The Secret in the Basement

by Nick Smith, Ulillillia

From the ordinary to the extraordinary, a discovery in the basement of a new house Richard's family moves to changes his life forever. Frequent dreams featuring six mysterious, lit symbols on a stone wall in a dark corridor have him baffled. One day, the secret is revealed and Richard finds himself with a tough new task of restoring peace while fighting hordes of monsters. Being the friendliest high school kid in town, he is easy to get along with and makes plenty of friends, but he must cope with several bullies, family life, and a new-found fear. What will become of Richard and what do the symbols and his dreams mean?

This story is written as if one were playing a role-playing game, choosing "new game" from the title screen and using a script-like format. Everything enjoyed in RPGs is included, from damage popups and elaborate mechanics behind stats and equipment to deep character development and exploration, including gathering information in towns and side quests.

546 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2015

Reviews

[Jaymz · Rating 5 out of 5]

arguably even more fascinating than the legend of the 10 elemental masters, nick smith / ulillillia has yet again created genuinely entertaining outsider art that has a specific goal in mind (what if you wrote a simulated RPG?) that it completely succeeds in achieving. larger and more ambitious than his first work, it exceeds it in almost every way - there story, somehow, makes more sense, the main character is a bit more falliable, there are no hexidecimals (thank goodness), and, best of all, the secret in the basement has far, far more of those strange, off-beat moments the author is so famous for.

i should reiterate that i do not intend to look down on or make fun of the author, who is an atypical person. there doesnt seem to be a malevolent bone in uli's whole body, and you could use this book as evidence. the "bullies" seem to be misguided more than anything, in one case being a kindly person literally posessed by a demon. the antagonists are supposedly evil, but feel totally harmless in the brief moments when they actually appear on-screen. most of the interactions between characters are pleasant, if deeply strange or convulted, conversations between decent people, about decent things. this is, weirdly enough, kind of a cozy read, far less "difficult" than the first novel was, maybe because ive gained an immunization to the authors perplexing writing style, and i know what to expect now.

in the last decade, a new microgenre called "litrpg" has emerged, with a very active if niche community online. "The proponents of the term state that in LitRPG, games or game-like challenges form an essential part of the story, and visible RPG statistics (for example strength, intelligence, damage) are a significant part of the reading experience." whats so great is that nick smith seems to have NO knowledge of litrpgs, he just independently came up with this scenario on his own. like complex human civilization emerging in china, sumer, and mesoamerica all independently of one another. if legend of the 10 elemental masters was a precursor for the genre (officially recognized in 2012 or so), the secret in the basement feels even MORE of a litrpg than that one does.

i just love this guy to death. i take his work seriously, even if its really goofy and generally out there, because uli is a genuine character and a totally unique person. like sure, you laugh at inappropriate moments, like when theres a bus accident and everyone involved has a little damage number pop out of them, or he makes some of the most awkward jokes ever put to paper (the "banana split, a type of food" one had me cry laughing), but every glimpse inside this guys head is worth the effort of reading something that should, seemingly, be unreadable. it takes a lot of context about one specific internet person to really get something out of "the secret in the basement", but i enjoyed reading every word of this. i cant recommend this at all to anyone who doesnt know much about uli, but for those in the know, i feel like its practically essential.

((heres a link to my Legend of the 10 Elemental Masters review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ))

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Those lucky enough to grab a copy of this book should do so. I, myself, have a copy of the first edition, eighth revision (fourth print release), and it is a thing of unspeakable beauty. It's a fantastic and unique read written in the same style as Smith's previous work, The Legend of the 10 Elemental Masters.

Richard, the protagonist of the story, is a high school student who goes from zero to hero; from a quester to a bester; from an unknown to a famous public figure, athlete, and future movie star. The journey is actually quite swift despite the 492.84 pages of text (I'm subtracting from the 506 pages to account for blank pages, illustrations, and the like).

Richard's world is that of calling parents, teachers, and other authority figures by their first names and really great jokes, such as:

"What do you get when you cross a banana with a knife?
"A cut banana?"
"A banana split, a type of food."

And there are positive messages abound, mostly in relation to anti-bullying. Richard even befriends two of his bullies, saving one of their lives (for which he's rewarded with a 36-inch pizza. Good old ulillillia!).

I do hope Richard figures out how to resolve Uranus. I can recommend a strong mount.

[Sky Man · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a meaty read, but still fun nonetheless. I appreciate the attempts to streamline the rpg elements in this book a bit by having them explained this time around (as apposed to Nick's last book where everything with the spells and stats was in the appendix). I was quite into the acts taking place in the secret realm, but the real life sections were hit or miss. I personally wasn't invested in the sections about family vacations and the ones predominately focused on his family. The sections focusing on school were a bit more entertaining for the bizarre, yet charming, jokes. I could have done with there being less characters in the school cause at a certain point I began to lose track of them all. There was a few characters that ended up amounting to nothing and were just phased out of the story unceremoniously such as Norris and others. I feel he could've scaled the amount of people Richard regularly talks to down and it would've been better then. The book really picks up near the end where it begins moving at a faster pace and the abilities Richard has in the realm are beginning to be used in the real world, which was a nice change of pace. It was a bit odd how the first four hundred or so pages felt very methodical and highly detailed, but at a certain point the pacing becomes much faster, as though he rushed the book near the end. Maybe he could've had the beginning of the book be at a similar pace to the end or vice versa. I would still say overall I enjoyed the book despite the flaws and it has the signature Ulillillia charm of his works.