Nineteen-year-old Ryuk Matsuzaki and his best friend Tamana decide to start over with new avatars. When Tamana is suddenly killed right in front of him in a Tokyo subway, Ryuk knows there is only one place he can search for answers –Tritania, the world’s most popular online fantasy world. Standing in his way are a mysterious guild known as the Shinigami, and his older brother, a Yakuza crime lord hell-bent on squashing his dreams.
As a lowly Ballistics Mage, Ryuk must quickly recruit guild members, level up, loot and shoot his way across Tritania to discover the dark and sinister secret behind Tamana’s untimely death. Joining him in his quest are a famous Swedish gamer, a powerful half-dragon half-human female assassin, and a devious ax-wielding goblin.
Get started on this action-packed, coming of age LitRPG saga from the author of The Feedback Loop series now!
My Opinion: 570 pages, $5.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
Full disclosure received an early copy for review but purchased it when it became available.
This is one of the few LitRPG novels where I thought the real world storyline was as interesting as the game one. There’s an interesting power dynamic between Ryuk and his mob boss brother that’s just intriguing.
Most of the novel’s in game storyline revolves around Ryuk gathering allies, getting cool gear, and leveling up enough to move the main plot forward. Not that that part of the story is boring. Far from it, some of the stories best moments occur in this part. I especially came to like the smart talking goblin NPC, Hiccup, during this part. Through FeeTwix the live streaming heartthrob is also a fun character.
Just note that the game storyline of rescuing the main character’s friend, Tamana, after she’s kidnapped doesn’t move forward till about 60% into the story. Then 70% into the story does Ryuk’s guild strike back at the guild that kidnapped Tamana.
There is also a nice twist ending that I didn’t see coming but it’s also kind of a cheat. You’ll see what I mean when you get there.
Overall, I had a good time reading the novel. I thought the story could have gotten back to the main quest of rescuing Tamana a bit sooner but other than that it was good action read.
Score: 7 out of 10.