*I edited this novel and received a free ARC of the final book, with no obligation to review at all. This review is unbiased and represents my own personal opinions.*
Blurb: In a future built on beautiful illusions, there’s nothing more dangerous than the truth.
The world has embraced the EVO, a neural chip that grants constant access to networks at a thought, and the ability to interact with reality through any filters imaginable. And for Michael Balder, it’s everything wrong with society. But when his older daughter goes missing, he has no choice but to wade into those frenetic shadows to find the clues hidden within the prototype game she left behind. Together with his younger daughter, they delve into a new world layered over their own, fighting for answers as the city quickly transforms into a monster-infested nightmare. And when a violent cabal emerges to steal the program, Michael discovers that he has strange new powers to fight back…magic. And the only way to win is to play…
The Dyrnwyn Strain is a new sci-fantasy trilogy with litRPG elements, set in a near future where technology has been left to evolve unchecked, twisted to alter reality, and exploited to maximize profits at the expense of humanity. So…you know…fiction.
If that sounds good to you, you can check out a free sample of Chapter 1 on the author’s website, here.
Review: I already love Josh Erikson’s urban fantasy writing, but this novel is the first in a completely new series blending LitRPG and VR scifi with action-packed thriller, centred on a family dealing with bereavement and the challenges of moving from being a father and daughters to being a father and adult daughters.
Through the lens of a dystopian near-future, where adverts play out around you constantly and have become almost indistinguishable from what is real, we follow main character Michael Balder and his verge-of-adulthood younger daughter as they set off on a very personal quest to find their older daughter/older sister and find themselves drawn into a war for who controls our perceptions in which ‘virtual’ reality has become all too painfully real.
The plot is action-packed and bursting with adrenaline, as the pair run and fight their way through a city populated with monsters, fictional and corporate, using their new-found magic and the clues left to them, and trying to learn to work as a team of equals instead of a wounded family trying to protect what they have left of each other.
Absolutely genius from beginning to end, this book will have you reading on the edge of your seat and leave you desperate for the next instalment in the trilogy… coming 25th April 2025!
About the author
Josh Erikson doesn’t have any fancy credentials to tell you about here. He lives in rural Nebraska (US) with his wife and two children, where he mostly reads, writes, and reads about writing. His many awards and accolades include some beautiful certificates he printed at home, and a yo-yo trick contest he once won at a fun fair in a grocery store parking lot.
Website: https://josherikson.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EtherealEarthSeries/
X/Twitter: https://x.com/Josh_Erikson
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18049265.Josh_Erikson
