Odyssey

The Stork Tower #2

by Tony Corden

Atherleah Carroll grew up in a negative-tax family in the gang-controlled suburbs of Brisbane at the end of the twenty-first century. From the age of six, she decided that she wanted more and with the help of her local gang-leader, she learned the skills to escape the relentless pressure to accept a life of mediocrity. On her sixteenth birthday, she was inadvertently implanted with a Neural Enhancement Chip instead of the free Government provided basic level personal AI. This mistake not only removed the limits placed on the AI but also broke some of the Government instigated control parameters. Leah’s life rapidly becomes a battle, both in the virtual-multiverse and in real life. On the advice of the local ‘boss’, Leah began playing the virtual fantasy game Dunyanin to earn the money she needed to live at the local POD facility and help with her education. With the help of her rapidly evolving AI, she has not only thwarted attempts by the government to limit her opportunities but evaded kidnapping by virtual slavers. Co-opted by several Virtual Security AI Leah has helped shut down a virtual sweat-shop which used mind-controlled players to farm for resources. The family, which runs the virtual crime syndicate, has cornered Leah in the depths of a virtual-mine and sent twenty player-mercenaries to capture her. Fleeing through a hidden doorway into a mirror mine operated by goblins Leah hopes to escape her pursuers.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Amazon, Cyberpunk, Virtual Reality, Magic, Dystopia

514 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 25, 2017

Reviews

[XR · Rating 5 out of 5]

[2022]:- I fucking love this series. Reading it a second time is still just as exciting as the first.

[2019]:- Atherleah just keeps getting better and better! I love her values and morals as they're the same as the ones I grew up with and follow. Maybe it's an Asian thing? Half Asian? Meh.

I can't wait to read the third book in The Stork Tower series.

[Wilhelm Eyrich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book with more important topics to talk about and a good balance of action and compassion. Atherleah approaches this gaming world with a mindset that allows her to excel and although it’s reaching at times it is very entertaining. I also found myself enjoying her diary entries where she questions her decisions and makes moral quandaries without being preachy towards the audience. She kind of asks the questions and let’s you ponder them.

I was very happy that she started branching out into different games and other virtual worlds and it’s something that really expands the setting.

Meredith continues to be a horrible possibility on how the rich could control that future and abuse their influence. Maybe stuff like this is happening now too and it’s scary to think about.

The pacing is great and something I didn’t mention in the first book review but I very much enjoy how the action scenes are kind of summarized and not overly explained because too many of LitRPG books can’t make new and interesting encounters and it really drags it down, not this one.

Started to notice some grammar and spelling errors towards the end but not too many.

It’s kind of on the border of 8-9/10. Would recommend.

[Jimit Ndiaye · Rating 5 out of 5]

WHERE IS BOOK 3?!

That ending...
Seriously I need more. Even better than the first but that cliffhanger makes me want to kick puppies. Major plot threads teased tantalisingly near the end.
Was a page turner throughout and I highly recommend it.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing story and life lessons at the same time!

I recommend this story to all readers. Not only is the litrpg there, but it gives a glimpse into what a future world might look like. It also teaches some life lessons that are not preachy, but are instead entertaining. Violence balanced by compassion.

[Mark Smiles · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cracking good read

The plot zings along and the pace never let's you go. I admit to not be able to put this down and read into th early hours of the next day.
Looking forward to the next in the series.

[Erica Goetz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Need. Book. 3. Okthankyouplease

I thought book 2 was even better than book 1. I just had to sink into it. I love the variety and the characters. For anyone who enjoys litrpg.... I think this series should definitely be on your shelves.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure why I read this and plan on reading more. If I had to say it’s like a planet with an elliptical orbit that brings it inside the Goldilocks zone just long enough to be tolerable for life before moving out. I’d say that the author has good bullet points for ideas in the story, but doesn’t really expand on them that well or in a particularly interesting manner so far.

The pacing is also a problem. The plot structure is less a mountain with a rising action leading to a climax so much as a washboard road filled with dozens of small rise and falls. A lot happens and very little of it matters. I’m all for cutting out the chaff, but everything seems kinda rushed. Fights rarely last more than a paragraph and the titular Odyssey is over very shortly into the book and was mostly just “we fought goblins”. It also ends kinda arbitrarily. Nothing particularly important really happens in the last few chapters. Just checking off some quests that I really didn’t care about.

Something else that bothers me. The first book starts off by saying that while everything that happens going forward is a result of her actions and ability (and we are ignoring the The inciting incident, cause the plot has to start somehow.) she is hilariously and absurdly lucky. She gets tons of absurd achievements so frequently you can basically skip over most of the notifications, she pickpockets the keys to a multi million dollar ship, and is the only person who tries being nice to the AI in a game of millions or billions (idk, the sci-if game has 1.2 billion people, but don’t know about the main one.)

There’s lots of other small things. Gods who’ve never heard High school level philosophy and ethics, horrible stilted dialogue, card board flavored side characters, and a nonsensical economy. But hey it gets close enough to good to make a decent popcorn read.

TL;DR it’s more of the same so good and read this book if you enjoyed the last one, but if you didn’t t then don’t expect much in the way improvements here.

[Richard Schlak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Positive story with an engaging protagonist. 16-year-old Leah surprises everyone around her as she studies and games online, and as she reaches out to give new opportunities to people from the slums like herself. Leah progresses physically and emotionally both online and in "real life" and turns the tables on a very powerful family seeking to enslave, hurt, or control others. The elements of LITRPG (levels, character points, skill points, etc.) are present but non-gamers can enjoy the story without getting lost in the details. For me, the grinding during the "Oddysey" itself was too drawn-out; repetitive killing of monsters that will later respawn is not my thing. However, what really drives the story are Leah's surprising and positive interactions with others - including her acceptance of and respect towards beings that others would consider as worthy only of being killed. Leah herself is way overpowered and getting stronger all the time, but instead of looking down on others, she is ready to sacrifice a lot to protect them and give them the opportunity to grow. In fact, her empathy is what opens the way for her greatest achievements, which even the game developers do not expect. This is the second book in the series. There will be at least one more after this. The author's writing is decent - there are a few unclear sentences here and there, but overall not as many as with some indie authors. Not as good as Nuttall, Mixon, or Stewart, but much better than Akella, Chatfield, Mikhaylov or even Atamanov. As to be expected with most indie authors, there are a few scattered typos as well, usually switching one word for another (like "try" instead of "trip"). Now my only questions are: will Leah's empathy and forgiveness eventually extend even to her persecutors? And what will develop with her rather tentative faith, which she picked up from her mother?

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book seemed more polished from an editing stand point than the previous one which definitely helped to improve the overall quality and reading experience. I feel that the game world is becoming a bit repetitive of just gaining larger and larger amount money and clearing dungeons, I would have liked to have seen more nuance in the main characters decision making. She seems to be placed in situations that reward her for her unwavering "do good" personality and it would be nice to see her have to make some more difficult decisions. The AI growth continues to intrigue me and I will be interested to see what effects a "build" has. I wonder if the sentience the AI is gaining will be diminished by rebuilding? Inefficiencies in the code could very well be strong factors in her personality.

[Tony Hisgett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started this book hoping there would be more of Leah’s ‘real world’ moments rather than the endless monster killing in the virtual fantasy world of Dunyanin.
For a while I despaired that the book was only going to be destroying monsters, but eventually several new storylines developed that weren’t just about killing things.
At one point I was ready to cut my losses and give up, but the latter part of the book was much more interesting, although the ending was a bit annoying.

[Clint Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alert

I hate trying to write reviews because there are really only pass/fail results for me. Did I make it all the way through? Yes? 5 stars. No? There would be nothing here to read. In all fairness, if an author holds my attention from page one to the end, they’ve done their job. Anything less than 5 stars is petty criticism from someone incapable of even doing the job let alone doing a better one.

So in respect for the author and their work, I am going to start pasting this along with a generic review I found somewhere. “This was a fun book. I am glad that I read it. You should try it too.”

Now, since I have to keep explaining myself to people who don't like my reviews, I guess some clarification is in order.

1. I am 100% against criticism for works of art. Art is subjective, meaning reviews are irrelevant. The observer's opinion is only relevant to the observer. It is my belief that regardless of what others might say, I have to experience the art for myself.

2. I read upwards of 20 books a month. The $10/month I spend on K U, feels like I am cheating the authors. But since I can't afford 20 books a month if I were to purchase them directly, all I can offer is a positive review. That leads us to the final point.

3. If I get to the end of a book, then it was worth my time. I give those books 5 stars because it helps the author get exposure. That is the only reason I write reviews at all.

I understand that people are people and they are going to do what they do regardless of my stance. I know the way that I review books upsets some people. I am sorry they feel that way but as many have said, they will just ignore my review going forward. In fact, if you made it this far through my review, you should definitely read the book and completely ignore all of the reviews here. You are a much better judge of what you will like than anyone here.

Cheers

[Pablo García · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because the author cannot concentrate the main plot arc and associate the secondary plot arcs, into just one game, one profession and one plot arc at the time, this Book 2 deals with mining and enslaving young people to mine in the popular VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) games that are played to create incomes in this dystopian hell-like future version of Earth (50 years into the future). To have a mining book, the author forces Leah’s first character of a half-elf, gain the profession/job of her secret agent mining elf and then stay at the mines. Leah’s character was really far away from where the mines were and yet, the author “teleported” her character to where her second-temporary-dwarf-miner-character was being held.
The vision for the future, by the author, is really bleak and pessimistic. People and companies that “lease” the internet service and the pods enslave people to work in the mines that they currently exploit. Leah, like a true-real-life-heroine, tries to free as many enslaved people as possible. She becomes the center of hatred by the Kodoman Group (Jackson, Meredith (Meri-death), etc.) who’s side “business” is enslaving the people that they lease the internet service and virtual reality pods to…
So Odyssey is the series of quests that deal with conquering the “mines” in the first VRMMORPG game. So, what happened to learning to heal, learning alchemy, and finishing the urgent (time sensitive) quests Leah acceded to accomplish on her first day in the game? Did the author forget about them? Is it the start of dementia or Alzheimer’s? Should we as readers be worried for the author?

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book unfortunately encounters a pitfall common to the LitRPG genre. The physical world has infinitely more interesting conflicts than the ones in virtual space. In this case we have 3 real spaces to consider: the physical space, the virtual non-game spaces, and the game worlds. The first two in The Store Tower I find incredibly compelling. I want to know more about the conflict between Leah, the government, and the influential family she thwarts. I want to know more about Geng and how she's different from other AIs.

I *cannot* bring myself to care about the game world. Leah is handed just about every possible thing she could want simply by talking about things in some of the most mundane and normal ways, to such an extend that I cannot possibly believe nobody else has done this. In the games, Leah has +10 plot armor and is basically untouchable. Game administrators pop up frequently to talk about how her actions are unprecedented and break the game when these are actions that anyone who has ever played a TTRPG would think of.

We do see a couple of different games and the interaction between games is an interesting point, but again is rarely the focus.

The game world content would be more palatable if it didn't make up 80% of the book. Unfortunately we're drip-fed the physical and non-game virtual world content. This series has many things I want to know more about, but they're not what the books focus upon.

[Tony Hinde · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half was not good. Even though the dungeon crawls, with seven challenge layers, were trimmed to the minimum, they dragged... especially since a similar mining quest was repeated several times. Skill-ups and new spells rained down on Leah like confetti. It was dull and unrealistic.

Thankfully, once that trudge was done, things picked up. In most virtual world stories, I can't wait to return to the game, begrudging time spent in the "real." Not so here. The real-world conflict with an evil rich-bitch is at least as interesting as the virtual battles. It helps that the subversion of people's AIs stitches the two stories together.

Leah is a super competent character, which is nice, but her voice and thinking don't feel like a sixteen-year-old's. There are no references to pop culture. No tension with the oldies. And little uncertainty in new situations. Being a genius doesn't equate to a lifetime of experience. It's a small niggle only.

Book three is up next and I'm still invested. Fingers crossed.

[Dingle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story, not the best proofing

About a third of the way through the book, I was getting tired of the repetitive combat and reward stats. It was starting to read like a brag sheet. I'm glad I stuck it out. It picked up some serious plot points and started heading into some fascinating territory.
The biggest downside were all the grammar and spelling errors that should have been caught. I can look over the occasional one but these pulled me out of my headspace.
Looking forward to buying next book!

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were more than a handful of typos in this book, and the writing is really not all that great. There's an overuse of exclamation points, and both books in the series so far have a severe lack of denouement. That being said, the characters and world are interesting enough to me, even if under developed. I'll keep reading the series because of my love for this type of gaming and literature, but I would never suggest this series to anyone who did not have significant experience and love for things like D&D or Wow.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

More good fun

Another good book in the story tower series. This book has a little less micro combat and more global movement for our MC. She has picked up new battlegrounds in both IRL and a new game Cosmos. The MC refused to back down from bullies and we love her for it. Her growth both in game and out are accelerated and she is rapidly becoming a new force to be recognized in the world.

[William Howe · Rating 5 out of 5]

even more OP

But the MC continues to be a decent person and seems to earn their advantages.

The diary entries add a nice layer of complexity.

A few of the more complex explanations were excessive, especially as things get more complicated. I skipped a lot of the space flight description, honestly.

Continuing the series.

[Hardwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

These books are great but the rate at which she gains real world wealth is preposterous. The rate at which she gains XP is also absurd but nowhere near as ludicrous and immersion breaking as the money gain. I keep waiting for some explanation the makes it make sense but I guess I just have to accept that it is utterly ridiculous.

[Roberto Flores · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was a two star until it neared the end.

This has a thread that started in book one and never stopped. None of it feels driven by the MC, it just happens to her. It is incredibly railroaded which makes the conflict feel impotent. Add in the generic villain vibes and you have a very boring story. The last third went a little different and gave me a bit of hope.

[Danae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story goes on like the first. I have to admit the big dungeon crawl at the beginning got a bit stale over time so i went fast reading for a few pages.
The addition of the SF-world is fun. the romantic story feels a bit super artificial and not very believable. Doesnt add much to the overall story.

[Nathanael Keeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

I found the first third of the book to drag a little as the odyssey was quite repetitive. Things then opened up a deal though. Still enjoyable and I love the world that has been built.

[Sabrina A Kirby · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting detailed world.

I would like to continue with this series, it is interesting and different. Book 3 ( the next book) seems to be unavailable to purchase… bummer. 1,2,4,5&6 are all available but 3 is not. Seems weird.

[A S · Rating 2 out of 5]

stupid

The first book was tolerable, but this one was just terrible. Long boring fights where nothing matters and the MC bulldozes everyone, and now this brat falls in love as she becomes a billionaire because she learned to breathe correctly and fights for real.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 cats out of 5

Meow. Stayed up late reading this, and have already bought the last one. Meow meow meow meow meow meow meow.

[Ty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic!

Very addicting and entertaining read! Just one thing, get an editor to go over your work. It needs proofreading as it has many errors.

[Naomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

...

[Joseph Hurwitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

More of a good thing

Book 1 was a fun pleasure to read. This one was not a disappointment. The MC is a bit OP, but I don’t even care.

[Sylvia Rangel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unending dungeons and too fast leveling, too boring. I quit.

[Brandon Staley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evolution

Really like how the author upped his game in book 2. The Mc is a great practical character operating in an interesting world. Look forward to book 3.