The Chosen (Arcane Kingdom Online, #1) in LitRPG Forum

Mar 12, 2019 James Scott rated it liked it

Shelves: litrpg

A copy of The Chosen (Arcane Kingdom Online) was provided by the author in exchange for a review.

The Chosen is a LitRPG by first-time author Jakob Tanner.

Clay is a college drop-out that contracts a deadly virus. The only way he can continue to exist is to upload his consciousness to Arcane Kingdom Online, an immersive videogame.

I'll be frank: it's a mixed bag. The 'first-time author' bit shines through a little too much. There are some evocative descriptions at times, but for the most part, the A copy of The Chosen (Arcane Kingdom Online) was provided by the author in exchange for a review.

The Chosen is a LitRPG by first-time author Jakob Tanner.

Clay is a college drop-out that contracts a deadly virus. The only way he can continue to exist is to upload his consciousness to Arcane Kingdom Online, an immersive videogame.

I'll be frank: it's a mixed bag. The 'first-time author' bit shines through a little too much. There are some evocative descriptions at times, but for the most part, the prose sits somewhere between serviceable and awkward. The moments of quality are there though, so I can't help but feel that there just wasn't enough effort taking the initial draft and really working on the shine.

The plot structure is weak. There is a thread that links the first in-game scene with some of the others, but for the most part it is just a sequence of linear set-pieces that do little to raise any tension. Clay just doesn't fail enough, and he is too passive. He is underdeveloped as a character and he doesn't change. His accompanying cast are cut-outs, perhaps with the exception of his NPC companion Shade, who raises a few moments of interest.

The game mechanics are there and seem ok, but they also don't seem to matter too much. It also suffers from one of my pet peeves: where the main character is the only one that seems to have figured out certain mechanics (in this it is hitting a weak-point to get a critical hit). At a certain point near the end it even (indirectly) asks us to believe that a developer in control of a high level character still hasn't figured this out. That, or there is something hinky going on with the whole shebang, and in that case there is a lack of foreshadowing.

I've focused a lot on the negative, but it runs middle of the pack. There are better books in this sub-genre for sure, but there are also a lot that are worse. I'm currently torn on whether I will continue with book 2. I didn't love it (and at a few points I didn't even like it), but there is enough there to make me think the quality will improve. I guess time will tell. ...more

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Aug 31, 2019 Nick James rated it it was amazing

Compelling Take on a LitJRPG

This is the first time I've read a LitRPG with more of a Japanese RPG setting. I enjoyed it and found it fast paced and compelling. It was a bit on the short side, but I'm definitely diving right into the next book! ...more

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