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Play to Live #3
Долг
Новая реальность обретает глубину и краски. Мир познает рождение, мир познает смерть. Пуповина, соединяющая Землю и Друмир, истончается, и даже Неназываемый не в силах предотвратить неизбежный катаклизм!
Разве мог Глеб пройти мимо простой русской девчонки, чудом сбежавшей из китайского рабства и с тихим отчаяньем умоляющей помочь первого встречного ею человека, говорящего на родном языке?
И вот уже скручивается тугая пружина противостояния, невиданные ранее тысячные армии сходятся посреди Фронтира, пережигая килотонны маны, спекая песок в стекло и прорубая неуязвимые мифриловые доспехи. Яростное русское «Ура!» заглушает китайское «Ваньсуй!», и боги содрогаются от человеческой жестокости.
Разве мог Глеб пройти мимо простой русской девчонки, чудом сбежавшей из китайского рабства и с тихим отчаяньем умоляющей помочь первого встречного ею человека, говорящего на родном языке?
И вот уже скручивается тугая пружина противостояния, невиданные ранее тысячные армии сходятся посреди Фронтира, пережигая килотонны маны, спекая песок в стекло и прорубая неуязвимые мифриловые доспехи. Яростное русское «Ура!» заглушает китайское «Ваньсуй!», и боги содрогаются от человеческой жестокости.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published November 15, 2013
498 people are currently reading
623 people want to read
About the author
D. Rus
36 books545 followersD. Rus is a young Russian author whose books took the Russian literary market by storm in 2013. AlterWorld - the first novel of his Play to Live series - made him a bestselling author overnight as critics now credit him with single-handedly creating a new science fiction genre: LitRPG. Set in the virtual reality of MMORPG - Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games - his books tell stories of real people who'd become stuck in the game and are forced to follow its rules while preserving their intergrity and fighting to make their new world a better place. The five books of the series have created a huge following as more authors followed suit, making LitRPG the latest bestselling Russian genre that merges science fiction, fantasy and gaming conventions. D. Rus has been nominated for Start, one of Russia's prestigious literary prizes for the best debut science fiction novel. The first two novels of the Play to Live series - AlterWorld and The Clan - have been translated into English, and talks are under way to have the rest of the series published on Amazon.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
May 28, 2016
Inner pig is the funniest character ever. Loved the book, couldn't have been better
December 23, 2014
Effortless
I had almost forgotten that feeling of effortlessly reading a book you enjoy, as if transported through a dream in the most comfortable of vehicles. After laboriously pushing a heavy and rickety cart through the reading landscape of numerous books, it's good to be reminded that reading is not always like swiming against the current, or sieving for nuggets of gold in a field of arrid sand. It's supposed to be fun, it can be enjoyable, it should be effortless.
I had almost forgotten that feeling of effortlessly reading a book you enjoy, as if transported through a dream in the most comfortable of vehicles. After laboriously pushing a heavy and rickety cart through the reading landscape of numerous books, it's good to be reminded that reading is not always like swiming against the current, or sieving for nuggets of gold in a field of arrid sand. It's supposed to be fun, it can be enjoyable, it should be effortless.
December 25, 2014
In the previous two books we got introduced to AlterWorld. In book three, we can follow how it evolves into something that baffles even the world creators.
While the separation of Earth and AlterWorld is unavoidable, there are plenty of people who would like to harvest both worlds for wealth and power, up to the last minute. Those who have power already are terribly influential and they are really not happy with Max. His enemies are not resting, their plan to eliminate him will have far-reaching consequences.
The third book was refreshingly more action-packed than the second. It was captivating to read about the evolvement of the various AI, which resulted in interesting NPCs. Uniqueness is always something to look out for.
I am certainly looking forward to book four!
While the separation of Earth and AlterWorld is unavoidable, there are plenty of people who would like to harvest both worlds for wealth and power, up to the last minute. Those who have power already are terribly influential and they are really not happy with Max. His enemies are not resting, their plan to eliminate him will have far-reaching consequences.
The third book was refreshingly more action-packed than the second. It was captivating to read about the evolvement of the various AI, which resulted in interesting NPCs. Uniqueness is always something to look out for.
I am certainly looking forward to book four!
April 16, 2017
I really enjoy how this series mixes real life with a virtual reality and A.I.'s. The play to live series is a very good example of this new LitRPG genre.
February 26, 2015
Another brilliant volume! As Max and his motley crew continue to grow and advance, what was a 'game' starts to become a serious fight for justice in the AlterWorld. As the same time strange happenings are occurring in the 'real' world - from the start living players have been 'entering' AlterWorld, however there are hints at connections which go the other way... Whilst in the second volume the original creators seemed to be losing control of the game, now there seems to be a darker possibility of the game leaking into reality...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 23, 2014
Weaker then the 2 previous books. The translation still leaves much to be desired but there is also a problem from the writer that he clearly intended the reader to be Russian. The book conveyed facts without feelings? The books pace changed so much It felt like a different author for me.
March 10, 2015
Well...!
At least it isn't a cliffhanger like the second book was. Please, please translate the other books soon.Don't make me read it with Google translator...
At least it isn't a cliffhanger like the second book was. Please, please translate the other books soon.Don't make me read it with Google translator...
April 12, 2018
aaaand I'm done with this series. It started off okay, progressed to mediocre, and ended up as basically unreadable.
I like the litrpg genre in general, and this book has a few interesting things going for it. However, the translation is not good - it's somewhat wooden and stilted overall. And the author just seems like he's all over the place all of the time, without really engaging with the story or the reader. There are lots of interesting elements and storylines here, but the pacing and composition is just a sloppy mish mash. Like listening to a toddler hammer away on a piano - sure he's hitting a lot of the same notes that (say) Chopin uses, but without any rhythm or composition it's literally just noise. Likewise this mess, there's no central storyline or direction to pull things together with. I don't think the author knows where he's going - there are lots of things that are introduced and then never picked up again, or are irrelevant to advance the plot.
I just ...can't... anymore.
I like the litrpg genre in general, and this book has a few interesting things going for it. However, the translation is not good - it's somewhat wooden and stilted overall. And the author just seems like he's all over the place all of the time, without really engaging with the story or the reader. There are lots of interesting elements and storylines here, but the pacing and composition is just a sloppy mish mash. Like listening to a toddler hammer away on a piano - sure he's hitting a lot of the same notes that (say) Chopin uses, but without any rhythm or composition it's literally just noise. Likewise this mess, there's no central storyline or direction to pull things together with. I don't think the author knows where he's going - there are lots of things that are introduced and then never picked up again, or are irrelevant to advance the plot.
I just ...can't... anymore.
March 16, 2015
I really have enjoyed this series! I'm on the cusp of rating this third installment 4 stars but for now settle on 3 as I wasn't a big fan of a new change intro'd in this book. However, the ending kind of warmed me to the change a little bit so I am torn. Overall, this is the weaker of the three that have been published in English so far. I really can't say enough good things about the series though and especially recommend it to those who enjoyed Ready Player One. This series has its flaws. Maybe it's caused by the little that's lost in translation or my being - for the most part - foreign to gaming. Please read my reviews of the other books to have a better understanding. At any rate, I have loved reading these and will buy every one of them immediately upon their release. Off to contact the author now to bug him about expediting the translation of the next book.
March 4, 2015
I need the next book! Perma Player!
This series is so additive! I'm unbearably sad to be at the end of book three with not another to jump in to! Please write the next book as I must know what happens! I love the characters and the world of gaming is so real! Reading this series gives the reader the immense pleasure of great reading material but also the feeling that you are in the gaming world as a 'perma' player!!!
This series is so additive! I'm unbearably sad to be at the end of book three with not another to jump in to! Please write the next book as I must know what happens! I love the characters and the world of gaming is so real! Reading this series gives the reader the immense pleasure of great reading material but also the feeling that you are in the gaming world as a 'perma' player!!!
January 4, 2015
An excellent story continued
Picked it up immediately after finishing the first two books, consumed it in a day. Only downside is waiting for the rest of the series to get translated into English, but don't let that stop you from reading this series. More people buying might get the powers that be to get those translations finished
Picked it up immediately after finishing the first two books, consumed it in a day. Only downside is waiting for the rest of the series to get translated into English, but don't let that stop you from reading this series. More people buying might get the powers that be to get those translations finished
December 19, 2014
Great book, but too much management issues and that bored the hell out of me
Someone explain, alex dies or not?
Someone explain, alex dies or not?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 30, 2015
At long last
Well worth the wait. I am anxiously waiting for the next one. This series is on my must buy list.
Well worth the wait. I am anxiously waiting for the next one. This series is on my must buy list.
Read
February 2, 2015kinda wish T didnt die at the end but i can totally see things heating up cant wait for the next one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 25, 2015
When does volume 4 come out?
November 3, 2019
I don't write reviews often, almost never actually, but when I do it's because of something a bit more extreme then usual. Usually because it's terribly bad in some way.
This review isn't just about one book in the series, it's about all seven of them. The books themselves are terribly short at around 200-250 pages, the last one going under 200.
Let me start by saying that if you cannot read around sexism, misogyny, racism, Russian nationalism, homophobia/hate, etc. This entire series is not for you the first (free) book isn't that bad, the farther you go into the series, the worse it becomes and you'll be able to ignore it less and less. If you love that sort of thing, this series will rate an absolute 5 out of 5 for you, you won't notice the other things wrong in the books, I just don't want to know you. If you can read around those things, I still am not certain that you should read this series.
One really annoying thing in the series is inconsistency, some of it you could write of due to a bad translation (from Russian), but it's so rampant that I suspect that it's the author and no one did any actual good editing. The author is also very bad at math and numbers in general, the average of a price of 10.000 and 100.000 isn't 50.000, it's 55.000. That's the most obvious example, but there are many, many others. On their own not an issue, but combined with the inconsistencies, it's starts to annoy.
The first book is free, it's the least offensive in the lineup, but the rest of the series isn't worth $5-$7 for a digital copy that's so short and certainly not the $17 for a physical copy.
Not everything is bad though, I read through the series in a week and quite often the writer had my attention with cool ideas that made me want to see what happened next. But then absolutely grinding to a halt when he went of again about the "place of the woman and the role of the man" or a "girlfriends training manual". Being an Goblin, Orc, or Troll is alright, even an actual demon is (initially) welcomed as an ally, but if you black, yellow or god forbid, Jewish... *facepalm* This isn't unique to this series or this character by this author, I checked out his other book and found similar issues. It's as if it was written with a certain target audience in mind...
This could have been an interesting and enjoyable experience if all the bigotry was removed and a good editor went over the book with a fine tooth-comb removing all the inconsistencies.
I'm no white knight, I can read/watch around a lot of stuff that I don't agree with or have no interest in. But even I have limits and this sorely tested them. There is bigotry in a lot of older titles, written in a different time, for example The Destroyer series which was mostly written in the 60s-70s, but this is from a (Russian) kid and written in 2012-2015.
There are far better, more consistent, and less offensive titles that cover this genre.
This review isn't just about one book in the series, it's about all seven of them. The books themselves are terribly short at around 200-250 pages, the last one going under 200.
Let me start by saying that if you cannot read around sexism, misogyny, racism, Russian nationalism, homophobia/hate, etc. This entire series is not for you the first (free) book isn't that bad, the farther you go into the series, the worse it becomes and you'll be able to ignore it less and less. If you love that sort of thing, this series will rate an absolute 5 out of 5 for you, you won't notice the other things wrong in the books, I just don't want to know you. If you can read around those things, I still am not certain that you should read this series.
One really annoying thing in the series is inconsistency, some of it you could write of due to a bad translation (from Russian), but it's so rampant that I suspect that it's the author and no one did any actual good editing. The author is also very bad at math and numbers in general, the average of a price of 10.000 and 100.000 isn't 50.000, it's 55.000. That's the most obvious example, but there are many, many others. On their own not an issue, but combined with the inconsistencies, it's starts to annoy.
The first book is free, it's the least offensive in the lineup, but the rest of the series isn't worth $5-$7 for a digital copy that's so short and certainly not the $17 for a physical copy.
Not everything is bad though, I read through the series in a week and quite often the writer had my attention with cool ideas that made me want to see what happened next. But then absolutely grinding to a halt when he went of again about the "place of the woman and the role of the man" or a "girlfriends training manual". Being an Goblin, Orc, or Troll is alright, even an actual demon is (initially) welcomed as an ally, but if you black, yellow or god forbid, Jewish... *facepalm* This isn't unique to this series or this character by this author, I checked out his other book and found similar issues. It's as if it was written with a certain target audience in mind...
This could have been an interesting and enjoyable experience if all the bigotry was removed and a good editor went over the book with a fine tooth-comb removing all the inconsistencies.
I'm no white knight, I can read/watch around a lot of stuff that I don't agree with or have no interest in. But even I have limits and this sorely tested them. There is bigotry in a lot of older titles, written in a different time, for example The Destroyer series which was mostly written in the 60s-70s, but this is from a (Russian) kid and written in 2012-2015.
There are far better, more consistent, and less offensive titles that cover this genre.
March 3, 2022
While the last book was everyone and their grandma kicking the protagonist, I have it on a friend's authority that it's all the way up from here.
This book just gets more addictive. I guess he (the protagonist) is really finished taking losses.
I never expected that I would be learning a lot about Russian history and culture from these books.
This book was great. I'm sure with how the book ended, the protagonist will be on the war path next book.
I will definitely be picking up the sequel.
3/5 Stars
This book just gets more addictive. I guess he (the protagonist) is really finished taking losses.
I never expected that I would be learning a lot about Russian history and culture from these books.
This book was great. I'm sure with how the book ended, the protagonist will be on the war path next book.
I will definitely be picking up the sequel.
3/5 Stars
August 7, 2018
What the hell?!
How does a author screw over his own series?! In the second, I found myself literally yelling at my device " this doesn't matter! Get on with it already!" So much happens, that amounts to absolutely nothing, when it comes to plot progression! I so tired of this character being manipulated and double crossed at every turn and basically shrugging his shoulders! The first book was very interesting but I honestly regret starting the series.
How does a author screw over his own series?! In the second, I found myself literally yelling at my device " this doesn't matter! Get on with it already!" So much happens, that amounts to absolutely nothing, when it comes to plot progression! I so tired of this character being manipulated and double crossed at every turn and basically shrugging his shoulders! The first book was very interesting but I honestly regret starting the series.
March 10, 2022
Varování: pokud jste alergičtí na chvástavé řeči o „ruských medvědech“ a „vynikající ruské krvi“ (nebo třeba na party ruských nabušenců, co terorizujou polskou holku jen proto, že nemá ráda Rusy), na tuhle sérii se radši vykašlete. Bude to díl od dílu jen horší. Fakt.
Mimochodem, větu „Nebojte se, už nikdy nebudete muset umírat, od toho jsou tady muži“ řadím do své osobní top 10 nejsměšnějších knižních momentů všech dob.
Mimochodem, větu „Nebojte se, už nikdy nebudete muset umírat, od toho jsou tady muži“ řadím do své osobní top 10 nejsměšnějších knižních momentů všech dob.
October 6, 2020
Štandardná rabovačka ako v predchádzajúcich dieloch, i keď mi chýba taká tá centrálna myšlienka, poznanie, kam hlavný dej smeruje, okrem "nesmrteľnosti" a "večnosti" vtiahnutých. Niečo naznačuje vývoj v realite, i keď niektoré jej aspekty (presun artefaktov z hry do reality) mi prídu už príliš prekombinované. Hoci otvárajú veľa alternatív ďalšieho vývoja...
May 13, 2022
Děj se žene ustavičně kupředu a díky čtivosti, je snadné knihu rychle zdolat, což se ovšem zatím týká všech dílů.
Hrdina to nemá vůbec jednoduché, problémy i nepřátelé se kupí už i za hranicemi. Hra přestala být nevinnou zábavou. Čím dál častěji nahlížíme také na dění v reálu. Rolnička na konci nastiňuje průšvih kosmických rozměrů.
Ke konci trochu urychlené a žel se ztrátou.
Hrdina to nemá vůbec jednoduché, problémy i nepřátelé se kupí už i za hranicemi. Hra přestala být nevinnou zábavou. Čím dál častěji nahlížíme také na dění v reálu. Rolnička na konci nastiňuje průšvih kosmických rozměrů.
Ke konci trochu urychlené a žel se ztrátou.
December 2, 2018
Dropped it. The maincharacter stopped playing the game in book 2 and now just pays people to do his raiding for him while he continues to do one moneymaking scheme after another. Add in the uber edgy antagonist and it just becomes unbearable.
January 25, 2021
Still fun
Same minor issue of the translation being a little off sometimes but not a game breaker. The story is fun and continues to get bigger. The real world has more of a pet in this one as geopolitical concerns heat up
Same minor issue of the translation being a little off sometimes but not a game breaker. The story is fun and continues to get bigger. The real world has more of a pet in this one as geopolitical concerns heat up
June 18, 2022
good read
Long winded prose in some parts. A few translation issues but for the most part well done. The world is interesting. If it wasn’t so wordy and if everything possible didn’t always go wrong I would love this book.
Long winded prose in some parts. A few translation issues but for the most part well done. The world is interesting. If it wasn’t so wordy and if everything possible didn’t always go wrong I would love this book.
May 21, 2017
This is the Lord of the Rings of LitRPG.
June 4, 2017
another great adventure in a world i want to live in.
thank you for the adventure
please keep them coming!
thank you for the adventure
please keep them coming!
June 15, 2017
Love the added pressure. Really fun series, looking forward to continuing on
November 7, 2017
Nota: 8.3
September 2, 2017
Good continuation of series
I only wish it had more stats and such. But the story is super engaging which makes up for it
I only wish it had more stats and such. But the story is super engaging which makes up for it
Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews