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The Heartfire Healer #2
Schism
Priest or not, Liset is a healer, and she’s here to save their ass, not kiss it.After rescuing a holy relic from Darklings, Liset the Blessed learns no good deed goes unpunished. The Temple of Areste has given her a day and a half to make a be excommunicated for turning in the quest item or excommunicated for stealing it. Either way, she risks losing her hard-earned class as a Priestess of Gaia, and with it, her ability to heal the people of Viridian Gate Online.
But the world has other plans, and her temple is the least of her worries. Between the return of the Darklings, an ancient Hvitalfarian evil, and a brewing civil war in Rowanheath, there’s plenty of need for a healer.
As a former physician, she has more tools at her disposal to heal people than magic. Even if she must go to war with her own temple, she won’t let her faith be ripped away without a fight. Not when so many people depend on her.
But the world has other plans, and her temple is the least of her worries. Between the return of the Darklings, an ancient Hvitalfarian evil, and a brewing civil war in Rowanheath, there’s plenty of need for a healer.
As a former physician, she has more tools at her disposal to heal people than magic. Even if she must go to war with her own temple, she won’t let her faith be ripped away without a fight. Not when so many people depend on her.
- GenresFantasy
406 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 16, 2021
33 people are currently reading
71 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 14, 2021
The 2nd book in this series and we see Liset being hounded by Exarch Jericho and learning the hard way that no good deed ever goes unpunished. She is doing her best to save everyone's ass and the thanks she gets nearly costs her her life. She had rescued a holy relic from the darklings and for this she is risking her status as Gaia's priestess, known as Liset the blessed, by being excommunicated from the Temple of Areste accused of having stolen this. Now Liset had been a doctor IRL and was a very good healer in VGO, and she wanted to retain her hard earned healer class because many depended on her healing especially now that the darklings returned, an ancient Hvitalfarian evil arose and Rowanheath was on the brink of civil war. So no one was going to deprive her of her power without a fight. Humanity had brought all the virtues and vices of Earth with them to Viridian Gate Online, seems nothing had changed after all but she was alive still and ready to do something about this, she was a priest, representative of Gaia herself and she would make sure she's use her healer powers to save as many lives as she could and everyone else be damned. I love Liset, she is real badass and takes no crap from anyone, and to call her selfish is crazy when she goes out on a limb to save everyone she can. My only problem with this book was the great use of initials, which probably are meaningful to gamers, but readers like myself who have never been gamers, but still enjoy the LitRPG genre find these abbreviated terms very confusing, otherwise the book is an exciting adventure from start to finish and I enjoyed reading about the capture of Rowanheath from another perspective but I do wish Liset would join the Crimson Alliance as I do think she is on the wrong side of the war!
August 17, 2021
Schism is a fantastic book.
Viridian Gate Online is a great series - well-thought-out, with a core idea that’s easy to understand and a core conflict that is fun to read, with a lot of fairly iconic characters.
The Heartfire Healer series breaks everything in the best possible ways.
A healer - an actual doctor who plays clerics, because it’s what she is, not just what she knows - who isn’t supposed to be in Viridian Gate in the first place - she’s caustic, flawed, hurting, and real - add “unstoppable” to that set of descriptions and you’ll be closer, but the truth is that she’s not unstoppable, she’s INDOMITABLE. She’s not perfect, but she will never quit doing what she thinks is right, even when there’s no “right” around.
She does her best, to the utmost of her abilities, and she’s written more “real” - with a sense of PTSD that affects her perceptions and thoughts - in a way that few LitRPG books I’ve read even dare.
Add to that a story that progresses and warps in ways that are unexpected but make sense - even in the context of a series with over a dozen prior entries - and you have not only one of the best books in the VGO universe but one of the most important books in the VGO universe - and an important book, period.
And it’s a SECOND book in the series.
I gave Resurrection - the prior book - five stars because it introduces us to the main character, and sets her in a world where people are no longer human but still act very much so, and creates her essential conflict... and then hides it. Here, she has to dig through all of the dross that people are making her carry, when she has such a more important task in front of her... and it is done absolutely beautifully, with a lot of humor thrown in to lighten it.
Excellent series. Highly, highly recommended. If I could give it six stars, I would.
Viridian Gate Online is a great series - well-thought-out, with a core idea that’s easy to understand and a core conflict that is fun to read, with a lot of fairly iconic characters.
The Heartfire Healer series breaks everything in the best possible ways.
A healer - an actual doctor who plays clerics, because it’s what she is, not just what she knows - who isn’t supposed to be in Viridian Gate in the first place - she’s caustic, flawed, hurting, and real - add “unstoppable” to that set of descriptions and you’ll be closer, but the truth is that she’s not unstoppable, she’s INDOMITABLE. She’s not perfect, but she will never quit doing what she thinks is right, even when there’s no “right” around.
She does her best, to the utmost of her abilities, and she’s written more “real” - with a sense of PTSD that affects her perceptions and thoughts - in a way that few LitRPG books I’ve read even dare.
Add to that a story that progresses and warps in ways that are unexpected but make sense - even in the context of a series with over a dozen prior entries - and you have not only one of the best books in the VGO universe but one of the most important books in the VGO universe - and an important book, period.
And it’s a SECOND book in the series.
I gave Resurrection - the prior book - five stars because it introduces us to the main character, and sets her in a world where people are no longer human but still act very much so, and creates her essential conflict... and then hides it. Here, she has to dig through all of the dross that people are making her carry, when she has such a more important task in front of her... and it is done absolutely beautifully, with a lot of humor thrown in to lighten it.
Excellent series. Highly, highly recommended. If I could give it six stars, I would.
August 17, 2021
Nailed the Landing
I say this a lot about book 2s, because it is important, but does this book “nail the landing”?
What I mean is simple… every book 2 is a risk, you’re escalating stakes, you’re trying to keep the readers interested, and finally, you’re trying to accomplish what many movies and books fail to do - execute it all well.
Schism does all of that. It’s a great follow up to book one, the story continued perfectly to an amazing climax that had me at the edge of my seat.
TL;DR
Good healer MC book. Lots of humor and fun. Good guys get a great story with compelling stakes. Edge of seat goodness.
I say this a lot about book 2s, because it is important, but does this book “nail the landing”?
What I mean is simple… every book 2 is a risk, you’re escalating stakes, you’re trying to keep the readers interested, and finally, you’re trying to accomplish what many movies and books fail to do - execute it all well.
Schism does all of that. It’s a great follow up to book one, the story continued perfectly to an amazing climax that had me at the edge of my seat.
TL;DR
Good healer MC book. Lots of humor and fun. Good guys get a great story with compelling stakes. Edge of seat goodness.
May 15, 2022
Nice Improvement
The pace picks up a bit better and although this isn't Grim Jack the hidden depths of this book keep you guessing quite well.
Hopefully stick with this series as we see what happens with alot of intersecting paths to the other main series and characters.
The pace picks up a bit better and although this isn't Grim Jack the hidden depths of this book keep you guessing quite well.
Hopefully stick with this series as we see what happens with alot of intersecting paths to the other main series and characters.
January 29, 2025
Liset: healing and friendship continue!
Liset continues to be her wonderful self, back talking banter and compassion and all. She has enemies dogging her heels and a growing list of grudges, and she's going to take advantage of every last day in which she can help people thrive.
Liset continues to be her wonderful self, back talking banter and compassion and all. She has enemies dogging her heels and a growing list of grudges, and she's going to take advantage of every last day in which she can help people thrive.
October 20, 2021
Good story, just be aware
Good story of non-gamers trying to function in an MMO world. Homosexuality implied, took too much story time away from the RPGlit aspects.
Good story of non-gamers trying to function in an MMO world. Homosexuality implied, took too much story time away from the RPGlit aspects.
October 16, 2023
This book was awesome. It was gritty. It had love. It had adventure. I really liked how it transitioned from the real world to the virtual one. The hero faces lots of challenges and has a tough time.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews