The Way Of The Shaman Series

The Way of the Shaman series is probably the most popular and well known LITRPG's out there right now, translated from a Russian author whose name I can never pronounce or spell correctly. As of 2017, there are five books out with a few more still being translated from Russian.This one is near the top of most best LITRPG lists -- and for good reason, it's a pretty entertaining read all in all, despite a few hiccups. It's probably the most complex LITRPG in terms of world building (so far, there are 4 books out with a couple more being translated from Russian).If you want a fantasy RPG that represents the bests (and worst) aspects of LITRPG, check the first book out. I find it quite entertaining -- if you don't like it, then you better give up on the entire genre since most books are 'inspired' (or plain copy) this series.The Way of the Shaman series is hardcore LITRPG (full of crafting, leveling, character stat counting, dungeon crawling), but if you want to see what the whole LITRPG genre is about, this is one of the books/series that started the craze in the first place.As this is a 'translated from Russian to English' book, some of the prose can be a bit awkward. And some of the ideas, wordings, and phrases are Russian through and through. However, for the most part, it's My main complaint with The Way of the Shaman series is that as the books progress, the protagonist starts to power up like crazy, solving every difficult problem at a whim and never suffering more than a hitch to his grand ambitions. It's the classic Dues Ex problem that haunts the later books the series.So far, it's a series that's much stronger in the beginning than the later books (the first 2 books were the best I thought). But as the series is NOT yet completed (at least in English), we'll see how things pan out in the later books. I've only listened to the Audiobook version, which is how I recommend you consume this series.