Seven Game Master Corpsmen went into a coma after exploring a glitch in the simulated multiverse. It’s classified by the GMC until they can figure out what is going on with the anomaly. They call the phenomenon a ‘lost portal’.
Newly commissioned Game Master, Priest McKenna, makes the mistake of leading his team into a lost portal. Priest and his wife are the only two corpsmen to return from the portal and not go into a coma but the event changed their lives. They lost their team, their memories of what happened inside the portal, and they lost their marriage.
Priest also loses his class and powers. The Game Master Corps questions his ability as a leader. His ex-wife becomes a dangerous rival.
Now Priest must create a new team of multiverse explorers to get his powers back and find the lost portal where his friends are trapped. He recruits a timid portal mage, an intern developer, and others. The only way to succeed is to journey deeper into the Czarzakian multiverse and level up.
Can the team grow in skill and ability to even survive exploration of the multiverse? Can they find the lost portal and save the people stuck inside? What is the source of these anomalous portals with no destination?
My Opinion: 245 pages, $0.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
Full disclosure: I received an advanced copy for review, I purchased a copy when it became available.
The novel is a mixed bag and I’m a little conflicted about it. I did not like the beginning. The first 7% is really confusing and a bit gory and it really feels like the author wrote this part not sure where the story was going. The first 30% doesn’t even feel like LitRPG, but more like a sci-fi multidimensional story with some gaming jokes. The story becomes LitRPG at about the 31% mark with the main character (MC) regaining his class powers and much of the rest of the story is him training his new team members, newly empowered NPCs who get their own classes. This section is just ok to good with the group going on some slice of life adventurers to level everyone and train them in their powers and while it’s not boring, it is also very skippable. You could read the first 7% and then skip to the 95% mark and continue reading the story for the same resolution. None of the middle story slice of life adventuring really matters to the plot. The end is actually pretty good with some nice resolutions and some touching moments.
Overall, while I liked the end and the Samantha-Gina plotline, it’s not enough to make up for the so-so slice of life adventuring that doesn’t matter to the plot or the beginning that I didn’t like.
Score: 6 out of 10