The Guardian of the Dead

Written by Pavel Kornev

Narrated by Shawn Compton

Dying in virtual reality isn't fun, but facing bullets from real-world criminal overlords is really the pits. In such a desperate scenario, their demand to render them a service in VR doesn't sound like such a bad alternative. The problem is, the games played by spook agencies follow much harsher rules. For them, the absence of choice doesn't sound like a good excuse-not if you end up in the grindstones of their undercover schemes.

Still, it's not as if I ever had a choice. That's why the price tag for my freedom didn't sound too excessive. All I had to do was log in, become a necromancer, shake the malefic hunters off my tail, pass the elimination test and locate one particular person. Which one? Why? And how was I supposed to do it?

Wrong questions. Instead, I had only to ask one: why me? Why John Doe?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Translator: Irene Woodhead
• Release date: Aug 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9781666102420

Reviews for The Guardian of the Dead

[mohsin · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

To make his story relevant, the author introduced a new virus (another one) into his world. The irony was that the virus was relevant for the first two pages, after which it wasn't even mentioned until the end of the entire series (another book, not counting this one).
Anyway, Ian enjoyed his new life hoping that the guy he helped put him in jail wouldn't find him when he got released. His happiness collapsed the moment someone kidnapped him
It turned out that this was how the police had contacted him. As clear proof that his methods of persuasion were no softer than those of hardened criminals (and involved some blackmail), Ian received an offer. He had no choice but to accept.
His task was to play a new popular virtual reality game trying to get closer to a certain player. The problem was that Ian had to start over (with no hope of cheating like he had in the previous story) and the starting location was on the other side of the world from his destination.
The attempt to reach him by conventional means was no longer on display as he was given a tight deadline. Not to mention that his first level character would not survive a journey of this type. That would be my advice to those who decide to read it as well. Repeat after me: “This is a new story unrelated to books 13 (or 14) of An NPC's Path. Also the virus mentioned at the beginning? It was just an MC rave.