Edda by Conor Kostick is the third book in the sci-fi/fantasy Epic series. It takes place in a future where humans have created virtual realities with enough depth to give some of the virtual inhabitants of the games free will. In the first book, Epic, the community of New Earth, a colony of humans that evacuated the Earth, used the game Epic to settle who got what in the real world. The more you had on your game character, the better jobs and resources you received in the real world. Erik and his friends completed a final quest to get rid of Epic and change the whole economic system. In the second book, Saga, the game Saga replaced Epic and all the inhabitants of this new game had free will. The Dark Queen made the inhabitants of New Earth addicted to Saga and therefore Erik, the only non-addicted human, needed to defeat the Dark Queen, however this was difficult with the New Earth pacifist policy. In Edda Erik, with his character Cindella, a female pirate, Ghost and her friends from Saga and Eriks other human friends with new avatars need to learn who is behind a new portal that has appeared in Saga. Erik’s character has an assortment of magic items from Epic. Ghost as a Reprogrammed Autonomous Lifeform (RAL) has the ability to slow time and change the direction of projectiles. Meanwhile the other humans have powerful weapons from Saga for their characters however Gunnar, a supporter of a powerful faction in New Earth that dislikes electronic beings with self awareness from past experiences with the Dark Queen, is tasked to make sure no one learns that they are humans and where their colony lives. Penelope is a human that has been “saved” by Lord Scanthax in the world of Edda, a game based around world conquest, as a human can use the inner workings of the game and create objects out of thin air. I liked how the book brought the idea of what happens when artificial intelligence gains free will. It was interesting how the characters interacted between the real world and the game with themselves and the virtual characters or electronic intelligences (EI) as they call them. For example they go out of the game to spread information between worlds and care for the EI as they were humans. The one thing I dislike is how it “brushes off” Saga’s end. I would recommend this book to someone who likes sci-fi or fantasy books or just likes MMO’s (Mass Multiplayer Online games). However I would not recommend this book to someone who does not fit into any of these categories at all. I started reading the Epic series over the Summer of 2012, managing to get all the way through Epic and Saga and starting Edda, looking back at my updates from back then, I had managed to get through the first 184 pages, before I lost time to read it and the book was due back to the library. My goal for the Summer of 2013 was catch up on all of the series that I had started but I found that I didn't have time to finish or couldn't get access to the books, but that plan failed. Finally, over my Winter break I found time to actually get my hands on Edda once again and finally finish that Epic series.Overall, I don't think that Edda was my favorite book in the series. I found it took me a while to get through, even though it took a shorter time than it took me to read other books that kept my interest while reading. I had decided to re-read the entire book, rather than picking out where I had left off over a year ago, which I am glad that I did as I didn't realize that I had forgotten some of the important things that had actually happened during the first portion of the book. If I remember correctly Epic and Saga were written in a similar, if not the same way as Edda, where the point view changed every couple of chapters (one chapter would take place with Erik and then the chapters would change to following another person or group). I didn't really mind that in Epic and Saga, as the story kept my interest and kept me reading. For some reason, I found it a struggle to get through some parts in Edda. I didn't mind some of Penelope's parts, but some of them I could have done without, as they caused me to lose interest in her character. I don't know if it was due to the fact that Erik and Ghost had been the major characters from the previous books and I had developed a liking for their character and Penelope was new with this book. The story seemed to pick up a little after I managed to get through the first half of the book and it was able to shock me at some points and to get some interaction from me as I read. I found myself at some points verbally saying to the book "Please....Please....Please, don't let this happen" and at one point I found myself in complete shock and having to put the book down and take a break before I could continue on. Overall I have to say that I liked the way that trilogy ended, it provided a satisfying conclusion for the characters, while still leaving some unanswered questions for the reader and the possibility to expand on the series in the future, as some points were concluded rather vaguely.
What do You think about Edda (2011)?
Didn't make me stay up to finish it like the other books did. Not awful, but not amazing either.
—sri
If you love video games. Then this book is something you should see.
—Fksioqkq
