The Dark Realm (Feyland #1) by Anthea Sharp
A Science Fiction/Fantasy Novel published by Fiddlehead Press (12/11/13)
Summary:
“Sometimes we don’t really have as much control over things as we think. We’re in this together now.” (Kindle Location 1991).
Jennet went against her father’s wishes when she played the in-development immersive sim game Feyland. When she lost the boss level, the Dark Queen boss took Jennet’s life force. To regain what she lost, Jennet must find a champion in real life who will play the game with her. She finds Tam Linn, but it takes everything she’s got just to convince him to trust her. There is more at stake than Jennet realizes and the game is becoming more and more real.
Keywords:
Fae, Video Game, Worlds Collide, Evil, Gaming, Class Distinctions, Tech, Gamers, Friendship, Prototype, Mischievous Characters, Danger
My Review:
Sharp does a fantastic job balancing the amount of prose set in Feyland and the amount of prose set in the real world. Both realms were alive in their own way. There were so many fun details about the sim tech and the differences between the classes in the real world and such great description of playing Feyland.
The premise felt a bit rushed in the beginning and the first chapter was a slog, but after that I was sucked right into the plot. I couldn’t put the book down after that.
The characters each were independent, but they had to work together to survive and succeed. There were moments of damsel-in-distress (the whole premise is she needs a knight to save her), but Jennet holds her own again and again and proves her worthiness as a strong female main character.
This novel was published by Fiddlehead Press on December 11th, 2013 and is available on Amazon here.
TL;DR Star Rating: 5.0
Links for more information:
Anthea Sharp’s Website
Goodreads
