We were in lockdown for almost 7 weeks. That’s a long time. As a librarian, and someone who has over 500 books shelved in my bedroom, I thought I would have read a lot more than I actually did. I know I am not alone - many of my colleagues have stated that they too were near unable to read during lockdown - all the time in the world but zero desire to read. It unsettled me. I have always been a reader; on the bus, in the car, under the desk, in the swimming pool*. So to have absolutely no desire to read made me uncomfortable. I checked in with myself, and while I wasn’t exhibiting a concerning number of depression symptoms (the inability to enjoy reading is one of my major but often ignored symptoms), I think most people were hit by *something* during lockdown.
***IMPORTANT*** Depression, anxiety, BPD, Bipolar - all of these are normal, and it is PERFECTLY OK to have them, to be a survivor, or a sufferer, or a supporter; to be on medication, to be hospitalised, to have a “relapse” or even just someone who talks about these things without stigma. This is something I believe in with 100% of my being, and there will be times I talk about it here. I will try and make sure I use a warning if/when I talk about things which have the potential to be triggering, but I will not stop talking about how Mental Health is important, and how we should normalise it, so that people don’t suffer in silence. That hasn’t worked in the past and we all need to be working towards changing that. Ok, PSA over. Anyway. What I was trying to say was that I found myself able to consume only two types of books: Memoirs about a woman who fosters children in the UK; and LitRPGs. Literally the only thing I have been listening to as audiobooks since then, are LitRPGs. I refer to these as my “D&D audiobooks”, though that’s not entirely accurate. According to Wikipedia (the most useful and widely referenced source... /s), a LitRPG is: short for Literary Role Playing Game, a literary genre combining the conventions of computer RPGs with science-fiction and fantasy novels. The proponents of the term state that in LitRPG, games or game-like challenges form an essential part of the story, and visible RPG statistics (for example strength, intelligence, damage) are a significant part of the reading experience. Basically, if you’ve ever played a game like Oblivion, or Assassins’ Creed, these books are what you would get if you described everything your character did in words. The main character is (often) trapped inside a video game, or trialling a VR video game for a new company (these tend to be a little further in the future). They can pull up their stat sheet; they get notifications from the ‘system’ when they gain skills, or debuffs; and they get quests. Sometimes there are other people in their “new world” who come from “the real world”, but sometimes it’s just the main character and a bunch of NPCs (non-player characters, the basic fodder you get in a game who can sell you items, give you quests etc). Of course, the NPCs in these games don’t act as though they are in a game - as far as they know, that’s the real world! I could write for hours about the mechanics of LitRPGs, but this is a book review blog, so onto the review! I have been slack lately, and not writing as many reviews as I should have been. (And, of course, that’s OKAY! We don’t have to be super productive all of the time. That’s just unsustainable.) So I will be reviewing the first FIVE books of The Realm Between Series by Phoenix Grey, read by Neil Hellegers. I made my way through these FIVE books twice this year… What can I say? They’re good! The basic premise is that our main character (who I will refer to from here on out as Azure, which is his in-game name) has… an eventful first chapter, and then wakes up in a barn, on a bed of straw. Unsurprisingly, he is super confused, and spends the first day or so waiting to be pulled out of the game. Once he realises that this doesn’t seem likely to happen, he begins to work on enjoying the experience. Book One - The Curse - sets up the world building in a localised but detailed manner. Azure meets two brothers, Uden and Lonnell, who teach him the very basics - think, “stick them with the pointy end” type of basics. Azure learns how to shoot a bow and arrow, use a basic sword, and realises that there is a lot more in the world than he expected. We learn about the different ways of gaining and improving skills, and how important money is in terms of purchasing decent equipment - that is, aside from what you can scrounge from your kills. Book Two - Two Brothers - we learn that for most people, death is permanent. Azure makes his way to the mainland, seeing some…. interesting things along the way. Book Three - The Adventurer’s Guild - Azure joins the Adventurer’s Guild on the mainland. We learn about the guild - how it works, who can join, what sort of rewards you get. I found the Fishing Skill highly entertaining - I didn’t expect to, as it’s very much a grinding section - it felt kind of like a claw machine, except you don’t know what you might pull out of the lake… It was enjoyable, and I wouldn’t mind reading more of that! Yes, I am a little weird, I know! Book Four - Magic School - Azure finally begins to learn magic! This book had one of the creepier dungeons so far. It was really interesting, I like that the author uses puzzle dungeons - it’s a bit more intellectually stimulating than simple hack and slash, which I appreciate. We meet our first character aside from Azure who comes from the “real world”. It’s a little sad, knowing how Azure ended up in the game*, and thus we know more than Azure and Janine about why they are there and what is happening to them IRL. Book FIve - The Evil Within - More adventuring, more learning, more magic. Lots of hours spent crafting potions. Then things really pick up. There is a gang that we have heard about in previous books, and this is where our adventurer really gets stuck into what feels like a main quest line. That’s not to say that there aren’t other quests, they just seem more run-of-the-mill filler type quests, whereas this could be the main quest line. So, if you’re still with me… I really enjoyed these. They ARE more grinding, more levelling based; our MC doesn’t start out with flash armor and attack skills that are so good he doesn’t need help. If you don’t like the slow and steady style of game, this might not be the series for you. I like that Azure has to gain his skills manually, there aren’t shortcuts. It feels more realistic, more believable, which - I get it - isn’t always what people are looking for. There were a few places where it was a bit slow, and some of the characters are not particularly likeable all the time. I do find the beginning of each book a little weird - set in the “real world”, it feels just a little wrong, and the fact that we don’t really understand what’s happening to Azure’s body is something I find a bit hard to get my head around. I kind of hope we find out more about this, as I am sure the author has a plan! The audiobooks are really good. Neil Hellegers does a good job in terms of speed and pacing, and for the most part, keeping distinct voices. There are a few instances in which the voices blur into one another, but that happens! The number of times we get ‘notifications’ and a look at the stat sheets aren’t too consuming, which is nice. As I have only read the audiobooks, I can’t speak to what it looks like on page. Content warnings: gore, death, swearing, references to sex, injury, blood, guts, burns. Overall Rating: 4.5 stars
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