Guild of Tokens by Jon Auerbach

“I looked down at my spoils. The apples were green like regular green apples. I put the bag down and removed one of the apples. It weighed what you would expect an apple to weigh, no magic golden apples here. I brought it up to my mouth, held it there for a few seconds and then took a small bite.

Nothing happened.

I swallowed and took another bite, swirling the apple pieces around in my mouth like a sip of wine.

Still nothing.

Maybe it was one of those slow-acting apples. You know the ones where you take a bite, go to sleep, and don’t wake up for a hundred years.”

Warning Call by Chvrches.

Let me tell you finding a song for this story was a huge struggle. I stumbled across this song which suits better than any of the others I had chosen but still is more a desperate choice in an attempt to get this review finished than an actual great fit. But the world could always use some Chvrches anyway, especially their song, Leave a Trace.

The irony is this song is from a game that I have never heard of being used to highlight a story about a game.

What an enjoyable read! This was just what I needed to get me back in the groove.

Guild of Tokens is an easy access not-quite LitRPG, quest fantasy, which actually reminded me more of geocaching than LitRPG. The story does well at blending the fun of collecting items to level up, without the grinding away to upgrade your stats feel that you occasionally find in the genre.

Jen Jacobs, a code-writer at a small company begins playing the game as a distraction from her ho-hum life. Jen is likeable and very relatable. I enjoyed her POV a lot, and the humorous edge to some of her inner thoughts helped to keep the tone lighter, even during the surprisingly darker moments of this story. 

Beatrice, the other character, had to grow on me. She can be a bit harsh but after a while, I started to understand her bluntness, and even root for the unlikely friendship that grew up between her and Jen.

The world is a ‘here and now’ urban setting, allowing easy access to the story with only the characters, and the game/magic to learn about. Everything is so nicely paced; with each piece of the puzzle revealed we gain knowledge until we eventually see the entire picture.

Of course, the game and magic are where the story has a bit of an RPG feel, with the collecting and levelling up tokens. There are also edible power-ups made from alchemy, that give the user temporary status changes, like speed, smarts, or strength – which was a really fun touch.

The Guild was the only thing in the story that gave me pause. Everything to do with them for the bulk of the story was offscreen. Their presence and or any threats from them felt impersonal and lowered any tension or fear that I may have had towards the characters’ fate from their existence. At one point, I even wondered if they were real, or if they were all in Beatrice’s head because any information or perceived danger from them came second-hand through her, and she didn’t always come across as a ‘together in the head’ kind of person.

All in all, I had a great time with Guild of Tokens. It was easy to dive in. I loved the questing; the characters were great and the mystery kept me interested while the darker moments in the story added just a little bit of an edge to the fun.

This review has been coming for a long time now. I got a paperback copy from John Auerbach back when we did a blog tour for Guild of Tokens, with the intention that I’ll read it at one point. A few years later, Auerbach reached out again when I briefly opened my review request asking if I wanted a copy. Oops. He graciously gave me access to the audiobook version, so I literally had no excuse left. Still, it took me another half a year to read it – a lot later than planned, but hey, that’s life for you. But I finally did read it, taking full advantage of both of my copies!

What initially drew my attention to Guild of Tokens was the fact that it’s UF – we know I have a soft spot for the genre – and the idea of the quests. I’m not a big fan of New York per se, I’m more of a London girl, but I still can’t say no when it comes to city exploring, especially if it involves magic. But to my mild disappointment, New York City isn’t featured much at all. And I only realized that this bothered me as I was writing this review. I think it played a part in why I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I expected. Sure, we have a short stint at the MET and we have the metro, but other than that, this book could have been set in any other city in the world. Okay, except for the epigraphs at the start of each chapter which gave us tiny glimpses into New York’s magical history – or rather the Guild’s history.  I wish there was more of that. The most we get are vague descriptions and explanations about the Guild itself, and its search for magic, but that wasn’t much, really. Which is a shame, because I probably would have liked this book more if it had a slightly different focus.

As it stands, Guild of Tokens is more character-driven. Which I usually prefer, but much as I tried, I couldn’t make myself to care about the characters. We have our MC, Jen, who works as a game developer at a startup company, where she is constantly demeaned, overlooked, and overworked by her male colleagues. Her boyfriend is a dick who only sees her as a pretty accessory for his work functions when he is even in town – he mostly works in Hong Kong – and her two best friends are condescending bitches who treat her like trash. Why she even puts up with them is beyond me, but then, sometimes having a bad relationship/friendship is still better than having no one at all.

When she starts Questing, it takes her mind off of things, and kind of gives her a purpose, I guess. Especially when she learns about magic and danger comes knocking on her done when she can’t leave it alone. I mean, I would be curious as well to know what’s going on. It also brings new people in her life, whom I wouldn’t necessarily call friends either, but they have the potential yet. Most of all there is Beatrice, who becomes her mentor, although she doesn’t treat her much better than anyone else. At least in the beginning, she is the one bossing Jen about, giving the shots, etc. It’s not until later in the book that Jen starts standing up for herself and takes initiative. One can only hope that’ll continue in later books of the series. Personally, I found her a bit boring, to be honest, and that made it hard to connect with her.

I liked how Auerbach introduced the Questing system with the tokens and levels. It wasn’t overwhelming at all, actually it was the most fun part of the book. These light LitRPG elements were easy to manage for those who are new to that subgenre, or don’t like it much. It’s not overpowering at all. It takes a backseat in the second half as Beatrice and Jen start focusing on Raids and looking for a certain something that’s in the Guild’s possession. And also to survive. I don’t think we ever learned what exactly the tokens are for or what the Guild is doing exactly, but based on how things went down, I think there will be plenty of time and opportunity to do that.

Overall, Guild of Tokens was a mixed bag for me. I liked the general idea behind the book, the setting, and the magic bits (especially the tattoo), but I didn’t like the characters personally. I also felt like the book needed one more editing round as the writing was a bit rough around the edges. I’m also not fond of chapters starting with a time jump and then going back to explain what happened in the meantime. I find it annoying, honestly.

So yeah, Guild of Tokens suffers some first book problems, but nothing that can’t be fixed along the way. Whether I’ll read on or not I’m not sure yet, but if you like UF, quests, mad chase for a relic or two, magical history, and some dark elements including a secret organization, then Guild of Tokens might scratch that itch for you.