Real-Time Starcommander: A Strategy Gamelit Novel

Real-Time Starcommander #1

by Tracy Gregory

Yesterday a wannabe pro-gamer, today an alien admiral.

Evan was desperate to hit the big time playing Star Commander, the world’s most popular real-time strategy game. While Evan works hard to get the pros to notice him, it's very different eyes that are captivated by Evan's progress.

The Kirran Hegemony is at war. Outclassed at every step, the aliens turn to the most warlike race they know - humanity! Abducted from Earth, Evan finds himself fighting for his life, using his skills to command Hegemony forces in desperate battle.

Now, helped by fellow humans, Evan must prove victory can be grasped from the jaws of impossible odds.

Genres: Science Fiction, Space, Aliens

Audible Audio

First published January 5, 2021

Reviews

[Michael Chatfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good start into the scifi/gamelit realm, found it a fun little read and looking forward to more!

[Draim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a bit strange pacing. On one hand, characters have *VERY* little background and are kind of blank archeotypes, so their interactions are very predictable, that leads to the expectation that the story itself, the battles and commanding should be the foremost focus of everything and while they are, there is a lot of fluff. A lot of fluff about characters with flat personality makes it kind of boring and I spent a lot of time wishing "cut it and move on". And they did, the boringness was there but not that much of it, strange mix.
On the other hand, the starcommanding, while the sole focus and purpose of... everything, it was featured very little even if characters talked about it the whole time. To stretch the game-lit analogy, like first two missions out of 20 mission campain + tutorial and some cutscenes. Not to mention the final battle being a little underwhelming, even if it fitted the 80% preparation, 20% execution ambush concept.
One last thing, the absolute laser-focused intent to not mention aby real life pop cultural works while stiill making references is just weird and off putting. Don't be afraid to mention Alien movie, Warhammer and stuff like that, you don't have to make up your own whole expanded universe of cultural development. Starcraft i get, since it is very much inspired, same with Homeworld games, but rest was just forcing it.

That being said, not a bad book. Important parts look good, the game system is understandable (altho a copy of a proven one) and reader is not spammed by unnecessary details like milion numbers and stats.

[Norma · Rating 3 out of 5]

( Format : Audiobook )
"Place your hand into the hollowtank..."
Evan was a keen war games played, and he was good. Not bri!liant, just good, and spent all of his available time trying to improve and move into the Diamond league. Instead, he is kidnapped by aliens, along with an handful of other earth kids, to play the game for real to save the Hegemony, and with it, the Earth.

This is a quick and easy book to read but somehow it did not inspire enthusiasm of commitment in this reader: the characterization was just too flat and the unnecessary training insufficiently inspiring. Although new and original, it felt as if it had all been done before, and better. Narration by Graham Mack was fine but a little slow, much improved by increasing playback to 1.25.

My thanks to the rights holder who, at my reqjest, freely gifted me with a complimentary copy via Audiobook Boom. I had expected to really enjoy this book but somehow it just wasn't what I wanted. It is however, an amusing read and undemanding.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this is basically just the classic game Homeworld, but in book form. Ships, strategies and many other aspects are taken directly from the game. It handles this aspect well enough though many of the touted clever strategies are very, very basic stuff. I enjoyed the book for what it was but some of the moralizing the book tries to do just completely lost me. Don't keep reading this if you don't want spoilers. The MC tries to follow some moral code with genocidal robots. Can the robots think? Yes, which makes it all the worse that they are wiping literally billions of lives out, ruining planets and slowly scouring the galaxy of organic life. I get the author wanted his boy scout MC but it just comes across as incredibly bad. The MC wasn't sparing enemies in honorable combat, he was stopping them from killing an entire world of people. There was no reason to think the machines wouldn't just run away and kill an entire other world full of life. It was childish and cheap.

[Johnny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book one

Mistakes: A short little story that comes up short in both page count and execution. I found two mistakes in this story as well.

Plot: Five video game players are kidnapped to fight on behalf of a huge space empire that can't adjust to enemy tactics, and need to be taught how to be more human.
This story needs to be expanded and given some depth.

Characters: Show absolutely no real fear of the aliens that have kidnapped them. This is my second biggest problem with this story. (The first being how short it is.) The lack of emotional response from any of the humans other than SaaDeem. They just take everything in stride.
The Characters need to be emotionally involved and something needs to be added to pull the reader in and get them rooting for the characters.

4/10

[Isaios · Rating 2 out of 5]

The slave has no obligation to the slaver

THIS book on the other hand, seems to think differently. The MC immediately goes into obedient Uncle Tom mode and never exits.

The annoying part is that the entire kidnapping ploy could be swapped for an opener that DOESN'T open such a can of ethical worms.

The first half of the book is training (training the MC and crew do not need), then the final conflict is wrapped up in maybe 5% of the page-count.

Overall pretty dull, but a quick read, so no great loss of time either.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like a fraud writing this review because while I don't have the right imagination for this book, I do have two guys who won't do a review but loved the book. They said that it was great and I believed them for two reasons--they do Lit-RPG, and each one asked if I had the next one. But they didn't give me any specifics of why. The plot involves purposeful abduction of several humans by aliens and what happens next.
Graham Mack is the convincing narrator and the guys said he did a great job.
I won this audio in a giveaway!

[Pieter · Rating 3 out of 5]

While at times a bit slow it is a solid real time space strategy litRPG story. The fact that it is not a game, but there is a solid reason for the game-like nature is a plus. Good SF. The worldbuilding is intriguing (the MC recognize a couple of odd things in regards to the situation that make no sense when taken at face value), and I find the mystery intriguing. The plot itself is a tad predictable, lacking true tension, but that was not an overly big problem for me. All in all, an enjoyable read.

[Shane Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read

A good start for a series, and something i plan to keep tabs on and read as they release. I believe the small amount of status windows helped this book at least as it was wrote. I would love to see more as they grow familiar with the system. Complaint wise just grammar errors. The wrong word in the wrong spot which can jar you from the paragraph.

[Chip Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun but needs editing

I was a huge Command & Conquer fan growing up so this was a fun read albeit in space. Only negatives were that the book was super short which left little time to develop the characters who were still pretty shallow by the end and it needed a lot of editing. I’ll read the sequel for sure though.

[Roberto Flores · Rating 2 out of 5]

When you get half way through the book without anything happening, you have a problem.

The writing is very dry. The story is rather boring. The only thing that could pull it together would be the characters, and these characters fell short. They are flat and generally interchangeable.

[Daniel Gayle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great sci-fi Read

Nice sci-fi game lit, reminiscent of The Last star Fighter. Well written, and game elements not overbearing. Too short, but left me want more. Character well developed and likeable.

[b · Rating 3 out of 5]

This could have been better

There are a lot of elements in this book that could have been handled better. There are enough that were handled in a passable way that its an average, not disappointing, but not exciting read.

[Danny Moody · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first RTS Gamelit that I have come across. It definitely gave me flashbacks of play Starcraft back in the day. The characters were fun and the novelty of the book made it very interesting to me.

[GaiusPrimus · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best RTS style gamelit I've read so far. Really interesting concept, engaging characters and some of the "science" reminds me of Campbell's Lost Fleet series with a blend of Bobiverse in there.

If you are into Real Time Strategy, I would recommend picking this up.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

A little bit obvious where the storyline is going; pretty sure I know what is going to happen for the whole series after getting halfway through this book, but an alright read. Probably will read the next one, be ok for when you don't want to think too deeply.

[Logan Horsford · Rating 3 out of 5]

After a "Are you kidding me you are using the Last Starfighter hook that way too many people are using" crap, it settles into a decent series that gives you something to do while waiting for the eventual heat death of the universe.

[Adam Shook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Needs editing

An interesting read but it needed a couple passes by a competent editor. I look forward to book two but its not something ill wait for on the edge of my seat

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

A great start in a genre of LitRPG that you don't see a lot of books in. Lots of action and galaxy building. Looking forward to the next one!

[Travis Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun start to hopefully a great series. 👍🏾👍🏾

[Elruin Elmsroot · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just another mediocre book.....

[Corey Woodfield · Rating 2 out of 5]

Basically about high stakes StarCraft. Lots of grammar and spelling mistakes and lots of glaring plot holes