Decent start to the series...

This audiobook was a bit two-sided when it comes to its focus on being a lit RPG. I really enjoyed a good portion of the story and its RPG elements. However, I wanted more in a few places making it feel like the character was maturing as he leveled up. The audiobook, “A Fist Full of Credits” appears to be the premiere release for one of the two authors (Craig Hamilton and Tao Wong) while the other has experience with the genre and most of his works are highly rated. What I did not have a problem enjoying, was the narration. It is professionally performed by Shamaan Casey, who I have enjoyed many of his other narrated audiobook in the past. If you are in the look for a potentially new lit RPG series, you may want to give the first book in the series a listen.

I appreciated learning more about the system and the people dealing with their new apocalyptic world. I found many of the creatures faced by our characters both fresh and in place familiar. Large stink bugs and killer plants made the attacks fun, while we also had wild dogs and goblins. With some of the writing, I struggled to understand the characters and their drive. I felt most characters, outside of the main character, lacked dimension, personality, and purpose. A few emotionally charged event occur that tried to bring one back around to caring, but with the lack of background, it was hard to fully enjoy. Although there was a main quest, along with many side quests, I did not feel that all of them connected to the main character as they should have. Even with plenty of action and adventure, I wanted to have a more descriptive world which painted a picture of things outside of the main character’s immediate view.

When we did get a glimpse into the main character’s life, we see his ex-military drive and training help him to be the best bounty hunter the system could expect. We are given a few flashbacks for background, but I really wanted more of his past life, things prior to entering the system. He steps in and the system quickly throws increasing level of difficulty at him (much like in an RPG), yet I did not feel overall that he was ever vulnerable. I like a strong hero, but one that faces difficult challenges and potential failure. Teetering on the edge of death makes for more suspense and tension for the listener. I liked that mana (or magic) was used to power objects much like batteries, so that helped to blend fantasy with science fiction. Much of the book is a blending of fantasy, sci-fi and apocalyptic genres, and I’m not sure that this did the story justice as much as it would if focused on a single genre.

I’m not saying that I disliked the audiobook, I listened from start to finish. However, I am saying I expected more based on my knowledge of one of the authors and his rated works. I liked the journey and adventure the story took me on. Yet, I wanted more action, suspense, adventure, and excitement. The story seemed to pace itself from the start and continue to travel at that set speed until the end.

Regarding the audiobook’s narration, I have always found Shamaan Casey’s works to be performed with passion, knowledge of the work he was reading, and his ability to give unique character to the different people in the book. Sometimes that was even his voicing of non-humans. I like his deep and rich voice that is also clean and sharp when he reads. I do not recall any audio artifacts or other issues with the audio itself either.

For parents and younger listeners, I would suggest you shy away from this if you have any concerns or issues with drug use or graphic violence. The book does not have a bunch of this type of activity, but there is enough that I would not recommend it to younger audiences.

In summary, the entry book in the series was OK, but I expected and wanted more from it. Some of this may come in future books in the series. I wanted more character development, more on the system, more on the people running the system, and even some on the others our main character ran into. What make it better was the narration by Mr. Casey, he kept the story going and made it more alive and entertaining.

Disclaimer: This audiobook was provided free of charge by the author, narrator and/or publisher in exchange for posting a non-bias review.

2 people found this helpful

Thrilling Adventure

I’m not typically one for the LitRPG genre, but this story grabbed my attention quickly, never stopped, and provided a unique perspective on what would happen if your world suddenly turned into a video game. Definitely worth a listen (well narrated) or a read.

2 people found this helpful

detective novel meets system apocalypse

oh by where to start. audio book sounds like an old fashioned detective which fits great for the older vet turned bounty hunter well. this scratched an itch iv had for more systems apocalypse for awhile. I can already see it's gone be a very different story from the perspective of the characters. if you enjoyed system you should find more of what you liked here. if you disliked system apocalypse due to the main char. hal is a whole different beast. if I was to say one lacking part of this story thus far is the supporting chars and I hope to see more reoccurring chars for now I'll look at this as Craig will tell you at the end this is the origin story. and I can't wait to see what happens next.

2 people found this helpful

I Really Enjoyed It

4.5 out of 5 stars

I can’t believe that I didn’t notice that the cover art was Pittsburgh when I first picked this one up. I’m from Western PA (more of the northern end) and I went to school near Pittsburgh. I also visited a lot and had lots of friends from the area – so this might be one of the first books in a long time, especially anything in this genre where I knew exactly where Wong and Hamilton were talking about. I don’t think you need it to understand the story, I just understood it a lot more since I knew the geography of it. It’s funny, I HATED driving around the areas they kept visiting, but hearing them get around with no traffic troubles (they obviously run into enemies a lot instead) made me laugh since that was my biggest issue with Pittsburgh – the layout was not made for driving.

If I take the geography out of it, this book was a bit on the longer side. I know I’m in the minority here though – people love a longer book, especially a longer audiobook to get more value-per-credit. But in my opinion, there were a few points of the book that just could have been cut down. Thankfully, and surprisingly in such a long book – there wasn’t a ton of what I’d call “stat-reading” (where you’re presented with the full stat list of the MC and every single one has to be read out). I think Wong and Hamilton did a great job of giving the updates similar to “oh my stamina is now at 60” instead of listing out every single stat.

I think the most interesting thing in this one was Hal’s basic instant assimilation into the system. I think a lot of times in GameLit/LitRPG’s like this – you get chapter after chapter of someone trying to understand what’s going on. Whereas Hal was just like “oh, I get it, I was in the military and I liked video games – this is just like that”. Though I think the lack of “WTF, is this actually happening” was a bit weird, but I get it. I loved Hal’s choice early on and the things that he was able to do in the early parts of the assimilation into the system. Without spoiling, I think it was probably one of the coolest parts of the book (that wasn’t fighting).

Overall, I thought that A Fist Full of Credits was a fascinating book that, even for as long as it was, I absolutely flew through. I think that was in part to the interesting writing of Wong and Hamilton but it was definitely aided by the great narration by Shamaan Casey. He has that deep gravely voice that I pictured Hal to have (and that Hal needed for who and how he was in the book). The combination of great action scenes and great world-building made it easy to enjoy.

1 person found this helpful

A disappointment

It’s lit rpg, do you really believe I want you to gloss over shop purchases… know your audience.

1 person found this helpful

😒

Was expecting something great, very disappointed! And yes I was also excited to hear/ have another person adventures! PS the narrator not good and I gave it a few hours of listening to try to help!!!!

1 person found this helpful

narrator problems

narrator tries to hard with his pronunciation and trying to add flair or seriousness to the story. couldn't get to chapter 2 it was so irritating

too many mulligans

main character thinks he's pursuing his main quest but finds all kinds of diversions and ways to not deal with it until the very end of the book. Also, with the exception of one or two of the battles, the author Mulligan's every single fight usually by showing you one or two hits and then " I won".

fun read

want more please. It is just screaming more of my story please....lol it is well written and made me listen.

wow nice suprise

Could not haved picked a better narrator. Look so forward to next book. Not sure I would have a drink with our protagonist. But so worth the listen!!