The Leveller by Julia Durango Review!

Title: The Leveller
Series: The Leveller #1
Author: Julia Durango
Pages: 256
Published: June 23rd 2015
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Edelweiss
Purchase: Book Depository 

Nixy Bauer is a self-made Leveller. Her job? Dragging kids out of virtual reality and back to their parents in the real world. It’s normally easy cash, but Nixy’s latest mission is fraught with real danger, intrigue, and romance.
Nixy Bauer is used to her classmates being very, very unhappy to see her. After all, she’s a bounty hunter in a virtual reality gaming world. Kids in the MEEP, as they call it, play entirely with their minds, while their bodies languish in a sleeplike state on the couch. Irritated parents, looking to wrench their kids back to reality, hire Nixy to jump into the game and retrieve them. 
But when the game’s billionaire developer loses track of his own son in the MEEP, Nixy is in for the biggest challenge of her bounty-hunting career. Wyn Salvador isn’t some lazy kid looking to escape his homework: Wyn does not want to be found. And he’s left behind a suicide note. Nixy takes the job but quickly discovers that Wyn’s not hiding—he’s being held inside the game against his will. But who is holding him captive, and why?
Nixy and Wyn attempt to fight their way out of a mind game unlike any they’ve encountered, and the battle brings them closer than either could have imagined. But when the whole world is virtual, how can Nixy possibly know if her feelings are real?
Gamers and action fans of all types will dive straight into the MEEP, thanks to Julia Durango’s cinematic storytelling. A touch of romance adds some heart to Nixy’s vivid, multidimensional journey through Wyn’s tricked-out virtual city, and constant twists keep readers flying through to the breathtaking end.

My Thoughts:

A fast paced and addictive read. 

I'm not a gamer, apart from the odd time I play the Lego games with my boys, but I'm quite enjoying the few books I've read that are like this. This is my 4th Virtual Reality book and I loved it. 

The whole idea of Virtual Reality is fascinating anyway, but add in the missing boy and the girl who finds kids in there and you have a winner even before you start reading. I loved that Nixy is a Leveller, a person who goes into the Virtual Reality to find people who are either spending too much time on their equipment or people whose loved ones are looking for them. Her dad is a programmer for the Meep so Nixy has the perfect job really, and she is excellent at it. Her latest job is to find the missing son of the man who first created the Meep. All who have tried have failed so will Nixy succeed?

Even though I'm not a gamer, I didn't have a problem following along with the story. It's well written and perfectly explained and at no stage was I lost. It's hard to thoroughly enjoy a book if you get lost in the jargon!! 

The characters are all well developed and both Nixy and Wyn were awesome. Nixy is kick ass, she isn't afraid to face her fears and I loved that about her. Wyn, meanwhile, was such a sweety. His father may not be the nicest person but Wyn was so sweet and nice and I loved their interactions. 

In all this was amazing. Fast paced, engaging and entertaining, I loved everything about it. I do hope we see more from these characters in the future because a Virtual World is endless possibilities.