Terra Reforma. The virtual game world set in the time period after humanity hit the reset button. A time after the bombs dropped, and before society was able to reform into the tech-driven megacities it consists of now. For many players, the grind of the game is more than just a brief escape from the real world. It's the perfect drug. It's their way into the next rung of society. It's the answer to the question of life.
Phase Gannon and Kym Bit are both looking for their own answers. Even though their paths cross in the city of New San Diego, it's Terra Reforma that holds vindication for the both of them.
My Opinion: 306 pages, $3.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
There are two distinct stories told in this novel. There’s no crossover after the two characters briefly meet in the very beginning of the novel.
The first, the story of a guy who wakes up with amnesia but knows he has to log back into Terra Reforma. You follow him as he creates his character and completes newb quests.
The second narrative is about Kym, a hacker girl who got banned from the game and put in jail for using game exploits. Her lift goes to hell and she goes on the lamb from the authorities in a cyberpunk reality and scours the shadiest parts of the city to find a way to get back into the game.
Every few page the story switches between the two narratives and it gets annoying after awhile because I expected the stories to merge as some point and they never did.
I thought the game stuff, with the amnesiac, who we learn is called Phase, is decent. It’s definitely LitRPG and the smuggler class he chooses is interesting. I liked that there were game mechanics that allowed for non-violent ways of completing quests as well as a little bit of crafting.
The dystopian cyberpunk stuff with Kym, isn’t interesting to me.
Overall, it’s an ok story. Neither the cyberpunk Kym story nor the VR game Phase story were amazing. You spend equal amounts of time with each character so only half the story is really LitRPG.
Score: 5 out of 10.