Blurb: Trapped in a vintage fantasy reality, he’s a sickly dark elf too weak to lift a weapon. Can he win a brutal battle before he’s lethally logged out?
Temor has been an underdog all his lowly life. Obsessed with old-school gaming, he risks his neck to mine virtual currency for the mob. But after he’s arrested and awakens inside a simulated online arena… he’ll have to fight to the death or watch his sister perish.
Assigned a weakling build in a combat-heavy world with no respawns, Temor relies on his outlandish plans and magical stats to outwit his burly enemies. But with self-aware NPCs, faceless killers, and perilous dungeons standing between him and his sibling, the nerdy smart-aleck plunges headlong toward a permanent game over.
Can the scrappy gamer out-class his foes before his health hits zero?
Review: Temor wakes in a digital world in which he must fight to survive. Except the hostess of the game, Rook, is dead set against him succeeding. Temor's given the worst character class and a familiar who mocks his every move. Going on quests alone is not a good idea, especially with a mafia boss after him too. Yet Temor is driven with the need to save his little sister, and he will stop at nothing to do what he needs to do.
This is an incredibly fun and fast-paced LitRPG that had me on the edge of my seat with all the action. We're thrown right into the online world, discovering it's a popular game which puts convicts into the system whether they want to be there or not. If you die in game, you die in real life, or, if your body is already dead, your consciousness (your soul?) dies. So Temor is fighting not only for his own survival, but that of his sister who was hooked into the game by the devious and insane murdering starlet, Rook. Rook reminded me a lot of Harley Quinn. A crazy and chaotic clown who was also smart. Temor was difficult to like as he was a convict and sometimes a hard-headed jerk, but he started to grow on me. As did his skeleton familiar, Knuckles. The banter between the two of them is hilarious! Temor was made the worst class in the game, a Crypt Knight, and he didn't put his stat points into what was needed for his dark elf race or class. As a gamer, I like playing characters differently instead of playing to the obvious strengths, so this appealed to me. The team Temor joins is fabulous. I particularly like Parker (the rogue) and Turtles (the little kid playing the wizard whose avatar looks like an old man!). It's like an old role-playing game with goblins and gnolls and off-the-wall plans. I'll definitely pick up the next one in the series.