The skull throne sits empty and the Kingdom of Heaven is in turmoil.
Enter "iron" Jack Russo. able to drop newbs with a single headshot and the king of online games. At least he used to be before his sister got pregnant, and he had to get a job to help take care of them.
But when a particle accelerator explodes, causing Jack to get stuck in his favorite game “Kingdom of Heaven” he'll have to conqueror Heaven and seat himself on the skull throne. If not, he'll be trapped in the game forever.
My Opinion: About 200 pages, $2.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
Be aware the last 12% of the story is a glossary of terms and a sample chapter from J.A. Cipriano’s Ring of Promise novel. The glossary includes a more detailed explanation of the game mechanics of the story. Stuff that I would have liked to see in the actual story.
The beginning of the story starts in the game right before the group enters a secret high level area. Then it suddenly shifts to a bunch of real life stuff for Jack the MC, who gets kicked out of his sister’s house after financially supporting her and her newborn for years. This is ‘the woe is me’ part of the story that justifies why the MC would be willing to follow a stranger from a bar to some place where he’s kidnapped and transported to the game world.
Turns out the game was really an intersection of multiple afterlives and the things the ‘game’ Jack had been playing was really a magical scheme to test out what humans were worthy of being transported to their world.
Now Jack has the chance to become the ruler of this place if he can secure the skull throne before the evil Shadow does.
Like:
Iron Jack is a likable character. He’s a reluctant hero who doesn’t always do the right thing.
The combat scenes are good.
There are a lot of engaging scenes that draw you into turning the next page.
Dislike:
There’s not a lot of explanation about the game mechanics in the story. Heck, most of the game questing stuff doesn’t really start until the 33% mark. Before that it’s all about getting Jack to the game world and pushing him to agree to take the Skull Throne.
It feels like half the story is spent bullying and berating the main character into doing everything and even when he agrees to cooperate he’s handed most of the power he gains to challenge The Shadow, the bad guy in the story.
Overall, I had a good time reading the story. There are some flaws and things I thought could have been done better but it was still an enjoyable read.
Score: 7 out of 10.