A Virtual Dream

The Dragon's Wrath #1

by Brent Roth

When Brent Roth suffered a workplace accident that rendered him temporarily immobile, he found himself lying in bed dreaming of a better life. He dreamed of a life where maintaining his health was no longer a daily struggle, and then when he had lost all hope, he had discovered a new virtual reality game on the horizon. A VR-MMORPG that offered him everything he lacked in real life, everything that had eluded him.

A world where he could find adventure, companionship, and success all wrapped up in the singular package of The Dragon's Wrath. The game offered him a chance, a chance for salvation… a glimmer of hope.

It was better than a dream, it was a virtual dream.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Virtual Reality, Role Playing Games, Magic, Adventure, Cyberpunk

273 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 12, 2015

About the author

Brent Roth is a fictional character in The Dragon's Wrath... and was a tongue-in-cheek joke of a Pen Name lending to the first-person narrative. Now that I've realized the mistake and the issues that might cause, it's sort of too late!

Ah well!

About me:

I started writing when I was a young adult but never thought about publishing or even letting others read my work. Ultimately, after a series of events and a few years down the road, I decided to publish a book to see how the process worked and if people would actually enjoy my work.

I would like to think, that most people did.

So here I am now, writing more books!

My background is relatively storied and diverse, as I've walked a lot of different paths, worked and lived the highs and lows, and have been at the bottom and the top. I've traveled the world, spent numerous months in third world countries, and consider myself fairly cultured and generally experienced "at life." It's from those experiences that I draw inspiration for a lot of the "things" I write about, and it also serves to keep me grounded going forward.

Originally a History Major while working odd service jobs, I turned to being a small-business owner while studying Accounting, running a restaurant for a couple of years until I eventually decided that wasn't for me. That led me to relocating and studying Linguistics at the University of California, San Diego and enjoying the good life, while preparing for a life in the service. That didn't work out, thanks to my health.

So with the Navy no longer an option, I've decided to focus on being the best writer that I can be. I'm still a budding Author, but I believe I'll be around for quite some time.

Any who, thank you for reading this little informal biography of mine, and I hope you enjoy my current work and the future ones that are on the way!

Reviews

[Russell Gray · Rating 1 out of 5]

Every now and then, you will come across a book that will make you re-evaluate things and begin to truly appreciate all of the subtle skills involved with even decently good writing, character, and story. This book was one of those and it accomplished this task by doing such a poor job with all of the previously mentioned attributes.

The level of writing is sub-par, to be generous. Think of what level a 13 year old grasps the English language and you will have an idea. Grammar and syntax mistakes occur with frequency and the tense changes from present to past from chapter to chapter and even sometimes from paragraph to paragraph.

I found the main character to be extremely unlikable, unsympathetic, a whiner, a misogynist, and just a straight-up asshole. He constantly whines about the trials and tribulations in his life while simultaneously looking down his nose and judging every person around him. The very first thing the character notices about a female is always something relating to her looks and ends up being something to the extent of "she was nothing special, but still decently pretty."

Choosing 1st person point of view was a huge mistake here because the character had very little personality or actual voice. Maybe with 3rd person I could have been fooled into thinking the character was an interesting guy for a little while, but from 1st person that idea was thrown to the curb quickly.

I cannot in good conscience recommend this book to anybody other than maybe the odd masochist who wants a palette-cleanser to make them really appreciate good writing. After reading this book, your next read will seem amazing by comparison.

I tried this story since it was supposedly one of the first Litrpg's written in America...but do yourself a favor and go read Aleron Kong instead. Just pretend this series never happened.

[Geli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably one of the best books in the new genre at the moment.
(Let's face it, most books in the genre are unprofessional translations, private publishers writing in their second language or fanfictions. As a whole they are not as good as normal books by a long shot. So yeah, 4 stars for a LitRPG novel are not 4 stars for another novel. But then, everyone that reads this probably knows that.)

The writing is okay, the grammar as well, and the story definitely engaging. Biggest selling point is how he approaches the game, I haven't seen that idea anywhere else so far.

The main character is a bit of a loner and he takes it to the extreme by starting in the most unpopular village on the continent. And he stays in that area, which means few (very few) other players for quite a while. He makes good use of that, though and I really like what he does with the village.

Here is to hoping that we are seeing the new Rising Kind of the North.

[Brett · Rating 5 out of 5]

First 25% of this is slow. The rest is solid litrpg.

Follows a consistent path with alot of eastern equivalents- person with a mild physical disability (that includes alot of exposure to pain) joins a VRMMO. Through luck and observation they get some cool early power-ups. Jerks and assholes are introduced as future foils, women are introduced as future love interests etc.

Biggest deviation from the norm is the character leans toward establishing their own settlement in the almost abandoned "North", toward raising it into a kingdom of sorts. For those not familiar with the genre (usually) it's alot of leveling and dungeon crawling early, this character eschews that strategy in favor of creating a city which will grow independent of them.

Enjoyed this alot, but i'm a big fan of this genre. For those not so acquainted with LITRPG, treat the review as a 4.

[tasali pila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Read

Currently one of the few western LitRPG novels out there, this book is off to a good start. It is mostly world building and adventuring, interspersed with moments of Real Life. The character interactions are fun, and there seems to immense room for the characters to grow. This isn't a translated version of AlterWorld or Royal Road and Ark. No. It is a LitRPG novel written for an English speaking audience. However, the book is somewhat short, and publishing date for book two is unknown. If you're a gamer or just looking for a good read, this book is highly recommended.

[Lazybee · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's really pleasant read. Only drawback is the fact that writer tried to create the protagonist after himself, which is quite normal. But painting him as a perfect human being is a bit too much for me.

About the novel, writer's sense of humor and literary prowess are amazing. This is my first litrpg, where the writer tried to make it as a regular novel with a good use of figurative language and well thought quips.

Good read.

[Nick Martel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slow start, but gets good

This has some of the best representations of a game world in this genre I have seen yet. The rules and mechanics were mostly believable and made sense. Reading about the main characters troubles in the real world got repetitive at first, but fortunately stopped soon enough.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the first part or quarter of the book did not have that great of character interactions outside of the game world and the health issues or emotional trauma of the MC were quite over the top.

But the story definitely picks up and is quite enjoyable with the interactions improving quite a bit. I liked the author's concept of building the settlement and kingdom instead of taking something that is already there.

Looking forward to the next book.

[Lundos · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's fairly standard in it's setup - the main character hasn't really had an easy life, but he's smart, intuitive and he is now an experienced [Dragon's Wrath] gamer after spending hours playing the beta and alpha tests.

If you are looking for something light (which I was) or an easy introduction to the LitRPG literature this is a good place to start. There aren't too many unnecessary rule stats, the pacing is okay - except for the flash backs - and the world is explained just enough so the book is an easy read.

The level system is pretty weird, especially for the random encounters, and the concept of starting a village before getting enough xp to defend it is not new, but somehow it always works out in these books. Also if you could program the AI from the computer game in the real world, you would become very, very rich.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

The major thing I liked was the city building aspect. The real world bits where the character(author) was so perfect was getting a bit annoying.

[Scott Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this story. The world is not dissimilar to other LitRPG (fantasy world without excessive monsters and I don't recall seeing a dragon - Dragon's Wrath is the game title, not the theme), however having a character who is simply trying to build a community of his own in an out of the way place brings a newer element (not unique as Chaos Seeds is similar in this respect) to the genre that I really enjoy.

The main character (story is in first person) starts in the far North where no other players want to be. This serves two purposes, access to a unique game item and an out of the way place for him to build his little piece of the pie (community). There are plenty of obstacles to overcome, and the inevitable conflict with other players, that keeps the story moving and fun to read.

My final nod to the book is that I am now re-reading the 3 book series and enjoying it once again.

[Steven Penick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nicely done.

While quite predictable in the way it ended and slow to build to it's crescendo, I still feel that it's a great story. As a legally blind person I am intrigued by the thought of BE giving a blind person sight.

[Heath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Read.

A LitRPG story. Interesting story. Starts with the character by himself on the great white north. Foundations are laid and some leveling is done. Info is revealed about the main character's history and current situation. Enjoyed the story.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

i have almost no problem with the game world, but the real life character is unreal, the first chapters are like a bad comedy, the mc doesnt realize his muscles are all torn up? the whole series of chapters of real life mc are utterly superficials, no content, just bad, sad, and shameful, the virtual word, the stats and level are poorly done, you cant see a clear definition of stat value, the MC is made to be OP, but since he doesnt "work" his player and only focus on his piece of land, its kinda there for the sake of making the mc to go from weak to strong i suppose, if its a long term thing then its good, but the battle and related description and system are poorly done. That out of my chest, oh wait some gramatic or semantic errors here and there make the read less enjoyable but good so far. now for real that out of the way, its an interesting read, i love the "clan/city" building themes, sadly you just know that MC is cutting trees, diggind holes and then he pop a building out of his... there is no descriptive to the whole process so the reader cant really enjoy or get moved by the work, the npc retruitment system is well explained, and i give the author the benefit of the doubt since no one else has he managment system up, no one is bidding for npcs apart fom the mc, and i say again, stats seems to be only useful for everyday activities, but on battle are more of an add-on, where only skills matter, but if so, since the mc doesnt battle much given his low lvl, how can he beat a high lvl + "high" proficiency npc/pc?
but even with all that, i had a good time reading it, cant wait to start on the next book to see if it gets better or it becomes just plain stupid.

[Reddir · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. This is the first VR story I've read where the character needs to function without much civilization. I was nostalgic for the Frost mod for Skyrim and this satisfied me nicely. The low level of loot and expense is also rare to see, and it really does add to the sense of immersion in a game.

I could wish the ending point was chosen differently. Either before his entrance to the dungeon or after the group returns to town and discusses the next leg. The way it is now....it allows the book to end on action but feels fairly awkward.

The writings about pain...most of it was really good, except for 1 part which seemed gratuitous - the one which included the "girlfriend". I think I see what the author intended it for but I don't feel that the story had built up to the point where it was justified (not even by the end, which might be why the author crammed it in where he did, instead of having to wait until his next book or later).

The 'diary' method, I liked this a lot. The author explains it as the result of posting the story chapter by chapter. However, it felt right to me as a narrative tool for a someone learning about a game-world for the first time - if not the character than the reader. (Even if not an initial exploration for the character, he encounters many new elements in this game, so I feel it still fits nicely.)

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the story in this book was really great. In fact, I've read all of the books released in this series so far because the story itself is so good. Unfortunately, there are a few things in these books that forced me to drop my rating down to 3 stars.

1) The writing is not great. The most annoying thing is that the author, when writing the character's thoughts, repeats himself... a lot! Usually he starts these sentences with the word 'yeah'. If an editor just went through and removed every sentence starting with that word, I think it would dramatically improve the book.

2) There is way too much time devoted to the character's health issues. I like that the character has some emotional depth, but those sections should have been cut way back. They are super boring and come off whiny in my opinion.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly a Great Story!

I enjoyed this story quite a bit. It may be a lot of world building but that is needed to set the scene for later books which I can't wait for. I enjoy the character a lot Brent Roth or Roth Sigurd (in the game) is a nice person who may be kind of a loner but as someone who plays MMORPG's meeting nice people is kind of hard to do. Mostly you find really shitty people so I understand why he stayed away from people. Again can't wait for the next book! Hope it comes out soon.

[Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solidly written & enjoyable read.

Really the only reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 is I came across several instances where homonims slipped into the text. Reading "creak" instead of "creek" for example threw off my flow of the story for a few moments. These were few and far between as opposed to some e-books I've read which seemed to have glaring typographical/grammatical every few pages. Mr. Roth is a writer I will look forward to reading more of his work in the future.

[Steeve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun ride

Always great to see a new addition to this genre. I really enjoyed the ride, discovering the VR along with the MC, playing in the game world, living the adventure. Not enough books like this out there. if you liked "play to live" and other similar books, you should enjoy this one as well.

[xenofixus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really don't know what to think about this yet. While it is good I don't feel the same connection to the world, characters, or story that I do in other similar titles. Maybe it is because the world is just a game. I am going to read more and already have the next story bought but there are definitely better contenders in this genre.

[Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, imagine watching somone play a video game. Well this is reading about watching someone playing a video game. But... in a good way! Literally couldn't put this book down, and I thank God this game isn't real.

[Jenn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Starts off mundane and bogged down by (boring) details. Stopped at 15%, so perhaps it gets better, but meh..

[Travis Whitney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this Series, a great read

[Malbec · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fisrt 1/4 of the book is utterly boring, just a simple narration for a character of whose personality I am still not sure even halfway through the second book. He is supposed tobe borderline genius, yet he for some reason got inured several times, and afterwards didn't take much of a precaution, so the accidents accumulated until he became physically and even little mentally crippled. He is told to have some motivation, but most of the time he sounds entirely apathetic.
The book attempts to raise moral dilemas with the usual fading NPC / human distinctions, but fails miserably. NPCs are told be given AI, so they are by definition self-aware. MC's monologue about his thoughts on NPC are then just boring. Only moral dilema I actually experienced was based on his bleak descriptions of relationships, and materialistic view of women. I mean, in theory he's not hurting anybody, right? But I just had this urge to switch universes and kick him where men should not be kicked.
The book had a few good moments, but the severe lack of dialogue and repetitive descriptions of nature get boring really fast. Sometimes, author doesn't even write the dialogue, and only describes it. I have never had such lust for social interactions as when I read this series.
Typical feeling of progress, the practical basis of litRPG genre, was almost entirely absent. I found myself adoring author's descriptions of dungeon raiding, but instances like these were too far apart and too short. Sometimes, they are even skipped, and yet again only faintly described.

[Stanislas Sodonon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, this may sound harsh, but hear me out for a bit.

This year has been LitRPG year for me. I've read almost all the high rankers and most of the in-betweeners. And I've started to see a pattern develop.

# confused lexicon.
LitRPG authors really have to make their mind up about how they're writing. Are you using "high speech" or "low speech"? Choose one. Don't mix the two. It makes your book sound fake.
Considering that LitRPG is not really fantasy/sci-fi, but rather a "normal person's" account of their experience in such a world, I don't expect "high speech" at all in the narration. It may creep up in the dialog, but only if keeping in character is made a thing.

# my life sucks IRL, but now I rock the babes
And mostly, what we get a sob-story of how I'm a cursed genius IRL, but in the game I can finally make use of my full potential! \o/

# The game lingo
So many of them books just drown you in stats and character sheets and geek calculations. Hey, I like gaming as much as the next guy, but I don't pick up a book to read a game cheatsheet. I pick up a book to read a story.

# the store (or lack thereof)
Something has to drive my interest to keep reading the book. Some kind of... problem to solve? Opponent to defeat? You know, plot 101?

Ok, let's just stop here.

Conclusion:
I've seen MUCH better/engaging/profound/thought-provoking attempts at the genre than this book.
Maybe it was ahead of its time? I don't know. But as of 2018, it simply doesn't cut it for me.

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Light on details, action, and plot. Heavy on sob story and "I'm good because you're bad".

Game design is lackluster- very little description, system is mostly a blank slate. He receives God-tier lightning magic, except not really, he has to level it up like everyone else. It's supposed to be his big cheat and its not special compared to what other mages have.

Misfortune-filled backstory makes no contribution to his character or the story, and is annoying instead of endearing. Psycho girlfriend backstory is pointless, probably supposed to set up how important his two NPC girlfriends are, except they have no character and literally aren't present for the second half of book 1 or the first half of book 2.

Real life woes side-story is only mildly interesting because of the possible trouble it will bring to his village in the north, yet there's still no hint of that paying off (halfway through book 2).

Sure, he does a lot (ish) of research and trading and stuff, but for a settlement-themed novel there's not a lot of importance placed on his settlement, and the settlement system/interface is lazy AF.
Also, very short.

Although I had only moderately enjoyed the Chaos Seed series, this is like comparing a high school freshman to a first year grad student.

[Eve · Rating 1 out of 5]

Where do I start? et's just say I immensely disliked this book... I hated it.
I don't read liRPGs for the plot, hell there doesn't even have to be a god plot just give me some action damnit! But no, this book went on and on about how weak he was physically and it took it so long to actually start the VRMMORPG part of the book. You'd expect that once it started the author would start focusing on that but you'd be wrong. You always had more fluff about how he couldn't life a fork or how much of a life changer the game was.

The interactions between our protagonist and other people (or NPCs)...Oh god no.
It's just so fake and so UGH. When he ever has a conversation (which isn't that often) he talks as if he were a freaking robot! No personality and zero plausibility. I don't care how smart the guy used to be, no human is going to talk like that! Wait... maybe that's the twist... HE WAS AN AI ALL ALONG :O

No, I didn't like this book but I guess it was more or less well written? Maybe... I didn't like that either though, it always added too many details and went a little overboard with anything that had even a slight relation with the plot. The way it was written was slightly more advanced than other litRPGs, sure, but it just doesn't seem to fit the genre.

[H Rez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice read, hopefully it gets better next volume.

The use of square brackets to denote every system labeled object/spell/creature etc... I find it very distracting to the eye and flow breaking.

Some of the virtual world interaction didn't seem realistic, the MC goes hunting several hours in the snow barefoot ? or uses a river as a mirror ... while standing in it ... giving himself a haircut (please don't try these things in real life).

Didn't like the focus on the MC sexual frustration and his references to harem building (hanging a lantern on it doesn't make it more appealing).

The end was quite abrupt, which is somewhat understandable as its a larger work split, still when you get a book you expect something other then "you'll find the next chapter in the next book".

Overall likable characters with a nice flow to the story telling I'll definitely give the next book a try.

[Michael McCormack · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love Lit-RPG novels, unfortunately there aren't many to choose from.

I picked this up out of desperation and suffered through a few chapters before finally giving up.

Readers giving the author credit for the 'super original idea' of building a town in the North and lah-dee-dah, need not look further than the grandmaster of light novels that spawned a lot of wanna-be Lit-RPG authors: The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor.

So, no, I didn't find the story original, entertaining, or even easy to read.

This read like a bad rough draft. As in a rough draft you write spur of the moment to get your thoughts down just to see the shape of the story. Not a finished, polished piece of writing.

[Melissa Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure why everyone gives this book such a high rating. There is very little in game action and his real life outside of the game is pathetic and unrealistic (how can he pay for his bills with no job? Rent, utilities, food? Sound familiar?) There are many things that I liked but the dreamy aspect of the various actions put me off a bit. Plus, the MC's moral dilemma with the two NPC women was just weird. And his growth from three people in his village and 2 buildings suddenly into more than 100 with the same 2 buildings was very irritating. Definitely not a book style I'm enjoying despite all the recommendations from other reviewers.

[Mark]

Where is Brent Roth? Why can't his books be found? Everywhere in the LIitRPG world that I turn I see his shadow in my peripheral vision but I can find so little about this man or his work. No YouTube video book reviews, no mystery podcasts, just a few Reddit mentions, a skeleton of an author website and a fabeled unfinished series that can't be bought!

Can someone explain? Can someone tell me how to get these books?