I want to first say that there were a lot of good elements to this story, but I read it after some great books and it didn't live up to how great those books were so that affected my rating.

An exhilarating, fast paced and immersive lit rpg adventure which focuses on two main characters (a father called Michael) and his daughter along with Michaels harrowing journey to find his daughter once she goes missing in the system of the world.
The gaming elements in this story were extremely well written and the plot flowed from start to finish (definitely elements of Ready player One in a virtual game capacity).
In terms of the drawbacks, it would have been nice to have been shown more of this dystopian world by the author and the elements within it but all in all an interesting read.
Thankyou to both Netgalley as well as Victory Editing Co-Op for the ARC of this book and all opinions are my own.

Okay I want to preface this rating and review with that there were a lot of good parts to this story.

This is probably my first LitRPG book and I think it was a good introduction into the genre. I enjoyed the concept and could see how it could span multiple books. The dynamic between Michael and Rhea was quite authentic and Michael’s fatherly intuition was realistic, and I think it made the journey they embarked on more compelling. The action scenes were pretty well written too.

There was definitely a strong sense of tension running throughout the book and it brought to life Michael and Rhea’s anxiety and adrenaline at being thrown into this hectic situation. I especially liked the multimedia chapter titles which gave visual of what an Evo system looks like - that was so fun.

Rather than what could have been improved upon, I would like to rephrase it as what I wish I could have seen:
- I wish I could have had more time in this dystopian world and be fully immersed in the journey of Michael and Rhea. I think I would have felt more emotionally invested if I got to experience the arduous journey they had to take to learn about the changes to their system and improving their abilities
- I wish that there was more mystery established! There were some good questions about brought about but I wanted to have more time to settle into these questions and have the clues link more to uncovering these mysteries
- I wish there was more development with the side characters who played a role in the wider plot so I could feel the realness of the threat. There was one character who had some development and that was good to see so I was hopeful that the others would have the same

Overall, I think there is some really good content here and I think it’s got the potential to be a gripping series

Evoker by Josh Erikson is a LitRPG that immediately pulls you in. Michael Balder and his daughter Rhea are yanked into a fast passed adventure to help Laine, Michael’s daughter thwart a scorched earth plot,

Laine discovers the eco political group Prometheus have downloaded a program so they can hijack and control the virtual reality program EVO that controls all aspects of life. She creates a virus called Dyrnwyn 1.0 in order to save the world from the Prometheus group, and it is up to Michael and Rhea to help Laine save the population.

I was able to read and listen to the book side by side. The writing was great, and suitable for all ages. Erikson also does a great job with the narration keeping the listener engaged and with the capability to provide unique voice for all characters. It was a great pleasure reading/listing to this book and I strongly recommend it.

Thank you, Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ALC and eARC. All opinions are my own.

Rating: 4 Stars
Print Pub Date:

Tags:
#Evoker
#TheDyrnwynStrain
#JoshErikson
#YarisBookNook
#netgalley