So I absolutely loved this entire series.
But several of the books in the series are closer to novella than novels. These first few books really are one book, and the three books involving the sisters could also have been one book. Because of that I can’t recommend you spend credits on these shorter books.
But if they are on sale or you have them on kindle and get the bundle discount, or if the author/publisher bundles the shorter related books into single credit arrangements definitely get these books. Or if you just aren’t worried about that and simply want quality content, you could do far worse than this series.
On to the actual review, Puatera Online is a gamelit series that focuses on the npcs and their roles in the world, and how messed up life can be when you’re an npc that knows you are an npc. That’s right self aware npcs they get that Travelers are people who come from another world to play in their world and don’t think the residents of this world are real.
These first few books focus on Maddie who is a Runner, sort of a transporter/mercenary/adventurer kind of thing. Think shadowrun meets mad max and that’s pretty close. Maddie is an awesome hardcore professional with a steely reputation, but she’s also very devoted to her community and a bit of a softy. She gets pulled into some political shenanigans and gets a big job thrust on her, and has to spend a bunch of time hanging out with a player… There is a lot of snarky dialogue and some really good action the plot builds steadily and most of the groundwork is done through these books that focus on Maddie.
Anyway it’s great, the character development and slow reveal of the plot and game events build suspense very well there are a handful of clever plot twists and few easily recognizable tropes.
The narrator is excellent I really liked her voice for maddie and wished she would have continued into Akillia’s book.