Questland

It's said that sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, and an eccentric billionaire has set out to prove it by building an island retreat that brings the fantastic to life. In an action-packed novel for fans of Ready Player One, Carrie Vaughn asks what happens when a bunch of tech geeks and fantasy nerds don't realize the game they are now playing is for real? Dr. Adrienne Cox, Addie, is a literature professor living a happy and sheltered life in her ivory tower when Harris Lang, billionaire tech genius, hires her to guide a mercenary strike team to his island paradise off the northwest coast of the United States. Cox is puzzled by their need for her, until she understands what Lang has built. On this distant outpost, he has created an enclave full of fantasy literature and culture made real, with magic rings that work via neurotransmitters, invisible cloaks made of nanotech smart fabric, and mythological creatures built from genetic engineering and bionics. Unfortunately for Lang, the designers and engineers hired to construct this island retreat have rebelled, isolating themselves. They set up a jamming field that disrupted communication, and they are preventing any approach to the island by attacking people who come in range. Lang wants to retake control before the U.S. military intervenes. The problem? The mutiny is being led by the project's chief designer, Dominic Brand, who also happens to be Addie Cox's ex-boyfriend. It's up to her to quell the brewing tensions between the tech genius, armed mercenaries, and her former lover before the island goes up in flames, killing them all.