What do you think?
Rate this book
Eden's Gate #1
The Reborn
When Gunnar Long is transported into the first fully-immersive virtual MMORPG, he finds himself in a new world filled with magic, mystery and adventure.
No more 9-to-5 job. No more studio apartment. No more reality TV.
Finally, he's in a place where he can call home, a place with people he can call friends.
But as more people want to trade their real world lives to get inside Eden's Gate, the government of the outside world wants the "game" shut down at all costs.
Gunnar must learn to survive, grow in power and find a way to send a message back to his old home.
"We're fine. We're alive. Eden's Gate is real."
Eden's Gate is a LitRPG adventure.
No more 9-to-5 job. No more studio apartment. No more reality TV.
Finally, he's in a place where he can call home, a place with people he can call friends.
But as more people want to trade their real world lives to get inside Eden's Gate, the government of the outside world wants the "game" shut down at all costs.
Gunnar must learn to survive, grow in power and find a way to send a message back to his old home.
"We're fine. We're alive. Eden's Gate is real."
Eden's Gate is a LitRPG adventure.
462 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 6, 2017
1664 people are currently reading
1428 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 278 reviews
July 14, 2017
A word of clarification: I discovered LitRPG genre over a year ago and have since read or listened to many LitRPG books. I am also a great fan of fantasy and sci-fi novels in general, which allows me to put any new LitRPG release in a perspective and (hopefully) stay objective when assessing the quality of the work.
Having said that, I found “Eden’s Gate” thoroughly disappointing on several levels. First, the plot, after an interesting start, quickly becomes utterly unbelievable on the real-life part (and severely tests the intelligence of the reader), while it turns annoyingly predictable in game at the same time. The pace of the story is forced, not smooth and fluid. Still, I could have enjoyed it nonetheless if the world/character building and the dialogues/interactions between the hero and his companions would compensate for this flaw.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. After going through several chapters you get the impression that no effort went into customisation of the very generic fantasy clichés (beautiful and wise elves, ugly and stupid goblins, tricky merchants…) and that the author just copy-pasted some of the scenes and settings from well-known fantasy novels/movies/games into this book. Everything is just bland, generic and the characters are one-dimensional.
Furthermore, the way our hero, Gunnar Long is presented, does not make things any better. At the beginning of the story he is said to be a pro gamer, who spent thousands of hours playing different games, including RPGs. You would however never know it from the dumb and noobish way he behaves in the Eden’s Gate. More than that, he is also brash and plain stupid, the only motivation driving him is to profit short term from any situation and damn the consequences (for anyone, him included). As a result you feel detached from the main character and your interest in the story development and the world becomes lukewarm after reading just a third of the book.
Another failing of this novel is the implementation of RPG mechanisms into the story. Every now and then we read how the hero and other people are taken aback by the ultra-realistic and immersive character of the game world. The NPCs are realistic, physical sensations are top notch… Yet when it comes to quests they are so standard and unimaginative you have the feeling that they were taken from an old, second-rate cRPG. Surely the hero would note that, as you clearly spot it right on? On top of that I found the character progression completely skewed. If you ever played RPGs, how often did you get 5 legendary items in a row (+ a super-powerful pet) just at the start of your adventures? And a ton of money for killing any low level creature on top of it? Well, this is it, everything is just given to our unlikeable hero…
In summary: This is one of the most overrated LitRPG books around (especially if you look on Amazon ratings). There are many LitRPG novels around that are just way better written and much more interesting than “Eden’s Gate”. My recommendation: stay away.
Having said that, I found “Eden’s Gate” thoroughly disappointing on several levels. First, the plot, after an interesting start, quickly becomes utterly unbelievable on the real-life part (and severely tests the intelligence of the reader), while it turns annoyingly predictable in game at the same time. The pace of the story is forced, not smooth and fluid. Still, I could have enjoyed it nonetheless if the world/character building and the dialogues/interactions between the hero and his companions would compensate for this flaw.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. After going through several chapters you get the impression that no effort went into customisation of the very generic fantasy clichés (beautiful and wise elves, ugly and stupid goblins, tricky merchants…) and that the author just copy-pasted some of the scenes and settings from well-known fantasy novels/movies/games into this book. Everything is just bland, generic and the characters are one-dimensional.
Furthermore, the way our hero, Gunnar Long is presented, does not make things any better. At the beginning of the story he is said to be a pro gamer, who spent thousands of hours playing different games, including RPGs. You would however never know it from the dumb and noobish way he behaves in the Eden’s Gate. More than that, he is also brash and plain stupid, the only motivation driving him is to profit short term from any situation and damn the consequences (for anyone, him included). As a result you feel detached from the main character and your interest in the story development and the world becomes lukewarm after reading just a third of the book.
Another failing of this novel is the implementation of RPG mechanisms into the story. Every now and then we read how the hero and other people are taken aback by the ultra-realistic and immersive character of the game world. The NPCs are realistic, physical sensations are top notch… Yet when it comes to quests they are so standard and unimaginative you have the feeling that they were taken from an old, second-rate cRPG. Surely the hero would note that, as you clearly spot it right on? On top of that I found the character progression completely skewed. If you ever played RPGs, how often did you get 5 legendary items in a row (+ a super-powerful pet) just at the start of your adventures? And a ton of money for killing any low level creature on top of it? Well, this is it, everything is just given to our unlikeable hero…
In summary: This is one of the most overrated LitRPG books around (especially if you look on Amazon ratings). There are many LitRPG novels around that are just way better written and much more interesting than “Eden’s Gate”. My recommendation: stay away.
January 3, 2020
The hook here is not totally unique but this is one of the first to use the idea. Here is a game where people enter completely into the game...and it kills their bodies. So they live in the game and there is no way back.
Of course as you know if you read the synopsis the governments of the world aren't happy about this...I mean taxpayers escaping into a "virtual world"...not good.
Of course the first people who "make the choice" to enter the world permanently didn't really...make a choice. See the creator had rigged the machine to log you in with a laser through your brain. You then wake up in Eden's world.
Cool, until things start to go not exactly as "Dr.Winston" had planned it...
Oh well if things went as planned we'd not have the novel we have now.
Enjoy.
Of course as you know if you read the synopsis the governments of the world aren't happy about this...I mean taxpayers escaping into a "virtual world"...not good.
Of course the first people who "make the choice" to enter the world permanently didn't really...make a choice. See the creator had rigged the machine to log you in with a laser through your brain. You then wake up in Eden's world.
Cool, until things start to go not exactly as "Dr.Winston" had planned it...
Oh well if things went as planned we'd not have the novel we have now.
Enjoy.
May 2, 2022
I'm tolerant of most LitRPG books because they almost always let me roll about in the RPG adventure stuff like a dog rolls in leaves. It smells great, it's fun, and it's super comfortable.
This one is no different. The best parts are the adventuresome parts, leveling up, killing baddies, the loot, and even the far-off hope that this boy will find his girlfriend across a wide, wide electronic realm.
The other bits never sit right with me -- the bits that try to tie these massive virtual realms to the Earth in any significant way. This particular SF tie-in was a bit bad. Not bad as in I can't read this anymore, but as bad as it shouldn't have tried to explain anything at all kind of bad. The handwavium would have been just fine. The whole idea that a senator could have the power to convince the whole world to turn off all these devices, ne, ALL devices across the world, or that the loss of computational power wouldn't have been felt right away in the game is absurd. lol
If I ignore the real-world stuff, however, the book was fun. :) Early days, low-level adventures.
This one is no different. The best parts are the adventuresome parts, leveling up, killing baddies, the loot, and even the far-off hope that this boy will find his girlfriend across a wide, wide electronic realm.
The other bits never sit right with me -- the bits that try to tie these massive virtual realms to the Earth in any significant way. This particular SF tie-in was a bit bad. Not bad as in I can't read this anymore, but as bad as it shouldn't have tried to explain anything at all kind of bad. The handwavium would have been just fine. The whole idea that a senator could have the power to convince the whole world to turn off all these devices, ne, ALL devices across the world, or that the loss of computational power wouldn't have been felt right away in the game is absurd. lol
If I ignore the real-world stuff, however, the book was fun. :) Early days, low-level adventures.
July 20, 2017
Eden's Gate is essentially a morbid version of Sword Art Online. The story revolves around the plot of being stuck in a vr game, but Eden's Gate's version of nervegear straight up kills the user and transfers their contentiousness permanently into the game world. The author does his best to minimize how horrific this truly is, but in the back of my mind I keep thinking of the Children caught up in this, or parents of young children who were going to spend an hour or so playing, pregnant women, or anyone who had a someone depending on them. But no, don't think about that, just focus on this one looser of a teen who has no family and no future. See, his life is better so everything is fine, don't think about anyone else. F***.
Much like SAO, the design of this game is a disaster.
World Size - 10 times the size of earth? Either the author has never played a video game in his life or doesn't understand how big earth is. For reference, If you copied and pasted New York city, you could fit the entire population of the earth (7+ billion) into the state of Texas. Eden's Gate is 10 times bigger than the earth with 1/1000 the population. You'd almost certainly never meet another real life person for century's. Not to mention "No Man's Sky" can attest to how much people LOVE vast, procedural generated landscapes.
Random Login - What garbage is this? Hope you didn't want to play this multi player game with friends, because, if you do, good luck finding them. Imagine you and 5 of your friends are dropped on random places on the earth, no method of communication. Now imagine trying to ever find each other... now imagine you're spread out over 10 earths. e_e F***, even if you knew where the other people were you'd take years to get to them. Early game is especially when you want friends around to make things more fun too.
Currency - For some reason Gold is both the lowest and highest level of currency. Rather than the standard MMO Copper, Silver, Gold, Platinum tiers. This means a bear is 2 gold pieces and starter armor is around 100. The day 1 inflation on this game is worse than Modern WOW. High end equipment must require literal tons of gold, you'd need a horse and cart to go shopping.
Character Generation - I know MMO's aren't the most creative in this regard, but fantasy MMO's usually at least give you the option of selecting the standard human, pointy eared human, short human, very short human, and sometimes non-standard skin color human. Even the most basic at least give you age, gender, skin/hair color options, ext for your human. Apparently you get none of that in this game, just a vr version of yourself. Even SAO allowed for this until the creator defaulted people back to their true gender and appearance.
Battery Powered nervegear - Why is the life supporting, contentiousness holding, high tech piece of equipment purely battery powered? I get having a battery back up for power outages, but why is it not powered from the wall like any desktop? It's not like it's meant to be played while wandering around.
Living hell - If the spawns are truly random then there's every chance that a spawn would set you down in completely level inappropriate areas or in the middle of/underneath the ocean. Not to mention you go back to that spot every time you die. So the game would end up being unplayable to anyone with an unlucky spawn point. Good thing the game traps you in it so you can get caught in a living hell of inescapable, endlessly looping, painful deaths until you're driven mad. It's not like you could even hope to eventually get good enough at something to escape because it resets your progression when you die. You can't even suicide your way out since you have to get to the right place to do that. You either have to wait for someone to rescue you or turn the aging on and put up with decades of death to eventually perma-die from old age.
So, about the story it's self..... it's "The Land: Founding" almost beat for beat. I don't know if both are grabbing from a similar inspirational material or if this book is just ripping it off but it's very clearly following the same template. It's a worse version of The Land too, which is disappointing. It's too bad too because the book had potential to be very good if the author just shifted focus a little. Gunnar is not a good protagonist for the story and appears to have been done only to minimize the horror of what happened.
How the story could have been improved :
Option 1 - The author could have played up just how horrific it all is, Erin dealing with the fallout, the plot to turn it all off, and his noble sacrifice to give up his life to go into the game. Remove Gunnar entirely, or make him a secondary character who you see for the first time when rescuing Erin. The tone would have been very different but it would have been a more unique story and made more sense.
Option 2 - If he wanted to keep the story more lighthearted he could have done that too. Have the activation of the demo mode killed Doctor Winston and triggered a 30 minute timer that anyone left in the game at that point would die. The population wouldn't be as high, true, but the author made a world so big that population is mitigated anyways. Instead of it being 10 Earths with 5 million unwilling people on it, have it be 1 Earth with 500 thousand willing people on it (maybe a couple hundred accidental people).
Instead of Gunnar bing a victim of Doctor Winston, have a cult like group of people be kidnapping people and sending them into the game against their will. There, now Gunnar and his girlfriend are in the game against their will but the darker over tones are gone and Doctor Winston is no longer a monster. It also makes Gunnar a little more sympathetic. The rest of the plot could play out the same way.
My recommendation is to skip this book and just read The Land.
Much like SAO, the design of this game is a disaster.
World Size - 10 times the size of earth? Either the author has never played a video game in his life or doesn't understand how big earth is. For reference, If you copied and pasted New York city, you could fit the entire population of the earth (7+ billion) into the state of Texas. Eden's Gate is 10 times bigger than the earth with 1/1000 the population. You'd almost certainly never meet another real life person for century's. Not to mention "No Man's Sky" can attest to how much people LOVE vast, procedural generated landscapes.
Random Login - What garbage is this? Hope you didn't want to play this multi player game with friends, because, if you do, good luck finding them. Imagine you and 5 of your friends are dropped on random places on the earth, no method of communication. Now imagine trying to ever find each other... now imagine you're spread out over 10 earths. e_e F***, even if you knew where the other people were you'd take years to get to them. Early game is especially when you want friends around to make things more fun too.
Currency - For some reason Gold is both the lowest and highest level of currency. Rather than the standard MMO Copper, Silver, Gold, Platinum tiers. This means a bear is 2 gold pieces and starter armor is around 100. The day 1 inflation on this game is worse than Modern WOW. High end equipment must require literal tons of gold, you'd need a horse and cart to go shopping.
Character Generation - I know MMO's aren't the most creative in this regard, but fantasy MMO's usually at least give you the option of selecting the standard human, pointy eared human, short human, very short human, and sometimes non-standard skin color human. Even the most basic at least give you age, gender, skin/hair color options, ext for your human. Apparently you get none of that in this game, just a vr version of yourself. Even SAO allowed for this until the creator defaulted people back to their true gender and appearance.
Battery Powered nervegear - Why is the life supporting, contentiousness holding, high tech piece of equipment purely battery powered? I get having a battery back up for power outages, but why is it not powered from the wall like any desktop? It's not like it's meant to be played while wandering around.
Living hell - If the spawns are truly random then there's every chance that a spawn would set you down in completely level inappropriate areas or in the middle of/underneath the ocean. Not to mention you go back to that spot every time you die. So the game would end up being unplayable to anyone with an unlucky spawn point. Good thing the game traps you in it so you can get caught in a living hell of inescapable, endlessly looping, painful deaths until you're driven mad. It's not like you could even hope to eventually get good enough at something to escape because it resets your progression when you die. You can't even suicide your way out since you have to get to the right place to do that. You either have to wait for someone to rescue you or turn the aging on and put up with decades of death to eventually perma-die from old age.
So, about the story it's self..... it's "The Land: Founding" almost beat for beat. I don't know if both are grabbing from a similar inspirational material or if this book is just ripping it off but it's very clearly following the same template. It's a worse version of The Land too, which is disappointing. It's too bad too because the book had potential to be very good if the author just shifted focus a little. Gunnar is not a good protagonist for the story and appears to have been done only to minimize the horror of what happened.
How the story could have been improved :
Option 1 - The author could have played up just how horrific it all is, Erin dealing with the fallout, the plot to turn it all off, and his noble sacrifice to give up his life to go into the game. Remove Gunnar entirely, or make him a secondary character who you see for the first time when rescuing Erin. The tone would have been very different but it would have been a more unique story and made more sense.
Option 2 - If he wanted to keep the story more lighthearted he could have done that too. Have the activation of the demo mode killed Doctor Winston and triggered a 30 minute timer that anyone left in the game at that point would die. The population wouldn't be as high, true, but the author made a world so big that population is mitigated anyways. Instead of it being 10 Earths with 5 million unwilling people on it, have it be 1 Earth with 500 thousand willing people on it (maybe a couple hundred accidental people).
Instead of Gunnar bing a victim of Doctor Winston, have a cult like group of people be kidnapping people and sending them into the game against their will. There, now Gunnar and his girlfriend are in the game against their will but the darker over tones are gone and Doctor Winston is no longer a monster. It also makes Gunnar a little more sympathetic. The rest of the plot could play out the same way.
My recommendation is to skip this book and just read The Land.
July 4, 2018
Rating 3.75 stars
This review is for a very specific group of people. You either like LitRPG or you don't. If you don't this book is not for you, so go ahead and ignore this review. The story begins with the creation of a game called Eden's Gate which is the most advanced online role playing game ever created. It happens in the near future. Over 5 million people join the game when it is first released, not knowing one big secret. The creator of the game has killed there bodies back on earth, and now their consciousness only exists in the virtual world. They can never truly die since the game will re-spawn them, but they can also never go back to the real world. The politicians back in the real world don't know what to do, they are not gamers so don't understand that something virtual can also be real. For them it seems like the games creator killed 5 million people (which he technically did) and that everyone else that is joining the game are committing suicide.
Meanwhile in the game the players have to come to terms with never being able to go back to Earth. The good news is that this world is 10 times larger than earth and there is everything you could want in a fantasy world: magic, elves, dwarves, quests, level ups, potions, etc. The main protagonists name is Gunnar. He went into the game with his girlfriend but they spawned at different points and no he does not know where she is or even if she is in the game. One thing he does know is that he needs to level up fast in order to even have a chance of finding her.
While I did not like this book as much as The Land: Founding, I did still enjoy it. I know I am being a little nit-picky but I did not like the continuity of how things were priced in this world. Gold was apparently the only currency and the pricing did not make much sense to me. An Axe in the early scenes was being sold for 3 gold crowns but a beer sold for 2 crowns? Gunnar was able to equip himself with 4 piece leather armor for 18 gold, but later in the story he spent over 200 gold for bow and some trinkets? I know there probably was a increase in quality, but that wasn't talked about very much. Again, I understand this is a nit-picky argument but it was something that I noticed and I had to mention it. Other than that though, this was a very good piece of LitRPG. If you like the genre then I would recommend it.
This review is for a very specific group of people. You either like LitRPG or you don't. If you don't this book is not for you, so go ahead and ignore this review. The story begins with the creation of a game called Eden's Gate which is the most advanced online role playing game ever created. It happens in the near future. Over 5 million people join the game when it is first released, not knowing one big secret. The creator of the game has killed there bodies back on earth, and now their consciousness only exists in the virtual world. They can never truly die since the game will re-spawn them, but they can also never go back to the real world. The politicians back in the real world don't know what to do, they are not gamers so don't understand that something virtual can also be real. For them it seems like the games creator killed 5 million people (which he technically did) and that everyone else that is joining the game are committing suicide.
Meanwhile in the game the players have to come to terms with never being able to go back to Earth. The good news is that this world is 10 times larger than earth and there is everything you could want in a fantasy world: magic, elves, dwarves, quests, level ups, potions, etc. The main protagonists name is Gunnar. He went into the game with his girlfriend but they spawned at different points and no he does not know where she is or even if she is in the game. One thing he does know is that he needs to level up fast in order to even have a chance of finding her.
While I did not like this book as much as The Land: Founding, I did still enjoy it. I know I am being a little nit-picky but I did not like the continuity of how things were priced in this world. Gold was apparently the only currency and the pricing did not make much sense to me. An Axe in the early scenes was being sold for 3 gold crowns but a beer sold for 2 crowns? Gunnar was able to equip himself with 4 piece leather armor for 18 gold, but later in the story he spent over 200 gold for bow and some trinkets? I know there probably was a increase in quality, but that wasn't talked about very much. Again, I understand this is a nit-picky argument but it was something that I noticed and I had to mention it. Other than that though, this was a very good piece of LitRPG. If you like the genre then I would recommend it.
February 27, 2017
This is a fantasy LitRPG book that has a number of issues for the kind of story that it is. The first issue being just how easy it is for the main character to come across epic and legendary items when he is one of the launch day players before he is even level ten. For anyone who has played an MMO getting a rare item at such a low level rather than just normal garbage is unusual if not outright silly. It’s like letting a level two warrior in an old tabletop game find a vorpal sword. No GM is going to leave that kind of stuff in a place practically anyone could just stumble across it. Another big issue with the setting is the economy. If a piece of decent newbie gear cost 4 gold you should be able to live off of that same amount for food and lodging for several days which doesn’t seem to be the case. I also found the cost of beginner spells to be downright silly. If a level one spell scroll cost between 250-500 gold and you have to have the right skill first magic and magic items should be hard for any low level person to acquire, the main character gets a skill and two spells for a lame quest which doesn’t jive with the prices. No beginner quest is going to hand out over 1,000 gold worth of rewards. It just not going to happen. I really think the earth side of the story could have been dropped and the author could have better used the space to focus on the main character integrating with the new world.
I’ll take a look at book two when it comes out, but I hope the author puts more work into integrating things.
I’ll take a look at book two when it comes out, but I hope the author puts more work into integrating things.
July 7, 2017
The protagonist seems reactionary and stupid - how did he make money on gaming before exactly?
July 23, 2022
The creator of Eden's Gate really killed over 5 million people, and our main Gunnar was one of them! Holy moly!! Gunnar doesn't behave like the pro-gamer that he supposedly is. I'm curious to see if this'll get better.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 6, 2018
I'm not too impressed with the story. The main character is a jerk in addition to an idiot. He ignores blatant hints that the game gives him and crosses people who have helped him. Honestly I am cheering at his selfish whiny downfalls as so far he has deserved them every time.
Sadly I think that the author may be blind to how much of a jerk the MC is as after betraying two people at different times, destroying a friendship and another person's livelihood, the MC then complains non-sarcastically about how he hates people who take advantage of others for their own benefit. Sure he comments about how he feels bad about destroying those people, but he neither changes nor does anything to make it up to them. He does appear to have grown morally by the end but that's only because new characters now follow him around who are so much worse that he looks okay by comparison.
On another note be prepared for deus ex machinas, because as a bumbling underdog nothing the MC ever does has enough strength or intelligence behind it to forward the plot so random coincidence and new characters must do that for him.
Basically don't think at all as you listen to this book and it's an okay story. My rant continues below if you want to see a few more plot flaws (IMO).
The outside (real) world is thoroughly frustrating with solely incompetent characters in power. The senator who is determining whether the game should continue running has a daughter that "died" due to the game and yet is allowed to make or at least initiate a ruling about the game world. What kind of conflict of interest is this!?
Sadly I think that the author may be blind to how much of a jerk the MC is as after betraying two people at different times, destroying a friendship and another person's livelihood, the MC then complains non-sarcastically about how he hates people who take advantage of others for their own benefit. Sure he comments about how he feels bad about destroying those people, but he neither changes nor does anything to make it up to them. He does appear to have grown morally by the end but that's only because new characters now follow him around who are so much worse that he looks okay by comparison.
On another note be prepared for deus ex machinas, because as a bumbling underdog nothing the MC ever does has enough strength or intelligence behind it to forward the plot so random coincidence and new characters must do that for him.
Basically don't think at all as you listen to this book and it's an okay story. My rant continues below if you want to see a few more plot flaws (IMO).
The outside (real) world is thoroughly frustrating with solely incompetent characters in power. The senator who is determining whether the game should continue running has a daughter that "died" due to the game and yet is allowed to make or at least initiate a ruling about the game world. What kind of conflict of interest is this!?
February 4, 2022
I dunno what I just read to be honest. The premise is good, the idea of being in a fantasy Skyrim type world is great but it’s just very generic- the npcs are clearly npcs and there’s nothing new to be added to the genre.
Gunnar is entirely unlikable and given way too many lucky breaks, immediately lands on his feet and is somehow just good and got a bunch of good items really quickly including successive legendary items, a guy who will buy him anything who promptly forgives him when he’s often an actual idiot, the deeds to build somewhere and a hard to bond with wild creature that he shouldn’t be able to according to the code.
The book has a bunch of grammatical errors and changes tense in the middle of a paragraph.
But my main problem with this book is that the author said he wanted to write flawed characters instead of Mary Sues but he didn’t write a morally grey character he wrote two incredibly sexist characters as his main cast, implying a bias with the author not the characters. This made it entirely uncomfortable to read. The entire plot was preoccupied with making women an object and not their own characters. Women are reduced to whores, “virtual dolls” and objects with no agency. His girlfriend “fits” him perfectly, this book literally utters the word “boobage” and a woman’s breasts must be commented on no matter who she is. The only woman who has a modicum of personality (and that is generous) is literally referred to as “something” and not a whole person. Some level 19 monsters are somehow less intimidating because they’re topless with boobs and it’s very important that you know these are nice boobs even if they are the only human part of the monster and don’t get me started on a scene with goblins.
I would not recommend this book at all.
Gunnar is entirely unlikable and given way too many lucky breaks, immediately lands on his feet and is somehow just good and got a bunch of good items really quickly including successive legendary items, a guy who will buy him anything who promptly forgives him when he’s often an actual idiot, the deeds to build somewhere and a hard to bond with wild creature that he shouldn’t be able to according to the code.
The book has a bunch of grammatical errors and changes tense in the middle of a paragraph.
But my main problem with this book is that the author said he wanted to write flawed characters instead of Mary Sues but he didn’t write a morally grey character he wrote two incredibly sexist characters as his main cast, implying a bias with the author not the characters. This made it entirely uncomfortable to read. The entire plot was preoccupied with making women an object and not their own characters. Women are reduced to whores, “virtual dolls” and objects with no agency. His girlfriend “fits” him perfectly, this book literally utters the word “boobage” and a woman’s breasts must be commented on no matter who she is. The only woman who has a modicum of personality (and that is generous) is literally referred to as “something” and not a whole person. Some level 19 monsters are somehow less intimidating because they’re topless with boobs and it’s very important that you know these are nice boobs even if they are the only human part of the monster and don’t get me started on a scene with goblins.
I would not recommend this book at all.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 2, 2019
Who reads LitRPG to read about incompetent government? I can read the news for that. Personally I found the large scale story to be unconvincing. Who kills 5 million people simultaneously with the launch of a "one of a kind" VR game? Even if you accept the idea that the game creator viewed it as necessary to create a world instead of just a game, why not let the game run for a few days to get even more users? Plus the whole idea of people continuing to log into a game that kills them is fairly moronic. Some headline grabbing government official would seek to confiscate all the tech involved and, given the crimes involved, would succeed.
The author also just ignores what should be the realistic concerns of the game creator. What would the government do as a result of the mass murder of gamers? Confiscate the tech. What would the government do with that tech? Sell it to other game developers. So the "one of a kind" game experience would, in a short time, be available without suicide. And that ignores the fact that once something is shown possible competitors will quickly find their own way to repeat process.
So, a better than average LitRPG but the big picture story line is fairly ludicrous and unnecessary. A straight forward LitRPG, where the guy enters the game and goes on adventures is enjoyable in and of itself. I also found the game creator's commitment to preventing in-game chat and communication with the outside world to be unconvincing. When the main character meets the game creator and complains about this and the game creator roping people into the game permanently without their consent the game creator argues that the world he has created is so wonderful the MC would have made the same choice if given the opportunity. But if the game creator actually believes that why didn't he give the players a choice? Also a world as great as the game creator claims his to be doesn't need to be isolated especially when allowing communication would only improve people's experiences.
Bottom line: Not perfect, particularly in character rationales and big picture story, but better than many.
The author also just ignores what should be the realistic concerns of the game creator. What would the government do as a result of the mass murder of gamers? Confiscate the tech. What would the government do with that tech? Sell it to other game developers. So the "one of a kind" game experience would, in a short time, be available without suicide. And that ignores the fact that once something is shown possible competitors will quickly find their own way to repeat process.
So, a better than average LitRPG but the big picture story line is fairly ludicrous and unnecessary. A straight forward LitRPG, where the guy enters the game and goes on adventures is enjoyable in and of itself. I also found the game creator's commitment to preventing in-game chat and communication with the outside world to be unconvincing. When the main character meets the game creator and complains about this and the game creator roping people into the game permanently without their consent the game creator argues that the world he has created is so wonderful the MC would have made the same choice if given the opportunity. But if the game creator actually believes that why didn't he give the players a choice? Also a world as great as the game creator claims his to be doesn't need to be isolated especially when allowing communication would only improve people's experiences.
Bottom line: Not perfect, particularly in character rationales and big picture story, but better than many.
May 18, 2017
Not sure what to say. It is not that bad. It is just not great. Like the gold inflation in this book, inflation is everywhere (exaggeration). Yet, it is done in a very amateur-ish way.
There are many many many issues with this book with its unreasonableness. The simplest is this so called gamer geek who won't go out is an amateur gamer. He clearly has no clue what he is doing.
I see people comparing this book to "The Land" and I can see some resemblance but not entirely the same. There are some but not enough to claim that this is a copy of it. There are many books and many ideas. More often than not, ideas overlap. This book is more of the "adventuring to save the world" theme more than the "adventuring and city building" theme.
Some known issues:
There's probably more but that's all I can remember for now. If you don't mind a lazy impulsive writer, then this book is alright. If you don't mind the details, then this book is alright. And I'm not even talking about character development or personality or background whatnot. I am very lenient on those areas. I'm only talking about whether the story makes any sense and the amount of effort spent on it. And it's lacking.
There are many many many issues with this book with its unreasonableness. The simplest is this so called gamer geek who won't go out is an amateur gamer. He clearly has no clue what he is doing.
I see people comparing this book to "The Land" and I can see some resemblance but not entirely the same. There are some but not enough to claim that this is a copy of it. There are many books and many ideas. More often than not, ideas overlap. This book is more of the "adventuring to save the world" theme more than the "adventuring and city building" theme.
Some known issues:
There's probably more but that's all I can remember for now. If you don't mind a lazy impulsive writer, then this book is alright. If you don't mind the details, then this book is alright. And I'm not even talking about character development or personality or background whatnot. I am very lenient on those areas. I'm only talking about whether the story makes any sense and the amount of effort spent on it. And it's lacking.
June 26, 2018
A popcorn read, but caramel popcorn. It was chewy enough and fun to get through, but it went pretty fast, left me hungry for more, and parts of it got stuck in my teeth. The metaphor falls apart, I admit, but I can't think of a better way to describe the small grievances that would have been fixed by a single editor. But it was popcorn, so of course I enjoyed it.
June 1, 2020
So not worth the time investment
This book is the worst litrpg book I’ve read. Here are my reasons, using the authors own words.
“Looking for perfect heroes on a quest to destroy evil? That isn't this story.”
This is a true statement. What it doesn’t say is this isn’t a real story. It’s a long slogging boring journey about nothing with crappy dialogue. A quick summary, a billionaire genius doesn’t think his life is real enough so he designs a new reality more real than his own life. He than proceeds to make everyone playing a permanent guest because his creation is too awesome to be played like a game. So from a billionaire to a god like figure, that seems logical.
“Looking for an overpowered character or social butterfly who always makes righteous decisions? You won't find him here.”
Because somehow the author doesn’t believe his characters are overpowered, but they really are. Let me point out a few ways. 1) learns magic on his first day. 2) gains a pet on his 3rd day. 3) Screws over the first nice people he meets, but some how still becomes friends with a powerful race of elves. 4) Gets good gear anytime its convenient to the story. Honestly what game gives out epic, legendary, or rare stuff in the noob areas? Not sure about the social butterfly part, he doesn’t spend a lot of time alone, so that can’t be social can it? The main character doesn’t make many good decisions at all. He is a putz. I get the point of making him more humanistic or relatable to trolls. Or maybe even an antihero but this is a complete failure. No you won’t find any intelligent decisions here.
Eden's Gate: The Reborn is a story of a flawed, average guy and his growth in a new, mysterious world. He'll make some bad choices along the way, and he'll fail a lot of the time. But in the end, he'll change and grow as a person just as much as he grows in power.
Eden’s gate is about a moron who thinks with his small head more than his big head. What growth does this loner of a character actually make? Answer he doesn’t grow he just gets kindness from others and a lot of loot by doing very little. He’s selfish and doesn’t seem to figure out he is his own worst enemy. Quote, ”The guy was seriously annoying and weird. He reminded me of people back on Earth—always thinking about themselves, always trying to get ahead without any consideration of other people—and I didn’t like it one bit.”, this coming from a guy who would screw you over for a dollar.
There are unique game rules he must follow, leveling, quests, loot and consequences for every action.
The game rules change depending on the authors needs. Remember the pet? Page 57 “Summon Beast is a skill you can learn with patience and care, but it’s not something I can teach you directly. A master either has to dominate the mind of a beast or develop an unwavering bond in order for the beast to allow itself to be summoned. Fenris and I have that bond.”, page 227, “Give her a name. If she accepts your name, then you’ll be bonded. But once you’re bonded, then she’s with you until death.” Wow, really that’s all it takes? By the way you don’t have to feed it or level it. Just send the cat into a mystical place to live and grow with no input from you. Seriously no consequences to bonding a pet?
Lastly the only consequences are you can’t get your life back after reading this book.
Read - the land, founding or Bushido online .... to rinse out the bad taste you’ll get from reading this book.
This book is the worst litrpg book I’ve read. Here are my reasons, using the authors own words.
“Looking for perfect heroes on a quest to destroy evil? That isn't this story.”
This is a true statement. What it doesn’t say is this isn’t a real story. It’s a long slogging boring journey about nothing with crappy dialogue. A quick summary, a billionaire genius doesn’t think his life is real enough so he designs a new reality more real than his own life. He than proceeds to make everyone playing a permanent guest because his creation is too awesome to be played like a game. So from a billionaire to a god like figure, that seems logical.
“Looking for an overpowered character or social butterfly who always makes righteous decisions? You won't find him here.”
Because somehow the author doesn’t believe his characters are overpowered, but they really are. Let me point out a few ways. 1) learns magic on his first day. 2) gains a pet on his 3rd day. 3) Screws over the first nice people he meets, but some how still becomes friends with a powerful race of elves. 4) Gets good gear anytime its convenient to the story. Honestly what game gives out epic, legendary, or rare stuff in the noob areas? Not sure about the social butterfly part, he doesn’t spend a lot of time alone, so that can’t be social can it? The main character doesn’t make many good decisions at all. He is a putz. I get the point of making him more humanistic or relatable to trolls. Or maybe even an antihero but this is a complete failure. No you won’t find any intelligent decisions here.
Eden's Gate: The Reborn is a story of a flawed, average guy and his growth in a new, mysterious world. He'll make some bad choices along the way, and he'll fail a lot of the time. But in the end, he'll change and grow as a person just as much as he grows in power.
Eden’s gate is about a moron who thinks with his small head more than his big head. What growth does this loner of a character actually make? Answer he doesn’t grow he just gets kindness from others and a lot of loot by doing very little. He’s selfish and doesn’t seem to figure out he is his own worst enemy. Quote, ”The guy was seriously annoying and weird. He reminded me of people back on Earth—always thinking about themselves, always trying to get ahead without any consideration of other people—and I didn’t like it one bit.”, this coming from a guy who would screw you over for a dollar.
There are unique game rules he must follow, leveling, quests, loot and consequences for every action.
The game rules change depending on the authors needs. Remember the pet? Page 57 “Summon Beast is a skill you can learn with patience and care, but it’s not something I can teach you directly. A master either has to dominate the mind of a beast or develop an unwavering bond in order for the beast to allow itself to be summoned. Fenris and I have that bond.”, page 227, “Give her a name. If she accepts your name, then you’ll be bonded. But once you’re bonded, then she’s with you until death.” Wow, really that’s all it takes? By the way you don’t have to feed it or level it. Just send the cat into a mystical place to live and grow with no input from you. Seriously no consequences to bonding a pet?
Lastly the only consequences are you can’t get your life back after reading this book.
Read - the land, founding or Bushido online .... to rinse out the bad taste you’ll get from reading this book.
March 8, 2017
If you haven't heard of the genre or are curious about it, I recommend this book. The author is a native English speaker, which is a definite plus when it comes to this genre. I am not dissing translators, but since a lot of these novels are translated from another language and done so at the author's expense, there is a great disparity in quality.
Mr. Brody provided interesting characters and a very original premise as to the circumstances of the players within the game and the driving force behind the plot. That said, I found the ending very quick and weak. He spent so much time in the first few chapters building up the apparent dastardly actions of the game developer but then abandoned all of it at the end and tried to present him as doing something for the greater good.
A little disappointment in that, but since it appears this is going to be a series, perhaps another plot twist is coming. I will be keeping an eye out for the next book in the world of Eden's Gate.
Mr. Brody provided interesting characters and a very original premise as to the circumstances of the players within the game and the driving force behind the plot. That said, I found the ending very quick and weak. He spent so much time in the first few chapters building up the apparent dastardly actions of the game developer but then abandoned all of it at the end and tried to present him as doing something for the greater good.
A little disappointment in that, but since it appears this is going to be a series, perhaps another plot twist is coming. I will be keeping an eye out for the next book in the world of Eden's Gate.
January 27, 2019
Mini-Review:
I liked the setup of the story and the whole throw 'em in the deep end attitude. The best part of the story were about how every action has a consequence in the game world that is much more noticeable effect than you may see in real life. Other than that, the game play and plot seemed like classic MMORPG games. There's a flair because the characters are living in the world but it didn't stand out too much on it's own.
Not a whole lot stands out story wise in the book and that makes me a bit hesitant on whether or not I want to continue this series. In comparison to other LitRPG series, this one is okay but not as engaging or thrilling.
I liked the setup of the story and the whole throw 'em in the deep end attitude. The best part of the story were about how every action has a consequence in the game world that is much more noticeable effect than you may see in real life. Other than that, the game play and plot seemed like classic MMORPG games. There's a flair because the characters are living in the world but it didn't stand out too much on it's own.
Not a whole lot stands out story wise in the book and that makes me a bit hesitant on whether or not I want to continue this series. In comparison to other LitRPG series, this one is okay but not as engaging or thrilling.
February 19, 2017
Amazing
This is an amazing LitRPG story, with all that entails. The greatest thing though is the gray area of the protagonist. He acts exactly how a real person would act in the situations he finds himself in.
This is an amazing LitRPG story, with all that entails. The greatest thing though is the gray area of the protagonist. He acts exactly how a real person would act in the situations he finds himself in.
May 9, 2019
There are a lot great, unique ideas here, but they’re marred by the main character’s early stupidity and unlikability. Then, as soon as Gunner improves as a character, a new idiot takes his place. Still, the good outweighs the bad and there’s a fair amount of potential as things move forward.
March 9, 2019
For SAO / Sword Art Online fans and lovers of fantasy. This game is morbid and graphics while being exceedingly entertaining. I enjoyed this entire book, but I don't get annoyed with the points systems popping up every time. However, that didn't take away from how awesome this book is.
June 7, 2021
A unique and really enjoyable read. On to the next book!
February 10, 2018
Good. At first, I wasn't sure about what the main plot is, but it was enjoyable, funny at times and my only issue is with the long character sheets, often checked by the main character. In ebook format, it must be quite easy to skip those with but a glance, but in audiobook format....tedious to the point of irritation.
April 2, 2022
If this book was a spice, it would be flour. If you were trapped in an elevator with this book, you wouldn't even use it to clean yourself. This book makes Michael Bay look like Shakespeare
October 19, 2019
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. Not that there was anything that really turned me off, but right off the bat I was wondering how much I would like the main character. Despite being a bit immature and even a dick at times, I found the guy to be fairly representative of a real person who has room to grow. I think he is in his early 20s, so it fits and it is also a pretty refreshing break from the Mary Sue/Gary Stu types that often frequent the Litrpg genre.
There were a couple hiccups...somewhere around the 44% mark there was a chapter that seemed like the editing didn't cover when it passed through. Then there was slightly uncharacteristic behavior from NPC characters a couple times. Notably Jax referring to something as a "dick move" and the elf princess prioritizing looting over healing her ally that just kinda felt like something a player would say or do rather than an NPC.
Very minor complaints though. I was a little worried about how certain things were falling into the main characters lap and that it might result in him being OP early. Then also the fact that he would have to go to a very high-level area of the game so early and potentially interrupt the early parts of the "game"...which is usually the most enjoyable part to me.
The character never appeared OP to me...definitely had a few lucky breaks, but overall things went very well. It appears that I will still get to enjoy all the early-game growing, base building, and developing still despite the jaunt to the other areas of the game world.
I didn't expect it going in, but I would say this is probably one of my favorite Litrpg books now. I look forward to the next books in the series and hope that the trend continues.
There were a couple hiccups...somewhere around the 44% mark there was a chapter that seemed like the editing didn't cover when it passed through. Then there was slightly uncharacteristic behavior from NPC characters a couple times. Notably Jax referring to something as a "dick move" and the elf princess prioritizing looting over healing her ally that just kinda felt like something a player would say or do rather than an NPC.
Very minor complaints though. I was a little worried about how certain things were falling into the main characters lap and that it might result in him being OP early. Then also the fact that he would have to go to a very high-level area of the game so early and potentially interrupt the early parts of the "game"...which is usually the most enjoyable part to me.
The character never appeared OP to me...definitely had a few lucky breaks, but overall things went very well. It appears that I will still get to enjoy all the early-game growing, base building, and developing still despite the jaunt to the other areas of the game world.
I didn't expect it going in, but I would say this is probably one of my favorite Litrpg books now. I look forward to the next books in the series and hope that the trend continues.
August 19, 2021
The first time I read this book I was very new to the genre and I really enjoyed it. So first time I would say probably 4.5 Stars.
I am rereading a lot of this genre to see if they still stand up to when I first read it. This book isnt standing up to the first read. I still enjoy the story and some of the characters but some things stands out that is harder to overlook; such as legendary weapons low levels can use, and the currency doesn't make much sense. The writer is very info dumpy which is hard not to do in a first book so I'm letting it slide.
3.5 Stars
I started reading the new book that came out recently. I didn’t remember anything so I was going to reread the series. Not a big deal for me, I reread a lot. I barely could get through this book mainly because of off hand comments over sexualizing literally every female character (which there were barely any named female characters as well, most were just sexual objects). I don’t remember this issue when I’ve read this series prior so I don’t know why it stuck out so strongly this time. I’m not going to continue to reread this series to get to the new book.
2 Stars, I disliked it but I still finished it and there was occasional good moments
I am rereading a lot of this genre to see if they still stand up to when I first read it. This book isnt standing up to the first read. I still enjoy the story and some of the characters but some things stands out that is harder to overlook; such as legendary weapons low levels can use, and the currency doesn't make much sense. The writer is very info dumpy which is hard not to do in a first book so I'm letting it slide.
3.5 Stars
I started reading the new book that came out recently. I didn’t remember anything so I was going to reread the series. Not a big deal for me, I reread a lot. I barely could get through this book mainly because of off hand comments over sexualizing literally every female character (which there were barely any named female characters as well, most were just sexual objects). I don’t remember this issue when I’ve read this series prior so I don’t know why it stuck out so strongly this time. I’m not going to continue to reread this series to get to the new book.
2 Stars, I disliked it but I still finished it and there was occasional good moments
September 20, 2018
I have less than a month left in my 3 month trial of KU, so I'm powering through the genre most appealing to be that I can only get that way - litrpg. It's an interesting genre. A lot of the works are flawed, showing that they really haven't been through a professional publishing house. A lot of works aren't particularly well-written, but have gems of neat ideas hidden away in them.
This one is definitely one of the better written. The character, Gunnar, is no Mary Sue. They're no force for good, nor are they setting themselves up to be the super-villain. They make mistakes. It's kind of refreshing.
There are a few grammar issues I spotted (typo-ish mostly), but overall the quality is pretty professional. I'm looking forward to reading more of Gunnar's quest to make enough of a name for himself that his girlfriend can find him.
This one is definitely one of the better written. The character, Gunnar, is no Mary Sue. They're no force for good, nor are they setting themselves up to be the super-villain. They make mistakes. It's kind of refreshing.
There are a few grammar issues I spotted (typo-ish mostly), but overall the quality is pretty professional. I'm looking forward to reading more of Gunnar's quest to make enough of a name for himself that his girlfriend can find him.
March 12, 2019
I have some major issues with this book, enough to not read the rest of the series. The MC is a total jerk! Plus he's way unbelievably overpowered and gets rewards that are unrealistic for his level. The originality for another similar book in the LitRPG genre is just not there. The book felt more like a script to what a typical game like world adventure would need. And the world being 10 times the size of Earth, random spawning spots and let's not forget the no way to get started with or contact your friends. I truly didn't care anything about the MC, his struggles and problems or relationships. So many people recommended this series and I just can't see it. Totally disappointed and wishing I hadn't gotten all 5 books before reading the first in the series. Not recommended.
December 23, 2018
Eden's Gate
Great read,I loved Gunner as a character, he is mister average like most of us in the real world. The story was continuing to develop as I read, sucking me deeper into Eden's Gate. I felt as though I was in the Elven forest, or the Ogres cave with Gunner. I liked the way the world worked, and how you levelled up. Other novels of the same genre have the heroes level up at astounding rate, which in the games that I play online, takes me ages. Maybe I'm not a very good player! Anyway download this book and jump feet first into a great adventure. Fab
Great read,I loved Gunner as a character, he is mister average like most of us in the real world. The story was continuing to develop as I read, sucking me deeper into Eden's Gate. I felt as though I was in the Elven forest, or the Ogres cave with Gunner. I liked the way the world worked, and how you levelled up. Other novels of the same genre have the heroes level up at astounding rate, which in the games that I play online, takes me ages. Maybe I'm not a very good player! Anyway download this book and jump feet first into a great adventure. Fab
July 30, 2023
Hmm? Just plain why ?
The main character is an idiot and well i guess still a teen even though if I remember was 18 which makes him An adult but still stupid. The story is well kinda interesting but also kinda lame. Oh he learned a fire spell and knows fire magic not very imaginative on other opportunities. Oh btw see if anyone finds this statement from the book a bit odd
I could hear Adeelee counting down softly. “1… 2… 3…”
Since when you count down do you start with 1 and go up to three, isn't the point of counting down mean oh 3,2,1 ?
The main character is an idiot and well i guess still a teen even though if I remember was 18 which makes him An adult but still stupid. The story is well kinda interesting but also kinda lame. Oh he learned a fire spell and knows fire magic not very imaginative on other opportunities. Oh btw see if anyone finds this statement from the book a bit odd
I could hear Adeelee counting down softly. “1… 2… 3…”
Since when you count down do you start with 1 and go up to three, isn't the point of counting down mean oh 3,2,1 ?
October 23, 2018
I wanna live there too
Ok. I don’t even ‘game’. But I could if I had more time in my day. This book keeps u interested; I even read some at work on my phone. And it actually made me think of ways that I should game my life. Make some choices to raise my levels and think ahead to how my choices can aim toward something bigger and better. If we could do a real Eden’s Gate, it would help the population problems, and even some healthcare.
Ok. I don’t even ‘game’. But I could if I had more time in my day. This book keeps u interested; I even read some at work on my phone. And it actually made me think of ways that I should game my life. Make some choices to raise my levels and think ahead to how my choices can aim toward something bigger and better. If we could do a real Eden’s Gate, it would help the population problems, and even some healthcare.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 278 reviews