Title: Warlords of Llantatis
Author: Dominic Green
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: September 19, 2014
Pages: 573
Book Source: eBook
WARLORDS OF LLANTATIS’s graphics, gameplay, and immersive three-dimensional virtual reality experience took the online role playing gaming world by storm when it was first released – but it was first released over fifteen years ago. Now it’s a haunt for the nostalgic and unfashionable.
Cyrus Baggett and Raj Rengarajulu have been pretending to be Smelrond of Quimnimbriel and Mordaxxe, Pwner of Noobs since college. Now they’re old, married, and wanted by most of the crowned heads, secret police organisations and demonic familiars of the game universe. They are considering growing out of this thing – at least, until they meet the Character With No Name.
The Character’s player is living in one room, which he has never left and appears to be being held in against his will. He doesn’t know where in the world the room is; he doesn’t even know his own name. The only way of finding out more about him is through playing Warlords of Llantatis, and that can only happen if Mordaxxe and Smelrond can keep him alive for long enough to talk – and if they can stay alive themselves, with Beëlzebelle and the Munchkins, Wizard Sparklebeard and Titanowang Lord of Fertility at large in the same universe.
My Review:
Wow! For all the adventure and mystery Dominic Green gives us in one book, it should be a lot more than 99 cents. At first it was a bit hard to get into, and at 573 pages, a bit daunting, but once I did, I just wanted to keep reading.
While the world that Rag and Cyrus play in is fantasy, and they are trying to solve a mystery that also takes place in the real world, there is an element of science fiction in this book as well. If that sounds like Green took a big bite in writing this story, he did. But he also makes it completely palatable, so we are able to enjoy the frantic pace and comedic style like a steak that melts in your mouth and lingers on your taste buds.
If you are a gamer, either video or board, you should give this book a read. I’m sure you’ll find characters that remind you of other players you know, or even yourself. And even if you’re not a gamer but enjoy zany books by Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams, or the book/movie John Dies at the End, you should pick this one up.