About the Series
Mahan is sentenced to serve time in Barliona, a VRMMO where prisoners are forced to mine ore for real-world profit. He starts at the absolute bottom — a prisoner with restricted gameplay, mining rocks for years. When he finally gets access to the full game, he chooses a Shaman class and begins climbing from nothing. The progression from prisoner-laborer to guild leader to political power is the complete arc.
Way of the Shaman is one of the foundational works of translated Russian LitRPG — a tradition that developed independently from English-language LitRPG and influenced the entire genre. The “start from the worst possible position” premise gives the early progression extra weight. The crafting system is detailed, the guild politics are engaging, and the VRMMO world has genuine economic complexity with player-driven markets.
This works for readers interested in LitRPG’s history or who enjoy the “worst starting position to top” arc with a prison/underdog framing. The completed series provides closure. The tradeoff: translation quality varies — some prose is awkward in English. The later books lose momentum as Mahan becomes powerful and the underdog energy fades. Russian LitRPG conventions differ from English ones (more spreadsheet-style stat dumps, different pacing expectations). If you’re used to the polish of recent English-first LitRPG, the translation artifacts may be distracting.
Reading Order
- Survival Quest (2015)
- The Kartoss Gambit (2016)
- The Secret of the Dark Forest (2016)
- The Phantom Castle (2017)
- The Karmadont Chess Set (2017)
- Shaman’s Revenge (2018)
- Clans War (2018)
If You Like This Series
- Life Reset by Shemer Kuznits — Similar “start at the bottom in a game world” premise with base-building; completed
- The Good Guys by Eric Ugland — Zero-to-hero LitRPG progression; completed, English-first
- Play to Live by D. Rus — Another foundational Russian LitRPG series; similar VRMMO setting
- Ascend Online by Luke Chmilenko — VRMMO with guild and settlement dynamics; completed
- Divine Dungeon by Dakota Krout — Foundation-era LitRPG with dual progression tracks; completed