Advance Review of Julia Durango's The Leveller
Release Date: June 23rd, 2015
Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:
Nixy Bauer is a self-made Leveller. Her job? Dragging kids out of virtual reality and back to their parents in the real world. It’s normally easy cash, but Nixy’s latest mission is fraught with real danger, intrigue, and romance.
Nixy Bauer is used to her classmates being very, very unhappy to see her. After all, she’s a bounty hunter in a virtual reality gaming world. Kids in the MEEP, as they call it, play entirely with their minds, while their bodies languish in a sleeplike state on the couch. Irritated parents, looking to wrench their kids back to reality, hire Nixy to jump into the game and retrieve them.
But when the game’s billionaire developer loses track of his own son in the MEEP, Nixy is in for the biggest challenge of her bounty-hunting career. Wyn Salvador isn’t some lazy kid looking to escape his homework: Wyn does not want to be found. And he’s left behind a suicide note. Nixy takes the job but quickly discovers that Wyn’s not hiding—he’s being held inside the game against his will. But who is holding him captive, and why?
Nixy and Wyn attempt to fight their way out of a mind game unlike any they’ve encountered, and the battle brings them closer than either could have imagined. But when the whole world is virtual, how can Nixy possibly know if her feelings are real?
Gamers and action fans of all types will dive straight into the MEEP, thanks to Julia Durango’s cinematic storytelling. A touch of romance adds some heart to Nixy’s vivid, multidimensional journey through Wyn’s tricked-out virtual city, and constant twists keep readers flying through to the breathtaking end.
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Excerpt from The Leveller:
My ear trans begins the frequency code and a few seconds later I wake up in the Landing, the MEEP entry zone. A three-story virtual mall of glass and gold, the Landing sparkles like a shopaholic heaven, enticing faithful spenders into the fold. Filled with dozens of flashy boutiques, stores, and salons, here you can purchase character enhancements for your avatar, as well as costumes, weapons, tools... anything you might want or need for the world you've created.
I usually skip the shopping spree. First of all, it costs real money, and I need every penny I earn to go to my college savings, not pretend makeovers. And second, I like my avatar to look like me, no enhancements; it's one of my personal rules, and I pride myself of it.
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An enticing look into what could happen if the world of gaming became a whole lot more realistic. This story was packed full of action, because what video game isn't... as well as mystery, and romance.
Nixy is a Leveller. She is tasked by parents to bring their children out of the virtual world and back into the real. Her motto is Nixy Bauer, home in an hour... and she doesn't get paid unless she follows that. When she gets a new contract, the son of her parent's boss has gone missing, her motto will be the least of her worries. Wyn Salvador has been missing for days into his personal world inside of the MEEP. His father, Diego Salvador, is the creator of MeaParadisus Inc (MEEP for short), as well as Nixy's parent's boss. Quite a few trained computer programmers have gone in to find Wyn, but all have failed. Now it's her turn! Where grown adults have failed, a 16 year old girl is sent to do what no one else can.
Inside the MEEP she will find horrors like she can't imagine, a plot by a mysterious hacking group to shut down MeaParadisus, a beautiful boy who will both save her and be saved by her... and all of it will change her. But will she be able to save the day?
I have read a few Virtual Reality/Gaming books that had similar ideas, so I know that sometimes stories can be very similar in idea, but so different execution. This story is a breathe of fresh air. Although I was able to guess in quite a few places where the plot was going to be taken, I was still surprised by a lot.
If the synopsis entices you, I say you should definitely pick up this book when it is released in June! Here are some other books that are about Virtual Reality or Gaming:
James Dashner's The Eye of Minds
Claudia Gabel & Cheryl Klam's Elusion
Carol Snow's Bubble World
Eve Silver's The Game series
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