Reality Benders Series Boxed Set

Books 1-4

By: Michael Atamanov, Andrew Schmitt - translator

Narrated by: Rudy Sanda

Countdown: At long last, an extraterrestrial civilization reached out and made the First Contact. The end of their message showed humankind how to access a mysterious game. But as people figure out this mysterious game, the countdown timer ticks away. And no one can say exactly what will happen when Earth's safety is no longer guaranteed.

External Threat: Gnat is on his voyage with the Shiamiru, all the while trying to find backup for humanity among the great spacefaring races. Gnat does not expect gratitude from his leaders for taking such matters into his own hands, but when have laws and rules ever stopped our intrepid hero before?

Game Changer: Our suzerains and defenders the Geckho are also caught up in this all-encompassing conflict. Gnat is with the Shiamiru crew on the front lines. He's just changed class to Listener and his friends find themselves right in the thick of this grand interstellar war....

Web of Worlds: The enemy has grown stronger and more numerous. How can our world possibly stand up against such an enemy? Our only hope is the bravery and tenacity of our best fighters, those who'd rather die than surrender. Well, that and a starship captained by one lone mage.

©2018, 2019 Michael Atamanov; English translation copyright 2018, 2019 by Andrew Schmitt (P)2021 Tantor

One of my favourite

This series is one of my favourite. I have read them all and more then ones. Totally recommend this series to other people. The author also has other good books that I recommend to look into

A worthy box set

While the book had a number of places where it fell short, overall, Michael Atamanov had written a fairly interesting litRPG novel. I won't go into detail on the shortcomings since other commenters listed them well. What I will say is that the science parts of the SciFi were written well and the primary characters were well-defined and mostly acceptable. The Earth terrain was Russia some time in the not to distant future. The main character, Gnat, was that of a person way out of his element but through guile and luck, manages to advance quickly. Rudy Sanda performance was spotty. Some characters voices, like Gnat, came off, quite well but others, mostly women and some aliens, were cringe-worthy.and some almost comical, like the adolescent Paladin who came off like someone from Georgia ... the Georgia no where near Russia, that is.

The narrator has changed starting in book 5 to one of my favorites, Neil Hellegers, so I'm very much looking to continue the series with his performance.

Overall, 1 credit for almost 40 hours of SciFi is a great deal as I recently put it to the test listening to it during a grueling 7 hour travel experience.

original

original, great world and character building. plot twist and unexpected development in scope and depth.

Mind bending book series

When I picked this book up when audible recommended it I didn’t know what to expect. I am pleasantly surprised and happy and elated that this book series has lived up to be on my wildest expectations. The writing was excellent. The pacing was very good and the characters were all likable and conceivable, I recommend

Entertaining story ruined by narration

If I wanted Gilbert Gottfried to read this book, I would've paid him. Whiny nasal voices just don't work for me.