Viridian Gate Online: Sharper's Coin

The Illusionist #4

by D.J. Bodden

Love can make a man do terrible things.
Somewhere within the Library, a clock is winding down. With Wendy safe, Alan needs to focus on paying his debt to the Plague Doctors of Wyrdtide by the end of the month. But a slip of the tongue doubles the amount, turning a hard task into an impossible one.
His only option is to ask the master of assassins for work. But murder for money isn't the only thing Alan needs to worry about. The gods are upset with him, his old colleagues want him dead, and the Circle of Brewers is hiding more than the secrets of Alchemy.
And there's something else, something deadlier, and it's reaching through time to seize everything Alan loves in its fist. Try as he might, it may have been too late from the start.
From James A. Hunter-author of Viridian Gate Online, Rogue Dungeon, Bibliomancer, and the Shadowcroft Academy for Dungeons-and D.J. Bodden, author of Starborn Heir, comes an epic new entry into the Expanded Universe of Viridian Gate Online that you won't want to put down!

Genres: Fantasy, Magic, Fiction

368 pages, Paperback

Published May 15, 2022

About the author

D.J. Bodden is a tech-startup COO who writes books because words are magic. He's an avid reader of science-fiction and fantasy, a gamer, a former pilot and coffee trader who's been to every continent but Antarctica. He's been woken up by gunfire, jumped out of helicopters, and climbed medium-sized hills in scorching weather; He likes to make people laugh for the wrong reasons; He tries to sell people grimoires disguised as fiction; He is scared of spiders, and only recently learned to ride a bike.

D.J. lives in Switzerland with his wife and thinks it's important that they should someday be adopted by a fox.

Reviews

[Lana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alan Campbell had made a pact to save the life of the woman he loves with the plague doctors and now he owed them a lot of money he did not have and the clock was ticking. He tried to get jobs and thought he would draw the line at killing outright but when an assassin's job was offered he had to take it, beggars cannot afford to be choosers. In the meantime he was being hunted and those hunting him had orders to kill him outright. Alan had been killed in real life so if killed in the game that was it, game over for him. and the marines hunting him had been told he was an NPC not a human so they felt no qualms about eradicating him. He was an alchemist and decided to learn how to brew potions but this would pit him against the circle of brewers who had a monopoly and robbed their clients blind. When a friend of his was killed he decided to go against the man he thought had murdered him, Venantius, leader of the circle, but though this man needed to be taken out, it turns out someone else had carried out the atrocious deed. Alan was in above his head in a war between the gods and their aspects and fanatic followers but he was damned if he would give up! He had too much going for him in his new life, a woman he loved, a crew who respected him and a new status he had to live up to, so over all life was good. I love Sharper, he never gives up even when the odds seem all against him and somehow he makes it work in his favour every time!

[Bret · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Wait Is Over…

…but now I have to wait for the next book😭. I love this world and I have a HUGE man-crush on Sharper. Sharper is the rarest of characters you will find in fiction, a smart character who doesn’t just magic up a solution. Good plot and Great characters. Rogues (and Illusionist Rule!).

[Jack Vinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The before-times of VGO.

The 9th book of the main series came out earlier this year, and now this one jumps back to the formation of VGO and several of the AI’s that drive the game. Interesting to see how this early “traveler” had an outsized influence on the workings of the world.

[Sarah Graesyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting premise

The premise of this expansion of Viridian Gate is absolutely wonderful and I enjoy it thoroughly; on the writing side however Sharper’s Coin is just a touch on the confusing side as it seems that Boddens writing style changed a bit with it.

All in all I still recommend this book and its series to anyone entering the LitRPG genre

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Illusionary Magic

Alan is now making a name for himself and the deeper depths of the puzzle makes itself slightly more as Alan faces many forces giving him plenty of action, near escapes and quests to prove himself with.
A great telling and another wonderful read for this series.

[Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very disappointing turn in a series I've enjoyed up to this point. The writing is still good, but a pointless, boring and as far as I can tell nonsensical sudden change of tack lets it down terribly. I doubt I'll read any further.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Confusing but fun

Some weird time travel stuff that I do not remember from previous books, though it has been a while since I read them

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read.

Great arc to the story. I really enjoyed this page turner. I look forward to where the story goes next.

[matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

great quick read

Love the character development of Alan and his life at the thieves guild. Also really enjoyed the Easter egg with cutter. Can’t wait for 5.

[Cass Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite spin off in the vgo series

[li ro · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is interesting how cycical this series is.

[Brent Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hell of a fun adventure! A great instalment in the series.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-written entertaining book with some unexpected events... I look forward to the next book...