I’m reading a lot, and I thought that I would post a bit about my favorite subjects. I decided to summarize this year with great books that don’t really fall into standard categories, which I really enjoyed.

The AlterWorld – By a Russian author, and with a great background there (how to identify a Russian was great), and are really good. The premise is that you can get stuck in a MMORPG and it is beautifully done. Unlike a fantasy book, the notion of levels, gaining strength and power is really nice. Especially since the hero isn’t actually taking the direct path to that. There is also a lot of interaction with the real world, and in general, this is a fully featured universe that is really good. It looks like there are going to be 3 more books, which is absolutely wonderful from my point of view.

Those books were good enough that I started playing RPGs again, just because it was so much fun reading the status messages in the books. If you know of other books in the same space, I would love to know about it.

NPCs tells the tale from the point of view of Non Player Characters, which is quite interesting and done in a very believable way.

Caverns & Creatures is a series of books (lost count, there are a lot of short stories as well as full length books) that deals with the idea of people getting stuck in RPG world. This one is mostly meant for humor’s sake, I think. And it does get to toilet level humor all too frequently, but it is entertaining.

Waldo Rabbit tells the tale of a guy that really tries to be an evil overload, but his idea of scary beast is a… rabbit. It is a really well written, and I’m looking forward for the next book.

 
Wizard 2.0 talks about finding proof that the entire world is a computer simulation, and what happens when certain people find out about it. My guess is that this is written by a programmer, because the parts where they talk about software and programming wasn’t made up in whole cloth and didn’t piss me off at all. This is also really good series, and I’m looking forward to reading the 3rd book.  I especially liked that there isn’t some big Save The World theme going on, this is just life as you know it, if you are a bunch of pixels.

Velveteen is a “superhero” novel, but a very different one than the usual one. I’m not really sure how to categorize it, but it was a really great read.

Daniel Black’s is a single book series, with a second book, Black Coven set to follow Fimbulwinter. It is a great book, with a very well written background and story. What is more, the hero doesn’t rely on brute force or the author to rescue him when he stupidly gets into trouble, he thinks and plans, and that is quite great to read. I’m eagerly waiting for the next book.