I put off this book for a long time despite enjoying everything else the author has put out due to one factor. My inability to commit to suspension of disbelief based on the description of the book. You see I love apocalypse stories it’s my favorite genre I also greatly enjoy gaming stories and RPG mechanics in apocalypse stories so you would think this would be right up my lane, however because I enjoy those things I just couldn’t see why someone would log in and play VR games during the apocalypse when they could be doing other things to survive. Even the obligatory trying to upload their consciousness into the game so they can live there bit just doesn’t click with me because inevitably the servers will fail at some point.
Now that the reason I avoided this book is out of the way lets move on to the actual review. The book didn’t hook me early on, The main and supporting characters are likeable enough, I personally liked Shari more than Mace her background actually trying to survive was more fleshed out and was more enjoyable to me, as was her time in game. The story is well written despite my inability to accept the above. The apocalypse take is one that’s new to me in how it happened and what’s going on in the world, it’s a new level of infection compared to other stories but it does make a few of the scenes in the book not connect well with me. I spent the first 60% or so of the book wishing the book took place more in the real world than in the game and it shows in how long it took me to finish the book as I kept stopping, after that point the story in the game started to pick up and I then I finished the book before I knew what happened and started the second one. The book itself doesn’t feel like it has a clean finish, it has a good stopping point but it just feels like the end of a chapter rather than a book.
Overall despite me personally having a slow start with the book in the end I enjoyed it despite my inability to suspend my disbelief. The narrators over at SoundBooth Theater have once again done a fantastic job with the production. If you’ve liked the authors other work you will enjoy this, It’s well written and a good story or rather two good stories smashed together. Don’t let my review put you off as in this case there is nothing wrong with the book just me.