Otherworld by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller
Otherworld began as an expansive multiplayer RPG. In the future it has been shut down but a young genius and founder of The Company, the world’s largest conglomerate, is bringing it back and has made it much more immersive and real than ever before. The technology has been used to create a safe haven called White City where people whose bodies are damaged beyond all repair can live and indulge their every whim and fantasy and live as physically sound people without any judgment. The beta testing of this new technology has allowed the first people to not only experience this haven but also, as gamers are want to do, explore past the limits of White City where the code for the old Otherworld game has also been established. A bit like Jurassic Park it’s been running on it’s own, new creatures and hybrids of different species have sprung out and begun to live in the world as we do ours. You can imagine their shock when a bunch of avatars show up and start viciously killing them. Questions over who owns this universe, who has the right to live there and what a life is worth are all up for grabs.
Simon and Kat are best friends and when Kat finds herself trapped in the game Simon has no hesitation plunging straight in after her. Moving in and out of the worlds he progresses through the game and also begins to uncover a huge conspiracy that involves the real life sacrifice of people in order to make an omelette if you will. The action in both worlds is really solidly written and gives both writers a chance to flew their muscles, using their imaginations to give us some great ‘stage’ moments as well as plenty of the more traditional men in suits back in the real world. Simon is joined on his quest to find Kat by a soccer mum with an invisible cloak, a knight who thinks they are all in purgatory and an Ogre with a sense of humour, all of whom react differently upon learning the truth of their situation. There really is something for everyone.
All praise aside there was a moment early on when I almost abandoned the book. Simon has just come back into town is looking to re-establish his relationship with Kat. He sees two of his female schoolmates doing a bit of slut shaming on Kat and decides to show one of them the naked pictures he had his hacker buddy named Elvis download from her boyfriend’s phone. Now I’m not generally fond of my protagonists engaging in this sort of perverted and dehumanizing behaviour. First there is nothing wrong with making the personal decision to send naked pictures to a loved one. It’s not smart but it’s high school. Secondly, logically, it means he has asked his buddy to break into the phones of every girl in school, and/or their boyfriends, in order to see if they have naked pictures so that he could use them against any girl in school in case he needs to defend Kat. Bullshit. I mean what gives someone the bloody right? Having been a teenage boy I’d bet my life he rubbed one out whilst he was sorting through them all and this just makes the whole moment in the book a really unnecessary and vile one.
Apart from this incident Otherworld is a very good book. It beautifully creates an immersive and fully fleshed out alternate reality that is exciting to be a part of. This is not always easy as seen by how many others have claimed the ‘If you loved Ready Player One’ tagline and been far less successful than Otherworld is. I’d have liked a bit more in terms of the ending but as far as setting up the conflict to come and keeping me wanting more it was fantastic. Highly recommend this one to gamers and the YA crowd. 8/10
