Clover City – Jay Boyce

Delightful Mind Cancy

The first thing I did when I finished reading this book was reread it. The author had a lot of fun with this book, and so did I.

The book is purely “for those who like this sort of thing”. That’s the limitation of the book and the reason I gave it four stars instead of five: If you aren’t the sort of reader who can enjoy watching a character boost a success chance to 37%, you aren’t going to care for this book no matter how brightly it shines from within its genre. Conversely, if this is the sort of thing you like, this is a book you’ll enjoy.

The premise is narrow. The protagonist gets hit by a truck and awakes five years in the past with her memories. Does she use the memories to avoid mistakes she made the first time? No. Does she use the memories to prevent a disaster? No. She uses the memories to do well in a virtual-reality ‘online’ game.

She does well, and it’s a pleasure to read along. “Lotus Lake” takes her through the beginning-character phase of her game.