Survival Quest

Way of the Shaman Series # 1

By: Vasily Mahanenko

Narrated by: Jonathan Yen

Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Barliona: a virtual world jam-packed with monsters, battles - and, predictably, players. Millions of them come to Barliona, looking forward to the things they can't get in real life: elves and magic, dragons and princesses, and unforgettable combat. The game has become so popular that players now choose to spend months online without returning home. In Barliona, anything goes: You can assault fellow players, level up, become a mythical hero, a wizard, or a legendary thief. The only rule that attempted to regulate the game demanded that no player be allowed to feel actual pain. But there's an exception to every rule. For a certain bunch of players, Barliona has become their personal hell. They are criminals sent to Barliona to serve their time. They aren't in it for the dragons' gold or the abundant loot. All they want is to survive the virtual inferno. They face the ultimate survival quest.

©2015 V. Mahanenko. English translation copyright 2015 by Natalia Nikitin (P)2016 Tantor

Awesome, simple, enjoyable

really enjoyed it. well written and not to intense. I nice light listen. Would totally listen/read again.

Spiritual Journey

Really enjoyed listening to the first series of the Way of the Shaman it has intriguing characters, a solid story line, and the experience of leveling in this world sounded divine. What I loved most about the experience was by the time I got off work after listening to this book, I was excited to have my own adventures in my own games!

slow start

feel like it is starting too slow but it seems to be ramping up in the next book

Must read

Such a attention to detail and action. will definitely keep on the series to finish the books

Mixed feelings

I was really ready to drop this book in the first 2 hrs because it was so slow, ridiculously slow. There was like 4 times more internal monolog then actual things happening(honestly might be lowballing the ratio). A ridiculous amount of explaining. So I sped it up to 1.20 speed and about half way through I started to enjoy the book and the explanations became less and less. By the end I wanted to get the next one and continue.

Take that how you will.

Best LitRPG out there

I've recently been on a LitRPG bender, after years spent on fantasy novels. Without a doubt, the Way of the Shaman is the best out there. The world is fleshed out so well, and the pacing has you cheering as if you were the one leveling up. I ended up eating the entire audio series so quickly that I had to purchase the print copy of the latest book. I'm eagerly awaiting the next one, and cannot recommend it highly enough.

Virtual Jailtime sounds like fun for gamers

This audiobook takes you on a journey of a man who has to face imprisonment in the future for an accidental crime. He has experience with virtual gaming so this jailtime ends up being more of an adventure for him where he has to deal with the rules of the game and limitations put on prisoners. He ends up getting lucky a lot, but also has been dealt an interesting hand of skills. If you like this genre of books, I think it's definitely a good listen and is entertaining from start to finish. I gave it a 4* for performance because the voice actor takes some getting used to, but I don't fault his performance.

Audible 20 Review Sweepstakes Entry

A lesson in level grinding.

It doesn't take much imagination to believe that mining with a pick all day every day is grueling. It doesn't take much imagination to believe that living in a prison camp grueling. It doesn't take much imagination to believe being forced to watch a videogame character doing nothing but level grinding in the same location for years is grueling. If a person can imagine these three grueling things merged together, then that person might be listening to "Survival Quest".

Basically, this story is all about a guy forced to play the worst, most annoying aspects of a virtual reality game over and over as part of a prison sentence. Locked into a virtual prison camp, the prisoners must mine ore until their sentence is up or until they can find their way out into the rest of the main game. The kicker is, that not only do they feel all injuries during their hardships, but every time they die they lose any progress toward freedom within the game. In other words, they not only must keep "surviving", but be very intelligent in how they do it or they might not leave that mine for as long as they are trapped within the game.

This is not really an action packed story. Some video game rats are fought, but it quickly turns into a lesson in manipulating videogame logic to gain advantages in certain situations.

The narrator, Jonathan Yen, does a surprisingly good job keeping a listener's attention through the slow bits.

Recommended for fans of games; Specifically RPG or MMORPG videogames.

I enjoyed it

I liked the book but I really got engaged towards the last half of the book.

great pick up!

loved the narrator and the story was excellent! Can't wait to read the second book!