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Travail Online #1

Ψυχοφύλακας

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Ένας κατεστραμμένος διακομιστής, ένας δολοφονικός NPC και μια αδύνατη αποστολή: Να σωθεί το παιχνίδι. Με κάθε κόστος.

Η Κόραλ μπαίνει στο βιντεοπαιχνίδι εικονικής πραγματικότητας Μόχθος Ονλάιν επειδή η δουλειά της ως σερβιτόρα, όπως και τόσες άλλες δουλειές, αυτοματοποιείται από δυναμικά ρομπότ. Ξεκινά ως Ράφτρα, ελπίζοντας να φτιάξει ρούχα στο παιχνίδι για να τα πουλήσει έναντι χρημάτων στην πραγματική ζωή. Το παιχνίδι, ωστόσο, έχει άλλες προθέσεις. Σύντομα, η Κόραλ αποκτά την ικανότητα να αφαιρεί δέρματα από πλάσματα και να φτιάχνει αηδιαστικά φορέσιμα αντικείμενα. Μπορούν αυτή και οι φίλοι της να σώσουν το Μόχθος Ονλάιν από τον όλεθρο πριν το ίδιο το παιχνίδι και η παγκόσμια οικονομία καταρρεύσουν;

Καλώς όρισες στο Μόχθος Ονλάιν, όπου τα αγαθά κόποις κτώνται!

235 pages, ebook

Published June 24, 2024

117 people are currently reading
143 people want to read

About the author

Brian Simons

7 books23 followers
If Brian Simons were an action figure, he would come pre-equipped with a coffee cup jammed into one hand socket and an e-reader in the other. A former barista, corporate attorney, and health educator, Brian has finally started writing down the stories that have bottled up in his head.

Brian’s LitRPG stories are inspired by the never-too-many books and video games he has consumed his whole life. You may find him in a café near his Philadelphia home writing, reading, and worshiping a cup of sweet, sweet coffee.

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5 stars
80 (25%)
4 stars
116 (36%)
3 stars
84 (26%)
2 stars
29 (9%)
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6 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
Profile Image for Rebecka.
254 reviews
February 4, 2018
+female main character (and one male), plenty of game data, adapting AI's

-simplistic world that felt very small, ultra fast personality changes in a main character (going from psycho to paladin)

I would have liked a 100 more pages in the middle where the players could get to know each other better while doing small side-quests.

286 reviews4 followers
September 11, 2017
Cool beans

I've got to admit I was a bit nervous about this one. The author sent me as free copy and I was wondering what to do if it wasn't any good...I mean a free cookie that's good is something to celebrate but a free cookie that's bad is just another opportunity for possible awkwardness, fortunately this cookie was good. It reminded me of that anime Log Horizon, which was the other mmo based anime that came out around the same time as SAO. A well thought world with dynamic people, and a consistent logic and plot flow that kept things interesting, engaging and enjoyable.
Profile Image for Kristin Herzog.
Author 31 books9 followers
September 3, 2017
Habt Ihr schon einmal von einem Genre namens LITRPG gehört? Nein? So erging es mir auch, als mich Brian Simons bezüglich seines neuen Romans anschrieb. Wikipedia gibt die folgende Definition: LitRPG, short for Literature Role Playing Game, is a literary genre based on combining all the key components of MMORPGs with science-fiction fantasy novels. LitRPG is a literary genre where games or game-like challenges form an essential part of the landscape. Doch dass der Roman und das Genre so viel mehr werden würden, als mir Wikipedia verraten konnte, das sollte ich erst noch herausfinden…

Wenn Menschen die Realität nicht mehr aushalten, flüchten sie sich in imaginäre Welten. So auch in das Computerspiel Travail. Coral ist arbeitslos und sieht keinerlei Perspektive mehr in ihrem Leben. Als sich Travail allerdings nicht nur in ihrem Körper, sondern fest in ihrem Leben verankert, ändert sich alles. Sie hat nun Ziele, wird für Anstrengungen belohnt und kann ihr eigenes Schicksal in den Händen halten, wie auch Daniel, welcher sich in der Realität das Studium nicht leisten kann. Doch irgendwann beginnt das Spiel, Überhand zu nehmen…

Der Leser begleitet nicht nur das Leben von Coral und Daniel, er befindet sich gewissermaßen in einem niedergeschriebenen Computerspiel. Neben den Befehlen sind auch die Spielmechanismen beschrieben, wie auch technische Details, welche Travail ausmachen. Dies macht LitRPG, wie auch diesen Roman, einzigartig und zu einem Erlebnis.

Coral war mir zu Beginn wenig sympathisch, da ich selbst kein Fan von Computerspielen bin und mich deshalb nur wenig mit ihr identifizieren konnte. Doch während ich Seite um Seite las, begann sich meine Sicht auf sie zu verändern, wie auch Corals Persönlichkeit. Wie sie einmal beschreibt:

It doesn´t matter what he is, it matters what you are. (…) All I know is, if my first reaction to impatience was murder in the game, it would eventually have an effect on my real life personality…

Die Persönlichkeit eines Menschen ist nicht unveränderlich. Travail hat Macht – die Macht zur Veränderung…

Ich habe den Roman auf Englisch gelesen, da ich (wie Ihr im Zitat wahrscheinlich gemerkt habt) der Meinung bin, dass die Formulierungen im Englischen mehr Kraft haben, obwohl die Übersetzung sehr gut gelungen ist. Brian Simons findet eine Balance zwischen dem Computerspiel-Style und der Erzählsprache eines Romans. Es wird nie langweilig und vor allem spürt der Leser, dass er sich nicht in einem „gewöhnlichen“ Science-Fiction Roman befindet, sondern in einem LitRPG Roman.

Seelenbewahrer glorifiziert Computerspiele nicht, sondern führt dem Leser aktiv vor Augen, was sie mit sich bringen und wohin sie uns führen, wie auch wohin wir sie führen können. Somit kann sich der Leser ein Bild machen und selbst nachdenken. Auf welchen Knopf würde er drücken? Start oder Exit?

Fazit

Travail Online: Seelenbewahrer I ist spannend und hat mich an Werke wie Ready Player One oder Erebos erinnert. Ich freue mich auf die folgenden Bände!
Profile Image for K.J. Simmill.
Author 10 books145 followers
May 4, 2018
Coral was desperate. It had finally happened, she was now redundant in the only job she had known, replaced by a bot, leaving her to fear where her next meal was coming from. With bot automation jobs were scarce, even her own parents had sought work elsewhere. With nowhere else to turn, she did what so many people were, she turned to Travail Online. People made real money in game selling gear to pay to win players. The exchange rate was $1 per 10 gold, not great, but if she worked hard she could at least eat. There was a catch, however, if you died you started over, level one, no assets, or at least that was how it should have worked. She had never been a gamer, and she hadn’t expected to be so drawn into this world. Her aim had been to make money, instead she finds herself allied with an unlikely group who were trying to survive and make ends meet. She had been the extra number to allow access to a limited dungeon, excess baggage they had expected to die. Little did they know an in game glitch has set disaster on the world, permadeath at the hands of a psychotic NPC and, somehow, Level 1 Coral receives the only quest to confront this disaster. If she fails, it’s not only herself who will worry about the next meal, but the millions of people who rely on this game to survive. Failure is not an option, but with an overpowered NPC, learning, growing, evolving and slowly preventing the rebirth of player and NPC alike, what hope does she have?

There is something very addictive about Brian Simons’ Travail Online: Soulkeeper. I have only this year really dedicated any real time to reading books of the LitRPG genre, and thanks to books like this it is rapidly becoming my preferred genre. It’s no secret I am a gamer, but I had never expected to have so much fun reading this genre. Soulkeeper is an exciting intriguing road with the depth and world building you would expect from playing an MMORPG. Races are pitted against each other, driven to separation and conflict, and the promise of epic and tense future quests are constantly being implied during the pressure-filled adventure. There are some great characters, and they show some great person growth as they begin this seemingly impossible task. I will certainly be adding book two into my ‘to read’ list.

If you’re a KU subscriber like myself, you also have the added bonus of this book being free on Kindle unlimited.
Profile Image for The Bookdragon‘s realm.
82 reviews
September 4, 2017
Meine Meinung:
Ich glaube, es war nicht meine erstes LitRPG-Buch aber auf jeden Fall ein gutes. Ich durfte es bereits vorab lesen und konnte es nicht mehr aus der Hand legen.
Cover:
Das Cover gibt einen ersten tollen Einblick in die Geschichte. Das hilft auch um in das Buch zu finden. Es ist sehr farbenfron, aber trotzdem nicht zu grell. Auch wenn die Personen recht einfach dargestellt werden passen sie perfekt.
Der Schreibstil:
Brian Simons hat einen angenehmen, aber eher informativen Schreibstil. Emotionen finden in diesem Buch nicht sehr viel Platz, was aber auch nicht unbedingt notwendig ist. Die Situationen und auch das Spiel sind sehr gut beschrieben, was einem das perfekte Bild vor Augen heraufbeschwört.
Die Charaktere:
Die Protagonistin heißt Coral und meldet sich bloß bei Travail Online, weil sie sonst kein Geld mehr verdienen und nicht überleben kann. Was als ruhiges Spiel beginnt entwickelt sich bald zu einem richtigen Abenteuer aus dem es kein Entrinnen gibt. Sie ist ein sehr eigenartiger Charakter, denn sie will nicht viel sie will einfach nur Schneiderin werden und ihr Geld verdienen. Ich habe sie als sehr bescheiden wahrgenommen und wurde schnell mit ihr warm, trotz emotionaler Distanz im Schreibstil. Auch die anderen Charaktere sind sehr gut beschrieben, bzw. kennt man lange Zeit nur ihre Spielerprofile. All diese Umstände machen das Buch zu etwas ganz Besonderem, genau wie seine Charaktere.
Die Geschichte:
Diese Geschichte hat mich wirklich gefangen. Das Abenteuer rund um Carol und ihre Freunde baut sich langsam auf und die Spannung steigt immer weiter. Anfangs dachte ich, dass ich evtl. Probleme mit den IT-Fachbegriffen haben könnte, auch wenn ich mich ganz gut auskenne, aber nicht einmal IT-Muffel werden ein Problem in dieser Geschichte haben. Es gibt einen nicht ganz so typischen Bösewicht, der nicht von einer Person gespielt wird, sondern von einer KI (= künstliche Intelligenz). Auch wenn die Geschichte ruhig beginnt ist sie von Anfang an spannend und lesenswert.

Empfehlung:
Für alle die auch ohne Lovestory leben können und die sich für Spiele, etc. interessieren.

Mein Fazit:
Hier gibt es keine Lovestory, aber diese Geschichte ist ein tolles Erlebnis.
Profile Image for Bender.
456 reviews47 followers
May 21, 2020
Very amateurish book. Neither the world building nor characters are interesting, nor the game mechanism. Server Error but game runners don't care. Level 1 player defeating a Level 60 monster in one hit, Level 25 player defeating a Level 250 monster in one hit...the deus ex machina is just plain bad. The characters change just like that. A mean character just randomly does a save act and suddenly he's shortlisted to be a good general! Random gods and characters pop in and out without adding anything to the plot. There's no character building.

I started this because this was reputed to be focused on crafting, but there's nothing there. Protagonist stitches some clothes and armor here and there and that's it.

Hate to be harsh, but I can't think of a single facet of this book, I liked. Probably the worst LitRPG books I've read till now.
Profile Image for Chris Evans.
903 reviews42 followers
January 8, 2018
Soulkeeper is one of those game worlds were I really enjoy the setup and design of. Lots of classes beyond the standard RPG ones with complimentary skills and game play to go with it. It's also strays a bit from the standard, Human, short human, pointy eared human, species options which is always refreshing to see, even if it's minor.

The setup is pretty standard, young adults, unable to get jobs, play game professionally for money. Simons does a good job of painting a not totally implausible dystopian future caused by advanced robots being available to do a lot of the menial labor. Also something (maybe AI?) messing with the game is interesting and ends with ominous foreshadowing for future stories.
Profile Image for Thistle.
1,127 reviews20 followers
January 10, 2019
While this book is litRPG, it was nothing like all those other bad litRPG books. The main character was not just female, her main job in the book's game is seamstress -- so far from an overpowered job!

The book wasn't perfect, and like all other litRPG books the out-of-game scenes were quite bad. For example, the CEO of the gaming company was sitting in his office. An engineer brought him news about a major bug in the game. The CEO said something like "What the hell? This doesn't hurt me personally! Get out of here, you idiot! Stop bothering me with this trash!".

But the in-game scenes were quite good, and the book was fun and entertaining. A rare exception to the "all litRPG books are trash" experience I've had.
Profile Image for Keith.
6 reviews
August 27, 2017
A very captivating, enjoyable adventure

Excellent story. The author introduces a very well-balanced cast of relatable characters while creating a very original and captivating world. If you like a fast-paced adventure with a lot of captivating fantastical cultures and histories then this series is a must.
Profile Image for Holwanya.
862 reviews
May 10, 2020
Very addictive, and completely surprising. I loved it. Great and plausible escapism, with a really well-drawn female lead, NOT stereotyped, and a great cast of supporting leads. All the NPCs were interesting. The set up and world-building were very well described, throughout the book. I went through it fast and hope to move on to the sequel immediately.

Narration was just right.
Profile Image for David Anthony Beard.
238 reviews
March 25, 2017
Not bad at all.

The story definitely has a interesting stand point. The characters see allot of growth as the maneuver through the game world. The story short gives a lot of hints of what to come. Overall it was well excited and I cannot want for the sequel.
Profile Image for Over.
10 reviews2 followers
May 19, 2017
Top notch litrpg

Great read, good characters and storyline.
Top notch litrpg. Definitely will read the sequel. Seamstress is a fun class....
Loved it.
597 reviews5 followers
August 12, 2017
Like reading a WoW session with friends. Kind of a fun concept.
186 reviews4 followers
June 7, 2018
This is the only LitRPG I've read that doesn't seem like it would be any fun to play.

And being a Seamstress doesn't appear to be any more interesting than you'd expect.
Profile Image for Aly.
283 reviews11 followers
October 5, 2017
Such a fun and unique read! On, on, on to the next!
Profile Image for Aslanenlisted.
41 reviews1 follower
January 17, 2018
Brilliant! A thoroughly enjoyable introduction to the series with a genuine MC.
288 reviews4 followers
October 1, 2019
Terrible characters, poor storyline.
Profile Image for Danae.
617 reviews6 followers
April 13, 2023
Enjoyable short Adventure. Not too long and the adding of a seamstress as character class was somehow funny.

83 reviews1 follower
March 8, 2017
Decent litrpg read. Not sure I would read the next

I would give it 3.5 stars. It was nice to see character growth but it still felt very YA. .maybe that was the target audience.

Definitely some unique character classes, a good amount of action and consistent pacing throughout. I would still recommend reading it.
794 reviews7 followers
February 23, 2017
A good solid litRPG

I very much appreciated the explanation of terms (in a game setting) that many people new to rpg's might not know. Good story, good real world game world balance, good characters. Even though being the first of a series, Soulkeeper was a complete book with a satisfying resolution.
Profile Image for Cassia.
127 reviews
November 20, 2018
This was delightfully surprising. I just wanted something quick to listen to and this book sucked me in completely!
Can't wait to get my hands on the next books in the series.

EDIT: so I re-read it so it's fresh in my mind when I attack the next one. I still enjoyed it immensely. The first time I read it I had never read anything quite like it, the concept was splendid. So of course I sought out similar things (manga, books, anime), but this one still shines bright. So can't read to read book two later today!
Profile Image for Heath.
521 reviews4 followers
December 16, 2017
Good Read.

A LitRPG story. The story of a new player, the people she meets and the crafts she completes to solve the issue of a rouge NPC.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews

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