In a real life role-playing game, ordinary university
students traverse the magical boundaries between the
human world and Anfractus in a deadly game with magic and
power. A company of four recently lost a member. Andrew's
character, Roldan, died in Anfractus, and with no
memories of his other life except for shadowy dreams and
paranoia, Andrew believes he's going crazy. His friends
can't reveal their secret lives to him or Andrew's
banishment from Anfractus will become permanent, but
their continued lies are straining the already tense
friendship.
In Anfractus, the company searches for a fourth member
who can help them uncover the basilissa's plot to control
Anfractus—but with magical powers that have proven little
help and short on allies, the company risks death and
banishment themselves if they're caught. Can this
unlikely band of heroes stop the basilissa before both
worlds are forever changed?
PATH OF SMOKE by Bailey Cunningham is the second Novel
of the Parallel Parks, and it jumps right into the
plot. I hadn't read the first book, Pile of Bones, and
PATH OF SMOKE introduces the characters quickly and makes
references to events in Pile of Bones immediately. As
there are two worlds and each character has a different
name in Anfractus from their real world name, I was
confused and felt a bit behind the story as I tried to
figure out who everyone was in both worlds and what their
connections were to each other for almost a hundred
pages. I highly recommend that if you're going to read
PATH OF SMOKE you start at the beginning of the series.
Once I finally had all the characters and what had
happened in the previous book straightened out, I could
appreciate the complexity of the world. I read a lot
about Roman civilization and as the author Bailey
Cunningham uses many Latin words and Roman customs, the
world of Anfractus came to life. I could smell the dirt
and unwashed bodies. The perfumed air of the wealthy
palaces and hear the strum of music drifting on the night
air. Anfractus is portrayed at its very worst and best,
from the poorest citizens to the wealthiest. This is a
place filled with color, vibrancy, and mystique, and with
more Novels of the Parallel Parks to come, Bailey
Cunningham can work to reveal more of the hidden players
in this dangerous world.
I'll admit that I'm a creature
of comfort and I love technology. There was a lingering
question in my mind as to the willingness to trade modern
conveniences for the use of magic that sometimes works
but mostly doesn't in a world where you're either
powerful or living in the shadows as you struggle to
survive. I couldn't understand why these people were
willing to live two lives when there seemed to be very
little to gain from it. I guess I'd rather have modern
plumbing than magic, which makes me completely lame by
most standards.
For fans of intense role-playing fantasies, PATH OF SMOKE
by Bailey Cunningham offers a complex world where power
shifts back and forth in the shadows, dangerous players
remain hidden until they're ready to land the fatal blow,
and flawed heroes struggle to do what is needed to save
their friends and their world.
In Wascana Park, they’re ordinary university students.
But
after midnight, when the park transforms into the magical
kingdom of Anfractus, they become warriors, bards, and
archers in a real-life role-playing game.
The company of heroes has thwarted the plan of the
power-hungry basilissa to conquer Anfractus, but not
without
a cost. Andrew’s character, Roldan, died, leaving him cut
off from the mystical realm without any memory of its
existence. If the others reveal the park’s magical nature
to
Andrew, his banishment will become permanent. So they
must
hide their nighttime adventures—and hope that his memory
returns.
Pursued by the basilissa’s forces, the rest of the group
keeps a low profile in Anfractus until they uncover an
unholy alliance between their enemy and the silenoi,
satyrlike creatures who hunt humans—an alliance that
threatens to cross the barrier into the real world.
And while his friends struggle to prevent an invasion in
both worlds, Andrew receives a visitor determined to
restore
his memory of Anfractus by leading him down a very dark
path.
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