The Land: Founding is a high-fantasy audiobook, ebook, and paperback series that is one of the pioneering pieces of literature in the world of LitRPG.
The author of this audiobook series, Aleron Kong, has proclaimed himself as the person who founded the concept of LitRPGs. Of course, there is a significant bit of controversy regarding his paternity over the genre of literature.
What is LitRPG?
Most video games are based on books and movies. Some of the most popular examples might be the Assassin’s Creed series or The Witcher series, which has also been adopted into a popular TV show on a streaming service most people use. There have also been books and other pieces of literature that actually draw inspiration from the world of video games. Mass Effect and the Halo video games both stand as popular examples of video games that became a part of literature. However, the literature was loosely based on these video games. They maintained a certain thematic similarity with the original content, but strayed far enough to be independent from the game itself.
LitRPG came in as the genre that defined a new relation between literature and roll playing games (RPGs). LitRPG, as opposed to other adaptations of video games into stories, is a more authentic approach to recreating the world of video games into pieces of literary genius that further the entertainment of those who love these videogames.
The Land: Founding
Among the pieces of LitRPG that have been making rounds, The Land: Founding is one of the most popular series. This LitRPG series truly does define the new genre of literature and this review might help you understand why. It is one of the most interesting LitRPG series you will find. Performed by Nick Podehl, this was written by Aleron Kong. Controversies surrounding Aleron Kong’s claim of parenthood over the genre aside, the series is scintillating to say the least.
The series starts sounding quite like a typical “a guy gets sucked into a video game world” kind of ordeal. Except, that it is not the same thing at all. This is a video game that is based on a real pocket dimension that is inhabited by demons who hail from the Dark Court. The prince of this Dark Court wants to escape the prison that he has been kept in, and he realizes he cannot do it alone.
He has been luring humans into playing a virtual reality video game. If they are foolish enough to accept a certain quest in this video game, they get transported into his pocket dimension. Surprisingly, the pocket dimension is an exact replica of the video game, or is it the other way around?
The main character of this LitRPG series is Rictor. He has been playing this video game and he finds himself accepting the quest that lands him into the pocket dimension.
The last thing he remembers is that he is 24 and he was just playing a VR video game with his friends. He wakes up to what can only be described as an imp that looks too realistic. The imp is talking to Rictor about the rules and the laws of The Land. Rictor has no idea how he ended up there, but he readily accepts that he’s been transported to another dimension.
The audiobook does not have a significant overarching plot other than the Prince of the Dark Court wanting to break out of his prison and harvest some souls. The storyline really picked up pace around halfway. While it would be easier to explain everything much better by talking about the plotlines but that would give too much away to the readers and they might not be able to enjoy the actual LitRPG series itself.
What I can write is that the book effectively revolves around Rictor finding his way through this alternate dimension he has been transported to, trying to stay alive, and fighting so he can complete his quests and level up.
Now here is the kick: If you die in this world, you do get to respawn like you would in a video game. The thing is, you have to live through the death as well. Rictor’s first death in the video game is at the hands of a group of wolves. He felt himself getting torn apart by the wolves into pieces. He woke up naked and he was completely shook by the experience of dying.
It was a traumatic ordeal for him to go through physically and emotionally since he felt all the pain as he died. When he woke up, he also found that all the progress he made was lost and he was left without any clothes.
The Land is has a typical MMORPG setting. There are dwarves, elves, orcs, goblins, sprites, and all forms of mythical creatures you can expect to find in such a video game. There is plenty of talk about stats in this game like there is in a video game. So even in terms of statistical figures, numbers, and other factors, the LitRPG remains true to the genre of the video game that the book is based on – not just the core storyline. That is where it differentiates the most from other books and literature based on video games.
There are some LitRPG series that tone down the stats, but The Land: Founding stays true to its roots as a video game. There is plenty of humor in the book that keeps it an engaging storyline. The companions that are assigned to Rictor in the game are quite cynical and sarcastic – the sprite that was assigned to him as a companion during his first quest in the game lets Rictor die at the hands of the wolves instead of even attempting to save his life.
Rictor goes about the series accessing his powers and casting spells through his mental resolve. All he has to do is think about the mana flowing through him and it allows him to do everything that he wants to. The writing of this LitRPG is not a work of literary genius in a way that it is verbose or sophisticated. It is a straightforward writing style.
The audiobook series does tend to drag on for a long time. For the good first half of the book, Rictor spends his time doing one quest after another and just leveling up. The book makes quite a few references to popular culture. Most of them make sense, while others were shrouded in obscurity. The novel itself is set around the year 2030 and there was even a reference to the popular song “What Does the Fox Say” as well as the sheer entertainment of hearing Nick Podehl try and voice it.
There are certain stretches in the books where all that is happening is simply listening to the basic bit of information about each piece of loot that he collects on his quests from enemies he has destroyed. In a lot of places in the book, this painfully accurate description can go on for even 10 minutes. It can read something like “Congratulations! You have found steel short sword. Base damage 8-11. Durability 9 out of 11. Max Damage 10-13. Frequency: Common. Quality: Average.”
This keeps happening again and again throughout the LitRPG series over and over again. The straightforward style of writing does come off as nothing more than proficient fan-fiction writing that could have benefitted if there was a stronger involvement of editors that would give it a read through before it went to publication.
There are glaring issues when it comes to continuity in the book. For instance, the weight of each item, when it is described every time you acquire one, is told in metric kilograms. However, the length of the items you find as you quest through the book are given in imperial figures like miles, yards, and feet.
And then there is the aspect of casual sexism throughout the book. The story of the audiobook series tends to promote an idea of racial equality. The problem is that it falls short of extending that very sense of equality when it comes to genders. Female characters are mostly categorized into one of three types: Earth-mother type figures, bad women, and then there are the abused and victimized damsels in distress that need rescuing.
There is also a running joke several characters have about making derogatory references towards their ex-girlfriends and ex-wives. While you can tell that most of it has been placed there as a bit of humor to make you laugh, it mostly falls short of humor and feels rude without a reason and overwhelmingly misogynistic.
Final Thoughts
As far as LitRPGs go, this is not the best piece of work you might come across. It is not the genre-defining genius as the creator of the series might claim it to be, but it is not bad for a novelty reading experience. Podehl’s reading of the series is perhaps one of the best aspects about it all. Beyond that, it is mediocre work.