Star Divers: Dungeons of Bane
Stephen Landry
On the far side of the galaxy, while factions form and space fleets battle, Breq needs to understand why his best friend is dead.
Teenage Breq escapes the grim streets of a resource low, near-future world to take a job as a 'corpse diver' in a massive online SciFi game, Bane. Breq finds himself in a dangerous, life-threatening adventure within the game as he searches for the reason for the death of his best friend.
With landscapes and settings that evoke the SciFi classics our hero must level up his character as fast as he can, so as to be able to take on and defeat a sinister, masked figure. Especially as the threat posed by the unknown character is not limited to events within the game.
REVIEWS
Robbie Ballew ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
11 August 2019-Published on Goodreads
Constant Action, ever escalating stakes, and no shortage of awesome weapons!
Star Divers is author Stephen Landry's entry into the emerging LitRPG genre. Backed by Conor Kostick's (Epic) brand new imprint, Level Up Publishing, Landry is sure to cement himself at the forefront of the genre as it makes it's way into the mainstream.
Star Divers follows Breq, an orphaned teenager who has found his freedom working as a Corpse Diver in the virtual world of Bane. He dives into the world's many dungeons to retrieve dropped loot from fallen player-characters; some of which fetch a hefty price in the real world. Everything changes when he finds out his best friend Damien, who rescued him from the streets and got him this job in the first place, has been killed.
Breq quickly gets in over his head as he scours dungeon after dungeon looking for clues as to how a character death could have caused the death of the player in the real world. The secrets he uncovers will ultimately change the world of Bane forever.
From fighting near-invincible Guardians against all odds, to competing in deadly races on backwater planets, Breq finds his private quest for answers (and possibly revenge) spiralling out of control as his strings are being pulled by his enigmatic boss, Lady Gray. She quickly proves she's not afraid to cause mass player-character casualties in pursuit of her goals, but stays far away from the line of fire herself, despite being a virtually god-tier player.
From the opening chapter the action never slows down, and there's plenty of stats and lore sprinkled throughout to keep super-nerds (like me) happy without slowing the pace. At the center of all the action, the heart of the story beats strong with the relationships forged between the unique band of characters that join with Breq on his mission. Through it all, Landry expertly handles the ramifications of death, both for characters in the game and players in 'the real'.
For fans of sci-fi, this is an endlessly entertaining must-read journey through a rich and vibrant virtual reality world. For those new to LitRPG, Star Divers will make an excellent introduction to the game-inspired mechanics that define the genre.
I absolutely enjoyed every page of Star Divers, and I can't wait to read more stories from the world of Bane!
jacob ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Love this book!!
13 August 2019-Published on Amazon.com
An engaging and entertaining story to start what will hopefully be a very good series! I enjoyed the book from beginning to end - great characters, great action, great dialogue. A nice action filled space novel. The fights are tough and varied. The racing was cool along with the lore parts. The weapons levelling up was an interesting take but otherwise the game mechanics are decent. Nice blend of real and virtual. I recommend this book!
Melinda Million ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Best new sci-fi
14 August 2019-Published on Amazon.com
Talented writer. Gripping action. A wonderful story Can’t wait for the next outing by Stephen Landry. Not since the Ringworld series have I enjoyed so much escape into a sci-fi world.