This is my first venture into what is known as the LitRPG genre. The general premise is the story follows a protagonist playing his/her way through a literal role playing game, including the kinds of interfaces, level progress, and game mechanics that folks who have played table top or computer based role playing games will be familiar with.
This ones takes place on Earth, in a twist on the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” global cataclysm. In an instant, 99% of Earth’s population is killed off and the remaining few millions are lead into the first level of what will ultimately be an 18 level dungeon into the depths of the planet. The kicker is that this is all done for the entertainment of the greater universe’s population – essentially “The Running Man” on a grand scale with millions of players at a time.
While this is available as straight text on Kindle or hard copy, the audiobook really brings the story to life. The narrator provides distinct voices to the characters and the production provides a variety of enhancements to the sounds of the computer based AI interfaces that the protagonist deals with along the way.
While this book focuses Carl’s initial shock at the situation he’s been thrown into and learning how to play and survive, there are hints that we’ll get exposed to the greater socio-political situation of the universe as future books come along. I’m hopeful we’ll see something like Scott Sigler’s GFL series, where the early books focus on Quentin’s development as a football player and the later books focus less on specific gameplay and more on Quentin’s growing place in the galaxy. Looking forward to finding out.