An Old Man's Journey: A LitRPG Adventure

By: Gregory Allanther

Narrated by: Michael Kramer

Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

At the end of his life, Charles was left with one question: What was it all for?

After his tour of duty and an unremarkable post-Army business career, Charles spent his twilight years watching old movies and waiting for his grandkids to call. He'd lived a good life and been a decent man, but now that his wife was gone, he was...lonely.

Until his old friend Bert introduced him to Crossroads, the new VR sensation. In this virtual world he can move without pain, explore new lands, and most importantly - see his family again. For as long as he can hold their interest, in this fast-paced modern world of instant gratification and VR thrills.

The solution: Build a place his family wants to visit. Armed only with a magic stick with game-breaking powers that should be nerfed, Charles sets out on a journey to find a place to call his own. Along the way, he will be mistaken for an NPC quest giver, become the antagonist in epic questlines, and attempt to teach the next generation proper behavior - even if he has to beat it into them.

This is the story of one man's search for belonging in his second virtual life. A search for a place to belong, and what it takes to get there. It's also a hilarious romp through online fantasy clichés that will appeal to fans of Ready Player One, The Wandering Inn, and slice-of-life comedies.

Because at the end of a man's life, what's more important than family?

©2021 Aethon Books (P)2022 Aethon Audio

Old Values Still Good Values

So, even if you normally don't like gamelit or litrpg, the story is still worth the credit, in my opinion.

epic

not much to say about this book, there is only one word for this story epic.

Great story. Very enjoyable, stayed true to form

Very easy listen, not to full of its self just a good story from start to finish if you have parents you can still reach out to this story will make you do so.

light hearted

enjoyed the book and laughed alot at some of the parts. would recommend it to others.

Thank you Mr. Allanther

The title of the review says it all. I laughed so hard it made me feel better.

Fun One-Shot Slice of Life LitRPG

This is a fun and entertaining slice-of-life tale which is only technically LitRPG as much of the action takes place inside a VRMMORPG. Since the main character is an old man who doesn't care about states, grinding, questing, or even his powers outside of how they will help him connect and have fun with his kids/grandkids/great-grandkids and getting other players to leave him alone or help him along, there is very little detail on the RPG mechanics to distract from what is, at its heart, an old man on a journey in a fantasy world. He dispenses wisdom (more often just by existing than deliberate conveyance, since he doesn't care all that much for players or NPCs that are not his family) and accidentally upsets the balance of the local area of the game, NPCs, and thousands of players. This listen will have you chuckling and laughing out loud regularly. There are some scenes and topics addressed that are not appropriate for younger listeners (assault, non-consent and harems among them), but for a mature listener these should not be problematic as they drive some of the actions of the main and supporting characters in interesting ways (and development of the support cast). The performance is well, done, and you can picture an older gentleman who has stopped caring what almost anyone thinks doing exactly what Carl does. I look forward to more by this author in the future.

Disclaimer: I was given a review copy for free and have voluntarily left this review.

Grumpy Old Man in a LitRPG Game

This was fun, really appreciate some of the things the Grunpy Old Man did. Also dislike small parts of his additude towards others. You get to met quite a few Very Unique characters too. Narrator does a good job with the various characters voices and the entire storyline.

one of the best books I've read

I knew when I read the description the book was going to be good but it was even better when I was done with it I hope there's more adventures with this old man

One of the funniest books that I've listened to

Let's start with the necessary disclaimer: if you're looking for a straightforward LitRPG title, this isn't going to fit that bill, and depending on what you're looking for in a LitRPG title, this may or may not be for you.

Yes, it is set in a LitRPG environment, but the point of this story is the comedic fun. Personally, I loved that. It's the funniest thing that I've listened to since Orconomics or Son of a Liche (the Orconomics sequel), which is high praise from me because I nearly laughed myself to tears while listening to those two books. The best way that I can describe the setup of this book is that the main character is a grouchier (in a funny way) version of the protagonist in the book "The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared" (which I thought was very funny, too) set in a LitRPG world. Great fun. I'll be listening to this one again.

Michael Kramer's narration was excellent with different voices and accents for each character. An excellent choice for narrator.

embarrassed

never laughed out loud so much during an autobook..got so many funny looks from people.cant wait for book 2!