Foundations

A LitRPG Adventure (Tower of Somnus, Book 1)

By: Cale Plamann

Narrated by: Andrea Parsneau

First contact gone wrong. Humanity judged and found wanting. Unlimited power up for grab.

The Galactic Consensus arrived on ships as large as skyscrapers, crafted from glittering alloys that no human scientist could even begin to understand. They followed the trail of century-old television transmissions to welcome us into the galactic community...only to recoil in horror at what they found.

They concluded that humans were unfit to be trusted with the advanced technologies that member-states of the Consensus freely traded with each other, installing a relay to warn other ships that we were under embargo, but more importantly, allowing humans entrance into the Tower of Somnus, a multiplayer game of sorts that could be played in one’s sleep. The hope was that humanity would learn proper behavior from playing the game with our more civilized neighbors.

Katherine "Kat" Debs, a hereditary employee of one of the megacorporations that ruled the world, eked out a meager existence in a massive arcology of glittering glass and chrome. She dreamt of one day earning enough money to buy her freedom and was more than willing to break a law here or there in the process. When she is offered an opportunity to enter the Tower of Somnus free of corporate control, she jumps at the chance. After all, the "game" was more than just a status symbol; players retained the fantastic powers they earned in the game in the waking world as well.

A perfect opportunity to take control of her destiny or die trying.

©2022 Cale Plamann (P)2022 Mountaindale Press

Friend said I would like this one

A very intriguing story of a mix of cyber punk and lit RPG. What an interesting world can't wait for the next book to download.

Glorious cyberpunk drama I didn't know I needed

This may be the perfect sci fi/fantasy litrpg. The fantasy game and leveling is important both physically and socially, the cyberpunk intrigue and action is thrilling, and the combination of the two genres seamless.

It's been a long time since I listened to something that sucked me in this deeply; I tend to listen to audiobooks while doing other things, then pause and move on, but with this one I found myself lingering to continue the story.

The main character is strong willed and clever, a joy to follow in both her days of running for criminals and her nights of fantasy gaming with aliens.

The narration is amazing, as expected of Andrea, and I can't wait for book two!

Highly recommend.

A good start to a new series

When, early in the story, our heroine turns out to have particularly bad taste in men I almost bailed on this one. I found myself communicating telepathically to ask the author, "Please kill that character, please, please, please..." Luckily, Cale Plamann heard my telepathic pleas and did not make me wait long for his MC to grow a spine. After she "wakes up," the MC becomes more fun to follow. Overall, this story is a cut-above for the LITRPG genre, and despite some overly-long, play-by-play descriptions during prolonged, extended, really quite drawn-out and extensively, throughly, carefully explained battle scenes, it is a well-told story with a good premise and genuine characterization. Of particular note is the MC's little sister, who in several scenes comes off as a 'three-dimensional' and genuinely cute little kid. Congratulations to author Cale Plamann!

not great, but generally fun

If you can't stand manipulative, bullying boyfriends/husbands or women who submit themselves to them, you will have a rough experience starting this story. This should be labeled a dystopian because it is a world of slavery with aliens creating a ghost of a hope for improvement. Kat initially has an informal boyfriend who is intolerably ungrateful for life, what others do for him, and friendship. Kat willingly favors his wickedness, though such a foolish main character usually doesn't stay a fool.

different but good

I really don't like the minimum word count requirements for audible reviews. . .

I Bought This Book Out of Spite

Audible had their Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal going, and I was looking for new series, since a couple I listen to are going to either end soon, or new books out very soon, which meant I was going to have a long stretch where I would be dallying on choosing a new book to try out, and I figured I'd pick up a couple things to try out.

Namely someone was complaining about how this book was 'woke'.

There is an alien in this book (shocking, I know), who uses they/them pronouns. They aren't even a human. They are an alien with a biology widely different from humans. The story is also very critical of corporations and power imbalances of resources and how shaping society of 'everyone for themselves' is not a good way to go. It's not even critical of capitalism, even the aliens use basic supply and demand economics from what we can see. It doesn't even paint the aliens as all friends and do gooders, the aliens are flawed too and just trying their best.

The story itself is pretty gripping, aliens arrived, deemed humanity as "needs improvement" and have given humanity a chance to get our collective stuff together. The plot follows a human teenager/young woman (no age is given but the book starts with her graduating basically high school), who gets a chance to join the Tower of Somnus, a game the various alien races play in order to facilitate both working together, and to deal with issues that would normally mean galactic war. People who play the game will begin to get stronger in the real world and gain abilities that they have in game.

For instance, if someone got stronger in game, they would be stronger in the real world. This is not a game you can power level though, it is dangerous, and you're playing on Iron Man Mode. You die, that's it, you have to get a new subscription and start over. And they're quite expensive.

Kat lucks into a subscription with the help of a friend, and the plot kicks into gear from there, as Kat learns about the wider galaxy through some aliens she makes friends with, deal with some personal issues, tries to do right by her mother and sister, and strives to somehow get herself and her family further than the low rung of society she was born into in a world where they don't allow for a lot of social mobility.

There is back and forth between the game and the real world, as the game is played when you are asleep. Kat has an exciting life in both worlds, scrambling to get better in both worlds because it's the only way she can escape the debt just being born the company puts everyone in.

How exactly the game works isn't really spelled out. It just does, it's magic. It is a fact of life by the time this story takes place, and while I crave lore, it's not really brought up how it works on a technical level, but it is consistent within itself enough that it doesn't contradict it's own rules. Possibly later books delve into this, I'll find out when I grab them.

The narrator does an excellent job. A couple of the voices she does can be a little grating, but they are reserved for characters with very little talking time, and in one case to a character you want to see murdered repeatedly, so the grating voice just increases the hatred you should be feeling towards this character.

The other voices are done well, and varied enough I was never confused about who was talking.

The story is action packed, the main character is likeable and not perfect, but she is intelligent. Overall I very much enjoyed this book, and look forward to continuing the series.

was bamboozled

I thought it was strictly cyberpunk ish but it turned into litrpg. Good news is it's a good mix of both so it's fine. a few heavy handed Character development points that were odd but overall a good listen.

a good read

down loaded the second book a day after. bla bla bla bla bla bla bla

Dystopian Future Ruled by Corporate Overlords

Plenty of action. The protagonist scrambles past gangs of cyber-enhanced thugs during the day and fights to level up in a galaxy-spanning RPG simulation against magical dungeons at night while sleeping. The adventure builds as the skills she earns from dungeon diving start to manifest in the waking world. The dystopian society she navigates during the day is a cross between Ready Player One and Animal Farm. I initially thought this would be a common young adult novel, but the body count really begins to tick up by the end. I will definitely get the next book in the series.

Adventure Masquerading as LitRPG

4.5 stars

While this book is billed as a LitRPG, and while it has LitRPG elements, it's really dystopian science fiction adventure novel. And it does that well.

The protagonist starts as a fairly typical high-school (-ish) student (who happens to also be a courier for an underworld organization, of course) worried about her grades and her emotionally abusive boyfriend, and living in a world of dead ends. Her progression out of that isn't particularly believable, but it is entertaining.

There is quite a bit of solid combat narrative, both in the RPG world and the real world. The plot is over the top, but again, it's entertaining.

If you're willing to accept the sorts of premises that one must in the usual action hero adventure story and willing to tolerate the occasional trip into repetitive CRPG stats, this is recommended. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.