Resonance

D.E.D. Exorcist, Book 1

By: Jonathan Smidt

Narrated by: Austin Rising

D.E.D. Exorcists is the latest Augmented Reality mobile game focused on capturing, collecting, and training teams of Digitally Energized Demons. For an ordinary college student like Henry, who has always loved monster-taming RPGs, it looks like the perfect game. At least, until he downloads it.

Now, the monsters are real.

Henry finds himself forcibly recruited into the very real D.E.D. Exorcists: a shadow organization capable of capturing, training, and subduing the real-life demons that are invading Earth. These creatures’ powers and abilities are beyond Henry’s wildest dreams, as he’s yanked out of his mundane life and into the world of magic, monsters, and dark secrets.

In his new role as an Exorcist, Henry must use every ounce of his monster training know-how, garnered from a lifetime of gaming, to strengthen his D.E.D., and protect his city.

But his new life comes with a heavy cost. The Exorcists may not be all they seem. Danger lurks in the shadows all around him, and Henry quickly finds himself questioning who, and what, he can trust.

©2024 Jonathan Smidt (P)2024 Dreamscape Lore

D.E.D. to write!

Great beginning, excellent cast of characters, and fun mechanics. Ready for more, get on it Glyax!

Hateable MC and 2D Characters

Is the MC a bad person? No, he's actually one of the only sane presenting, decent human being with actual empathy and consideration for others in the entire book.

So, why is he hateable? He is an absolute milksop pushover with zero ability to set boundaries, have his own opinion besides "I like being nice to people", or think critically in literally any way. He is a good guy plot device completely devoid of agency or forethought.

Every other character is a walking trope with exactly one job - to either be hated or fill space. Zero depth. Literally asking "Why the hell would he/she do/accept/say/choose that?" at every turn for every character, only to soom realize the answer is "because plot, apparently".

The premise is neat, the world building is cool, and the overall plot itself has potential. Really wish I could like, appreciate, or at least relate in -some- way to the MC. Also, the constant hookah use by everyone is really annoying.

Awesome

This one has a strong persona/ atlus games vibe with how the demon work and progress, so if you like those types of games you will probably like the book, my only complaint would be how the director told Henry to not reveal his potential but she went and told everyone and their mothers his potential that was irritating to say the least. but overall amazing story and can't wait for book 2

The MC is kinda dumb...

The MC is kinda dumb, which makes this quite a frustrating read...
The story isn't interesting enough that I can overlook this dumbness either...
Also, the pseudo-science explanations really rub me the wrong way...

A lot of information

Unique story and excellent MC but there’s so much going on in this first book. I still recommend it but the author put so many different mechanics early on that it felt almost rushed.