Earth 2

I bought and started reading this thinking it was by [a:Adam Christopher 590743 Adam Christopher https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1301580226p2/590743.jpg]. After only a few pages I began to suspect that I was mistaken and after some digging around on the internet I realised that it was indeed written by another Adam Christopher.What was it that made me suspect that it wasn't by [a:Adam Christopher 590743 Adam Christopher https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1301580226p2/590743.jpg]? Well, I did think that the language was a bit simplistic. It also felt like the story had not really been thought through or developed past the initial idea. The book (novella?) has a nice basic premise but it lacks in the telling. The premise: Scientists (!) around the world have decided to create the ultimate immersive gaming experience by “transporting” the gamers' consciousness into a game that is so realistic that you can not tell it is a gaming environment. (Reminds me a bit of Better Than Life in the TV-series Red Dwarf.)We follow three teens who get to be the first in America (or at least their hometown) to be transported into the game. Benjamin/Shain is our main POV character.Much of the book is set in the game, where we follow them on quests. Well, two quests - and they actually only complete on of them, I think. There really isn't much follow up. We also get to see a little bit about the real world but only through the eyes of Benjamin/Shain, and not enough to actually start caring about these characters.It also seems that Benjamin/Shain is somehow not properly connecting with the game. He cannot level up his character, he doesn't get access to any abilities etc. But he is also special... And then there are bandits who take an interest in Benjamin/Shain... And Starterville (where all the players start out and receive quests), is populated by Native Americans who are all NPC's living in teepees.I think this could have been a good book if the author had taken his time to think through what was going to happen. And more description would have been nice. I have recently read [b:Ready Player One 9969571 Ready Player One Ernest Cline https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1383399667s/9969571.jpg 14863741] a book that also has descriptions of in-game experiences, but those are done in a way that makes you feel that you are there with the player. In the last chapter we suddenly get lots of almost poetic descriptions of the gaming environment that feel like they come from a different story, since we have not seen anything like it earlier in the book.Oh, and there are no dragons in this book.