Literature professor Dr. Addie Cox is living a happy, if sheltered life in her ivory tower when Harris Lang, the famously eccentric billionaire tech genius, offers her an unusual job. He wants her to guide a mercenary strike team sent to infiltrate his island retreat off the northwest coast of the United States. Addie is puzzled by her role in the mission until she understands what Lang has built: Insula Mirabilis, an isolated resort where tourists will one day pay big bucks for a convincing high-tech-powered fantasy-world experience, complete with dragons, unicorns, and yes, magic. But some of the islands employees have gone rogue, and have activated an invisible shield to cut off all outside communication. Now it's up to a band of mercenaries - and Addie Cox - to get onto the island and take back control.
Think Jurassic Park meets Dungeons and Dragons and you'll have a good idea of just how awesome this book is. It's a love letter to nerds and geeks everywhere - but also a cautionary tale about how too much fantasy can be a dangerous thing.
Carrie Vaughn's work includes the Philip K. Dick award-winning novel, Bannerless; the New York Times bestselling Kitty Norville urban fantasy series; and more than 100 short stories, two of which were nominated for a Hugo award. She's a contributor to the Wild Card series of shared world superhero books edited by George R. R. Martin and a graduate of the Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop. An Air Force brat, she survived her nomadic childhood and managed to put down roots in Boulder, Colorado.
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