The Duty: Play to Live. A LitRPG Series (Book 3)

This is a great series, and I highly recommend it not just to gamers, but also fans of fantasy novels. I was a bit skeptical when I first started reading, but the character development and plot grabs you. I was also surprised to find out that the original text is in Russian and this is an English translation. The translation is excellent. The author is translating book 4 currently with an ETA of summer 2015. I can't wait to read it. I think the author is working on the 7th and last book in the series currently (in Russian). Hopefully, the author will translate the remaining books quickly.

Extremely predictable. Main character constantly has the answer to everything and everyone else is dumb as a rock. Main character also lucks into pretty much everything or uses exploits that the game designers just go "meh" on. More of the same from book 1 except a heavier slant on politics and the beginnings of ethnic bashing and gender discrimination that really has no reason to be in the story.

Some very... unique takes on politics that are preached at the character as well as the complete lack of female characters with an actual brain and some borderline ethnic bashing take place.

I enjoyed this book and it was a great continuation of the series. Things get a little deeper when it comes to the outside world vs. Alterworld.

There were only a couple issues with the editing- but I have seen more in books published from the Big Five- and when it comes to independently published novels, I allow at least ten glaring editing issues before I take away stars in the review.

Now to wait for the fourth to be translated!

Time for the after review, and some additional information. Since I try and be very informative it takes me awhile to ascertain what to make of this one. This book took me awhile to finish. It does appear D. Rus does listen to his reviews, as he has incorporated some additional works into his book via feedback. I am not 100% certain if D. Rus. Is "translating" it from Russian or spoofing that the book is Russian like Princess Bride so he can get around the illiteracy errors here and there. For those of you who didn't know the author of the Princess Bride did a "Abridged novel" from French but actually was a famous US Writer using a codename. Perhaps he wanted to write something new without connotations.

Transitions 3/5
The transitions between some parts or phrases in this book additionally have been getting better. For the most part the book is more fluid. The main beef I have with this version over the previous two books is that the book consistently jumps in storyline. D. Rus addressed some of the issues in the previous books, but forgot some of his originality like in transitions in chapters.

I guess you win some, and loose some. Literal illustrations 2.5/5
(Previous info from last notes and review)
Finally it's out! I've started to read the series in the third book. From what I've seen it appears the author included a 'wiki' that explained the Drow queen, However the author did not include a map. (as far as I know already.) My point here is that I understand all the locations but logistically he jumps a to b to c to a to c to d to e to f, and at somepiont it seems he just ignores wherever the scene is and somehow connects the story together. This is a sign of a good author, but I think Rus takes this concept a little too far, and many readers would like tangible diagrams to explain what's really going on. Even if it's a 2d map that's fine. It helps people understand how far he's traveling, or where the good cities vs bad etc..alt etc. After reading the book it seems D. Rus is incorporating maps into the book, and even somehow in slang english "gets a map drop." here and there throughout the book. D. Rus makes the excuse that the main character hadn't previously thought of maps, and the cost was extremely expensive.
As I mentioned before transitions, even diagrams would be helpful.

Additional insights.
Great things I like about Rus, he's able to have genius ideas, great story, awesome thoughts. Give him an english editor....BINGO!

Cons: The author goes on tangents and does some unnecessary things that just kill the overall ideas of the book. I loved the concept of when he was customizing the castle, and negotiating with others, but when you read sometimes the book just jumps and this is probably due to translation errors. There seems for example from him building the dark temple in the last book jumps straight almost to him diving in after his plan. Rus also creates illiteracy in allusions where you can read beauty.

Part of the problem is that Russian may not just translate very well into english. Russian has the cyrillic alphabet with 33 some characters.

Here's an example. "Hi, I like to read books from D. Rus, that illustrate games online with people. These games are great to read about our main character the inner greedy pig."

''''''Привет, я люблю прочитать книги от D. Русский, которые иллюстрируют игры онлайн с людьми. Эти игры являются большими, чтобы прочитать о нашем главном характере внутреннюю жадную свинью. (Russian sentence.)

"Hi, I like to read books by D. Russian, which show games online with people. These games are great to read about our main character inside a greedy pig."

Now with the translations put eager, and hungry beside a, so it's possible that the book isn't perfect in english while in Russian may read perfectly normal, in english sounds completely bizarre.

Characters (Minor spoiler.). As far as I can tell if there were characters we got attached to they ended up vanishing in some fashion. IE. Bug I complained that I had that nickname 2 books ago and low and behold that character vanished. In this novel there's a few prominent characters, but D. Russ pretty much doesn't treat characters the way a normal author does and it completely wrecks with your though pattern. It feels like there are four parts to this book, and D. Russ put them together to create another novel. For example the 1st iteration is really the last part of the previous iteration "The Clan," however, he created a hook. This book has a second part that deeply develops the characters, and the third or fourth seems to just be plot or action. In tandem version is a cacophony of words due to the translation issues so characters may be hard to follow perhaps? Just maybe?

The main cast has a decent if not more logical approach in how they are developed compared to other books, but it seems to backfire in some fashion as I mentioned before. (very minor spoiler) I dislike the redshirt theory where you develop a character only to remove them.
Score ??? (No idea as characters are not the main focus of this book.)

Plot. What plot? Wait there was a plot? Unlike the previous two books because there's like 4 iterations to this novel, and several introductions I'm afraid I cannot say there's a coherent plotline to this novel. There may be a prevalent idea that flows throughout the book that has creativity, but I cannot say there's a big buildup to a particular moment. I have not found the aha! Moment because it's like a TV show. "But wait there's more don't change this page!" Despite not really having a plot there's a story
1/5

Story. The story itself has a lot of good parts to this novel. For example there's a lot of great moments like a TV show that you want to watch, as I mentioned in the plot section. The book for example has a portion(s) full of creativity. I do not really want to spoil the overall storyline as that's the real meat of the book. If I spoil the main beef then there's nothing left to enjoy? D. Russ somehow made the novel's story connect in a way that would allow it to continue. I'm not sure if there's many authors with enough talent to try something out there like D. Russ's novels.
4/5

Enjoyment My overall rating is higher then previous books despite that I had less enjoyment out of this book. I base ratings on a random set of aspects on a book. It's almost a 4/5. I had a lot more forced reading, and unlike previous novels, I did not want to fully finish. I felt like this novel was more of a chore. The 1st book took me like a few hours, I may have even re-read Afterworld once. The 2nd one I finished in about 2 nights. This version took me 2-3 months to finish reading. Ridiculous! My only hope is that D. Rus hire some translators, get some more maps, diagrams, and work on the transitions as well as the characters so that the book will be one everyone will be waiting to pick up and read for generations.

As the worlds drift further apart, Max remains one of the few to realize that "virtual" and "real" no longer apply. Now, through his eyes, we'll see more of AlterWorld than ever before as Laith the First Priest must lead an army across the nodes to seize a treasure that could even the balance in the coming war. With new friends fighting beside him, and an old evil from the human world defiling the splendor of his new home, we the readers are captivated again in this latest release.

Ok, so the cliffhanger ending is infuriating, but by this point it's expected. I have literally no other gripes with this book. I have to have more! Play To Live redefines a whole genre of fantastical fiction; a game that isn't a game because it is still part of our world. All the books so far are, quite simply, brilliant.

The series continues to entertain. The villains seem human and scary the real world earth continues to be expanded upon and is equally well described as the main story in vr is still vivid and makes sence. Sometimes super power or high level power books start to fall apart under the strain as game privateers to fail but his so far has not happened. ☺ good read.

Amazing thought put into this series. It just keeps getting better and better. Love watching the people and world evolve without any confusion as to what happens as well as the way characters interact. I am a fan of a sin main protagonist and it is hard in a series this long to allow the character to evolve without outside viewpoints. Keep it up and I will keep buying. If all is. Were available I would buy them now. Even with three not being translated from another language!

Actually, chose this book for the cover art. Yeah, yeah, sneer if you want. Being a Warcraft player in the past (my chars resting in the ether) this book is a delight. Insider exp is all. For those who do not know the nuances of quests, drops, percentage analytics, etc., it may be off-putting. The plot was surprising even tho no Death Knight is that is THAT lucky. Bought each book seconds after finishing the previous. More?

This series has been able to keep my attention for the last three days, making it so that I had to finish all the books when I started them. This one did the same thing and I only had two problems with it. I won't spoil it since it'll ruin the book, and when I originally wrote this review I did cause I couldn't control my anger. However I will say what happened made no sense to me.

the third installment was of the book was utterly horrible please do not waste your money the book was so of topic and boring it was a complete let down compared the the amazing first book that came out this is not worth the money do not buy this book please, taalia also dies the author barely included the major characters and the ending is absolutely horrible and makes no sense please do not waste your money