Hack: A LitRPG Novel

Tower of Gates #1

by Paul Bellow

Trapped in an RPG...or a Virtual Prison? When Eric and friends secretly log onto the new Tower of Gates fully immersive virtual reality MMORPG against his father's wishes, they spawn separately throughout the game. Eric finds Sarah easily enough, but they can't find Josh, their remaining party member. Unable to escape or even pause the game, Eric and Sarah work together to find Josh. They meet a colorful cast of characters along the way, including a priest named Benji. Unsure what happens when you die, they vow to be careful with who they trust. While Benji and others they meet seem harmless enough, a strange mage in black vows to kill them. Can they stay alive and complete the first few levels of the Tower of Gates? Or will they suffer the fate of others who have died inside the game? Hack is the first book of the Tower of Gates LitRPG Saga. Previously published as the first half of Goblin.

Genres: Fantasy, Amazon

Audible Audio

Published February 2, 2024

Reviews

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

First LitRPG I've read in a few years, pretty well written and edited which is something that plagues the genre. The characters aren't really developed , there's no time for that as quest piles on quest and the problem of escaping the game.

To really punish criminals, trap them in a time dilated video game where a 1 year sentence turns into 20 years, then a rogue A.I. traps all the players.

I think that video games could easily be used to teach and to some extent rehabilitate with the right kind of gameplay. To do that it'd have to be developed by educators, psychologists along with software developers.

[Craig Becker · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh spare me. Not recommended.

Spare me the teen angst. Daddy says don't, so not only does our idiot hero do it, but he drags his undeclared girlfriend and her boyfriend in as well. "Oh I love her so much, but I'm paralyzed, she'll hate me". No she'll hate you because you are a selfish douche nozzle. No you haven't been friend zoned, you have to actually say, "hey want to go on a date?" Ah screw it, deeply flawed annoying book. Poor grammar, misspellings, needs an editor and an adult. No I didn't finish it. The guy that joins their party tells them he's been there for twenty years and there is no escape, yet they are sure they'll be out if they just finish this one quest. Daddy will save them. But the guy that's been there for twenty years started on the same exact day they started, but amazingly enough no one can remember what time they started. Well isn't that just stupid. Not recommended.

[andrew tatman · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's just bad

Ok I wanted to like it the premise seemed good. The first oh chapter was ok and then it went downhill from there. The outline is there for a good story but the writing is terrible. Like others have said it's like a fifth grader wrote it for fifth graders. I tried to finish but I just couldn't do it.

[jerry smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

It sucks. Waste of time.

Author is terrible and can only think of having his characters do stupid stuff to advance the story. Plus none of the characters are in any way likeable.

[Chris Godwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a veteran player of both tabletop and computer RPG's I really enjoy the trapped in the game concept. It's far from unique, but Paul Bellow delivers an interesting take that lets you feel his game world without forgetting the concept. My only real problem, and the reason the story didn't get five stars, is the characters are lacking depth, both in and out of the game world. Beyond that, it's a well written and entertaining story.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Eric invites his friend Sarah over to help him hack into the new virtual reality RPG his father is developing, he doesn't expect that he, Sarah, and her boyfriend Josh will get sucked into the game. Unable to log out and separated, they need to figure out how to reunite and escape the game before virtual reality becomes permanent.

I can't get over these LitRPG books, it's a great way to get your gaming fix when you don't have a lot of time to actually play. The writing is simple and straightforward and I whizzed through the book. While there were some inconsistencies, I enjoyed my time with this one and hope a second book is on its way.

This is a clean LitRPG I'd recommend for teens on up. I requested a copy of the book, and I'm voluntarily leaving a review.

[The Mysterious Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m an unrepentant gamer, proud to be one, proud to have married one and proud to have raised two gamer-kids, so I know more than a bit about Role Playing Games (TPGs), whether the classic D&D or the modern software / internet versions where there are millions of others to campaign with. No surprise then that I’ve come to really love the whole LitRPG sub-genre. Paul Bellow’s Hack (first in his new Tower of Gates series) is a perfect example of why. Yes, our heroes Sarah, Eric and Josh are trapped in a virtual reality RPG but do what? That’s pure catnip for a gamer, and this is a wonderful adventure to be trapped in. My only real criticism here is that while not a cliffhanger this book ends on a sort of “Happily Enough for Now” rather than anything remotely HEA. That doesn’t take away from his much fun I had reading it up to the last page. Frankly, but for the fact that I’m literally dictating this review to my husband from my hospital bed I could go on and on with praises - the book definitely deserves it. Since I can’t do that I will simply note that the book is most definitely one to read, it is easy to highly recommend.

[Noah Barnett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This game was for prisoner rehabilitation?

It doesn't make any sense. How is a game about killing monsters and looting the dead going to prepare an inmate to re-enter society? It won't, you're only reinforcing violent behaviour. Let's set aside that giant plot hole for now and talk about the good things. Grammar and spelling are excellent. It's obvious he put a lot of labor into this book, which is why it's still getting 3 stars. I heard this was on Amazon once before and re-released after being edited.

Spoilers from here.

I started to dislike the main character right from page one. He felt whiney and emo. The worst part was we were only told about his leet hacking skills. Other than an single sentence about flooding the system with garbage data. The rest of the time he felt like a young, stupid, love-struck boy. I found myself connecting to the super jock anti-gaming bf far more than any other character. Then there Sarah. She felt like a trophy these to hyper-extreme boys were fighting over. Why wasn't she more concerned about finding her man in game?

Frankly, there were a lot of little things that pulled me from the story. Like being killed turns you into an npc... How? Seriously, how is that possible? Then you have to find a new party to start over. Wait a sec, the system is closed, and no new players are joining. You realize you just created a zero sum game, right? After a while "everyone" would end up an npc and unable to even think ooc thoughts. Again, how is this supposed to rehabilitate prisoners? Why is PvP even enabled? Are we going to blame everything on an insane ai?


Minor gripes. I didn't like the constantly shifting first-person perspective. Each of the chapters felt the same, so only the name at the beginning told me who it was. I'd like to have seem more word choice, and frame of mind differences between characters.

I'm not a fan of hard stats, and I skimmed the fights and character pages. I want a story, not a game log. The ending was kinda 'oh hum' as the wizard casually took his thingy back.

Tdlr - I felt like there were two great plotlines here that clashed badly. The prisoner plot could easily make an interesting journey as someone say picks up a tradeskill. Winning a girl over despite a disability wouldn't be bad either. This didn't work for me. Your mileage may vary.

[R.K. Billiau · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was ok.

This book was OK. It had a real lack of depth to the characters though, and repeated too many of its own tropes.

[Joseph James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to put down

The story has a few nice twist to it with relatable characters. The best aspect is the simple suspense that keeps you glued to the screen. Downsides are overuse of the same phrase and writing first person from multiple views in the same chapter made it hard to follow. This may be less the writers doing and more about the pace in which I read. I'm getting the next one.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun

I enjoyed this story. It is a great addition to the LitRPG genre. A fun read that entertained the whole time.

[Bob Wagner]

Great story! First book that I've been excited to read for a while. I love the underlying plot and the characters were very well done.

[Daniel Bowers · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't finish reading this book. The writing style is hard to follow. The most serious flaw in my opinion is that the entire book is written in first person but in an odd way. I like first person books, but not the way this author has chosen to handle it. Each chapter cycles through a rotation of the main characters. So the first chapter has Eric's first person point of view. The second chapter has Sarah's point of view. The third chapter has Josh's point of view. It jolts me out of my immersion when I have to mentally switch gears every few minutes. Although the author clearly communicates the transition with chapter titles, it creates an extra detail that my brain has to constantly keep track of as I read. A better method in my opinion would be to pick a main protagonist for first person for the vast bulk of the book and use third person for everyone else in little "mini-chapters" or clearly delineated asides.

SPOILERS BELOW

I'm an experienced gamer and supposedly two of the three characters in the book are as well. They constantly make stupid, newbie mistakes that no experienced gamer would make. I'm not expecting a Mary Sue gamer character, but this is ridiculous. They lack basic competency. They forget to loot corpses and monster areas after killing monsters. They go out of their way to tackle situations that are beyond their abilities. They forget to repair damaged equipment, then find themselves in a life or death situation where they need that piece of equipment. They use expensive potions which should be saved for emergencies instead of casting healing spells which are free. They don't stop to rest to restore mana, but plow forward into combat with low mana.

The game the players find themselves in sucks. It is clearly out of balance. One character mows through armed fighters while another nearly dies to a rat bite. One player is doing 24 damage per attack while the other does 8 points of damage.

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable, fun LitRPG book.

I had read and reviewed the previous version of this book as Goblin and wasn't all that impressed. When I saw that the book had been rewritten and professionally edited I thought I'd give it another chance. I can say that i was pleasantly surprised and definitely enjoyed this version. I am an avid RPG player and felt that this book accurately portrayed the genre, giving just enough stats to keep the reader interested. The characters still could have used more fleshing out but are enjoyable enough. Recommended.

I received a complimentary copy of this book for voluntary review consideration

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (3/5/2019)! 🎁

Blurb:
Sarah, Eric and Josh secretly log onto the new Tower of Gates VRMMORPG and stumble on a world unlike any they have seen before. Swords, sorcery, and intrigue abound. While not planning on staying in the unreleased game long, life happens.

They soon learn the stakes are even higher than they imagined. To survive, they will need all their strength, courage, and wisdom, not to mention help from friendly NPCs, magic items, and everything else as they delve deeper into the game.

[Simon Larcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable read, but something missing...

I can’t quite put my finger on what I missed in this book since I did enjoy it, but I was left feeling like there WAS something missing. I know that this kind of statement does not help the author but I cannot pinpoint what it is...!
Overall, an enjoyable read

[Eve · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very simple. I was not attached to the characters at all. Decent LitRPG but not a great plot/

[The Legend · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Second Worst Book, I've ever read and that is in the 3,000-5,000 book range.

Now I don't think I could write better and I hate to tear down a book that an author spent so much time and work on but this thing reads like it was written by a seventh grader for seventh graders. Perhaps the next books get better but I won't know.

Let's start with just the mechanics, Barbarian gets a cool rage ability and who knows what else besides high health. A mage gets 3 spells, then at level 2 gets another two spells and at level 3 gets another two? The Rogue for his abilities gets.....nothing? Maybe backstab? It's not clear. So this mage gets tons of spells and a bow and a scroll for a familiar but rogues get..backstab? With a long sword? Okay!

Next, OOC penalty for speaking out of character while in the 'game'. It doesn't happen half the time, they'll say stuff like, I'm sick of this game or I love this game...nothing. They mention " I don't know what stat to get" when items have stats and NPC sell items knowing they have stats....but that some how triggers OOC penalties. The penalty is a 10% reduction of exp in next encounter. Next encounter? So they literally can go smack a rabbit kill it and lose 10% exp for that kill then be back to 100% but they act like this is hampering their leveling all the time!

Oh and somehow Sarah the mage spends 2 days killing over 60 different things from Bears to Giant lizards and barely gets to level 2 but Erik who kills 10 rats and is poisoned for 2 days is also almost level 2.

Now, How stupid are the characters? Apparently they used to game but Sarah gets a scroll to find familiar and gets told to use it in a high level area with better beasts. So instead of using it around wolves or bears in the forest...she waits to use it until she ..spoilers, goes to a city! She uses it in the middle of a freaking city! What is she hoping for, a familiar sewer rat?!?!

They constantly throw around gold like its nothing and like they can have as much as they want but they add up their gold and only have 244gp and spend 90 on potions, then go raid a camp for loot and get 100g worth of loot and act like they struck it rich. They literally made 10g because they use almost all those potions at the camp and give away all the silver they find to a npc.

And yes they USE the potions when they have HEALER in the party, instead of asking to be healed, they use potions! Then they go spend more and more gold and later on when they find more treasure when they have probably about 100g left they find like 1000g in silver and gold and they give it all away instead taking a scroll, mana potion and a ring. These are the worst looters EVER.

Now lets forget that , they constantly talk about how they'll get out of the game once they finish this quest. Yet every person they meet tells them they've been trapped in the game for a long time but they somehow seem to mentally just ignore that and any time it comes up they just change the subject. Any time there is a argument it ends half way through with Erik just saying " I've missed gaming with you" or something else equally dumb and move on...nothing gets settled or talked out, they just stop mid talking and turn to do something else.

This whole book jumps from one thing to the other, super fast without any real struggle and really seems like a parody of a adventure. For some reason Erik thinks his band of randoms he randomly invites to help without knowing their level or classes can help him a level 2 defeat people who been in the game for years and are probably like level 100! It's just ridiculous, he should just get one shot but somehow always lives, well mostly Sarah pulls him out.

Also Sarah, worst mage ever, she just spams one spell using tons of mana per bolt like firing 12 points of mana with each shot even though literally with the damage they shown 3 mana would kill the things. She goes from 45 mana to 0 mana, in every fight and drinks potions when she could just spend a few mana or let Erik hit things, she literally kills like 3/4th of everything while using too much mana to do it.

So all in all, Mechanics,Combat, Character interactions, all are super shallow or don't make sense.

The only redeeming factor might be the plot but even that just seems sorta weak , some mystery but only because Erik's dad seems to be a ass who didn't explain to his son why the pods downstairs are dangerous and what they were used for and what he's doing. Pretty sure any parent with gaming pods that might trap someone in them with a son who is asking to 'use' said pods would explain why that's bad. No son, you can't use the death machine downstairs, sorry. Why? Because I said so, now i'm heading out and leaving you alone with it, have fun! Reaaallly!?

I'd have told the author this is a good outline but it needs more depth and rework on most of it, more consistency, more in depths game system to explain things and balance and more motivation for characters. Not ones who one minute can't wait to get out then stop planning on that the moment one says, I like gaming with you.

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

An OK reading

- Quote: "If you were trapped in this game, would you rather be a high level in a levels one to five world, or face unknown threats deeper in the game with more horrific creatures?"
- Thoughts: A great idea for a litRPG, but it really could use some editing. There are some scene transitions that don't exactly glue with each other, a little too much detail in combat, not really smart players, even some acidental invencibility bug in the end where the main character is hit but his current HP does not goes down and no one notices it, so it's probably just some mistake.
▶◀
These are my personal opinions, you may discord, my final rating of the book is not necessarily linked to this system and may diverge from it.
Book Storyline
- Originality: 4/5 stars
- Development: 3/5 stars
- Enjoyment: 4/5 stars
- Writing stile: 3/5 stars
- Funnyness: 1/5 stars
- Epicness: 2/5 stars
- Scaryness: 1/5 stars
- Smartness: 3/5 stars
- Addictiveness: 3/5 stars
- Plot twists: 2/5 stars
- Pace: 3/5 stars
- Storyline planning: 2/5 stars
- Ending: 3/5 stars
- Holes: 3/5 negative stars
- Self contained (Y/N): ×
- Cliffhanger (Y/N): ×
- Adult (Y/N): ×
- Mystery (Y/N): ×
- Treasure Hunting (Y/N): ✓
- Violence level: Virtual violence
- Tech level: Full Dive Game
- Religion level: There are priests and paladins of the fish
- Main genre: litRPG
- Subgenre: GameLit, Sword and Sorcery, Roguelike
- Point of view: Multiple main characters, inside of their heads
- Best of it: The concept of the story is very interesting, could have a little more philosophical exploration of it.
- Worst of it: There is a huge fear of letting people join the party, even some system warming about it and it goes on until the end of the book, but there was no explanation as to why letting anyone join is such a huge danger.
- Aftertaste: Everyday fast food
Cover

- Quality: 2/5 stars
- Traces: 2/5 stars
- Colors: 2/5 stars
- Style: 2/5 stars
- In a few words: looks like CG from old games
World
- Originality: 2/5 stars
- Variety: 2/5 stars
- Consistency: 3/5 stars
- Impact on the story: 5/5 stars
- Maps: -/5 stars
- Main scenario: Traveling around by mule-cart
Setting
- There are hints of a deep lore in game, but it's very scarcely seen, the real world/game world setting is very interesting because of the true objective of the game.
- Setting overall score: 4/5 Stars
- Tension: 2/5 Stars
- Atmosphere: 2/5 Stars
- Grounds for an interesting philosophical exploration: ✓
- Roguelike RPG: ✓
- Very good death system: ✓
Characters
The characters are ok as characters, they are flawed, make mistakes, they are very lame players that dont even equip their weapons, there are little growth in their personalities during the first book though, the most notable being Josh, but then he did not show up anymore.
- Consistency: 4/5 stars
- Connection: 2/5 stars
- Dialogs: 3/5 Stars
- Interactions: 3/5 Stars
- Underworld Crew (✓/×): ×
- Training (✓/×): ✓ Via XP gains
- Romance: Possible love triangle
- Notable best characters: Josh, Benji
- Notable worse characters: Eric
Rules
- Devised system: 2/5 stars
- System complexity: 5/5 stars
- System explanation: 2/5 stars
- Impact on storyline: 5/5 stars
- Rulebreaker (Y/N): ×
- Type of Rule: Rigorous Game Master Rules
Series Storyline
- Impact of this book in storyline: 5/5 stars
- Probability that I'll read the next book sometime: 80%
- Can be read as a standalone (✓/×): ×

[Benjamin Espen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had seen this book pop up through Amazon's recommendations several times. I hadn't been willing to take a chance on it. The cover is ridiculous. Yes, I know that pretty much every scifi/fantasy book published in the last 100 years has a ridiculous cover, but I went ahead and judged the book by its cover anyway.

I did give it a chance when Nick Cole, author of Soda Pop Soldier and co-author of the Galaxy's Edge series recommended it to me. And it was free. The first hit always is.

I messaged Nick immediately after I started reading the book, because I was already hooked. This book was just plain fun. I went in with pretty low expectations. I had heard of LitRPG before, and arguably, some books I've really liked fall into this category, it was a pretty hard sell for me. A book about kids playing a videogame? Hard pass.

Which is a funny thing to say, since I'm probably close to the target audience for this kind of thing. Both a reader of scifi and a videogamer. Fan of self-published indie works. If I'm not it, I don't know who is. But I'm also kind of picky. I've had about a 50% rate of liking new series and authors I've tried out in 2018. Paul Bellow's Hack made the cut.

Now, to the book! Eric, our teenage protagonist, desperately wants to play the virtual reality MMORPG his dad works on. He is desperate for two reasons. First, he is paraplegic; access to the fully immersive game will give him freedom of a kind he craves. Second, his best friend Sarah agreed to help him hack into the game, and he hasn't seen her as much recently as he would like to. The problem is, Sarah invited her boyfriend Josh along.

This is a simple setup, and it gives us quite a bit of energy to help keep the plot moving along, and ample opportunities for drama, misunderstandings, jealousy, and what have you. And, of course, the game is much more than it first appears. Secrets and conspiracies abound. Oh, and you can't log out. Eric's dad wasn't just being a jerk about not letting his son play the game.

As for the videogame RPG elements that make this genre what it is, such as character selection, leveling, experience points and whatnot, I find it to be a harmless conceit. The characters are kids. They grew up playing videogames, and now they are in a super immersive videogame, so they act accordingly. I suppose it won't be to everyone's taste, but we now live in a world in which you can find a book written to match just about any taste.

If you have tastes like mine, and you are looking for an entertaining read, then Hack is worth a look. But I'm still laughing about the cover.

[Nathan Niche · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing for this novel was criminal. Rubbish writing that paints a world without texture, or contrast or flavour. No word, no sentence is used to immerse the reader into the story.

Despite that, I still enjoyed this book. It was so much fun. What it lacks in narrative, it makes up in plot. Why this online game is created and how the Players become trapped in it is imaginative and fascinating.

What I enjoyed the most about this story is that it is over flowing with D&D tropes and uses those tropes in clever ways. It is also a fast read which means it is a light read and I wasn't required to invest to much time into completing the book.

A big turn off for me with this genre is the game mechanics and stat blocks. This author still uses them, but only sparsely, and they are easy to ignore and skip them.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid first book in this LITRPG series

To be completely honest I received this book for free, although after reading it, I probably would have paid for it.

There are a few clashing storylines that didn’t make too much sense to me, but overall it is an entertaining read.

I liked how he showed the stats in the book. It kept it clean and it understandable.

I had a hard time truly getting a sense of who the characters were and sometimes the shifting perspectives made it a little difficult to follow. As for how they entered the game (which is always a hard thing to come up with) I feel he did an excellent job.

This did have a lot of action and has definitely piqued my interest for book 2, which I have already purchased.

[Brian D · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m leaving this review not just as a reader, but as a researcher and original author of a protocol called MSCFT 4.0A — a structured AI forecasting framework. It was published publicly under my name (Brian Helip) via OSF and GitHub in June 2025.

After publication, I discovered Paul Bellow reusing my framework’s unique structure, logic, and naming — including the version name MSCFT 4.0A — without attribution, on the OpenAI Developer Forum. The reuse involved my original terminology and design.

Attribution matters — especially in the AI and research space. Regardless of this book’s content, I urge other readers and creators to research his practices carefully.

Full authorship record: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/Z5K7J

[Johnny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book one

Mistakes: very well written, however toward the end I found mistakes in combat as well as the main bad guys last conversation. Almost as if the editor was as bored as I was by the end of the book.
Plot: so freaking boring! I keep t almost falling asleep. The idea is good enough, but is good in such a dry fashion. There is no hook, nothing that draws me into the story, wanting to be a part of it.
Characters: dry and one demintional. Nothing to draw you to any of the characters. Josh was a complete tool, but at least he had a bit of life in him. Might be a while before I try book two.
5.5/10

[Katje van Loon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm kinda surprised I enjoyed this as much as I did. I'll be honest, the writing isn't the greatest. But the story and characters still dragged me in, and I don't regret picking up the book. Also I'll be reading the rest of the series as soon as I can.

Maybe it's cause I'm a gamer, so reading it just felt...very familiar and fun and soothing, in a lot of ways.

(note, the time it takes me to read a book isn't necessarily reflective of how much I enjoyed it. I'm a very slow reader these days because of how busy I am.)

[Gustavo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a good setup for a very different litrpg series The unlikely hero and his frriend (with her boyfriedn) hack thier way into a game, a game our her's father works on and doesn't want him to play it.

A very perverse setting that tries to delve you deeper into the game and forget reality. A game with no exit, A game with very heavy OOC (out of character dialogue)C penalties.

It's a great start with hero and antagonist both looking for the same thing in a different but conflicting way. And we don't know who is right about it.

[Michael Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not sure I like the main character that much. I may still read the next in the series but it’s not high on my list. I did like that they are 24/7 in the game in a different way then most. 8 also like the idea of the fellow gamers being angry prisoners. It is why I was disappointed in not liking the main character, I like the whole idea of the story so I probably will give the next book a chance.

[Robert loudermilk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent

Not a bad read, a cool take on the litrpg system. Feels a lot like they are in a mud (multi-player, unique, dungeon) and less like a MMORPG. I thought that was interesting. Some of the story seems a bit forced and the characters seem to lack something. Over all it was a good read and I'm going to continue the story see where it goes. On to the next book!

[KC Leannan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this trapped-in-a-game book. The one thing that tripped me up was there was a lack of differentiation between POV characters -- I'd forget which character's chapter I was on, often. But it improves in the second book, so it's a case of the author finding the footing of the characters.

[Frank Castle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not finish it. This is something a pretty good junior high kid would write after he got some peer review and edited it. That is it is terrible writing characters and story. I was not confused by it- rather amazed at how dull it was. How is bargaining for thing’s interesting? I feel dumber having read it and I am also impressed with myself for reading what I did before quitting.