Cindy Koepp
Writing on the Edge
A bird and her boy help a dog and his baron.
In Animal Eye, the newest AI-controlled VR-RPG from Horizon Systems, Khin May and Jake sign on as testers for a game that lets them play as animal companions to human NPCs. In a world that seems Renaissance-era, with swords and muskets, strange beasts lurk in the wilderness, pressing their attacks harder into civilized lands, laughing maniacs that can’t be killed by ordinary means.
Khin May as a sassy crow named Ahva and Jake as Nagheed, a Nethanyan mountain shepherd, along with their humans, learn the history of the game world and set out to stop the twisted mastermind behind the attacks…
Fun bit of trivia: Animal Eye started out as a quest-based fantasy novel that followed a large dog and an African Grey on adventures with their humans. It was then completely rewritten as GameLit. The original name for it: Bird's Eye: The Novel in Need of a Better Name.