Genre: Adventure, fantasy
Length: 500 pages
Release date: 24 May 2022
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Blurb
Her favorite tabletop roleplaying game is real, and her kidnapped childhood best friend is trapped in a far off land. Will she be able to save her? Let’s roll initiative!
Violet Spence wants nothing more than to have a normal life. After witnessing her childhood best friend get abducted by monsters, that’s easier said than done. At twenty-three years old, Violet cannot seem to move past that fateful night ten years ago. Her only solace is Mages of Velmyra, a tabletop roleplaying game filled with goblins, fairies, and all-powerful magicians. But of course, that’s all fantasy.
Or, so she thought. As it turns out, the land of Velmyra is very real and the home of the monsters that took her best friend.
With the help of her friends (and the creator of the game itself), Violet must navigate the once-fictional creatures and powerful mages of Velmyra to retrieve a set of ancient relics—all in the hopes that the journey will lead her back to her friend. But for Violet, fighting monsters and magic workers doesn’t seem nearly as terrifying as confronting her own demons. And she’ll soon realize fighting the battle within herself can be just as tough as those fought against demigods.
Perception Check is the magical first installment of the Mages of Velmyra Saga, great for fans of Dungeons and Dragons, Critical Role, and The Magicians. With endearing and hilarious characters, an exploration of mental health and trauma, LGBTQ+ representation, gut-wrenching twists, and a whirlwind of an ending, you will never want to leave the world of Velmyra.
NOTE: Perception Check deals with the topics of mental health (specifically depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicidality) with mentions of childhood sexual assault, alcohol abuse, and animal violence.
Review
I read Perception Check as a judge for the Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year awards from last year. It was the only book I read for the competition. I was too busy with other things but I let the BBNYA team know that if they needed more readers to compensate for dropped out judges, I’d be available. So they asked if I could jump in for the final round, reading the whole book. I already owned the book with the intention of reading it, so it worked out in my favour.
Portal fantasy was the genre that got me into reading indies and self-pubbed books. It showed me the imaginative worlds authors could come up with and I always enjoy exploring them from a human perspective. Perception Check has the perfect setup and execution of entering a new world. The main character Violet has a good reason to want to go to Velmyra. It doesn’t happen by accident. Velmyra itself is gorgeous with lots of mysteries spread throughout. Even though most of the characters know about the world, its geopolitics, and the culture, there are still enough things they don’t know.
The questing party is made up out of interesting characters, each with their own stories and traumas. This causes conflicts within the party which derail the quest to find Violet’s friend. It’s good to see that the characters take their time to resolve them (or escalate into something more), before going back to the main quest. These emotional times between the action keeps you engaged and asks you to keep turning the pages.
Overall, I adored this book so much, and I’m really looking forward to the sequel! Rules as Written will be out next year but you can already preorder it. If you love Baldur’s Gate, Dungeons & Dragons, table top RPGs, or explorative quest fantasy, you’ll love this book.
Congratulations to Astrid Knight on winning the Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award 2023!
About the Author
Astrid Knight is an author and storyteller with a love of fantasy and all things strange. A graduate of Adrian College, Astrid has served as a contributing writer for anthologies such as In the Wake of the Kraken and Welcome to Simmins, Detective Spencer. They are best known as the writer of the Mages of Velmyra Saga. They are also a co-founder and player on the RPG Twitch channel, Atlaran Adventuring Company. To get all news on the Mages of Velmyra Saga or any other projects Astrid is involved in, follow them on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @AstridKWrites. You can also find them on their website, astridknight.com.
About BBNYA
BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 finalists and one overall winner.
If you want some more information about BBNYA, check out the BBNYA Website https://www.bbnya.com/ or take a peek over on Twitter @BBNYA_Official. BBNYA is brought to you in association with the @Foliosociety (if you love beautiful books, you NEED to check out their website!) and the book blogger support group @The_WriteReads.
