Valhalla Online

Publisher's Pack, Books 1 & 2

By: Kevin O. McLaughlin

Narrated by: Jennifer O'Donnell

Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Get the first two books together in this special Publisher's Pack edition!

Valhalla Online, Book 1: More than just a game, Valhalla Online was designed as a permanent repository for the uploaded minds of mortals afraid of death. An artificial afterlife.

Samantha's world is turned upside-down when she arrives in Valhalla - because as far as she knows, she isn't like the other people uploaded there.

She isn't dead. At least...she hopes she isn't.

Now Sam must solve the mystery of her own abduction - or murder! - while trapped inside a virtual world, cut off from communication with the outside. To do this she must do more than simply survive Valhalla - she needs to win the game!

Book 2: Raiding Jotunheim:

Samantha didn't ask to have her mind uploaded to the virtual afterlife of Valhalla Online. Someone did this to her. She's determined to find out who.

But her quest has stirred enemies. They're coming after her with new weapons - hacked items capable of deleting anyone struck by them. One scratch, and she'll be gone forever. There's no coming back.

Stalked by an assassin who can kill her for good, Sam pushes on, struggling to smash her way through yet another realm. She needs to beat all of them to learn the truth, and her foes stop at nothing to make sure she never survives that long.

But Sam will not let fear deter her. Some things are worse than dying, and immortality in a cage is one of them.

©2017 Kevin O. McLaughlin (P)2017 Podium Publishing

Not to Shabby

These two stories were not to bad, almost reminds one of Sword Art Online. It's a world I definitely wouldn't mind visiting, having played a number of MMO's I can relate to it. I will be awaiting the next in the series to come out on audio.

A good start to a great world

Kevin McLaughlin puts together a great world that I can’t wait to explore further. You’ll be rooting for the heroine who is smart and rough enough to make her way in an unexpected and challenging world. Jennifer O’Donnell has a great performance.

I don't believe author ever played video games or

Went through police training before, the combat tactics are too simplistic, MC does not use enemies as obstacles for there enemies (avoiding fire 101)

Jennifer is a great performer.

Jennifer is a amazing performer and sold me on the series. I can't wait for the next one.

Not bad. Slow at times, but still entertaining

I definitely preferred the first part/book, especially with it's pvp focus, but the second book's conflict still stood between players in a way that I found satisfying. I'm generally not a fan of PvE in my LitRPG - though that's really just a matter of taste.

I did find the prose a little repetitive at times, and a little rough around the edges, but the narrator's range of voices definitely made for a fun listen.

Overall, I enjoyed it well enough.

Fantastic tale!!

I loved this tale! Hope we get to hear the other books soon! Very inthralling, you will not put the book down!!!

this book wass amazing to lisen to. <3 story<3

the story is extremely interesting and fun I can't wait for the next books to come out

Better than most Litrpg

Sure this book had a few annoyances to some but whatever. It was really good.

Pros:
The book is solid as a lit rpg at its core. It takes into account real rpg tactics how games work and how that could incorporate into virtual reality. There is definite world building structure to the book / game and not to much happens arbitrarily. Things follow a general structure and set of realism that some litrpgs lack.
The main character is likable and all characters have a deep sense of personality. Not to many feel like a plastic blank slate of character. They all have their quarks.
Thank heaven there is something in this book that many litrpgs mess up royally. The main character changes out her weapons and armor when leveling. She doesnt have to do so as often because shes a heaving magic user, but not all magic. Many litrpg's have the mc pick up a rusty whatsit like a spear or something in the beginning and then the rest of the series theyre like no I gotta use a spear even if it does not make synergistic sense in combat. pfff.. No she changes weapons and armor when appropriate.

Cons:
She does make her self into a glass cannon pretty hard. She even mentions this later in the book saying she knew she would have to invest some points to round herself out later but since shes clearing the game rapidly and is usually under leveled she has to do something to make a difference. That's ok. but a bit of hardcore relentless grinding and rounding out may mean she doesnt die...like for good. Just my thoughts
Only other annoying part is that she is completely a noob to any video game lingo what so ever. Maybe this is for the readers benefit but most readers are gamers if therye listening to lit rpgs lol. Like who doesn't know what HP and MP are. Like not knowing Kiting or mob aggro I get. Roles maybe. but come one a little bit of oh yea makes sense or I've heard of that before would be nice lol.

Overall this is one of the better lit rpgs I've come across. I'm eager for the next book to come to audible and will keep my eyes peeled. This one does stand out a bit from the rest and is enjoyable to listen to. Particularity if your going on a litrpg binge like I am lol.

Excellent Series Very Happy with It

Very nice series, with a LitRPG core, the book goes through a good progression, adding layers as it goes. The voice artist does a good job with female voices and a better then average effort for most of the male voices. Story has a strong female character that developed well, but starts off with a lot of glarring weaknesses for someone who has made it through West Point and is serving in the military before entering the story. If you want a piece of good literature they will keep you engaged and entertained for a weekend, this is a good canidate. Only regret is the next two books in the series are not available on Audial at this time. The series should keep the same voice artist if possible. Hoping the next two entries in the series are done just as well. Interestingness view on the LitRPG concept, and the gaming concepts are explained reasonably well so readers who are not familiar with the terms do not get lost in jargon. The story pacing is good and moves along at a good rate, the author only has to do a couple of time compressions to jump over the required grinding for the main character. Nice and entertaining piece that ask several interesting questions that will become more and more important as the future technology described becomes a possibility. I.e. What really is life and what makes it importent, will people always fall back to stereo types when in a community (for good or bad). Overall a good series so far, Published pack includes books one and two as does the audio package, very entertaining so far, I would recommend it to friends.

Like listening to your kid play Minecraft

I went into these two books with great hope for a fun advanture. Book 1 was decent initially but the premise and the story is so weak that it simply doesn't hold up. Although the spark of creativity is there is some scenes, the author is unable to maintain it.

It can be fun to watch others play video games. Book 2 never rises to even that level of interest. I simply couldn't muster any concern about whether she makes it to level 8 or not.

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