Shard Wraith

Crystal Shards Online #3

by Rick Scott

“What darkness within the Labyrinth awaits?”

After defeating the Shadow King and opening the gateway to the mysterious Labyrinth of Onizoso, Reece’s hopes are dashed when a surprise attack leaves his girlfriend’s life hanging in the balance.

With only minutes to save her, Reece and his friends must enter the labyrinth in hopes of finding the one person who may be able to bring her back to life…but in a place where players turn into Shard Wraiths, their hopes may already be lost.

Now Reece will have to navigate a strange new world fraught with dangers, while fending off a pursuing army and racing against the clock. And with the threat lurking just outside, the labyrinth might be only the start of his troubles.

To protect the ones he loves, Reece will have to challenge his fears and principles, or risk losing everything and becoming a Shard Wraith himself.

But the Labyrinth holds many dark secrets and what he discovers within, may not only change the outcome of their mission, but redefine the very nature of the game world itself…

WARNING: Contains RPG mechanics, detailed party combat and giant boss fights. If these things do not interest you, then this is not the book for you!

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Audiobook, Fiction

501 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 31, 2018

Reviews

[Lazybee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am curious, Wtf is going on? Hope the next one arrives soon and ties all the plotholes together.

[Soo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Notes:

Good buildup of plot & development of characters from book 1.

[Steve Merrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series has such great potential and the overall storyline is excellent, but this far into the series the MC persists in being so annoyingly and incredibly STOOPID! I keep hoping that after all Reese has learned and experienced he will begin to grow up a bit and stop acting and thinking like an 8 year old. He's supposed to be some amazingly talented dodge-tank with incredible focus and instincts, yet in almost every difficult fight he lets his mind wander off while he watches one of his friends fight, or he simply daydreams about some trivial fluff in his life until he gets snapped out of his reverie by a critical hit from some boss monster that takes him down to just a sliver of life. That, or he panics and freezes up until he is rescued at the last instant by one of his party or else by some "Hail Mary," as the book calls it. I hope the author doesn't think his audience is as stupid as portrays his MC and will let him evolve in subsequent books into someone we can admire and root for, rather just be frustrated by his consistent incompetence, but for me it is getting to the point where I am starting to root for the monsters to finish off Reese just to end my suffering.

[Chuck McIntyre · Rating 3 out of 5]

A transition novel in which nothing is resolved.

Kind of a let down after the excellent pacing of the previous two books, but this is the definitive transition novel (Two Towers, Empire Strikes Back, etc) in which very little is resolved.

Overall the action is decent, even if our MC continues to skip over decent tactics he's used before, and as consequence, lose a lot more.

The worst part is the only storyline resolution is for problems introduced in this book (no major plot advancement).

All of this is interspersed with boring side dialog between Bruce and Dennis (two characters left back at citadel). The plot back home thickens, and eventually culminates in the (entirely predictable and not that interesting) "big reveal" of Shard Wraith.

Still, we have decent action, character development, several romantic entanglements an we learn a bit more about some of the rest of the party, including Rembrandt, who seems cool.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked this story. The only major problem I had with it was the whole part when they stayed in the fort protecting it. Yeah, they were tired, Yeah, they needed to rest, and yeah, the army wasn't far behind them, but seriously, did they need to spend nearly a week in the fort? Spend the night, get rid of your debuf, then move along before the army arrives. You'd loose most of the book, and be able to proceed with the story, which would have been much more interesting.
Regardless, it was a good story, and it progressed the storyline even if it wasn't as much as I'd have liked, and if you like this series, you'll find this installment to be an excellent addition to it. If you haven't read any of this series yet, you will probably want to read them in order, as this one won't make much sense without the background of the others, though it might be enjoyable anyway.

[Andrew K · Rating 2 out of 5]

REECE!

I NEED TO DODGE THIS LIKE I'VE NEVER DODGED BEFORE!

I'm starting to hear this things in my dreams. So annoying.

Is the author trying to do a fan service with Reece and Aiko? It's just annoying.

Honestly, I like the world and mechanics, but the characters are crap. Gilly plays like a completely incompetent healer. I would of kicked them from my guild if we were raiding. Yes, she is better with numbers blah blah, but I don't get how someone that levels up with a character is that terrible at it.

I'm honestly rooting for a TPK so these books end.

[Gage Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wouldn't be bad but the author really messed up the book. They apparently are in a rush to save Gillie but again it's incredibly goofy. I mean for people in a rush they stand still and talk for forty to fifty minutes at a time. I am not joking they stand around like nothing doing nothing having insane long conversations but then pretend like they have to rush but then they stop again talk about totally unimportant stuff cry they are running out of time then stand around doing nothing again. Like it's just goofy.

[Atlas · Rating 4 out of 5]

* * * *
4 / 5

~mini review~

Every book in the Crystal Shards series gets better and better, and the plot gets thicker and thicker but also weirder and weirder. There's this strange but also cool meshing of the real and the virtual, of futuristic ideas and present-day game tropes. Shard Wraith picks up where the last book left off, within the Labyrinth and with Gilly dead in Reece's arms. It keeps the same team, which I love, adding only one new member throughout the narrative.

I loved the furthering of the whole Builder plot, the inventiveness of the Labyrinth dungeon, the climatic twists and turns. I didn't like a certain development between Reece and Aiko, and I did think the book was a touch slow in parts. Shard Wraith was, overall, definitely a solid continuation of the series and probably my favourite instalment yet.

Read more of my reviews on my blog: http://atlasrisingbooks.wordpress.com

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A enjoyable read.

The story was ok but it just seemed to not down in the dungeon and I was happy when the group finally got out.

[Fred Wagner · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a fashion these novels are still a bit simplistic. However, that is not necessarily a bad thing. And it IS progressing further from that in an overall sense (as opposed to specific instances/scenes/portrayals) as the series progresses. I suppose this book could be broken down into 2 primary parts: The Labyrinth & Camp Star Fall. And our human villain Braxus (sp?) is being - to put it quite mildly - a royal pain in the ass of our band of players on the surface, attempting to destroy them with overwhelming forces at every turn. And even though Val Helena's primary goal in getting to the surface has been achieved, the REAL goal for Citadel and their fate is still completely in the air... and set partly aside with this new enemy around every corner and impeding their progress towards that goal and what will likely be an enemy of yet to be witnessed power and destructive capacity. The AI's; aka the Builders and whatnot. Oh, Bruce now has a very real adversary in Dennis... however that works and whatever the hell he might actually be in this whole story in Citadel. Makes for an interesting side story even though in many regards it is the crux behind the entire story I suppose. Well, that would be NANO actually!! That is what it is ALL about.... damned nano!! Great book and series!! Can't wait for book 4!!!

[Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5☆

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book three

Mistakes: a couple, this like ideals instead of ideas.
Plot: good growth to the overall plot. However I did get tired of the group's defeatist attitude in almost every fight, then for them to pull off victory, every single time.
Characters: still worth following, just drop the defeatist attitude.
Look forward to book four. I give this a 7/10

[Alex Aguirre · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t remember the last time I finished a book and immediately felt the clawing need to have more of that world. I read this entire series in 5 days and as I progressed through the series I felt pieces of my soul being stolen by the characters. I learned their quirks and experienced every emotion right alongside them. I’m thrilled to have been introduced to this series and even more excited to grow with the characters and with the author. Rick Scott is certainly a hidden gem.

[Pablo García · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel that with every new volume, every new chapter, the author just disappoints me more and more... Originally this was an alternate world, dystopian fantasy novel series. The more the author writes, the more it reads like Matrix...Computer systems that took over, and now the few humans that are left, have just a few months to survive, the only thing left is their fear and despair.
Reece (Ryan) went upwards with Val Helena to retrieve Aiko's sister Becky. Because of indecision and constant doubt, Reece gets Gilly killed, and later the rest of his retinue killed as well. The thing is in this world there are no rules, he who follows the rules, gets killed by the rules. He who breaks the rules and bends them to his will, commands the rules and lives more powerful than a King.
So my question is where is the originality? The consistency? Val Helena is a Paladin that can heal, and yet, the author forgets this, seeks Becky, and she can't heal Gilly so they wait, talk and talk (which only allows their enemies to find and kill them over and over again). If they only have one path, one alternative, why the doubt? Why the wait? Why does the author only copy what he wants and disregards the rules, the conditions he set up, in this fantasy novel series?
Author needs to be taught to use a word processor software program (so that he can spell-check and grammar check his entire series) elementary school children do it all of the time, efficiently. Illustrator needs to look up what ninja's, thief's and Magic-caster's wear, and use as weapons, because not only are their colors off, none of their equipment match their classes or abilities. Author finally needs to separate his story from the plot arcs and conclusions that the Matrix series of movies came up with 20 years before this novel series was published.
Self-doubt and self-deprecating main character, Reece (Ryan) is just too much to read...It's a guy with no education, about a month's practice in a difficult game that takes a life time to be able to understand. So what is the point of it all then? Leaving the fate of this alternate reality world to a kid that has no capacity, maturity or ability to succeed? Why does the author leave no logical way out?

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great follow on which quickly brought me back into the characters world, and moved the story along, dangerously skirting on jumping the shark, but stopping just short.

Kaiko and Reece finally come to terms with their escalating relationship, or at least a reasonable detent. Ryan's name changed to Reece, or ?

There is a lot of discussion and introspection into strength of character and how it is balanced against doing what is right.

A rollercoaster ride of success and failure with things coming to the brink of complete disaster repeatedly. Not generally my favorite kind of plot line.

The layers upon layers of world, where the game versus AI Controlled versus possible alien intervention and pocket dimensions is getting a bit much to follow.

[Delzog · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's a lot of problems with this book. An okay read, but hard to get involved with the fights that just seem to be a peat-and-repeat sort of annoyance. Also the overuse of phrases. I mean seriously, every fight boils down to 'crap.' No joke! It's "Holy Crap," "Oh Crap," and plain old "Crap." Last, it's hard to take seriously that he's fighting for his life and is constantly getting lost in his thoughts. I mean how seriously are you fighting to survive if you can get distracted by every freaking thing? So in conclusion, this series is just dragggggging on and I wish it was already over. I might skim book four, but as of now ... bleh....

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely a step down from the previous books. The majority of the second half the team is focused on tunneling to get out of the keep. This makes no sense as they could have just run instead of defending the keep. Even if they complete their tunnel the army will just chase after them. They would have been better off just running from the army at the start it would have given them a bigger lead.

Major plot problem when half the book makes no sense.

[Omri Dallal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my jam I guess

Goodbye and thank you for the fishes my friend, this is just not for me.

The amount of self-ruminating and repetition of facts is unreal. If we didn't have these parts the book was 1/4 long, and half of that is still his wired romance with an adult woman when he is just 17. If it was a 40+ dude kissing a 17 year old teenager I don’t think most of the readers would have stomachs it.

Sorry but this is just not good compared to many options out there.

1.5/5

[Matthew B Slater · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love everything about these books

The only thing I dislike about this series is that it makes most other books seem dull and lifeless. The action, awesome characters and sensational story are very hard to beat. Reece and his buds are doing awesome. As are you Mr Scott. Keep it up son!!

[Ryan K · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good addition to the series. The plot progresses at a relatively good pace, there is a bit of character development, and it is interesting to see what else the other has planned behind the scenes.

The setting for the various parts of the story set apart from previous books enough to garner interest in different ways. In this case a sort of dungeon delve with base defense. There is a little somewhat dues ex machina moment, but perhaps there is an actual reason for it to be revealed as the plot progresses.

Once again I find myself a little irked at the writing of the main character Reece, mainly being his expressions and the way he talks in his mind. It just seems a little too childish with him having to utter an oath over every little thing he finds surprising. Although, it is good to see that most of the characters have at least some depth to them.

I think I realized why the game system always seemed unneeded despite being a major plot device is that the levels have virtually no meaning. The main character as well as most of the supporting characters were either close or already max level by the time the first book ended. There is a distinct lack of "progress" when it comes to them getting stronger which makes the game system seem pointless. There are apparently veteran points past max level that can be assigned, but they are never explored at all so they may as well not exist aside from the plot device that they become in this book. Enemies continue to be portrayed stronger and stronger, but continue to be taken down for the most part despite the group never really getting stronger. It could be argued that they are gaining practical experience, but Reece continues to make silly mistakes in almost every fight so I am not sure how much can be said about that.

Overall, if you liked book 2 than this is more of the same so you can more or less know what to expect if you decide to read this book. Still a solid entry in the genre though I wonder at how many books are planned with how little information given about the main plot.

[Alice · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 20% after the characters decide to stop at a fort after finally escaping the labyrinth. I skimmed the reviews, and it seemed like the group would make very poor decisions and drag out the book at this point. I was already getting pretty bored.

The characters were still quite cheesy with lame dialogue, and I also couldn't stand the characters very much anymore. Aiko and Val Helena were supposed to be decade(s?) older than the 17-year-old MMC Reece/Ryan, but they also acted and talked like teenagers by fighting and bawling then making up all the time. Aiko was actually quite a predatory character IMO with sexually assaulting the MMC. The young MMC also seemingly worshipping these older women by repeating how beautiful and attractive they were was very much ew.

The "Hail Mary"s led to rather boring solutions in times of crises, and it seemed like the group could be expected to always pull off some miraculous recovery in the nick of time. The MMC was still quite incompetent for someone that was supposed to be the main tank to revolve the group around. The harem mentions as a punishment honestly gave me a huge ick, and for a group that was rushing to save someone from permanent death, they talked and hem-hawed for fooooorever instead of focusing on their goal.

The dystopian sub-plot was intriguing to me, but at this point, everything seemed flat and predictable that I honestly didn't care anymore and would prefer to read something else instead. However, I will note that the author's Path of the Berserker series is much better quality than this one.

[Eric Cooley · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting LITRPG story

Third outing in the story and keeps my interest.

Like many of its kind it's a mix of fantasy and modern. Set somewhere in the future where nanotechnology gives a blur between the future and a beyond VR. Here the main character is now on the surface where death is a real possibility. He no longer is nearly OP as before. An interesting idea.

Overall the story has some slow parts I was try not to just skim. There is good development of the characters and the main storyline.

The biggest issue to me is the main group doesn't seem to be a group. Also the main, even though 17 and 10 years younger than most of the party is in charge. Bookwise I understand the idea. It just feels jogging one minute he's a Billy badass then a 17 year old.

Overall I enjoyed it enough for 4 stars.

[Ethan Stein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Constant excitement from start to finish with lots of action and character growth. Seemed like there wasn't a moment where the characters weren't battling something. The world expanded even further with the various developments. It was interesting to see it shift partially to third person for certain elements, but it kind of made sense. And it did add a certain depth to it. By far the best one in the series so far. My only two complaints was first how things kind of stalled when they got to the fortress, but it did allow them to examine the relationships between the characters, while also maintaining the pressure on them. The other was, from a purely audio standpoint, the repetitive system messages received by the MC. It really caused the story to stall. But I imagine reading it would not have the same issue. Definitely interested in seeing where it will go next.

[Pierre Tran]

I lie the story, but find myself yelling at the dumb decision the Mc makes. He likes to over think everything, and fall in depression on a pin drop. Fretting over killing a named npc, while killing dozens not too long ago.

Times running out, but takes a look to detour and allow enemies to catch them off guard. As well as rules to the surfaces that are not consistent.

I thought only shard warriors can loot, but the npc do just fine. The shard wraith is the only thing that doesn't lose levels in that place. Or why doesn't anyone use the veteran points for a cross class skill to heal or resurrect if they have 2 and death is permanent. Basic questions that could lower the srakes of the problems on a game level.

[Elaina Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great story!

The labyrinth section was not only interesting, it also starts to set the stage for what might be in store in the future. I enjoyed the building section as much as the action, as I find the system quite useful (and wished I had in some games I’ve played in the past!)

The last line of the story certainly makes you wonder! Of course, I was already wondering about that guy from his actions in prior books, but now there a a few different options that come to mind. The first is that he is the enemy, but what if he’s not??

I just got the book yesterday and am sorry I didn’t see it come out earlier. On the plus side, less time to wait for book 4! :)

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great third in the series

Thoroughly good read with plenty happening throughout the book. The characters continue to grow and evolve with those outside the MC having little back stories hinted at which adds to the interest of the story.

It’s hard to remember the MC is only 17 with what is going on around him so a nice touch to remind us now and again that he’s young and therefore naive.

The author continues to do a great job with “town” management adding to the plot and making things interesting as the world the book is set in is developed.

Recommended wholeheartedly.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm getting into the worldbuilding a bit more now, its SF and now even matrixy base, and I generally enjoy the twist of level fluctuations and restrictions, if handled well.

Funnily enough, when I originally thought that these books were cribbing a little from, say FFXI, this one cribbed a bit more from both ninja gaiden and rts battle sims. Not bad, even if it's not super original.

On the other hand, LitRPGs generally don't need to be original. They're giving us gamers what we clamor for: nostalgia and pure adventure.

[Kieron Germain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow what can I say. What a book what a series. I've enjoyed this so much that I'm now a Rick Scott fan. I found out about this genre lit RPG only recently but it's meant I've read through three books in three days. Which is ridiculous. Take the chance to read this. From what's happening at the shard to the surface your want to know what happens next and you won't put it down. The charactors are pretty much the same throughout this series. Rem is my favourite. Alongside maxis

[Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Scott's writing shows some improvement in this book over the previous. The characters have slightly more depth to them, but their actions are still slightly "over the top" at times. Plot progression and problem solving has improved over the previous books with the characters coming up with solutions vice "Dues ex Machina." The world continues to grow and Mr. Scott adds some depth and originality to his system.

Very Respectfully,
Shea

[GaiusPrimus · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good.

I love it when a book surprises me.

We are moving towards what I hope to be a predictable ending, where the Mc's are able to save their city and the rest of the humans. But the path we are taking to get there is fulfullingly (had to make up a word it's so good) awesome.

Do yourself a favor and pick this up.