The Game is in turmoil. All the players’ strength and resources are invested in preparing for Restart: only twenty percent of the players will make it to the next era. Murders are becoming commonplace; bribes and nepotism are at their height. Betrayal is becoming an inherent part of everyday interactions. The Game has spread its perfidious influence to the farthest corners of the Universe, affecting every sentient being. Will the Dark Judge reach the right verdict? Will he follow the ideals of his class to the end, or will he reject them, becoming an ordinary player? Yaropolk must make a fateful choice: he is the Guide. The one who will launch the Restart.
My Opinion: 323 pages, $5.99, Not Available on Kindle Unlimited
Took me a little while to remember who everyone is. This is not the kind of series you pick up in the middle. You have to have read books 1 and 2 first. Even then, it’s kind of a complicated story.
Basically, our world is actually a game and there’s a whole hidden game system with a bunch of specific rules. The main character (MC) has up till now just been trying to get a grasp of it all, get a class, a job, and grinding out some levels. Only now, the conditions to reset everything and start over have been met. The big question is, if Restart happens, who’s going to get to determine what the new game world is like? Also, only 10% of the existing players will make it through to the new iteration and there’s fierce fighting for those spots.
This series in general has been harder to get into than The Way of the Shaman because the game world rules are harder to understand. In this series there are a bunch of custom game rules and complex social/political aspects. There’s even this whole plot with the archetypes of Merlin and the Madonna. The Way of the Shaman was at least in part inspired by World of Warcraft.
Overall, I liked the novel, though even for me it’s unnecessarily complex in some places. If you didn't like the first books in the series, this one is going to be just as confusing. The pay off at the end is worth it, if you like the series. This is the last book in the series, for now, according to the author.
Score: 7 out of 10