Barliona is back! OLD WORLD, NEW HEROES!
What would happen if a professional rock musician joined a virtual MMO in search of inspiration among its gameworld? What would happen if she decided to play as a biota bard, a brand new race of humanoid flora as well as a new class? Whatever would happen, it would surely be fun…
My Opinion: 300 pages, $3.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
Full disclosure: I received an advanced copy for review
Written by Vasily Mahanenko and Eugenia Dmitrieva. The two recently published a short story together in You’re In Game Book 2.
This is a new character with a new story set in the familiar world of the Way of the Shaman, Barliona. The main character (MC), Kiera, is a musician in real life and decides to try out the game to create new songs to boost her bands popularity. She chooses to be the new plant race, Biota, and be a bard.
The game mechanics are the same as they’ve been before, but now you get to see all the details of the more generalized bard class. There are some interesting specialty choices for the class.
Story-wise, this is a mostly slice of life story, where you follow a new player figuring how things work in the game, how to build her character, craft, explore, and adventure. There’s some interesting twists, especially towards the end, but it’s mostly just following this character around. Readers get a little better look at the real world in this novel since the MC isn’t stuck in the game. There are also a few cameos made by characters from the Way of the Shaman.
Overall, I liked the story. I’m not a big fan of the race choice but the story was interesting enough to keep me entertained.
Score: 7.5 out of 10