This is a nice solid LITRPG.
Story:
Socially awkward but super wealthy video game nerd buys all the slots for early access to a VR game. The main creator of the game, another wealthy socially awkward (though he doesn’t seem to know it) guy hates him for it and so tries to set him up to fail by saddling him with a unique, legendary talking ax that all other players will want when they get to join the game 3 days later and can take in PvP. Oh and the ax talks. Oh and the ax has a murder hobo personality. Fun times begin.
Chatacters:
I liked them. The MC initially choses a dark race, because of course he does. But he is not a murder hobo and thus does not embrace the darkness like some characters in other books. Turns out he is a pretty decent guy. He also does not feel like a Mary Sue and despite starting with a legendary item you never get the sense he is unfairly overpowered. The ax, the ax is full of personality, enjoyed that character a lot. The game creator was a proper arrogant jerk and thus filled his roll well, not supervillain evil but kind of rich self righteous hippie dude pro. There are other characters in the game and i thought they all fit in nicely, even the super advanced AI that seems significantly less advanced than any of the game AI.
Narrator: Spoke clearly, distinguished voices of characters and gave them the right “energy” for their characters. Just overall great job.
Summary:
It is a solid LitRPG. it is not a deep, introspective story or anything. Those who like meaningful stories or dark brooding characters taking their revenge on others won’t like it. It is just a guy wanting to be the best at a game, while not being the best at gaming and working with a snarky talking ax. Pure fun entertainment.