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Bushido Online #1
The Battle Begins
How Often Do You Get a Second Chance in Life?
Seth Kinnaman’s dream has always been to become the best fighter the world has ever seen. After spending his entire life training, he’s finally ready to test his skills in the biggest tournament on Earth where hundreds of the fiercest competitors vie for the supreme title.
In the semi-finals, Seth is getting the upper hand when his opponent uses an illegal blow to take him out. Upon waking up from a coma, Seth finds out he’s lost his sight. He’s become blind and he’s completely devastated. All his dreams are now shattered, and he soon falls into depression. What is he going to do with his life?
That’s when he’s introduced to Bushido Online, a game that promises to keep his skills sharp while he figures out what his next move is going to be. Set in feudal Japan, this VRMMORPG is the land of ninjas and samurai. A world where the most honorable warriors meet the vilest bandits, and where mythical creatures roam free. When he’ll enter that new reality, Seth will discover that while it’s easy to make friends there, one doesn’t have to try very hard to get his fair share of powerful enemies.
Soon, he’s going to have entire clans hunting him down as he struggles to learn the ropes and regain a sense of normalcy. Thankfully, Seth has a few things going for him: his extensive knowledge of combat, and a never-say-die attitude.
“Bushido Online: the Battle Begins” is the first book in the Bushido Online series, a work of litRPG fiction.
Seth Kinnaman’s dream has always been to become the best fighter the world has ever seen. After spending his entire life training, he’s finally ready to test his skills in the biggest tournament on Earth where hundreds of the fiercest competitors vie for the supreme title.
In the semi-finals, Seth is getting the upper hand when his opponent uses an illegal blow to take him out. Upon waking up from a coma, Seth finds out he’s lost his sight. He’s become blind and he’s completely devastated. All his dreams are now shattered, and he soon falls into depression. What is he going to do with his life?
That’s when he’s introduced to Bushido Online, a game that promises to keep his skills sharp while he figures out what his next move is going to be. Set in feudal Japan, this VRMMORPG is the land of ninjas and samurai. A world where the most honorable warriors meet the vilest bandits, and where mythical creatures roam free. When he’ll enter that new reality, Seth will discover that while it’s easy to make friends there, one doesn’t have to try very hard to get his fair share of powerful enemies.
Soon, he’s going to have entire clans hunting him down as he struggles to learn the ropes and regain a sense of normalcy. Thankfully, Seth has a few things going for him: his extensive knowledge of combat, and a never-say-die attitude.
“Bushido Online: the Battle Begins” is the first book in the Bushido Online series, a work of litRPG fiction.
329 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 31, 2017
453 people are currently reading
382 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
September 25, 2018
4 Stars for Narration by Christian Rummel
3 Stars for Story
Mini-Review:
Good Bits
- Main Character: Seth is not a gamer. I like how wrapped up he gets in the VR game & takes it seriously.
- VR Gameplay: Nice mix of out of character interactions, in character parts & somewhat interesting old school Asian world.
Meh Parts
- Main story line seems to disappear once Seth enters the game.
- Game plot line is not interesting.
- 90% of the book is about Seth learning the game & game mechanics. It was interesting at first and quickly loses luster.
I am going to put the next book on my TBR and try it out at some point. The story still has promise.
Normally, I would say that book blurbs are badly pieced together for whatever reason. The irony for this series is that I got more about the character and plot from the book blurbs for book 1 & 2 than I did by reading the book. The blurb is should the lure to catch a reader's interest. A minor piece. It shouldn't be a summary of the story that you're going to read and basically give all the relevant details.
3 Stars for Story
Mini-Review:
Good Bits
- Main Character: Seth is not a gamer. I like how wrapped up he gets in the VR game & takes it seriously.
- VR Gameplay: Nice mix of out of character interactions, in character parts & somewhat interesting old school Asian world.
Meh Parts
- Main story line seems to disappear once Seth enters the game.
- Game plot line is not interesting.
- 90% of the book is about Seth learning the game & game mechanics. It was interesting at first and quickly loses luster.
I am going to put the next book on my TBR and try it out at some point. The story still has promise.
Normally, I would say that book blurbs are badly pieced together for whatever reason. The irony for this series is that I got more about the character and plot from the book blurbs for book 1 & 2 than I did by reading the book. The blurb is should the lure to catch a reader's interest. A minor piece. It shouldn't be a summary of the story that you're going to read and basically give all the relevant details.
March 30, 2018
There should be a saying "As dumb as level and class based PVP".
Once again the tech level is high enough that we can literally put someone into a different world in all the ways that matter. Yet, they are still trying to use levels. Which are dumb.
While the MC is hurrying through a city street, they should have a random level 60 one shot him as he passes. This is what happens in level based PVP games.
Silly.
Plus, have you ever noticed how the stuff the characters have to face is usually not all that far in level from them? And their opponents increase in level as they do? It's almost like everyone in the whole world revolves around them.
Silly.
Other than this massively distracting crap it wasn't looking like a bad book. I rather enjoyed the brief glimpses into some of what I presume to be Japanese strange creatures.
As to the MC, I didn't find him especially likable.
He wasn't very bright, nobody would describe him as 'crafty' and he was always swept along by other people. "Hey, let's go do this!" Well, OK he says. Not like he has a thought in his head or any real motivation. And talk about clueless - he can't read normal body language and facial expressions. For a professional fighter he seems rather unobservant.
Overall, it had some potential but mostly for the background things. With a different (motivated, crafty, observant) MC and a different (skill based perhaps?) game system this might have been a really good book.
Once again the tech level is high enough that we can literally put someone into a different world in all the ways that matter. Yet, they are still trying to use levels. Which are dumb.
While the MC is hurrying through a city street, they should have a random level 60 one shot him as he passes. This is what happens in level based PVP games.
Silly.
Plus, have you ever noticed how the stuff the characters have to face is usually not all that far in level from them? And their opponents increase in level as they do? It's almost like everyone in the whole world revolves around them.
Silly.
Other than this massively distracting crap it wasn't looking like a bad book. I rather enjoyed the brief glimpses into some of what I presume to be Japanese strange creatures.
As to the MC, I didn't find him especially likable.
He wasn't very bright, nobody would describe him as 'crafty' and he was always swept along by other people. "Hey, let's go do this!" Well, OK he says. Not like he has a thought in his head or any real motivation. And talk about clueless - he can't read normal body language and facial expressions. For a professional fighter he seems rather unobservant.
Overall, it had some potential but mostly for the background things. With a different (motivated, crafty, observant) MC and a different (skill based perhaps?) game system this might have been a really good book.
April 10, 2018
As someone who enjoys both reading and playing video games, I love the whole concept behind the LitRPG genre as it would seem to combine two of my favorite hobbies to create something that should just be amazing. Since I’ve never read anything in the genre before though and don’t know any authors I got a list of suggestions from a friend of mine who’s really into them and picked one of his suggestions at random. Unfortunately I struggled to finish Bushido Online: The Battle Begins by Nikita Thorn and I haven’t decided if I’m even going to continue reading the rest of the series.
While I loved the idea behind the plot and found the authors prose in Bushido Online to be surprisingly good I thought the books execution was lacking. I went into this book expecting the story to focus heavily on someone playing a game set in a virtual world but so much of the story was dedicated to the social drama o f online gaming that it really slowed things down and I struggled to get through the first quarter or so of the book. Once I made it past all that to the action and adventure I thought the story was fairly solid, though that only makes me wish more of the book had been like that because I just see a lot of missed potential.
One of the things I did enjoy about this book though was the main character Seth. I thought he was really easy to empathize with and enjoyed the way he used his real world MMA skills to kick ass in what little action scenes we got. Though the majority of the rest of the characters seemed to be cardboard cutouts who I don’t think really added much to the story.
Now, while I may not continue reading this specific series I still really want to enjoy the genre so I’ll be going through my list of suggestions and seeing if there are any other LitRPG books that really stand out to me!
While I loved the idea behind the plot and found the authors prose in Bushido Online to be surprisingly good I thought the books execution was lacking. I went into this book expecting the story to focus heavily on someone playing a game set in a virtual world but so much of the story was dedicated to the social drama o f online gaming that it really slowed things down and I struggled to get through the first quarter or so of the book. Once I made it past all that to the action and adventure I thought the story was fairly solid, though that only makes me wish more of the book had been like that because I just see a lot of missed potential.
One of the things I did enjoy about this book though was the main character Seth. I thought he was really easy to empathize with and enjoyed the way he used his real world MMA skills to kick ass in what little action scenes we got. Though the majority of the rest of the characters seemed to be cardboard cutouts who I don’t think really added much to the story.
Now, while I may not continue reading this specific series I still really want to enjoy the genre so I’ll be going through my list of suggestions and seeing if there are any other LitRPG books that really stand out to me!
June 29, 2019
This is a book that turns out decently if you can make it past the first 15-20%. There are a lot of problems that I had with this story...some of them became less prevalent as the book progressed, others remained strong as ever.
From the get-go, it was hard for me to like the prologue chapters as I call them because the main character seems to be a mixed martial arts fighter. I have nothing against MMA, to the contrary, I'm balls-deep in it. Unfortunately, it really seemed as if the author took all their knowledge of hand to hand fighting from video games and anime. Very difficult to stay interested during the early fight scenes in the book and some of the choreography was overly detailed as well. Don't tell me whether a guy did something specifically with his left or right hand unless it's absolutely necessary. An action scene is usually supposed to read quickly and I don't like having my imagination interrupted by the author's insistence that this particular action is done with the left hand.
Once the main character obtains a sword, things improve noticeably and I didn't have a hard time suspending my disbelief anymore during the fight scenes.
The other issue that I had was the sheer number of characters that came into and waltzed out of the story during the early chapters. I found it a little difficult to keep track of characters because there was nothing to indicate whether they were important or not. This will be made even more difficult for some readers since the names are all Japanese and it can be harder to keep unfamiliar foreign names in memory. I don't have a problem with Japanese names, but there were a lot of characters flying around.
Dialogue tags. You know...when someone says a line of dialogue and then you close the quotations and put he said or she said? Most people would advise you to stick to the two that I just mentioned so that the tags become invisible to the reader's eye. Unfortunately, the dialogue tags in this story will stick out like a sore thumb. Be prepared for every line of dialogue to be barked, cried, or whispered. I don't need to see every line of dialogue on the page being cried to know that the situation is tense. Please let the story tell that and not the dialogue tags. Maybe this bothers me more than others, but yeah it bothered the hell out of me.
Once I got about 30% progress, I started to enjoy the story because it does have a pretty unique feel compared to the other standard Dungeons & Dragons style fantasy setups. I liked the world that was built and how it seemed chaotic with people being robbed and random brawls breaking out. There were some pretty decent subplots scattered within the game's story as well.
Characterization was very minimal for the most part. Honestly, these people were rarely more than whatever class they were playing.
I would say that the strong point here is the world is a nice break from the European middle ages fantasy games and that is reason enough to read it. Other than that, I wouldn't expect it to really blow your hair back, but there's potential for good growth as the series continues.
From the get-go, it was hard for me to like the prologue chapters as I call them because the main character seems to be a mixed martial arts fighter. I have nothing against MMA, to the contrary, I'm balls-deep in it. Unfortunately, it really seemed as if the author took all their knowledge of hand to hand fighting from video games and anime. Very difficult to stay interested during the early fight scenes in the book and some of the choreography was overly detailed as well. Don't tell me whether a guy did something specifically with his left or right hand unless it's absolutely necessary. An action scene is usually supposed to read quickly and I don't like having my imagination interrupted by the author's insistence that this particular action is done with the left hand.
Once the main character obtains a sword, things improve noticeably and I didn't have a hard time suspending my disbelief anymore during the fight scenes.
The other issue that I had was the sheer number of characters that came into and waltzed out of the story during the early chapters. I found it a little difficult to keep track of characters because there was nothing to indicate whether they were important or not. This will be made even more difficult for some readers since the names are all Japanese and it can be harder to keep unfamiliar foreign names in memory. I don't have a problem with Japanese names, but there were a lot of characters flying around.
Dialogue tags. You know...when someone says a line of dialogue and then you close the quotations and put he said or she said? Most people would advise you to stick to the two that I just mentioned so that the tags become invisible to the reader's eye. Unfortunately, the dialogue tags in this story will stick out like a sore thumb. Be prepared for every line of dialogue to be barked, cried, or whispered. I don't need to see every line of dialogue on the page being cried to know that the situation is tense. Please let the story tell that and not the dialogue tags. Maybe this bothers me more than others, but yeah it bothered the hell out of me.
Once I got about 30% progress, I started to enjoy the story because it does have a pretty unique feel compared to the other standard Dungeons & Dragons style fantasy setups. I liked the world that was built and how it seemed chaotic with people being robbed and random brawls breaking out. There were some pretty decent subplots scattered within the game's story as well.
Characterization was very minimal for the most part. Honestly, these people were rarely more than whatever class they were playing.
I would say that the strong point here is the world is a nice break from the European middle ages fantasy games and that is reason enough to read it. Other than that, I wouldn't expect it to really blow your hair back, but there's potential for good growth as the series continues.
September 30, 2018
This is a review of the audio book version. I'll get this out of the way right now: Yes, this was the same idea as Ready Player One, so of course there are going to be comparisons. It wasn't NEARLY as well-executed. Sure, RP1 had faults and holes in its logic, but overall it was a complete story that was thoroughly told. The Battle Begins had so many faults and holes that it was hard to remember that an editor actually read this and gave a stamp of approval. It's a shame, because I love a good samurai story, and was hoping this would be one of them. I was so mistaken. Where to begin...
Why exactly did this story even happen? It begins with the main character, an MMA fighter, losing his sight, which gives plenty of opportunity to establish motivation. However, the company that wants him to use this product, or play this game, gives no reason for it. Is this an experiment? Is it still a test phase? It's clear that others have been playing the game for a long time, so it's no longer in beta, yet they are still there at his apartment wanting him to play without request for payment, and this is never revisited.
So fine, he's playing, and that's that. As soon as he begins, that's the story. We never once go back to his actual life. The remainder of the book is now in this game, so that becomes the story. Again, that's fine. Only, it's not. There isn't enough content within the actual missions or quests or even the overall learning to sustain a good story. There are pieces, but nothing to create a cohesive story line that is interesting enough to follow any further.
Another missing link was how things "felt" or "tasted" as they were told in the game. Very little was given about how this was done. You learn in the beginning that the game is played using a cerebral link, so I suppose there are certain sensations that can be gained from that, but we are left to determine that for ourselves. Even though it's a game, we are supposed to know how things can feel soft, or cold, or taste. No explanation was given, and that's a hole Ready Player One never had.
How this character got so emotionally-wrapped up in this game is also beyond me. I mean, I get caring about and for characters and story lines, but I've never heard of anything on the level of this guy. Maybe others have, and it wasn't so unrealistic for him to get so emotionally invested in his in-game master the way he did. For me, this was trying to attach an emotional element to a piece of the story that didn't really warrant it.
Within the quests are battles. A lot of them, and each battle goes on for FAR TOO LONG. Every battle got so boring to listen to that I would tune out, and every so often pay attention again to hear if the battle was still going. I would do this until it was over, and I ended up missing very little of the actual story going on. Imagine if someone is talking to you about a video game. You might want to hear about the game and all the things they do in it, but they only want to go on and on about one fight in the game. You'd start to not care, and that's what ended up happening.
It's a shame so much effort was put into battles and not enough into the actual journeys of the character and his friends. That part was pretty interesting, and I actually wasn't bored during those moments. Unfortunately there wasn't nearly enough to forgive the other faults, and I couldn't recommend this book even for the nerdiest of nerds out there.
Why exactly did this story even happen? It begins with the main character, an MMA fighter, losing his sight, which gives plenty of opportunity to establish motivation. However, the company that wants him to use this product, or play this game, gives no reason for it. Is this an experiment? Is it still a test phase? It's clear that others have been playing the game for a long time, so it's no longer in beta, yet they are still there at his apartment wanting him to play without request for payment, and this is never revisited.
So fine, he's playing, and that's that. As soon as he begins, that's the story. We never once go back to his actual life. The remainder of the book is now in this game, so that becomes the story. Again, that's fine. Only, it's not. There isn't enough content within the actual missions or quests or even the overall learning to sustain a good story. There are pieces, but nothing to create a cohesive story line that is interesting enough to follow any further.
Another missing link was how things "felt" or "tasted" as they were told in the game. Very little was given about how this was done. You learn in the beginning that the game is played using a cerebral link, so I suppose there are certain sensations that can be gained from that, but we are left to determine that for ourselves. Even though it's a game, we are supposed to know how things can feel soft, or cold, or taste. No explanation was given, and that's a hole Ready Player One never had.
How this character got so emotionally-wrapped up in this game is also beyond me. I mean, I get caring about and for characters and story lines, but I've never heard of anything on the level of this guy. Maybe others have, and it wasn't so unrealistic for him to get so emotionally invested in his in-game master the way he did. For me, this was trying to attach an emotional element to a piece of the story that didn't really warrant it.
Within the quests are battles. A lot of them, and each battle goes on for FAR TOO LONG. Every battle got so boring to listen to that I would tune out, and every so often pay attention again to hear if the battle was still going. I would do this until it was over, and I ended up missing very little of the actual story going on. Imagine if someone is talking to you about a video game. You might want to hear about the game and all the things they do in it, but they only want to go on and on about one fight in the game. You'd start to not care, and that's what ended up happening.
It's a shame so much effort was put into battles and not enough into the actual journeys of the character and his friends. That part was pretty interesting, and I actually wasn't bored during those moments. Unfortunately there wasn't nearly enough to forgive the other faults, and I couldn't recommend this book even for the nerdiest of nerds out there.
December 14, 2017
Overall a pretty good read, but just ends. I kinda like that it just 'ends' without having a moment like "this really big and important thing is about to happen."
August 23, 2022
Fun story that stays in its lane. Enjoyed it.
January 24, 2022
Another fun LIT RPG read. With a Japanese setting!
January 16, 2018
Very satisfying read
If you like Japanese culture, this ones for you. The author dumps his main character “Seiki” straight into the VR world “ Bushido Online “ after he had a life altering MMA injury. The game allows “Seiki” to experience life in a way he thought no longer available to him.
He starts at level 0 and experiences the game on 2 levels one as a complete “ noob” doing every quest he can find from picking vegetables to gathering firewood. Two as a non handicapped person.
The game is a class based system. “Seiki” has to choose from the classes Samurai or swordsman, Ryoushi or archer, Houshi or healer, Kitsuni or fox sir it, obake or spirit, and others. He finally reaches the city where the adventure really accelerates picking up several enemies but more friends.
Overall an excellent read with only minor criticism concerning “ instances “ which needed explanation but not continuous throughput the story. Explain it once and then allow the reader to understand how they work Maybe their will be more to them as the story continues. Either way get this book! It’s a really fast paced and enjoyable.
If you like Japanese culture, this ones for you. The author dumps his main character “Seiki” straight into the VR world “ Bushido Online “ after he had a life altering MMA injury. The game allows “Seiki” to experience life in a way he thought no longer available to him.
He starts at level 0 and experiences the game on 2 levels one as a complete “ noob” doing every quest he can find from picking vegetables to gathering firewood. Two as a non handicapped person.
The game is a class based system. “Seiki” has to choose from the classes Samurai or swordsman, Ryoushi or archer, Houshi or healer, Kitsuni or fox sir it, obake or spirit, and others. He finally reaches the city where the adventure really accelerates picking up several enemies but more friends.
Overall an excellent read with only minor criticism concerning “ instances “ which needed explanation but not continuous throughput the story. Explain it once and then allow the reader to understand how they work Maybe their will be more to them as the story continues. Either way get this book! It’s a really fast paced and enjoyable.
July 2, 2019
2 stars. This one is a DNF. Was not enjoying this one. It started out great but went down hill fast. I have some many issues with it but some of the main issues are, I was okay with the MC at the start but lost interest as the story progressed. It reminded me of those old kung fu movies where the MC fights with everyone for no real reason, just fight after fight with no real meat to the story. Just not a great book for me.
February 11, 2020
I must admit that I am a lazy reader. I start a lot of kindle unlimited titles but most I don’t finish. Given the amount of effort it takes to write a book this does, at times, make me feel guilty. There are very few that I read more that once. This series I have. It’s inventive. The setting in fantasy ancient Japan is exotic for me. The characters have depth. The MC has struggles at many levels and is not overpowered an many litrpg are. The short is a great book.
February 12, 2020
One of my top 5 favorite series in litrpg and gamelit. The first book is basically setting the story up and getting to know the game and the MC. But trust me and keep reading it gets better and better and better the further you go. The next 2 books didnt disappoint at all. Can not wait for book 4 whenever thatll be. But basically if u like ninjas, samurais, game mechanics crazy quests, and awsome combat then def pick up Bushido Online.
September 15, 2017
Enjoyable light read
Sometimes you just need to read a light novel that has nothing to do with real life. Since the premise is based on a game, you don't take what happens seriously. Easy read, I'll buy the next one too.
Sometimes you just need to read a light novel that has nothing to do with real life. Since the premise is based on a game, you don't take what happens seriously. Easy read, I'll buy the next one too.
June 1, 2022
Seth (Seiki game character name), the main character, suffers a crippling injury in a championship mixed martial arts tournament. Seth loses his sight and most physical abilities, goes into a deep depression until some people offer him the opportunity to "play" in a VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Game), called Bushido Online, it is a Japanese Period Historical Martial Arts Game.
The problem with this new fantasy LitRPG series is that there are no changes in the rhythm of the writing. It is 24/7 playing and advancing in the game. No food, no sleep, no vacations, trips, pauses, that make a fantasy novel series more real than just an information dump on a fictitious game. Because it does not have "Beast-folk Monster-folk", most of the opponents in this online game, are from Japanese mythology (killer cloths, shadows, ninjas, samurais, assassins, etc.)
So yes!, this story is lob sided, deep in game-play. But authors fails to answer a lot of "vital" questions, because the main character, Seth, is impaired, how is he able to play 24/7 without food, sleep or bathroom breaks. How is he able to live in the game, without food, bathrooms, sleep (unlimited stamina?) Doesn't the game have days and nights?? Is it all full day, all the time??
Seth, main character is slow. A little too slow, probably because he never played games before, no knowledge of weapons, abilities, player and team positions, jobs, professions, etc. So the explaining is slow and rather cumbersome.
Because it is a 24/7/365 game for Seth, there is no knowledge of where this story is going, and what is it's main plot arcs, secondary arcs, etc. Like if playing games all day long fills everything so well, so no more information or explanations are necessary. But this isn't on Twitch, and Seth is not a live gamer blogger/broadcaster for this story to have such a narrow and one sided story line.
The problem with this new fantasy LitRPG series is that there are no changes in the rhythm of the writing. It is 24/7 playing and advancing in the game. No food, no sleep, no vacations, trips, pauses, that make a fantasy novel series more real than just an information dump on a fictitious game. Because it does not have "Beast-folk Monster-folk", most of the opponents in this online game, are from Japanese mythology (killer cloths, shadows, ninjas, samurais, assassins, etc.)
So yes!, this story is lob sided, deep in game-play. But authors fails to answer a lot of "vital" questions, because the main character, Seth, is impaired, how is he able to play 24/7 without food, sleep or bathroom breaks. How is he able to live in the game, without food, bathrooms, sleep (unlimited stamina?) Doesn't the game have days and nights?? Is it all full day, all the time??
Seth, main character is slow. A little too slow, probably because he never played games before, no knowledge of weapons, abilities, player and team positions, jobs, professions, etc. So the explaining is slow and rather cumbersome.
Because it is a 24/7/365 game for Seth, there is no knowledge of where this story is going, and what is it's main plot arcs, secondary arcs, etc. Like if playing games all day long fills everything so well, so no more information or explanations are necessary. But this isn't on Twitch, and Seth is not a live gamer blogger/broadcaster for this story to have such a narrow and one sided story line.
August 8, 2018
Our protagonist Seth Kinnaman is a young man approaching the pinnacle of his dreams in the MMA world. Those dreams are shattered in the world-class semi-finals. Seth wakes up from a coma in the hospital and he is blind. Falling into a deep depression, Seth does not know what to make of his life. His manager, wanting to help put Seth on the road to recovery, enlists him into a VRMMORPG game called Bushido Online. With the aid of cutting edge technology Seth will be able to see, feel, smell, and experience a virtual reality to compare with the real world. In what I deem a novel and original approach, the setting for Bushido Online is that of feudal Japan around the 10th and 11th centuries where warlords called Shogun ruled and retained power through the Samurai. Seth enters the game as SethK, a level one noob in a tiny Japanese village with an elderly Japanese instructor to teach him a few beginning skills. As SethK slowly advances in statistics, skills and levels he makes both friends and enemies. Having no gaming experience whatsoever SethK must learn all the rules, mechanics, norms, and intricacies of the game world. This knowledge does not come easily and SethK makes a few minor and a couple major mistakes along the way. Given the rich environment and interesting setting of feudal Japan, Bushido Online is extremely fun and exciting to imagine. The game mechanics are fairly accurate and hold true to a world-building, dungeon crawling MMORPG path. I am liking this series as well as The Land: Chaos Seeds LitRPG Series, which I also found interesting and entertaining. I’m looking forward to volume two and more.
October 18, 2018
Another LitRpg book I found on sale. Most LitRpgs aren't terrible great books, since they tend to have a similar plotline and constant interruptions with computer status messages. Bushido Online feels more like a refinement of the existing formula that still carries the flaws, but covers it up with enough good writing so that you don't worry about it too much. The hero may be a mary sue who is better than everyone else, but they also have real flaws and an interesting mental struggle that bursts forth in the second half of teh book. The whole thing takes place in a video game, but the author doesn't feel obliged to try and remind you of that except where it's needed. There are the annoying HP status messages and prompts, but the author is clever enough to only put them up when the action needs a breather.
I should mention the Japanese theme. It's about as jumbled as any eastern-themed video game, but occasional forays into Chinese and other eastern traditions, and a focus on the whole Samurai/Ninja trope. It all kind of works, although I have trouble believing you could get that many people to use actually Japanese sounding names in the video game they play, nevermind that only one character that isn't roleplaying things to the hilt.
My interest in B-series style Science Fiction means I'm constantly picking these books up but I've only really found two series I've enjoyed - this one (Bushido Online) and the Dungeon Chronicles(which may or may not be an actual LitRpg book).
I should mention the Japanese theme. It's about as jumbled as any eastern-themed video game, but occasional forays into Chinese and other eastern traditions, and a focus on the whole Samurai/Ninja trope. It all kind of works, although I have trouble believing you could get that many people to use actually Japanese sounding names in the video game they play, nevermind that only one character that isn't roleplaying things to the hilt.
My interest in B-series style Science Fiction means I'm constantly picking these books up but I've only really found two series I've enjoyed - this one (Bushido Online) and the Dungeon Chronicles(which may or may not be an actual LitRpg book).
December 1, 2018
Unique LitRPG World and Story that is FUN!
WHAT I ENJOYED:
-The Japanese style worldbuilding was very creative and satisfying. Somewhat like a mix of historical Japanese and modern day Anime.
-The RPG elements were present but not shoved down the throat. Leveling, items, missions, and XP all played a part of the novel but they were background elements and Nikita Thorn did a wonderful job weaving the right amount into the story. I've read other LitRPG novels and the RPG aspects are so prevalent that it diluted the narrative, not the case here.
-The action scenes were exciting and realistic, I think that's critical for this kind of book and it was well-written.
-After reading the story, I was into it and plan on continuing the series.
WHAT I DISLIKED:
-The biggest negative element for me was the main story arc. At the core, it wasn't very believable or relatable. If the main character arc had tied more into him struggling with his disability or mirrored some kind of the previous relationship with a father figure or mentor, I would have bought more into it. The storyline isn't terrible, only could have been better.
WHAT I ENJOYED:
-The Japanese style worldbuilding was very creative and satisfying. Somewhat like a mix of historical Japanese and modern day Anime.
-The RPG elements were present but not shoved down the throat. Leveling, items, missions, and XP all played a part of the novel but they were background elements and Nikita Thorn did a wonderful job weaving the right amount into the story. I've read other LitRPG novels and the RPG aspects are so prevalent that it diluted the narrative, not the case here.
-The action scenes were exciting and realistic, I think that's critical for this kind of book and it was well-written.
-After reading the story, I was into it and plan on continuing the series.
WHAT I DISLIKED:
-The biggest negative element for me was the main story arc. At the core, it wasn't very believable or relatable. If the main character arc had tied more into him struggling with his disability or mirrored some kind of the previous relationship with a father figure or mentor, I would have bought more into it. The storyline isn't terrible, only could have been better.
August 2, 2019
This book was a nice change from other LitRPG books. Unlike most other LitRPG that I have read, the main character in this was not a gamer. The guy was an mma fighter who went blind after being hit by an illegal move, and this game let him see again. The game's setting was some sort of old Japan world, which was a nice change from the stereotypical fantasy realm. The character's journey was interesting, and his interactions with NPCs were especially interesting, especially given his lack of gaming experience and so lack of preconceived ideas of how NPCs should be treated. One problem I had with this book was that the life of the main character was never mentioned outside of the game aside from before he first played the game. I was hoping to hear about his real life and maybe him trying to learn how to use a sword in real life seeing as he had to spend a lot of hours in game learning basic sword forms. I would love to hear about him doing some Zatoichi stuff in real life. Still, this book was very enjoyable and a worthwhile read. There is just a lot of potential to tap into for future books.
December 27, 2022
I got about 50 pages into this. I guess it is more like 3 stars if you like eastern Ki-op power terminology. I do not like that. It comes off as too clearly god-worshipping; the hero is tiny and small compared to gods. That is reasonable- but somehow the author did not convince me to like or admire his gods. That could be because they are Greek foible style gods. At any rate I do not like the possibility the hero is dead and part of a computer program- but I guess that is the plot of a loof these books- the characters die and get subsumed into a computer program. This seems dumb if you believe in any sort of afterlife. So for those Hindu who believe in reincarnation or eventually becoming one with Heaven- or for Islam people who go to paradise or for Christians who go to Heaven these sorts of plots fail. Since according to thier reality a man is dead and his computer program game life is not his soul just a computer - so I dislike the idea of these books and gave it 2 stars but to be fair I guess if you are an atheist you could give it two stars
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 24, 2018
After reading all the good reviews, I had high hopes for this book that the work failed to deliver for me. The books is basically two distinct parts. First is a quick intro to Seth Kinnaman, setting up what you would think would be part of a main plot line. But no, the moment Seth Kinnaman enters the Bushido Online VRMMORPG and becomes SethK, the book never returns to the real world with a slight reference at the end of the book. The second part of the story is just a series of RPG style battles as SethK explores the world and ranks up. SethK never once exits Bushido Online and there is no more character development in the real world, so by the end I was stumped to understand the point of this story.
The narration is very good, but I can't say that the narrator had much to work with. I found that I had to re-listen to many sections of the book when I realized I had tuned out or fallen asleep. Book 1 is where this series ends for me.
The narration is very good, but I can't say that the narrator had much to work with. I found that I had to re-listen to many sections of the book when I realized I had tuned out or fallen asleep. Book 1 is where this series ends for me.
February 11, 2023
Constant immersion breaks
Minor linguistic quibble that if you're going to constantly use a language you don't speak in your book, get it proofread. But since most readers won't be fluent in japanese it's more of a personal annoyance I suppose.
It's written with decent dialogue and pacing I suppose, but the main arc in the story is "MC gets way too emotionally invested in a generic questline"
That literally everyone gets
There's a bunch of elements introduced that might be more interesting
Including his personal reasons for getting so emotional about a NPC
But no, it just keeps on harping on about his desire for a mentor being so strong that it overrides his knowledge that it's just a game
While constantly referencing that it's just a game
Read through vol 1 cause I'm in Jpn right now but won't be reading further :(
Minor linguistic quibble that if you're going to constantly use a language you don't speak in your book, get it proofread. But since most readers won't be fluent in japanese it's more of a personal annoyance I suppose.
It's written with decent dialogue and pacing I suppose, but the main arc in the story is "MC gets way too emotionally invested in a generic questline"
That literally everyone gets
There's a bunch of elements introduced that might be more interesting
Including his personal reasons for getting so emotional about a NPC
But no, it just keeps on harping on about his desire for a mentor being so strong that it overrides his knowledge that it's just a game
While constantly referencing that it's just a game
Read through vol 1 cause I'm in Jpn right now but won't be reading further :(
May 6, 2022
This book had plenty of potential at the start. Decent introduction to the world and things quickly got irritating. The lack of follow up on the MC's real life injury. What kind of illegal move can you do to a person in an mma fight that will blind someone? I don't know and they didn't care to elaborate. Fine. Then the game tech. They never established a year or time frame or general level of technology, so the fact that this super immersive VR game has no pod or capsule, or does it, because they didn't bother to explain. Then the guy stays in the game for what felt like months with zero follow up on his real life situation! The story itself was fine, but considering how much bothered me, I feel my rating is generous. Hope things change for the better in book 2. 👍🏾
August 22, 2021
Very very good
I have read a good number of litrpgs and alot of them you really can't get past 20% of the book. This was a very good litrpg. Nothing spectacular in the buildup to the virtual world but the virtual world that was created was so vividly described. This is one of the few litrpgs I have read where the world building is on another level. Great characters and some good character development. I have nothing bad to say about it other than it would have been niced to have little snippets of the real world in there. He could have also done a little better with describing how much time has actually passed in game. It was streamlined which can be appreciated.
I have read a good number of litrpgs and alot of them you really can't get past 20% of the book. This was a very good litrpg. Nothing spectacular in the buildup to the virtual world but the virtual world that was created was so vividly described. This is one of the few litrpgs I have read where the world building is on another level. Great characters and some good character development. I have nothing bad to say about it other than it would have been niced to have little snippets of the real world in there. He could have also done a little better with describing how much time has actually passed in game. It was streamlined which can be appreciated.
March 29, 2022
An utterly forgettable drag of a book with no redeeming qualities I could see.
I'm not sure if the first chapter or what came after it was worse. In the end the "framing story" might as well not have existed and did nothing to add to the story. For the most part it was there for the very rare occasion mentioning that maybe the guy did log out sometimes?
The basic structure is a "non gamer" gets into a "beta" since he trainer signed him up. He then proceeds to almost not play the game like others. Then nothing happens and a random cast of characters sometimes appear that drag him along and more of nothing happens.
Then the book ends in another fight which lead no where.
I'm not sure if the first chapter or what came after it was worse. In the end the "framing story" might as well not have existed and did nothing to add to the story. For the most part it was there for the very rare occasion mentioning that maybe the guy did log out sometimes?
The basic structure is a "non gamer" gets into a "beta" since he trainer signed him up. He then proceeds to almost not play the game like others. Then nothing happens and a random cast of characters sometimes appear that drag him along and more of nothing happens.
Then the book ends in another fight which lead no where.
February 6, 2023
I just love it when the litrpg is not about the chosen one
This is a really nice take on the litrpg of Japanese culture. It's a low stakes story about an MMA fighter who loses his sight and starts playing virtual reality as a gate away, and starts as a noob with no real consciousness on the real, or virtual, worlds.
This book is a great light read to clear your head, an interesting way to read about Japanese culture and lore, and most of all interesting even when it's not a high stakes world epic drama.
Just note that the MC is a bit of an idiot, but it is relatable because of his backstory
4/5 very cool light read.
This is a really nice take on the litrpg of Japanese culture. It's a low stakes story about an MMA fighter who loses his sight and starts playing virtual reality as a gate away, and starts as a noob with no real consciousness on the real, or virtual, worlds.
This book is a great light read to clear your head, an interesting way to read about Japanese culture and lore, and most of all interesting even when it's not a high stakes world epic drama.
Just note that the MC is a bit of an idiot, but it is relatable because of his backstory
4/5 very cool light read.
April 13, 2023
A young MMA fighter looses his eyesight in a fight and afterwards gets an offer to experience a VMMORPG that works with sensors added to his temples and he can see in the game.
the game is loosely based on medieval japan. He makes some enemies, friends and gets emotionally involved in the game.
I really liked this book. it is well written, the MC is not OP and a easy to like person. There is a lot of interaction wiht other players - a thing i like. Only the NPCs are really NPCs. So the world itself feels a bit static and not as evolving and AI-steered as some other litRPG novels.
Good book.
the game is loosely based on medieval japan. He makes some enemies, friends and gets emotionally involved in the game.
I really liked this book. it is well written, the MC is not OP and a easy to like person. There is a lot of interaction wiht other players - a thing i like. Only the NPCs are really NPCs. So the world itself feels a bit static and not as evolving and AI-steered as some other litRPG novels.
Good book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 18, 2019
This is the first litrpg book that didn't really grab me. Most others I've read make it more interesting and this one just makes the main character to be a guy who takes the game too seriously. Then a friend tells him to go on the next quest and he seems to get over it pretty quickly. At points it reads like there is more going on but then they make it sound like, nope, it's just the way the game plays. I wanted to enjoy the book more but don't think I'll be checking the rest of the series at least not until I get through my back log of audible books.
March 2, 2019
An unexpected story
LitRPGs were usually filled with heroes righting wrongs and fighting big bad, end-of-the-world kind of villains, if not world-ending conflicts. This one doesn’t. It reminds you of the old Karate Kid movie, of growing up and having faith in what you are doing. It is a pleasant story filled with the right tropes from samurai movies, with the right nuances, albeit with unfortunately few details about how the game mechanics work. We’ll see if the other books in the series improved upon these few imperfections.
LitRPGs were usually filled with heroes righting wrongs and fighting big bad, end-of-the-world kind of villains, if not world-ending conflicts. This one doesn’t. It reminds you of the old Karate Kid movie, of growing up and having faith in what you are doing. It is a pleasant story filled with the right tropes from samurai movies, with the right nuances, albeit with unfortunately few details about how the game mechanics work. We’ll see if the other books in the series improved upon these few imperfections.
Read
March 16, 2020Really awesome story
When I first read this story a couple of years ago. It was one of the first LitRPG stories I'd ever read. I thought Seiki was an fantastic character. Who's story I really wanted to read more of. However Nikita hadn't put out a sequel yet. Now I've rediscovered Bushido Online. Which now does have several sequels. Which I an ecstatic to be able to read. So for those who enjoy LitRPGs. I highly recommend Bushido Online. Which is set in a medieval Japan like era. With magic and all the odd mythical creatures. That stories of ancient Japan tell about.
When I first read this story a couple of years ago. It was one of the first LitRPG stories I'd ever read. I thought Seiki was an fantastic character. Who's story I really wanted to read more of. However Nikita hadn't put out a sequel yet. Now I've rediscovered Bushido Online. Which now does have several sequels. Which I an ecstatic to be able to read. So for those who enjoy LitRPGs. I highly recommend Bushido Online. Which is set in a medieval Japan like era. With magic and all the odd mythical creatures. That stories of ancient Japan tell about.
March 7, 2023
I really enjoyed the idea that the main character was super well trained fighter joining an online game all about fighting and just doing the mundane tasks no one wants to do because he's just there to have a new life.
The trouble I had with this book was the inconsistency in side characters. They are either absolute assholes there to steal his stuff cause its a hard life in this world. Or they are absolutely helpful with no reasoning why they should be. And what gets me most is that he ends up teaming up with those friendly people all the time instead of just doing things on his own.
The trouble I had with this book was the inconsistency in side characters. They are either absolute assholes there to steal his stuff cause its a hard life in this world. Or they are absolutely helpful with no reasoning why they should be. And what gets me most is that he ends up teaming up with those friendly people all the time instead of just doing things on his own.
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