The Between by Ryan Leslie

Parliament House, 2021

ISBN: 9798741008720

Availability: Paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook ( Bookshop.org |  Amazon.com )

>telnetsimulato.interla.hu:4444

name or [ENTER] to play

>read review of the between

I don’t recognize the verb ‘read’

>examine review

WELCOME TO THE REVIEW OF THE BETWEEN

…and what you’ll find in this book is a wildly original story that’s also a homage to the 80’s computer games, when text-based ASCII games like ZORK were all the rage.  Combining adventure, horror, mystery, and a touch of nerdiness, The Between is one of the year’s best so far.

Mild-mannered health care executive Paul Prentice discovers a large iron door set in the ground while digging in his Texas backyard.  He and his carefree, wisecrack-a-minute buddy Jay wrestle open the door and descend the ladder underneath.  They find themselves in a maze of identical rooms, which eventually leads to other worlds of existence containing things like hellhounds of ash, killer robots made of scrap metal, and a vengeful god, Kosmaro, who imprisons souls.  Jay and Paul later learn that the world they entered is based on The Between, an old text-based computer game.  They try to escape, but eventually have to decide…do they want to escape?

The Between is a fast paced read, with a high level of depth and creativity.  With multiple different world levels and all of them having different entrances and exits, there’s no shortage of adventure for Jay and Paul.  The book does a good job tying back into the whole “computer game” theme; if you used to play those games, you may see where some of the inspiration for the worlds and characters in the book came from.   What made text-based games fun was that they allowed you to become another individual entirely, and The Between does a good job inserting that theme into the writing.  Many who enter The Between take on actual roles that exist in the computer game, and they keep the role until they escape, or are killed.  This allows for intriguing personality shifts within the characters, such as the “failure in life,” Jay, transforming into a murderous assassin, the stelisto.  The story occasionally flips back to Texas, providing a nice contrast to the insanity of The Between.  It’s a multi-layered story, and a true original.

A good setting is nothing without good characters, and in addition to Paul and Jay, the other players in The Between do a good job driving the story and keeping it focused.  The two female leads, star athlete Supriya, and the cold-hearted former ballet queen Corienne, provide good counterparts for Paul and Jay, and there’s enough backstory to fill out the characters and allow the reader to feel a connection to them.  Jay is particularly memorable; his “no worries” attitude helps give the story a dash of humor at times that helps lighten the mood.  It’s a wild ride from beginning to end, and one that readers won’t want to miss.  Highly recommended.

END REVIEW

Command?

<read the between book immediately

<[esc]

CLOSE PROGRAM

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson