The Duty (Play to Live) Paperback – October 16, 2015

Long winded prose in some parts. A few translation issues but for the most part well done. The world is interesting. If it wasn’t so wordy and if everything possible didn’t always go wrong I would love this book.

I struggled between giving this 4 and 5 stars. On the one hand, I really enjoy the story. The world itself is interesting and keeps me locked in until the last page. I am looking forward to the fourth installment, which can't come soon enough. The only real problem I have is the pacing. The main character is beginning to approach Mary-sue levels as well as the unrealistically fast romance that bloomed. His power gain haven't even happened over time skips, he's just a heavy hitter in what is barely over a month of game time. I do get that one idea is that his perma status would give him more time to gain experience, and games like World of Warcraft actually don't take too much time to level if you can devote a large block of time to it, but the character honestly doesn't spend much levelling up, just exploiting bugs that get him to higher level.Without spoilers, the end of book three also had me scratching my head and not really feeling any interest in the side plot. The side plots happening in the real world seem a little tacked on and I find myself struggling to suspend my disbelief. Not that all the real world things are bad, but I prefer the ones that revolve around various countries and corporations trying to find ways to exploit Alterworld within the game world.I still love the series and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy, virtual reality, or video games. It's a lot of fun and I can't wait for the next book. I just hope it slows down a little and we can see more of the world that we've seen so far. I wouldn't be opposed to some side stories though, within Alterworld of course.

This is a great series, and I highly recommend it not just to gamers, but also fans of fantasy novels. I was a bit skeptical when I first started reading, but the character development and plot grabs you. I was also surprised to find out that the original text is in Russian and this is an English translation. The translation is excellent. The author is translating book 4 currently with an ETA of summer 2015. I can't wait to read it. I think the author is working on the 7th and last book in the series currently (in Russian). Hopefully, the author will translate the remaining books quickly.

I started this series really on a whim, figured since I like RPGs that reading a book about them may be fun especially since shows like Sword Art Online and Log Horizon are so interesting.This series hooked me, it didn't let me down, and I'm really excited for Dmitri and his translator to finish the next books in the series. The story is engaging, and believable, and tragic, and fun, and invokes an entire array of feelings and really gets you interested and invested in the main character and his journey into being a Perma and beyond.Can't wait for book 4!

I received this book as a freebie, and was hoping for an reasonably interesting read. What I got was a new world. Oddly enough I really felt like was in an RPG as I was reading this story. My new favorite phrase is "my inner greedy pig". I am a true sci-fi / fantasy aficionado and I say try the book. If you are into gaming and fantasy you won't be disappointed.

The series as a whole is good, some issues with translation from Russian to English. Some books have better translations that others.As a gamer i really avoided this type of book. Reading about other people grinding quest struck me as...odd.I am really glad that i picked up the books, not only were they much more fun than i thought they would be, they turned me onto the entire genre.The first book I picked up on the unlimited program. Finding the rest of the books were not on that program was a bit of a letdown.I can fully understand the author asking for crowd funding to help pay for the translations, but because of this, the price point of the books feels a little heavy handed.

The alterworld continues from its last cliffhanger. I was not disappointed in how the cliffhanger came out. It gave our hero same moregoodie stats. However, he has some real nasty soul slavery issues hanging over his virtual life. Read the book and see what he has to do to get out of the last cliffhanger. The rest of the book continues the build up towards the light and "dark" war. Will the new character's clan survive? Also, the real world governments continue their quest to exploit alterworld... however, what happens if alterworld turns the tables? This book is definitely not a stand alone. You will need to read the first two books to understand what is happening in this book. Saying that, its well worth the price. Especially since the author has invested in translation so we can read his great series without having to learn Russian. May you enjoy the virtual world that became not so virtual a world to D. Rus' fans.

I’m still struggling with the end cliffhanger?What an amazing piece if storytelling. Great job of getting all the different story threads to join.

Not only LitRPGers but lovers of all genres of Fantasy will enjoy this series. D. Rus has created a unique and fully realised world, whose characters are well defined and charismatic.

The best of the litRPG books. Definitely recommended.

great book, while it will particularly appeal to rpg-players, non gamers can enjoy it too.I am looking forward to the next !

I have read a lot of books but so far this book takes the cake.just the way the author goes about building the main character is great

not a great start but not long in normal service resumed and could not put it down now ready to start part 4