Bookish Wednesday: Otherlife Dreams by William D. Arand

Michael Blaker
Game Industry News is running the best blog posts from people writing about the game industry. Articles here may originally appear on Michael's blog, Windborne's Story Eatery.

cover_art

Hey all I’m back with the first in a LitRPG series I ran across recently for this week’s Bookish Wednesday! It’s Otherlife Dreams, Book 01 of the Selfless Hero Trilogy, by William D. Arand!

Plot Synopsis:Runner has a problem. He and 499,000 men and women are trapped in a game. He also just happens to be the only person from IT who could log everyone out safely. And he doesn’t remember his password.

He, like everyone else in this nightmare, had their memories scrambled or lost in the process of being loaded into the game. A single garbled message is his only clue on how to save everyone.

The problem is that whoever loaded them into the game, loaded their minds completely. If they die, their brain gets wiped.

Now it’s time for Runner to flex his skills as a power gaming min-maxer and see what he can do. Because every time he levels, he might gain the memory of the password. Time to go Hardcore.

Plot: The plot of this first entry is pretty good, and frankly I really enjoyed the hell out of this book. It made me laugh and it doesn’t make me feel so bad for talking to myself occasionally. There are romance elements, though they are light in this entry of the series. Mostly this is about Runner adjusting to the world he finds himself in and him trying to adjust to his “Unique” circumstances. They make for absolute hilarity.

Characters: Runner is a hilarious person, who is very smart but can come up with some really idiot plans that would seem absolutely insane in reality. But as any gamer will tell you, using a glitch to gain advantages is a mark of a true professional. Scott and Linda were pretty funny as well, if sadly not in the spotlight very much.  Hannars, Lady Death, Kitten and Nadine were our female leads, and they were all very interesting, each has their own flaws, and strengths and are incredibly strong and capable women.

Overall: If you love gaming, and/or LitRPGs, you’ll love Otherlife Dreams, it takes the genre and makes it hilarious and heart pounding at the same time.

For those who like: MMOs, LitRPG, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Magic, Action, Adventure, Romance, Hilarity, Excellent Plot, Fantastic Cast of Characters.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, but how can you hate all that.

Share this GiN Article on your favorite social media network:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *