Dive

The Dive Sequence #1

by Chris Reign

Old cover of ISBN: 1736778110/ ISBN13: 9781736778111

Endless Skies, a reality in a game. For most humans, it represents a second life away from the horrors of a broken Earth. To Eyre, her first full-dive into the fantasy realm is a long shot gamble at finding independence, from her family and her past.

Determination, cleverness, and luck get her far enough to pick up a quest from a shady wizard, with the promise to fulfill her deepest desire. The catch: become a lodestone to danger as the quest leads her into dubious salvation at the hands of lethal Guild mercenaries.

Caught up now in the calculations of the team’s enigmatic leader, Sworn, she finds herself aiding them on a march to clear their own objective: the Dungeon of Ironcross Depot and its master, an Unaligned warlord feared by the Guilds. As the body count grows and the subterfuge deepens, Eyre is forced to decide how far she is willing to go to become the vision she has for herself.

Genres: Fantasy

420 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2021

About the author

Chris Reign is a lifelong enthusiast of the written word, and particularly where it intersects with fantasy. From the age of five and hearing his father read The Hobbit at bedtime, Chris began envisioning worlds and describing them in words. As a debut fantasy author for the public, Chris has taken the next step on a road that goes ever, ever on.

Among his few remaining virtues is a healthy skepticism of social media, so if you would like to contact him the best options are here or on reddit as u/chrisreign.

Reviews

[Russell Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very unfortunate experience for me since it seemed the author was looking to address some of the most common issues/disappointments I have with litrpg stories - namely the bland characters and poor-quality writing. A fusion of SAO and Malazan? Say no more fam.

The first elephant that needs addressed: this isn't Litrpg (based on most common community standards). There are only the most passing of mentions regarding stats, levels, skills, etc. This story is squarely in the gamelit category - soft gamelit as opposed to hard gamelit at that. That isn't an issue for me, but it will be for some, so just be aware of it and be willing to enjoy this book for what it is rather than dislike it for what it isn't.

The second elephant: why am I talking positively about a book I only rated 3 stars and dropped at the 65% complete mark? I know. A part of me feels bad, but I've reached a point in my life where I can't force myself to finish things if I'm not vibing with them.

While I actually tend to prefer less-crunchy gamelit over an abundance of stat blocks and character sheets, I still look for certain things in both my gamelit and litrpg experiences. First and foremost, I really enjoy taking my time in the early game. A lot of the most enjoyable parts of a story involve the early leveling, gaining of skills, and learning about the mechanics of the world. This story rushed through all of that very quickly and I found most of my gamelit itches woefully unscratched.

I also never fully vibed with our MC, Eyre. Given the early floundering in her opening scene against a tutorial enemy, and making so many oversights with her UI that implied she has little to no gaming experience, it didn't feel convincing to me that a short time later she was using terms like 'meta' and grasping a lot of tactical concepts and making acute observations. I was never sold on her transition and maybe a some tidbits about who she was out of game could have helped explain her capabilities more.

Additionally, I struggled with stakes in any given scene since I didn't really care much about any of the characters. While I dislike the trend of infodumping in litrpg, I feel like this book went a little too far in the other direction and could have used a few more characterization indicators. Maybe not even specifically for the characters, but for the gameworld and how it relates to the real world or some extra info as to why I should care about guild vs unaligned squabbles. There were tiny bits and pieces, but a few more earlier on might have gone a long way.

Which brings me to a narrative shenanigan that follows with this: we are given access to most of Eyre's thoughts and impressions, but her actual goals, motivations, and reasons for being in the game are kept from us. I can understand why authors want to hold certain things back, but it creates an inconsistency for me with the pov when you know that a character would be thinking of something, but we the reader aren't privy to that one. I guess, in a nutshell, I didn't like Eyre much and was hoping for an olive branch to help.

I was mildly annoyed with the prose at times. There were a lot of grammar mistakes, typos here and there, misused words, and a lack of hyphen usage with compound adjectives made more noticeable by the extreme abundance of compound adjectives. I think these things were more noticeable to me since overall the prose was much better than your average gamelit.

I don't want this to sound like an overly negative review, but I also felt the need to address why I ended up DNF on this one. Much of my reasons are a reflection of my own preferences rather than the story being bad or anything like that. My star ratings are heavily influenced by my enjoyment level and not indicating any sort of objective metric.

I would encourage heavy litrpg/gamelit readers to give this story a shot. I think books like this one will serve as bridges for people to move into other areas in the fantasy, sci-fi, and horror spaces and I think expanding your horizons is one of the best things you can do as a reader.

So if you are a litrpg reader willing to branch out and take a step closer to the fantasy genre or a fantasy reader looking to get into gamelit but struggle with poor writing, then give this book a shot.

[Soroosh Eh · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a fun story for people who like Litrpg stories, personally, as someone who spent a lot of time in WoW I found it to be a fun read. I would recommend it to anyone who has played MMORPGs and is looking for a bit of nostalgia.

What I really enjoyed in the book was the way scenes were developed, the author is certainly skilled at engaging the readers through descriptive scenes that don't get boring. This is the biggest reason why I would recommend this book as I believe the writer is skilled and their work is worth the read.

There are several reasons why it is not a 5 star book in my opinion though.

First of all, there is a lot about the game system that could have been explored but wasn't. Since we are introduced to the game from the point of view of a player who seems to literally know nothing about the game (seems a bit unrealistic), it feels like we're lost in the mechanics of the game. There are certain references made to how the game works throughout the story, but by the end, I felt like I really don't actually know much about the game. An attraction of the story for me was to discover more about the game and I felt disappointed when I didn't get much information beyond some references to UI and basic mechanics for leveling up. It constantly felt likethe game's rules were changing since we never actually established any rules for the game.

Another area where the story could have expanded on, was the interaction between the game and real life. Specifically, how people could stay in the game for weeks at a time without dying? What kind of effects did the game have on their bodies? Why would anyone even want to do that? How popular was the game? There were hundreds of questions that I had during the story that again weren't addressed at all, even though some parts mentioned how the game was expensive to paly, it never said why, or when certain character's family were mentioned we were given no additional information to create some context which made the tidbits provided feel unsatisfying since they were just there to get you excited for nothing.

The next issue I had with the story was with the gaming culture we see in it. It never adequately explained why complete strangers might be willing to risk their quest/mission to help a total newbie out. I mean other than because the story requires it, why would a dungeon team ever risk inviting a liability to travel with them? The interactions between the main characters of the story felt fairly forced to me, and while as a gamer I can appreicate looking for people to play with, I have yet to play a game in which high level players have anything in common with low level players, and are open to the idea of having them simply tag along. So it doesn't make sense to me for a group who is on a critical mission to simply accept a stranger of lower levels into their midst. I feel like a hardcore game where death means the end of your character, players would be even less willing to take risks that could lead to their eventual demise.

Next was the extreme reaction the main character had towards killing NPCs, while several pages later, she seemed totally fine killing actual PCs. If the game is so realistic that it would have such a devestating impact on a person mentaly, shouldn't it be a bit more lasting than one encounter? If it's the idea of violence that caused the reaction, shouldn't it be even more horrifying against actual people?

There were other minor issues that reduced my enjoyment of this book, however, like I mentioned at the begining I would still recommend it as a fun read for a rpg gamer who is looking for something that reminds them of their first time in a game, their first dungeons/groups and friends made.

[Wendy Beckman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Dive: Endless Skies by Chris Reign. This was my first book in the gamelit/Litrpg genres and I didn't know what to expect. However, as an amateur gamer, I had an idea about the world I would enter. I was not disappointed. Reign describes the world he's built and the characters he has populated it with enough for me to picture the action but not so much that the text bogs down with endless description. If this book ties in to a specific game, I didn't recognize it but found that it wasn't necessary.

The main story follows Eyre, who is a noobie adventurer who is anxious to jump into some quest she feels she must complete. She fails her first quest because she evidently skipped the training required for it. She finds herself in the company of a band of experienced fighters, who (begrudgingly at first) set about training her for the role she must eventually play. Following the main character, Eyre, reminds me of the one time I (foolishly) tried to play Halo online with my son. I love video games but am lousy at them so was basically raked over the coals when we tried to engage in a game with two strangers. They thought I was purposely sand-bagging. My son begged me to play better, as if I had the ability to. It was not pretty. Throughout the book, I identified with descriptions of characters who found themselves becoming inured to violence, just as I had in my own gaming. I was a little confused by the opening and epilogue of the book, which evidently refer to some meta-story that was not clear to me.

I found the balance of fantasy story and game terminology good, so that readers who come to the book through either route should feel at home. For example, Eyre opens up her inventory list and chooses her weapons and armor. Anyone who has looked at such an inventory will share her pain as she finds her choices are paltry.

Being a writer and a freelance editor (OK, that just put a target on my back), I am picky about the books I read. The writing in Dive was great, but the text needed an editor. Words were misused, like "cord" instead of "chord," or had typos, like "manerism" instead of "mannerism." Some sentences just didn't make sense, which a good editor would have caught, such as when a character who is supposedly bound at the wrist puts his hand on another character's shoulder. The author also needs a good helping of commas. I don't know if Reign is British, but he uses the British spelling of "towards" and the incorrect spelling of "all right." (Although "alright" is becoming accepted in common use, it is still all wrong.)

I highly recommend this book and look forward to future books by Reign. Make sure if you do read it that you start with the Acknowledgments. I hope Reign's friends do.

[Wendy Beckman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Dive: Endless Skies by Chris Reign. This was my first book in the gamelit/Litrpg genres and I didn't know what to expect. However, as an amateur gamer, I had an idea about the world I would enter. I was not disappointed. Reign describes the world he's built and the characters he has populated it with enough for me to picture the action but not so much that the text bogs down with endless description. If this book ties in to a specific game, I didn't recognize it but found that it wasn't necessary.

The main story follows Eyre, who is a noobie adventurer who is anxious to jump into some quest she feels she must complete. She fails her first quest because she evidently skipped the training required for it. She finds herself in the company of a band of experienced fighters, who (begrudgingly at first) set about training her for the role she must eventually play. Following the main character, Eyre, reminds me of the one time I (foolishly) tried to play Halo online with my son. I love video games but am lousy at them so was basically raked over the coals when we tried to engage in a game with two strangers. They thought I was purposely sand-bagging. My son begged me to play better, as if I had the ability to. It was not pretty. Throughout the book, I identified with descriptions of characters who found themselves becoming inured to violence, just as I had in my own gaming. I was a little confused by the opening and epilogue of the book, which evidently refer to some meta-story that was not clear to me.

I found the balance of fantasy story and game terminology good, so that readers who come to the book through either route should feel at home. For example, Eyre opens up her inventory list and chooses her weapons and armor. Anyone who has looked at such an inventory will share her pain as she finds her choices are paltry.

Being a writer and a freelance editor (OK, that just put a target on my back), I am picky about the books I read. The writing in Dive was great, but the text needed an editor. Words were misused, like "cord" instead of "chord," or had typos, like "manerism" instead of "mannerism." Some sentences just didn't make sense, which a good editor would have caught, such as when a character who is supposedly bound at the wrist puts his hand on another character's shoulder. The author also needs a good helping of commas. I don't know if Reign is British, but he uses the British spelling of "towards" and the incorrect spelling of "all right." (Although "alright" is becoming accepted in common use, it is still all wrong.)

I highly recommend this book and look forward to future books by Reign. Make sure if you do read it that you start with the Acknowledgments. I hope Reign's friends do.

[John Purvis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is author Chris Reign’s first publication. Dive: Endless Skies was published in 2021 and is the first book in his Dive Sequence series. It is the 16th book I completed reading in 2023.

I received an ARC of this book through https://www.netgalley.com with the expectation of a fair and honest review. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own! Due to scenes of violence and mature language, I categorize this novel as R.

This book combines two different genres. On the one hand, it is science fiction due to the immersive Virtual Reality DIVE pods. These (without much explanation) enable the user to become deeply immersed in a game. For the purposes of this novel, the characters are playing the Endless Skies game. Endless Skies is set in a medieval fantasy world complete with magic. The players have access to their User Interface, allowing manipulation of their character settings and viewing their stats.

Eyre is a young woman who has entered Endless Skies hoping to find her independence. She is overly anxious to get into the game, skipping the new user explanation and training. Something that she will regret from time to time.

She picks up a quest, but it is more challenging than expected. She throws herself into it, but finds she is ill-prepared. She luckily falls in with an experienced team from the Reckoning Guild. At first they reluctantly include her, but as she learns and gains experience, they accept her as a full member.

The team is led by Sworn, an old hand at Endless Skies, and is their ‘Tank’. Other team members include Zephyr, Juke, Kerner the warlock, Thera, and Raize. Each has their own special skills. Each of them is deadly in their own way.

The team mentors Eyre, teaching her and helping to guide her character’s development. Together, they face several confrontations, Eyre’s skills grow with each encounter. Zephyr takes a particular interest in the young woman, and a budding relationship ensues. The team’s ultimate goal is confronting a powerful Warlord who has seized Ironcross Depot, threatening the neutrality of the border region.

Will the team complete their mission? Will newbie Eyre complete her quest? Will she even survive?

I enjoyed the 13.5 hours I spent reading this 422-page science fiction novel. I like the story, but I felt like I had missed a couple of chapters at the beginning. I was thrown into the story without much background. While I like the chosen cover art, it does little to prepare the reader for the story. I give this novel a rating of 4.5 (rounded to 5) out of 5.

You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).

[Derek Frey · Rating 5 out of 5]

LitRPG’s Guy Gavriel Kay

I don’t know this author, nor was I compensated for my review. I picked this book up on a recommendation on Reddit, and am I ever glad I did! I’ve read over 120 books in the litrpg genre and I have a download list a mile long - But I’m not the type of guy that goes in blind. I need strong ratings and at least 200 reviews before I’ll even think of picking something up as there is a lot of poor quality stuff out there and my time is valuable. Anyway, I’m glad I broke from my policy!

Strong writing, like Kay, highly emotive and thoughtful. Good story arch and plot progression. It has RPG elements like skills, levels, xp, progress bars, and interfaces, but that is all very much subservient to plotting and character building. It’s an element of the story, but not blindingly so - which is to say it lacks some popular plot points like grinding and Uber fast story progression.

I’m not one of those people that cares too much about editing, but this book looks like it was edited by a professional.

If the Author reads this, I’d encourage you to loop in with one of the litrpg publishing houses who can get the word out about your book and help you quickly tally up the reviews you need to get noticed by the algorithms and rating snobs like myself. Getting friends and family to spam the reviews is a legit strategy as well. I only say this as I want you to succeed and get more content out there! Keep publishing/writing - you have a lot of talent!

[Guadalupe Herrera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Immersive and engaging!

As soon as I started reading “Dive: Endless Skies” by Chris Reign, I could not help but compare it to other stories I have heard or seen where the main character is a character inside something else, such as a video game. The fantasy genre has always been a bit hard for me to like, but lately I have come across some really good titles and this is one of them. Where mainly the other stories I have encountered have one main character, this one has a team in a fantasy world where the readers, along with the characters, learn different lessons of life. It is reminiscent of what I think virtual reality could eventually become. Sometimes I even felt as if I was holding a gaming control and playing as the character which only goes to show that Reign’s writing is on point. I truly enjoyed this story and look forward to others. I would recommend this book to anyone!

[Karyn H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic Cover Design, Impressive Story Telling

Dive: Endless skies by Chris Reign takes us into a whole new world. If you are conversant with the RPG games like World of Warcraft, this novel gives you the same feeling. Once you dive into the amazing adventure world in this book, there are a lot of precious things to find. I have this feeling that the author has just begun to introduce us to a smaller part of a larger world. I believe there is more to see as the author progresses in the story. In a nutshell, The Story is about Eyre and her adventure to make a better life for herself. She also faces a dilemma of who to please, herself or her friends. The truth is, at one point in our life we always face this question of loyalty, whether to selfishly pursue our dream or please a few friends. Dive is one of those books I excitedly wait for the next episode. The story is very relatable.

[Celeste · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book condenses in its pages two of my favourite genres: science fiction and fantasy; and it does it in such a gripping and compelling way that I couldn’t take my eyes off the pages until I finished it.
“Dive: Endless Skies”, written by Chris Reign, is the first book in the series “The Dive Sequence”. In search of a change and improvement in her life, Eyre will find herself immersed in a fantastic world where she will have to fight to get what she wants.
The plot is original and creative and it presents a fascinating mixture of fictions and facts that make the story believable although it is a work of fiction. I especially liked how the author constructed the protagonist’s character. The book contains enough cliff-hangers and suspense to keep readers on the edge of their seats and a surprising ending.

[Jimmy Jefferson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Welcome to the game. Adventure in the game world

Dive is the story of simulated fantasy game world that will take you into this world and allow you to experience this alternate world. Endless skies is the alternative world that Eyre and her team travel through. She is looking for her own thing and independence from her family and discovers this world and a team that takes her in and makes her feel like a part of something. If you like fantasy games and enjoy the alternate worlds and objectives you must complete, this is the perfect book for you. Characters are well developed and relatable as well as a good storyline that pulls you in and makes you part of the experience. Check it out folks, this one is worth it.

[Pegboard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dive: Endless Skies by Chris Reign is the first in this series. This epic fantasy takes you on a quest Eyre is determined to complete. No matter the sacrifice, she accepts the challenge of delivering a ring for additional skills to complete the task. She becomes part of a team that faces difficulties she never expected.

I found Dive fascinating as Eyre enters the alternative reality of Endless Skies to complete her quest. Chris Reign takes you on an adventure with a player of a simulated game. Her objective will be to move across the land undetected, clear out a dungeon, and defeat a warlord. She needs to work as a team and keep everything a secret. This initial start was to be independent of her family and past. Will she find what she wants without becoming a slave of reality?

[ELISABET · Rating 3 out of 5]

Without any hesitation, I would recommend this book to young adults and fans of videogames with a fantasy background. I feel very much identified with the emotional process of the main female character. The author expresses and describes the thoughts and feelings with a language that remarks a deep sensitivity. Just in the first chapter I knew that this is the kind of book that I could not put down.

In Dive, Eyre, the main character, gets into an online game because her contemporary reality is too bad to live in. Her path crushes with a mercenary called Sworm, an encounter that will mean a radical change. At first, it seems like a story of just entertainment, but it also includes a life vision and resilience.

[Pearl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dive: Endless Skies by Chris Reign is a book that I can say, something that is up to my alley. I love high fantasy books as they offer so many things. This book didn't fail. I got what I was looking for in a high fantasy story. The world of Endless Skies is a wonder. I love that it introduces the readers to different characters. The fact that it's also a game-inspired story makes it all the more interesting.

The characters amazed me as well as the dialogues shared by them. I cannot also ignore the fact that it has a good plot progression. I was especially drawn to the fighting scenes-- they were so realistically done I can't help but root for the characters that I love! All in all, a great reading experience!

[Susel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dive: Endless Skies, caught my attention from the very first paragraph and was incredible hard to put down.
Chris Reign has done an amazing job with this awesome book. For those who are looking for fantasy and adventure, then look no further. I instantly became a fan of the main character, Eyre. I really root for her throughout the whole story and found her to be an inspiration, as she really fights for what she wants in life.
One thing I love about the author is his style of storytelling and exceptional ability to vividly paint a fantasy world, in ways that bring the images alive, making the story so much more enjoyable.
I highly recommend reading Dive!

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is my first book with a story like this, mixing two worlds but in this case, it would be reality and a fantasy world taking place in a video game. It is a good plot with a lot of actions involved. But sometimes, I got lost in the jumps between them.

The characters are very interesting, author Chris Reign describes them and gives a good insight into their personalities and their actions. Eyre, the main character, is itching to feel like she belongs somewhere and she finds that in the game, she becomes more sure of herself.

Overall I think "Dive: Endless Skies" is a good epic fantasy book.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dive: Endless Skies is a fantasy novel with game based elements seamlessly tied in with story progression. It is a refreshing take on the fantasy genre as the main character is not an overpowered machine, but rather one you see grow and ‘level up’ as the story goes on. The characters are well written, diverse, and believable. They all have their own moments to shine and will leave you laughing, in tears, or both. This book will leave you wondering when you can get your hands on the next one in the sequence!

[William Howe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deep

The beginning feels rough and unfocused. It’s only after several chapters that things really get started.

But then you get to the end and realize...it’s because the real story is bigger. Even bigger than the glimpse of a story you got at the beginning.

Very non-crunchy. This reads more like an epic quest fantasy with an overlay of LitRPG.

A few typos, more towards the homonyms than garbage typing. But also some interesting sentence structures. I say interesting because they aren’t wrong, they are simply unusual.

I am looking forward to a sequel.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my first lit RPG book, this was pretty good. We follow Eyre, as she joins a massive multiplayer game where she hopes to revamp herself into a better person with a better life. As she attempts top finish her quest, she finds herself in unchartered waters with a ragtag bunch of members who may or may not have her best interests at heart.
I liked the story, it felt more like a regular fantasy book in the reading, even with the addition of the quest objectives added into the story. This is I think a part of a bigger series to come as the book felt like it was setting us up for a much bigger world and cast of characters to come.

[Andy L · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and unique ride

A novice adventurer finds herself involved with a veteran guild team tasked with a mysterious mission involving king a dangerous dungeon delve.
Very different sort of read. Epic characters, all unique and interesting with a tactical focus almost like a rainbow six squad in a dungeon. Strongly written with style and humor.

[Peter]

Great book

Stellar work from Chris Reign! Lots of action and adventure, skills and spells, all set in a beautiful world. Looking forward to the next one!