Life Reset: A LitRPG Novel

New Era Online, Book 1

By: Shemer Kuznits

Narrated by: Jeff Hays

The best selling six-books series is now complete! In video games, players hunt monsters.

But what happens when a veteran player finds himself on the monster's side?

Oren, a high-level guild master, wakes in the body of a lowly goblin. Cast out, betrayed by his most trusted advisors, Oren is stuck in New Era Online. However, there are advantages to being on the monsters’ side. Starting from scratch, he’ll have to build up a powerful monster clan to take revenge. But first, he'll have to survive long enough not to be someone else's fodder.

Life Reset is the first book in the bestselling fantasy LitRPG series that follows a monster main character who wields darkness-based magic. Includes heavy elements of town-building, raising a monster clan, magic, powerful enemies, and asking the deep existential questions of what it means to be alive inside a digital reality.

The Soundbooth Theater team for this production: Jeff Hays - Narration, Characters, Production Supervision Dalton Lynne - Proofing Alex Tate - Production, Editing, Mastering

©2017 Shemer Kuznits (P)2017 Jeff Hays

lots of city building not much action.

It was a pretty good story. the only issue is the city building. skip over time instead of half the book being about building a city

Grade-A asshole, but great writing

The main character is a big jerk. There are rare moments of self-awareness but he was very unlikeable. However, as a person who enjoys both strategy games and RPGs these elements of the story were enjoyable the way they were written. And the story itself is entertaining. I wouldn't have minded a few days skipped as things progressed instead of detail about how much food the village had EVERY SINGLE DAY but that's what 2x or 3x listening is for I suppose. I think this would have been a much quicker read and I probably would have enjoyed it that way, but Jeff Hays and the narration quality are top notch. Despite the frustration of having to hear character sheet descriptions over and over, which are much easier to visually peruse rather than hear someone read, I recommend the audio version of this book due to the fantastic team that brought it to life.

Captivating attention grabber

I don't often write reviews, but this book deserves it. the progression and character development really pulls you in it feels like you are actually playing as Oren. Can't wait for the next installment!

A real contribution to the Audible litRPG offerings

This book is perhaps the best bargain in the whole Audible litRPG list--24 hours for 1 credit!!!!! It's a pretty nice example of the genre as well. The twist on this one is the protagonist is the only player character to control a monster, which makes for some interesting material. With a 24 hour span of time, the author has scope enough to get across the grind of building a settlement from scratch, while restraining himself admirably from getting bogged down in minutiae. My only complaint deals with the way the protagonist refuses to use a special item to even save himself from serious physical pain out of (essentially) greed. The resulting descriptions of said torture becomes pointless since we have been told by the character himself *why* he didn't use it (which is essentially greed). I found myself completely unsympathetic to this needless suffering as a result, physically skipping over it using the button provided on the app, angry at the character and the author for such gratuitous (and graphic) violence. It really spoiled the last part of the book for me. A shame too since the book overall was so engaging. I'll probably cautiously buy the next installment.

Momentum building!

Truly like watching a snowball tumble down the mountain. It started with a neat hook that continued to cascade, gaining impressive velocity with time. I couldn't stop listening for the last seven or eight hours, stayed up all night. The story was centered around base building with a satisfying character arc. By the end, I was figuratively leaning at the edge of my seat. More importantly, in recent years, I have come to hate stories without consequences. I almost left the book unfinished because the story seemed to head in such a direction.........but here I am with a five star review.

Narrator performed admirably overall. Seldom did I feel his voice acting fall short; at most, a few laughs or yells across twenty hours of recording. His work constitutes an excellent production.

Speaking of production, I found the effects and noises a fantastic addition to the narration. It should be implemented in every book where appropriate. The Lit RPG fantasy genre should definitely harness such a useful tool.

I highly recommend this book. It was fantastic!

Opportunities for humor wasted. otherwise fun!

I've taken to simply automatically downloading anything performed by Jeff Hays. haven't been disappointed yet. This LITRPG has the benefit of being quite a bit beefier than others, and stands at the top of the pack for quality of story and world-building.

please make another

I read this book awhile ago and have been hoping for a sequel, I seriously enjoyed the story! Please make more

its aight but feels lacking, takes about 7 hours

it's a decent storey but it feels lacking in areas, the pay off for the storey takes about 7 hours, it's about a guy playing a game, and getting stuck, close to the end he accepts the game as his world, it's alright just a slow burn.
every body loves large chests and dungeon lord are better.

rpg goodness

bit of a hard start with all the hard data but damm the story captivates me like none other did before.

Holy cow, that was good!

Shemer didn't have any problem using crude language, but it wasn't as bad as other books I've seen and I'm keeping the book for the story quality alone. The planning this must have taken! I feel like he knew what he was doing and executed it masterfully. The stakes of the story grew steadily and the jumps they took were remarkably fitting. The skills and interactions which Auryn(? It's an audiobook; no idea how to spell that if I got it wrong) demonstrated were very fitting to his character and there are a lot of interesting facets to the game world I'm excited to see play out as the story rolls forward.
Jeff, the voice of all characters, was astounding. He brought them to life, he gave them personality, he identified them, he expressed their grief, he acted out their laughs (suuper cringy, but he did it). I will definitely listen to other books he's performed.
Considering this is the third longest book in my library (just beat for second place by 15 minutes), it's absolutely worth a credit. You bet I'm getting the rest.