Book Review: Through the Storm, by Ringo and Lydia Sherrer (TransDimensional Hunter Book 2)

Ender's game has some competition.

Some years ago, when the augmented reality game Pokemon Go first came out, I mostly heard about it from its biggest fan: John Ringo. Like every good author, Ringo took something from his life, and weaponized it for a novel. And, it being a John Ringo novel, that requires weaponizing it on multiple levels, including as a real weapon. In the case of Into the Real, written with Lydia Sherrer, they took Pokemon Go and turned it into Ender's Game.

Because in Pokemon Go, the augmented reality monsters can’t kill you.

The story

In 2040, Lynn Raven barely got through the local TransDimensional Hunter championship, but she made it. The next step is the Nationals … assuming her team can survive that long. Five months after the championship, Lynn has certain problems. Her team leader is a schmuck. Her rising popularity has her all but in hiding from the paparazzi (now called Stream Vultures). Her high school mean girl rival has targeted her with a level of pathology that one usually only sees in serial killers.

Lynn can’t even decide what’s worse—her rising popularity, or the next boss battle in TransDimensional Hunter …which seems to be threatening her small town.

Through the Storm is interesting on multiple levels, both for Lynn’s personal challenges as a gamer and a team player, and for expanding on the overall threat she faces. Sure, it was bad enough that Lynn had go … outside and deal with … ugh … people. But now the game seems to be fighting back in ways that a mere game shouldn’t be able to. It’s putting her friends in hospital.

TransDimensional Hunter is easy. Fighting the storm of reality? That’s hard. To conquer this threat, she not only has to fight in the real, she has to use it to her advantage. Otherwise, everyone is going to die.

I enjoyed Through the Storm. It was a logical continuation of Into the Real, and follows through on everything book one promised. Granted, much of Through the Storm is character driven over plot. The entire book rests on the character of Lynn Raven as she learns to deal with life, overcoming her own insecurities and foibles, and finding the balance she needs to overcome the threats in game and in real life.

But it was fun watching Lynn enter the realm of pro-gaming. It’s a coming of age story at the deep end of the pool, swimming with sharks.

I had one quibble with the book, and that was the emergence of what looked like a standard YA love triangle. Someone is making the moves on Lynn Raven, she has no idea what to do with it, while at the same time, one of her teammates is giving her the eye. But there is nothing standard about the execution of this troupe. If you think that it’s going the way of all YA love triangles, no, it’s not.

The characters

Through the Storm gives us more of a perspective on the situation Lynn and her teammates find herself in. If you had your suspicions going through Into the Real, this book will confirm what’s going on, and give hints as to how it all started (in South Dakota, apparently). We spend more time with Lynn’s handlers in video game technical support (who are SpecOps assigned to the game), as well as Mister Krator, the game designer himself, and his own machinations to save the world.

Once again, Lynn Raven is an unusually likeable teenager. The daughter of a widowed single mother, Lynn has long ago monetized her video game exploits, generating a steady income via microtransactions. She is smart, capable, and even her foibles are relatable. And like the last book, it is also fun watching Lynn's personal character develop.

We still have Hugo, the AI that comes with TransDimensional Hunter game… basically Jarvis from the MCU.

Even the human antagonists have developed … only they have developed in ways that are more disturbing than entertaining. But they do make for villains you want to see fed to a virtual monster … though if they get any worse, feeding them to a real monster will suffice.

The world

Through the Storm utilizes the Pokemon monster evolution to express the development of the threat against Lynn and her party. While much of Into the Real focused on world-building (as it was book 1), we see repercussions all over book two. In fact, chunks of the game rules have been rewritten because of Lynn’s occasionally breaking the game.

The last book focused a lot on just how things work—the game IA, details on weapon classes and armor sets, and how microtransactions now work, as well as tactical support. This one leans heavier on character, and the world-building involved leans heavily on the overall story, with elements that even the characters have yet to figure out.

The politics

No. If you want, you can find some politics in here. But no.

Content warning

None, really. There isn’t even a language warning.

If you're worried about “video game violence” ... then I deeply worry about you, since there is no correlation between video games and violence. Since over a third of American households own a game console (not counting PCs) if video games meant violence, we'd be hip deep in blood.

Who is it for?

If you liked Ender's Game, or even video games, you're going to enjoy the TransDimensional Hunter series. It puts new spins on the YA genre and the tropes within.

Why read it?

Ringo and Sherrer have created a modern day Ender's Game using the technology of Pokemon Go. The characters are vivid and interesting, and the action is strong enough to carry you along.