It was meh, just meh. ( )

Enjoyable enough, but I'm unlikely to continue the series. (The book indirectly raises a nifty point about the minions who build dungeons, though.) ( )

Enough action to satisfy my action-oriented tastes. Good story, funny moments, all around good book. I could have done with less swearing, as a matter of personal taste.

I haven't played RPGs, but everything made sense to me and I'd recommend this book to anyone, regardless of their RPG history. ( )

It’s been a long time since I played RPGs, but I liked the idea of NPCs being forced to take on a quest of their own. As a reader, I could appreciate the RPG conventions. For the characters it was normal life, which worked well, rather than having them be self-aware they were in a game, so to say. (Even if they were aware of “how things like this go” in a broader sense).

Despite a fair amount of fighting and bloodshed (it’s an RPG, after all), the tone was pretty cosy. All the characters had understandable motivations, and most had (fairly) good intentions. We occasionally followed the “real” gamers, and they were the ones who felt like intruders in the world. And quite right too!

If the movie Free Guy had been about a tabletop D&D game you might have ended up with something like NPCs, the first book in the Spells, Swords and Stealth series by Drew Hayes. A small group of players has gotten together to try out a new game called Spells, Swords and Stealth. Their game master tries to warn them that this game is a lot more realistic than other role playing games they've played. It comes as no surprise when the players ignore this advice make bad decisions which leaves them dead in the inn of the small town of Maplebark. What is a surprise is that four of the non-player characters, NPCs, who witness the adventurer's deaths end up with an impossible choice: pretend to be adventurers undertaking a task of near-certain death or see their town and loved ones destroyed. In an attempt to save the lives of everyone they know and love, the four NPCs don the adventurer's gear and set out on a quest that is likely to get them killed.

While the book seems aimed mostly at gamers, I think it could have a broader appeal as the world mechanics, while mentioned, aren't really the focus. The bulk of story is a fairly standard high fantasy tale with a clever meta narrative about the gaming group interacting with the world of the NPCs and vice versa. I was so glad when the player characters died. They were mostly a bunch of jerks! The NPCs are much more interesting and likeable. In a rarity, I like all four of the main characters (Grumph the half orc, Thistle the gnome, Eric and Gabrielle the humans) about equally, having a heck of a time picking a favorite. The story takes a while to find its stride as we're introduced to all the characters involved. There is some fun sorting out who will play what amongst the NPCs with some fun role subversion. About mid way through is when I felt myself engaged and by the end I enjoyed the small twist Hayes had thrown in that I assume is the hook for the rest of the series. If so, this should get very very interesting for future players, PC and NPC alike.

I listened to the audio book narrated by Roger Wayne. He does a great job of bringing the characters to life and has quite a vocal range. ( )