Magic, and Monsters, and Mayhem, Oh my! Ordinary government agent must team up with kidnapped cosplayers to find their way home.
Title: Displaced
Author: Warren Zaccaro
Genre(s): Action & Adventure
Word Count: 120,000
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: 11/24/2023
Summary: Cosplayers have been disappearing from pop culture conventions all across the United States. Government agent Samuel Baker finds himself the latest abductee of a mysterious figure named the Merchant by the missing cosplayers. What he thought would be a standard field operation takes a fantastical turn as Samuel is whisked away to a world quite unlike Earth, filled with monsters and adventure. This simple man will be pushed to his limits to survive well beyond his reality and deal with the eclectic bunch of fictional characters acting as his traveling companions.
My Review:
Samuel Baker is an average government agent, juggling the responsibilities of family life alongside his duty. After the serial abductions of cosplayers across the country reach his state, Samuel is enlisted in a joint sting operation as a field operative. While on the way to his post, Samuel drifts around the convention center looking for a gift to mend the relationship between him and his teenage son, only to find himself whisked completely out of his element when he becomes the newest abductee. Trapped in an animated world, Samuel must team up with the missing cosplayers to battle their way home.
“What was it like to see no value in the world of one’s birth?” This question serves the overarching theme of Warren Zaccaro’s Displaced. Zaccaro transports readers into the heart of a whimsical, animated adventure. Drawing inspiration from anime, manga, video games, and cosplay, Displaced creates a world where Samuel, the protagonist, must confront his preconceptions while navigating a land brimming with monsters and magic. As readers are whisked into this vividly imaginative world, they find themselves engrossed in a journey that challenges their perceptions.
The characters are written beautifully. Their behaviors and mannerisms stay true to the whimsical world and with the diversity of characters, it is easy to keep track of each quirky character. Each character evolves in a way that makes sense to the respective character, a testament to Zaccaro’s writing style. There is a moment in the story where one of the characters falls in love and it’s described as the character getting a nosebleed and her eyes rolling to the back of her head. It felt like watching an anime and I may have audibly squealed in delight at this little detail! The plucky heroes’ battles with the monsters known as “disasters” are compelling; however, I would have liked them to struggle a little more against their foes to increase the tension of the story. This does not take away from the reading experience as it is still satisfying to see how each obstacle is resolved.
Displaced is peppered with subtle Easter eggs and threads that invited me to guess what would happen next. Reading the payoffs makes this story so satisfying to read. There is only one important thread in the story that is left unresolved, leaving room for a potential sequel. I would have appreciated having the closure of that thread, but I suppose the writing choice is part of the reason I cannot stop thinking about this story. I recommend adding this to your “to be read” pile if you like a “feel good story” with magic, quests, and adventures. Worth the read! (Received ARC from Reedsy)