Maria Elena thought she’d sworn off gaming forever. But she hates her new internship, so her brother Balt convinces her to play Heroes of Avonell, a cutting-edge virtual-reality video game with such complex programming that it’s like the non-player characters are self-aware.
Disappointed with the usual cliché job class offerings, Maria Elena’s character Quinny stumbles through a glitch in the game and ends up in Caed Dhraos, a strange city populated with friendly monsters. Quinny decides to work for the resident dark lord as part of his magic personnel, but she can’t tell anybody she’s playing in off-limits areas of the game—not even Balt. Soon Quinny finds herself getting to the bottom of a mystery surrounding an ancient demon and why Caed Dhraos is suffering from the Blight.
But the artificial intelligences in the game really are self-aware, and some of Avonell’s so-called “heroes” have decided they don’t like humanity very much. The game has gone out of control, and Maria Elena and her new friends have to find a way to set things right. Can she save Avonell – and Earth – while juggling her real job and trying to salvage her crumbling relationship with her brother?
Pixeldust is a dive into a fantastical, fun virtual world where the universe may be made of data, but the dangers, friendships, magic, and lessons learned are very real.
Purchase Links
https://www.amazon.com/Pixeldust-T-K-Arispe-ebook/dp/B08DD612GR (ebook)
https://www.amazon.com/Pixeldust-T-K-Arispe/dp/B08DBZD91T (paperback)
Review
One week into her internship and already hating it, former gaming addict Maria Elena falls off the wagon to play Heroes of Avonell, a cutting edge VR experience with incredibly lifelike NPCs (non-playable characters). Loving the experience but tired of the cliched storyline, Maria Elena's avatar Quinny stumbles through a glitch in the game and joins forces with the friendly monsters in the dark city on the other side. Unfortunately, the NPCs aren't just lifelike, they're fast becoming self-aware and aren't pleased to find out they aren't real. Soon Maria must juggle her job, her relationship with her brother, and a whole society of angry NPCs threatening to break into our own world and wreak destruction.
This is a fizzy, exciting triumph of a book. Yes, we're faced with the ethical dilemmas of AI and personhood, but it's clothed in parlance that any RPG player would recognise and Maria Elena's impatience with the old cliches will ring true for anyone who's picked up a game but wished for more innovative storytelling. I could easily see similar criticisms popping up if tech ever advanced to make Heroes of Avonell a reality, though I'm still unsure how an overarching quest works in a MMO (massive multiplayer online) where you adventure alongside players from around the world.
The high fantasy of the game and the accompanying moral quandaries are anchored by Maria Elena's relationship with her brother. While he's the one who invited her to play in the first place, Quinny's adventures in an off-limits game area drives a wedge between them, proving that actions in Avonell can have real-life consequences.
While the ending was satisfying, I can't help but feel it wrapped up too quickly as it has huge implications for Maria Elena's life and our world in general. I would love to read more about Avonell and its people.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Rachel's Random Resources; all opinions are my own
Author Bio
T. K. Arispe is an illustrator, gamer, and unashamed nerd with a background in animation and webcomic production, including the webcomic Trainer Wants to Fight! which somehow got its own page on TVTropes. She loves interesting stories, well-crafted worlds, and memorable characters, and is passionate about creating quality, intelligent, slightly offbeat media that everyone can enjoy. Most of her story ideas come from random research binges, usually in the fields of theoretical physics, computer science, or oddly enough food history. She lives in California, were she enjoys not having to deal with snow because it is terrifying.
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Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9833615.T_K_Arispe
Thank you so much for being part of my blog tour, and I really appreciate the five-star review! I agree, the ending is a little rushed; I'd been told for a previous story that I needed to pare down my endings, but I think I overdid it a bit here. Maybe one of these days I'll write a sequel.
ReplyDeleteAnd you've got a good point about the overarching quest! My thought is that the developers packed the game with side quests, while releasing bits of the main storyline episodically. Hence why Caed Dhraos is off-limits at first, and everyone's just talking about General Noggerath instead of Zaragoz, because the developers planned to have Noggerath defeated and then pull a "surprise, he's not the real end boss!" and reveal Caed Dhraos. But there would have to be some sense of coordination for the quest storyline to make sense and be consistent across every player's experience, I see what you're saying.