Ezra keeps getting sicker with migraines. Then, one day, she
wakes up in a game run by “Engine.”
“Congratulations! You have been selected to participate in
the Battles. You just died, but have unlimited lives.” So begins the Rules of
the game. Ezra enters the game, making an ally with Speedy. Others follow as
she enters a world of RPG video game destruction. She discovers her own feats
and how to use them as well as their potential danger to herself. After all,
killing yourself removes you from the game and life permanently
As the book progresses, Ezra devolves. We are prepared for
this early as she is told the game leads you to madness and few if any escape.
She is eventually so transformed, she is even given a new name: Shadow. “She
was her own worst enemy. By now, Shadow couldn’t tell who she was. Was she
Ezra? Was she Shadow?”
As Ezra wrestles with her own identity she must also
continue to wrestle with the Battles the mysterious company, Engine, has set
her in. The book ends both satisfactorily with regards to Ezra and her entrance
to the games but also offers a cliffhanger, setting up a future volume.
Overall, this is the most enjoyable RPG Fantasy I have read.
It is fast paced, doesn’t overload me with video game talk, and has some “man
vs institution” themes I enjoyed. It could certainly use a bit of a content
edit and the world had some puzzles for me (Why don’t you just team up with one
person, kill each other, earn points, and leave?) but there is enough good here
to offer suspension of disbelief. Especially, as mentioned in other reviews,
knowing the story comes from a teenager herself it is an excellent debut novel.
The things that really distract me in indie novels – bad grammar, misspellings,
lack of proofing – are not here. It reads fast and smooth. I would say the book
is well worth picking up, if for nothing else so you can say you knew about
this rising star of an author before she was famous.
I was given a copy of the book for review on my blog:
circumlocution.net. The opinions are my own.
The following can be found on Paityn's Amazon Author page:
Paityn Parque lives in Puyallup, Washington, where she spends most of her time gaming and writing. She plays competitive volleyball actively, and when she’s not practicing, she finds time for her friends and family. She lives with her older sister, an idiotic dog, and her parents. Only 15-years-old, Madness is her first novel published. She wants to continue her career in writing and hopes that you’ll stick around to see her grow.
Questions? You can contact her at: Paityn.Parque@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment