Anthea Sharp

I gave this book a go because i got the first 3 books of the series on an Amazon 99p thing and i liked the idea of Faerie being able to bridge through VR.

The good bit was the Faerie and VR stuff, all really well done and really enjoyable.

The not so good bit was the young adult thing, but that is irrelevant if the story is good enough and the young adults protagonists fit well within the story.

The bad bit, and why i only gave this 4 stars, is Tam's back story. I really can't see the need in making his life so utterly depressing with such a total chaos of family life. This brought nothing to the story and was, at times, a big distraction from it. It made me think of 'Ready Player One' but in that the protagonist's back story worked with the narrative, whereas in this book it detracts from it as it doesn't bring anything to the story.

So yeah, 5 out of 5 for the Faerie and VR stuff, but a big 0 out of 5 for the stuff on Tam's family life.

But well worth a read for anyone interested in folk lore and VR. Tam's family life has certainly not put me off diving straight into the second book in the series.… (meer)

Just like the first book in this series, i had to give it 4 stars, and for similar reasons.

While this book didn't let Tam's ridiculous family issues interfere with the story line as much as the first book, i kept finding myself bracing myself for another onslaught of it, which thankfully, this time, was kept to a minimum.

It wasn't until i finished the book that i felt like i could relax and enjoy the story i had just read. And this was definitely better than the first book.

As i said, Tam's family issues were kept to a minimum, while the Faerie and VR stuff got turned up a little further with more people entering Feyland.

I've just started book 3 and it's already looking like another great story.… (meer)

I quite enjoyed that. As i said about the first book in this trilogy, if you can get over the YA thing and just focus on the Faerie mixed up with VR thing then these books are really good.

As i also said, the worse thing about this trilogy was Tam's back story and family issues that really detracted from the story in book 1, were a much lesser distraction in book 2 and actually worked with the story in book 3. But the annoying thing was that in order for them to work with the story in book 3 there really was no need whatsoever to make it such an annoying part of book 1, or to be so depressing about it all.

I think that in these days of publishers cutting costs, editors are doing a worse job than ever. A good editor would have made sure that Tam's family stuff was tidied up and tied in better with the overall story. But it is what it is, and the trilogy is still really worth a read if you're into Faerie stuff and like the idea of the Faerie realm using a super advanced VR system to bridge to our realm.

There is a second trilogy in this series, which i may come back to in the future, but for now i'm having a break and reading some other things.… (meer)