Questland

Games gave me a world that had rules and made sense, where violence had well-defined parameters, clear and specific reasons for happening. Where magic could save us.

This book is pretty much "Jurassic Park, but make it D&D," and I'm absolutely digging the concept. It's fun and fast-paced, so it felt to me a lot shorter than it actually was. This is both a pro and a con in my book: on one hand, a quick, exciting read like this was exactly what I needed, but on the other hand, I think slowing down occasionally would have lent the story more depth.

Even so, this was fun! There are so many cool geeky references here—the story feels like a love letter to geek culture, really. In a way, it made me feel very seen. Also, the very concept of a military sci-fi following all the high fantasy tropes reminded me of a longterm TTRPG campaign I was once in, so that was a cool extra layer for me.

I admit the only character I connected to was Addie, but since she's the protagonist and the narrator, that felt like enough. The way she co-existed with her trauma and coped through games made her very relatable to me. Again though, I kinda wish the pace was slower at times, specifically when there was a focus on Addie's health involved—I feel that a subject like this deserves to be explored in a less shallow way. 

So I guess in the end, my feelings are somewhat mixed, but I also had A LOT of fun with this little story, so I choose to err on the side of the positives. :)