Book Review: Crew of Exiles by Neal Holtschulte

     Beryl was a transcendent being and had long since moved beyond the insignificance of Earth. After committing the ultimate crime, assisted suicide of another transcendent being, he is being punished to live the next 1,000 years as a mortal. No leaving Earth and in a body. Countless memories were dumped to fit his consciousness into the fleshy prison his own brother made for him, but his anger remained. When he arrives on Earth it is devoid of all human life until he happens across another in VR. Together they form a party, Beryl quite unwillingly, to save themselves. 

    I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed this book. It is a Sci-Fi with VR points that follows a pompous ass, a peppy gamer girl, a ship worker, and another transcendent being's sentient creation. We discover more and more about Beryl as the book goes along, but he is definitely one of those characters you love to hate. 

    At the beginning he is all pomp, attitude, and ego. However, as we learn more about him he becomes more relatable and you no longer dislike his instances. Given, we don't know everything he lost by becoming mortal, but he ends up doing a decent job of it by the end even with the pieces of himself he has left. 

    Fife is easily my favorite. Yes, she is the peppy gamer. She has spent her entire life (however long that may be as humans can now be bred to be essentially immortal) in VR knowing that she will eventually be the heir to some kind of major corporation. She has played and beat hundreds if not thousands of games and is a great leader. Now, she has to take these skills into the real world where there is no respawn if she messes up with someone who doesn't want to be there.    

    I feel this book wrapped up nicely and while I don't know if it is part of a series or not it has the potential to lead to more adventures down the road with how it closed. I definitely wouldn't be against more from them. 

    This book is available on Kindle Unlimited or buy it on Amazon for $5.99 by clicking here.