Winston Beckett is a man of two worlds. There’s the one he lives in, and the parallel game universe called The Veil.
His adventure is far from over.
When remnants of The Veil start leaking into everyday life and causing universe-rending Tears, Winston may be the only one that can save Earth. But can he rescue his friends and stop the Tears before it’s too late?
Join Winston as he solves new mysteries, makes new friends, and fights for the very existence of both the game world…and their own.
My Opinion: 270 pages, $3.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
In book 2, our hero Winston/Cael sees his friend Laurie kidnapped by a monster and taken through a rift into the Veil. The story shifts between both characters as it moves forward. Laurie is forced into a gnome character and has to figure out where she is and how to survive. Winston/Cael magically finds some other way into the world and looks for his friend. Together they have to figure out why The Veil is acting so weird and stop whatever The Author has planned for them.
---
My biggest issue with book 1 was that the hero never felt like he earned anything. Everything seemed handed to him. Including his power and the advancements of the plot.
Some of that still exists in book 2 but there’s less of it. There are still a couple of groan inducing moments where the story seems stuck and then someone just happens to find the magic clue that tells them what’s really happening, thus advancing the plot.
The single biggest and most welcomed improvement in book 2 is that the hero can and does fail in the story. There are several instances where Winston/Cael just flat out fails a quest and in one case it’s kind of a sad loss. But it also makes the story more interesting. It informs the reader that the hero may fail the big quest to save the world, and that adds stakes.
The ending of the story has a nice puzzle dungeon dive aspect which was a nice break from the fights with the one kind of monster in the story.
Overall, the improvement in the story makes up for the some of the flaws and I had a good time. I was especially happy to see Tris, who’s short story i really like.
Score: 7 out of 10