The Merge

By: Gorg Huff, Paula Goodlette

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

The West Wing meets the X men.

How does politics deal with people, often citizens, who are suddenly gifted with special powers—and an extra set of memories.

Magic has started working!

But it's not legitimate magic. Not the magic of Merlin or the powers of psychics. Instead it is the magic of a silly game. A Role Playing Game called Warspell and other games like it. The sort of games played with oddly shaped dice and little lead figurines by even odder people. And now not only is this silly sort of magic working, but the oddballs who play the games suddenly have special powers. Some of them are gifted with combat, or other skills. Others can do magic. They're riding magical horses through the sky or healing the sick in the name of false gods. They say they've merged with a character they played in one of their games. But is that really true? Have they merged, or been possessed?

To the Merged, things look a bit different.

Suddenly, with no warning, they have the memories of a whole other life. Not a game life, a real life with a real mother and father, real friends and enemies. For many, even most, a life filled with violence and pain. Yes, they have skills and abilities, but those abilities were learned and earned in a hard school. Yes, they are changed, but anyone would be when they have a whole other life of memories and experience added to their own,

But they are still themselves.

Aren't they?

good Good

I enjoyed this quite a lot. If you enjoy books that I enjoy, you will enjoy this too. I enjoyed this quite a lot. If you enjoy books that I enjoy, you will enjoy this too.

Voice Acting Matters

The story could be good, but the virtual voice removes the potential to connect to the characters. It doesn’t even pronounce some things properly, and the mostly monotone drone destroys the suspension of disbelief. Aside from that, the story is almost entirely from the perspective of those who seek to maintain the status quo of outdated hierarchical power structures. It largely lacks the human element, the same way powerful people prefer their control systems.