Thanks to NetGalley for the arc. All opinions are my own.

I really wanted to like this book more. The blend of DND into a fantasy quest land almost worked, but there were just some elements better to have left out of the story. The pacing was odd at times and the characters were harder to get behind than I would have liked. All that said, it wasn't a terrible novel, just one I don't see myself reading again.

Incredibly unique and inventive concept and by far the best book I have read in a while! Carrier Vaughn combines fantasy and technology beautifully when she designed her plot for Questland.

Professor Addie Cox lives a quiet life until Harris Lang asks for her help guiding a team to take back his island. He had been working on designing an experience that allows people to visit the island for an immersive experience playing through a medieval themed fantasy role playing game. With real unicorns and other magical creatures and design features on the island this becomes a job she can’t refuse. But Lang hasn’t received any communication from his production team in months, so no one truly knows what exists on the island now. What Lang does know is Addie’s ex-boyfriend is there and she may be the only one who can get through to him.

This book is wonderfully written and Addie’s curiosity to continue exploring all of the secrets of the island is super relatable. If you have ever dreamed of walking through the wardrobe, stepping into Hogwarts, storming the castle or even just eating in a old medieval pub, this book is for you! Vaughn makes it possible to believe that all of the fantasy worlds you have ever heard of could become real!

This book will be released in June. I received an advanced readers copy from NetGalley.

This was a nothing book. I forgot I was reading it, while actually reading it.

I am giving it 1 star not because I hated it, but because of the instantaneous amnesia.

'Fantasy is about what you can't patent. Honor and heroism and... and... hope.'

I really enjoyed Carrie Vaughn's latest offering, Questland. Jurassic Park meets Game of Thrones, set on a small island in the 'real world' where an eccentric billionaire tried to use science and technology to bring fantasy to life. And, naturally, things went... wrong. One or more of the project leads has mutinied, taking over the island and locking everyone else out, including its founder.

There are enough eccentric billionaires in the world now that the premise of Questland is utterly plausible. I loved Vaughn's description of Questland's founder:

One of them was Silicon Valley tech guru Harris Lang himself, founder of Lang Analytics, inventor of a revolutionary telecom device that nobody understood, founder of a private company flinging satellites into orbit.

Lang wants control of his island back. With no expense - or manipulation - spared, he recruits skilled, armed operatives to send on the mission. Plus an expert in pop culture, to help the team navigate their way through the island's many fantasy-themed traps and puzzles.

Told from the point of view of Dr Addie Cox, literature professor and highschool shooting survivor, she doesn't bother to explain the tech in detail. Instead, she focuses on the wonder.

As a reader, visiting Questland with Addie feels like stepping into a movie set. But instead of CGI unicorns there are cyborg unicorns. And instead of robotic giant spiders controlled off-set, they're A.I. And they don't have inbuilt safety protocols.

There are so many wonderful moments in the novel, from passing references to childhood favourites, to meditations on the meaning of life.

On finding a cupboard portal:

He pushed aside the rack of coats and gestured me back through the wardrobe.

"You know, Mr Tumnus would have had tea for me," I said.

He raised a brow. "I've actually read that book. you can't trust Mr Tumnus."

"Well, no. But still."

Questland is great escapism, partly because escapism is what it's all about - an island where the D&D game never ends, and the GM (game master) always ensures there's structure, logic and an identifiable solution. As Addie says:

'''All I'd ever wanted to do was escape. No, that wasn't true. All I wanted was for what happened to mean something. Stories meant something, and real life... didn't. God has a plan, this is part of God's plan - stupid people kept telling me that over and over again at Alex's and Dora's funerals, at the endless memorials. There was no plan. Or if there was, it was cruel, and God was a terrible GM.''

Prof. Addie Cox (literature) got a call from billionaire Harris Lang (think of a cross between Steve Jobs and Elon Musk with a side of Howard Hughes) to take part in an expedition to Insula Mirabilis - his island retreat off the coast of Washington State that is now behind a force shield. She wonders why her for this quest until she finds out that one of the three possibly rouge team project managers is her ex-boyfriend. Also, Insula Mirabilis is a fantasy land brought to life via science with dragons, unicorns, and flying monkeys among other wonders. Lang want to get back control before anyone else dies. Nothing goes as planned. There is mayhem, violence, death and some destruction until the resolution event where Addie comes through like a true D & D bard. A fun read for those into fantasy culture and anyone looking for a good story!

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton.
Monster Land by Michael Okun.
Questland by Carrie Vaughn.
All novels about theme parks gone wrong.
I was excited when I read the synopsis for this book.
I was even more excited when I received an early copy from NetGalley.
This book was a lot of fun. It had a few monsters and challenges to it.
It gave us a look at what a theme park might be like.
I just wish it had had more of it.
Don’t get me wrong. The book was fun and interesting from start to finish.
The only downside for me was the romance angle. I’m not a big fan of that.
I hope the author will do a second book and focus only on a group doing a quest.
That way we could see more of the island and the various aspects of it.

Questland has a great premise - PhD in Literature and expert in all things fantasy/role play is called on to aid a freelance military team break into an island fantasy world. It is a fun story and Dr. Addie Cox has a lot of potential. The story is fun and full of action - it moves quickly and makes you want to read on.

The drawback is that Dr. Addie is not as strong a character as she could be. With a little more development it could have been much stronger in the development of her coping mechanisms, and development to a part of the team rather than an add-on, particularly given the back story she has been given. At the moment, it reads a little too much damsel in distress being rescued by alpha male for me - which was a shame because Dr. Addie has so much going for her.

That said, if you have ever dreamed of visiting a resort based on all things fantasy - think combination of Lord of the Rings-D&D world - where elves, unicorns, and flying monkeys are all possibilities, you will love this story. For the nerd in all of us.

Questland takes the bones of fantasy and covers it in science fiction, Inside a game the fantastic becomes real in a kind of safari park of the imagination. Satisfying characters and a clever plot make Questland an entertaining read.
I always value a book where the author has displayed originality and humor. Questland has both in spades.md

There is an awful lot going on in this book. Admittedly it was hard for me to keep all the players and technical, magical, and fantastical piece all together. But it was an interesting concept and even with not understanding or remembering all the little details, it was a fun time! I would recommend to anyone who likes sci-fi with a dash of romance.

Questland is the story of what happens when a literature teacher with ptsd joins an assault team on a mission to take over a thematic park island that is the jurassic park to lord of the rings die hard fans.
I personally found this book charming and so geeky and as a nerd myself i was very please to understand almost all the references the author threw out in this one.
Very fast paced and with a lot of quests and adventures that left you feeling the need to explore Questland for real.
Recommended to all those D&D and epic fantasy nerds out there

I loved the premise of this book. A reclusive billionaire has created an immersive environment on a remote island, with creatures and role playing that blurs the line between reality and magic. It’s like seeing your favorite fantastical creatures and situations come to life—a Sphinx, wargs. Red meat for nerds like me! However, the inhabitants of the island, those who are running and creating the program, have mutinied, and an energy barrier has gone up and isolated the island. Harris Lang, the reclusive millionaire has hired a military team, with a civilian female English professor who is the ex-girlfriend of the chief engineer on the island and a survivor of a school shooting and a gamer, as a consult. Very high concept.

What took me out of the book was the weird military mission tone—it was not believable and I was tired of reading descriptions of this PhD floundering with wet socks in a rainstorm and being rescued by an ex-military alpha male. Not my cup of tea. It also was strangely derivative of Jurassic World. I did like the characters, which were well drawn and empathetic. Ultimately, this was not the book I wanted it to be.

I expected to love this book, but unfortunately it wasn’t for me. I’m a big nerd and I loved that this hit that note, but it never really felt committed. With Ready Player One, the book was absolutely dripping with references, whereas this book is kind of elementary with the whole thing? It felt more like a fantasy reader 101 reference. It should’ve read like someone that truly loved nerdy shit, but it simply didn’t. Addie’s character never rang true to me, and all of her emotions felt over the top and forced. Additionally, the ending was rushed and Addie never actually proved herself to be important to the mission. She didn’t really even learn anything about herself.

I really liked this book. As a former D&D player I was really interested in the synopsis of this book and I wasn't disappointed.

I was so excited to read this book- Carrie Vaughan is a fav of mine! The story was very good- can’t wait to read more from this author!

This was so much fun, action packed and smart. Dungeons and Dragons, Harry Potter, Tolkien and any other fantasy adventure or character you could imagine or all present on this Disneyland like island. But not all is as it seems. What an adventure. I want to go there.

I was so excited to read this book. A book that combines reading and Dungeons and Dragons, yes please! However, I just could not get into it. I felt like it dragged on a bit.

Questland is a novel by Carrie Vaughn, the author of the Kitty Norville series. While the Kitty Norville books are paranormal (Kitty is a werewolf!), Questland is more fantasy-based.
The protagonist of the book is Addie Cox, a literature professor who loves fantasy and RPGs. She also may have PTSD from something that happened to her when she was much younger. Addie is contacted by technology billionaire Harris Lang. Lang was creating a fantasy enclave on an island that was going to be the ultimate vacation spot. However, not only has he lost contact with his team, but a force field has appeared around the island that caused the death of members of the U.S. Coast Guard. The main designer of the project is Addie’s ex-boyfriend, so Lang wants Addie to join a team of mercenaries who are heading out to take back the island.

I really enjoyed this book. It sucked me in pretty quickly and kept my attention. I loved Vaughn’s Kitty Norville novels so I was very excited to check this book out as well. It’s completely different but still awesome. A great “beach read”

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me a free e-copy of this book.

I recieved an e-ARC of this book in exchange of my honest review.

This book was very intriguing, it has some topics that are attractive to me, this book really sold it with the plot, so it was so great to have read this book, and enjoyed it a lot

Questland by Carrie Vaughn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Carrie Vaughns trek into LitRPG territory is a solid run even if it feels like a half-attempt to legitimize the sub-genre by giving it fairly extensive SF roots, a real-world base, and economic "reasons".

Of course, most of the LitRPGs I've read don't bother with any of that. They just go straight into the adventure and let us have all the *ding* level-ups we want, letting us revel in the adventure and learn the basic gaming rules as we go with easy-to-follow diagrams. :)

Vaughn's is more along the lines of Ready Player One, but with a more devoted eye to direct LoTR mythology and normal myths that aren't limited to '80s schwag. I LIKED that. I even liked the idea that a PHD in Literature got the leading role.

So what didn't I like? The plot. Maybe the first half was okay because it's standard journey stuff, but once we got into the evil corporation arrogance and the rats trying to steal all the company cheese, I either wanted it to go out with a big bang or defy my expectations. It did neither.

It wasn't bad, but it didn't wow me, either.

Literature professor and geek Addie Cox is summoned by billionaire Harris Lang and given an opportunity she can['t refuse: accompany a special forces team as they infiltrate the fantasy theme park Lang is developing. Insula Mirabilis has been cut off from the mainland by a force shield for five months; obviously something has gone very wrong. Addie's former boyfriend is the lead developer on the project, and Land hopes that she can get through to him.

When the team arrives, they find marvels: sphinxes, unicorns, dragons both playful and terrifying. They also discover that their maps are out of date, the safety protocols have been turned off, some of the developers have gone native, and did I mention the dragons?

This isn't quite fantasy (none of the magic is real, although Addie sometimes has trouble remembering that). It's closer to very-near-future science fiction, although it isn't quite that, either. Mostly it's just fun.