Through the Storm (Transdimensional Hunter II) – John Ringo & Lydia Sherrer

Raven’s adventures in the augmented reality game Transdimensional Hunter continue. Meanwhile, her high school life brings new trauma as she navigates what for her is the very uncomfortable real world of relationships and fame.

While fairly entertaining and an easy read, the second installment doesn’t really bring anything new to the table besides new expressions of teenage angst. Hints at a larger narrative, with Raven being groomed for foreshadowed events, are prominent. Perhaps in a future installment, the story will move forward in a more decisive manner.

Into the Real (TransDimensional Hunter I) – John Ringo and Lydia Sherrer

Lynn Raven is a rather reclusive high schooler in a society that encourages virtual interaction. She is overweight and has self-esteem issues. She is also secretly “Larry Coughlin,” one of the top players of Warmonger, an online first-person shooting game, and makes good money playing it. She is contacted by Warmonger’s developers to be part of testing for a new augmented reality (AR) game called TransDimentional Hunter. But this would require her to get out there “in the real”, since the game is played in real locales using virtual reality technology. For Lynn, being visible at all causes anxiety. Things get worse when she has to become part of a team.

This is not a typical John Ringo book, as it is firmly seated in the Young Adult arena. An entertaining romp and coming of age story, with a darker and deeper background story, no doubt to be explored in future installments, being strongly hinted at.