Scan barcode
crimsoncor's review against another edition
3.0
Ambitious attempt at world-building, but the characters are pretty two dimensional and the book could have benefited from some extra editing love. I would probably finish the series, but somehow the last two books aren't available in ebook, so I guess I'm done with it for now.
natashia8911's review against another edition
3.0
While this book was a very interesting topic, I did not enjoy the read. Once you are able to look past the racism and mysogeny that is dripping throughout the story via the veiled attempts at setting a time frame and mood, you can enjoy the storyline. The Demi-Monde is an out-of-the-box idea that actually maintains a real-world relevance. The concept is actually quite mind-blowing. However, I do believe the author just finished taking his ACT test and decided to put every word he learned into it. I am an avid reader and have a large vocabulary, but the constant need to keep a dictionary at my side to look up words pulled away from the book so much. Simple moments like the mention of pantechnicons rather than describing the horse drawn moving vans was a little off-putting. But again, the story and characters were very interesting.
rikerandom's review against another edition
3.0
Diese und weitere Rezensionen findet ihr auf meinem Blog Anima Libri - Buchseele
Rezensionsexemplar, zur Verfügung gestellt vom Verlag im Austausch für eine ehrliche Rezension ♥
Ach je, das war ja mal so gar nicht mein Buch…
Die Demi-Monde sind eine Art Computersimulation, die zum militärischen Training entworfen wurde. Dass dabei irgendetwas schief gehen würde, war ja irgendwie klar und natürlich geschieht das dann auch prompt: Die Tochter des Präsidenten landet in Demi-Monde. Und da das ganze Projekt natürlich gehörig aus dem Ruder gelaufen ist, gibt es nur eine Person, die man in das Programm einschleusen kann: Eine Jazz-Sängerin.
Wieso, weshalb, warum? Tja, keine Ahnung… Leider hat sich bei mir alles quer gestellt, als es um die Leute in den Demi-Monden ging. Dass die nicht ganz dicht sein können, sind sie doch Teil einer Computersimulation und waren einst die größten Tyrannen der Erde, aber die Art wie Rees sie darstellt…
Das ganze wäre äußerst lächerlich gewesen, besonders mit den pseudo-wissenschaftlichen Zitaten zu Beginn jedes Kapitels, allerdings war der fahle Beigeschmack von Rassismus und Sexismus dann doch zu stark, sodass das ganze einfach nur nervig war.
Besonders wenn man die klischeehaften Charakterisierungen der restlichen Charaktere rund um Ella, die in meinen Augen ein unglaublich idiotischer Charakter ist, und die Handlung, die in mehrere Stränge unterteilt ist, von denen ich die meisten herzlich wenig sinnvoll fand.
Alles in allem ist das Buch in meinen Augen mehr oder wenig sinnlos, auch wenn die Idee mit der Simulation sehr interessant ist – wenn auch nicht neu -, ist die Umsetzung doch irgendwie ziemlich misslungen… Wie dem auch sei, dafür gibt es eindeutig keine Empfehlung.
Rezensionsexemplar, zur Verfügung gestellt vom Verlag im Austausch für eine ehrliche Rezension ♥
Ach je, das war ja mal so gar nicht mein Buch…
Die Demi-Monde sind eine Art Computersimulation, die zum militärischen Training entworfen wurde. Dass dabei irgendetwas schief gehen würde, war ja irgendwie klar und natürlich geschieht das dann auch prompt: Die Tochter des Präsidenten landet in Demi-Monde. Und da das ganze Projekt natürlich gehörig aus dem Ruder gelaufen ist, gibt es nur eine Person, die man in das Programm einschleusen kann: Eine Jazz-Sängerin.
Wieso, weshalb, warum? Tja, keine Ahnung… Leider hat sich bei mir alles quer gestellt, als es um die Leute in den Demi-Monden ging. Dass die nicht ganz dicht sein können, sind sie doch Teil einer Computersimulation und waren einst die größten Tyrannen der Erde, aber die Art wie Rees sie darstellt…
Das ganze wäre äußerst lächerlich gewesen, besonders mit den pseudo-wissenschaftlichen Zitaten zu Beginn jedes Kapitels, allerdings war der fahle Beigeschmack von Rassismus und Sexismus dann doch zu stark, sodass das ganze einfach nur nervig war.
Besonders wenn man die klischeehaften Charakterisierungen der restlichen Charaktere rund um Ella, die in meinen Augen ein unglaublich idiotischer Charakter ist, und die Handlung, die in mehrere Stränge unterteilt ist, von denen ich die meisten herzlich wenig sinnvoll fand.
Alles in allem ist das Buch in meinen Augen mehr oder wenig sinnlos, auch wenn die Idee mit der Simulation sehr interessant ist – wenn auch nicht neu -, ist die Umsetzung doch irgendwie ziemlich misslungen… Wie dem auch sei, dafür gibt es eindeutig keine Empfehlung.
christajls's review against another edition
4.0
This review originally posted at Hooked on Books
This book starts out with a bang! Rod Rees is a writer that knows how to get your attention. Typically it takes me until about 1/4 of the way through a book to really get obsessed with the story. With The Demi Monde it happened with in a couple of pages. I was almost compulsively flipping pages trying to figure out what was going to happen next and how all the pieces fit together.
Besides the initial action and excitement I loved how inventive the story was. You may have noticed that at the top of this post I had a little trouble determining the exact genre of the novel. It was a brilliant mash up of steampunk, fantasy, science fiction and historical fiction. It combined all the things I loved about all those genres into one amazing package. There is some major world building skills going on here. Rod Rees has essentially created a world within a world (the Demi Monde) and within that world he has created a series of other worlds. We only get to see one or two of them in great detail, but this is the first in a series so I'm hoping the rest will get explored later on!
Finally, if it wasn't enough that this novel had great action, amazing detail and is an example of genre bending at its finest, it also has some great characters. Some were completely original and innovative and I got completely enthralled by then and others were really neat imagining of real historical figures. These historical characters, are primarily made up of sociopaths making the story reach some crazy heights and putting the other characters through some incredibly intense ordeals.
This is a hefty book and you shouldn't count on it being a quick read. But in all honesty you don't want it to be a quick read. You want it to last, you want to savour every last chapter, scene, moment, snippet of dialogue. It's just that good. If you like science fiction, fantasy, steampunk, historical fiction or just a really well constructed story then I highly recommend you add this book to your list.
This book starts out with a bang! Rod Rees is a writer that knows how to get your attention. Typically it takes me until about 1/4 of the way through a book to really get obsessed with the story. With The Demi Monde it happened with in a couple of pages. I was almost compulsively flipping pages trying to figure out what was going to happen next and how all the pieces fit together.
Besides the initial action and excitement I loved how inventive the story was. You may have noticed that at the top of this post I had a little trouble determining the exact genre of the novel. It was a brilliant mash up of steampunk, fantasy, science fiction and historical fiction. It combined all the things I loved about all those genres into one amazing package. There is some major world building skills going on here. Rod Rees has essentially created a world within a world (the Demi Monde) and within that world he has created a series of other worlds. We only get to see one or two of them in great detail, but this is the first in a series so I'm hoping the rest will get explored later on!
Finally, if it wasn't enough that this novel had great action, amazing detail and is an example of genre bending at its finest, it also has some great characters. Some were completely original and innovative and I got completely enthralled by then and others were really neat imagining of real historical figures. These historical characters, are primarily made up of sociopaths making the story reach some crazy heights and putting the other characters through some incredibly intense ordeals.
This is a hefty book and you shouldn't count on it being a quick read. But in all honesty you don't want it to be a quick read. You want it to last, you want to savour every last chapter, scene, moment, snippet of dialogue. It's just that good. If you like science fiction, fantasy, steampunk, historical fiction or just a really well constructed story then I highly recommend you add this book to your list.
aunt13soc1al's review against another edition
5.0
Two days, and I want more. I read this book in two days flat and I cannot wait to get my hands on Spring. Left at an excellent stopping point, both in keeping you wanting more, but not in that frustrating way where someone is on the edge of a cliff about to jump off and leaving you at a point where the story will certainly take a turn. Don’t get me wrong, this is not an easy read, nor at 500+ pages is it a short book. But it will drag you into Rees’ well-thought out and impressive world that is The Demi-Monde. The program envelops the soldier, utterly and completely, and Rees draws the reader in until she becomes part of the Demi-Monde herself.
Rees has created an interesting if not the least bit terrifying virtual reality. As described in the Product Description Manual (a copy is available for viewing on the book’s website) the world of the Demi-Monde is an heuristic alternate reality populated with duplicates “Dupes” of real world people alive in our world today. Some of the more prominent ‘dupes’ have no real world counterpart alive today, but they are well-known figures from our most horrific events. The first dupe Ella and the reader are introduced to is Reinhard Heydrich, engineer of the Nazi’s “Final Solution” and it certainly will chill you to the bone to see how accurate Rees has portrayed these villains of our past.
I could write a whole post on just the workings of the Demi-Monde and how well-thought out it is, especially after reading the PDM referenced above. There are varying cultures, conflicting political agendas, isolationist religions, and many more stressors that have shaped our history each expressed throughout sections or the whole of the Demi-Monde creating a unique world always in upheaval and on the brink of war. Clearly Rees spent significant time developing his world, and I can see why the series is in four parts, if Rees expects to cover half of what I think he will as the series progresses. Thankfully, there is a wonderful website (linked at the top of this post) that will make you want to read the book if you haven’t, or increase your craving for the second book if you have.
As characters are revealed, you cannot help but spend some time Googling the names that pop up or the references to events. I’m not history buff, but this definitely made me wonder just what the character had done in real life to warrant a doppelgänger in the Demi-Monde. Many of these characters are very well-known while others are lesser known, but Rees weaves them all together into a very interesting cast of characters. Aside from the random villainous singularities like Heydrich and Aleister Crowley, Shaka Zulu, and Empress Wu, there are the main protagonists: Ella, Norma, the president’s daughter, and Trixie Dashwood. These three women are the focus of the first book in the Demi-Monde Saga.
Ella is brought in as part of “Operation Offbeat” to rescue Norma. Somehow, unknown to the scientists and military men who created the Demi-Monde, Norma was brought into the Demi-Monde and has since been trapped. Heydrich and the other singularities have gotten out of control, and the plan is to pull the plug, shutting the whole thing down despite the loss of life for a few soldiers still caught in the program, but they cannot do that until Norma is out. As we have seen in our real world, the life of a soldier isn’t worth anything, but the life of the president’s daughter is worth more than 17 of them. Rees really hits it on the head with some of his observations such as this one. Another good example of this is how Ella, who is a smart, extremely attractive African-American woman, is able to distract even the toughest white supremacists out to capture her with her good looks and feminine whiles. Yes, they should hate her so much that she cannot fool them, but there are plenty that while they claim to hate all African-Americans they can still be swayed by a pretty woman despite her skin color. There are many examples of this through the book, and sometimes perhaps Rees uses Ella’s good looks to get her out of a situation that Rees wrote her into, but couldn’t figure out a more valid way to get her out. However, that is a small detractor in what is otherwise a phenomenal book. I look forward to seeing what the Demi-Monde has in store for Ella in Spring.
Norma is the president’s daughter who starts all of the trouble that has brings Ella, Norma, and Trixie together. Norma is in the Demi-Monde, no one knows how or why, although they do allude to it a bit later in the book, and found out to be a Daemon. She is captured and being held by Heydrich’s men and then taken to Trixie’s house in the hopes that Norma and Trixie will befriend each other allowing Trixie to get at the Daemon’s secrets. Norma as expected turns out to be a holier than thou, whiny, emo, bitch. I think I would have preferred her to be more like Ella and Trixie as strong female leads, but perhaps it would have been too crowded with three of them. Thankfully for the most part, Norma, although the story revolves around rescuing her, doesn’t play much of a role throughout the book, only popping up here and there to let the reader into what is happening when she isn’t with Ella or Trixie. Given the cliffhanger, I am curious to see how her character plays out in Spring.
Trixie Dashwood is quite a mutable character. In the beginning she is a head-strong RaTionalist girl who is on the brink of being a huge trouble to her father. She thinks for herself, and is always curious about the barrier that surrounds the Demi-Monde, how to get through it and what’s on the other side. Admirable ambitions in a character, but once Trixie feels that all is lost, thinking her father dead, and doing all she can to revenge her father’s death, she becomes, as Ella notes, more like Heydrich. Trixie goes from being a head-strong independent girl to a military leader out for blood. It is an interesting transition, but Rees manages to show just enough of what drives Trixie to see how this change happens as she rises to become a leader and revenge becomes her main focus.
As these three characters grow and evolve, there is a host of supporting characters that add to the greatness of this book. I hope that they continue on in the future books, as I would love to see how Rees develops them and their storylines.
As I indicated earlier, I could go on and on about this book. There is so much to say about it, that a few paragraphs, even a few pages are not enough. It is a tome, and at over 500 pages, it is not a light read, but it is a read that is well worth your time. The plotlines tie together seamlessly, and it is a satisfying original read.
Rees has created an interesting if not the least bit terrifying virtual reality. As described in the Product Description Manual (a copy is available for viewing on the book’s website) the world of the Demi-Monde is an heuristic alternate reality populated with duplicates “Dupes” of real world people alive in our world today. Some of the more prominent ‘dupes’ have no real world counterpart alive today, but they are well-known figures from our most horrific events. The first dupe Ella and the reader are introduced to is Reinhard Heydrich, engineer of the Nazi’s “Final Solution” and it certainly will chill you to the bone to see how accurate Rees has portrayed these villains of our past.
I could write a whole post on just the workings of the Demi-Monde and how well-thought out it is, especially after reading the PDM referenced above. There are varying cultures, conflicting political agendas, isolationist religions, and many more stressors that have shaped our history each expressed throughout sections or the whole of the Demi-Monde creating a unique world always in upheaval and on the brink of war. Clearly Rees spent significant time developing his world, and I can see why the series is in four parts, if Rees expects to cover half of what I think he will as the series progresses. Thankfully, there is a wonderful website (linked at the top of this post) that will make you want to read the book if you haven’t, or increase your craving for the second book if you have.
As characters are revealed, you cannot help but spend some time Googling the names that pop up or the references to events. I’m not history buff, but this definitely made me wonder just what the character had done in real life to warrant a doppelgänger in the Demi-Monde. Many of these characters are very well-known while others are lesser known, but Rees weaves them all together into a very interesting cast of characters. Aside from the random villainous singularities like Heydrich and Aleister Crowley, Shaka Zulu, and Empress Wu, there are the main protagonists: Ella, Norma, the president’s daughter, and Trixie Dashwood. These three women are the focus of the first book in the Demi-Monde Saga.
Ella is brought in as part of “Operation Offbeat” to rescue Norma. Somehow, unknown to the scientists and military men who created the Demi-Monde, Norma was brought into the Demi-Monde and has since been trapped. Heydrich and the other singularities have gotten out of control, and the plan is to pull the plug, shutting the whole thing down despite the loss of life for a few soldiers still caught in the program, but they cannot do that until Norma is out. As we have seen in our real world, the life of a soldier isn’t worth anything, but the life of the president’s daughter is worth more than 17 of them. Rees really hits it on the head with some of his observations such as this one. Another good example of this is how Ella, who is a smart, extremely attractive African-American woman, is able to distract even the toughest white supremacists out to capture her with her good looks and feminine whiles. Yes, they should hate her so much that she cannot fool them, but there are plenty that while they claim to hate all African-Americans they can still be swayed by a pretty woman despite her skin color. There are many examples of this through the book, and sometimes perhaps Rees uses Ella’s good looks to get her out of a situation that Rees wrote her into, but couldn’t figure out a more valid way to get her out. However, that is a small detractor in what is otherwise a phenomenal book. I look forward to seeing what the Demi-Monde has in store for Ella in Spring.
Norma is the president’s daughter who starts all of the trouble that has brings Ella, Norma, and Trixie together. Norma is in the Demi-Monde, no one knows how or why, although they do allude to it a bit later in the book, and found out to be a Daemon. She is captured and being held by Heydrich’s men and then taken to Trixie’s house in the hopes that Norma and Trixie will befriend each other allowing Trixie to get at the Daemon’s secrets. Norma as expected turns out to be a holier than thou, whiny, emo, bitch. I think I would have preferred her to be more like Ella and Trixie as strong female leads, but perhaps it would have been too crowded with three of them. Thankfully for the most part, Norma, although the story revolves around rescuing her, doesn’t play much of a role throughout the book, only popping up here and there to let the reader into what is happening when she isn’t with Ella or Trixie. Given the cliffhanger, I am curious to see how her character plays out in Spring.
Trixie Dashwood is quite a mutable character. In the beginning she is a head-strong RaTionalist girl who is on the brink of being a huge trouble to her father. She thinks for herself, and is always curious about the barrier that surrounds the Demi-Monde, how to get through it and what’s on the other side. Admirable ambitions in a character, but once Trixie feels that all is lost, thinking her father dead, and doing all she can to revenge her father’s death, she becomes, as Ella notes, more like Heydrich. Trixie goes from being a head-strong independent girl to a military leader out for blood. It is an interesting transition, but Rees manages to show just enough of what drives Trixie to see how this change happens as she rises to become a leader and revenge becomes her main focus.
As these three characters grow and evolve, there is a host of supporting characters that add to the greatness of this book. I hope that they continue on in the future books, as I would love to see how Rees develops them and their storylines.
As I indicated earlier, I could go on and on about this book. There is so much to say about it, that a few paragraphs, even a few pages are not enough. It is a tome, and at over 500 pages, it is not a light read, but it is a read that is well worth your time. The plotlines tie together seamlessly, and it is a satisfying original read.
melissa_medina's review against another edition
1.0
This book was so bad, I just couldn't bring myself to finishing it. I feel like the author was trying to write a dystopian novel without having actually read one. It felt like someone had explained to the writer of this book what makes a novel dystoian, & he then tried to write a dystopian novel without having an actual solid understanding of the genera.
One quick example:
Classic dystopian novels such as 1984 often feature capitalization of words. In this genra, some words (like "Big Brother") are capitalized because they express an important concept. Rod Rees tried -- and epically failed -- to 1-up great authors like George Orwell by not only using capitalization, but capitalizing half of the words on the page without seeming to understand what the point of said capitalization was. As if that were not annoying enough, he capitalized the middle letter of words (like "UnFunDaMentalist").
One quick example:
Classic dystopian novels such as 1984 often feature capitalization of words. In this genra, some words (like "Big Brother") are capitalized because they express an important concept. Rod Rees tried -- and epically failed -- to 1-up great authors like George Orwell by not only using capitalization, but capitalizing half of the words on the page without seeming to understand what the point of said capitalization was. As if that were not annoying enough, he capitalized the middle letter of words (like "UnFunDaMentalist").
omniscientcazz's review against another edition
1.0
Terrible, bordering on incomprehensible and offensive.
thejoyofbooking's review against another edition
5.0
Oh, man. Oh, man. Oh, man. This was one really cool book.
I’m at a bit of a loss as to how to describe it because, frankly, I think it needs to be read to be believed. Let’s just say we throw a bunch of characters from history – including some psychopaths into a teeny little space set in the late nineteenth century and let racial and religious prejudices run wild. And let’s also say that this is all happening inside a computer game that is threatening to cross over into the real world when some of these psychopathic avatars become conscious. Cogito ergo sum, indeed.
With barricade and sewer escape scenes that would rival Les Miserables and puns that put Piers Anthony to shame, there’s a lot to love about this book for readers of steam punk, science fiction, and dark fantasy. I am seriously looking forward to the second in the series.
Not only that, but the author has one of the best websites I’ve ever seen. http://www.thedemi-monde.com/ It’s all steam-punky and full of tidbits of information to hold me over until the next book comes out.
I’m at a bit of a loss as to how to describe it because, frankly, I think it needs to be read to be believed. Let’s just say we throw a bunch of characters from history – including some psychopaths into a teeny little space set in the late nineteenth century and let racial and religious prejudices run wild. And let’s also say that this is all happening inside a computer game that is threatening to cross over into the real world when some of these psychopathic avatars become conscious. Cogito ergo sum, indeed.
With barricade and sewer escape scenes that would rival Les Miserables and puns that put Piers Anthony to shame, there’s a lot to love about this book for readers of steam punk, science fiction, and dark fantasy. I am seriously looking forward to the second in the series.
Not only that, but the author has one of the best websites I’ve ever seen. http://www.thedemi-monde.com/ It’s all steam-punky and full of tidbits of information to hold me over until the next book comes out.
georgina_bawden's review against another edition
3.0
Featuring some of the most tedious acronyms ever, but a pretty fun plot. I liked the range of interesting female characters (some awesome, others pathetic, all relatively realistic) but the third person narration was sometimes jarringly male-gazey ("Trixie slid down, landing on her pert bottom." Really? Pert?). Ended on a cliff-hanger which I suppose means I have to get around to reading book two at some point!
nicolebonia's review against another edition
3.0
The Demi-Monde Winter is an ambitious undertaking with lots of moving parts, and an inventive storyline. It doesn’t always succeed in all that it seeks to accomplish, but it is entertaining in spots, and has a killer cliffhanger. It’s also the first in a quartet of “seasonal” books.