Vs. Reality
Book 1 in the Vs. Reality Series
Written by Blake Northcott
Kindle Edition
Smashwords
Price: $.99
Release date: July 25, 2011

Meet Donovan Cole, pseudo-MMA fighter. Once an undefeated competitor, he is now consistently losing. Armed with his fantasies/dreams of making it big, he can’t seem to grasp that he might not be destined for greatness. After yet another loss, his friend Todd “Jens” Jennum drags him off to an elitist club called Platinum…and that’s where the action begins.

Striking up a conversation with an obviously out-of-place beauty named Danica Davenport, he quickly finds himself on an adventure of which most people only dream. Dia (her prefered name) and Donovan find themselves squaring off against a couple of Collectors, Mr. Heinreich and Goto. As Dia unveils her power to help them escape, it just so happens that Donovan manifests his ability as well. The difference is, she forced hers to work whereas he just willed his to activate. Seeing him as a kindred spirit and obviously gifted akin to herself, Dia takes Donovan with her.

Moving forward a bit and we get to meet Dia’s roommate, Brodie Hamilton, and her sister, Paige. On the run from the Collectors, they all find themselves planning the daring rescue of the now captured Jens. During this time we witness this mismatched group begin to form into a solid team, playing on each others strengths to make a stand against the oppression they are facing from these shadowy enemies. The addition of the chemical called Muse shows some obvious originality to this super hero theme, I look for this to play a bigger part in works to come.

This is a solid start to a series that really had me thinking of it as a comic or maybe a television series. Quick, clean scenes throughout Vs. Reality really make it fly by. I sat down to start it and had a very hard time setting it down, even when I wanted to grab a drink. I’m pretty excited to continue this series and I think anyone who loves comics is going to like it.

Everything from their escape from the “Backyard” to the epic battle at the end of the story leads me to believe that writer Blake Northcott has the ability to bring us a very exciting new series. I admit that the Star Wars references may have slightly influenced me, but the book really is worthy. I hope you can find your way to giving Vs. Reality a try, it’s only 99 cents for the Kindle and well worth it.