Challenge (Unbound Deathlord Series Book 1) - Unbound Deathlord

At first, I thought this was significantly derivative of Alter World by D. Rus. But, it was well written and engaging, so I stuck with it. The story turned out to be quite fun and it has promise in the sequels to follow. Sadly, this is early in, so there is no other title this author has published to see if he is in it for the long haul. Mr. Castle has a web log and he posts his writing there serially, much as Dickens did back in the day when he wrote Pickwick Papers for newspapers in London. It is a tried and true way to hone your craft. I look forward to more from this author and wish him success in the future.

Amazing, well done LitRPG. Great cast of characters and a complex world, incredibly long book that only covered a small part of that world. Can not wait for more of this series. There are a few grammatical mistakes but overall I would say it was well edited. If you like the litrpg genre, or video games this is well worth your time.

Rarely if ever in this genre has an author actually blended the real world happenings as well as the in-game in such a seamless and realistic way. I don't typically write reviews but the character and world building were great to me. The characters were compelling, the plot line had its fair share of unpredictable twists and the book didn't get too bogged down by the numerical minutiae of those typically found in this genre. I'm looking forward to the next adventure with Jack - who I have to say is one of my favorite protagonists in a long time. Bravo.

This is an excellent story, my problem is with the horrible editing. For the price I paid for this book I expected to find one or two errors. Instead I lost count of them all.
I expect to see quality that matches what this story deserves. So if you read this review mr. author you need to up your game with book 2, and give the readers a better edited book.
The story may be great but we spent hard earned money on your book and I for one expect a much better job being done on the editing.
Do yourself and your customers a favor and take a little time to double check your work. Don't just rush to publish.

Great book for a new author. Minor spelling issues early on (auto correct must have converted ‘customer’ to ‘costumer’), but few and far between. Fair warning, the book deals with themes of torture, slavery, cannibalism and murder, and those are just in the game - They pale in comparison to the ‘real’ people.

I'm a contrarian, so after reading the enthusiastic reviews I was ready to hate it. Surprisingly, I loved it. Professional quality editing, intriguing characters, complex and satisfying plot. I'm surprised that something this good would come from a first-time author.

Consistent smart arse character and a decent back story along with in game work. Only annoying thing is character sheet at the end of every chapter.
A few spelling errors and some strange word choices, but not enough to detract from the story.

it appears the author forgot to have someone edit the book. In fact, I think he also failed to even review his own work. Words are mis-used throughout the story, like using "costumer" instead of "customer." Some sentences just end in mid-thought and mysterious words appear out of nowhere. No one seems to have done a spell check... If this book didn't have such potential, it would be close to unreadable since the errors are so distracting. Strongly suggest you get someone to proofread your next book

This finally turned me off for role playing game books. The insertion of game pop-ups was annoying. If you like role playing games then this might work for you, but the artifacts made ti so I couldn't immerse myself in the story.

After reading numerous litrpg, I'm familiar with many of the tropes. This book made me overlook those with an interesting main character who is creative and a world that is just as interesting. The end made such a great cliffhanger that I can't wait for more.

This was definitely a more complicated book than I expected coming into it. For that reason I loved it, while the premise seems very straight forward in the beginning, by the end of the book the twists and turns in the plot shocked me. I'm also a huge fan of the main character and the mentality that if you can't win no one can is one I personally am guilty of. All in all this is a great book and I'm eagerly awaiting the second book already.

The book starts right in the middle of the action with little explenation of what is going on or the rules of the game. The explenations come throughout the story in the form of flashbacks. The protagonist, Jack, has issues in RL and chosen to play the game to blow of steam and it shows in his behavior through the game. He picked a challenging race in a challenging starting area and gimped himself even more by a couple of other choices that become obvious later on. The result is certainly an interesting tense story and the character is is a bit of jerk. Not my type of protagonist to be honest, but not detestable either. He is certainly well developed with obvious and consistent flaws. Survival at is hardest in a game where Jack gets in the middle of a political nightmare mostly out of his control, something that does not mesh well with his nature. Of course, him fighting it makes it even worse.

While I like the writing style, I find the book rather dark. The author depicts a rather bleak picture of humanity, although that becomes more apparent by the end of the book. It left me with mixed feelings, curious about the next part, but also a bit worried since I usually prefer a bit more light-hearted stories.

The game itself takes a prominent role in the story, but since the protagonist made a choice to ignore the manual there is no conscious game strategic behind his character's development. Jack's presumptions certainly bite him in the backside on occassion, which makes for interesting story, but in a way lessens what I like about litRPG. For me it is not just about numbers after the fact, but also about the planning beforehand. Reprinting the character sheet at the end of each chapter was certainly overdone, but at least he did not kept repeating the same texts for powers and races as happens in some other litRPGs.

All in all, a good read, but there are a few elements that gets me to drop it from 4 to 3 stars. I will probabaly by the second part though. Curious how bleak the author keeps depicting humanity.

Several serious inconsistencies in character made me drop the book. There are some early spoilers ahead, so read at your discretion. I am not a fan of emo drama, so when the MC began whining, "I killed my parents, I burned the house down." I rolled my eyes. That would have been whatever, except five pages later he starts saying how much he wants to throw fireballs around. Because magic is cool! I'm thinking, ummm... Shouldn't you have a phobia of fire? Next, he picks an undead deathlord, and I'm getting ready to settle into an evil anti-hero character. Oh, no... not even in the slightest. He is so painfully paladin-like I cringed a little inside. The final straw was when he's so nice to the first prisoner he comes across, that her mind breaks. She calls him master, and he's acquired his first harem girl two or three chapters into the book. I was done, I hit pause, and deleted the book from my device. A truly minor point I'd like to add is how badass he is from login. How the hell would he know to time his footsteps to a mobs breathing? How??!? Then his apparent skill with a sword, but he can't use the torturers' whip for some reason. Why can't it be used in Pvp? I mean there's full pain already?

For context, I've left my original review below. When first looking at this work, it was unavailable on Kindle Unlimited, and I had reservations concerning the work, based on what I noted within my original review. When I provide a review that is not positive, I do try to make it a practice to go back to re-examine the work, usually a few months between. In this case, I decided to give the work a second try as I noticed the work had moved to kindle unlimited.

Having said that, I will readily admit where I was wrong. What appeared to me as issues with the conveyed story and character development were contextual elements of the story. While there are still editorial hiccups within the work, the issues there do not interrupt the flow, or impact the story overall. It may be my imagination, but it appears a few of the errors I saw originally were corrected. Towards the latter portion of the book, there still seemed to be a few typo issues here and there. I tend to be harsh on the editing, so would encourage readers to measure my comments in such context.

Mr. Castle provides a fairly unique story with several surprising twists. I would encourage those that are fans of the LitRPG to jump into this work, as there is great potential for a series here. I think readers will see improvements in the character and relationship development in future works and would encourage the author to focus some attention in that area, BUT I would greatly revise my comments on the reading level, conceptualizing of the story, and character development, and wholeheartedly admit that my original opinions were wrong. This leads me to alter my original rating from 2 to 4 stars, and Mr. Castle a definite author that I will be looking forward to reading/following.

Original:
Rare if not a "never" for me to write a review before finishing a book. I always...ALWAYS...download a sample before purchasing the book. Based on reviews, I thought I might enjoy this one. I can't bring myself to buy the full book to read. Within the sample, I noticed a fair number of editorial issues. Mostly items that would not be caught in a spell check. In many cases, wrong words, or what appears to be wrong conceptually. It feels that the author's story is not smoothly told. I often times refer to this as "stiff", but I don't know that it fits here. In part, I think this feeling is that it came across as a lower reading level. If I were to sum up or try to encompass what I felt like was a flaw throughout, I would have to say that there seemed to be an issue between conceptualizing the story, and transferring it into written word. There is simply something missing between that point "A" and point "B".

For the author, congratulations on your first work. If ever available on kindle unlimited I will try the whole book. From the sampling, I would encourage additional editing or editors, potentially a higher reader/writing level, and possibly challenge your methodology of transferring concept to written story. I know this review seems harsh, and again it is impossibly rare for me to write a review without reading the whole work, but I did not feel justified in purchasing from the issues I saw within the sample.

Typically if I see issues like this in a sample that prevent me from reading the full novel, I watch the author, check out the second written work to see if some of the issues are addressed, and if so, I go back and purchase/read the full first novel. Having said that, I look forward to seeing future works from Edward Castle, again congratulate him on publishing his first lengthy novel, and by no means discount the challenge that he rose to in doing so.

“Challenge” is the first book in the “Unbound Deathlord” series.  The book is authored by Edward Castle and the audiobook’s narration is expertly performed by, as usual, Jeff Hays.  In the very crowded Literary Role Playing Game (LitRPG) genre, this book sets itself apart by approaching the story from the perspective of a more evil or dark character (a deathlord) instead of your usual paladin or hero character.  It is a rather large book containing almost a thousand pages in the print edition and comprising nearly eighteen hours of audio.  Unlike many in the category, this book makes you feel you are actually experiencing a virtual game world.  If you enjoy LitRPG books, I believe you will enjoy this one.  Just be aware, the book is the first in a series, and it is the only one currently available in audiobook format.  I will be interested to see the direction the author takes this book.

If the sentence, “You awaken in a cold and damp dungeon”, sounds familiar to you, I think you get a good idea of the direction this will go.  The beginning of the story is nothing new from others like it, however I really was able to enter the world and it felt like a game rather than just another fantasy novel.  It felt polished and well edited.  One really gets a sense of the characters powers and abilities as he levels up; and who did not like this aspect while playing such games?  You felt the initial pain and struggle of a newly created level one character, and as the book progressed you felt the weight and struggles lift somewhat.  However, some of the newer quests matched or even exceeded the players skill level.  I thought the ranking system was also interesting.  Not only are we given a skill tree to understand, but the book also contained trait and class details as well.  Again, simply a nice touch adding depth to the story.

The world the author created consisted of many of the expected fantasy or adventure items and creatures.  There were swords, spiders, rats, but the author additionally included some different things such as a quite powerful illusion ring along with others.  Because the book was mostly focused on more dark characters, we were presented with vampires, ghouls, witches, along with other creatures who prefer the night.  Because the main character was a dark mage, there was some good detail provided around the magic system and the character’s process of learning it.  In many ways, the book is really a struggle between good and evil, however you are hoping evil wins in this case.  Jack thorn seems to be a rather unique player with a rather unique voice; covered in the narration section.

Although the book often filled with pokes, zings, or bantering between the players and NPCs, it also contained some serious and emotional scenes as well.  I thought the author did a decent job of taking us on an emotional rollercoaster from start to finish.  The opening sequence is action filled and emotionally charged.  That is not to say the book is overly deep or touchy-feely.  There is plenty of gaming humor and fun found within its pages.  The story is a bit darker than others in the genre, but it also deemed more complex and complete even though it is only the first book in a series of books.

The book’s narration was done very well by Jeff Hays.  With this book, I felt he was trying a new technique by voicing the main character and the narrator as two separate people.  Although the story was told from the perspective of the main character, the voice Mr. Hays used when the character spoke was quite different.  I’m not sure the voice of the main character fit what I expected him to sound like, but as with other parts of this book, it grew on me.  For the length of the book, the audio was performed flawlessly.  No noticeable audio artifacts were heard.  I also thought he did a good job of pacing the book’s narration.  I even enjoyed the games female Artificial Intelligence (AI) voice at the end of each chapter.  I will say that I did not enjoy the character stats given at the close of each chapter, however it began to grow on me and I wanted to hear how the character grew from the previous chapter.  Again, his level and skill elevation seemed to be in line with the actions he took during the chapter.

For parents of younger readers, I would not recommend this book as the subject matter is geared more towards an adult audience.  The book contains a fair amount of vulgar language (rather heavy at times), high-level sexual topics, and a few scenes containing intense graphic violence.  If any of these offend you, I suggest you grab a different book.

For someone to want to be placed permanently into a virtual world due to a life event, you have to feel for him.  Yet, even though he selects a dark character type, the story is written in a way that you want him to succeed.  The writing is descriptive and not overly verbose.  If you are a fan of the genre, I recommend you pick up Challenge by Edward Castle, and give it a listen.

Audiobook was provided for review by the narrator.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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I actually started following this book while it was being written elsewhere (in draft form on a writers website) and am very excited to see it in print. The story is great! The character is a likeable clever jerk, and I think that most readers will be entertained following the tricky, but logical, way that the main character gets through the story. In addition to the virtual world plot development, the story also includes plot development for the character outside of the RPG.

It probably isn't too much of a spoiler to note that the main character elects (very early in the book) to play a "deathlord" (necromancer). Not one to tie himself up with idealism, the main character is definitely looking for an escape from his reality and does not care if his fun means that he must play a chaotic or "evil" character; given the characters background (as slowly revealed in the book), this is unsurprising. This story follows LitRPG convention and involves a fantasy setting in a virtual world and a character that levels as it gains experience and completes "quests".

I'm eagerly looking forward to this author's next book. (Would love to be an editor... pick me!!!)

I checked this out after learning about "LitRPG" as a genre. I enjoyed Ready Player One and thought this might be somewhat similar.

At its core it is low stakes power fantasy. The main character is a power gamer going all-in on a new VR RPG similar to D&D. This part is fun. It's like a bag of popcorn, not filling but tasty. The main character navigates his way around a game world, trying his best to be the very best, like no one ever was.

This character, at first, reads like a parody of a fedora-wearing Redditor. He's full of himself, sexist, dumb, but meticulous. His idea of what is cool is based off being rich, getting into street fights, and being a pickup artist. He forms a kind of internet anti-hero in the context of a video game world.

Too soon, however, you realize this is not a parody. He IS, in fact, the Alpha Male of alpha males, he IS a street fighter, and rich, and also women love him. Like a Gary Stu of /r/theredpill, he repeatedly proves women are dumb and illogical, and men are inferior and exist to be dominated. This is when the book falls apart. The side characters in the book serve only to elevate Gary.

This doesn't begin to touch upon the ridiculous out-of-game storyline that tries it's best to create an Atlas Shrugged style family drama in the mix. It's here we learn of Gary's deepdark past of high stakes family power struggle and melodrama.

It's a shame because I wish the book was self aware enough to pull this kind of story off. The fun moments become all the more disappointing when weighed against the larger narrative and character choices. I think this is an author to watch, but I wouldn't recommend this series unless it is exactly what you're looking for.

Jack Thorn, from the moment he entered the game was a thorn in the side of some of the most powerful characters in Valia. He broke the game, sending the preordained plot off course with his problem-solving skills, quick reactions, and the lessons taught to him by his parents. He entered the game to run from who he was, who he had become. He wanted to escape, to enjoy himself, to conquer the underworld... No wait, that wasn't his agenda, was it? Amongst a sea of unhelpful, condescending NPC's this one thought keeps returning to him, but is it even his? In a game where your every thought can be monitored who is to say you can't also be influenced?

Unbound Deathlord: Challenge is Edward Castle's creative addition to the LitRPG genre. Packed with action, creative solutions, and some just plain pure dumb luck any fan of the genre is in for a treat. Great descriptions and seamless integration of RPG systems and methods add to this enticing read. You can't help but root for Jack as he aims to win the Challenge set by the designers, while attempting to drive things his way, by outmanoeuvring, out thinking, and generally just antagonising those who seek to better him. There are some great characters who play well-designed supportive roles as they are dragged along for this intense ride.

I read this on Kindle Unlimited

*Borrowed via Kindle Unlimited, read from 0% to 99%

The main protagonist is the star of the show, though his characterization is muted at the start of the book. A third into the book, we get to peek under all his sass to see how he got to where he is and what it means for him as an anti-hero Even the supporting characters display personality that is not usually seen in litRPG books.

The writing is also compelling, keeping me glued from start to finish. If I have to point out a weakness though, it would be the first quarter of the book. It adheres too closely to the standard litRPG tropes and formulas while introducing story threads that are left unresolved or hastily cleaned up near the end of the book. Not noticeable enough to ruin the experience, though. Classic case of "It Gets Better Later On™"

The litRPG mechanics are a mixed bag. Most battles are pretty epic, and are usually involving affairs that are a pleasure to read. The protagonist is competent and is borderline overpowered, though Castles doesn't go overboard on that department. There are, however, enough deus ex machina moments to somewhat dampen the experience.

As a whole though, the book was a great litRPG piece, and am eagerly awaiting the second entry

A Silver Spoon guy who thinks he was responsible for his family death seeks escape from the real world by entering a Vr Rpg Game Challenge. The Challenge is to survive for thirty days without dying and logging out of the game. Top 100 players gets 80 points to their avatar's stats. So our MC starts in the super hard difficult Underworld. He chooses to be a DeathLord (no sleep/no nightmares) out of the choices of Vampires,Drows,Zombies,Ghouls, and Ghost. Unbound Deathlords are really hated by the other races of Underworld because they serve no gods.
The Game Corp think he is a cheater so they watch him closely because he kills a high level NPC in the first days of gameplay.

I never thought I would say this, but I felt sorry for the Rich Guy. His parents rearing was all about Money and Power. If it was not for his down to earth Aunt it would have been impossible to be sane with his upbringing. They were even proud of him during his teen rebellion years of running
with a street gang and becoming its leader.

Very action packed and highly entertaining/hard to put down story...MISTER AUTHOR, PLEASE GET BUSY WRITING ME MORE OF THIS FASCINATING WORLD. This was a great ball of yarn

I really enjoyed this book, it had an interesting story and did some unique things with the litrpg elements. Like most litrpg books it was fairly slow in the beginning as leveling, looting, traits, skills etc are all explained. Side characters were also pretty weak/nonexistent in the first half of the book, but we're definitely getting better towards the end. There were also sort of a lot of weird jokes and lines about women and the women characters didn't seem very nuanced or interesting yet. Since this was his first book I have a lot of hope for the second one improving and being a great read.

The author created a very rich complicated litrpg story. It had a good sorry arc for the book.
Too much for me to actually go into, just good complete story arc is the basis of a good book.

The main thing here, is this is actually a book that could have been split into two good books.

Normally first time writers who write books slightly over a average book length are talked into splitting them into two short not very good books.

Here is the first time I've seen a first time writer publish one that could have with a little bit of work made into two good books. (This is not a complaint, I like the book).

Much more common are first time writers writing long tedious books that aren't worth reading, those thankfully rarely have people pushing for them to be split. Easier to drop the book/author that way.

The book started slowly, but for good reason. At first I thought it was just another LITRPG clone, but it turned out to be one of best books in the genre. It is a true science fiction novel - it doesn't make the magic real, port the users into another dimension (other than the virtual), or link the users into an intergalactic network. Instead, Castle builds a fascinating adventure into a world that seems darkly plausible for the future. And he does with characters that grow upon you with time. I am very much looking forward to the sequel.

First off This book was amazing. The twist turns and fun ride I would give this a higher rating if I could. For a first time book he knocked it out of the park! Ok The main character is flawed but also fun. The mechanics flow smoothly and the story is excellent. The main character meets friends and he actually grows as a person but still stays who he is at his core. The magic system was fun and the fighting system was well established. This would be an great game to play and even live.

Get this book don't put it down you will not be disappointed.!

(Borrowed through Kindle Unlimited) This is a difficult book for me to rate, because I don't really like anti-heroes or MCs that act like jerks. However, the story is well written, and I like the secondary characters. I also realize the MC acts as he does due to his parents. Anyway, if the MC was more likable I'd give this five stars, but I'm taking one star away due to the MC. I do recommend reading this to see if you would like it.

So I recently started really getting into LitRPG novels. I'm a huge gamer nerd and Sci fi fan so I figured it would be a good fit, and I was right (shocking). Well the problem is there are a lot of novice authors in this genre and I have found quite a few duds. HOWEVER, this has to be one of the greatest books I've read from a new author. I literally read it in one day. I could not put it down. I honestly don't even want to describe in to much analysis why it was so good just to make you read it and enjoy for yourself. Slight warning, there are a few (I think close to 10 that I spotted) grammatical errors or typos, but wasn't much else to complain about

A fantastic book with great story and great characters! I enjoyed the book from beginning to end - great storytelling and plotting and I really enjoyed the characters the author created. One of only a few LitRPG stories that draws you into the "real world" story line as well as that of the virtual world. I am sorry I let this great book linger in my "to read" queue for so long. I look forward to the next story with great anticipation!

The whole "sadistic parents" plot ruined the book for me. It stretched my suspension of disbelief until it snapped and I just quit reading. It's too bad, because the litrpg part of the book was fairly good.

Having recently gone down the rabbit hole that is the Kindle Unlimited LITRPG world, I've been burning through a lot of different books lately. Honestly, quite a few of them start to run together in my head.

This one stands apart. The MC has complexity, the world is intricate without being overly baroque. I pretty much just love everything about it. I'd say it's one of my top 5 that I've read. Just wish that the sequel was out already.

Give it a spin, I think you might just enjoy it.

so, i really enjoyed this book. it bought to mind some other series that i keep a strict eye on. continue online, alterworld, the land, the bathrobe knight, and some new ones. thee MC wasnt so overpowered or smart. he just want willing to give up or give on. he kept helping those prisoners even with all their attitude. i loved the AI's quirky sayings when giving attribute points. there were some amusing ones there. it even called him an idiot at one point. regardless, this was litrpg done well.

The lack of editing shows, numerous spelling mistakes, mismatched words, and even missing words. Did you copy at paste your work from RRL? The story itself is horrible aswell, the game feels....dark without any reason at all and worst of all there is no over arching plot throughout the story. Just flashbacks to his childhood and random crap happening in the game. 3/10

Well thought out plot. Some of it is over complicated like a over done 24 episode, but it keeps you interested. I really enjoy the game real life plots.

However their is no way the protagonist is as smart as he is and believes he killed his parents. I struggled with it through out the book. I liked the plot twist with the aunt but it was kind of forced a points. Oh well I kept reading.

90% of the characters in this book are crazy, twisted, evil, and mostly unlovable...but you are still drawn in. This book is a rollercoaster of Machiavellian schemes, backbiting, and chaos. The MC makes you admire him, and cheer for him, without being likable. This author has true talent.

I never got bored, the mechanics were seamlessly integrated into the story, the immersion technology made sense and fit.

The only small criticism was the main character had extreme moments of PMS at points. He got super bitchy or antagonistic every so often and it made it hard to root for him sometimes.

Other than a few distractions the writing was funny, clever and engaging.

Wow, what an unexpected rollercoaster. Unexpected characters and amazing twists and turns. Started so different from most gaming world books. Kept my attention and it kept building. Very different from other books and really enjoyed. Looking forward to book 2.