A dying game. A tournament for the ages. One last chance for glory.
After a glorious run as the world’s first full-immersion VR mega-game, Armored Souls is on its last legs. Competitors are on the rise, and the company’s own projects are surpassing it. In a last-ditch effort to inject new life into the game, Valhalla West announces a tournament with such an awesome prize that no player can resist.
Reggie has led Wounded Legion to the top ranks of the factions on the Armored Souls servers, but the game has gotten easy for him. Too easy. When Valhalla West announces their tournament plans, Reggie springs into action to prepare for it. His motives are twofold. First, it’s the most excitement he’s felt in years.
But more importantly, Armored Souls is Reggie’s entire world. He’s willing to fight to keep it going as long as he can.
My Opinion: 330 pages, $4.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
Note: Currently listed as book 2 in the series but is actually book 3.
This is the end and it feels like it. Not only does the story tell the tale of a MMO that’s become stagnant, but a last gasp at getting new players by running a tournament with an OP Mech rig as a prize. For Reggie, it’s a signal that the game is on its last legs but he plans to win the tournament anyways.
There are some very meta themes about a game series ending, when it’s also evident that the novel series we’re reading is ending.
The novel is heavy on the mech combat and if you liked the fights in books 1 and 2, you’ll like it in this one too. However, because the reader knows both the game and the novel are ending there’s this odd feeling of entropy as you read. There’s a feeling that it all doesn’t matter because you know the end is near. That ruined a bit of the fun for me.
Still, it’s a good ending that wraps things up nicely, even if it did go in the direction I thought it would.
Score: 6 out of 10