Justin CalderoneLARP: The Battle For Verona

2-Stars for the OK beginning, which I liked, but it degraded quickly and I finally put it down. I read the low reviews but liked the sound of the story and decided to take a chance. It may be okay for really young readers or people who love LARP games, but it's way too juvenile for an adult.Problems: Everything said or done by a character was clearly explained in the text to be sure you really got it. The characters were one dimensional and often seemed inconsistent. None of the plot lines seemed believable, most especially the US Military being unable to take on primitive terrorists and needing the help of "play actors" to save the day.I should have listened to the low reviewers. I can not recommend.

I really hope the author did not intend this book to be taken seriously. Taken as a lighthearted, funny read, it's pretty good.Almost nothing in the plot is believable. (As others have said, the Army would have sent in trained soldiers.) But if you disregard that issue, it's a funny, "good triumphs over evil" book. There isn't a lot of character development, but there is some. (Mark goes a long way. Freddie and Dennis, not so much.)There were some editing problems, leading to weird line breaks and missing paragraph switches in conversations. The publisher has said these will be fixed, and an updated version will be released. It's readable in its current form, but getting the update will be helpful.

This is a well written tale. It's fun enjoyable and moves at a good pace. Now here comes the but. You kind of have to turn your brain off to fully enjoy it. A LOT of the events that occur during the book would never happen in real life. If an invasion of this nature, and by a force such as the one in the story it would be dealt with swiftly by U.S. troops. Now that being said I still liked the book. If I wanted everything realistic I wouldn't be reading fiction. I read fiction because it's fun and entertaining which is exactly what this story is. So give it a shot, don't think too hard, and enjoy the ride.

LARPers everywhere finally have some heroes to look up to in the realm of fiction. For years Live Action Role Players have emulated the heroes from books and movies, but in this book the LARPers themselves are the heroes. When the unthinkable happens and the small Washington island of Verona is invaded, four of the worlds most unlikely heroes rise from the ranks of LARPers to lead the fight for their homes.

The book starts slow, so slow that I almost didn't get into it. Some of the characters were drawn like people I don't particularly like. Then the situation got interesting and I found myself enthralled. The battle problems were very realistic, and the characters I didn't like performed admirably. The denouement got back to the original slow pace, but inbetween was just great.

I enjoyed this book very much. Being a nerd in my own right I could sympathize with the main characters. Also having been in the US Army for 18 years I can see how absolutely improbable this could be. However, that being said the book left me feeling good about my nerdiness and smiling. It always feels good when the underdog gets the girl, shows up the jocks and meets the president. Well written, enjoyable.

The writing was good with the development of the characters, but the story was totally unbelievable when it came to the LARP players taking back their island with the help of the government. Another head scratcher was the part of the story where the Mongols laid down their weapons and gave up.

Its a rollicing fantasy in the real world. If you accept the premiss it all falls in line. If you want to belive in people this is the book for you. And if you're a geek this is a must read. If you larp or go to ren fairs or just love edged weapons this is your fantasy.