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The Heroic Villain

By: Charles Dean
Narrated by: Jeff Hays, Annie Ellicott, Justin Thomas James, Anneliese Rennie
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Publisher's Summary

Although he was once the promising young CEO of a successful corporation, Lucas abandoned everything he knew and retreated from both the real world and his demanding life following a horrific accident. In order to cope with tragic loss, he began spending his time in virtual reality, lazing about in the sun, and living a carefree life.

When he learns that his escapist paradise is being threatened and is about to disappear, however, Lucas is once again forced to take action and do what he does best: take charge. With newfound purpose, Lucas desperately begins making plans that will not only save the world that he has come to love but also propel him back into the spotlight once again - only this time as the villain.

In this GameLit LitRPG adventure, Lucas overthrows local lords, assumes command of the evil Imperium’s forces, and begins designing a dungeon that no player would ever want to miss out on. As he struggles to evolve his monsters and create an entourage of minions in order to become the greatest villain ever, however, Lucas realizes that things aren’t going to be as easy as they initially seemed.

Dave Willmarth, writer of the Greystone Chronicles: "A great start to a new series from a master storyteller! The MC being more of an anti-hero is a new twist for Charles, and I’m really enjoying it!"

This book is brought to you from the author of the Litrpg series War Aeternus, The Bathrobe Knight and Merchant of Tiqpa.

©2019 Charles Dean (P)2019 Charles Dean

What listeners say about The Heroic Villain

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A Good Story except for the workplace toxicity

The overall story is a fun and generally interesting Light LitRPG story with the main character taking on the role of the villain for fun, profit and spiritual healing after a traumatic life event.
Not the worst I have read of this type but not the best either. That said the story suffers from one little plot point that makes me hate the main character and a lot of what he stands for.

**Spoilers for the ending**
The main character turns a blind eye to a truely horrible case of workplace sexual abuse.
The final antagonist, an in-game moderator and real world boss, who goes by the delightful name of Maidbanger. The final villain/boss/supervisor uses his real-world power to threaten an employee and direct underling with workplace consequences if she does not sleep with him. Everyone involved from victim to the hero let's it go as something that can't be stopped.
The victim explains that her boss has already been spreading rumours and will just use the "she was asking for it defence", the hero accepts it as something that can't be stopped as it's just a boy's will be boys situation.
The company that employs the victim and abuser is described as simply being willing to fire the victim as the simplest solution to keep the company and workplace happy.
All this describes a truely toxic and horrible work place and something that the heroes should be fighting against but in the end it is simply shrugged at as part of the system and something to get in the way of the game that they are all playing. This dispite the fact that 'The Hero' of the story is infact a rich and powerful individual real world and has a direct influence on how the company is run and who is employed by it.
They have to power to easily stop this kind of abuse, I repeat easily stop it with no consequences to themselves and they don't.

I have worked in a corporate environment for years and while I know these kinds of places do exist I have worked hard to stop them when I see them. I have counseled victims and abusers on numerous occasions and even had to deal with the horrible consequences when no one stepped in and a person has taken their own life.

This story treats the abuse as a minor part of the hero's journey, something that he see's as wrong but fails to stop because the victim says it will cause more harm to her to stop it. I can only hope that future books step in to fix this but the initial reaction turned me away as a reader.

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3 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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DNF

Boring, slow, it’s been done better. Try checking out Everybody loves Big chests for a villain plot line in an RPG world.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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Boring and Insignificant but Great Narrating

Story is boring and inconsistent. Annoying Characters. Worse than the interlude parts of Assassin's Creed.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Stellar Sound Design.

A great story with a clear progression, character development and storyline. The sound design accents it wonderfully and it combines into a geat listen.

Something I could add would be to give some more credit to the other players in the game. They already missed out on the negative level exploit and an entire facet of the system that lets players generate thier own quests. which would be a major selling point. That can all be addressed in the next book as what sort of gamer would spend 2 years in the tutorial zone
o.o

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing Quality and Better Writing.

Like how I ignored this author's other book series because the Book one's art. I avoided this series because of the name.

However, like that series I instantly fell in love with the story and the characters once I have it a shot. Jeff and Annie's amazing voice acting, the wonderful sound work and Charles Dean's solid writing made every minute a blast.

It's gotten to a point that every book he releases with Sound Booth is a Must Buy.

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The Heroic Villain

Charles Dean is one of the most talented and skilled author's I enjoy his work greatly. This book is bloody brilliant and can't wait to buy the next book of this series and with the voice acting talents and skills of Anneliese Rennie, Justin Thomas James,
Annie Ellicott and Jeff Hays who's narration makes the characters and world come alive this book is a must to listen to and owned... 12/10 stars.

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