It’s all just fun and games… until somebody dies.
Welcome to the Shattered Lands, the first truly immersive video game where you see, hear, touch, taste, and feel the game.
In this online fantasy world of dragons, elves, wizards, and magic, two best friends enter at the same time and take very different paths.
Daniel desperately wants to break free of his ‘nice-guy’ life in the real world… until his choices end in tragedy.
Eric wants unlimited power by any means necessary. Assassin or summoner of demons, it makes no different.
Join them on their quest – both inside the game and out – as they navigate the violence, the triumphs, the treachery, and the danger…
Of the Shattered Lands.
My Opinion: 527 pages, $4.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
A very meh novel. Game mechanics exist but don’t always make sense and are mostly informational. While there’s a described death penalty there’s not many other game mechanics described. Using magic is trained as ‘getting in touch with your mana’, combat is swinging a sword, theft is more about being quick with your fingers than having a theft skill. Much of the novel feels like portal fiction with a veneer of RPG game mechanics.
This may be intentional since the author has an established non-LitRPG reader base.
The story itself is pretty meh too. The two main characters, Daniel and Eric, are really hard to root for. Daniel is weak willed and whiny. Eric is a mouthy jerk that constantly insults people and when they do something about it, he feels hurt and vows vengeance.
The first 60% of the story is almost entirely about the two characters training. They start off as a thief and assassin. Then they change trainers, making much of what you read previously feel pointless. When the characters finally go adventuring, it’s really not interesting.
Overall, the there’s nothing technically wrong with the story but it just isn’t interesting to me.
Score: 5 out of 10.