ZOOLOO'S BOOK TOUR | Deception by R.M. Mulder

Hello

Today I join the fabulous Zooloo's Book Tours for the second in the double bill of spotlights on RM Mulder's first two books in the GamesLit world of Conquest.

On Monday it was the first book in the series, Ascension.

So, today it is the second book, Deception

About the Book

Brittany Parker is a Police Officer for a precinct that has adopted CyberBolt's implant technology to enhance abilities, which also grants her a unique gaming experience. But after getting wrapped up in matters of National Security, she is ordered to undergo a dangerous procedure rumored to cause memory loss and dementia. After the excruciatingly painful experience, she awakens inside the Augmented Reality MMORPG game CONQUEST to face a terrifying threat unlike anything she has ever encountered before.

A rapture-like apocalyptic event transports players through a portal to an alien planet inhabited by the Leviathan, a loathsome creature whose insatiable hunger until now has been fed by that world's few remaining souls. The terrain of CONQUEST is the same, however the game parameters have changed drastically.

Now in a First-Person-Shooter (FPS) setting, Brittany comes head to head with many foes in battles of wits and survival with her limited ammunition. Little does she know however, that the more she levels up in the game, the more she carries out the sinister work of the Leviathan.

Will Brittany see the error of her ways before she pays the ultimate price?


Links for Deception

GOODREADS 

AMAZON




At the end of Conquest Ascension, things took a dramatic twist in the life of Allan Young, not only did he find out his true self, but in the events of the last book, he lost his fiancée (I think she might be that, it's a bit complicated). Anyways things went pear shaped and we know that she was disappeared by that bloke Timur. In the midst of all the madness and mayhem of the last book we were introduced to Brittany Parks in a blink and you will miss it kind of scene. She was police woman in the first book who questioned Allan about the disappearance of his not fiancée.

As it happens, Brittany is also a player of the game Conquest, and as the book is written through Brittany's POV we get to see more of the game and also as it metamorphoses from an mmorpg to a mixture of mmorpg and first person shooter.

Not only do we get to see some of the events that happened in the first book. These events are expanded upon and fleshed out and the questions that I had from the first book were answered in this instalment. As the story moves past the first act things take a different turn in the second act as the game and the story take a different direction. We learn more of Leviathan and we get to see more of 'the dark side'.

So, I read these pretty much back to back and was quite immersed in this world and there weren't any gaps in my knowledge.

In Deception, I liked how certain events in the last book were revisited and we got to see them from a different perspective which added nuance to some of the things that happened in the first book and gave that  that little bit more depth. 

Additionally, it was good to see a new set of characters in the book. I particularly liked Brittany Parker's  character in this one. Her character arc was the one that I was most invested in. At some points, I did think that some of the side characters could have done with a bit more fleshing out, but I am not sure if that this is something that is indicative of this sub genre and you eventually get used to it. Especially as I generally read large character driven fantasy. 

There is a good mix of action and plot that drives the story along and keeps it engaging, and with Brittany's point of view you get to see other aspects of the world as a whole. 

 
This was an entertaining and enjoyable addition to the series that both expands the story as a whole and the characters


 

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