Better than expected! I'm not a gamer, though I have overlapping nerdy pursuits, and other than some terminology that I had to look up, was able to follow the story well. I'm not one for numbers, but I especially enjoyed reading the main character think out ways to customize and power up his avatar's powers and characteristics, how he got through fights, and how he came up with a scheme to create and sell cigarettes. The fighting in a role playing game is not the same as a physical hand-to-hand fight of course, but it somehow was exciting nonetheless, as a result of the main character being relate-able and smart. What's also interesting is that throughout, even though the main character chooses to be a Dark character with necromancer/death powers, he's not particularly dark and evil, hur hur. More than once, he proves to have a lot more heart and empathy than supposed Light followers. By the cliffhanger, this emphasis that Dark does not equate to Evil comes to a head. 
 Some of the cons: 
 - The real life portion at the beginning of the book was stilted and unconvincing. It took me awhile to realize that this book was translated, which may account for some of the stiltedness, but thankfully the main character passes into the game fairly quickly. 
 - The female love interest is a throwaway character, nothing interesting here, nor is her sob story very convincing. On the other hand, all the male characters, however brief their appearance, are pretty interesting. =/ 
 - This first book ends on a cliffhanger! *shakes fist*