Spooky and Joe are in a gaming reality that is quickly becoming clear, is quite real. They are forced to fight monsters, dungeons, and betrayal but their greatest enemy might be denial. Both Joe and Spooky are now nearly immortal, but how will Joe react when the facts of the situation can no longer be denied? He may never see his late wife in the afterlife. How will Spooky deal with the changes within herself? Neither she nor her co-Champion have the option to become mere mortals again. Watch as Joe and Spooky continue to grow their capital in people, skills, equipment, and magic.
My Opinion: 349 pages, $3.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
The first novel in the series was a lot of setup and it hinted at the addition of other game mechanics besides fighting in the series including: dungeon diving, town building, crafting, and community building. All that starts to get fleshed out in book 2. It just mostly doesn’t happen from the main character (MC), Joe. Instead, much of the novel focuses on Spooky, the AI fairy companion. She dungeon dives, crafts, and town builds. She also goes a little multiple personality, but I won’t spoil that.
The MC on the other hand mostly just fights, levels, gets new powers, and does some community relations. But he really does fall asleep on the job here, leaving the opportunity for other characters to get some character development time. You get to learn more about minor characters from book 1 and some other influences in this world, but it's mostly about Spooky. The MC basically bookends her story (20% beginning, 20% end).
It’s an interesting story but some people are going to be disappointed because the MC isn’t in more of it.
Score: 7 out of 10
But Death is Not Forbidden (The Twenty-Sided Eye Series Book 2)