5 years ago an unknown, game company came from nowhere to release a first generation virtual reality pod and their bundled game Stellar Survival Quest. The Technology was 20 years ahead of anything else currently out, sending shockwaves through the entertainment industry.
“Now a new game system is not normally world shattering. Especially when players reported not being able to recall their time playing. The company made claims; of keeping the game world pure and not allowing micro gaming.
However, when that first generation of gamers left the gaming pods they knew things they did not before. Skills learned in game translated to real life skills! Overnight the world was thrown on its heels. A new player could log into the game be given a job in some way decided by the game and come out an ivy league educated scientist, or special ops level soldier.
Nathan Tyrone Rogers or Bubba to his friends and family awoke on a small transport freshly landed on an ancient space station. As the first Human to be spawned outside the Sol System, Nathan is vastly unprepared and overwhelmed for the task at hand. With a cryptic message that he needs to claim the solar system of Epsilon Endi before one of the other 12 species; also spawned in system can. Some of which will supposedly be hostile to humanity. He attempts to survival in the completely hostile environment of space. All the while trying to choose a path for himself, avoid being eaten by monstrous alien women and growing more and more annoyed with his “real self” still back on Earth.
This is the first Sci-Fi LitRPG novella in the Stellar Survival Quest series set in Jalf Whitemages Total Expanse Universe. This book contains adult themes, mild harem themes, base building, and real time strategy elements. It is not recommended for those new to the Lit Genre, and definitely not anyone who is easily offended by … well anything. You have been warned!!!
My Opinion: 229 pages, $0.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
The story starts out good, but loses me a bit near the end. The novel begins with the main character (MC) finding himself without memory of his personal life or history but a recording of himself saying he's playing a game that's not really a game. It’s honestly a longer intro than is needed but it sets up some of the mechanics and survival elements. Basically this is a space survival LitRPG story. There are lots of deaths and respawns as the MC tries to survive even the 1st few moments on an abandoned space station that is open to the void of space. He figures it out and then it's about figuring out the game system, crafting/repairing the station to survive, and using the game mechanics to accomplish his goals. There is also a minor story thread about the things he and other players are doing in game impacting real world earth, but it wasn’t too interesting.
There are a few of these kinds of stories: Universe Online, Planet Bound, Histaff. So if you like those, you might also like this one.
I should note that there is this out of left field sex scene at about the 72% mark, and the story takes this harem twist towards the end. While that definitely lessened my enjoyment, it’s a skippable scene, and after it returns to the space survival RPG stuff.
Score: 7.3 out of 10