And the adventure continues! In the third installment of this exciting series (that definitely needs to be read in order), Elijah is now a firmly established character in the world of DungeonCrawl. He knew it as a computer-based adventure game here on Earth, but he has somehow managed to enter the world he used to play in, and is participating in a “game” that is now his increasingly complicated new reality. The plot has deepened, a throne is at stake, and with Elijah and his lover Sarin having chosen sides, they are off on a mission of reconnaissance. Everything ends on another mini-cliffhanger, so I guess there will beat least one more installment.

Elijah has a clever plan: get as close to the king as possible, pretending to be at his service, so they can figure out how much he knows and what he plans to do about it. The reality of actually having to kill people if they want to be convincing hits Elijah hard, and while he had no problem doing this while sitting at his computer, it was all pretend, after all, when he is confronted with the actual situations, it is a different matter. Only his determination to prevent huge injustice and possible war keeps him going.

Sarin plays Elijah’s wolf companion, but he has a few aces up his sleeve both in wolf and in human form. Whether it is to perform all kinds of interesting magic, or making passionate love to Elijah, Sarin is totally motivated. His hare-brained idea at the end had me screaming “no way”, and Elijah isn’t happy either, but it seems to be the only way forward. Sarin is determined, and I’ll have to wait for the next story to find out what happens. Hmph!

If you’re into action/adventures of the slightly fantastical kind, if you’d like to see an increasingly loving couple band together and fight overpowering odds, and if you’re looking for a read that gets more tension-filled and action-packed by the moment, then you will probably enjoy this third volume of the “what happens when a computer game comes to life” series.


NOTE: This book was provided by Changeling Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
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