Kaiju: Battlefield Surgeon

By: Matt Dinniman

Narrated by: Joe Hempel

Length: 20 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

A private server. A digital playground. An alliance of the world's most sadistic, most depraved minds. A place to bring their prey, to hone their skills.

Kaiju: Battlefield Surgeon. Survival horror. One of the most brutal, most terrifying full-immersion games ever made. A place where fantasy characters such as elves and dwarves clash with technology, where giant monsters roam the hills, entrusted with protecting the gates of heaven from the demons who would tear it all down.

A game where one plays the last of the battlefield surgeons: a healer tasked with keeping the behemoths alive at all costs.

But on this server, they don't care about the game. That's not why they're here. They've come because of the game's most unique feature: full pain. Realistic anatomy. The ability to bring their victims well beyond the body's normal breaking point. And most importantly, the ability to bring them back and do it all over again.

Trapped in a bloody, merciless nightmare, Duke only has one goal: to survive. And in order to survive, he must play the game. He must win the game. And to do that, he must become the most cruel, most ruthless monster of them all.

©2019 Matt Dinniman (P)2020 Tantor

not for the faint of heart

Seriously, this book will make you uncomfortable many times. I would still recommend it if you want something grim, and very dark.

There are some good references to Matt's other work, which I also recommend.

Litrpg Horror (this is not DCC)

Came to this book due to my love of Dungeon Crawler Carl.
Pros:
So- this book is absolutely horror litrpg, tons of very graphic scenes. There were a couple of chapters that made me squirm.
The story is pretty believable, especially when you think about it from the perspective of what Facebook is doing with the Metaverse. So that was dope, a dystopian virtual future. The leveling makes sense, there are real consequences for dying/pissing off the nova too much. Main character getting updates about his family as he is trapped in the game really is a great touch.

Cons: the narrator. It may just be me but he was boring. I found myself having to rewind a LOT bc I had tuned him out. “This is too much, this is too much” gets said too much (writing) but always in the same monotone voice that never expresses the angst or horror of the character (narrator). For me this is the biggest down side- I could not get into the narrator. It was like James Marat era during the first Dresden files (Thank god he hit his stride, all time favorite narrator now)

Don't ignore the reviews

This is a different book. Reviews are on point about the gruesomeness, reader beware

Wow

Really do not know what to think about this book. The author is one crazy, sadistic, fucked up bastard. What kind of mind and what experiences this person has went through to write a book as fucked up as this one I don’t know and do not want to know. It is definitely different shockingly it is a port yet I couldn’t quit listening

A Body Horror LitRPG

It's good, but dark. I grabbed this after reading Dungeon Crawler Carl, Thinking there'd be the same humorous dark tone, I was wrong, It's darker, more body horror, and with the humor removed. That said it's good, I'd suggest you look at it if you're a fan of things like Alien or the Joe Ledger Series.

it's a fucking ride

Don't get this book if your supper squeamish, at least be ready to skip a lot. If you've read any of Matt's other books then this one hits a little different. It gets to the usual story structure where you wonder how the main is going to pull win out of a giant cluster-fuck only for a last minute clinch for the win that is beyond inventive. The main also has that IRL problems feel to um that makes you empathize a lot more then you think you should. I do not like the very end though I kinda wished the main would have risen above not like holier than thou style where they just forgive and forget, but wished it had gone in a more justice not vengeance direction. it would have made a nice contrast to all the background "the world is fucked" news clips.

F***** u*

I love the story but it is a bit deranged the rider goes a little bit off the rails and the story and it is very gory I wish I had known that to begin with no that's not saying that it isn't a good story it's just extreme the story is extreme the ending is extreme everything iseverything is very f***** u* The story needs to come with a warning at the very front that you need to be 18 plus or it should have an X rating for the amount of stuff inside it the storylines are awesome and the setup for the next book if there is one is very nice and it is a wonderful story But and that's it's a very big butt you have to go through a law it comes from a dark place a dark place and sometimes that's needed but this is a very dark book.

Crazy

This book was too much for me. the gore, anatomy, and violence. i had to skip passed those areas.. till, an incredible read. matt brings us yet again into another world and shares our protagonists experience of fighting to survive. I loved how well Matt showed the struggle to make hard decisions, and choosing which bad decision was the best. reading thought the characters thought process and feelings were great, too. well paced, as well. thank you matt.

Dark, gross, but I enjoyed the story.

wild ride super gross not for the squeamish but overall it was very entertaining.

Great story that is a bit dark at times

This book is entirely different than dungeon crawler Carl. this book is a good bit darker, with some very uncomfortable scenes. however, it is totally worth the read and it is awesome! The narrator is pretty good, although there are some words that he didn't know how to pronounce correctly, and those words were not very obscure or difficult, so I'm not sure why that was the case. I like the plausibility of this type of story, sometime in the future when our virtual reality technology could accommodate it. I also really like how this story is so different from dungeon crawler Carl. it shows how the author is very gifted in his storytelling and imagination and creativity. The main character starts out with a good deal of innocence in naivety, and through some very difficult trials and tribulations, it changes him. This allows for a considerable amount of character growth and development. This isn't your funny guy with a talking cat, and things are so much more serious. I promise that this is a good thing, and you should get this book because it is excellent!