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adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A definite page turner and good start to a series. A computer running a simulation for military training has come unglued from its mooring. The simulation is the Demi-Monde - a world within which dupes (duplicates of real people from history) battle against each other for supremacy. The president's daughter is trapped inside the simulation and if she dies in the simulation then she dies in real life. An unlikely heroine is found to go into the simulation to save her. Its all ridiculous and over the top but its fun and decently told.
The Demi-Monde is a holodeck style cyberpace generated by a quantum computer with almost unlimited processing power that was built to train US forces in asymmetric urban warfare. It was designed to be indistinguishable from reality because that's the only way the terror of such environments could be conveyed. To realistically simulate the warlords of such environments, personalities of history's most infamous charismatic sociopaths, psychotics, and fantatics are simulated with perfect accuracy. What could go wrong?
The world is a disk shaped, cramped, weirdly fantastical milieu that is sort like steampunk meets the Wiemar republic combined into the impossible, arbitrary fixtures of a video game world that is taken to be absolute reality by its inhabitants.
I love books with maps and glossaries of terminology in the back. The glossary of this book, an encyclopedia Demi-Mondia of portmanteaus, acronyms, and neologisms, is as much fun as the text, because it is the world building in this book that makes it good. The writing is serviceable, clear, and it has a good granularity of detail so that you can enjoy your tour of the Demi-Monde through a fast paced pulp magazine style adventure with cliff hangers galore. Characterization and plot often falter, but the book is enough fun that its forgivable.
The world is a disk shaped, cramped, weirdly fantastical milieu that is sort like steampunk meets the Wiemar republic combined into the impossible, arbitrary fixtures of a video game world that is taken to be absolute reality by its inhabitants.
I love books with maps and glossaries of terminology in the back. The glossary of this book, an encyclopedia Demi-Mondia of portmanteaus, acronyms, and neologisms, is as much fun as the text, because it is the world building in this book that makes it good. The writing is serviceable, clear, and it has a good granularity of detail so that you can enjoy your tour of the Demi-Monde through a fast paced pulp magazine style adventure with cliff hangers galore. Characterization and plot often falter, but the book is enough fun that its forgivable.
I enjoyed this book far more than I anticipated. It was one of the impulse buys, but given I'm not a big fan of military sci-fi/fantasy, I wasn't holding out much hope. It's also long - very long for those of us with short attention spans. Yet it caught my attention with its cinematic storytelling and darkly imaginitive world. And, bonus points, it isn't actually the military sci-fi I thought it was. Don't get scared off by the mention of the US army and warfare, because while war is a major theme it isn't the focus.
The centre of the story is thus: The President of the USA's daughter has become trapped comatose, her consciousness locked inside the huge simulated world known as the Demi-Monde that's been used by the US army to train for unexpected combat. The only way to get her out: send in the cavalry... Or rather, an 18 year old African American student and part time jazz singer named Ella Thomas.
Yeah, this is where I decided it was going to be a hokey Hollywood blockbuster of a plot. It is. But dang, does it have a twisted kind of fun. Because the Demi-Monde is a circular world populated by "Dupes", or duplicates of real life people, some of them being rendered from history's nastiest annuls to spice the whole warfare thing up. People like Reinhardt "Final Solution" Heinrich, Aleister Crowley, Witchfinder Matthew Hopkins, etc etc. These people aren't programmed to be content with their overlording, oh no. They're out to take over the Demi-Monde. And after that is where it gets a tiny bit more complicated...
I found the beginning intriguing but slow. We meet Ella as she gets the low-down on the Demi-Monde and the nebulous reason for her being the only hope of rescuing the missing girl. These chapters could feel tedious as points about the Demi-Monde are repeated, sometimes verbatim. If they weren't interspersed with chapters about Vanka, a Demi-Mondian rogue and charlatan who comes to play a big part in the story, I may have had more reason to feel put off. His chapters really draw you into the squalid steampunk section of the world where the action will take place. Some characters here have annoying accented dialogue, but thankfully they aren't major players.
The major player is in fact the Demi-Monde itself, the action designed to showcase it in all it's terrible glory. It's one of those "what if" scenarios: put a group of people designed specifically to hate another group of people into various world settings (Anglo-European, Middle Eastern, Eastern European, Far East, Sub-Saharan Africa) with mixed religions and philosophical beliefs (think raging misogynists living opposite misandrists, puritans across the road from hedonists and add in an unhealthy dose of white supremacists and anti-Semitic-type racism), have them lead by some of history's greatest big-bad strategists and see what/who falls over first. The world building is a terrible thing to behold - and I mean that in a good way. Just beware racist/sexist slurs used in historical context.
Another warning: don't over-think it. It is Hollywood blockbuster stuff, all characters running around getting caught up in the craziness of it all while finding out more about the world and each other. It's at the more intelligent end of the scale, but still, and history buffs and armchair debaters would probably want to take this book to task over how Person X would never do this, or Person Y wouldn't be seen working with Person Z. Take it at face value and it's great, slightly schlocky, fun.
My one big criticism that brings it down a notch for me was the individual character development. Things progress slowly and then clunk! They have a revelation that isn't shown but told. When attempts at showing things are made, they seem awkward and unnatural. Take the "romance" angle for instance - Ella's feelings towards Vanka are stated bluntly and without emotion (sorry male authors, I see this a lot with you guys), her weirdly forward habit of kissing him to show affection seeming just too much (she's only known the guy a few days and goes for the lips?! I'd buy a hug or something, but a snog of gratitude of all things, and that early? Blegh, romanticised male fantasy.) Trixie's character arc makes sense, but developed with a clunking "oh, sod this" moment where she goes all in to her new persona. This sort of thing might work in a movie where time is short and we can only get nuance from body language or lingering looks, but in writing where we have access to their innermost thoughts, even in third person? It felt rather dissatisfying.
There's also the irritating unexplained nature of Norma's entry into the world, hinted at but never really given context... And to be honest, Norma herself. She's a horrible teen rebel cliche. And the flip-floppiness of the character's personas in the early parts; they have a habit of stating one thing about themselves (Trixie's feminist/rationalist views that melt away into obedience seemingly without rouse, Ella's aversion to putting herself out there and in danger giving way to "ooh, this is kinda deadly fun!", and Vanka's little hot-n-cold flushes towards Ella that just get forgotten - because hot all the way amIright?)
I did generally like the characters though. While their development isn't perfect, it does make logical sense, and following characters who are wrestling with ideas designed to make us readers uncomfortable can be really interesting. We have to question our likes and dislikes as morality shifts with the fog of war. There's nothing so satisfying as a good unlikable character engaged in so many twisted plot threads it makes your head hurt even as you enjoy how everything binds together.
There is a lot of weirdness to this book, and a lot of heavy content to ponder over. Make it past the first few chapters and it's ridiculous but intelligent Hollywood blockbuster fare. I pretty much had to get my paws on the next book, because despite that major page count, there's still so much more to come.
The centre of the story is thus: The President of the USA's daughter has become trapped comatose, her consciousness locked inside the huge simulated world known as the Demi-Monde that's been used by the US army to train for unexpected combat. The only way to get her out: send in the cavalry... Or rather, an 18 year old African American student and part time jazz singer named Ella Thomas.
Yeah, this is where I decided it was going to be a hokey Hollywood blockbuster of a plot. It is. But dang, does it have a twisted kind of fun. Because the Demi-Monde is a circular world populated by "Dupes", or duplicates of real life people, some of them being rendered from history's nastiest annuls to spice the whole warfare thing up. People like Reinhardt "Final Solution" Heinrich, Aleister Crowley, Witchfinder Matthew Hopkins, etc etc. These people aren't programmed to be content with their overlording, oh no. They're out to take over the Demi-Monde. And after that is where it gets a tiny bit more complicated...
I found the beginning intriguing but slow. We meet Ella as she gets the low-down on the Demi-Monde and the nebulous reason for her being the only hope of rescuing the missing girl. These chapters could feel tedious as points about the Demi-Monde are repeated, sometimes verbatim. If they weren't interspersed with chapters about Vanka, a Demi-Mondian rogue and charlatan who comes to play a big part in the story, I may have had more reason to feel put off. His chapters really draw you into the squalid steampunk section of the world where the action will take place. Some characters here have annoying accented dialogue, but thankfully they aren't major players.
The major player is in fact the Demi-Monde itself, the action designed to showcase it in all it's terrible glory. It's one of those "what if" scenarios: put a group of people designed specifically to hate another group of people into various world settings (Anglo-European, Middle Eastern, Eastern European, Far East, Sub-Saharan Africa) with mixed religions and philosophical beliefs (think raging misogynists living opposite misandrists, puritans across the road from hedonists and add in an unhealthy dose of white supremacists and anti-Semitic-type racism), have them lead by some of history's greatest big-bad strategists and see what/who falls over first. The world building is a terrible thing to behold - and I mean that in a good way. Just beware racist/sexist slurs used in historical context.
Another warning: don't over-think it. It is Hollywood blockbuster stuff, all characters running around getting caught up in the craziness of it all while finding out more about the world and each other. It's at the more intelligent end of the scale, but still, and history buffs and armchair debaters would probably want to take this book to task over how Person X would never do this, or Person Y wouldn't be seen working with Person Z. Take it at face value and it's great, slightly schlocky, fun.
My one big criticism that brings it down a notch for me was the individual character development. Things progress slowly and then clunk! They have a revelation that isn't shown but told. When attempts at showing things are made, they seem awkward and unnatural. Take the "romance" angle for instance - Ella's feelings towards Vanka are stated bluntly and without emotion (sorry male authors, I see this a lot with you guys), her weirdly forward habit of kissing him to show affection seeming just too much (she's only known the guy a few days and goes for the lips?! I'd buy a hug or something, but a snog of gratitude of all things, and that early? Blegh, romanticised male fantasy.) Trixie's character arc makes sense, but developed with a clunking "oh, sod this" moment where she goes all in to her new persona. This sort of thing might work in a movie where time is short and we can only get nuance from body language or lingering looks, but in writing where we have access to their innermost thoughts, even in third person? It felt rather dissatisfying.
There's also the irritating unexplained nature of Norma's entry into the world, hinted at but never really given context... And to be honest, Norma herself. She's a horrible teen rebel cliche. And the flip-floppiness of the character's personas in the early parts; they have a habit of stating one thing about themselves (Trixie's feminist/rationalist views that melt away into obedience seemingly without rouse, Ella's aversion to putting herself out there and in danger giving way to "ooh, this is kinda deadly fun!", and Vanka's little hot-n-cold flushes towards Ella that just get forgotten - because hot all the way amIright?)
I did generally like the characters though. While their development isn't perfect, it does make logical sense, and following characters who are wrestling with ideas designed to make us readers uncomfortable can be really interesting. We have to question our likes and dislikes as morality shifts with the fog of war. There's nothing so satisfying as a good unlikable character engaged in so many twisted plot threads it makes your head hurt even as you enjoy how everything binds together.
There is a lot of weirdness to this book, and a lot of heavy content to ponder over. Make it past the first few chapters and it's ridiculous but intelligent Hollywood blockbuster fare. I pretty much had to get my paws on the next book, because despite that major page count, there's still so much more to come.
This took a little bit of getting used to and there was a lot of flipping back and forward to the glossary but once I got my head around the concept I loved this book. A wonderfully originally and beautifully executed novel which blurs the lines between genres and takes the reader on the ride of their lives. I finished it today and have gone straight onto the book in the series as I can't wait to see what happens next.
The first in the series was fabulous and I had high hopes for the sequel and the author did not disappoint. Such an original and well executed idea, the world building shows a divine touch and the characters are so real that I'd love to have them round for dinner (well maybe just the nice ones!) I haven't enjoyed a fantasy so much for quite a while but this series has reignited my interested in good fantasy writing, when it's done well its the best of all the genres and this is done very well.
I didn't enjoy this anywhere near as much as the first one (which I loved) but I'm still looking forward to reading books 3 and 4.
A brilliant idea, really well developed and with a cliff-hanger ending. The Warsaw Ghetto plot seemed to lose focus on the main premise of the Demi-Monde; but still a great book
Amazing imagination to have set up the concept and the twists and turns of the plot. The writing isn't exactly literary, but it's a great read.
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
WHAT DO MEAN THATS HOW IT ENDS OFF
I loved the concept of this - like wow.
Basically they made a super advanced video game that can replicate entire people from history and the government used it to simulate how the worlds most heinous dictators/warlords and psychopaths would respond to a hostile environment ie. WITH MORE OF THEM.
It reminded me of Sword Art Online (Manga and Anime) with how the video game was manipulated in a way that humans going in to play the simulation are stuck in there and if they die in the game, they die in real life.
The stakes are HIGH, the characters are exasperated and the Video game NPC’s have entire lives and personalities thinking they live in a True-man Show type world where their overruling god is the computer system… named ABBA.
The characters felt very flushed out that you know their motivations and reasonings and what drives them forward- AND THIS INCLUDED THE NPC’s IN THE GAME ITSELF.
The world was so well developed where it relied on shared human history and built off of the what if moments. I think the world was so interesting and we didn’t even get to see everywhere in this book- I so want to see what the first female Emperor did in her section. Oh also- humans playing the game are the only ones that can bleed so the entire video games currency is blood because it is a precious resource. LIKE COME ON PEOPLE THIS IS GENIUS. STAKES ARE SO HIGH.
I will say this novel, because of the themes and plot, contains a lot of racism, religious bigotry, hegemonic masculinity/sexism and multiple mentions of genocide so read to your own discretion. The author creates new slurs for minorities, based on these historic figures who dictate the game, to fit into the world they had created so that is also a warning to be heeded.
Overall, this was a great science fiction and history read, that if you like anything to do with history reimagining this would be up your alley. In this case I love the concept of a killer video game.
I loved the concept of this - like wow.
Basically they made a super advanced video game that can replicate entire people from history and the government used it to simulate how the worlds most heinous dictators/warlords and psychopaths would respond to a hostile environment ie. WITH MORE OF THEM.
It reminded me of Sword Art Online (Manga and Anime) with how the video game was manipulated in a way that humans going in to play the simulation are stuck in there and if they die in the game, they die in real life.
The stakes are HIGH, the characters are exasperated and the Video game NPC’s have entire lives and personalities thinking they live in a True-man Show type world where their overruling god is the computer system… named ABBA.
The characters felt very flushed out that you know their motivations and reasonings and what drives them forward- AND THIS INCLUDED THE NPC’s IN THE GAME ITSELF.
The world was so well developed where it relied on shared human history and built off of the what if moments. I think the world was so interesting and we didn’t even get to see everywhere in this book- I so want to see what the first female Emperor did in her section. Oh also- humans playing the game are the only ones that can bleed so the entire video games currency is blood because it is a precious resource. LIKE COME ON PEOPLE THIS IS GENIUS. STAKES ARE SO HIGH.
I will say this novel, because of the themes and plot, contains a lot of racism, religious bigotry, hegemonic masculinity/sexism and multiple mentions of genocide so read to your own discretion. The author creates new slurs for minorities, based on these historic figures who dictate the game, to fit into the world they had created so that is also a warning to be heeded.
Overall, this was a great science fiction and history read, that if you like anything to do with history reimagining this would be up your alley. In this case I love the concept of a killer video game.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, War