshman year.
I really enjoyed this one, surprisingly since I’m not a huge basketball fan. Good character development, the mc really improved over his freshman year.
June 24, 2023
I had such high hopes for this…
I love both of these authors, and was so excited to see that they had collaborated, but maybe my expectations were too high, because I found this book to be deadly dull.
I don’t believe that there is a high school freshman athlete who doesn’t know anything about macronutrients and how diet impacts performance, let alone a university freshman. And why is Deke described, at one point, as being able to speak French, and then can’t pronounce hors d’oeuvres?
If all Deke wanted was money, why wouldn’t he take it the first chance he got, without considering the consequences? He certainly wasn’t written as intelligent, and I don’t know that his friendship with Lee was so strong that it made sense for Deke to give his roommate’s words so much value. This character could have been so much more likable, and relatable, if he claimed to enjoy the game more than just as a means to wealth. He honestly felt like Brendan Fraser’s basketball character, in ‘Bedeviled’ - more caricature than character.
I might give any further additions to this series a chance, because I do have faith that these authors have the ability to write well, but I finished this book with a sense of relief that it was finally over.
I love both of these authors, and was so excited to see that they had collaborated, but maybe my expectations were too high, because I found this book to be deadly dull.
I don’t believe that there is a high school freshman athlete who doesn’t know anything about macronutrients and how diet impacts performance, let alone a university freshman. And why is Deke described, at one point, as being able to speak French, and then can’t pronounce hors d’oeuvres?
If all Deke wanted was money, why wouldn’t he take it the first chance he got, without considering the consequences? He certainly wasn’t written as intelligent, and I don’t know that his friendship with Lee was so strong that it made sense for Deke to give his roommate’s words so much value. This character could have been so much more likable, and relatable, if he claimed to enjoy the game more than just as a means to wealth. He honestly felt like Brendan Fraser’s basketball character, in ‘Bedeviled’ - more caricature than character.
I might give any further additions to this series a chance, because I do have faith that these authors have the ability to write well, but I finished this book with a sense of relief that it was finally over.
October 1, 2023
The middle half of this book is amazing, but fumbles at the beginning and end.
Deke Miller is a college freshman ruled by pride and a desire to play basketball in the NBA so that he can help his single mother and ailing little brother. When the story opens it is Halloween, only a couple months into his college career, and he has been injured a month earlier with an ACL tear.
When I say “ruled by pride,” I mean he is a decent kid, but his pride is so great that he would rather wear dirty clothing (and wait for away games where the hotels have laundry service) than admit he’s never learned how to do laundry before, would rather not do his assignments than admit he doesn’t understand the course material, would rather risk further injury than use his crutches at a party, and would rather double down when he pisses off a girl than admit he is wrong and apologize. The present moment trumps long-term consequences.
Unfortunately, when the character is introduced we understand very little of that. We meet a foul, arrogant, injured asshole who lives surrounded by dirty laundry and looks down on “try hards” who don’t coast through life like him. His teachers are all basketball fans and appear to be perfectly willing to let his classwork slide forever. Karma doesn’t seem to apply to him: every bad thing he does is rewarded and his first good deed is punished by an accidental stab, deep in the leg. I almost tossed aside the book in disgust.
I like LitRPG and was interested in this book purely to see how that was handled in a modern non-fantasy setting. The only reason I didn’t abandon this book was my desire to answer that question before I put the book down forever.
Then everything changed.
We learn that all the things Deke has been doing *do* have consequences, but those consequences are delayed. The teachers who “ignore” Deke’s classwork have actually been his problems to his coach instead of confronting him directly. He only learns how close he came to getting kicked out of college entirely after he starts getting his life together. This theme of instant gratification vs long term consequences continues throughout the book to great effect.
In Deke’s case, the program which is a staple of LitRPG starts converting his lifestyle choices from long term to instant consequences. His “Rudimentary Hygene” task is rewarded with a tiny amount of magical healing to his knee. Showing off to the girl in the rehab center instead of doing his exercises properly gets some of that healing reversed. The program treats alcohol as poison, inducing immediate (and very public) vomiting, and punishes ignoring the meal plan with explosive diarrhea. A bit at a time, pride is replaced by humility and the reader is introduced to the person under the facade who is great with kids his little brother’s age and is more a lost fish out of water instead of a raging asshole.
After a rough start, this middle half of this book is amazing.
Then the bad guys introduce themselves to Deke and, for a hidden organization of possible assassins, are about as subtle and secret as an exploding bomb.
How could Deke have warned his friends and family without revealing his secret? "Hey guys, that person making too good to be true offers to all of you is a scammer, not who he says he is. Ignore him." Scams of one type or another are a regular part of most reader's lives at this point.
Deke even goes so far as basically saying that to one friend when the offer to her sounds physically impossible. When the bad guys start offering more and more to everyone to pressure Deke, the effect becomes pathetic and comedic instead of ramping up the tension.
The premise is great. The characters are great, once you get to know them. Even the details on the dictatorial program improve the story in lots of interesting ways. The opening chapters drop what should have been a five-star book down to four. The cartoonish antagonist drops it farther.
Deke Miller is a college freshman ruled by pride and a desire to play basketball in the NBA so that he can help his single mother and ailing little brother. When the story opens it is Halloween, only a couple months into his college career, and he has been injured a month earlier with an ACL tear.
When I say “ruled by pride,” I mean he is a decent kid, but his pride is so great that he would rather wear dirty clothing (and wait for away games where the hotels have laundry service) than admit he’s never learned how to do laundry before, would rather not do his assignments than admit he doesn’t understand the course material, would rather risk further injury than use his crutches at a party, and would rather double down when he pisses off a girl than admit he is wrong and apologize. The present moment trumps long-term consequences.
Unfortunately, when the character is introduced we understand very little of that. We meet a foul, arrogant, injured asshole who lives surrounded by dirty laundry and looks down on “try hards” who don’t coast through life like him. His teachers are all basketball fans and appear to be perfectly willing to let his classwork slide forever. Karma doesn’t seem to apply to him: every bad thing he does is rewarded and his first good deed is punished by an accidental stab, deep in the leg. I almost tossed aside the book in disgust.
I like LitRPG and was interested in this book purely to see how that was handled in a modern non-fantasy setting. The only reason I didn’t abandon this book was my desire to answer that question before I put the book down forever.
Then everything changed.
We learn that all the things Deke has been doing *do* have consequences, but those consequences are delayed. The teachers who “ignore” Deke’s classwork have actually been his problems to his coach instead of confronting him directly. He only learns how close he came to getting kicked out of college entirely after he starts getting his life together. This theme of instant gratification vs long term consequences continues throughout the book to great effect.
In Deke’s case, the program which is a staple of LitRPG starts converting his lifestyle choices from long term to instant consequences. His “Rudimentary Hygene” task is rewarded with a tiny amount of magical healing to his knee. Showing off to the girl in the rehab center instead of doing his exercises properly gets some of that healing reversed. The program treats alcohol as poison, inducing immediate (and very public) vomiting, and punishes ignoring the meal plan with explosive diarrhea. A bit at a time, pride is replaced by humility and the reader is introduced to the person under the facade who is great with kids his little brother’s age and is more a lost fish out of water instead of a raging asshole.
After a rough start, this middle half of this book is amazing.
Then the bad guys introduce themselves to Deke and, for a hidden organization of possible assassins, are about as subtle and secret as an exploding bomb.
How could Deke have warned his friends and family without revealing his secret? "Hey guys, that person making too good to be true offers to all of you is a scammer, not who he says he is. Ignore him." Scams of one type or another are a regular part of most reader's lives at this point.
Deke even goes so far as basically saying that to one friend when the offer to her sounds physically impossible. When the bad guys start offering more and more to everyone to pressure Deke, the effect becomes pathetic and comedic instead of ramping up the tension.
The premise is great. The characters are great, once you get to know them. Even the details on the dictatorial program improve the story in lots of interesting ways. The opening chapters drop what should have been a five-star book down to four. The cartoonish antagonist drops it farther.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 4, 2023
Freshman Drive is less LitRPG as it is science fiction with some kind of nanobot based system. The system encourages better habits like eating well, doing laundry, and maintaining good hygiene. In exchange it excelerates the healing of Deke's sports injury. The stats don't have much context or effect events. He eventually gets abilities to play basketball better.
The story centers around jocks and cheerleaders in a college setting. Deke's nerd friends are the only really likable characters, but the constant references to legally-distinct-Firefly get old. Early on there isn't a whole lot of basketball but in the last quarter there are a lot of games described in detail and I found myself skimming heavily.
I think this book is well written and technically very good, but it's very much not for me. It covers Deke's freshman year of college, so presumably this will be a four book series.
Content warnings: Depression, self harm, domestic abuse, needles, steroids, gross bodily fluid stuff
The story centers around jocks and cheerleaders in a college setting. Deke's nerd friends are the only really likable characters, but the constant references to legally-distinct-Firefly get old. Early on there isn't a whole lot of basketball but in the last quarter there are a lot of games described in detail and I found myself skimming heavily.
I think this book is well written and technically very good, but it's very much not for me. It covers Deke's freshman year of college, so presumably this will be a four book series.
Content warnings: Depression, self harm, domestic abuse, needles, steroids, gross bodily fluid stuff
November 22, 2025
This book almost went into the "skip" pile, but I'm glad I gave it a chance.
I am NOT a basketball fan, or even a sports fan, so at first glance I thought this book wouldn't be for me.
I decided to give it a chance because Ryan Debruyn and Xander Boyce are both authors I've read and enjoyed before.
all that to say, if you like basketball and also litRPG, this book has that.
If you enjoy characters struggling to grow from week to strong, physically, emotionally and also in character, this book has that.
If reading about the hapless looser who lucks into a chance to turn his life around and has to evade and overcome the machinations of the shadowy evil they don't know is after them, this has that too.
All in all this was a fun read that started off strong and kept me interest and emotionally engaged until the end.
Can't wait to read the next book.
I am NOT a basketball fan, or even a sports fan, so at first glance I thought this book wouldn't be for me.
I decided to give it a chance because Ryan Debruyn and Xander Boyce are both authors I've read and enjoyed before.
all that to say, if you like basketball and also litRPG, this book has that.
If you enjoy characters struggling to grow from week to strong, physically, emotionally and also in character, this book has that.
If reading about the hapless looser who lucks into a chance to turn his life around and has to evade and overcome the machinations of the shadowy evil they don't know is after them, this has that too.
All in all this was a fun read that started off strong and kept me interest and emotionally engaged until the end.
Can't wait to read the next book.
November 3, 2024
I don't care for sports, and these two authors are iffy for me, but the blurb has me questioning how this would work, so i'm doing it.
I can't believe I finished a book about a basketball player. This wasn't even really fantasy, it was like some super advanced light scifi.
I don't think I will read the sequel. It was very well written, and actually had me paying attention to a sports game, but it's not my cup of tea.
The way this ended made it sound like it would be more than sports the protag got up to in the future, but I don't care. This thing needs juice to run, and there wasn't some hack the protag could have used to get better.
It was a by the numbers story.
Meh.
3/5 Stars
I can't believe I finished a book about a basketball player. This wasn't even really fantasy, it was like some super advanced light scifi.
I don't think I will read the sequel. It was very well written, and actually had me paying attention to a sports game, but it's not my cup of tea.
The way this ended made it sound like it would be more than sports the protag got up to in the future, but I don't care. This thing needs juice to run, and there wasn't some hack the protag could have used to get better.
It was a by the numbers story.
Meh.
3/5 Stars
November 9, 2023
Help me read more books
This is the first LitRPG type book I've read based on sports. I'm not really a basketball fan, and this is more a gamelit than a LitRPG story, but it's still interesting enough that it kept me reading all the way to the end. I'll probably read more in the series, though not right away. If you're a sports fan, especially basketball, this one should appeal to you whether you're a gamelit fan or not. If you just like good old fashioned competitions, then this one should work for you as well. I liked it, which surprised me. I'm more of a baseball guy than a basketball one, but still, this story was pretty good I thought.
This is the first LitRPG type book I've read based on sports. I'm not really a basketball fan, and this is more a gamelit than a LitRPG story, but it's still interesting enough that it kept me reading all the way to the end. I'll probably read more in the series, though not right away. If you're a sports fan, especially basketball, this one should appeal to you whether you're a gamelit fan or not. If you just like good old fashioned competitions, then this one should work for you as well. I liked it, which surprised me. I'm more of a baseball guy than a basketball one, but still, this story was pretty good I thought.
June 5, 2023
Okay
This was okay, nothing more, nothing less. There is so much existential drama just for dramas sake and I can't stand that in a story. My biggest gripe is how we have over 500 pages and only cover something like 2 months? Starting the story off with a.5time championship in the future and then going back to his freshman year I'm college showed me that the pacing for the story is just abysmal. The whole thing comes across as very formulaic and I don't think a second book could get me to read it. Grammatically everything was fine.
This was okay, nothing more, nothing less. There is so much existential drama just for dramas sake and I can't stand that in a story. My biggest gripe is how we have over 500 pages and only cover something like 2 months? Starting the story off with a.5time championship in the future and then going back to his freshman year I'm college showed me that the pacing for the story is just abysmal. The whole thing comes across as very formulaic and I don't think a second book could get me to read it. Grammatically everything was fine.
June 4, 2023
Lite on the litrpg good storyline
I'm not a big basketball fan but I enjoyed the storyline the plot has a lot depth and focused a lot more on the struggle of easy power and earning your place.
Some of the choices I would never do but it fun watching them play out as it was a new perspective for me, I want see what happens in book two and hopefully the powers become more the focus as thier a plot alluded to but never explored it always the shadow. Add to that I feel the skill system was amazing just never really explored.
I'm not a big basketball fan but I enjoyed the storyline the plot has a lot depth and focused a lot more on the struggle of easy power and earning your place.
Some of the choices I would never do but it fun watching them play out as it was a new perspective for me, I want see what happens in book two and hopefully the powers become more the focus as thier a plot alluded to but never explored it always the shadow. Add to that I feel the skill system was amazing just never really explored.
June 6, 2023
Not my Favorite
When I saw two authors I enjoy (Boyce is higher on my list) I expected a great book. This seemed kinda just thrown together and a sort of diversion from both authors previous works to heavy extent, I’m all about authors branching out and not writing the same stuff but I didn’t like the pacing, the romance aspect, the high school esq drama or the immature mc. Hope they tie it together better on the next one.
When I saw two authors I enjoy (Boyce is higher on my list) I expected a great book. This seemed kinda just thrown together and a sort of diversion from both authors previous works to heavy extent, I’m all about authors branching out and not writing the same stuff but I didn’t like the pacing, the romance aspect, the high school esq drama or the immature mc. Hope they tie it together better on the next one.
October 5, 2023
3.5 stars.
I'm so glad the author chose to push the boundaries of litRPG by setting it within a vaguely realistic scenario of college basketball. To maintain the realism the pacing is much slower and the magic (nano-machines, I think) powers more down to earth - like an enhanced 3-point shooting ability.
My concern is I can't see how this can maintain its level of realism and have the ramp-up so standard to this genre.
I'm so glad the author chose to push the boundaries of litRPG by setting it within a vaguely realistic scenario of college basketball. To maintain the realism the pacing is much slower and the magic (nano-machines, I think) powers more down to earth - like an enhanced 3-point shooting ability.
My concern is I can't see how this can maintain its level of realism and have the ramp-up so standard to this genre.
January 22, 2024
Refreshing LitRPG. I like seeing the boundaries being pushed and not just cookie cutter stories. This is definitely a unique entry in the LitRPG genre. The story was entertaining. I did not like all the characters though. The MC was a tool and his GF was a disgusting individual. There is some growth of the characters through the book but that initial impression stuck with me the entire time.
June 3, 2023
This book is fantastic. They need an extra star to give to books that are this fantastic.
A combination of James Bond and “the program “.
Excellent book. Cant say enough good things about it.
A combination of James Bond and “the program “.
Excellent book. Cant say enough good things about it.
October 15, 2023
Litrpg and sports!
If you played competitive basketball and like LitRPG, this book is awesome! Reading this book took me back to playing ball and made me want to play again. Give it a shot!(pun intended)
If you played competitive basketball and like LitRPG, this book is awesome! Reading this book took me back to playing ball and made me want to play again. Give it a shot!(pun intended)
January 10, 2025
to my un-basketball knowledgeable mind this seemed to have great Basketball strategy details (2nd half). Otherwise very good, made me care about MC & see some of my young foolishness in life decisions.
June 3, 2023
Great combination of sports and fantasy genres!
Just a solid entertaining book. I would definitely recommend this book to any basketball fans ,or fantasy litrpg fans, or both.
Just a solid entertaining book. I would definitely recommend this book to any basketball fans ,or fantasy litrpg fans, or both.
June 14, 2023
This definitely isn't going to be to everyone's taste, but I enjoyed it. I probably would have given it 4.5 stars.
June 18, 2023
Bit too much of a soap opera for me. It’s basically a drama about college kids with a few stats and mysterious figures here and there. Not what I was expecting from the blurb.
September 5, 2023
The best book so far by either of these authors.
Great story with xXx movie franchise feel.
Great story with xXx movie franchise feel.
August 10, 2024
After listening to it (audiobook) for an hour and a half, I am reminded of a scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail where the people all yelled "GET ON WITH IT!"
Listening to stories about kids is taxing...
Listening to stories about kids is taxing...
June 22, 2025
Disappointed the sequel is missing !
🥲
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July 13, 2024
I enjoyed this book alot it's very fast-paced however give you more than enough detail to not feel lost or or make the book feel disjointed. I absolutely can't wait for the next book and can't recommend you check this book out enough.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews