Prompt: A LitRPG Book

This is prompt is one of my least favourite ever prompts!

I don’t play computer games or read many fantasy novels so it’s a few things I don’t like rolled into one! Researching the genre also revealed that LitRPG books tend to be long – really long. So the thought of reading something that I wasn’t going to enjoy and was also really long and would eat into time I could use to read books I actually wanted to read did not appeal in the slightest. In the end, after some late night searching the Kindle shop, I found a relatively short novel, Inside Out by Ellis Michael

What it’s about?

Four, college-aged friends are playing an online computer game, Bloodfeast. They all notice that for no reason, their characters are not in the same place they were when they saved the game. There is a flash of light and when they awake they find themselves in the game embodying their characters. Meanwhile, in Boston, the fantasy characters are walking around the city.

What I think:

I can see why this genre may appeal to people. But not me.

The plot seemed really immature and the characters were underdeveloped. I actually did not care whether they got back to their very superficial lives.

The conversations between the characters were sometimes completely banal and there seemed to be an unnecessary amount of bad language that added nothing to the character development.

I was really confused by the online characters – despite knowing that they were trapped in the game and thinking like themselves, they still continued with the morally deficient and sometimes completely over the top behaviour exhibited by the fantasy characters.

I picked this because it was short and I did not enjoy it. I found the writing immature and the whole thing quite silly. This may not representative of the genre which seems to be thriving. I would never have read anything like this if were not for the reading challenge and I am 100% not the target audience for this book. Any book that comes with the following warning is just not for me:

WARNING: This book contains extreme violence, sexual situations, bad language, worse language, vandalism, drinking, blood and gore, gore and blood, bloody gore (but don’t worry – no gory blood), six of the seven deadly sins, animals that shouldn’t exist, mildly disturbing behavior, seriously disturbing behavior, destruction of property, multiple decapitations, and a crazy lady who just might have all the answers.

If you want to read Inside Out, head to:

Amazon.co.uk: click here