Radioactive Evolution | Richard Hummel | Review

Cropped cover shot from Word of the Nerd

Before this book I hadn't knowingly stepped into the genre that is LitRPG. You heard that right, books that are based around RPGs (role-playing games for those of you who don't know). To be honest with my love of video games I'm amazed I haven't stumbled into it before, the closest I've probably gotten is Ready Player One which isn't classed as LitRPG but is probably borderline.

Basically, LitRPG's are when games or game-like challenges form an essential part of the story and visible RPG statistics (for example strength, intelligence, damage) are a significant part of the reading experience. The first chapter of Radioactive Evolution* ends with the initial look into this game like form when Jared unlocks a dragon?!?!?

Sidekick Unlocked: Dragon

The idea of the whole story is so gamelike, from beating creatures and levelling up your skills to fighting the 'boss' creatures. Jared and Scarlett are on a big quest to unearth Scarlett's family of fire dragons from where they've been hiding in the earth's core, and on the way come across various obstacles to overcome from people, giant rats, and another dragon?!?! I will say that although I enjoyed the whole gamelike aspect it did give me the kind of stress that video games give you. Stressed throughout a fight in case you lose and have to redo the level, however, Jared can't redo the level he'll just die a regular human death because 'LIVES' DON'T EXIST! Super stressful.

The basis of this dystopian world is a virus has taken out most of the human race and in order to stay alive you must inject yourself with boosters every few months but of course the boosters are running out. The nanites from the boosters can allow you to connect with a creature, like Jared and Scarlett are connected, and allow you to increase your stats and you can even obtain special abilities from killing and extracting nanites from boss creatures. This may sound a little confusing but trust me Richard Hummel explains it much better throughout the book. I think the coolest part though is being able to connect with another creature, there's another bonding you meet further into the book which I won't go into too much as spoilers, but they bond with a big cat called Kitty - so it's not just dragons!

If you like any aspect of video gaming or dystopian stories with dragons I totally recommend Radioactive Evolution. Now I'm going to move onto the second book and the rest of the LitRPG genre.

If you could connect with a creature of some kind, what would you choose? I think I'd choose a big cat like Kitty!

*This book was given to me to review, but all opinions are my own