“The Mortal Gate is reminiscent of the Jumanji franchise and a Dungeon and Dragons campaign.”

Review by Rayleigh Gray

Connor Wright has always had an affinity for video games. Everything from discovery and adventure to stepping into different worlds outside his own, video games have given him an escape that he’s always looked for. A new immersive augmented reality game called ‘The Mortal Gate’ gives him this chance. By enlisting the help of his closest friends, he is given the opportunity of a lifetime to make his dream come true. But, with new opportunity and the promise of compensation comes an unforeseen risk. The technology used to immerse the players has now trapped them inside with no clue how to escape. With no way to logout or remove themselves from the game, their objective is made clear; endure the dangers of the game, and face its mysterious antagonist in order to return to reality before the game destroys them.

LitRPG is a fairly new-to-me subgenre of fantasy, but I'm gobbling it up! Books like Dungeon Crawler Carl and this one, The Mortal Gate, are 100% at fault for my current obsession! 

The Mortal Gate is reminiscent of the Jumanji franchise and a Dungeon and Dragons campaign. Unsuspecting characters are launched into a video game where they have to get along to survive; and worse yet, they are completely new races in this game.

I was super invested in the story from the first page and rooted for Connor and his friends every step of the way. My only qualm with the story is that I kept hoping for a moment where the characters united and stopped bickering, instead switching over to that wholesome banter that we love so much, but they never quite found that common ground, which left me a little disappointed. But overall, they're an understandable and relatable bunch of college kids thrown into a quest that they never asked to be part of. 

The story world is very interesting and I loved the thoroughness of the new races and history of politics unique to this fantasy world. All in all, it's a great fantasy and I'd be interested to read more books by this author in the future!

Content Ratings:

6. Strong action and gore (most action sequences describes blood loss and the injury to a clear picture, albeit brief or infrequent scenes).

3. Romance with moderate romantic content (heavier kissing/making out scenes, but no grabby hands).

7. Intense cursing (all words used frequently).

Other Trigger/Content Notices:

The action/gore stays within the realm of PG-13 for the most part. Romance is very much a side plot and there’s nothing shown on page, but there is frequent, casual conversation that some readers may choose to avoid. Cursing is very high; all words are used frequently. There are also common mentions of alcohol and drugs.

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