Warscapia

Sparrow wants to be the greatest warrior in all of Warscapia. But he’s not. He’s just a kid with mediocre magic skills.

When he’s asked to team with axe bro Rock and ninja girl Jade, he will have to fight for his life and much more as the crew takes on some of the most brutal and fantastic monsters in the land of Warscapia—a videogame fantasy universe like none other.

My Take:

Sparrow is a wizard with mediocre skills who resides in Warscapia - a video game fantasy universe. His inept control over his fledgling magic and his bumbling melee skills manage to land him a coveted entry level position in Warrior Core - an elite mercenary band who defend the populace in the game from high-HP monsters.

Together with Rock, an axe-wielding egotistical warrior, and Jade, a ditsy ninja-skills bow-wielding huntress, they form a beginner-rank task team sent to battle increasingly difficult enemies. But when a common Vampire-Dragon reveals himself to be none other than Count Dragula, he steals their souls, and they have ten days to retrieve them, or they become his... forever!

Content:

Drug Content:

PG - There's a bit of drinking in the game, several encounters happen, as is common in video games, in bars. A popular drink called Dethbrew increases magical potency and strength.

Violence:

PG - Video game violence, and most of it is non-graphic. Enemies when defeated turn to dust, leaving goodies behind. Seriously, if you let your kids play Zelda, this is probably ok.

Language:

G - squeaky clean. I don't recall any cuss words in the novel.

Adult Content:

G - The worst thing in this novel is Rock bragging about how much of a ladies man he is.

Christian content:

Not a bit. The main characters struggle a bit with death and the hereafter, but mainly it's just a lighthearted tale without a lot of meat. Some veins of deeper content are loyalty, sacrifice, teamwork, and comraderie. There didn't seem to be reference to the real world in the novel, which made me wonder if they realized they were in a game at all (consulting wrist units for HP and MP stats makes it seem they did). The bit about their souls being stolen caused some reflection on whether life had purpose, and whether it was worth it to fight insurmountable odds to get your soul back.

Final analysis:

While the majority of this novel was fluff, it was light-hearted, humorous fluff that had me laughing out loud multiple times. I thoroughly enjoy a good RPG game, and the action, adventure, and stakes in this one were aimed to please. It's a fairly quick read, and was hard to put down. Five Stars!

About the Author:

Garrett Boggs has a degree in English, but his inspiration to write mainly comes from late nights playing video games like Runescape, Maplestory, and Skyrim.

You can also catch him checking out the latest indie games on Steam.

His dream is to be sponsored by Red Bull and to have a pet falcon.

Garrett writes LitRPG, a new genre that combines mechanics from role playing video games with fantasy or sci-fi writing.

Email: garrett.boggs@my.wheaton.edu

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