Blurb: Qube was designed to die...
As the cheerful childhood NPC companion who helps the [Player] learn the world during the start of the game, it was only natural that the big bad would kill her at the end of the tutorial, kick-starting the [Player] on a quest for vengeance.
The only thing is, no one told her that...
And this particular [Player] doesn’t like to play by the rules. Being a chaos-loving gremlin, he glitches her out of her programming loop and drags her on various adventures. They'll grapple with friendly sharktopuses, Evil Emperors, and what it means to be a person.
On the way, they pick up equally unlikely party members, with Qube breaking the world in increasingly strange ways as she seeks to be the very best companion ever.
All the while, Qube herself slowly realizes that her reality is not quite what it seems...
Review: Qube the healer is a Prophecy Approved Companion. The Chosen One is her childhood companion, and she believes it's her job to be his guiding light on his journey. Except she was never meant to go on that journey. The Chosen One makes her a glitch by saving her from her pre-programmed death at the beginning of the game. Qube slowly becomes aware that her reality isn't what it seems, and while she tries to reason it out and keep the Chosen One alive, she evolves into something much more.
This is the first book in the fantasy LitRPG series, Prophecy Approved Companion. It's a great coming of age story with clean [curse] words and deals with issues like personhood and intent. I had a good laugh with the Player/Chosen One who just wants to break the game. He skips all the lore and background dialogue, he steals from everyone, breaks pots for coins, and names his companions funny names. Managing to glitch Qube was something he read in a forum, and he's as fascinated by the ways she evolves as an AI as I was. She's the stereotypical cutesy healer girl but she slowly breaks out of her programming, and I love the direction it takes. The story is told from Qube's point of view, and I love how she sees what the Player is doing. The other companions like Sewer Bard and Sexy Screamy Spider Lady are fabulous too. This is perfect for readers who play RPGs. It does end on a cliffhanger, but that's okay. I already wanted to read lots more in this series.
P.S. I hate platforming too.