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Play to Live #5
Bitva
The Russian cluster. The ground shakes as the enemy approaches. The angered gods frown as they look down from the sky. Intelligence agencies are locked in a brutal fight. Hundreds of thousands of sentient beings happily slaughter each other. This is no longer a game quest, nor a petty fight between clans over some land rich in resources. This is war!
A war of civilizations, religions, and all the dimensions of the world. The earth weeps in pain. The astral beings turn away in horror. Burning castle towers collapse to the ground. Stones melt in the heat. The enemy is coming.
Refugees flood the Valley. Alliance members are joining forces. Max is not just a clan leader anymore. He is the Chief, the head of the resistance. And you have no choice but to fight; you are the hope of the children and the thousands of innocents. They have entrusted you with their lives.
A war of civilizations, religions, and all the dimensions of the world. The earth weeps in pain. The astral beings turn away in horror. Burning castle towers collapse to the ground. Stones melt in the heat. The enemy is coming.
Refugees flood the Valley. Alliance members are joining forces. Max is not just a clan leader anymore. He is the Chief, the head of the resistance. And you have no choice but to fight; you are the hope of the children and the thousands of innocents. They have entrusted you with their lives.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
381 people are currently reading
576 people want to read
About the author
D. Rus
36 books545 followersD. Rus is a young Russian author whose books took the Russian literary market by storm in 2013. AlterWorld - the first novel of his Play to Live series - made him a bestselling author overnight as critics now credit him with single-handedly creating a new science fiction genre: LitRPG. Set in the virtual reality of MMORPG - Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games - his books tell stories of real people who'd become stuck in the game and are forced to follow its rules while preserving their intergrity and fighting to make their new world a better place. The five books of the series have created a huge following as more authors followed suit, making LitRPG the latest bestselling Russian genre that merges science fiction, fantasy and gaming conventions. D. Rus has been nominated for Start, one of Russia's prestigious literary prizes for the best debut science fiction novel. The first two novels of the Play to Live series - AlterWorld and The Clan - have been translated into English, and talks are under way to have the rest of the series published on Amazon.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
August 29, 2015
This book had its redeeming moments of entertainment, but it is by far my least liked of this series and I would not re-read or recommend this one.
Simply stated the story is all over the place and hard to follow for the reader. I will read book 6, so that says a lot regarding the strength of the previous books when you consider that I really didn't care for this one. Hopefully, book six returns to form.
Simply stated the story is all over the place and hard to follow for the reader. I will read book 6, so that says a lot regarding the strength of the previous books when you consider that I really didn't care for this one. Hopefully, book six returns to form.
May 31, 2016
A bit disappointed. It's not that bad. It's looks like a bad one when compared to the prequels.
But I still haven't lost hope on this series. Will reach next one as soon as I get my hands on them.
But I still haven't lost hope on this series. Will reach next one as soon as I get my hands on them.
July 14, 2016
This series is falling apart, sad to say. Author is more into recounting his prejudices than telling a story. What happened? Doubt I will continue.
October 19, 2015
I enjoyed this book, but not as much as the previous volumes within the series. This is primarily due to poor organization. This volume was very chaotically written with events often being out of order or lacking a clear divergence in the script. I should never have to go back and reread to try to figure out what the heck is happening due to a sudden and undirected shift in the story. Good book, but this quickly became a tiresome trait after the gajillionith time. Not sure if this was just due to the translation or the fact I was reading the kindle version. Perhaps something (alot of somethings) was lost in translation and conversion.
June 10, 2015
Viss jau būtu okei, bet autors grāmatas problēmas jau ir pacēlis tik augstu, ka paliek jau smieklīgi. Nu Gregorija lentes un virtuālajā pasaulē apbižotie krievi, kurus grib novākt visas pārējās tautas, izskatās vairāk pēc televizora propagandas nevis grāmatas. Lasās aizraujoši, bet literārā vērtība krīt eksponenciāli.
April 17, 2017
I liked the previous books in the series more, as they focused mainly on Max. This book seems to focus more on the overall strategy of the clan and war.
August 26, 2015
Ah the struggle of LitRPG...
Imagine a story set during WW2 with Hitler as the MC. Now add the fact that suddenly Hitler would decide to move to the frontlines and shoot enemies personally instead of being the leader of the empire regularly. In his absence as a leader we wouldn't be told what happens during the war, only a specific frontline.
You can see that this would really mess up any story, trying to tell the story of a leader or the story of a soldier.
This book suffers from this problem, our favourite First Priest now has become a leader with itches to be on the front line. This really messes up the story and shows the writers lack of military experience.
Tactics - Battle.
Operations - Maneuver warfare.
Strategy - Goal, Philosophy of war.
It seems like that writer mixes these 3 instead of focusing on 1.
LitRPG is mainly focused on Tactics - Battle with strong MC´s but when they become incredibly strong they story will shift to a Operations/Strategy instead and that's not everyone's cup of tea. Its also not one of the writers stronger suits. He slows down and clogs his own story with details that would have been better to have summarized instead.
Imagine a story set during WW2 with Hitler as the MC. Now add the fact that suddenly Hitler would decide to move to the frontlines and shoot enemies personally instead of being the leader of the empire regularly. In his absence as a leader we wouldn't be told what happens during the war, only a specific frontline.
You can see that this would really mess up any story, trying to tell the story of a leader or the story of a soldier.
This book suffers from this problem, our favourite First Priest now has become a leader with itches to be on the front line. This really messes up the story and shows the writers lack of military experience.
Tactics - Battle.
Operations - Maneuver warfare.
Strategy - Goal, Philosophy of war.
It seems like that writer mixes these 3 instead of focusing on 1.
LitRPG is mainly focused on Tactics - Battle with strong MC´s but when they become incredibly strong they story will shift to a Operations/Strategy instead and that's not everyone's cup of tea. Its also not one of the writers stronger suits. He slows down and clogs his own story with details that would have been better to have summarized instead.
July 2, 2016
I cannot emphasize enough my deep disappointment with the book and the whole story. First few books were just amazing, nice pace, interesting plot, some good leveling and character development. I really liked the realistic feeling of the world and world building, everything was logical. However, starting with the third book everything started to be a mess. I found the plot too hectic, characters stopped being people and became smth else, no normal character development. It seemed that the author is in a rush, proportions became not realistic, everything went way too fast. Author was jumping from one story and time to another. It became more and more frustrating, and even tho i managed to finish book three and four mainly due to the interesting story, I was forced to stop with this one. I cannot recommend it and sadly i'm not gonna pursue the other installment.
July 7, 2017
Serious editing needed
The time flow and story flow need some serious work. Was this 2 books mashed incorrectly into one? I loved the others. This one is way way below those.
The time flow and story flow need some serious work. Was this 2 books mashed incorrectly into one? I loved the others. This one is way way below those.
September 13, 2018
I couldn't finish this book.
I was liking this series, although I had some reservations. But I only managed about 40 percent of this one before choking on the author's increasingly evident racism, sexism and overall hatred of others.
Also, the general quality has dropped considerably. The point of view changes so much it's hard to follow, the editing and proofreading has gotten worse, the story is no longer shown as much as told, the main character starts pontificating over politics for pages at a stretch, and at times I completely lose track of what he's even talking about. At one point I decided the author must be on cocaine it got so bad.
This story has had enough compelling ideas to bring me along this far, but no farther, I'm done.
I was liking this series, although I had some reservations. But I only managed about 40 percent of this one before choking on the author's increasingly evident racism, sexism and overall hatred of others.
Also, the general quality has dropped considerably. The point of view changes so much it's hard to follow, the editing and proofreading has gotten worse, the story is no longer shown as much as told, the main character starts pontificating over politics for pages at a stretch, and at times I completely lose track of what he's even talking about. At one point I decided the author must be on cocaine it got so bad.
This story has had enough compelling ideas to bring me along this far, but no farther, I'm done.
June 27, 2016
It's sad, because I really enjoyed the rest of the series. But this one was mostly boring. Battle scene after battle scene that the main characters always seem to get out of. Not much tension. Not to mention that it was really hard to follow what was going on. But what really pushed it over the edge was the casual and overt racial slurs, not to mention the sexism. (Really? Max wants to beat the feminism out of the female warrior elves?) Even without that, Max is just not a likeable character anymore, and a lot of the comedy from the previous books is just gone.
I won't be continuing with the series.
I won't be continuing with the series.
May 3, 2018
Mediocre Series Gone Bad
The book gets 2 stars not as a piece of litRPG but rather as an interesting look into the a male Russian psyche. Judging by the popularity of the series, this particular mentality is not closeted. The first few books in this series hinted at misogynist, xenophobic, and Russian nationalist views, but this book spares no expense at laying such views bare ad nauseam.
The book was a mess. Data dumps and meandering-Max-thought-vomit abounded. Characters did not experience and growth but rather regressed into 2d shells that appeared to only be back drops to Max's greatness.
The book gets 2 stars not as a piece of litRPG but rather as an interesting look into the a male Russian psyche. Judging by the popularity of the series, this particular mentality is not closeted. The first few books in this series hinted at misogynist, xenophobic, and Russian nationalist views, but this book spares no expense at laying such views bare ad nauseam.
The book was a mess. Data dumps and meandering-Max-thought-vomit abounded. Characters did not experience and growth but rather regressed into 2d shells that appeared to only be back drops to Max's greatness.
September 21, 2016
The series was good, but as it progressed the author inserted more and more of his ugly opinions on other races and women. Female characters are called down for being independent and not subservient to their man. Blacks are called Afros and Chinese speak "Ching Chong". Gay men are only interested in having sex with young boys and raping weak men into submission.
October 12, 2015
The pace/language was definitely off. It was to fast, without enough paragraphs or explanations of the why and who and wheres. So that I had to read some passages 3 or 4 times to understand who is acting and in which form or why he is doing it
June 7, 2016
GET THIS BOOK!! If you love ‘Play to Live’, you will love The Battle!!
First of all: The Battle is a good book! It lives up to the writing skill of the previous books. Have you put off getting this title based on reviews? I urge you to STOP listening to other people opinions in this case! If you enjoyed the series so far you must try this book for yourself!! I eagerly waited and waited for the sequel to The Inferno to come out and when it did I listened to the reviews and did not grab it. I did myself a real dis-service when I choose not to give one of my favorite authors the benefit of the doubt; now if I can help you to move past all the bad reviews to judge for yourself maybe it will make up for my dis-honor. Since the book is coming out on Audible I decided to read and listen to it for myself. I am So Glad I Did!! Now I offer my review for The Battle and comment on the many numerous bad reviews I now find that have unjustly tore down a good book.
First yes I was confused …this is not the books fault but my faulty memory. So much happened in the last book, (#4Inferno) and so much time has elapsed that I decided to re-listen to it from the beginning before reading anymore of The Battle. Guess what?!?! The second listen was even BETTER than the first and now The Inferno is by far my favorite ‘Play to Live’ book! I REALLY enjoyed the second listen (I do not make it a habit of re-listening to books but in this case I was rewarded with a clearer understanding, appreciation and enhanced listening enjoyment!)
I then freshly restarted The Battle. I really do not understand all the gripe!! Yeah there are a few sentences about American's - don't get your panties twisted this a work of fiction. Yeah there were some confused jumping around but this has been happening from the very beginning of the series. I am sure there is a lot of difficulties caused by language and culture barrier, again this is stuff I noticed from the very first book. There are some disjointed paragraphs, but again not a new issue. When I saw the horrible reviews that went on and on regarding these things I thought the author had lost all focus and gotten so much worse as to be almost unenjoyable. When loyal fans go from 5 stars to 1, well that is a big drop and I trusted the fans word. (Wrong move on my part) Now I have read the book for myself and I must stress that for me: There are no more distracted paragraphs and disjointed obscure inserts in The Battle than I had found in any of the previous books (except book 4, it read the smoothest for me).
I thought maybe it was the length of time we had to wait for the new book and with it not being fresh in our minds we maybe began the book in a negative frame of mind. So don't do that. Do yourself a favor and re-enjoy book 4!! And yes I will admit there are a few eyebrow raising segments for them I recommend not taking every word written as a debate among Presidential Candidates and let it roll off your shoulder. Then the part in the book where The Fallen and his Lady are arguing is a very confused section where he slaps her that upset so many people: where here again I yell, ‘translator’ and move on. Because the confused writing right there, the lack of subject matter and description as to what is even happening is out of character for the rest of the book. It is almost as if a few pages were not included and I find it hard to believe that the author would neglect to explain what is going on with the fallen when he does not respond to Max’s desperate, Call To God Attribute in an emergency with Loth. So I am not a happy reader on this page but it still smacks as author and translator are not communicating.
Since I was able to enjoy the others at 5 stars I will give this book no less a FIVE STAR REVIEW!!
So if you were a fan but are on the fence about whether to try this new book of D. Rus I Highly Recommend you refresh yourself on the fourth book then dive right in and enjoy yourself. What fans must keep in mind is that all the books have flaws I am sure mostly due to translation and if you were able to enjoy the first ones you will enjoy this one as long as we keep in mind it is fiction and not a book written just to make Americans look bad!! And hey, let's cut the author a break it is obvious the translator from book one is not the translator in book 5. If you love the series let’s give the author the benefit of the doubt when we find a phrase, we know is wrong or the protagonist suddenly goes from being a good guy to a Stalin worshipper... well I just think it is obviously the work of a confused translator. I hope you enjoy the book. If you did let’s try and give the same honest reviews on our enjoyment as we did the first books in the series. Peace.
GET THIS BOOK!! If you love ‘Play to Live’, you will love The Battle!!
First of all: The Battle is a good book! It lives up to the writing skill of the previous books. Have you put off getting this title based on reviews? I urge you to STOP listening to other people opinions in this case! If you enjoyed the series so far you must try this book for yourself!! I eagerly waited and waited for the sequel to The Inferno to come out and when it did I listened to the reviews and did not grab it. I did myself a real dis-service when I choose not to give one of my favorite authors the benefit of the doubt; now if I can help you to move past all the bad reviews to judge for yourself maybe it will make up for my dis-honor. Since the book is coming out on Audible I decided to read and listen to it for myself. I am So Glad I Did!! Now I offer my review for The Battle and comment on the many numerous bad reviews I now find that have unjustly tore down a good book.
First yes I was confused …this is not the books fault but my faulty memory. So much happened in the last book, (#4) and so much time has elapsed that I decided to re-listen to it from the beginning before reading anymore of The Battle. Guess what?!?! The second listen was even BETTER than the first and now The Inferno is by far my favorite ‘Play to Live’ book! I REALLY enjoyed the second listen (I do not make it a habit of re-listening to books but in this case I was rewarded with a clearer understanding, appreciation and enhanced listening enjoyment!)
I then freshly restarted The Battle. I really do not understand all the gripe!! Yeah there are a few sentences about American's - don't get your panties twisted this a work of fiction. Yeah there were some confused jumping around but this has been happening from the very beginning of the series. I am sure there is a lot of difficulties caused by language and culture barrier, again this is stuff I noticed from the very first book. There are some disjointed paragraphs, but again not a new issue. When I saw the horrible reviews that went on and on regarding these things I thought the author had lost all focus and gotten so much worse as to be almost unenjoyable. When loyal fans go from 5 stars to 1, well that is a big drop and I trusted the fans word. (Wrong move on my part) Now I have read the book for myself and I must stress that for me: There are no more distracted paragraphs and disjointed obscure inserts in The Battle than I had found in any of the previous books (except book 4, it read the smoothest for me).
I thought maybe it was the length of time we had to wait for the new book and with it not being fresh in our minds we maybe began the book in a negative frame of mind. So don't do that. Do yourself a favor and re-enjoy book 4!! And yes I will admit there are a few eyebrow raising segments for them I recommend not taking every word written as a debate among Presidential Candidates and let it roll off your shoulder. Then the part in the book where The Fallen and his Lady are arguing is a very confused section where he slaps her that upset so many people: where here again I yell, ‘translator’ and move on. Because the confused writing right there, the lack of subject matter and description as to what is even happening is out of character for the rest of the book. It is almost as if a few pages were not included and I find it hard to believe that the author would neglect to explain what is going on with the fallen when he does not respond to Max’s desperate, Call To God Attribute in an emergency with Loth. So I am not a happy reader on this page but it still smacks as author and translator are not communicating.
Since I was able to enjoy the others at 5 stars I will give this book no less a FIVE STAR REVIEW!!
So if you were a fan but are on the fence about whether to try this new book of D. Rus I Highly Recommend you refresh yourself on the fourth book then dive right in and enjoy yourself. What fans must keep in mind is that all the books have flaws I am sure mostly due to translation and if you were able to enjoy the first ones you will enjoy this one as long as we keep in mind it is fiction and not a book written just to make Americans look bad!! And hey, let's cut the author a break it is obvious the translator from book one is not the translator in book 5. If you love the series let’s give the author the benefit of the doubt when we find a phrase, we know is wrong or the protagonist suddenly goes from being a good guy to a Stalin worshipper... well I just think it is obviously the work of a confused translator. I hope you enjoy the book. If you did let’s try and give the same honest reviews on our enjoyment as we did the first books in the series. Peace.
Inferno
First of all: The Battle is a good book! It lives up to the writing skill of the previous books. Have you put off getting this title based on reviews? I urge you to STOP listening to other people opinions in this case! If you enjoyed the series so far you must try this book for yourself!! I eagerly waited and waited for the sequel to The Inferno to come out and when it did I listened to the reviews and did not grab it. I did myself a real dis-service when I choose not to give one of my favorite authors the benefit of the doubt; now if I can help you to move past all the bad reviews to judge for yourself maybe it will make up for my dis-honor. Since the book is coming out on Audible I decided to read and listen to it for myself. I am So Glad I Did!! Now I offer my review for The Battle and comment on the many numerous bad reviews I now find that have unjustly tore down a good book.
First yes I was confused …this is not the books fault but my faulty memory. So much happened in the last book, (#4Inferno) and so much time has elapsed that I decided to re-listen to it from the beginning before reading anymore of The Battle. Guess what?!?! The second listen was even BETTER than the first and now The Inferno is by far my favorite ‘Play to Live’ book! I REALLY enjoyed the second listen (I do not make it a habit of re-listening to books but in this case I was rewarded with a clearer understanding, appreciation and enhanced listening enjoyment!)
I then freshly restarted The Battle. I really do not understand all the gripe!! Yeah there are a few sentences about American's - don't get your panties twisted this a work of fiction. Yeah there were some confused jumping around but this has been happening from the very beginning of the series. I am sure there is a lot of difficulties caused by language and culture barrier, again this is stuff I noticed from the very first book. There are some disjointed paragraphs, but again not a new issue. When I saw the horrible reviews that went on and on regarding these things I thought the author had lost all focus and gotten so much worse as to be almost unenjoyable. When loyal fans go from 5 stars to 1, well that is a big drop and I trusted the fans word. (Wrong move on my part) Now I have read the book for myself and I must stress that for me: There are no more distracted paragraphs and disjointed obscure inserts in The Battle than I had found in any of the previous books (except book 4, it read the smoothest for me).
I thought maybe it was the length of time we had to wait for the new book and with it not being fresh in our minds we maybe began the book in a negative frame of mind. So don't do that. Do yourself a favor and re-enjoy book 4!! And yes I will admit there are a few eyebrow raising segments for them I recommend not taking every word written as a debate among Presidential Candidates and let it roll off your shoulder. Then the part in the book where The Fallen and his Lady are arguing is a very confused section where he slaps her that upset so many people: where here again I yell, ‘translator’ and move on. Because the confused writing right there, the lack of subject matter and description as to what is even happening is out of character for the rest of the book. It is almost as if a few pages were not included and I find it hard to believe that the author would neglect to explain what is going on with the fallen when he does not respond to Max’s desperate, Call To God Attribute in an emergency with Loth. So I am not a happy reader on this page but it still smacks as author and translator are not communicating.
Since I was able to enjoy the others at 5 stars I will give this book no less a FIVE STAR REVIEW!!
So if you were a fan but are on the fence about whether to try this new book of D. Rus I Highly Recommend you refresh yourself on the fourth book then dive right in and enjoy yourself. What fans must keep in mind is that all the books have flaws I am sure mostly due to translation and if you were able to enjoy the first ones you will enjoy this one as long as we keep in mind it is fiction and not a book written just to make Americans look bad!! And hey, let's cut the author a break it is obvious the translator from book one is not the translator in book 5. If you love the series let’s give the author the benefit of the doubt when we find a phrase, we know is wrong or the protagonist suddenly goes from being a good guy to a Stalin worshipper... well I just think it is obviously the work of a confused translator. I hope you enjoy the book. If you did let’s try and give the same honest reviews on our enjoyment as we did the first books in the series. Peace.
GET THIS BOOK!! If you love ‘Play to Live’, you will love The Battle!!
First of all: The Battle is a good book! It lives up to the writing skill of the previous books. Have you put off getting this title based on reviews? I urge you to STOP listening to other people opinions in this case! If you enjoyed the series so far you must try this book for yourself!! I eagerly waited and waited for the sequel to The Inferno to come out and when it did I listened to the reviews and did not grab it. I did myself a real dis-service when I choose not to give one of my favorite authors the benefit of the doubt; now if I can help you to move past all the bad reviews to judge for yourself maybe it will make up for my dis-honor. Since the book is coming out on Audible I decided to read and listen to it for myself. I am So Glad I Did!! Now I offer my review for The Battle and comment on the many numerous bad reviews I now find that have unjustly tore down a good book.
First yes I was confused …this is not the books fault but my faulty memory. So much happened in the last book, (#4) and so much time has elapsed that I decided to re-listen to it from the beginning before reading anymore of The Battle. Guess what?!?! The second listen was even BETTER than the first and now The Inferno is by far my favorite ‘Play to Live’ book! I REALLY enjoyed the second listen (I do not make it a habit of re-listening to books but in this case I was rewarded with a clearer understanding, appreciation and enhanced listening enjoyment!)
I then freshly restarted The Battle. I really do not understand all the gripe!! Yeah there are a few sentences about American's - don't get your panties twisted this a work of fiction. Yeah there were some confused jumping around but this has been happening from the very beginning of the series. I am sure there is a lot of difficulties caused by language and culture barrier, again this is stuff I noticed from the very first book. There are some disjointed paragraphs, but again not a new issue. When I saw the horrible reviews that went on and on regarding these things I thought the author had lost all focus and gotten so much worse as to be almost unenjoyable. When loyal fans go from 5 stars to 1, well that is a big drop and I trusted the fans word. (Wrong move on my part) Now I have read the book for myself and I must stress that for me: There are no more distracted paragraphs and disjointed obscure inserts in The Battle than I had found in any of the previous books (except book 4, it read the smoothest for me).
I thought maybe it was the length of time we had to wait for the new book and with it not being fresh in our minds we maybe began the book in a negative frame of mind. So don't do that. Do yourself a favor and re-enjoy book 4!! And yes I will admit there are a few eyebrow raising segments for them I recommend not taking every word written as a debate among Presidential Candidates and let it roll off your shoulder. Then the part in the book where The Fallen and his Lady are arguing is a very confused section where he slaps her that upset so many people: where here again I yell, ‘translator’ and move on. Because the confused writing right there, the lack of subject matter and description as to what is even happening is out of character for the rest of the book. It is almost as if a few pages were not included and I find it hard to believe that the author would neglect to explain what is going on with the fallen when he does not respond to Max’s desperate, Call To God Attribute in an emergency with Loth. So I am not a happy reader on this page but it still smacks as author and translator are not communicating.
Since I was able to enjoy the others at 5 stars I will give this book no less a FIVE STAR REVIEW!!
So if you were a fan but are on the fence about whether to try this new book of D. Rus I Highly Recommend you refresh yourself on the fourth book then dive right in and enjoy yourself. What fans must keep in mind is that all the books have flaws I am sure mostly due to translation and if you were able to enjoy the first ones you will enjoy this one as long as we keep in mind it is fiction and not a book written just to make Americans look bad!! And hey, let's cut the author a break it is obvious the translator from book one is not the translator in book 5. If you love the series let’s give the author the benefit of the doubt when we find a phrase, we know is wrong or the protagonist suddenly goes from being a good guy to a Stalin worshipper... well I just think it is obviously the work of a confused translator. I hope you enjoy the book. If you did let’s try and give the same honest reviews on our enjoyment as we did the first books in the series. Peace.
Inferno
November 3, 2019
I don't write reviews often, almost never actually, but when I do it's because of something a bit more extreme then usual. Usually because it's terribly bad in some way.
This review isn't just about one book in the series, it's about all seven of them. The books themselves are terribly short at around 200-250 pages, the last one going under 200.
Let me start by saying that if you cannot read around sexism, misogyny, racism, Russian nationalism, homophobia/hate, etc. This entire series is not for you the first (free) book isn't that bad, the farther you go into the series, the worse it becomes and you'll be able to ignore it less and less. If you love that sort of thing, this series will rate an absolute 5 out of 5 for you, you won't notice the other things wrong in the books, I just don't want to know you. If you can read around those things, I still am not certain that you should read this series.
One really annoying thing in the series is inconsistency, some of it you could write of due to a bad translation (from Russian), but it's so rampant that I suspect that it's the author and no one did any actual good editing. The author is also very bad at math and numbers in general, the average of a price of 10.000 and 100.000 isn't 50.000, it's 55.000. That's the most obvious example, but there are many, many others. On their own not an issue, but combined with the inconsistencies, it's starts to annoy.
The first book is free, it's the least offensive in the lineup, but the rest of the series isn't worth $5-$7 for a digital copy that's so short and certainly not the $17 for a physical copy.
Not everything is bad though, I read through the series in a week and quite often the writer had my attention with cool ideas that made me want to see what happened next. But then absolutely grinding to a halt when he went of again about the "place of the woman and the role of the man" or a "girlfriends training manual". Being an Goblin, Orc, or Troll is alright, even an actual demon is (initially) welcomed as an ally, but if you black, yellow or god forbid, Jewish... *facepalm* This isn't unique to this series or this character by this author, I checked out his other book and found similar issues. It's as if it was written with a certain target audience in mind...
This could have been an interesting and enjoyable experience if all the bigotry was removed and a good editor went over the book with a fine tooth-comb removing all the inconsistencies.
I'm no white knight, I can read/watch around a lot of stuff that I don't agree with or have no interest in. But even I have limits and this sorely tested them. There is bigotry in a lot of older titles, written in a different time, for example The Destroyer series which was mostly written in the 60s-70s, but this is from a (Russian) kid and written in 2012-2015.
There are far better, more consistent, and less offensive titles that cover this genre.
This review isn't just about one book in the series, it's about all seven of them. The books themselves are terribly short at around 200-250 pages, the last one going under 200.
Let me start by saying that if you cannot read around sexism, misogyny, racism, Russian nationalism, homophobia/hate, etc. This entire series is not for you the first (free) book isn't that bad, the farther you go into the series, the worse it becomes and you'll be able to ignore it less and less. If you love that sort of thing, this series will rate an absolute 5 out of 5 for you, you won't notice the other things wrong in the books, I just don't want to know you. If you can read around those things, I still am not certain that you should read this series.
One really annoying thing in the series is inconsistency, some of it you could write of due to a bad translation (from Russian), but it's so rampant that I suspect that it's the author and no one did any actual good editing. The author is also very bad at math and numbers in general, the average of a price of 10.000 and 100.000 isn't 50.000, it's 55.000. That's the most obvious example, but there are many, many others. On their own not an issue, but combined with the inconsistencies, it's starts to annoy.
The first book is free, it's the least offensive in the lineup, but the rest of the series isn't worth $5-$7 for a digital copy that's so short and certainly not the $17 for a physical copy.
Not everything is bad though, I read through the series in a week and quite often the writer had my attention with cool ideas that made me want to see what happened next. But then absolutely grinding to a halt when he went of again about the "place of the woman and the role of the man" or a "girlfriends training manual". Being an Goblin, Orc, or Troll is alright, even an actual demon is (initially) welcomed as an ally, but if you black, yellow or god forbid, Jewish... *facepalm* This isn't unique to this series or this character by this author, I checked out his other book and found similar issues. It's as if it was written with a certain target audience in mind...
This could have been an interesting and enjoyable experience if all the bigotry was removed and a good editor went over the book with a fine tooth-comb removing all the inconsistencies.
I'm no white knight, I can read/watch around a lot of stuff that I don't agree with or have no interest in. But even I have limits and this sorely tested them. There is bigotry in a lot of older titles, written in a different time, for example The Destroyer series which was mostly written in the 60s-70s, but this is from a (Russian) kid and written in 2012-2015.
There are far better, more consistent, and less offensive titles that cover this genre.
July 4, 2019
I should mention that I listened to the sixth book, The War, before writing this review. My reason was to see if there was a silver lining to this book.
Did I love the book? Far from it. At first, Max does some prep for the WAR (not just a battle) by exploring Tavor's dungeon which was a temple to Chronos. The first half of the book was pretty good and had my attention. However, the second half (probably 60%) of this book felt more like a report than a story. The second half covered the WAR the Chinese cluster made with the Russian cluster. This second half of the book did not feel like it was written by D Rus. I did struggle to keep interested here. Another issue I had was confusing on what was going on in some cases. I found my mind wandering because of those two facts.
I should note that there is some generalizing of Asian cultures and it's people but its not out of place when you are talking about strategizing against an enemy. As a Veteran Marine myself I know that it is an unfortunate part of the job.
Not many memorable parts. Max exploring Chronos' temple, and the last chapter.
Would I recommend this book? Only for the first half. Then I might suggest they skip the last 60% of the book until the last 2 chapters.
Michael Goldstrom did the best he could with what was given to him. However, in order to lessen the confusion i think he could have given himself spacing between subjects.
SILVER LINING!!
The next book goes back to its amazing style of storytelling. Read my next review to find out
Did I love the book? Far from it. At first, Max does some prep for the WAR (not just a battle) by exploring Tavor's dungeon which was a temple to Chronos. The first half of the book was pretty good and had my attention. However, the second half (probably 60%) of this book felt more like a report than a story. The second half covered the WAR the Chinese cluster made with the Russian cluster. This second half of the book did not feel like it was written by D Rus. I did struggle to keep interested here. Another issue I had was confusing on what was going on in some cases. I found my mind wandering because of those two facts.
I should note that there is some generalizing of Asian cultures and it's people but its not out of place when you are talking about strategizing against an enemy. As a Veteran Marine myself I know that it is an unfortunate part of the job.
Not many memorable parts. Max exploring Chronos' temple, and the last chapter.
Would I recommend this book? Only for the first half. Then I might suggest they skip the last 60% of the book until the last 2 chapters.
Michael Goldstrom did the best he could with what was given to him. However, in order to lessen the confusion i think he could have given himself spacing between subjects.
SILVER LINING!!
The next book goes back to its amazing style of storytelling. Read my next review to find out
July 22, 2017
I'm a little worried because I already have the next two books in the series, but this one... what was this even? It felt like a confusing mess of events without enough of a breather or transition from one thing to the next. Worse, it didn't feel like anything of any really weight happened. I mean, a lot happened, so maybe it's that it didn't feel like anything was really given any gravity, as each event was crammed up against the next one. Maybe it's that the series is starting to remind me of a Saturday morning cartoon show, where heroes are always improving in each installment, and the villains are always one step behind, never to truly be concerned about. Continuing the comparison: as you would expect, there are a lot of things happening and little to no character development here.
It's a shame I'm all caught up on all the other similar-but-better series I'm following, as I'm not all that excited to jump straight into book #6.
It's a shame I'm all caught up on all the other similar-but-better series I'm following, as I'm not all that excited to jump straight into book #6.
May 1, 2020
Кратко. Сталин? Узкоглазые? Хохлы?
Это что за доморощенная пропаганда такая?
Ах да, лидера РФ, Новороссии и Малороссии забыл. Чего ж ты, Дмитрий, бумага все стерпит, давай еще исконно русских земель наприбавляй - Польшу, Финляндию, Западную Украину, Балканы. Или у тебя карта только с Малороссией из запасников партии оказалась? Плохо работаете, товарищи.
Особенно доставило смакование событий второй мировой, сравнение игровых процессов с ней и фразы из разряда: "За нами деды и отцы", "Можем повторить". Из всех ветеранов ВОВ, с которыми я общался, НИ ОДИН не хотел повторять. Даже рядом. Из них трудно было вытянуть даже описание событий. Но все до единого говорили: "Не дай Бог такое повторится. Не дай Бог вам такое увидеть". Я слабо могу представить, что там было. Но явно не то, чего насмотрелся автор и что показывают по телевизору.
Это что за доморощенная пропаганда такая?
Ах да, лидера РФ, Новороссии и Малороссии забыл. Чего ж ты, Дмитрий, бумага все стерпит, давай еще исконно русских земель наприбавляй - Польшу, Финляндию, Западную Украину, Балканы. Или у тебя карта только с Малороссией из запасников партии оказалась? Плохо работаете, товарищи.
Особенно доставило смакование событий второй мировой, сравнение игровых процессов с ней и фразы из разряда: "За нами деды и отцы", "Можем повторить". Из всех ветеранов ВОВ, с которыми я общался, НИ ОДИН не хотел повторять. Даже рядом. Из них трудно было вытянуть даже описание событий. Но все до единого говорили: "Не дай Бог такое повторится. Не дай Бог вам такое увидеть". Я слабо могу представить, что там было. Но явно не то, чего насмотрелся автор и что показывают по телевизору.
June 14, 2022
Konflikt klastrovych urovni se priostruje. Je otazkou preziti nashromazdit veskere dostupne vyhody, spojence a jina esa. Jednani s vrtosivymi bohy neni snadne ani z pozice velekneze. Klanu a alinacnikum klepou nepratele na hradby - je cas trestat ty opovazlivce aby je presla chut na "ruske medvedy". Bolestiva zrada je otazkou casu v tomhle nelitostnem svete. A to nejhorsi teprve prijde.
Čtive, rychle ubiha, usmevne momentky. Systemove hlaseni je sporadicke a Gleb mnohe s primery ctenari vysvetluje.
Autor graduje nacionalismus, nesetri primery k ruskemu folkloru ci historii (predevsim valecne) a bere na sebe plast nejvetsiho slechtice ve svete.
Čtive, rychle ubiha, usmevne momentky. Systemove hlaseni je sporadicke a Gleb mnohe s primery ctenari vysvetluje.
Autor graduje nacionalismus, nesetri primery k ruskemu folkloru ci historii (predevsim valecne) a bere na sebe plast nejvetsiho slechtice ve svete.
June 16, 2018
I liked this series much more when it was focused on the main character and his journey. It seems that it's branching out to try to develop a lot of side characters and plots while our leading man sort of goes stagnant. I was looking forward to living vicariously through his leveling process. Shouldn't he be one of the supremo top elite skilled players by now, rather than just getting lucky and pulling aces out of his sleeves every time things get rough? Feeling more and more like I'm reading a Mary-Sue, or maybe just bad World of Warcraft fanfic... probably both.
January 16, 2024
Is he not wrong in his dungeon sneaky way of levelling? Shouldn't time work other way round ? Also wtf happened to some semblence of continuity. Also making weomen out to be household slaves and men the boss in life households etc is cringing. The previous instalments were also annoying regarding that subject but overall story savef it a bit. But making Russian soldiers saints and hero's ,in ww2 and every following act of aggression is wrong. Ask thousends of raped polish and German women. Or the Afghanis
February 22, 2018
чем дальше, тем сложнее читать если читатель женщина. Мужские фантазий иногда читать тошно. Если бы не интересный сюжет [жутко интересный] давно б забросила. Еще странным кажется что у всех персонажей одинаковый способ выражаться - все используют слова "тушка [тело], вечнозеленые [деньги], и так далее.
Но все-таки книга хорошая...
Но все-таки книга хорошая...
June 21, 2021
Po predchádzajúcich fantastických dielov veľké sklamanie. Dôkazom je aj to, že kým iné časti som čítal za noc, max. 1,5 dňa, toto mi trvalo viac ako týždeň. Nezmyselné vybíjanie v nič nehovoriacich predmetoch či vlastnostiach postáv, a keď nad tým rozmýšľam, tak tam, kde sme začali, sme aj skončili. Občas som mal pocit, že to písal niekto iný.
August 30, 2017
I fell asleep here and there and got kinda lost.
To me, there was too much battle and not enough story, which I guess I can understand since this book is called The Battle.
The other books in the series were better. I'm still going to finish the series, might as well.
To me, there was too much battle and not enough story, which I guess I can understand since this book is called The Battle.
The other books in the series were better. I'm still going to finish the series, might as well.
February 27, 2018
I enjoyed the earlier books a bit more - this one felt a bit more rushed, both in the writing and in the plot. The feel of the writing is heavily influenced by the translation though, I'm sure - so I'm still really looking forward to reading book #6.
March 8, 2018
Im not deep into LitRPG, so I just read these mostly as enjoyable little time wasters while flying for work. So far the series has been ok, but then this book I have no idea whats going on. Cant follow anything, nothing make sense. Maybe something was lost in translation...
December 7, 2018
Wtf?
This is the most confusing of the books so far. Too many storylines that come out of nowhere and/or don't get resolved well. Way too much jumping around and the battles are not fleshed out at all
This is the most confusing of the books so far. Too many storylines that come out of nowhere and/or don't get resolved well. Way too much jumping around and the battles are not fleshed out at all
December 19, 2018
By far the worst so far in the series. Jumps around way too much and makes no sense in many different places. Does not explain how things have progressed to the point they are or how new skills and abilities were obtained or even that they were.
January 27, 2021
Still going
As the scope gets wider and wider the story sometimes is all over the place with different perspectives making it a bit confusing. That said, it’s still fun and the long anticipated war has arrived.
As the scope gets wider and wider the story sometimes is all over the place with different perspectives making it a bit confusing. That said, it’s still fun and the long anticipated war has arrived.
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