Her last sim took everything she had. This one took what was left.
Tamsin Noonien is level 0 . . . and that's all she knows. She learns her name from a stranger who seems more confused than she is about where they are. He can't even work the user interface. Tam is the one who figures out they're in a virtual reality game--one with no exit.
Desperate for answers, she begins a series of quests to regain her memory. The more she learns, however, the more betrayed she feels. This isn't the first time she's been fooled into a virtual reality simulation, left to wonder what's real and what isn't. Last time, her own brother set her up, and it looks like he's done it again.
But this time, the project leaders have lost control of the sim. The game has been infiltrated by saboteurs--the same anti-tech religious fanatics who killed Tam's parents. They seem hell-bent on destroying the sim and everyone in it.
Tam has one chance to get her old life back. But it will mean joining forces with the people who deceived her, playing their game, and trusting everyone to get it right.
GameLit fans hungry for clever quests, exotic characters, and non-stop RPG action will devour Game Port, the first book in the Blue Matter Series. Grab your copy today!
My Opinion: 326 pages, $0.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
The novel description is much more interesting than most of the actual story. It describes the larger cyberpunk-ish plot where people wake and find themselves without memory in a fantasy RPG. They can regain their memories by mining a higher level resource but first they have to choose a class and do starter quests and train. The ‘plot’ focuses on this aspect of why they lost their memories, the information being fed them, and if any of it is true. Not a terrible plotline, but also not what takes up most of the space in this novel.
I’d say that takes up about 40% of the novel. The rest unfortunately feels like slice of life filler. The main character and her group choose their classes, quest, and level up as they resource gather, train, and upgrade their equipment. The adventures aren’t bad, but it all feels like it’s not important.
Game mechanic wise, this is a semi-custom system that will feel familiar to table top players. Fantasy Dnd type classes, stats, skills, etc. It’s a pretty crunchy story with lots of notifications, character sheets, and loads of gamer talk and thinking as the group tries to level up and master their chosen classes. Nothing really outstanding here, but the gamer mentality does come through and the story is definitely LitRPG.
Overall, I was bored with the novel for most of the first half of the novel. While the characters have some personality and there is decent dialogue and banter between players, I never really cared about any of the characters. Part of that they’ve all lost their memories so there’s no background for anyone, and while that changes eventually by then I’d lost interest in them. Another big part is that a lot of what they do doesn’t matter to the main cyberpunk plotline. While the RPG stuff came through very clearly and showed the author’s experience as a gamer, it wasn’t different enough to carry the story. All the game stuff were things I’d read before. Combat was mediocre, so not a big draw there. The adventures the group went on weren’t bad, but they never felt important and felt like stuff the characters did until more of the plot was revealed at regular 10-15% intervals. I mean it’s literally part of the plot that all the adventuring they’re doing is just filling their time.
Score: 5 out of 10