Excellent story, great narrator...except...

Where does Patch 17 rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

My favorite LitRPG novel so far.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Roman, because he's who we spend the most time with.

What three words best describe Zach Villa’s performance?

can't pronounce correctly

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I'd already read it, but the narrator sounded very similar to how I had imagined Roman sounding (except without a Russian accent).

Any additional comments?

Please ask Zach to learn how to pronounce words he's unfamiliar with prior to recording. Chitin, wily, err, reagent...the list goes on. He is a good voice actor but it really really detracts from his performance (and the enjoyment of the story).

18 people found this helpful

Usual LitRPG book, but interesting

Patch 17 does not stand out in the LitRPG genre. The genre is fairly new and many books are falling into the trope where the MMO locks the players in permanently and either kills them or puts the person's body into a coma. This is one such tale. It is an easy driving force for the story. Without it the story would need a compelling reason for the characters to stay in the game. Patch 17 also goes for the trope where most of the special and unique things happen to the MC.

It's not a bad book, and it is interesting, but the story really goes nowhere. The MC does have an end goal, but it's rather flimsy and vague, he'll get there eventually. But before that he has to level up. So off questing he goes.

There are a few other negatives to the book. Firstly, as you'll hear it throughout the book, the character and item stats readouts are awful and awkward. In the kindle version it's neatly laid out with a nice readable format, audible, not so much. Secondly, there are some character transitions where the jump cut is very quick and brief with hardly a pause. It can be a little confusing. Third, there are a couple NPC backstories that the MC has a vision of. They tend to be absurdly long and have little to no impact on the story going forward. Lastly, the book just ends without any kind of resolution to anything.

Despite all of this I will be getting the next book. I'm a sucker for the LitRPG genre especially when all the special events happen to the MC.

15 people found this helpful

I wish I could join them!

I'm disabled and cannot walk nor even have a single day without pain so the idea of being able to join the characters of this world would be an absolutely enticing concept and if it were possible I would be sorely tempted since waking up able to walk again and NOT hurting every moment of my existence would be too much to resist. As for the story I loved it and would recommend this book to anyone who likes the description from the editor or whoever wrote it! To ARKON!!!

3 people found this helpful

entertaining

this is one of the better written LITvrpg series that i've read recently, though it has its flaws. the main character is interesting and the story is mostly engaging. my biggest problem is the endless recitation of numbers and probabilities while he plans out his character progression out past level 200. most people are casual gamers who throw their stats in without much planning ahead unless they're following a guide FAQ, and the MC is supposed to be even less experienced than the casual gamer so its a bit hard to believe he'd bother (or even know about the stat generator). Moreover, its boring (unless you're an obsessive gamer yourself) to listen to five or so minutes of him talking about nothing but numbers and probability. its even worse because it happens multiple times in the book.
the narrator is pretty good but he mispronounces a LOT of words; from melee, to armor pieces, to the name of the iconic One Piece MC, Luffy (pronounced loo-fee). i don't think he has much exposure to lit/anime/manga/ rpg gaming cultures and it shows.
those complaints aside, its an interesting story where it seems like, so far, the more our MC give in to his rage, the less human he becomes. i can't wait to find out how he escapes the demon-ground and finds his sister.

3 people found this helpful

Partial

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Yes, but not the audio book.

Would you be willing to try another book from G. Akella? Why or why not?

The narrator does little to differentiate between characters. Hard to tell when the perspective changes. Makes it hard to follow and keep track of the conversations.

Would you be willing to try another one of Zach Villa’s performances?

Not at this point, to many other narrators that make the stories immersive.

Any additional comments?

The flashbacks really threw me off, got completely lost during these and took away from the experience

6 people found this helpful

Solid LitRPG with a side of Russian Machismo

I’d recommend this series to any GameLit enthusiast… Just know that this book is translated from the original Russian and as a result it suffers from the inevitable Russian LitRPG stereotypes. I normally don’t have a lot of patience for the “I’m a bad-ass and we don’t love them ho’s,” bravado that tends to come standard. However, in this series it feels like it’s overshadowed by the quality of the greater plot and world.

I want to say that this attitude is more toned down than in other Russian RPG books, but I don’t know if that’s just my perception. There are definitely flares of immaturity from the MC and the Madonna/whore dichotomy shows up occasionally. Although for the most part I found this audiobook to be enjoyable.

The narrator’s performance is really good with the glaring exceptions of when he regularly mangles 3-penny words… Let me just say that anyone who is narrating for a living should know how to pronounce “taciturn” or at least should be professional enough to look it up before they mispronounce it 6 times in the same book. It’s just unprofessional.

So, it’s a definite “buy-it” from me… with some caveats.

2 people found this helpful

Something get's lost in the translation

I don't speak Russian, so I'm just guessing, but I feel like this series could be a household name, well in the homes of ppl who like LitRPG.

Idk if it's the translation, the narration, or if it's the cultural differences ...most likely it's some combination of all three. Regardless, I'd recommend giving the series a try.

The narrator does a good job, but he also talks a little fast and seems to gloss over important bits. Also, I think he doesn't quite deliver the drama and epic nature of the fight scenes. I think I might enjoy this book more if I read it for myself.
He def doesn't grab ur attention, it's easy to get distracted and all of a sudden find urself being lost wondering: where r we? what's going on? and how did we get here?

Main complaint, is the MC doesn't think for himself enough. He just goes along with whatever is happening around him. Maybe that'll change in the next book. Also other than one extensive discussion, which struck me as being too much info, the MC doesn't really take you through the process of deciding how to allocate stat points to develop the character. If you enjoy that sort of thing, then this book doesn't really do much of that.

2 people found this helpful

Loved it. Each character had own voice.

loved it. like listening to a movie. ..........................
........ ...... ............. ......... ...............
............ ............. ................

2 people found this helpful

fun book, although...

The narrator sounds good, and the book is fun, but holy crap dude, learn to pronounce words properly, one word that really got to me was "taciturn" he kept pronouncing it "takiturn" instead of "tasiturn" there were others, but that stuck out. And my personal opinion is a 20% level drop for dying is rather obscene, typically it's only a percentage current level progress or all of progress on current level at worst, I can just imagine the rage of customers if that were the way it actually was in games. Ridiculous that the author put that in there. Sure you can often times best the game several times then play nightmare mode and have that or worse things happen for dying, but not right off the bat first run through from the beginning. But, I'll get the other books eventually, I don't regret getting this one, just some pet peeves about this and that.

2 people found this helpful

Warning this series is addictive

Once you read the first book you will do nothing but want more and more and more. I just can't get enough of this series.

2 people found this helpful