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Chronicles of Ethan #1
Mythian: A LitRPG and GameLit Fantasy Series
Retirement means immortality. Immortality means adventure. Life begins at seventy.
Running on the world's fastest quantum computer is a very special one where retirees leave their flesh-and-blood lives in search of endless adventure. Weapons, spells, gold, experience points… These are the marks by which life is now measured.
Ethan Crane wants none of it. In fact, he never wanted to retire at all, let alone play a game for all eternity. But now he's on a mission to find his wife—a wife he just discovered is still alive and inside the game.
Nothing will stop him from reaching her. Not even himself.
Running on the world's fastest quantum computer is a very special one where retirees leave their flesh-and-blood lives in search of endless adventure. Weapons, spells, gold, experience points… These are the marks by which life is now measured.
Ethan Crane wants none of it. In fact, he never wanted to retire at all, let alone play a game for all eternity. But now he's on a mission to find his wife—a wife he just discovered is still alive and inside the game.
Nothing will stop him from reaching her. Not even himself.
240 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 24, 2023
479 people are currently reading
207 people want to read
About the author
John L. Monk
21 books133 followersJohn L. Monk lives in Virginia, USA, with his wife, Dorothy. A writer with a degree in cultural anthropology, he boldly does the dishes, roots out evil wherever it lurks, and writes his own stunts.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
October 31, 2019
Not the worst book ever, but definitely below average.
Yeah, it's pretty dumb. The universe they're playing in is pretty poorly made and a lot of the admittedly interesting ideas they do come up with for the world aren't thought out properly.
What would a world almost completely cut off from the outside that has existed for thousands of years be like? How would the culture evolve? What would happen to people who've effectively attained immortality? They act like pretty much everyone else in mmorpg apparently, but less organized.
Attractiveness is literally a stat, and no one realizes how problematic that is. Also, weirdly enough, the only one who puts points into it is the woman weirdly enough.
There's a give up option, ostensibly to prevent torture, but it also hard resets you, so it makes you think real hard about how many times you want to be raped before it's worth it to stop. You can also suicide at no cost, so the additional penalty is a bit absurd.
You can kill players for xp. Doing it more than once counts as griefing and you can't do it a third time. But there's a dualing system, so that seems like an absurdly easy way to grind xp, but that's just speculation that dualing doesn't count as griefing.
There is a "virtue" score, based on your internal morality. Which means that self obsessed dick wads have the highest score, and self hating depressed people have the lowest.
There is apparently one way to level in the game at the start. Which is a single quest and then days of grinding and a once a month special quest.
The MC has to be told over and over again, that the second tier of play is not easy, after getting his ass kicked by starter monsters and told he'll need to be 10 times stronger if he wants to be able to hurt mid level threats in his tier.
Playing a dedicated support role seems impossible, given that you have to defeat a boss in solo combat to get to the next tier of play.
And to copy the book, I'll end my review short. Without any climax or any particular reason beyond wanting to keep the book a reader maximizing length.
January 3, 2021
Readers in this genre are too forgiving and I'm sick of it. This author doesn't even attempt to tell a story. This entire book is an introduction to whatever comes next. Further the author repeatedly undermines his own MC. Most tellingly the MC believes uploading to VR is a scam and that the real person dies when their body dies. As a result this whole book makes no sense since the author fails to give the MC any reason to upload himself- the MC apparently just wants his VR simulation to meet his wife's VR simulation for reasons the author doesn't provide and, frankly, probably couldn't figure out himself given how poorly plotted this whole mess is.
I don't understand why authors make their MCs absolute idiots. Here MC Ethan loses his wife. FIVE YEARS GOES BY and then FOR NO REASON, it becomes urgent for the MC to upload himself and track down his wife. When I say "for no reason" I mean it. The author completely fails to explain, when five years has already gone by and the wife's VR simulation is in a coma anyway, why the MC feels any sense of urgency.
Once in VR the MC, Ethan, is told EXACTLY WHAT TO DO TO REJOIN HIS WIFE AND HE IGNORES IT. For some unknown reason Ethan attempts to run directly to his wife and gets himself STUPIDLY killed REPEATEDLY. Never mind the fact that Ethan could take a hundred years getting to her and it wouldn't matter. Also never mind the fact that Ethan doesn't need to eat or sleep but his imagined urgency doesn't stop him from taking time out to do both simply because he wants to.
BUT WAIT, IT GETS WORSE . . . A trope oh so fond to the amateurs that write in this genre: Ethan, a non-gamer, entering a VR gaming world PERMANENTLY, can't be bothered to learn to game or take the tutorial. So the reader gets endless examples of the stupidest details, like what experience points are, being explained to the MC.
Frankly, I'm amazed I finished this book. I mostly finished it because I didn't anticipate the complete lack of story resolution. The entire focus of this book is Ethan reconnecting with his wife. Ethan is told that the first step is for him to reach level 25, WHICH IS WHERE THE BOOK ENDS. Ethan HAS BARELY STARTED ON HIS JOURNEY TO REUNITE WITH HIS WIFE AND THE BOOK ENDS. Had I known that going in I wouldn't have wasted my time.
Bottom line: A complete waste of time. The author may know how to write sentences but he absolutely has no understanding of how to write a story.
I don't understand why authors make their MCs absolute idiots. Here MC Ethan loses his wife. FIVE YEARS GOES BY and then FOR NO REASON, it becomes urgent for the MC to upload himself and track down his wife. When I say "for no reason" I mean it. The author completely fails to explain, when five years has already gone by and the wife's VR simulation is in a coma anyway, why the MC feels any sense of urgency.
Once in VR the MC, Ethan, is told EXACTLY WHAT TO DO TO REJOIN HIS WIFE AND HE IGNORES IT. For some unknown reason Ethan attempts to run directly to his wife and gets himself STUPIDLY killed REPEATEDLY. Never mind the fact that Ethan could take a hundred years getting to her and it wouldn't matter. Also never mind the fact that Ethan doesn't need to eat or sleep but his imagined urgency doesn't stop him from taking time out to do both simply because he wants to.
BUT WAIT, IT GETS WORSE . . . A trope oh so fond to the amateurs that write in this genre: Ethan, a non-gamer, entering a VR gaming world PERMANENTLY, can't be bothered to learn to game or take the tutorial. So the reader gets endless examples of the stupidest details, like what experience points are, being explained to the MC.
Frankly, I'm amazed I finished this book. I mostly finished it because I didn't anticipate the complete lack of story resolution. The entire focus of this book is Ethan reconnecting with his wife. Ethan is told that the first step is for him to reach level 25, WHICH IS WHERE THE BOOK ENDS. Ethan HAS BARELY STARTED ON HIS JOURNEY TO REUNITE WITH HIS WIFE AND THE BOOK ENDS. Had I known that going in I wouldn't have wasted my time.
Bottom line: A complete waste of time. The author may know how to write sentences but he absolutely has no understanding of how to write a story.
February 7, 2021
This was such an interesting premise. Choose virtual life instead of death. Though, I found the upload process a little unpalatable. This was well-paced and entertaining.
I liked the eventual band Ethan formed, and though this was introductory and we didn't get to know them well yet, I like them enough to keep reading (And hopefully see more).
That being said, I like the idea of Ethan. A curmudgeon? Romantic? Skeptic? His utter lack of knowledge and crisis of belief was interesting. There's conflict there. Does he buy that he's alive? Or, not? If no, what is his motivation? Will his quest be linear, as it seems planned, or will he change at some point and discover a whole new path? I don't know. I haven't decided if he's likeable or not, as a person.
I did purchase the second and plan to read more. I am fairly new to this genre but each series I've read has been quite distinct and this seems to follow suit.
I liked the eventual band Ethan formed, and though this was introductory and we didn't get to know them well yet, I like them enough to keep reading (And hopefully see more).
That being said, I like the idea of Ethan. A curmudgeon? Romantic? Skeptic? His utter lack of knowledge and crisis of belief was interesting. There's conflict there. Does he buy that he's alive? Or, not? If no, what is his motivation? Will his quest be linear, as it seems planned, or will he change at some point and discover a whole new path? I don't know. I haven't decided if he's likeable or not, as a person.
I did purchase the second and plan to read more. I am fairly new to this genre but each series I've read has been quite distinct and this seems to follow suit.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 4, 2020
OK, so someone who mercilessly stabbed you, twice in a row, and robbed you the third time in a human-realistic world, now decides to stick around and act as your babysitter? From single-minded brutality to helpful idleness; what an about-face! What a fickle criminal....
Someone, freshly dropped into a new body in a new world, and who's been on the receiving end of cruelty and utmost selfishness, is willing to chat idly with their attacker as if this was nothing special?
There is no way I can care about whatever happens in this book. Even the characters themselves don't, so why should I?
Game over for me.
Someone, freshly dropped into a new body in a new world, and who's been on the receiving end of cruelty and utmost selfishness, is willing to chat idly with their attacker as if this was nothing special?
There is no way I can care about whatever happens in this book. Even the characters themselves don't, so why should I?
Game over for me.
October 26, 2019
Good story, short book but 2 and 3 are coming soon
When you read this book, you can definitely feel for the main character and in the context of the story, you can see why some of the decisions were made, but I'm looking for book 2 to redeem the character.
Nonetheless, it's a very well crafted story and we don't have to wait too long for the next ones.
When you read this book, you can definitely feel for the main character and in the context of the story, you can see why some of the decisions were made, but I'm looking for book 2 to redeem the character.
Nonetheless, it's a very well crafted story and we don't have to wait too long for the next ones.
December 4, 2019
Awesome start to a mythical land!
John L Monk strikes gold with this litRPG. Full of interesting characters who solve complex problems, this series will have you turning pages until the end! Can't wait for more!
John L Monk strikes gold with this litRPG. Full of interesting characters who solve complex problems, this series will have you turning pages until the end! Can't wait for more!
September 14, 2021
This book is fun and fast. I just don't know if i like the main character ( this doesn't take away from the book ). On to the next one .
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 18, 2019
VR and immersive gaming are hot topics now in the sci-fi genre. John L. Monk's "Chronicles of Ethan" may be the freshest, most entertaining and well written addition to the theme that I've read yet.
First, a disclaimer. Gaming is a pastime I've never experienced, not even "Dungeons and Dragons," not even "Tetris." I kid you not. The offspring created families on our computer with "Sims2" but their characters kept starving to death, so that shows you how little gaming occupied them. Too busy playing musical instruments to find time for video games. Looking back, they may have missed out on more of that than they should have. At the time, I was just glad they weren't addicted like so many others their age who never seemed to get outside and do "real" things.
Then came all this literature about the real world working like the gaming world. "Matrix," for one, which I have yet to read or see on DVD (or streaming, these days).
As a book reviewer for Perihelion Science Fiction, I was asked to read and critique several gaming novels. Some were easy to follow from start to finish. Some, I just skimmed the battle scenes (which I do routinely when asked to read thrillers and military science fiction; fight scenes just don't do it for me). One thing was a constant in this genre: the idea that real life could start acting like a video game, and "players" would rack up points and buy skills and die but get resurrected again for Round Two, or Round Ten Thousand.
Now, I would love to "buy" vitality, longevity, strength, agility, and beauty enhancements. Thanks, authors, for tormenting us with new tech that will not become available in my lifetime. As "Perihelion" founder/editor Sam Bellotto Jr once blogged, I want to be a cyborg!
John L. Monk is an author I discovered years ago when his debut novel was "Free Today" via Kindle Daily News. I snagged a copy, consumed it, loved it, bought the sequels when they came out, and read everything else this Indie Author ever published. I also followed and "Like" him on social media, which apparently causes Amazon to purge reviews due to "Friends and Family" policies, but I feel this is an unjust punishment for fans who discover (via Amazon!) a great author and buy all his books and maybe do some "fangirling" via social media.
Well, I'll publish this review at Steemit and Goodreads, anyway. This is Monk's first gaming novel, and if anyone else had written, I'd have politely passed on an invitation to be a beta reader, but John L. Monk is a first-rate writer with flawlessly edited prose full of wit and irony, characters who are authentic and believable (to the point that you want "You idiot!" at them like a kid brother), and epic adventures. I still love his debut novel "Kick" above all the others, but that's personal bias (enacting vigilante justice on criminals who'd otherwise get away with murder).
My Kindle is packed full of highlights--all of lines that I like/love/wish I'd written myself. I'm looking at the clock, thinking how long it would take me type out even a fraction of them, and wondering if anyone ever reads my reviews, anyway.
Unless I hear from anyone that they want me to share my Kindle Highlights, I'll stick with a summary for now.
Rita! Rita! Rita!
Ok, I can say more than that. Rita is a gamer, a "noob," who meets up with Ethan early in his adventures in gaming, none of which he ever would have signed up for if not for his devotion to Melody, the wife who doesn't seem to deserve his eternal devotion. Rita on the other hand is a fun-loving gal who laughs a lot and is no hapless heroine in need of a savior. In fact, she bails out Ethan more often than he comes to her rescue, not that I kept score. It could be 50/50.
Jaddow and Cipher are mysterious characters who kept me turning pages. Bertrand the bartender is endearing, and I love the grumpy Snoot who works at the bank and would be a miserable character forever if not for the way Ethan brings out his good side. (No spoiler here, but I'll just say it's hilarious.)
The gaming stats are sure to be entertaining for gamers. I just skimmed those parts and wished I could buy vitality points and all the other enhancements.
Book One ends on a cliffhanger, which seriously annoys a lot of book reviewers who are forced to buy two more books to get to the end. I'm old school, and I'd rather buy one big, fat book, and not have to wait for the next installment. So, while I will not punish an author with a 2-star review for that reason alone, I will add that I too would prefer one big book, but today's market shows that trilogies and series are selling well, standalones, not so much.
Ethan is an everyman, a reluctant hero, but a loyal and honorable man, with a sense of humor, and it just doesn't get any better than that. In real life. Maybe not in VR, either! You'll have to read and decide for yourself.
First, a disclaimer. Gaming is a pastime I've never experienced, not even "Dungeons and Dragons," not even "Tetris." I kid you not. The offspring created families on our computer with "Sims2" but their characters kept starving to death, so that shows you how little gaming occupied them. Too busy playing musical instruments to find time for video games. Looking back, they may have missed out on more of that than they should have. At the time, I was just glad they weren't addicted like so many others their age who never seemed to get outside and do "real" things.
Then came all this literature about the real world working like the gaming world. "Matrix," for one, which I have yet to read or see on DVD (or streaming, these days).
As a book reviewer for Perihelion Science Fiction, I was asked to read and critique several gaming novels. Some were easy to follow from start to finish. Some, I just skimmed the battle scenes (which I do routinely when asked to read thrillers and military science fiction; fight scenes just don't do it for me). One thing was a constant in this genre: the idea that real life could start acting like a video game, and "players" would rack up points and buy skills and die but get resurrected again for Round Two, or Round Ten Thousand.
Now, I would love to "buy" vitality, longevity, strength, agility, and beauty enhancements. Thanks, authors, for tormenting us with new tech that will not become available in my lifetime. As "Perihelion" founder/editor Sam Bellotto Jr once blogged, I want to be a cyborg!
John L. Monk is an author I discovered years ago when his debut novel was "Free Today" via Kindle Daily News. I snagged a copy, consumed it, loved it, bought the sequels when they came out, and read everything else this Indie Author ever published. I also followed and "Like" him on social media, which apparently causes Amazon to purge reviews due to "Friends and Family" policies, but I feel this is an unjust punishment for fans who discover (via Amazon!) a great author and buy all his books and maybe do some "fangirling" via social media.
Well, I'll publish this review at Steemit and Goodreads, anyway. This is Monk's first gaming novel, and if anyone else had written, I'd have politely passed on an invitation to be a beta reader, but John L. Monk is a first-rate writer with flawlessly edited prose full of wit and irony, characters who are authentic and believable (to the point that you want "You idiot!" at them like a kid brother), and epic adventures. I still love his debut novel "Kick" above all the others, but that's personal bias (enacting vigilante justice on criminals who'd otherwise get away with murder).
My Kindle is packed full of highlights--all of lines that I like/love/wish I'd written myself. I'm looking at the clock, thinking how long it would take me type out even a fraction of them, and wondering if anyone ever reads my reviews, anyway.
Unless I hear from anyone that they want me to share my Kindle Highlights, I'll stick with a summary for now.
Rita! Rita! Rita!
Ok, I can say more than that. Rita is a gamer, a "noob," who meets up with Ethan early in his adventures in gaming, none of which he ever would have signed up for if not for his devotion to Melody, the wife who doesn't seem to deserve his eternal devotion. Rita on the other hand is a fun-loving gal who laughs a lot and is no hapless heroine in need of a savior. In fact, she bails out Ethan more often than he comes to her rescue, not that I kept score. It could be 50/50.
Jaddow and Cipher are mysterious characters who kept me turning pages. Bertrand the bartender is endearing, and I love the grumpy Snoot who works at the bank and would be a miserable character forever if not for the way Ethan brings out his good side. (No spoiler here, but I'll just say it's hilarious.)
The gaming stats are sure to be entertaining for gamers. I just skimmed those parts and wished I could buy vitality points and all the other enhancements.
Book One ends on a cliffhanger, which seriously annoys a lot of book reviewers who are forced to buy two more books to get to the end. I'm old school, and I'd rather buy one big, fat book, and not have to wait for the next installment. So, while I will not punish an author with a 2-star review for that reason alone, I will add that I too would prefer one big book, but today's market shows that trilogies and series are selling well, standalones, not so much.
Ethan is an everyman, a reluctant hero, but a loyal and honorable man, with a sense of humor, and it just doesn't get any better than that. In real life. Maybe not in VR, either! You'll have to read and decide for yourself.
October 30, 2019
Audible Book Aquired! Review Complete!
Quick Stats:
Overall:4
Performance: 5
Story: 3.5
Mythian Chronicles of Ethan, Book 1 by John L. Monk is my first foray into Mr. Monk’s writing. I was offered a code for the Audible version by a fan of his, and she was more than excited for the release. She’s a devourer of LitRPG and I’d never seen her activity advertising for an author or series, so I eagerly accepted. It was a short listen I could do between working with my son and the drive home at five and a half hours, so I listened to it over the course of a few days and decided it was only fair to do a review. Here it is. I wasn’t a big fan of the story, but it wasn’t terrible. It was solidly written, and the narrator was excellent on all accounts. He had the right kind of gravelly voice I would expect from an older character. If anything, I think he heightened my enjoyment of the piece quite a bit more than reading it would have.
As a short review of the story, I had a lot of issues with how the first story was handled. Some things required more suspension of disbelief than others, and the ending was abrupt to say the least. I had fun all the way up to the end, so it made me feel as though he split book one up to expand it from a duology since there was no real resolution of any plot point. Up to that point, I was invested and let smaller issues slip by. In no particular order, I was able to ignore things like the interaction of the lives system between wards, The Give Up system that implied horrible things could happen to you in the afterlife if you tried to endure dangerous situations, or the virtue stat.
One of the largest suspensions of all came with the goblins. I tried to ignore how truly dangerous they could be with their poisons. They could knock out a player, block their magic for two hours, and lower their strength. How did they ever lose the war? How had we not met a single poison based individual (minus the brief spider fight) in all the story except for the supposedly weakest mob at the appropriate time. All those things build the world up, but no matter how many small things I could overlook, the ending just soured things a bit for me.
Unlike many stories, all three (I believe three) are already finished and slated for release soon, so there shouldn’t be a long wait between parts of the story. It’s by no means a bad story, but for me the first story left a bad taste in my mouth. I may continue the series, I may not, but I wish Mr. Monk well in his work.
Quick Stats:
Overall:4
Performance: 5
Story: 3.5
Mythian Chronicles of Ethan, Book 1 by John L. Monk is my first foray into Mr. Monk’s writing. I was offered a code for the Audible version by a fan of his, and she was more than excited for the release. She’s a devourer of LitRPG and I’d never seen her activity advertising for an author or series, so I eagerly accepted. It was a short listen I could do between working with my son and the drive home at five and a half hours, so I listened to it over the course of a few days and decided it was only fair to do a review. Here it is. I wasn’t a big fan of the story, but it wasn’t terrible. It was solidly written, and the narrator was excellent on all accounts. He had the right kind of gravelly voice I would expect from an older character. If anything, I think he heightened my enjoyment of the piece quite a bit more than reading it would have.
As a short review of the story, I had a lot of issues with how the first story was handled. Some things required more suspension of disbelief than others, and the ending was abrupt to say the least. I had fun all the way up to the end, so it made me feel as though he split book one up to expand it from a duology since there was no real resolution of any plot point. Up to that point, I was invested and let smaller issues slip by. In no particular order, I was able to ignore things like the interaction of the lives system between wards, The Give Up system that implied horrible things could happen to you in the afterlife if you tried to endure dangerous situations, or the virtue stat.
One of the largest suspensions of all came with the goblins. I tried to ignore how truly dangerous they could be with their poisons. They could knock out a player, block their magic for two hours, and lower their strength. How did they ever lose the war? How had we not met a single poison based individual (minus the brief spider fight) in all the story except for the supposedly weakest mob at the appropriate time. All those things build the world up, but no matter how many small things I could overlook, the ending just soured things a bit for me.
Unlike many stories, all three (I believe three) are already finished and slated for release soon, so there shouldn’t be a long wait between parts of the story. It’s by no means a bad story, but for me the first story left a bad taste in my mouth. I may continue the series, I may not, but I wish Mr. Monk well in his work.
October 27, 2019
Mythian starts off with a the the pain and viscera of a virtual reality requiring voluntary suicide, or as the marketing calls it, suicide. The virtual world that makes this LitRPG doesn't pull any punches from there.
Blood and pain isn't the path to glory for this protagonist. The MC is an old man made young by the virtual world, a virtual world, but his only world now. He gives up his body and the life he knew for a chance to save his wife. A wife that is already dead, or so he believes. A chance he doesn't believe in. There aren't a lot of clear answers, shining heroes or shadowed villains in this book.
Blood and pain isn't the path to glory for this protagonist. The MC is an old man made young by the virtual world, a virtual world, but his only world now. He gives up his body and the life he knew for a chance to save his wife. A wife that is already dead, or so he believes. A chance he doesn't believe in. There aren't a lot of clear answers, shining heroes or shadowed villains in this book.
November 10, 2019
Alert
I hate trying to write reviews because there are really only pass/fail results for me. Did I make it all the way through? Yes? 5 stars. No? There would be nothing here to read. In all fairness, if an author holds my attention from page one to the end, they’ve done their job. Anything less than 5 stars is petty criticism from someone incapable of even doing the job let alone doing a better one.
So in respect for the author and their work, I am going to start pasting this along with a generic review I found somewhere. “This was a fun book. I am glad that I read it. You should try it too.”
Cheers
I hate trying to write reviews because there are really only pass/fail results for me. Did I make it all the way through? Yes? 5 stars. No? There would be nothing here to read. In all fairness, if an author holds my attention from page one to the end, they’ve done their job. Anything less than 5 stars is petty criticism from someone incapable of even doing the job let alone doing a better one.
So in respect for the author and their work, I am going to start pasting this along with a generic review I found somewhere. “This was a fun book. I am glad that I read it. You should try it too.”
Cheers
April 7, 2020
Not sure how I feel about this. The singularity afterlife bit was neat, but other aspects of the novel fell flat.
I will give the second book a try when I feel like having another go.
2.5/5 Stars
I will give the second book a try when I feel like having another go.
2.5/5 Stars
December 3, 2019
What an entertaining and fun read ! Being a gamer this was totally up my alley. Great book!
July 13, 2021
Full Disclosure, I listened to the audiobook and would rate the audiobook with 3 stars but the book alone is only 2 stars. Travis Baldree's performance is excellent as always and is likely the only reason I'll read/listen to the other books.
Lets go with the Pros first:
The world both inside and outside of the game are interesting. Set in a future where you are uploaded into a virtual afterlife, you apparently lose all rights and voice in the outside world once you are uploaded. The world inside is basically a nightmare with the MC getting murdered the second he spawns. Dumb that the spawn location isn't in a safe zone but that's only the tip of the iceberg with how twisted the world is. The innkeep is particularly funny. So much potential for for interesting storylines. Also Travis Baldree.
Now the Cons:
Ethan. Ethan is the Con. We have this great world and yet we have to view it from one of the most insufferable MCs I've ever read. He is a complete asshole to basically everyone, especially people he should have considered friends. Gets all this power and money for literally no reason. I love books with an overpowered MC if they actually do something to earn that power. Ethan does not. He doesn't even take basic steps to ensure his own survival and has to be literally given a fortune for absolutely nothing. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad that his best stat is intelligence. He is so mind numbingly stupid it makes anything that happens seem inconsequential as a result. I just finished Necrotic Apocalypse and the MC of that one, a literal zombie who starts with no stats at all and who eats people is smarter than Ethan and somehow has a stronger moral compass. His lack of any sense of morality would be fine too, stories with MC villains are fun in their own right. But Ethan is too dumb to realize he is acting like a villain and seems to somehow think he's a good guy. Spoiler, he isn't.
In summery. MC bad, audiobook narrator good.
Lets go with the Pros first:
The world both inside and outside of the game are interesting. Set in a future where you are uploaded into a virtual afterlife, you apparently lose all rights and voice in the outside world once you are uploaded. The world inside is basically a nightmare with the MC getting murdered the second he spawns. Dumb that the spawn location isn't in a safe zone but that's only the tip of the iceberg with how twisted the world is. The innkeep is particularly funny. So much potential for for interesting storylines. Also Travis Baldree.
Now the Cons:
Ethan. Ethan is the Con. We have this great world and yet we have to view it from one of the most insufferable MCs I've ever read. He is a complete asshole to basically everyone, especially people he should have considered friends. Gets all this power and money for literally no reason. I love books with an overpowered MC if they actually do something to earn that power. Ethan does not. He doesn't even take basic steps to ensure his own survival and has to be literally given a fortune for absolutely nothing. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad that his best stat is intelligence. He is so mind numbingly stupid it makes anything that happens seem inconsequential as a result. I just finished Necrotic Apocalypse and the MC of that one, a literal zombie who starts with no stats at all and who eats people is smarter than Ethan and somehow has a stronger moral compass. His lack of any sense of morality would be fine too, stories with MC villains are fun in their own right. But Ethan is too dumb to realize he is acting like a villain and seems to somehow think he's a good guy. Spoiler, he isn't.
In summery. MC bad, audiobook narrator good.
December 24, 2021
This was mostly a guy grinding to level up. The usual deal with this genre is having the main character discover some aspect of the game they're living in that no one else discovers (or having some glitch in their character) that they exploit so they can grow more powerful than anyone else. This guy literally has another powerful character penalize him for finding an exploit and telling him to get back to grinding. And he puts minimal effort into developing the world, very basic, standard fantasy stuff.
What saved this book and made me read the next in the series was some of the character development. Well rounded people that I cared enough about to try the second book. But I almost didn't try it, because the first book wasn't really special.
What saved this book and made me read the next in the series was some of the character development. Well rounded people that I cared enough about to try the second book. But I almost didn't try it, because the first book wasn't really special.
March 18, 2020
The future is here and I really wish we could already have this stuff. Retirees and the elderly have a choice to fade away or to go play a game and win a chance to come back with a state of the art body. Ethan our main character has lost his wife to an unfortunate accident. He does not trust the system and the thought of gaming to live forever. But he is contacted by a mysterious individual who makes him go for Mythian. He is told his wife has been placed inside the game and he has to reach the second Ward. In his haste to reach her he is having issues adapting to the game. But he finds a great companion Rita. Will he make it or not?
January 2, 2020
In this increasingly busy LitRPG world its hard to stand out but the story of a complete noob [newbie] in search of his wife stuck in a online world gives a little bit more character to the story.
The characters and their interactions with each other and the clueless MC gives some good action and points to follow up on.
This was a little slow and may not be every listeners cup of tea but it was fairly decent and the ending did leave me wanting to continue further on with this series.
A solid 4 stars from me
The characters and their interactions with each other and the clueless MC gives some good action and points to follow up on.
This was a little slow and may not be every listeners cup of tea but it was fairly decent and the ending did leave me wanting to continue further on with this series.
A solid 4 stars from me
February 15, 2021
Dying for Love! Again and Again and Again . . . .
Ethan loves his wife. Unfortunately she was killed in an accident, but he has a chance to reunite with her in a Virtual Reality Retirement Facility which takes the form of a fantasy world RPG -- Mythian. All he needs to do to get to her, in this high tech retelling of Sleeping Beauty, is die, and die, and die, and die . . . repeatedly.
This really is a retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story -- though with some futuristically possible twists which are quite intriguing. I highly recommend this LitRPG novel.
Ethan loves his wife. Unfortunately she was killed in an accident, but he has a chance to reunite with her in a Virtual Reality Retirement Facility which takes the form of a fantasy world RPG -- Mythian. All he needs to do to get to her, in this high tech retelling of Sleeping Beauty, is die, and die, and die, and die . . . repeatedly.
This really is a retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story -- though with some futuristically possible twists which are quite intriguing. I highly recommend this LitRPG novel.
February 26, 2021
Pleasantly surprised picking up this book. There are plenty of Litrpg floating these days. Very few are noteworthy, if a book can't hold you 1hr into the story, it's not for you to be honest (very few exceptions for this rule: ten realms book 1, The idle system book 1, weirdest noob book 1). This is a good one which is entertaining, emotional, adventurous and more. Give it a try.
December 13, 2022
good read
I had read a stand-alone book in this series before. It’s always odd when you read something and feel like you’re missing context clues and background on a story that the author thinks you should know. I finished the other book and it lead me to trying this. It’s short but it’s an interesting world.
I had read a stand-alone book in this series before. It’s always odd when you read something and feel like you’re missing context clues and background on a story that the author thinks you should know. I finished the other book and it lead me to trying this. It’s short but it’s an interesting world.
April 13, 2023
A man is lured into a vmmorpg world because he should be able to read his wife there. He is not a gamer himself but he gets lucky, finds a sorcerer rare class and some friends.
the MC makes some bad decisions and i really hate how he acts at the end of the book but the story itself is fun and has some interesting twists. I really like the female supportive character more.
the MC makes some bad decisions and i really hate how he acts at the end of the book but the story itself is fun and has some interesting twists. I really like the female supportive character more.
June 17, 2021
Interesting approach going with the nine gamer stuck in a game world. The concept is somewhat novel but it gets kind of annoying that the MC is so arrogant and self confident when he doesn’t know anything and constantly messes up. The game world is well thought out. The series has potential.
March 14, 2020
While I did not think this would be a good read, I was pleasantly surprised once I got into the storyline. It was rather enjoyable.
May 25, 2020
Most fun read so far
LitRPG gets repetitive after a few dozen books or so. This book revived me. I like the MC and enjoyed the plot.
LitRPG gets repetitive after a few dozen books or so. This book revived me. I like the MC and enjoyed the plot.
May 29, 2020
Enjoyable
I'm running out of litrpg to enjoy. This was pretty entertaining. I rank it around top 25%. Looking forward to finishing series.
I'm running out of litrpg to enjoy. This was pretty entertaining. I rank it around top 25%. Looking forward to finishing series.
October 6, 2022
meh 2.5 stars
Took me months to finally get around to finishing this one. It’s ok. I’m not going to look for book two though. The end was especially annoying.
Took me months to finally get around to finishing this one. It’s ok. I’m not going to look for book two though. The end was especially annoying.
October 7, 2022
Not a single likeable or relatable or consistent character to be seen.
Hoping we get something more later in the series that’s worthwhile since I got the trilogy, but not expecting it.
Hoping we get something more later in the series that’s worthwhile since I got the trilogy, but not expecting it.
March 7, 2020
This book was ok, but it felt like there was no sense of danger. It was a decent start.
Book 2 however had a very real sense of danger, however while in book 1 the MC being a n00b was quaint, in book 2 he is just dumber than a box of rocks. He knows how to game and all the rules, yet still does the dumbest things. I could not finish. Unrated book 2 with 2 stars.
Book 2 however had a very real sense of danger, however while in book 1 the MC being a n00b was quaint, in book 2 he is just dumber than a box of rocks. He knows how to game and all the rules, yet still does the dumbest things. I could not finish. Unrated book 2 with 2 stars.
December 24, 2019
Mythian tells the story of a retiree who finds himself in an MMORPG-like virtual world on a quest for his dead wife. The novel was my introduction to the budding, confounding genre of LitRPG, which I expected to be a turnoff but ended up an unexpected delight.
For the uninitiated, LitRPG goes one step beyond standard high-fantasy novels by showing you the mechanics of the fantasy game world the characters inhabit. This genre is more LOTRO than LOTR: there's discussion of character sheets and the game manual, and when a character hits a monster with a well-timed spell, we get to know exactly how much damage was dealt. You'll see discussions on how to spend skill points, as well as stat updates as magical items are examined.
Sure, the conceit of LitRPG sounds silly on paper (well, it did to me), but I'm happy to report that, at least in the case of Mythian, it absolutely works.
The novel has an overarching goal and some dramatic tension beyond the game, but in its moment-to-moment story, it's actually quite a fun read. I'd never thought grinding for XP could make for a pleasant literary experience, but watching Ethan figure out the rules of the world and chitchat with his fun-loving companion Rita between bouts of monster slaying was oddly relaxing. It's the literary equivalent of watching a chill WoW Twitch stream.
Monk's prose goes some way to help keep the novel's pace brisk despite discussions of mana regeneration mechanics and the like. The writing is clear and crisp, definitely better than your average self-published novel. Additionally, as a narrative game designer and MMORPG veteran, the rules of the world made sense to me as a whole, although some choices (such as feeling excruciating pain as you heal) felt more driven by the need for dramatic action than sensible game design.
If there's one thing that would have made the novel better for me, it's seeing Ethan fleshed out better. The initial conceit of him being a retiree in search for his wife kind of fades away once he enters Mythian, and that's too bad: the novel could have used more of a dry-witted geriatric point of view like in Old Man's War; instead, that initial setup is essentially justification for Ethan being a naive protagonist to whom everyone explains the rules of the world as he goes along.
That being said, the overall story strikes a good balance between number crunching and character action, which led me to devour Mythian's 200-odd pages in three quick days, and left me wanting for more. Fortunately, the sequel, Hard Mode, is already loaded on my Kindle.
Recommended if you're curious to see what LitRPG/GameLit is all about. It's probably not for everybody, but if you buy into the tropes of the LitRPG genre, you're in for a fun adventure that keeps a brisk pace and doesn't overstay its welcome.
For the uninitiated, LitRPG goes one step beyond standard high-fantasy novels by showing you the mechanics of the fantasy game world the characters inhabit. This genre is more LOTRO than LOTR: there's discussion of character sheets and the game manual, and when a character hits a monster with a well-timed spell, we get to know exactly how much damage was dealt. You'll see discussions on how to spend skill points, as well as stat updates as magical items are examined.
Sure, the conceit of LitRPG sounds silly on paper (well, it did to me), but I'm happy to report that, at least in the case of Mythian, it absolutely works.
The novel has an overarching goal and some dramatic tension beyond the game, but in its moment-to-moment story, it's actually quite a fun read. I'd never thought grinding for XP could make for a pleasant literary experience, but watching Ethan figure out the rules of the world and chitchat with his fun-loving companion Rita between bouts of monster slaying was oddly relaxing. It's the literary equivalent of watching a chill WoW Twitch stream.
Monk's prose goes some way to help keep the novel's pace brisk despite discussions of mana regeneration mechanics and the like. The writing is clear and crisp, definitely better than your average self-published novel. Additionally, as a narrative game designer and MMORPG veteran, the rules of the world made sense to me as a whole, although some choices (such as feeling excruciating pain as you heal) felt more driven by the need for dramatic action than sensible game design.
If there's one thing that would have made the novel better for me, it's seeing Ethan fleshed out better. The initial conceit of him being a retiree in search for his wife kind of fades away once he enters Mythian, and that's too bad: the novel could have used more of a dry-witted geriatric point of view like in Old Man's War; instead, that initial setup is essentially justification for Ethan being a naive protagonist to whom everyone explains the rules of the world as he goes along.
That being said, the overall story strikes a good balance between number crunching and character action, which led me to devour Mythian's 200-odd pages in three quick days, and left me wanting for more. Fortunately, the sequel, Hard Mode, is already loaded on my Kindle.
Recommended if you're curious to see what LitRPG/GameLit is all about. It's probably not for everybody, but if you buy into the tropes of the LitRPG genre, you're in for a fun adventure that keeps a brisk pace and doesn't overstay its welcome.
November 25, 2019
I'm a huge fan of LitRPG books. As of the time of this review, I've read books 1 & 2 in the series, which is all that are currently published. I'll probably read #3 if/when it comes out.
Pros: The writer is pretty good at writing. The prose is quite readable. He creates an engaging world and plot. I'd say it's worth reading.
Don't let the large number of cons that follow dissuade you from reading the book.
Con #1: While the main character isn't stupid, he's often careless in situations where he most definitely should be doing his very best to plan ahead and prepare. He has a habit of not looking before he leaps and as a result, he suffers greatly over and over without learning his lesson. He makes impulsive decisions that have incredibly serious long term effects. He KNOWS these decisions will have incredibly serious long term effects, but he makes them impulsively anyhow. I just want to smack him on the back of the head like Gibbs in NCIS.
Con #2: This one's a matter of personal taste. LitRPG elements are there, but not quite as strong as I would like. As the book description suggests, everything takes place in a virtual world. That's not a spoiler. However, the mechanics of the virtual world (levels, classes, stats, skills, etc.) don't get a particularly strong focus. Also, there are places in the books where it basically goes, "and three months later" and fast forwards past a chunk of the main character's experiences. For some people, trimming out this extra material that doesn't directly drive the plot is a big plus. For me it's a minus. I want to know what happened in those three months.
Con #3: There's a character in the book who is very annoying. Let's be clear. I don't mean he's annoying to the main character (though he is). He's annoying to the reader. You'll figure out who I'm talking about. He seems almost insane, withholding vital knowledge from the main character for no particular reason and then getting upset when the main character makes a bad decision that could have been avoided if the guy had simply told the main character a few important things. If the author satisfactorily explained the annoying character's behavior, that would be fine, but he only half explains part of the guy's behavior and the guy remains annoying. Frankly he seems like just a plot device and not a particularly good one.
Pros: The writer is pretty good at writing. The prose is quite readable. He creates an engaging world and plot. I'd say it's worth reading.
Don't let the large number of cons that follow dissuade you from reading the book.
Con #1: While the main character isn't stupid, he's often careless in situations where he most definitely should be doing his very best to plan ahead and prepare. He has a habit of not looking before he leaps and as a result, he suffers greatly over and over without learning his lesson. He makes impulsive decisions that have incredibly serious long term effects. He KNOWS these decisions will have incredibly serious long term effects, but he makes them impulsively anyhow. I just want to smack him on the back of the head like Gibbs in NCIS.
Con #2: This one's a matter of personal taste. LitRPG elements are there, but not quite as strong as I would like. As the book description suggests, everything takes place in a virtual world. That's not a spoiler. However, the mechanics of the virtual world (levels, classes, stats, skills, etc.) don't get a particularly strong focus. Also, there are places in the books where it basically goes, "and three months later" and fast forwards past a chunk of the main character's experiences. For some people, trimming out this extra material that doesn't directly drive the plot is a big plus. For me it's a minus. I want to know what happened in those three months.
Con #3: There's a character in the book who is very annoying. Let's be clear. I don't mean he's annoying to the main character (though he is). He's annoying to the reader. You'll figure out who I'm talking about. He seems almost insane, withholding vital knowledge from the main character for no particular reason and then getting upset when the main character makes a bad decision that could have been avoided if the guy had simply told the main character a few important things. If the author satisfactorily explained the annoying character's behavior, that would be fine, but he only half explains part of the guy's behavior and the guy remains annoying. Frankly he seems like just a plot device and not a particularly good one.
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