What do you think?
Rate this book
The Darker Ages #1
The Darker Ages
No one craves an escape more than Alice Carradine. Six years ago, her future was stolen by an unexpected accident. Now a quadriplegic, Alice is confined to bed and mired in depression.
Her saving grace is the “The Darker Ages,” a complex virtual world that offers its players a chance at a new life. In this virtual reality, Alice escapes into the body of Princess Arienne, whose life is infinitely more thrilling. As Princess Arienne, Alice gets to experience the fantastical medieval adventure of her dreams.
But her virtual life is far from perfect.
Her fiance is a pain in the ass. Her secret crush is murdered in front of her. Then she’s abducted by pirates, led by the wickedly charming Alfred Du Bois. Arienne’s roguish abductors dedicate their time to plundering, brawling and flirting. Not necessarily in that order.
The Darker Ages is a historical fantasy with a virtual reality twist.
Her saving grace is the “The Darker Ages,” a complex virtual world that offers its players a chance at a new life. In this virtual reality, Alice escapes into the body of Princess Arienne, whose life is infinitely more thrilling. As Princess Arienne, Alice gets to experience the fantastical medieval adventure of her dreams.
But her virtual life is far from perfect.
Her fiance is a pain in the ass. Her secret crush is murdered in front of her. Then she’s abducted by pirates, led by the wickedly charming Alfred Du Bois. Arienne’s roguish abductors dedicate their time to plundering, brawling and flirting. Not necessarily in that order.
The Darker Ages is a historical fantasy with a virtual reality twist.
- GenresFantasy
325 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 9, 2017
39 people are currently reading
195 people want to read
About the author
Aron Lewes
82 books61 followersI'm a rather reclusive author living in Ohio with four cats.
I write super fluffy fluff and darkest grim grimdark. "This author has a strange imagination" was my favorite compliment ever. I hope my strange imagination entertains someone out there!
I write super fluffy fluff and darkest grim grimdark. "This author has a strange imagination" was my favorite compliment ever. I hope my strange imagination entertains someone out there!
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 21, 2023
5 stars
What a cliffhanger! Wow, just wow!
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVED this book. The author really outdid herself with this one. With the advances in technology and gaming, I can see this being our future. Give this book a try; I still can't believe this series has not gotten the fame that it deserves. Maybe it hasn't reached the right type of audience.
I loved the characters. Alfred is absolutely hilarious, and Jonah... Oh, what would I not give to shut him up?! Clearly, Hilda doesn't get paid enough to deal with his royal crap. Oh, and the plot twists! They were simply marvelous. I may have a wee bit of a crush on Jonathan as well. Besides that, I loved Arienne and Jalen's friendship, and I don't know whom to root for. I like Tim, but on the other hand, we have our charming Alfred. Ughh! Even Findley is cute in a dorky type of way. This story is so unpredictable.
So, if you would like to be transported to a whole new world with VR—to the medieval era with distressed princesses and Pirates of the Caribbean vibes—pick up this book because you are guaranteed an adventurous ride.
I can't wait to continue the series.
What a cliffhanger! Wow, just wow!
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVED this book. The author really outdid herself with this one. With the advances in technology and gaming, I can see this being our future. Give this book a try; I still can't believe this series has not gotten the fame that it deserves. Maybe it hasn't reached the right type of audience.
I loved the characters. Alfred is absolutely hilarious, and Jonah... Oh, what would I not give to shut him up?! Clearly, Hilda doesn't get paid enough to deal with his royal crap. Oh, and the plot twists! They were simply marvelous. I may have a wee bit of a crush on Jonathan as well. Besides that, I loved Arienne and Jalen's friendship, and I don't know whom to root for. I like Tim, but on the other hand, we have our charming Alfred. Ughh! Even Findley is cute in a dorky type of way. This story is so unpredictable.
So, if you would like to be transported to a whole new world with VR—to the medieval era with distressed princesses and Pirates of the Caribbean vibes—pick up this book because you are guaranteed an adventurous ride.
I can't wait to continue the series.
September 17, 2021
Personally, I loved this book. I read it way more than I should have the last few days to finish it as quickly as I did. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 was I caught a kind of contradicting point towards the middle.
September 16, 2019
4.5, rounding up.
I was pleasantly surprised by what could have been a very formulaic novel. Props for involving diversity in the story and our handicapped heroine isn't a woe-is-me formula character, but a fleshed out human being.
What I liked about this is that it takes what we believe we can be and makes it possible, and throws our "ideal" selves into a real environment where bad things can happen (or things we wouldn't do for ourselves if we had the lead). It makes the environment seem more like the real world in a fantasy place.
Escapism at its finest. Definitely going to continue on in this series.
I was pleasantly surprised by what could have been a very formulaic novel. Props for involving diversity in the story and our handicapped heroine isn't a woe-is-me formula character, but a fleshed out human being.
What I liked about this is that it takes what we believe we can be and makes it possible, and throws our "ideal" selves into a real environment where bad things can happen (or things we wouldn't do for ourselves if we had the lead). It makes the environment seem more like the real world in a fantasy place.
Escapism at its finest. Definitely going to continue on in this series.
October 10, 2023
5 frickin stars
I loved it when I read it the first time and now wasn't any different. I said it once and I'll say it again you'll are seriously missing out on a lot! This book is so damn good. It has a VR world with pompous princes, damsels in distress, and pirates, for goodness sake. I'm not kidding when I say you really don't wanna cross a pirate. If you love Pirates of the Caribbean, then you have to pick this up.
I loved it when I read it the first time and now wasn't any different. I said it once and I'll say it again you'll are seriously missing out on a lot! This book is so damn good. It has a VR world with pompous princes, damsels in distress, and pirates, for goodness sake. I'm not kidding when I say you really don't wanna cross a pirate. If you love Pirates of the Caribbean, then you have to pick this up.
October 14, 2023
This book came as such a surprise because only half way through do we realise that this is a LitRPG book, and that the characters in the Darker Ages are in a virtual reality world. Darker Ages is full of adventure, with royalty getting kidnapped by pirates, and other pirates out for revenge taking each other's ships, and so on and so forth. It is a dark world especially for the few women characters in the story, as the men are lecherous, and being pirates and away at sea for long stretches of time they act horribly towards the women. However the many surprises start to turn up when we get to see these made up characters in their real world. And to realise that the real world has been taken over by AI, and that robots have taken over the labour force, working for their owners whilst humans have become totally redundant in the real world. Their only outlet has become the virtual reality one and everyone enters into the game world and there are a variety of these to choose from as the real world has nothing to offer humans anymore. This unfortunately is a book which is very appropriate for the times we are living in, as AI is in fact becoming more advanced than the humans who created it. Is this to be our future? Are we to become redundant too? Is the gaming world the one to keep us alienated from our reality until this is stolen from us completely? I cannot wait to delve into book 2 of this very exciting and surprising series.
March 28, 2018
Seriously fun and absorbing world had me hooked quickly. The characters are well drawn and the action fast-paced, once the initial introduction is over.
Villains are all around, some with redeeming qualities and others worse than you imagine.
One character in particular has an arc that changed my opinion from hatred to affection.
I'm adding other titles from this author to my wishlist and I recommend this book!
Villains are all around, some with redeeming qualities and others worse than you imagine.
One character in particular has an arc that changed my opinion from hatred to affection.
I'm adding other titles from this author to my wishlist and I recommend this book!
September 19, 2017
The story was well crafted and edited. It flowed well and followed a logical story line.
I piked up the book just to see the cover, but once I flipped the cover and start reading the next thing I know the book was
over and I was hoping if there could be few extra pages.
I piked up the book just to see the cover, but once I flipped the cover and start reading the next thing I know the book was
over and I was hoping if there could be few extra pages.
September 29, 2017
Worth reading!
All books deserve to be read to completion, but this story one definitely needs to be read past the mid-point. The twist is worth the wait. Well done!
All books deserve to be read to completion, but this story one definitely needs to be read past the mid-point. The twist is worth the wait. Well done!
November 28, 2018
Love the storyline of escape where adventures can be possible for All👍💕
February 27, 2019
I'll keep it simple. It was good enough to be interested in the next book.
November 27, 2021
Sorry, DNF.
Want to read
May 7, 2024Purchased this edition on November 12, 2020, from Amazon for free. Read Kindle book using Alexa audio asset.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews