Changing Faces

New Game Minus #1

by Sarah Lin

Bloodwraith thought of himself as an effective villain, until a single adventurer destroyed his entire lair. With his last breath, he switched bodies with the adventurer and discovered that his world was built on lies. Alien beings from another dimension were using his world as a game... and now he was one of them.

The problem is, Bloodwraith has no experience being an adventurer. He was a mage, but his new body is only good at hitting things. He relied on undead minions, but now he has no choice but to depend on other people. And worst of all, strange boxes are constantly appearing in his vision, describing the world in unfamiliar, nonsensical terms.

Taking over the world is off the table, because the alien gods might be watching. To survive, Bloodwraith will need to learn the truth about himself and his world. And that means acting like an adventurer, at least for now.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Humor, Audiobook, Epic, Amazon, Magic

361 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 15, 2018

About the author

Hello! I'm Sarah Lin and I write various kinds of fantasy. If you want to keep up with my work, feel free to check out the following:

Mailing List: http://eepurl.com/dMSw2A
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sarahlin
Blog: http://sarahlinauthor.blogspot.com/

Join either list to get immediate access to illustrations of all my characters, plus bonus content and previews. If you've tried my work, I'd be happy to hear from you!

Reviews

[Gavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable LitRPG fantasy story. It had a fun premise that was a slight twist on the normal set-up for the genre while it also remained a fairly typical classic LitRPG story in terms of the content. Which is to say the main character was a little different but the world was a typical mix of old school fantasy and game mechanics with power level ups, missions, and stat boxes. The story itself had a mix of action and mystery but it also had a decent amount of character development which is rare in the genre!

The idea behind the story was a fun one. Bloodwraith, an undead necromancer, was second in command to the Dark Lord before his story came to crashing end as a single hero adventurer killed the Dark Lord and mortally wounded Bloodwraith himself. Just before he died Bloodwraith used a magical item to swap his soul with that of the hero just as the hero was disappearing through a strange magical portal. Next thing he knows he is being reincarnated in a strange new body and is being greeted by mysterious Gods who think he is the hero reborn. To make things worse Bloodwraih is plagued by strange boxes that are constantly appearing in his vision, describing the world in unfamiliar, nonsensical terms. It soon becomes obvious to Bloodwraith that the hero who killed him was part of some weird alien invasion of his world so he sets about trying to build his powers as directed while trying to investigate the strange powers who are playing with the lives of the people in his world!

The story was a a lot of fun. Bloodwraith started a bit villainous, as one might expect, but he showed some real character growth as he got used to being in living flesh again for the first time for hundreds of years. He also had to get used to working with other adventurers, rather than zombie minions, when it become clear he could grow his powers faster by working as part of a team. It was also pretty fun to watch him come to the realisation that if he was going to investigate the invaders to his world he might have to become a hero rather than a villain to the people.

If there was a flaw it was that the story relied a tiny bit too much on the game mechanics and stats. It was pretty faithful to the RPG style with Bloodwraith having to level up and having to complete various different minor and major quests to up his stats. What made it tolerable was the fact that the character development for Bloodwraith and the two main support characters was pretty good. It also really helped that Bloodwraith's own outrage with the stat boxes that kept popping up in his vision to describe everything added a fair bit of humor to the story as was quite hilarious at times.

Bloodwraith proved a surprisingly likeable character and I loved the fact that he showed good, but believable, character growth over the course of the story. The two main support characters were also well developed and had distinctive personalities of their own and showed their own growth over the story. I was initially a little worried the two female characters were just going to be love interests for Bloodwraith, and there was hints of romance with both characters, but on the whole I was happy with how Bloodwraith's relationship played out with both characters.

All in all I felt like this book had a few flaws but was super readable. It never quite hit top quality and I always felt it could have been even better than it was with just a few tweaks but I was happy with the story on the whole and, crucially, this really managed to hold my attention from start to finish which is not something that has happened often in the last few months!

Rating: 3.5 stars. I'm rounding down to 3 stars but I'll admit that is pretty harsh as I could easily have rounded up to four stats as this was super engaging. I'm rounding down as I feel like a lot of things could have been better. Though that sounds harsh as this was good just not the great I felt like it could be!

Audio Note: This was narrated by Bryan G. Lamb. It took me a bit of time to get used to him as my initial reaction was super negative. Once I got into the story I felt like he did an OK job. His general narration and Bloodwraith voice was OK but he struggled with the secondary character voices. Especially the female ones.

[Kelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m officially in love with any lit rpg that refers to “box gods” now. It’s really a great read. I throughly enjoyed the snarky humor.

[Persnickety · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing?

Kindle Unlimited - YAY!

Not really sure what to say about this. I couldn't decide if the sentient, non-sentient, AI, developers, multiple planes, consciousness transfers, etcetera were teetering on the edge of improbable or impossible possibilities. I'm going to trust that it all makes sense to the author and that she'll get the rest of us to that point. Or maybe it's just me lost in a bit of a coherence fog? Either way, the storyline held my interest and I'm curious enough to read the next series entry.

Extra points for not ending on a cliffhanger and a fun epilogue.

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s not about a shapeshifter or master disguiser... so I was confused at first, as I picked it up based on the cover and title. It’s more like a reborn “Face-off” with psychological elements. I don’t think that was a spoiler, but who knows what other people think.

Anyway, I enjoyed it, and I’ll be reading the next (already started).

Also, there are several aspects of the story that are discussion worthy, especially due to the genre. I’m looking forward to it.

[GaiusPrimus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just wow

I'll be honest, I didn't pick this book up because the cover wasn't very appealing. I'm glad I did though.

Fun story with a pretty awesome twistthat delivers on everything that I expect of the genre.

Also, glad the second book is available for immediate consumption.

[Chris Durston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much more explicit on the RPG elements than the other works of Lin's I've read, which have been more cultivation/progression fantasy, and perhaps for that reason I found it a little tougher to initially get into, but still found it a very easy and enjoyable read once I did. Honestly, Sarah Lin is my comfort reading right now; I've read almost nothing for the last two months except her entire back catalogue.

[Chip · Rating 3 out of 5]

5 stars - out of 10. Rounding up out of kindness to 3 for the slightly creative nature of the protagonist, but otherwise this is just - fine / ok (at best) litrpg fluff.

[Billy Munich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great writing, Interesting characters

Once I got into this one, it was difficult to put down. I would certainly recommend it to any fan of LITRpg. Now, it's time to start book 2!

[Bobby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I've now read a few books that could be considered LitRPG or at least have elements of it. This one was really well done and felt different than others like it.

The world building here was really good. This isn't just your typical random dude gets thrown into a video game and can't get out. It's more like this is a real world, and some alien entities manipulate it to be used as a video game. It's just a slightly different take on the genre than what I've seen so far, but it makes the people who are supposed to just be random NPCs feel much more realistic.

I love the main character, and his growth throughout the book. He gets thrown into a crazy situation, and at first he just flails around, but by the end of the book, he knows exactly what he wants and works towards getting it.

The plot was half typical video game story and half trying to figure out an other worldly mystery. It had what you expect from LitRPG with leveling up, stats, and powers. It also played with "game" mechanics and glitches which was fun.

The book also had a good amount of humor to it, especially in the banter between two characters. I don't want to spoil anything, but all I will say is I for one accept our new Box God overlords.

Overall, this was a great self published LitRPG novel, and I plan to continue the series. Anyone who likes LitRPG will really like this book, and I think it would be good for people who are not sure if they would like the genre, because it doesn't feel as much like a "game" as some others do.

[Emmalyn Renato · Rating 4 out of 5]

A belated selection for the r/Fantasy 2019 Bingo for the 'LitRPG' square. This was the square I was least looking forward to on the Bingo card so I again looked at the 2019 Bingo Card statistics to pick something that lots of other people read for this square. I was pleasantly surprised to find it a very enjoyable read (probably because of the great humor). Two more books on my TBR pile.

[Mikhail · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit slow and clunky to start with, but it improves rapidly and the ending had me staying up *far* too late.

[Piero C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book

Finally a different and original take to the LitRPG genre. Great sense of humor, with a dark twist. One of my favorites

[Johnny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book one

Mistakes: I found only one and it was just a wrong tense on the word, nothing major.
Plot: Very interesting. Not every day you come across a book where the MC was a former big bad, now being a hero. Very fun book.
Characters: Even though the MC was a one time had guy, I really liked him. That urge to want to do had things while continuing to do the good things was interesting and helped you really get to understand the MC.
9.5/10 I look forward to more.

[B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't normally write reviews, but since this is so new/reaaltively unread I thought I would.

I really enjoyed this book. Bloodwraith is a really fun character, whose choices seem surprisingly realistic considering his background. The background characters (especially the one who is portrayed as fairly unintelligent) are well fleshed out and real seeming. My first real litrpg, and it was fun start to finish. Really makes me want to dive into a d&d campaign!

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book surprised me, in a good way. I want expecting all that much going in, but this was well written. It's kind of from an NPC point of view, one that becomes part of an rpg system. It's a little mocking of rpg systems in general. Lots of action and excitement with some humor thrown in. Definitely looking forward to the next in the series.

[Stanislas Sodonon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, this is what I'm talking about!

I've been noticing a pattern lately. Where LitRPG is concerned, I prefer books written by women. They are less... how can I say it delicately? Less wish-fulfilment oriented?

This book was pure bliss, I binged it in a day, missing sleep just to get to the end.

No respawn. Real NPCs Meara was such a pleasure to read. Beautiful characterisation there!. Real stakes. A bloody clever twist at the beginning. Nice pacing. A predictable cliffhanger, but I won't complain.

This is what LitRPG should be aiming for. Very Well Done!

4.5/5

[Stuart · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was… fine. The writing was pretty snappy, I rattled through it very quickly on a flight, and some of the characters were fun. But the central conceit of this book (and I guess the whole genre) is absolutely not for me. Anytime the boxes were involved, or the distinctions between “adventurer” and “npc” that are revealed it dragged me out of the book significantly. Which I appreciate is a taste thing, but yeah. I won’t be coming back to the genre, but if it is your thing, this seemed pretty decent? (It’s really hard to judge a book when you so aggressively bounce off it’s target!)

[Dianthaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this could be a good choice for some people looking check out some LitRPG, but aren't really that familiar with game mechanics. Lemme explain
Bloodwraith, formally an undead necromancer, switched bodies with the adventurer that almost killed him.Now finds himself reincarnated in the adventurer's body, starting out in The Forest of Beginnings, where he is plagues by accursed boxes. Rude boxes that ask him all sorts of questions he can’t really answer, like what’s his name and what fighting style he has. Bloodwraith doesn’t know he’s in a game, but he quickly catches on that the box gods are somehow manipulating his world.
He figures out how to work the system, despite it being nonsensical and based on arbitrary EXP points, and throughout the book slowly discovers most of the world’s game characteristics.
For people who are familiar with games, Bloodwraith figuring out he can redo quests and picking all the flowers in the tutorial area to gain a little extra xp, is the most relatable thing ever.
The setting is easy to follow, the world is a typical medieval fantasy world with elves and dwarves and such, the magic works how you’d expect it, the crypt and buried temples they visit have a few interesting creatures and wards. But the main mystery lies in figuring out what these box gods want, set on a familiar background.

The characters are cool, Bloodwraith turns out being a lot more complex than he fancied himself, and struggles to reconcile his evil self image with his moral actions. He’s fair to his companions, and doesn’t like to take advantage of them when the system is rigged in his favor. And in turn they become useful allies and trusted friends. The main side characters start out seeming cookie cutter and predictable, but they each end up having a lot of personality and character growth.
The writing is good. I know a lot of people worry about this with litRPGs, but it’s clever, witty and has snarky humor. It was hilarious when another character kept making fun of his name. I will admit I’m neither a native speaker nor very picky about this, but I really enjoyed it, if you’re worried you can always check out the free sample on amazon. Bloodwraith seems to have a few tics when referring to the accursed nonsensical boxes, but they do interrupt him at the damndest times. I listened to it so obviously couldn’t check for editing errors, but other reviews on goodreads say the book is fine in that regard.
The story was mostly about character development, Bloodwraith’s and his companions. What I mean is that the main plot kind of seemed to take a backseat, partly also because the plot armor was pretty thick, or maybe it was just that knowing it’s a game set up that the hero’s meant to go through, I sorta always expected him to succeed. I thought the parts figuring out the mystery of the box gods and how different characters could make use of these game aspects were really interesting.
Ends well, not a cliffhanger but with an epilogue that hints at the next book’s problem. It’s a hook, but you don’t have to keep reading to get the full story.
I enjoyed it a lot, and I kept making up chores as an excuse to listen more, so thank you Sarah for the great book, and the clean kitchen!

[Pablo García · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although cover makes me "cringe" and not want to read this novel series at all, I read the first book. It is a NPC (Non-Player Character) that decides not to die by a player but, to be "respawned"/reincarnated into the player that "killed him" in a Fantasy-Adventure-MMORPG (Massively Multi-Player Online Role Playing Game). Just like the Matrix series of movies, the chaos that this Bloodwraith, creates, with both other NPC's and Adventurer players places all of the quests, rules and players displays (boxes) in havoc. Bloodwraith, main character, contradicts his NPC's rules, then contradicts his players conditions as well. Sometimes it is hard to follow, because, main character is always contradicting and rebelling from the system boxes, his adventurer player conditions and the old NPC rules that he had to follow as an Artificial Intelligence NPC in this Fantasy-Adventure game.
The first book is rather short. I do not like the fact that everybody that the main character meets (almost) betrays, cheats and has no honor (ethical values). The author has too many quests, plot arcs and action going on at the same time.
Usually villages and towns in games are safe zones. Zones that do not allow players to be violent/attack or kill other players or NPC's. This game has no such safe zones. It appears to be an adult game (because of rape, sexual assaults, torture, blood, gore, violence, extreme violence), like the Westworld series where intelligent Artificial Intelligence (AI) NPC's take over the wild-west theme park because they got tired of the abuse and dying.
Thus, very little of this fantasy-sci-fi-adventure-book is original of this author. The dialogues do not flow naturally, the characters are not described well (physical traits, personality traits, etc.) the world development is scarce to none. The "players" level up and gain abilities and skills, but again, this is not character or world descriptions. There is little to no governance as well. Usually game developers do not allow "bugs", "exploits", "cheats" to stay for long in VRMMORPG's. It is weird that no game developers, player complaints, social media posts, etc. are present, if this main character and now his "retinue" create so much chaos/havoc within the game.
The author has little to medium level of game knowledge. The story is more Sci-Fi adventure than fantasy-RPG. Because there is no "real life" interaction, no leveling up to change jobs/professions, improve abilities, etc. The pace is slow and methodical. The author did not really explain how the "change"/reincarnation was possible for the main character Bloodwraith. The author does not write about spawning and respawning or multi-instance dungeons, NPC's, quests, etc. Although Meara had a multiple personality/cloning her alternate lives moment at the end of this first book (that the author did not explain at all).

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been awhile but here we are with another book that I wouldn't have read without the book bingo reading challenge. This one was not on my radar in any way. I read it for the LitRPG square, a subgenre I knew almost nothing about. I have watched Sword Art Online a bunch and have played more than my fair share of MMOs but nothing I have read has really come close to being a sufficiently 'crunchy' LitRPG experience.

What I liked.
The concept of this story was really interesting. You have what I assume is an MMO of some kind, probably one of those older more D&D inspired games (I'm thinking Everquest, Baldur's gate, or any other highly stats focused RPG), where an evil NPC has swapped spots with the main adventure. Or at least I assume that is what is going on, you don't really know for sure what is going on in that regard. In essence though, you have a main character that is frustrated and confused by the many notifications that the game gives him in the form of what he calls boxes. For example, here is a bit of internal dialogue from our main dude:

"...apparently being an adventurer was more like being an accountant than a great warrior."

This book made me chuckle quite a few times with this quote being just one example.

I also liked the ending for the most part. A lot of plot lines came together in a series of big events and a completion of the main story arcs. So kudos for actually having an ending.

What I did not like.
Honestly, this book had a lot of struggles for me. It felt slow and meandering for about the first half of the story and then it was repetitive cause, well, you got to grind quests and that is a thing. The ending really saved the novel for me. Without that I would be giving this a worse rating and probably attempting to find many nice ways to put some negative criticisms. It reminded me how not fun watching people play MMOs had been to me when I was playing about eight hours a day.

Ultimately, I found myself liking this book. It appealed to the fantasy RPG fan in me in a way that no book has done before. It was such an up and down ride though I'm not entirely sure if I'll continue onto the next book. Maybe I'm more of a soft LitRPG kind of guy without so many stat boxes.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first LitRPG, and one of only a handful of self-published books I've actually finished. To sum it up at the beginning: this was a really fun read, and I burned through it way faster than I thought I would.

Since I'm not overly familiar with the tropes of the genre, I can't really say how representative this one is. It has things that seem pretty standard, though, with the main character becoming aware of his stats and levels, and coming to grips with his life as a character in an RPG. That was all rather fun in its way. As a long time fan of RPGs it brought a smile to my face watching the character struggle with fetch quests and trying to game the system for some easy leveling.

But what really made this book stand out for me were the characterization and the natural feel of the relationships. The three primary characters really seemed to inhabit their roles, and the use of natural, modern language did a good job of avoiding the stilted prose of many traditionally published fantasies.

There are some minor quibbles I have. The beginning of the book seems to spend too much time on pointing out, and then waving away, the illogic of certain game systems. I don't really get why it was pointed out that Bloodwraith wasn't familiar with the money system, only for that fact to be ignored for the rest of the book, either. Also, I feel like Meara's change from existential despair to wise-cracking sidekick was kind of abrupt.

However, over all the book is well written, well paced, and fun to read.

One more thing I would like to point out in particular: The editing was surprisingly professional. There were no real typos that I noticed, although I a couple of places a non-standard use of hyphens made some sentences hard to parse. But this was head and shoulders above about 95% of the self pubbed books I've read thus far, and indeed better than some professional publishers put out.

[William Moses Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating is 3.5 stars.

This book was not quite what I expected. I thought this would be another LitRPG where the main character, fueled by the premise of the book, starts down his revenge-filled path and quickly levels up and crushes people. There was some of that, but this book was more a deconstruction of what would happen if the premise occurred. What does it mean to live in a world where boxes dictate your proficiency in a skill. What does it mean to have others locked into certain actions based on quests. What does it mean to be good or evil in a game. I know you may be thinking that other isekai novels have probably attempted to answer some of these questions, but I found it interesting nonetheless, especially since the premise provides a fresh take on the protagonists motivations.

In a genre somewhat notorious for weak characterization (especially of secondary characters), this book was certainly a breath of fresh air. However, all that characterization came at the expense of pacing. There was a lot less action and protagonist-reaping-rewards-of-grinding (something I enjoy seeing in this genre) and that was a little irritating. Still, I suppose this should set up the subsequent books in the trilogy.

If the above was the only thing that bothered me, then I would still give this book 4 stars. But there was a nagging feeling underlying my reading of this book that reduced my overall reading pleasure. Since this has to do with the larger world, I'll leave it as a spoiler. But note that as of the end of this first book, this is merely speculation (based on what I've read so far) and I don't know if it's an actual plot spoiler. It feels like the characters in this world are actually just characters in a video game, in the sense that they don't really exist but are just bits and bytes of code. If that's true, then it's really frustrating because I'm now somewhat invested in these characters, and if the scale of their struggle is so small, then it makes me feel like nothing they do really matters. I hope that's not the case though.

[♥Xeni♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this one up on a whim; I wanted something easy and light to read, and litrpg is certainly that.

This story had a fun twist: reincarnation of an NPC into a PC body. Having access to the system changes the dynamics, and I feel Sarah Lin did a great job embracing that. Sometimes the story does get a bit bogged down in the details, the background, etc. and it can get a bit slow, but overall there's a fast paced plot, a few dungeon dives (though nothing as exciting as you find in The Gods Are Bastards by D D Webb), and characters that will charm you (without restoring to toilet or sex jokes as humor).

I'm really curious to see where the rest of the overarching plot will go. Can there be ultimate revenge on the box gods? I sure do hope so. I want to see a kind of Matrix end, but not actually that one, since it sucked.

[Laura May · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this series over the weekend, and there's some really well-planned writing here. The story has an actual arc, there's an interesting idea, and the characters develop over time (in terms of their personality, not just their levels). I liked the premise, the variety of the storyline, the relationships, and the fact the author glossed over just the right amount of content to avoid repetitiveness. With all that said, while I liked these books, and admire the author's plot planning skills, they somehow didn't grab me enough to love them. I wouldn't read again, nor stay up until ridiculous hours reading.
Additional kudos must go for the cover art and the strong female characters (YES!!!).
3.5 ⭐

[Dream Fractal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't normally like awful protagonists. And Bloodwraith, once second in command to the dearly departed dark lord, is a bad person. Or was. Now he's stuck in the body of a heroic barbarian and he's feeling something that he would shudder to hear called empathy or a conscience.

There's a great deal of humour in Bloodwraith's situation. It's an awful lot of fun seeing him struggle both with unfamiliar RPG mechanics and being a hero alike. He has two companions - a kind and ever cheerful dwarf fighter, and a glitched tutorial level NPC - who are fantastic characters in their own right. And Bloodwraith slowly grew on me as he slowly grows from a two-dimensional moustache-twirling villain into a genuine, feeling human being.

TW: Discussion of rape, one incident of attempted rape

[Joe Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great, well-written and fairly original LitRPG novel. Using a former villain NPC as a body-swapped "player" was clever and lead to a lot of fun seeing him interact with the system AI. The plot was fairly simple but the pacing was fast, character development was interesting and the slow unveiling of the world with Meara starting to manipulate the system was rewarding.

This first book was fairly small-scale, which was refreshing. The MC (Bloodwraith) spent most of the novel getting to grips with the world and then figuring out how to defeat the city's leader of the Thieves Guild.

[Stefan E Sramek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Splendidly Creative

When I first looked at this novel, I noticed a review that said it was boring and unimaginative, and it's only draw was a unique twist on the genre and tropes. **This Isn't True!**

This author does something important that many writers overlook or ignore, leaving us with far too many shallow and uninspiring tales. This story focuses heavily on character development and insightful understanding of real personal emotional struggles, simplified enough to be adapted to the content. The author adeptly uses humor in line with the genre and theme, without mindlessly beating dead horses.

Changing Faces is a light-hearted, hopeful, and thoughtful story.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Starts slow but then comes wonder, excitement, and endearment.

Fun read, and meaty too. Biggest con is how long the story takes to get going. The tutorial takes up a noticeable chunk of the book as the main character gets used to the situation, and while it’s meant to be funny and satiric instead I almost dropped the book. I’m glad I stuck with it, because once the main character reaches the cabin in the woods, the story became a page turner that kept me up all night. Going straight for the sequel.

[Joshua (ithildins) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Premise sketchy

If I'd known we were going to get speshul snowflake AI love interest, i never would have started this book. Chapter 14 ends with miscommunication, which I loathe. The game mechanics that stop character progression/upgrades until quest ends seem sketchy for an mmo.

Overall, the villain switching places with the hero player was interesting, but the villain's actions were soon brooding guy rethinks his life and choices. Even when we think he's doing something a bit bad, it works out in his favour and his alignment gets a boost towards good. Just, no.

[Ha · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a while since I read a LitRPG book, but I decided to take a leap on the audio version narrated by Bryan G.Lamb, after the first chapters I already felt hooked and had to get the kindle version as well.

The stats sheets are more subtle and that's a bonus point. There are too many LitRPG books out there with page after page of nonsense stats.

The story is well written and was enjoyable to listen to.