Is Eleanor a player who’s trapped in a game world, or is she a character created to live inside the game?Ready Player One meets Westworld in this new reverse harem sci-fi fantasy series with light gaming elements. This is not a litRPG book.Eleanor Walker wakes in a forest with vague memories of her life, no possessions and a silver band strapped to her wrist. She’s not sure what’s strangest about … her life, no possessions and a silver band strapped to her wrist. She’s not sure what’s strangest about the next event– meeting spiders bigger than a human or the fire that shoots from her hands.
She steps further into the dark and comes across three guys who are part of this unfamiliar new world. Jay the cleric with muscles worthy of a warrior, Dean the smart-mouthed assassin, and her real-life friend Aidan–who can now transform into something terrifying.
All four are convinced they’re stuck in a game and their combined powers create a team as strong as the characters they once played online. The group journey through their new world filled with hazardous quests and rewards, where working and levelling up together brings the four closer. Now they need to figure out how to reach the end game and escape.
Everything changes when they discover somebody hidden inside the game. Ethan has dangerous secrets to share and information that threatens Eleanor and her companions’ future.
Why is Eleanor in the game and what will she find when she reaches the fringes of her new world?
Fringe Realms: Mage is a slow burn reverse harem sci-fi fantasy where the romance develops through the books.
The book contains light gaming elements such as quests, basic stats, character levelling etc but this is NOT a litRPG book.
This book is written in British English
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What would you do if you woke up inside a video game? Well…. Eleanor Walker is about to find out There is such a refreshing uniqueness to this story from the storyline itself, the wonderful characters that keep you on your toes & all the slow burn
I don’t want to give anything away so I’ll just say this…Read this book! GAH! This was such a good read! & I cannot wait for the next installment of this new series by LJ Swallow!
Fringe Realms: Mage is the first one in this new series and my first read from this author. First off, this isn’t litRPG as was stated in the first page of the book. I’d say that I’m not a hard core gamer myself and understand a few terms, there are gaming elements and terms but not so much technical that even the non-gamers I’m sure can understand.
I’ve enjoyed reading this book because it brought me back my memories of gaming days; the thrill of doing tasks/ quests and the joy of leveling up and acquiring new skills, meeting online friends that you get to geek out together. I’m curious as to how the author will wrap this up and I’m looking forward to the next book to know more of this world. I highly recommend this one!
I received an ARC and I’m voluntarily leaving an honest review.
This is a new series by the very talented Ms. Swallow. The story line is a bit different than I am used to reading, but I enjoyed it. I am not a gamer and I haven’t played any game since Tetris first came out, yet I still enjoyed the story and I was able to follow along due to Ms. Swallow’s descriptions of her world.
I received an ARC from the author. This is my honest review.
I’m loving this Urban Fantasy RH Romance. All action and plot layers!
Despite it’s on-line gaming setting, for me, Fringe Realms: Mage sits squarely in the very slow burn Urban Fantasy genre, and will also be the third series that I have enjoyed reading from this author. Each one, I have auto-one-clicked based on her name alone.
Knowing that LJ Swallow herself, is a gamer, yet takes the time to explain the game terms, meant that as someone who hasn’t moved much past the initial days of ‘DOOM’, and who has a small appreciation of the world of MineCraft when the kids were into it, I could enjoy the story of Eleanor and her friends so much more.
Layers of plot were exposed as I read through the book, and Eleanor’s suspicions arose as she began to realise that this was no ordinary game, and that typical games rules did not apply. Yeah, I’m no gamer, but I loved the world that LJ Sparrow put me into with her characters. She kept me grasping at each small thread of a clue, and when they reached a mysterious character called Ethan, who had answers confirming the suspicions El had been gathering, I was on tenterhooks for her and the boys. When he told them his truth, I had a whole new understanding of the book, and a whole different interpretation of those on-line games I’ve seen the kids play!!! Mind-f^^k indeed, my head was reeling!
Remember, this is a slow burn RH series, so in between developing her character’s mage skills and trying not to get killed, our heroine is only just acknowledging that her heroes are all kinds of attractive!! I can’t wait for the next book in the Fringe Realms series. Eleanor and the boys have so much to learn, about the game and their places within it, and about each other. 4.5 Stars.