City of Champions Online: Complete

By: Stuart Grosse

Narrated by: Lisa S. Ware

Having found the tragic truth that an art degree is worth less than the paper it is printed on, Jacquelyn Jones is frustrated with her dead end work as a graphic designer for a marketing firm, finding new ways to try and convince people that this week's 50 cent off sale is actually worth driving to the store. She's tried other VRMMORPGs, but they've all been fantasy-based, with a couple sci-fi games thrown in. But she wants something more, something Super.

Superhero VRMMOs have had a...subpar reception in the past, in part due to the fact that the nature of most MMOs makes for fairly unheroic tales. After the couple hundredth time blasting the same group of mooks from the same faction on the same street corner of the same city, using the same powerset as everyone else because you only have a few options, it is hard to think of yourself as a hero anymore.

But then she heard about City of Champions Online. For the first time, a developer partnered with a tabletop RPG maker to use their system to create a VRMMORPG, and it was one of the systems designed to be used with superhero games! And despite the name, there was no getting stuck in the same city as all the other players. The game world was a detailed replica of the real world, down to having some of the same shops and restaurants in town. She could be whoever she wanted, whatever she wanted.

Now, she just has to find a way to become the heroine she's always wanted to be.

The world of CoC is not a happy one, but it is not grimdark, either. It is like the world we live in, but with superheroes and game-like elements, where the ones regarded as heroes aren't always the most heroic amongst us. While the main characters in CoC are not as...extreme as those in my other stories, and at least try to be heroes, there is material some will find disturbing.

This is a compilation of Issues 1-5 of City of Champions Online.

©2019 Stuart Grosse (P)2019 Stuart Grosse

Entertaining if Overpowered Superhero Story

This story was definitely entertaining as the author went full bore into the superhero genre with the idea of separating it out into issues that build on one another and the kinds of various heroes and villains that would inhabit a VRMMORPG kind of world. The story was pretty good, standard villain of the issue fair where the main character and her colleagues and allies find an evil which might have far reaching consequences if they succeed and then fight them over the course of the issue and win (though the wins are 100% and the villains remain a potential future threat which is interesting). The villains (or just bad guys) are an interesting mix of domestic terrorists, worldwide terrorists, supernatural threats, and in one case tradition and pride. At times the story is lacking a little, but it's made up for by some pretty great fight scenes and hero-villain banter which is awesome. The narration is great and definitely added to everything.

I received the review code for this audiobook at my request and am voluntarily leaving this honest review.

A different take on Superhero/LitRPG

I found this to be a pretty good read. Not quite a 5, but somewhere closer to a 4.5 than a 4. It was exciting and kept my attention from start to end. I enjoyed the episodic style of the book. The main characters are done well, and the story has a good flow. I am interested on seeing where the story goes from here. I have a feeling that the author is going to have significant issues with power creep going forward.

Disclaimer: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

This is what Supherhero Litrpg is

The first book in this series is some of the best writing I have ever read. The second book is still solid 4 stars. After that is sadly felt more ahh 3 stars. However the first two books alone are worth a credit. I pray the author will have some more litrpg come out.

Team building and power point usage was great.

This unbiased review was left in trade for a free copy of the book.

Good book

The book was good, the only annoying thing in the book was all the “jabs” at trump. (I’m not American so I don’t care about your political views) Please keep real world politics out of fiction, no one read or listen to fiction to have to deal with real problems. But other than you forcing your political views on us the story an narration was really good.

Lots of Action... Great Narrator

"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

At over 18 hours, this audiobook offers a lot of content for a credit; much more than the average title in this genre. I found the story to be interesting, it reads like a series of short stories. It's an interesting concept, but some of the stories were less interesting to me; it was somewhat hit or miss. It is fast paced and absolutely funny at certain points, which I appreciated.

Narration was very strong, Lisa did a fantastic job and really made the story sing. I'd definitely recommend that folks seek out other projects that she's worked on. Funny, good accents, and did a great job establishing personalities for each of the characters.