Allen is a troll.
Just an internet troll.
Well, at least for now.
Zandaria, the world's first full VR game is set to release, with best friend retail workers Mark and Trevor towards the front of the line. When their horrible co-worker, Allen, shows up unexpectedly and cuts in front to talk with them, things start to get a little hostile.
Through a series of events, the three find themselves inside the world of Zandaria, where they learn of a tournament taking place in a weeks time for $100,000. In order to compete, the three must find a fourth group member and reach level 5 within three days, and level 10 by the end of the week. If the harsh time limits weren't enough, they almost immediately find themselves locked up in jail, thanks to Allen.
My Opinion: 133 pages, $2.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
The game mechanics are fairly standard. Character sheets, stats, classes, skills, abilities. Nothing new but reasonably detailed.
The story is focused on this ad-hoc group getting to know each other and working towards reaching level 5 in this full immersion MMO so that they can qualify to participate in a contest in the future. Scenes switch between combat and a variety of humorous interactions between group members and the NPCs.
And that’s where the story’s strength is. In the humor and banter between these four people that become friends. There are lots of quests and events that occur that are basically nerd jokes. The group constantly teases, jokes, and harass each other in a friendly way.
In many ways, the novel is a clean, non-cursing version of Critical Failure’s group. There’s a loudmouth jerk that gets everyone in trouble but no one can stay mad at him because he has a secret heart of gold. There’s a guy that’s awkward around girls but is also smart. There’s his loyal best friend and an intelligent girl that can joke and tease as good as the guys.
The humor in the story never reaches the absurd hilarity that Critical Failures does but it also doesn’t have the potty humor or cursing.
Overall, I had a good time reading it.
Score: 7 out of 10
Zandaria: The Unintentional Troll: Book 1 of The LitRPG Zandaria Series (Zandaria LitRPG Series)