- #1
This novel takes obvious inspiration from the Tom Clancy's The Division series of games, specifically the first one at least up to c37.When the game portion starts (c14), it seems to draw heavily from The Division (the first game), albeit with the setting being in Brooklyn instead of Manhattan. Secret military operators in a post-plague US, fighting with various factions for control. Basically, instead of the ""good guys"" being called "The Division", the faction is called "ICARUS".There are other differences, but I don't care to write them out. Also, I didn't play much of the first game, only the second, so honestly I don't remember much about it, besides it's general vibe and major story beats.The basic premise (from my understanding) is that some dude got drafted from the Korean military into a secret US special operations organization, and spent four years in hell after a plague outbreak destroyed the US. Somewhere during this time, he gets genderbent and turned into a snake demi-human. Then, something happens (this doesn't seem to be well explained as of c37) and the MC somehow goes to a world similar to their previous one (or perhaps gets sent back to the past) except nothing bad has happened. The first 13 chapters are the MC learning about the current state of the world, doing essentially slice of life things.During the aforementioned slice of life things, MC finds out about a full-dive VRMMO game that perfectly recreates their experiences in "hell" (Brooklyn during the outbreak), and obviously they are drawn to the game. And that's where the story really starts. I won't go into any more detail.I love what I have read. 4.5/5 (-0.5 pts for unoriginality), rounded to a 5 because I like the vibe. As Sareza said, if you're curious, start from c14 and see if you like it. If you do like it, I'd go back and read it from the beginning to get some background information (since the novel is still quite early in the plot, I can't say whether or not details shown in the first 13 chapters will be important later). But either way, if you like modern (-ish) warfare stuff, give it a try and see if you like it. And if you like The Division, also give it a try since the game sections draw heavily from it.As an aside, I am definitely biased lol. I like modern military stuff, I like TS (gender bender) stuff, and I like VRMMO stuff. This novel checks a bunch of my preferences, so its not surprising that I love it. If any of that turns you off, don't go into this novel expecting to like it. Basically, look at the tags and see if you dislike anything. If you don't, and you're a member of the aforementioned groups (likes modern warfare, or The Division player), try reading it.
