What is reality? I was John—now Charlie, a woman with a VR game tester’s cunning and a professional whiskey enthusiast’s attitude. But then AIs have risen, and my job evaporated faster than last night’s drink.
Just when I hit rock bottom, this punk kid—barely old enough to shave—dropped a bombshell: “Reality’s just a simulation.” Sure, buddy. I laughed it off.
Until I woke up twenty years in the past.
Now, thanks to a hacking mishap, I’m a regular girl in reality—with a debt and an attitude—navigating Rimelion, the VR game I once mastered, as Charlie, an elven priestess with more than a few tricks up her sleeve.
Seriously though, fighting in high heels?
Will I claw my way up the nobility ladder? Dominate the rankings? Outwit the government and their plans to exploit us all? Maybe. But something’s off.
The game feels too real. My memories don’t line up, and everyone has their own version of what’s true. Simulation? Reality? The lines are a blur—and I’m stuck in the middle.
If I want to stop a dystopian future, I’ll need allies, both in-game and out. Oh, and avoid ticking off the AIs hunting me for bending the rules.
Survival’s a long shot—but I was never one to play fair anyway.
***
What to expect:
- Light LitRPG story with an emphasis on strategy and world-building
- First-person perspective (and occasional close third POVs)
- A witty protagonist with a conversational sarcastic, humorous and often self-deprecating voice
- A sci-fi world with mysteries sprinkled with fantasy elements
- A rich game world system with kingdoms, rules, exploits, and challenges
- Supporting characters with personal goals
Schedule:
* Until the end of [Book 1]: Every weekday (Monday-Friday)
* After [Book 1]: Three times a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday)
I just want to say this novel is dangerously addictive. I stayed up pretty much all last night and read this entire thing. Honestly an awesome read. It can be a little confusing at times but it’s pretty fun to try and piece together what’s happening. Some really entertaining characters and just a fun read.
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Premise starts off good. The characters introduced and the direction of the novel are interesting. The main actor contemplates his own gender change occasionally. There are some stipulations to this throughout the early novel. The importance of the main actors journey and what’s at stake are rough and not polished, but are present. The style, tone, grammar, and basic integrity of the novel devolve at around chapter 20. All the buildup and plot devices used up till around that point plateau and the novel doesn’t go anywhere. The inception of the actors being in a simulation of a simulation doesn’t go anywhere. The assassin sent to end John never feels like John is in any danger. The namesake of the novel doesn’t actually happen very often and when the main actor does do ‘exploitation’ it doesn’t have a huge impact. The circumstance in which it’s done doesn’t describe it as such. The lack of details in world building extend this issue. In the later chapters there is mention of John’s past (future) experience to indicate expectation for where future events may lead but it’s not enough. I’d say the one good thing after the story devolves is there is no romance. The novel is already exploring many plot ideas all at once so by not having romance it’s not being stretched as much. The story still breaks down for me but at least it’s not as bad with heavier romantic events included. Although, the later chapters contained a lot more insinuation I’d say detracts from the story being told at that point. It’s messy.
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Very fun gender-bender LitRPG with some very interesting ideas. Author just rewrote it and restarted updates, hope to see a lot more. :D
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