Tara Brown

Our MC (Emma) is a Neuroengineer and has created a business where people can virtually enter a book of their choosing. They enter as a cousin to the protagonist so they can watch the story unfold and see/feel the scenery. Problems arise when something in the program has changed and allowed her best customer (Lana) to "choose her own adventure" instead.

Lana spends a lot of time in the world, addicted really. Emma studies Lana and tries to determine what caused the change. Eventually Emma enters the world herself. The Virtual World she enters is based on the book [book:Persuasion|2156] by [author:Jane Austen|1265].

I did most of my skimming when Emma was in the VW. I'm not familiar with Persuasion. Perhaps I would have more so enjoyed the author's version with the new "cousin" if I was familiar.

I also did a lot of skimming during the 3-million-dollar home renovation, in the real world. wtf?!

I wish she had some professionals help her because there was lots I liked about the story but it tried to be too many things IMO. I liked the effects of the VW on the people and the reasons someone may become addicted and the struggle to stop entering the VW. The causes and effects would be where I would have preferred to spend more time. The love interests weren't realistic but adorable, who couldn't love them?

"Our bodies lived in one dimension, ...while our spirits lived elsewhere..."… (meer)

2.5 Stars

CW: kidnapping and rape and of women/girls, women are held captive for breeding programmes then stripped of organs and thrown into the rubbish - literally, racism - no POC are being bred, violence, gore

Well Tara certainly has a brutal vision of our imaginary post apocalyptic future!

This was quite a mixed reading experience for me. The storyline itself was good and Anna was a suitably bad-arse heroine warring with her survival instincts and her growing feelings towards her 'found family'. The problem was that this point was quite laboured throughout the story so it grew a bit tiresome. You know you are going to rescue them, Anna, so stop having a page worth of inner turmoil and get on with the bad-arsery. Also, I loathe love triangles even more than usual when there is zero chemistry between any party. Zero. In terms of whether I would get a copy for the library I am torn. It is actually quite a disturbing but interesting exploration of how authorities might react in the face of a dying population. That will be good in terms of students having a lot to talk about but it is most definitely senior fiction as it made for quite uncomfortable reading. The writing itself wasn't great and the characters were really flat and often unlikeable. I think I will pass on this one and explore some other options in this genre. Given the direction the NZ curriculum is heading it's probably wise to save up for some quality NZ fiction.… (meer)