Over on the Risingshadow website, Seregil of Rhiminee has read and reviewed James Starling’s debut novel Arteess: Conflict, the first book in the Arteess series. At the start of the review, Seregil admits “I don’t normally get excited about books that tell about what happens in a virtual gaming world, but this book is one of the few exceptions that manage to convey the hectic action and the addictive atmosphere of the gaming world to readers, because the author writes enthusiastically about the quests and action scenes” and concludes that “the author must know quite a lot about games, because he manages to write convincingly and fluently about the different choices and action scenes”.
Describing Arteess as “an interesting and bold experimentation in combining modern science fiction and gaming”, Seregil goes on to say that “it was fun to read this book, because it was a different kind of a science fiction book”. What makes it different, says Seregil, “is that the author concentrates fully on writing about the virtual world, action scenes and what kind of decisions the players make” and in this way he has created “something new”.
Noting that Arteess: Conflict is James’ debut book, Seregil say “In my opinion he has lots of potential and he writes well”. The story will continue in Arteess: Fortification and “everybody who enjoys reading this book will look forward to reading the sequel, because this books ends in an interesting way. I look forward to reading the sequel”.
The review finishes by saying “Arteess: Conflict is an interesting and a bit different kind of a science fiction book. I think that readers who are interested in online games, war games and other similar kind of games will love this book and will be able to immerse themselves fully in the story and the happenings. It has everything that these readers could ever hope for, because it has action, suspense and surprises. In my opinion Arteess: Conflict is a dream-come-true book for readers who enjoy playing action packed computer games and spending time in virtual gaming worlds.”
You can read the full review here.