Crimson Alliance

Viridian Gate Online #2

by James A. Hunter

October, 2042

Three days ago, Jack Mitchel saved his life. By dying.

He dodged a world-ending bullet-in the form of an extinction-level asteroid cannonballing toward Earth-by successfully uploading his mind into the brand-new, ultra-immersive, fantasy-based VRMMORPG, Viridian Gate Online. Unfortunately, he's also stumbled headlong into a secret conspiracy that will transform V.G.O. into a new feudal dark age.

Jack expected to live out his new fantasy life in peace, but now he and his misfit crew of rebels are the only ones preventing a tyrant emperor and his regime from taking power. Thankfully, everything isn't quite as hopeless as it seems-Jack has a plan. Sort of. With only a handful of supporters, he's going to get the jump on the bloodthirsty empire by snatching one of their key cities right from underneath their noses. In order to pull off the impossible, however, Jack's going to have to develop his formidable Shadowmancer powers, raid some ridiculous dungeons, and make some shady allies-allies who may be more dangerous than the empire itself.

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Fiction, Science Fiction, Magic, Adventure, Role Playing Games

326 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 24, 2017

About the author

James Hunter is a full-time ink slinger, a member of SFWA, and the bestselling author of Vigil Bound, Rogue Dungeon, Shadowcroft Academy, Bibliomancer (The Completionist Chronicles Expanded Universe), and the litRPG epic Viridian Gate Online! In addition to writing, James also runs Shadow Alley Press, an industry leader that specializes in publishing LitRPG, Fantasy, and selection Science Fiction.

James is a former Marine Corps Sergeant, combat veteran, and pirate hunter (seriously). He’s also a member of The Royal Order of the Shellback—’cause that’s totally a real thing. And a spaceship captain, can’t forget that. Okay … the last one probably isn’t true. When not writing or spending time with family, James occasionally finds time to eat and sleep.

Find out more about James Hunter at www.ShadowAlleyPress.com

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad for a follow up of the original. 6 of 10 stars

[Kon R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rarely jump into the sequel so soon after reading the first book, but it happened here. I was excited about the prospects of this series after being let down so many times before in the LitRPG realm. I'm glad I did. I think the author really hit his stride here.

Even though there are plenty of exciting quests and battles, this book is focused on continuing the plot to something substantial. The main villain finally makes his presence known and in a big way. Big enough to make the whole book revolve around dealing with him. We also finally get introduced to three new real life players, which I suspect will end up having big roles in the future.

My favorite thing about this series is that it isn't bogged down by LitRPG skills/stats/items. Yes, they are there as they should be, but it's presented sparsely. Some other series take breaks to review all the character attributes multiple times throughout the book to nauseum. It becomes annoying page-filler after a point.

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jack with the help of Abby and their NPCs robbed a dangerous man. The kind of man who would murder everyone they knew in the real world for such an insult. He's coming for them. Jack has decided the only option they have is to create an alliance and prepare his forces for battle.

Crimson Alliance was ok. There are some fun elements to this book, but the video game aspects aren't really all that interesting. I understand that faced with a certain death that many people would flee to Virdian Gate Online to survive. I just don't think most people would want to go around fighting and questing though. Plus it's strange that the game creator in attempt to create a world they could survive in, would chose to build a fictional feudal world. I feel like they would have chosen something more akin to the show Upload or perhaps a more Real World Simulation like the Matrix. Even super heroes or Space Travel seem like more interesting choices.

There is little character growth. Like most Role Playing Games, there are no real skills to learn instead there are skills players earn. We see Jack do that as he takes on quests and downloads knowledge as he unlocks new skills. Surprisingly the characters appear able to do remarkably ingenious things. Which when I think more about, does feel fitting for the most advanced video game ever.

The most interesting aspect of the book was the Crime Boss Carrera...at least until he appeared. He threatens Jack and all his loved ones with certain doom via private messages. That seemed appropriate. He was too stereotypical once we met him for me though. No nuance at all.

The Crimson Alliance is an easy book to read without much depth to it.

[XR · Rating 4 out of 5]

The new characters that Abby and Jack are finding for the Crimson Alliance are great, and so well rounded in the skills they need to survive and thrive in Eldgard. I'm sad about, Devil though... stupid murdering tyrant!

[Steve Naylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating 2.5 stars

Not as good as the first book. The most interesting aspect about this book is the one thing that made it not really work for me. The story that an asteroid was coming to destroy earth and one of the only ways to survive was to place your consciousness into the game was actually a very interesting concept. Most books like this have a player get stuck in a game or try to escape a crappy life, or get transported to a different world. In those instances all the "players" are actually gamers. In this story though, anyone who wanted to live could come into Viridian online which includes gamers and people who never played games in their lives. Because of that fact, the world that was developed was completely unrealistic. It was a "gamer" type of world, but a large portion of the people that came to viridian online were not gamers. While they might be glad to be "alive", I don't think any of them would be happy with the virtual world they now live in. There were also a lot of missed opportunities. When the world was finally destroyed by the asteroid, there was maybe 2-3 sentences written about the grief Jake felt for his lost home and family before it was right back to what he was doing. He met a 10 year old boy who lost his parents because they only had enough money to pay for 1 pod and they could not come with him. Again, there was only 1 or 2 sentences written about how Jack felt sorry for him. There could have been so much more written which would have made this story truly unique.

I didn't mind Jack being so overpowered in the first book, but it got way out of hand in this book. Jack kept talking about the pros and cons of each class before he picked his. He made comments about glass cannons: those type of players who have great offense but not much defense. Then there are the stealth characters who are quick and deadly but don't have much armor and can't hit hard. Despite all this Jack seems to be able to do everything. He states his main attributes are speed and stealth, and yet he carries a war hammer and is able to deliver devastating blows. He also acts as a tank with his shield. Has great attack spells, area spells, healing spells. He can also shadow walk and disappear if he is in trouble. Oh, and don't forget he can also summon a shadow dragon who could probably kill everyone he knows without much of a problem. Must be awesome to be great at everything and have no apparent weakness, but it is not realistic.

While Jack is stupidly overpowered, he still has to go up against enemies that are way more powerful. WTF, they have only been in the game for a couple of weeks. Why do they need to have 1 insane fight right after another? There was almost no grinding and character buildup, it was going straight into battle and coming out with higher levels. The odds against him were a little too crazy. It was his one guild against the 25 guilds in the empire. How is that even remotely fair. Again, he has only been in the game for a couple of weeks, shouldn't he still be just trying to level up a little at this point and not fighting wars?

I wasn't too impressed with this one, so I am not going to continue the series.

[GaiusPrimus · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a great story, that felt too short, as great stories tend to do.

The flow of the story, the character development and the accomplishments of the main protagonists don't feel forced, which greatly increases the enjoyment of reading about them. There are no jarring plot holes or truly overpowered situations that can have the tendency to pull the reader from the immersion into the story.

I don't generally add/remove stars due to poor editing/grammar, but it adds to *MY* entertainment value when the text has been properly edited, as this has clearly been.

This was very entertaining and I would recommend reading it.

For Mr. Hunter, if you ever read these reviews:
My only nitpick for the author is the 3-4 times that Jack seems to struggle with the sentience of the NPC's, the description usually revolves around the fact that the NPC is not a person, just a bunch of bits of code. This is exactly what the players are now, bits of code that have been uploaded to the main servers, so I would've approached that a bit different. The interaction of player and NPC is a staple of this genre and I don't believe that the circumstances of this story make this unnecessary, but the specifics of the narrative should dictate the "inner struggle".

[Chrys Minter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great series

I'm really into this series. The more I read the more I'm pulled into this world. Not only am I an avid reader. But I'm also a writer and gamer. So this world really pulled me in deep.

[Soo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mini-Review:

4.5 Stars for Narration by Armen Taylor. His attempt at a Russian accent was comical but the rest was great.
3.5 Stars for Story

A solid follow up in the series. I feel like I'm reading one long story that was broken up in segments. Not a bad thing! Lots of good action in this one and an interesting event at the end of the story that perked my interest. It's hard to argue with some of the points made but I could play devil's advocate for either side of the line of Good/Bad.

Fun LitRPG to play in the background as I get work/chores done. =)

[Dave Packard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eating these like popcorn. Loving the world and how it works as well as the apocalyptic background.

[Joe Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well. Where to start?

Viridian Gate Online is the third book from the LitRPG genre I have read. I started with Ready Player One and later moved onto Ascend Online after having read hundreds of fantasy and science fiction books between the two.

The premise of Viridian Gate Online is immediately captivating. A lifelong gamer is living in a doomed world; scientists have discovered an asteroid hurling towards the Earth with enough size and velocity to wipe out the vast majority of those living on the planet. As a last-ditch effort, a company creates a game in which you can upload your consciousness, and survive in the game world. How the company's infrastructure which makes this possible will survive the impact is unclear, but hopefully will be explained more in-depth in later books.

This makes for a brilliant setting: everything the main character does in the game world is final. He cannot simply log out. He cannot just reroll or go offline. Every decision is something he will be forced to "live" with for the rest of his existence. Every interaction is meaningful.

The class design in VGO is well designed, and smartly borrows elements from dozens of games. At times, I wonder if the character progression isn't too rushed, and if the writer is writing himself into a corner with it. If the main character's power scales so rapidly, how far can this plot be pushed?

Probably my greatest criticism of the book is its prose. The writing is, as a whole, well-done, but there are many instances where meaningless and unnecessary adjectives are shoved into sentences, which actually makes the descriptions less convincing. On this point, I felt that the book did get better as it went on, and I'm excited to see the series progress not only in story, but in its literary quality as well.

A solid 4/5 from me. If you're a fan of LitRPG, this is definitely a book to check out.

[Paul Sating · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5.

[Karsyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. Didn't like this one as much as the first. It was alright, but not great. He didn't do anything for what he got and it seemed so fake to me. Like he went to see about an ally and his group grew from a couple dozen to several hundred over night. He didn't do anything for it, yet had all these people. Eh. Just wasn't enjoyable. Will probably stick with the series cuz it's easy but definitely not going to be in my favorites of LitRPG.

[Kiba Snowpaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Viridian Gate Online #2: Crimson Alliance – Review by Kiba Snowpaw

Introduction:
Alright, pups and packmates, settle in. Here’s my cold, sharp-fanged take on Viridian Gate Online #2: Crimson Alliance by J.A. Hunter—a follow-up howl in the LitRPG wilds, first published February 24, 2017. This one’s still fantasy with a post-apocalyptic twist, and it’s a direct sequel, so you’d better have chewed your way through Cataclysm first. If the first book was about running from extinction, book two is about staking your claim in a world where the old rules are as dead as a frozen hare. Spoiler: it’s not all smooth snow. 

Plot Summary:
Three days after virtually “dying” to escape an asteroid-blasted Earth, Jack “Grim Jack” Mitchell finds himself deep in the digital wilderness of Viridian Gate Online. Instead of settling into a fantasy vacation, our shadowmancer has to deal with a raging power struggle. There’s a tyrant emperor on the rise, old-world crime lords turned in-game supervillains, and a misfit alliance that looks about as reliable as a pack of stray mutts. Jack's plan? Build a resistance (the Crimson Alliance), snatch a city, and outwit enemies on all sides—player, NPC, and AI alike. 
The world’s still fantasy medieval, but the stakes feel bigger, the scale wider, and the politics messier. There’s no reset button. Every alliance, betrayal, and backstab can be for keeps, especially with the real world wiped off the map.

The Author:
James A. Hunter is grinding out his name as a LitRPG mainstay. His Yancy Lazarus series shows his knack for urban fantasy, while Viridian Gate is his flagship into MMO mayhem. Hunter's style: brisk, punchy, and heavy on the action, often favoring energy over introspection. No major literary trophies on the wall, but he's a reliable alpha for fans who crave their genre with plenty of hit points and just enough bite to keep you turning the pages. Does he always deliver on nuance or emotional depth? No, but he’s consistent in his craft.

Characters:
The pack is back and bigger—Grim Jack, still uncomfortably noble and sometimes naive for a survivor, is at the center. He’s now leading the Crimson Alliance, juggling strategy, shadow magic, and a bunch of quirky followers. Cutter the rogue still brings the best banter and comic relief, now with a bit more depth. Abby’s presence fades a little, more plot device than dynamic partner. We meet more players and NPCs (and the line between them is getting blurry). Villains ramp up: Carrera the cartel boss gets a real showing, but he’s as subtle as a blizzard and not much deeper than a pawprint in fresh snow. Supporting characters get some love, but most are still built more for function than feeling—think “raiding party” more than “family.”

Structure:
Chapters are short, pacing is relentless, and the story rockets from battle to politics to city-building to another boss fight. Hunter isn’t afraid to skip over grind and jump straight to the “good parts”—but this sometimes means essential development is lost in the rush. Narrative sticks mostly with Jack, first-person, giving us his inner thoughts (sometimes too much—he can overthink like a wolf chasing its tail). But the relentless focus on Jack leaves the supporting cast a little underfed.

Themes & Analysis:
Survival, freedom, power, and digital identity—those are the bones buried under the snow. Crimson Alliance tries to bite into deeper questions: What does it mean to lead? How do you build something lasting in a world that can delete you? What’s the value of AI “life” when players are code too? But just like in the first book, most themes are only scratched at, not chewed to the marrow. The “faction wars” and city politics show the dangers of feudalism and power consolidation, but Hunter prefers action to philosophy.

Scenes:
Don’t come looking for heat or fur-flying romance. The closest thing to “romance” is a little loyalty and a few awkward glances—this is PG, swords out, not shirts off. The dynamic with Abby is teased but stays cool as a snowdrift. The focus is on alliances, battles, and the drama of leadership, not harem antics or steamy dens. Even monster scenes (like the spider queen) play it straight—no forced sex-appeal, just menace and alliance-building.

World-Building:
This is where Crimson Alliance still shines. The MMO world of Eldgard is big, dangerous, and more immersive than most. Cities, factions, monster alliances, politics, and hidden AI agendas add layers. There’s clever stuff: rare classes, custom spells, game-mechanics-driven politics. But there’s also confusion: sometimes mechanics shift, skills get retconned, and you’re left wondering if the author’s keeping track of his own rules. The setting is solid for action, but maybe not the best den for those seeking deep lore.

Praise & Critique:
Praise:
- Energetic pacing, never a dull pawstep
- Faction-building, city conquest, and politicking make for great “pack vs pack” drama
- Expanding cast and world, plus improved stakes
- Still a great “fun” read for LitRPG junkies
- The overminds (AIs) add a new layer of intrigue and manipulation

Critique:
- Jack’s a little too good at everything—shadowmancer, strategist, tank, DPS, you name it—sometimes feels like he’s running with God Mode toggled on
- Supporting characters often get left in the snow, especially Abby and new allies
- Emotional fallout from Earth’s destruction is handled with a paw wave; too little grief, too little humanity
- Some narrative jumps are jarring—plot points appear or vanish like a fox in a blizzard
- Mechanics are inconsistently applied; rules shift for the sake of drama
- Dialogue and inner monologue sometimes border on tedious, especially when Jack overthinks every move

Comparison:
Compared to Book 1, Crimson Alliance dials up the action and strategy, but at the cost of some emotional resonance. It’s still more grounded than power-trip LitRPGs like The Land, but not as philosophical or dark as Awaken Online. Fans of classic “underdog alliance” stories—think Sword Art Online if it had more politics and less teen angst—will find plenty to chew on here. Against Hunter’s own work, this book is a natural evolution—more at stake, bigger fights, slightly deeper world.

Personal Evaluation:
As an ice alpha, I came into this looking for deeper bite, not just a bigger bone pile. The book had me running with the pack, enjoying the fast pace and high-stakes battles. But, truthfully, I wanted more from the character dynamics and the world’s emotional stakes. Sometimes it was hard to keep track of who was where or why things escalated so quickly—almost like the author hit fast-forward and forgot to check if the pups could keep up. Still, I had fun, and the “pack politics” tickled my strategic brain. If only Hunter would slow down, let us feel the snow under our paws, and mourn the world we lost before building the new one.

Conclusion:
Crimson Alliance is a high-energy, high-stakes LitRPG that’s all about pack survival, fast conquests, and alpha challenges. It stumbles in emotional depth and consistency but still delivers on the promise of wild MMO adventure. If you’re here for a quick, thrilling read with a bit of strategy and a whole lot of fighting, jump in—just don’t expect your heartstrings to get much tug. 7/10 frostbitten pawprints from this alpha—fun, flawed, but worth a run through the snow if you’re already on the trail.

Stay sharp, never trust a cartel boss, and remember—sometimes the best alliances are forged with the unlikeliest pack. Kiba out.

[Vincent Atd · Rating 1 out of 5]

So we have a self-proclaimed Gamer here, where he always tell he is a great gamer, but I do not see him act like one.
The MC has one AOE Crowd Control Skill, one Offensive range AOE Skill, Two active Shield Skills that can be cast simultaneously and be active at the same time, one Offensive Range kill, one Blink skill, two Offensive Melee skill, and a Stealth Skill, but every time there is a fight, the MC starts fighting why does he always fight in a close combat battle without utilizing his skill, even without using to the point that he waits for his enemy to ganged up on him and beat him to the ground before using his skill, this is not how a Gamer plays this is how a noob plays, there are many ways to kill his enemy without getting in a close combat with them. Every time this things happen I cannot help, but say what a Stupid move. He could have used his CC Skill followed by his AOE, then his spam his Range Missile skill and after the CC is gone then he could have cast his two shields on him before going in a close combat with them he could even blink to attack them, but he is really stupid for what he always says as a great gamer.

[Zachary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't understand how anyone can genuinely enjoy this book with such an annoying MC. I consider myself to be a fairly nice guy but every-time he did basically anything I just felt a rage inside of me, if I met this person IRL I think I would go out of my way in every possibly situation to make his life harder and just generally fuck up his day whenever I could. I hate him so much, the more I read the more I wanted to gouge out his eyes and punch him in the face until he died. He's just so annoyingly and unrealistically moral and ethical, not to mention how naive he is for a 30 something year old man who's grown up in LA. I didn't mind him so much in the first book; however, from the very first chapter of this book I wanted to murder him in the most gruesome possible way. Which really sucks because that is basically the only complaint I have, I enjoyed almost every other aspect of this book.

[Chris Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Viridian Gate is fine, but still nothing special as LitRPG's go. This book starts off a few days after the end of the last one, shortly before the meteor is supposed to hit. The best part of this book is that portion where it does hit. Hunter creates a Sudo-External world to allow this, but he does it in a theme breaking way where a true external world would have been better. Maybe there is an exclusive version of this, as seen *maybe* at the end of the book. The story is rather predictable, but serviceable and good enough to scratch that LitRPG itch.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dude needs to cut down on his descriptive internal dialog crap. It really hurts the flow of the story. I find myself wanting to scream at the guy to stop being an idiot and DO something. It's extremely irritating. He's so prone to hesitation in this one that it drives me nuts. He would've died more than once if he weren't lucky, and his contant hesitation and lack of action costs him a lot of pain and failure. First book was better, and I will continue the series, but I really hope to be less annoyed moving forward.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grim Jack Gets Lots of Candy
Jack Mitchell, AKA Grim Jack goes from survival to thriving as he completes quests and becomes ueber-powerful. His AI Partner, Cutter, develops a-pace, in part because he gets a cut of the loot wherever Grim Jack goes. Abby hangs out in the background, and doesn't get as much play or depth as I would have hoped for.

Cutter is becoming the comic relief as well, e.g., "Do you know how much gold I've turned up cutting trees, Jack? Zero."

Jack, Abby, and crew picked up a mysterious token at the end of their last big book, which has been revealed to be a very high-end, end-game content level artifact that lets players take control of cities. Abby is off on an investigatory quest to figure out what it does, and is out of communication, so now that Grim Jack knows he has to wait around for her before deciding whether and when to use it.

While waiting, chief Kolle gives them a side-quest to help with Jack's shadowmancer training, taking Amara the chief's daughter along as a guide. So they go off and of course he doesn't just complete the quest, he unlocks a rare shadowmancer ability that allows him to tame Void Terrors, and of course since he's so special, he gets a very powerful Void Terror that can fly as his very first tamed on, and its a flying mount. This went way to fast with no practice or skill development, or interim failures.

Food and condition mechanics are well and consistently a part of the story.

As soon as Abby agrees, Jack founds the settlement, drawing the ire of Carrera, the cartel leader who had bought and paid for the dungeon Abby and Jack looted heavily in the previous story. The guy quickly establishes himself as a nasty piece of work. He would have made a nice recurring villain, but he gets killed the first time the team faces him, because they never fail.

Sophia, on of the AI overminds starts making appearances as a guiding spirit with occasional gifts. She is using the team as agents to fight against the actions of other AIs. Basically the AIs are playing there own world-wide games, using player characters as pawns.

Faction founding happens, utilizing the ruins of an ancient city as a base. The mechanics and depth are well done and interesting.

Grim Jack cooks up a plan including getting the spider queen and her subjects as allies, and that is pretty interesting as it develops and we find out about player death, which is refreshingly punitive, although is mission is still successful.

Cutter's Gentleman Georgie quest.

The multi-front, non-traditional mega battle to take the city of Rowanheath was imaginative and un to read.

Jack finally meets Robert Osmark, the evil-mastermind behind the whole game and who has self-appointed himself emperor, and is further disillusioned as he's informed that he has a vital role to play in acting as a distracting enemy he can use to rally his troops and people around. Harsh realization.

Oh yah, and real world was destroyed by an Asteroid, except for deep under ground vaults where the servers are.

[Joseph · Rating 2 out of 5]

Action is picking up pace, players new to the readers are introduced and forced to choose sides in the brewing faction wars of good-vs-evil and assigned their respective story telling roles. Additional exploits for faction resource mining are mentioned. New plot lines have been brought into the know (Cutter's golden rapier, Rober Osmark's faction's infighting, the fall of the 6 dokkalfar houses, shadowmancer's shadow council quest). Author makes known what the stakes are for players' as readers are introduced to the VGO 'death' effects alongside MC. The strategical warfare has begun with rebel faction hedging their bets on long term faction boons and tactical action takes places with the goal of extending the borders of resistance faction.

The shadow step skill isn't though through, not sure what was the precise wording in book one, was it - caster can't attack and can't be attacked - or - caster can't do damage and can't receive damage. In this book MC used shadow step skill and embedded projectiles fell of him, what about damage over time effects? As I recall, when casting shadow step time is stopped for players and NPCs in range, but moves the same for caster, does the skill stop the damage over time effects or is timer running but no damage received while in shadow verse, or cumulative damage for passed time is received once caster leaves shadow verse? The fact that NPS had to remind players in supposedly the highest managerial positions in resistance fighting faction about shadow mine which is basically a cheat place to grind levels, especially if shadow beasts' level are balanced to players level, doesn't boon well for the odds of this faction. Players must be either mentally incomplete or masochistic to continue reckless action after experiencing first death. IRL news are in, the extinction level event has come and went, but players are as nonchalant as before, no sense of crippling depression over the loss of the loved ones and the whole world.

Conclusion: 2/5. Free on Audible plus catalogue until 14/12/2023. The story has multiple avenues of enthralling fiction (unique player-tutorial NPC relationship, unique skill trees, the impact of consciousnesses digitalization and loss of real world, the economical class conflict following mass digitalization of consciousnesses , the faction conflict etc.), reminiscent of the saying - biting off more than you can chew, in book 2 of VGO some of these avenues were completely ignored if not forgotten by the author and additional ones were added. Story goes lacking solid basics or direction. The players' reactions to events are inhuman in their lack of emotion. Most of the time is spent on MC, while a reason for readers to be invested in his experience to put it softly is lacking.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Inconsistancies galore

Very frustrating read. The main character is terrible at pretty much everything, just stumbles through events and somehow comes out on top, when realistically (according to the game mechanics set up) he should be getting his ass killed left and right nearly every fight. Then there's the last fight with Carrerra or w/e. Massive griffon mount easily tore MC's own mount apart in seconds? No way any player should have something so OP so early in the game. Light-based class that is built to counter the MC's shadowmancer class, how the fuck did carrerra even know the MC's class? Also shadowmancer is supposed to do MORE damage to light based classes. None of MC's shadow based spells did any damage.
Carrerra is the one they stole the freebie dungeon from, so he shouldn't be that OP. Nor should he have such an OP class, cos thats determined by the Overminds and they're supposed to stop cheating.
Then you have one of the overminds blatantly supplying information to ozmark and his cronies, doing favors for them like bringing the MC to that white room to chat. Meanwhile the overmind thats supposed to be helping the MC and countering the other overmind Enyo does what? Increases his luck.
Also book 1 lists shadow strides cooldown as starting from when the spell is initially cast. So 45 second cooldown, spell lasts 30 seconds, 15 seconds after spell ends he should be able to use it again right? So THIS book he upgrades the spell, its duration jumped by 20 seconds up to 50, cooldown dropped from 45 seconds to 35 so according to the mechanics the author has set up he shouldn't have any downtime on shadowstride. Yet later on in this book the autor suddenly forgets the mechanics of the spell PLUS that the MC upgraded the spell to last 50 seconds.

[Norma · Rating 5 out of 5]

( Format : audio book )
"Illusion is all it is."
Written in the first person, the Crimson Alliance continues to chart the lives of Grim Jack and his new friend, Cutter, in the immersive game, Viridian Gate Online. A 'game' which is now Jack's life as there is no going back: not only has his body died in the real world as he successfully transitioned into the game but the whole of Earth's population is about to be destroyed by a cataclysmic event when a giant meteorite crashes onto the surface. But already Jack is unhappy with what he has found in this new life and has made a serious enemy. His only hope is to form his own faction before the final destruction of earth, hopefully with his old friend, Abbie. But she seems to have disappeared ...

With great characters and well written dialogue, this is the second in this fun LitRPG series which provides an intriguing storyline as well as battle action. Armen Taylor again narrates with warm enthusiasm and a consistently fine range of protagonist voices and accents, each individual and fitting. His pacing is also good and his overall performance enhances the written text.

An excellent follow up to Cataclysm, this book by James Hunter is one to be enjoyed not only by players of games but by anyone with a liking for fantasy and S.F. with a touch of both humour and adventure.But to get the fullest benefit from the story, first read the preceding book.

[Lana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack and Abby watch the end of their world, and though they knew this was going to happen seeing the last moments on earth shocked them, but now they and their group of friends are in VGO the immersive online game and they are fighting for the only life they now have. Jack is an idealist, not a politician or a businessman like Robert Osmark, he believes in human freedom, and is ready to fight tooth and claw to retain this, even against such terrible odds as are stacked against them. He forms the rebel faction which he calls, Crimson Alliance and sets out to fight the biggest threat of all, the High Commander of the imperial inquisitors himself, Aleixo Carrera who had set himself up in Rowanheath with the knights of the holy light and who was out to get them! After all he had an axe to grind with Jack and Abby. This series is so gripping, that even though I was never a gamer I can see why gamers spend hours ingame, I just could not put the book down. The quests set are awesome, some of the monsters they have to combat are larger than life, and our group of heroes show courage and loyalty and perseverance so much so that the reader is automatically routing for them. The huge battle is the pinnacle to this novel and it does not disappoint, it is all we hoped for and more with a fantastic ending to the book too!! I am so hooked now, I just have to go on reading this amazing series!

[Cmoore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crimson Alliance: Book 2 in this series, didn't let me down! I virtually jumped from the first book (Cataclysm), right into Crimson Alliance!
It's hard to believe that only 3 days have elapsed since Grim-Jack first entered the VRMMORPG, Viridian Gate Online, even beating the odds by actually surviving his own IRL Death, while being inside this very realistic digital game! And because the game servers are extremely deep underground, the game itself was protected from that life-ending metor strike!
Grim-Jack definitely has his work cut out for him, since learning about a secret, evil cabal, whose goal is to turn this gaming world into their own private, despotic playground, while throwing the rest of the inhabitants, players and NPC's alike, into chaotic feudalism. Grim-Jack's willing to try anything to stop this from happening! He's already made one mortal enemy (Carrera: see bk1), a (IRL) drug lord of a Powerful cartel! With Grim-Jack's life on the line, he's gonna have to think outside the box, and come up with allies where there seemingly aren't any! So to start, Grim-Jack, along with his buddy, Cutter, and a handful of friends, have to set about building up their own faction, really quick, before Carrera has a chance to find 'em!
Wanna know what happens next? Wanna fight tyranny with Grim-Jack and crew? Well... go grab the audiobook it's currently available for free with your Audible plus membership!
And in case you're wondering Armen Taylor's narration is wonderful!

[Michael Schwartz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kinda boring but has an interesting aspect

Ok note to author, the term usually associated with NPC's are generally limited scripted beings and aren't usually self aware. With a world of well full immersion or in this case where the human beings have become new residences in a digital world the term for a thinking feeling "npc" almost sounds like a derogatory insult the live, love and die. I think to call them natural resident would better as it breaks away from the old way of thinking. The chapters are too short and packed at best filler and don't have any real story content. I skimmed like maybe 75% of the book maybe more and didn't miss any thing I felt was vital to the story.
Honestly I like the concept of it but it's just lacking substantial content. I do a great deal of reading and honestly most of the litrpg stuff is trash and most authors don't have a clue what they are doing. My dream would be to work within author to help create a story a world people can feel like they feel like they can identify with. As it is it's just content not really a cohesive story about people who have real life feel to them. They are dull and well flat, superficial and lack real feel of realism.

[Kristoffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book maybe deserves three and one half stars. The characters are still not that interesting for the most part, but stuff actually started happening in this book. The started a faction and had to contend with some evil guy who was a drug lord in the real world. That stuff, especially the building up of the faction, brought the quality up a bit. It still doesn't stand out in the LitRPG genre though. Also, this game world is the worst one I've seen in any LitRPG books. Only a sadist or an idiot would design the world. It is like a purgatory with a number of areas attempting to seem like different peoples' interpretations of Hell. The game was created, or at least adapted over many months, to be a place for ordinary people to live on when an asteroid would wipe out life on Earth, yet the world was made to resemble a crappy game world rather than an ideal place to live or at least a game world with some safe zones for the non-gamers who just wanted to continue their existence. It seems kind of dumb to me.

[Filipe · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review is my take on the series (books one through seven), and should be spoilers free.
The books are entertaining, but not specially well written, often enough descriptions that aren't "in game prompts" are copied and pasted from one section to another or from one book to another, marking one of my major problems with the written aspects of the books. Another issue is simply a matter of tone and environment, sure it is a game setting, but it also is the main character's new life, and it is very rare that the emotions conveyed feel sincere or relatable.
For creativity the books definitely get an A+, as the author is full of ideas and comes up fairly with unique ways of presenting what by now are staple game contents in each of the books. That, however is usually shadowed by the fact that all solutions for the plots come awfully easy, and tension is solved in a very straightforward fashion, hardly ever any hiccups.
Any one of those characteristics might have been overlooked if alone, but together this awards at best a 2.5 stars from me for the series.

[Quentin · Rating 3 out of 5]

You get what you would expect from a basic LitRPG.

I must say it is in fact one of the more streamlined ones. You don't get stuck in some side quest that doesn't lead anywhere. You don't have hours and hours of interactions between side characters that don't drive the story forward.

You get what you asked for:
I) The protagonist becomes bigger
II) The enemy becomes bigger
III) The world becomes bigger

LitRPGs are progressive fantasies at their core with the added gaming element to make that progress feel more measurable/tangible. And J. A. Hunter manages to deliver just that tied into a more or less sensible, well-paced story with likeable characters and sensible character development.

Nothing special though.

I listen to that stuff on Audible when I have to do boring work where it doesn't matter when my mind drifts away for a few minutes. It keeps me entertained and doesn't offend me intellectually, nor does it turn into smut, and up until now, it hasn't been too repetitive either. Enough for me to move on to the next book of the series.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 2 does more of what the first book did well, but does a better job of filling its pages with interesting content. Loved the new faction stuff, and Cutter continues to be an adorably grouchy mother hen.

While I'll once again note that the series seems to default male unless the woman is a love interest, it's also worth noting that it's definitely plagued by less misogyny and flat characterizations than at least 90% of the genre. On a related note, I'll say that while I adore the spider queen and her brood, I was disappointed by her transformation. Let her be monstrous without resorting to sex appeal/femme fatale tropes, IMO.

Edit: Upon reflection, I take back some of what I said in the second paragraph. After writing this review, I thought back and recalled several minor characters who happened to be women who appeared in the story, so the author is not actually defaulting to male as much as I had the impression he was.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, I am not impressed with this writing style. I was hoping the writer would improve. The lack of character development is disappointing. The story glosses over many areas that would add supportive detail to the storyline. The author seems to just want to have the MC accomplish his goals and remain the hero. The dialogue between characters is just as annoying. They are very thin with little depth. I think having everything from the MC’s immature point of view detracts from the story. I am also disappointed with the limited data provided in character development. In one paragraph, the MC jumps 5 levels. The story moves to fast without fleshing out storyline detail. This is like an outline of a great story. I tried the 3rd book and had to stop reading it. The stupidity of the characters and the juvenile MC just wore my down. I truly think this is a series for young adults.

[Nate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This might be a popcorn read, but it is gourmet popcorn. Every novel feels like watching 3-4 episodes of an anime that strikes that perfect medium between accessible enough to be popular, but confident in itself and audience to still be different and good because it's not relying entirely on cliches. I love this concept of the worst people from the real world are also the worst people Online, but there they have even more power. Also that final monologue was great.

I continue to enjoy the characters, the plot remained interesting. I'm glad it knew to skip the grind-fights but still include that they happened. The author also does a great job of having intense moments, like when the asteroid hits, but keeping them brief enough and having something else move on the plot so that the characters don't get the chance to linger on it, which would completely change the tone of the book and make it less fun. These are books that are meant above all to be fun. And they succeed at it.