L.I.F.E. Begins (Book 1 - Complete)

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Humanity tried to fix the planet, but in their ignorance, forced humanity as a whole to retreat underground instead. In the future, and stuck with a life as boring as it could possibly be; Jack retreats to the virtual world his great-great grandfather had designed. L.I.F.E., or the Latent Integrated Fantasy Experience, was the best thing to hit the market... 200 years ago. Jack was determined to find that one game that would be the diamond in the rough; the one that every gamer searched for. A game you could actually live for. What he found was a game he would die for.

Please Note:Chapters will be added weekly (Saturdays).

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2017
Author: Bokuboy

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.2/ 5.0
Followers: 609
Views: 454,487

Chapters(66 total)

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

BinLoxRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is the only story I've ever given a max 5/5's. And I've read a LOT of stories on here. The characters feel like real people. They feel alive.
Style: I love the way the author writes their characters. I came for the game element, and I don't have the slightest care about it now. It could happen 20,000 chapters from now and that'd be fine with me, should I hear more of their lives.
Story: at the current date (April 2nd, 2018) there has been no VRFI game, but the plot is definitely heading in that direction.
Grammar: mostly perfect, and when errors are pointed out the author does fix them. I hope I don't have to state just how rare that is, and that it shows just how much they care about their story.
Characters: hands down, the most lifelike characters I've read on this site.
TL;DR: came for game, stayed for the characters. They feel alive. 99/100 pts.
PeppermancerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
It's only chapter 5, so I don't feel I can give you the kind of review you deserve untill there are more chapters. When there are more, and if you continue to impress me I'll change this and give you my full thoughts. But right now, I just want you to get more readers, because this book is amazing and needs more readers. You have taught me about multiple characters, given me an entire world view and world building, made me care about the plot, and there hasn't even been much going on yet. You're able to make the amazing seem mundane in this world, which should be the goal of all sci-fi fantasy writers. Making things that would be amazing to a modern day person, seem mundane. This makes the mundane seem amazing, which in turn holds your readers attention during the slow parts without becoming boring or uninteresting because we just enjoy reading about the world and don't need constant action or plot twists to keep us interested. Keep up the good work, and I can't wait till I can come back and give you a full review.
Futhark the ElderRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The author deserves congratulations. Not only is he a very competent writer but his imagination is a cut above the norm for RRL.
The story is set in one of the most original post-apocalyptic scenarios I’ve encountered, and the protagonist is a fascinating blend of opposites: dutiful antiheroes are rare, socially adept loners even more rare. Add to those, military leadership combined with being an IT guy. Sys admins everywhere rejoice — this protagonist shows how awesome you are.
Needless to say, I wait impatiently for each new episode ... but please, esteemed author, don’t rush. Quality is better than frequency. You have the balance just about right.
MechagastonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Let me start this review by saying the tags are a bit misleading. I started to read this story entirely because of the Litrpg tag. Thrity chapters in and there is no real litrpg elements. That being said the story is wonderful. My initial disappointment with the lack of rpg elements was quickly forgotten as I got into the story. I am quite enjoying the plot and the world as a whole. The way that this author writes is captivating and quite expressive. If there were any grammar issues they were so minor that I did not notice. The only slight downpoint for the entire story falls into the characters, specifically the female characters interacting with the main character. There only like one or two female characters in the whole story that are not either getting into the MC's pants or have already gotten into his pants. Nearly every interation that is made between the main character and females that are even total strangers is hyper sexualized. The parts where this happened draw me so far out of the story that I am honestly flabbergasted. A vast majority of the sex scenes could be completely cut out of the story without affecting the story in any way. In fact it would actually better even out the pacing. Sex for sex's sake does not a good story make. That being said the story is still fantastic and well worth your time. The only thing keeping this story from a perfect score in my oppinion is the hypersexualized female characters.
PezRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
This is definitely worth a read.
Don't be misled by the description. Through the completion of book 1, the "virtual game" aspect is virtually non-existant (no pun intended). So don't go into this thinking it's GameLit or LitRPG. Perhaps it will be incorporated later on, but for what has been published, it's not part of the plot.
The story concept is good. It's pretty cyberpunk. Action, mystery, drama, romance. It's all there in certain quantities.
The charaters are well written. Some of the initial shyness of some of the female characters seems off to me. It reminds me of how teenage girls age in Japanese literature. It's nowhere near that bad, but it does remind me enough of that.
Some spoilers ahead. You have been warned.
As for the MC... He's pretty much a "Gary Stu" (male version of a Mary Sue). He's super smart, very wealthy, and fairly powerful (through connections). He's not perfect, but close to it. In a world where most people seem starved for currency, he has more than he can ever spend. His personality seems odd. He has no problem being all 'alpha', and doesn't take shit from people. But when it comes to women in his life, he seems to have no problems letting them treat him... not 'bad', but maybe 'less than he should'. Everything with Sandra proves that. His tiff with Amanda after his injury reinforces that idea. He was injured, and lost his ability to communicate with her, and nobody else could communicate with her about it, and they even told her that, but she still acted like a spoiled child. And Jack had to apologize. I understand why Amanda was upset, but for being his personal AI for so long, her acts seemed like a big betrayal. He was gravely injured, turned into a cyborg (something he never wanted to happen), lost his most precious memories of his mother, and learned of the betrayal of the woman he loves. I think Amanda could have cut him a lot of slack. But she didn't. And that earlly hurts my opinion of both characters.
Minion #51, Dreaming MinionRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
I really wanted to like this book. The description of a game created 200 years prior, found, updated and discovered to be relevant to the current circumstances of a future Earth really pulled me in. I was disappointed that only a couple of chapters of the 32 chapters I read had anything at all to do with the game at all.
Instead, there is a lot of mundane chatter between the MC and all the women who want him and the creepy cuddling between him and his fiancee's mother, all of which occupy most of what I read. I gave up after that, skipped to the Epilogue and skimmed it. Still no game.
I did like the tech advances the author described, both in computers and cyborgs. It was interesting and not difficult to understand, even for a non-geek like me. I also got a kick out of Rusty, the dog, who takes his role as man's best friend very seriously.
The grammar was OK, aside from the author's tendency to use present tense verbs in place of what should have been a past tense verb. For instance, using "pat" instead of "patted" when the verb clearly should have been past tense. Also, he used "anyways" for "anyway." Maybe that's just my preference, but that really bugs the crap out of me!
Sorry, but I just can't like this book.
BurningBookwormRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
The story is good enough for 4,5 stars. But 18 chapters in and I haven't seen the faintest hint of Litrpg, false advertatizing as far as I'm concerned. Therefore I've deducted a star.
The author would be better served by rewriting the synopsis to reflect the actual story and not make it seem like the game has any sort of significance besides as a sort of mcguffin that sets the plot moving. The mystery about the game may have relevance later on, and the game itself might appear as Litrpg.
Genre conventions have begun to be established and readers of the genre do expect to see the game mechanics relatively shortly after beginnig the story.
Otherwise a nice cybepunkish scifi that I would recomend, it simply isn't what's said on the tin and that has a tendency to make me irritated.
InTacoWeTrustRoyal Road
★★★ 2.5
I enjoyed the story, it was neat, and its characters felt realistic. But, I really don't like the fact that you seem to have based everything around this game, but it really doesn't get more than a few chapters worth of time. It seems that it was just a hook, a way to lure people in, except its in the title, the description. Yet there is almost no mention of L.I.F.E other than a few chapters of playtesting.
crpgnutRoyal Road
★★ 2.0
So, claims to be a litrpg, since that's what people come to RR to read. However, there is no litrpg elements in the book at all. This is a straight hero is a god and all women want to bang him story; except it doesn't really have any sex either. This whole book is a tease that doesn't go anywhere or really do anything. Myrthan couldn't save this book.
pewpewcachooRoyal Road
★★ 2.0
This is a neat idea, but kinda falls a little flat. The writing is okay, the grammar is okay and the main story idea is cool. But it's the other parts of the story that make it fall flat.
Like he rejoins the military so his girlfriend/ex can get better treatment after getting radiation damage. It just seemed so forced. Maybe it's just me. and then he fucks some girl in a bathroom not long after because why not...