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  • Survival Quest

  • Way of the Shaman Series # 1
  • By: Vasily Mahanenko
  • Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
  • Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (147 ratings)

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Survival Quest cover art

Survival Quest

By: Vasily Mahanenko
Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
Free with 30-day trial

$16.45/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

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Publisher's Summary

Barliona: a virtual world jam-packed with monsters, battles - and, predictably, players. Millions of them come to Barliona, looking forward to the things they can't get in real life: elves and magic, dragons and princesses, and unforgettable combat. The game has become so popular that players now choose to spend months online without returning home. In Barliona, anything goes: You can assault fellow players, level up, become a mythical hero, a wizard, or a legendary thief. The only rule that attempted to regulate the game demanded that no player be allowed to feel actual pain. But there's an exception to every rule. For a certain bunch of players, Barliona has become their personal hell. They are criminals sent to Barliona to serve their time. They aren't in it for the dragons' gold or the abundant loot. All they want is to survive the virtual inferno. They face the ultimate survival quest.

©2015 V. Mahanenko. English translation copyright 2015 by Natalia Nikitin (P)2016 Tantor

What listeners say about Survival Quest

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Another Russian litrpg

The mc is beyond stupid and seems to believe he is a genius.The mc will decide to craft an item, then immediately find the perfect material to make the item and even notice that the material is the right size to make a part of the crafting, but will go into 15 minutes of internal dialog before realising he can make the item he was just thinking of making.
All of the choices made by the mc are obvious but require endless thinking over.
Combat manages to have 5 minutes of dialog between swings (it’s not turn based combat).
The game rules are inconsistent and change to fit the mc’s needs at the time.
Maybe it’s the translation....

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing! Long! Great twists in the series

This was an amazing inclusion in the subscription, I had doubts given it was a translation but I really loved it, have been binge listening through it all. Great character development, not an OP MC with limits and set backs. And a seemless melding of reality/game that a lot of the genre struggles with.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

A bit boring

an interesting perspective, but the plot is random and very linear. I don't think it's my cuppa tea

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Slow, but good.

The start of the book is slow and took me some time to warm up to it.
But once it got into it I slowly captured my full attention.
Good strong finish, just about to start book 2.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

For a Lover of Quests!

I quite enjoyed this journey. It's not of epic proportions, it is a journey, what I imagine to be a real journey. Similar to a Journey in D&D at level 1. It was beautifully told and I enjoyed the status updates despite what others may think. if for everything else, it reminds of what Runescape was 20 years ago, before tutorial island and all kuffufle that has followed. the simple enjoyment I got from levelling skills and mining and fishing for hours with friends. I quit RS when it, like all other mmorpg became the same, about money. I am now buying book two for this story, as I want to know where it goes and what happens next. If you love an adventure and enjoy playing D&D for RP with fighting, then this is for you. My only downside is, the narrator, it took me an hour before I really started to like his voice, but it was worth the wait, some times certain sentences would falter, but if you manage to listen to this in one sitting like myself, you will barely notice anything as your mind will just imagine you are there and forget the foibles.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Too damn polite

wrongfully imprisoned and on the up and up, I love the story although I feel like it's all a bit too easy for Mayan, it seems like he gets opportunities the literally no one else could ever hope for even if they repeated the same actions
the writing is a little clunky and far too polite which makes it feel like a children's story and tbh disconnects it from reality even worse than the scifi fantasy aspects, I could honestly believe the VR immersion before I could believe that the characters were all so gentlemanly even when in conflict
my biggest peave with the book is the narrator, it might be a combination of the writing style but like I said it all just felt too polite, like I was being read a bed time story
Dont get me wrong I enjoyed this book but it was despite the writing style and narration bot because of it.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

brilliant

Immersed me, I enjoyed the limitations of a prison upon the character, I found the story much easier to follow and more exciting because I had well defined boundaries to align my expectations rather than open world litrpgs that I can struggle with.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Survival Quest book 1

Vasily Mahanenko is a talented and skilled author I loved this book from start to finish the characters a well written and the world is very insightful the voice acting skills of Jonathan Yen make the characters and story come alive 12/10 stars....

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Different and entertaining

This is an interesting take on the idea of playing MMOs and any MMO players would enjoy the story and challenges which the protagonist encounters. Looking forward to listening to the next book.

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