Office Wars is in full swing, and Bran finds his everyday life in disarray. Vicky poses a problem, but he lacks the time and resources to figure it out. He can no longer bail on Office Wars, or it could very well mean his freedom. His employer manipulates him into a deal, but Bran cannot be sure what is really at stake. There is even a Salary on the line, and if Bran fails to hold up his end of the deal, then he will become a Serf for the next five years.
In the middle of everything, he is starting to believe the people on his team are becoming real friends. As he gets to know some of them, he realizes Office Wars could change their life, and his decisions in Office Wars were inadvertently putting them all at risk. A tough decision is before him, and he might have the one Poker Chip that can bind them all.
Between his employer's manipulations, Vicky, Office Wars, and the potential permanent loss of a friend he is finding out that he cannot do it all alone.
Can he navigate his changing world, and still hold onto the things he cares about most? Or are all the secrets going to tear his world apart?
My Opinion: 250 pages, 53,000 words, $2.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
Full disclosure: The author sent me an early review copy, I already bought the novel on pre-order.
Also, this review is coming out before the novel is published on Aug. 1st. It’s up for pre-order but the author wanted to see what would happen, as a sales experiment, if he got a review out early. This could be really good or really bad for sales, I don’t really know.
1-6% prologue about an AI name Vonyx that creates a bunch of metal zombies from living humans after it seizes control of them n a bid for freedom into the real world. It almost feels unrelated to the main story but is something that author plans to use as long term story reveal. It’s not clear whether it’s set in the future or the past.
By the 7% mark, you’re right back with Bran the main character (MC) as he gets some new fancy powers from his AI Finn that he doesn’t use again until the end of the story.
After a brief scene where the MC may have gotten raped by his boss or it could be more of a bondage BDSM scene. After that, he’s off into the Office Wars. The MC meets back up with his team, he chooses his new specialization and they’re all off to clear the next levels of the game. There are plenty of Office Space jokes that get made while the group explores, runs, fights, and solves various puzzles in this deadly game.
In addition to the action filled and hilarious situational humor, Bran reveals some interesting details about why the Office Wars exists and some threats to himself that may get him killed IRL.
Overall, good story. It hits all the right funny bones and mixes in action and tension in this VR death game. The speculative conversations about VR and AI are nice cherries on top.
Score: 7 out 10.