The First Tail: A slice of life, GameLit Fantasy Adventure (The Nine Tails of Alchemy) Paperback – November 26, 2022

Loved this book. It does start out kind of slow, but it really takes off after the scene has been set. This story kept me hooked and guessing what was going to happen right up until the very end. The story for this book is very well planned out and comes together nicely. There's not a dull moment. It's also clear that the author has done their homework when it comes to chemistry. Everything is written in a way that its easy to understand while still making the main character sound smart. Amazing book, I highly recommend it. I can't wait to start the next book.

Ms. Williams has created a wonderfully charming, well written novel, full of interesting and memorable characters. Her writing style is pleasing and quite enjoyable. However, once you start reading, you will immediately notice that Ms. Williams has tucked in some ideas and concepts so thought provoking, they should jar against the Slice of Life narrative of this gem of a story.Digital Citizenship is a disturbing idea. Implied is that the World of the future is so badly overcrowded, that the marginalized are forced to prove they’re productive members of society, or face involuntary Digitization. The body is tucked away in a life support capsule, while the mind is given the choice of inhabiting one of hundreds of virtual worlds, to live out the rest of their lives. Disturbing, and dystopian, to be sure, but merciful, if you look at the history of the marginalized populations throughout history. Ms. Williams also chooses to remind the reader that life goes on, even in a virtual world with the added attractions for many to live out a simpler, different life, away from the pressures and complexities of the Real World. She also mentions situations, where someone would voluntarily become a digital citizen, to avoid crippling diseases and injuries that would make life in the real world not worth living. There are also a large group of Players, who live in the real world, but chooses to spend time in a Virtual World, to enjoy exploring and fighting in a brilliantly crafted fantasy world. The implication that this is how the Powers that Be chose to incentivize people to choose digitization, to “Reduce the surplus population” is evocative of that old and well known Mr. Scrooge.Our main protagonist, Kadia, is an involuntary digital citizen. Due to a cliché plot of a greedy father and evil stepmother, plotting to take her trust fund, a young, brilliant academic and future scientist becomes a digital citizen. I very much like how her hobby of studying Paleo-Chemistry, or Alchemy, becomes extremely relevant to her future life in the virtual fantasy world she finds herself in. Because of her life ambition to become a pharmaceutical researcher, she has a good grounding in the Scientific Method. Unlike other LitRPGs, Kadia has begun to use science to improve the Alchemy system she’s found in her new life. She will and has met friends, foes and wonders in the new world she’s found herself in. And armed with the ambition to conquer her craft using science, and her finely trained logic, what wonders can our feisty and often hilarious heroine create of Natural Philosophy?Try this book out, I promise you will not regret stepping into this marvelous world Ms. Williams has created. Enjoy!

The main character here starts as a living breathing human in a world where people can be forced into VRMMOs by the government. Due to a combination of corruption and greed she is unjustly digitized and forced to live out her life in a world of her choice. She joins a new fantasy MMORPG and quickly gets into alchemy.That isn't a bad premise, and other than the fact that I hate the VR life idea I thought the world was actually interesting and well developed. There is a good deal of solid world building that went on to generate the places where the plot will spin out.There were a few areas I could quibble about. The main character is a bit of a one note personality with an obsession with her alchemy, but there was a definite lack in the world design when it came to all of the abilities It was strange, the locations and the various groups (guilds) in the world were well thought out, but the actual game mechanics were lacking in detail the whole way through.This was another low four star for me. Good story, better than average characters and a plot that had some thought put into it.

I don't write reviews but I have to for this book. I loved this book and ended up reading this in one sitting on my day off. Most books I have read about VR have left me questioning how the characters end up spending all their time in the game but this is covered well and in a way that doesn't seem like something that would never happen (if anyone out there thinks people in power would never do anything like this need a worldwide news site). The outside world is a very small part of the story and the "in game world" has a better sitting than many other books like this that I have read and we end up learning about it as our main character so she can contact her brother (at first but ends up enjoying later). The characters feel very real and while the main character is oddly prepared for this gaming world she enters it is still entertaining to see her interact with others in this world and it settings.

Just read through this whole book and loved every minute of it.I couldn't put it down. Loved the resolution of her getting set up, loved the characters.I was kind of annoyed at the lack of world education the guild gave, but also found it believable based on my own experience. They were so used to having her around from a previous game she played with them that they forgot she didn't know anything about the current world.And if I don't miss my guess, I think I see inspiration from Limitless Lands and Mythian in some of the background technology, though the setting and world is wholly new and wonderful to explore with Kadia.Editing is A++The book flows easily from line to line, moment to moment. The few typos I found are on par with big name published books (Brandon Sanderson, Stephen king, etc).I've grabbed the Author's other book on KU: Striving for the Stars, and can't wait to start reading Nine Tales book 2 when it comes out!

Interesting main character. Looks like they may become a little bit overpowered but if done well it will not be unbelievable. Alchemy always seems overpowered but with the need for proper preparation it tends to balance.Pleased to see that there was no harem, as promised in the blurb. Refreshing to follow a character without that element.I also liked the drawing from historical figures and history in general for the background of the world.A clean read. Well edited. I liked it.

But damn this is good!Not the usual litrpg but i have to admit i like this take even more.

I'm loving the characters and story more as I read along. There are some mistakes here and there but they are just bumps in the road of a good story. Cheers!

Really liked this book and the story line, easy to follow and leaves you wanting to know what comes next. Hope more to follow

This book is great with the only exception being that it goes into detail on alchemy. A great deal of detail. Once in a while would’ve been fine, but it took away from the story. Still a great read so it gets five stars, hopefully the next book doesn’t go too deep into the philosophy.