The Deadliest Game offers a deeper, more immersive experience of virtual reality than do its predecessors. Although criminal acts in the real world motivate the investigation of activity in the Sarxos game, nearly all of the action in The Deadliest Game takes place in the virtual land of Sarxos. In Sarxos, a few million people play imaginary fantasy figures ranging from blacksmiths to wizards.

Sarxos creator Chris Rodrigues has created a well-balanced and flexible game environment in which players may in general adventure freely without much fear of having their characters lost or trashed, and the societies that the players have created on Sarxos's two continents are complex and able to evolve out of player actions.

A character named Shel at the beginning of the novel serves to introduce the setting and concepts underlying the game. Shel's strategy for battle and his handling of various characters in the...