The Curse of Hurlig Ridge: 1st Dive

World Tree Online #1

by M.A. Carlson

In the future, androids have taken over most jobs, leaving humans with little to do and even less to motivate them. Enter the World Tree Online, a fully immersive virtual reality experience. Join Byron in his first 30 days of a non-stop fantasy adventure in the cursed province of Hurlig Ridge, a land filled with monsters, mysteries, murderers and treasure. The people of the province have been tormented for centuries by a pack of voracious wolves. Now, with the arrival of the adventurers, dark forces have begun to stir, accelerating their dark plans. Can Byron unravel the mystery of this curse before it’s too late?

Adventure and excitement await anyone brave enough to join the World Tree. Will you be one of them?

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy, Amazon

739 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 1, 2018

About the author

Greetings and salutations! I am M.A. Carlson, author of three series, all available now. Check where my writing journey began with World Tree Online: The Curse of Hurlig Ridge, The Duchess of Hammers, The Mountain Valley War, The Endless Savanna, the Order of Epic Grinders. My second series is Planet Hero: Civilian and Sidekick. And I just released my newest novel and third series, The Devil's Game: Purgatory. I hope you enjoy the adventure and the fantastic journey that is the World Tree Online, Planet Hero, and The Devil's Game.

More about me, I love writing. I love being entertained by a good story. I wrote my first original novel a few years ago now and I can't see myself stopping writing any time soon, it's what I plan to do for the rest of my life. I am very happy to be able to share what I hope others will find as much fun to read I did to write.

Thank you and enjoy!

M.

Reviews

[Seawater · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a very leisurely paced book. Like a casual stroll, introducing us to all the characters, the starting province, and everyone's abilities. Taking its time to actually get a sense of it all. It might not appeal to some looking for quick action, but I appreciated it. There were only a couple times I thought it was a bit too slow and those were instances when the main character was having difficulty correctly performing a couple skills he was trying to learn.
There were also a couple 'wall of texts' that even the main character commented on. They were lists of achievements that awarded stat points. Other than the general name of the achievement, it did not actually say what specifically it was being awarded for. I found that more frustrating than the 'wall' itself.

The world seems well built and with believable game mechanics. I enjoyed some small touches reminding the character that the AIs were still AIs no matter how well scripted.

I do have a problem with the narrator. She sounds so out of place with the book. She also does a few truly unpleasant or poor accents for some of the various characters. There are a few pronunciation, consistency, and enunciation problems. Parts of words being dropped and not spoken. Pronouncing certain character names differently from sentence to sentence.
The most egregious part however, is that she whines a great amount of the dialogue for our protagonist. For no reason at all. It causes the main character to come across as a whiny little child and it feels incongruent to whats being said and how he comes across otherwise. There might be some books where her voice and accents are suited, but it isn't here.

I would still recommend this book. It is very solidly written. I am just hoping for a new narrator on future publications in the series.


*A copy of this book was provided to the reviewer upon their request, but the review is their honest and voluntarily provided thoughts.

[Elena Alvarez Dosil · Rating 2 out of 5]

First of all, I want to mention that I was not able to finish this book, so take this review with a grain of salt. I really tried, but the struggle was real, so I decided to drop it at about one third of the book. I like fantasy but I am picky, and this happens even more with LitRPG. If the game dynamics are light and the character development is good, then I usually tend to enjoy it, but sadly, this was not the case. There were blocks of text about gained abilities, points, objects, etc, which were repeated again and again. I think there was a mystery about wolfs, but I almost only listened about small tasks that our MC had to accomplish in order to get more experience points. The MC did not appeal to me, the story did not intrigue me, and the writing style was also not for me.

What do we have left? Narration, which was just okay, but I kept wondering all the time why a female narrator is in charge of a book with a male main character and told in first person. I just, for the life of me, cannot imagine why. Anneliese Rennie did an okay job, but some characters sounded too overdone, and the interpretations felt also a bit over the top.

I am sad that I was not able to enjoy this book, after reading rave reviews, but it was just not for me.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

[GaiusPrimus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really fun surprise.

Really well thought out, really well executed, especially for a first-time author.

Great classes, great story, looking forward to the next.

Buy it.

[Isaios · Rating 2 out of 5]

A killstealer moralises against noobkillers and PVP. Then does PVP.

The author seems to condescend or scorn most gamers, for reasons.

[Nathaniel Delk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I didn't expect much from this when I began the audiobook, but having finally finished it, I'm looking forward to the next one. This story in very intriguing from start to finish, especially if you're into MMOs now or ever have been before. There's something here for just about everyone. It's somewhere between The Fellowship of the Ring and Sword Art Online, with a healthy dose of World of Warcraft (as with pretty much all MMOs.) I was left with a hankering to rejoin an MMO of my own.

I thought that having the story take place in a video game would cause some ridiculousness, but it actually works quite well. Instead of things happening for plot reasons, you get the feeling they are happening because the game was designed that way. This may not sound like a positive thing, but trust me, it is. There's also a huge amount of room for further exploration of the World Tree universe, from backstory to game mechanics. The author has created an enchanting and tempting world that any gamer will be drawn into.

My one complaint is more toward the audiobook version. The narrator uses a sort of staccato computer voice for in game messages. This wouldn't be much of an issue, except there are times, especially near the beginning, where there are a LOT of these. Some are even repeated several times, such as skill or quest descriptions. It's worth noting that the main character also complains about the "wall of text" he's being subjected to from these messages, so it kinda fits with the story that these bits get annoying. Still, I was relieved when later messages are summarized by the main character rather than read word for word.

All in all, I highly recommend this book for gamers especially. If you've even dabbled with MMORPGS, you're likely to find plenty to love about this book.

[✖ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am on page 315/700 of this book and have to force myself to read the rest and I just can't take it anymore. COMPLAINT NUMBER ONE, the back cover blurb was absolute trash and sounded boring from the start. COMPLAINT NUMBER TWO, around page 300, the book started getting repetitive and horribly boring, when is something going to happen? nothing ever did. COMPLAINT NUMBER THREE, the idea was barely ok, and also very horribly executed. COMPLAINT NUMBER FOUR, why did they drag on such a boring idea for so many pages? I do not mind long books, I just don't like this book, not going to lie, I want to burn it. this book does not even deserve one star, my rating is a pitty star because I feel bad for the book that someone put so much time into, yet it is as if this is some random story a 5th grader wrote and the author decided to make it into a book. This book has mediocrely good writing and is very well structured, too bad it wasn't used for a better story. In summary, THIS BOOK SUCKED SO BAD I COULD NOT FINISH IT.

[Lyndon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic Book

It has been a long time since I've read a book this good. So good that I couldn't put it down, ignored my bedtime, somehow made it through Alexa reading it to me during my commute, read it every possible moment at work. Im exhausted now but my God this book was great.

[Colin Rowlands · Rating 4 out of 5]

One downside to most litrpg games is that they immediately have to find some way to make the main character into the 'chosen one' and despite being a newbie in that game they end up being overpowered right from the start, that happens in this book too with the main character finding a little edge during character selection and almost immediately gaining a special class upon joining the game itself. However, the author makes this necessary evil work well in this case with the new class also having downsides and also being more about giving Byron (aka Bye-Bye ingame) an equal chance against other players rather than making him too overpowered in general.

Besides Bye-Bye, the main cast of player characters is an entertaining mix of classes, races and personalities, building quite naturally into a group able to take on more than just the basic quests Bye-Bye might be able to manage without them. The book also does a good job of giving the NPCs interesting personalities too and it will be a bit of a shame if the party doesn't find a reason to return to that starting area in later books.

The narrator does a very good job with this narration, her performance enhances the book and helps to bring these characters fully to life and a pleasant tone helps with the obligatory stats parts of this genre too.

Overall, a very enjoyable book and I was slightly disappointed that the next book isn't yet available on audible as I went to go and buy it after finishing this one.

[Note - I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.]

[William W · Rating 1 out of 5]

A Eunuch Playing Softball

The first half was good. Then he met a girl. She was a bitch, but he likes her so he tucks his balls between his legs and bends over so she can shove her alpha in his face. Then a random guy no one knows comes along, spies on them, takes some of his wealth, tries to steal his his new girl, contributes nothing. and he decides why not. You can have my treasure, my secrets, my girl, and my dignity. Join us. The main character has no self respect whatsoever.

[NiteHaze · Rating 4 out of 5]

One thing I have to praise about this book is that you can tell that M.A Carlson spent a really long time developing the game world and the legal jargon a company will have to enforce to have this type pf game be successful. And honestly I really liked it (until Rose showed up becomes the absolute worse).


...If you think about some of the plot points doesn't work at all so I couldn't give it a 5 stars

Keep in mind some of the points that is established early on 1. The game capsule that allows you to play the game uninterrupted for a month either means that you played half a million dollars (with the deluxe plan) or you are working in World Tree Online working off your capsule and then you can play the game regularly.

The game is doing so well that even though Bye Bye is preorders it with a deluxe plan he does not get his capsule for 3 months. There will be a patch later that allows people a cheaper option that allows them to play 5 hours a day but right now only people with a capsule can play.

So that means everyone that you meet in the game world right now is filthy rich, playing off a debt, and at least familiar with games.

With only those two thoughts in mind their are several points in the book that is unbelievable. I don't believe for a second how few people are in his starter village. For a huge chunk of the book it seems like only Bye Bye and his ogre friends are the only people in the village which is further emphasized when suddenly his village becomes the rumored safe place from PKers and suddenly there is a line where ever he goes. Sure there are 50 starter areas but there honestly should have been more people there in the beginning.

And don't get me started on the stupidity of a lvl 1 'newbie' propositioning Bye Bye willing to exchange sex for help in game. I repeat a person willing to spend half a million dollars on a gaming capsule says "Fuck it. I'll engage in prostitution instead of leveling up my character."

Also while it's cool to see the MC and his friends exchange books to learn skills it shows how stupid it is that this starting area only has one book each. That's an extremely stupid idea for a starting area. Also the fact that there is constantly a line just to get advice from the priestess and sergeant is a horrible idea.

I also find it unbelievable that Bye Bye is one of the few people to treat the NPCs like people. Just imagine spending an entire month not even talking to anyone in a basic conversation such as an introduction. Did the Harvest Moon series never exist in this universe because I remember having to run around talking to everyone, learning what they did and didn't like and I find it hard to believe that people would just ask for a quest and then leave.

The worse thing that happened to this book however was the introduction of Rose. She. Is. The. Worse. I hate it when 'strong female character' is interpreted as 'mean, rude, and generally a bitch'

Instantly I knew she was one of those characters. Bye Bye helped her fight a monster and instead of thanking him she scolds him for stealing her kill (even though without his help she would have died and she could have told him she didn't need his help when the fight is actually happening).

Bye Bye proceeds to help her immensely throughout the rest of the book. He adds her to many of his quest lines, introduces her to both of his teachers to help her train, uses the villagers trust in him to help her in her quest, gives her is blood without question, and though it all she is a huge bitch to him unnecessarily. She pissed me off to a point that when she would accept the quest for them

[Pablo García · Rating 2 out of 5]

This VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Game) Fantasy-Sci-Fi novel series starts out pretty typical Virtual Reality-MMO Game (World Tree Online). Then the author starts changing it into something that is really not that usual. The author becomes a questing-abilities-skills-giving-slut and gives the main character hundreds if not more, quests (even quests for the exact same thing layered on top of each other), gets skills and abilities by reading about them, gets abilities or skills by sharing them, and with the more traditional skill books. Usually in a video game, from levels 0-20 maybe there are 3-5 skills/attacks/spells per player, but in this WTO game, the author has given the main character, lots more attacks, spells, skills and abilities. So, it’s not only a main character that is Over-Powered (OP), but that he’s also the “darling” of “game favorite” from getting so many quests about everything he does, and doesn’t do. Most quests are non-sensically silly, like walking out, walking in, getting there, etc. The rewards for most of the quests are not proportional or logical.
There is too much info-dump about the excessive number of abilities, skills, spells, attacks, etc. about this game. It’s not a real game, nor is it the basis for a future game, it’s only a story series about a made up game, so why squander so much time, space, paper on skills that the players rarely use, and do not represent importance in the outcome of the game?
The author telegraphs most of the main story theme and plot arcs. For example, from the very beginning, the readers understand that there is an evil wolf boss monster/curse, but the author still hints about it and dawdles a little bit too much.
The couple of ogres that become part of the retinue had serious speech and language impairments (from being ogres/ and one-eyed ones that are not that common) and then it’s as if the author forgot about this and they (the ogre husband and wife), talk, read, and act like any other characters/players.
The players connect continually, 24/7 for about a month (without receiving nutrients or physical therapy-maintenance) something which is impossible. If one does not hydrate, if one does not sleep, if one does not eat, exercise, etc. in 3-7 days, everybody playing that game would die. So, the main plot (hidden arc- Unique Artificial Intelligence being) is impossible for it to happen in real life.

[Tiffany Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, so this is the first LitRPG-type book I've read. I'm also not much of a gamer (grew up in the 80s with NES, played a little Halo) but I do make it a point to play every Zelda game! I was really interested by the story description though, so I decided to give it a shot. It did not disappoint.

In the beginning I was a little annoyed by the "wall of text" but so was the main character, ByeBye, so I decided to stick it out figuring if he was annoyed then surely the author would take care of that, and he did. I read other reviews saying the narrator's computer voice was annoying, but I didn't think so. I mean, she IS trying to convey text across the screen, which has no personality, so. As for the story, I loved ByeBye's unique class and how he interacted with the characters in game. I really liked the ogre couple. When the sisters were introduced I thought it might get cheesy, but it didn't. I also really liked how, as later quests were completed, you could see how this whole elaborate game story had been put together with all of these dependent actions that the characters could (or could not) have taken to get to that point. I liked ByeBye as a character, but I would have liked to know more about his background and the backgrounds/stories of his friends.

All in all, I was sad when the book was over. I can't wait for book 2 to be released in audio so I can continue the story! Even if you're not into these types of books, if you're any level of gamer, I'd recommend reading this one. If you don't play/like video games at all, this book will probably be annoying to you and you probably didn't get this far into reading my review, if at all, anyway.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.
(Originally reviewed/posted on Audible when I finished reading this back in June 2019. Just kinda forgot to come back here and mark it finished and paste it here!)

[RJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This LitRPG starts out excruciatingly slow. Breaking into the game dynamics had me seriously thinking of burying this roadkill quickly and quietly. I kept looking at the almost twenty-two hours of reading time thinking it must get better. I’m glad I gave it a second chance. Although it is far from the best LitRPG I have read, it did improve dramatically. The skills and stats are still doled out at a slow pace, but at least I am not irritated with hearing them over and over again as in some stories. The game mechanics leave a bit to be desired. Our main character Bye-bye reaches level six with a huge amount of skills and stats without ever leaving the beginning area or seeing a dungeon. Also, the characters can be killed with no death penalties whatsoever. Perhaps this is a benefit of the starting area, but it still jumps out at you. The new player-characters that Bye-bye befriends and adventures with are a bright spot in the tale. All are friendly and helpful, excluding Rose Thorn, who needs a swift kick in the butt at several points. I have a feeling there is more to Rose and her sullen attitude than initially revealed. As time went on, the story grew on me. By the close of the volume, I was hooked. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

[N.V. Cefalo · Rating 4 out of 5]

*This book was given to me by the author at my request, and I provided this voluntary review.*

4/5

Ive read a ton of LITRPG titles, so the setting and plot wasnt a shock to me. Where this was one different, was the interpersonal connections it had with the people and main character of the story. While there were plenty of stat dumps, it wasnt too much. I was laughing at plenty of points throughout the book and loved the couple of easter eggs that were dropped in - they were a nice touch. The only thing I was a little put off by, was the use of thought-process setups for a piece of dialogue -- which happened quite a bit. "I wonder what this this thing would "X" or do "X"" followed by the literal event, dialogue piece, or interaction occurring. This type of thing was rather tedious to read, but everything else was pleasing, so I kept on going! Glad I did too, because the subplots and the 'to be continued' kept me on edge wanting more. A solid 4 star read for any reader who enjoys LitRPG.

[Elaina Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent adventure

A great story! I feel there is a good balance between action, adventure and quieter, yet necessary, activities such as training, reading and spending time with friends.

It would be great if we could have a similar immersive virtual reality game to play in, in the future. While I dislike PvP, I know some people find it fun. So, it was nice to see a good balance in this game, which encourages both fairplay and PvP; if a PvPer attacks the Citizens (NPCs) or players more than 20 levels beneath theirs, then there can some significantly serious penalties.

I found all of the characters to be interesting. I especially like the main character; he seems to be mainly a Type B on the Myers-Briggs scale. This translates to a thirst for knowledge, a bit of a need to fill in the entire map :) , a thirst for fairness and justice, and while he is a bit uncomfortable with praise or large crowds, he is loyal to those he has made friends with and he wants to help others he does not even know.

[Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great cover, for a great story

The curse of hurling ridge, is a fun story that focuses on what many readers in the genre want - the game world. It starts right at character creation, and goes forward from there.

I enjoyed how this story emphasized the inherent issues with pvp griefing- and the take that it has on resolving that issue. It was a great point to be made, and will surely be a huge element of future books.

That isn’t to say PvP stories are a large part of this book, the story focuses mostly on the title location - Hurlig Ridge - and almost reads as an mmo story for a zone... in a cool way. There is a meta nature to the story that is clearly setting up for the greater world. Additionally- this book doesn’t seem to suffer from a lot of main character power creep, an issue we can see a lot of within this genre.

All in all, I’d like to read the next book in this series. Good job!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Byron has 30 uninterrupted days to play the immersive virtual reality game, World Tree Online. His game starts in the region of Hurlig Ridge. As he plays the game it becomes even more interactive, with NPCs reacting more authentically and the monsters evolving as well. When Byron starts the game, he's nearly alone in his little town of NPCs, but as more real players arrive, more problems do as well.

This was a solid crunchy LitRPG with a lot of descriptions of the stats and abilities. The main character isn't overpowered, I like a character who works for what he gets and overall he's really likable. I also liked how well described the game world was. This is a comfortable read, and I'd pick up another book by this author.

The narration is clear and easy to understand, with different voices for each character. The narrator didn't match up to the character but it didn't detract from the narration. I requested a copy of the audiobook, and I'm voluntarily leaving a review.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the premise of this one isn't new, the handling of it sure was. Love this story, and fully intend to read more in this series. If you love your LitRPG with in depth characters, and lots of skills, combinations that create new skills, quests designed to be difficult, NPCs that actually matter, and players that aren't afraid to help the newbies, then you'll find this story to your liking. If you're a numbers kind of person, this one should be right up your alley, if you aren't, then just enjoy the myriad of skills and equipment traits earned by the players in this one, you really can't go wrong here.

[Andy L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great great fun!

Bye-Bye Jack enters a fairly traditional fantasy world to explore and have adventures. Along the way he discovers depths to both himself, his friends and the new world he is in.

This is just a terrific read. The author understands that for a story to be great (in LITRPG or any other) that you don’t need an overpowered MC, or a chosen one focus, or a harem. WhAt he presents is the sheer joy of what it would be like to actually be and play in such a world.

I would compare this to The Ritualist in tone. Absolutely great.

[Lunan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's good, but.

It is way too long, and great parts of it are just so boring I began to skip. This is mostly because the author feels the need to detail every training sessions down to the smallest movement, and considering how much training there is, it's just unbearable.

Other than that it's good; the characters are good, the plot is good (but a bit obvious), the writing quality is good, the worldbuilding is good (with some few problems, LitRPG worlds almost always have some). The slow pace is the only issue, but it is quite major, and enough that I almost gave it 3 stars.

[Mike Goodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loot and Leveling Adventure

I took off a star for the clueless romance part of the storyline. A millionaire would have to fend off gold diggers relentlessly no matter what he looks like so no way is he that clueless... Look to Flavor Flav and Larry King. Anyway, I really enjoy this story of a guy who jumps in a pod to play a RPG Game and really enjoy playing. The spell that's make PK's level to him is brilliant. Hopefully a game developer will read this and implement into all games soon. I would put this on par with The Land sort of. Can't wait for the next book.

[Matt Stpier · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED IT!!!!!

I chose to read this book when I saw an announcement for the second book being released. I am so happy I waited so I can immediately continue the adventure. At the same time I'm so sad I havent read this earlier. The author does an amazing job emotionally tying to to the characters and story within his story. I am so hooked. Not to mention he is a nice fellow to talk with. I need to go now start the second book as who need sleep before work? Tytyty M.A

[Audion Audiobooks On Demand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crunchy GameLit with good mmorpg

This game let book has a little something for everyone it definitely is more on the crunchy side in terms of stats and my only complaint is that it's a little hard to keep track of them otherwise really good blend of characterization and the lead character doesn't have everything handed to him on a silver platter so he actually has to work for it. Looking forward to the second book

[Jamey Sultan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hidden gem!

I have problems with a lot of the books in the litrpg genre because of the way they are written. That being said, none of those problems apply to this book! It was fantastically done and deserves all 5 stars! For anyone looking for a new litrpg book, this one comes highly recommended.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Pretty good, I'll probably read the next one. Felt it was missing a depth but can't really put my finger on what it needs.

The narrator for the audio book is the worst match ever in the history of story telling. Getting Alexa to read it is probably better. I find it hard to believe that during the whole production process nobody pointed out how bad it is. I'd knock another star off for this but that wouldn't really be fair as I could have read it myself if I had the time.

[Vroom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe this gets better.

Maybe a story develops.

But I hate the narrator to the point that there is no way I'm even going to try to keep going until I get a print version of this book.

I like easter eggs and easter egg stories. What a pity that the audio version is so poorly (and irritatingly) narrated.

[Nikhil Narayanan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gaming and adventure !!

LitRPG with simple adventure, no apocalyptic backstory or saving the world. Writing is straightforward, and reads like a comic panel but only with words. Nice change of pace from other novels in this genre. Would love to read the next installment of the series.

[Misty · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, lighthearted adventure that took me back to my first exposure to MMORPG. Really captures everything that is fun about exploring a new game. Note: audiobook listeners will have to deal with stats and such that probably come across a little better when read in non-audiobook form. If you don’t like that, pick up the book and read it yourself. 😉

[Roberto Flores · Rating 5 out of 5]

There was some troubling issues at the start, but everything got sorted out.

There were a few game mechanics that made little sense, and the combat and the stats associated with it are not well done. That being said, the overall story is quite good. The characters are fun, but can be annoying. Going to have to watch that in future books.

[Monika Krisinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read!

Of you liked Emerilia (Michael Chatfield), you'll
like this author as well. Game mechanics not quite as snarky, but at least there are game mechanics. Good story! This is true RPG lit. 👍 and waiting.for the next from MA Carlson.