Book Details:

Author: Xander Black
Release Date: 14th March 2022
Series: Game On (Book #1)
Genre: Science-Fiction Fantasy, Adventure, Humour
Format: E-book 
Pages: 445 pages
Publisher: BC BOOKS
Blurb:
WELCOME TO THE METAVERSE
2065: the streets are abandoned, shops are empty, parks are silent. But is that really much of a surprise when you can connect to the Cybernet?
Everyone can turn on, log in and drop out.
Cyrus, a failed physicist, and drop-out game designer Everett are on the cusp of their big breakthrough into the meta ranks of Neverborn, the world’s most popular game.

But when several high-profile avatars disappear, and their human counterparts are found dead, Cyrus and Everett find themselves under suspicion. They must clear their names and unravel the deeper mysteries of Brith and the Neverborn. In doing so, they will uncover a dark secret, that threatens not only the game-world but the safety of their physical realm.

Satire, science fiction, fantasy, and mystery combine in an epic adventure where no one ever leaves home, perfect for fans of Ready Player One and Douglas Adams. 

Review

Meta by Xander Black is a new science-fiction fantasy adventure novel based on the concept of MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) in a PSW (a persistent state world) where millions of players can develop their characters in virtual reality. In simple terms, this book is based on a future where people spend most of their lives in virtual reality instead of living a normal life in the real world.

This book was a decent read though it did remind me too much of Ready Player One (which I thoroughly loved.) At some point, it got a bit overwhelming and I wanted to quit reading it, though knowing better, and trying not to draw comparisons between the two books because of their common concept, I kept reading and finished the book in the hopes that it would be different and I’m glad that I did because this book proved to be a good read with a nice ending.

I liked the writing because it had a good flow but the efforts of the author to try and sound like Douglas Adam-ish felt pretty annoying and seemed to have killed the author’s natural writing style. I found the satire a bit forced and not correctly executed. Also, the book felt to have been lacking decent editing, it may be because I was sent a review copy and not the final book, but the copy if the copy I have and the final book are the same then the book obviously has editing issues. If the book’s final version is well-edited, it should make for a better read. Apart from these issues, as I previously said, the book was a decent read and would be a great fit for sci-fi and adventure genre readers.

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