Desert Runner was an unexpectedly delightful story for me! True confession… I’m not a gamer, and I was surprised to find that this book was a gaming story told from an NPC’s perspective… Yes, I  know it’s right there on the blurb, but most military and gaming acronyms just slide right past me. But, don’t get me wrong, I do love the genre. Ready Player One, Push Start to Play, Soda Pop Soldier to name a few… Desert Runner has now joined ranks with those Benchmark stories. The fact that this story is told through a ‘self-aware’ NPC is wonderful and unique! Andrea Parsneau’s narration captures NPC Maddie’s character perfectly…
Maddie hates the label NPC, but what can a girl do? It’s what gamers call her, and she constantly struggles against that label, and against her programming… There are times when all she can do is accept a dangerous quest, against her better judgement of course, because she really needs the money for day-to-day expenditures and  the potions that keep her pain at bay… The quests are normally  simple delivery, but it’s summer, and it’s the breeding season of the Very Monstrous, and Very Hungry, and VERY Dangerous Tromal!
To further complicate matters, this time the package is a Gamer… get the story to find out how it all plays out!