A LitRPG that destroys the boundaries of the known world.
Do you like to be whisked away into a new world of LitRPG wildness? Then read on...
Enter The Quell:
When the Reckoning came, the world was plunged into the fantasy realm of the Quell. Those who remember the old world would say that it’s like those old video games they use to play only with the threat of death. Those in the Quell would say it has given them a life of freedom, while it has robbed some of everything they have.
In the Quell, it’s fight or die and Adrianna Swann aimed to live. Ever since her uncle got kidnapped by cultists, she has set off on her own quest of freedom and answers. The Quell is vast and full of horrors, pushing one's mind to the brink of insanity. Adrianna has never been too worried, though. Her uncle taught her everything she knew, and nothing was going to get between her and finding answers...
But how far is one girl willing to go to unlock the secrets of this world that everyone has known for so long?
What sacrifices have to be made to get what she wants and is she willing to make them?
This book is just the Prequel, a taste of what The Quell might bring. I have much more for you where this comes from!
My Opinion: 47 pages, $0.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
While the author describes this as a prequel, it feels more like the start of a serial. It is a short story that introduces the main character (MC), sets up a couple quests, has a little bit of fighting, and then hits 'to be continued'.
There's a bit of inconsistency in the world building of the story. The prologue set up as an RPG apocalypse where all the rules of the world changed and technology stopped working, and monsters appeared, and everyone became Players and got access to the RPG system. But the story after that feels more like a video game or tabletop fantasy RPG with the main character living a fantasy world life to her teen years till her uncle is kidnapped and she gets an "Origin Story Quest" and becomes a Player. It was a conflict that created different expectations from the story and made it harder to get into.
Even the term Quell, the name of the story, had me scratching my head. Sometimes it was used to describe an event, the RPG Apocalypse. Other times it was a location, and still others a state of being. As in being part of the game.
On the game mechanic side of things, it's mixed. Yes, the world is fully set as an RPG world where people have classes, levels, quests, various skill checks, and there’s a clear difference between Players and NPCs. But not all that meshes the same. All of the saves and perception check notifications just aren't acknowledged in the story by anyone so they only exist for the reader. Which just felt weird considering other notifications like quests, loot descriptions, leveling, and character sheets were acknowledged by the MC.
Beyond those inconsistencies, the story isn't bad. The MC has a clear questline, the action isn't half bad, and there's potential for good world building. It's a short story, so it really is too soon to tell how a longer novel would play out but on the whole this short story was enjoyable enough.
Score: 7.2 out of 10