Francesco Augustine Bernadone: A Brief History of Our Tomorrows by Stan Faryna
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Not at All What I Expected!
Read as part of the #30days30authors challenge.
This fast-paced novella is not at all what it originally appears. I haven’t read a lot of LitRPG, and what I have usually was either an 80s movie or it was written by Andre Norton for D&D. This story asks the question: what if life were a game like Second Life, only it was played like Call of Duty? With zombies?
You would expect a slaughterfest, and it certainly was exciting, except that there is a much deeper story here. What if life itself were just a game? What would you do, how would you treat other gamers, and what might the consequences of that be? I think in Stan Faryna I have found a kindred spirit. This is a deeply spiritual man who is concerned about the way we treat one another. No spoilers though!
Things I think could have used some improvement: there was a lot of telling and not showing at the beginning. I think he could have used some tighter editing.
Things I really liked: I loved his protagonist! Again, not at all what you expect. I also really felt his dystopia. I can’t wait to find out what happens next! But fair warning: it ends on a cliffhanger.
A great run in the spirit of Ready Player One Looking forward to the next one!
Diane Morrison 