When Gabby DeCorte, top student and reality-hacker extraordinaire, learns the truth about LifeGame, she must choose between winning and what she believes in. Life is a game, unless you’re not the one winning is the morale behind this dystopia young adult fiction book Gamers. It took me quite a while to get into the storyline. SciFi is definitely not my preferred genre. You’re invited to an augmented reality world, which is controled by a government agency, LGIE. Comparisons to LIE, George Orwell‘s Big Brother from 1984 and the DDR era secret police Stasi are easily made, even in the novel itself. Lots of gaming, hacking and gadget slang is introduced. Reality starts breaking down when Gabby learns that her personal files, literally her identity has been hacked by dissidents calling themselves the Frags and that the government wants to check what they have altered. These Frags are fragments, not whole humans, rejected, but still powerfull.
If you love the TRON movie (1982!), Massive Multiplayer Online (MMOs) games like Second Life and Playstation Home, Gamers is something for you. The addiction to gaming, earn points and stay ahead of your competition, while loosing all connection with reality is worked out nicely, but the neologism easily distracted me. OK, 2 points for brushing your teeth, 10 points for keeping your room tidy, 72 for the Bioeconomic Game Design pop quiz on the ride to school in your personal FunCar, and 30 for making every hurdle in gym class. The action keeps the story alive and makes it hard to put Gamers down. It’s #1 in the Gamers Trilogy. Part 2 is Frags, which released in December, 2011.
Thomas K. Carpenter resides near St. Louis with his wife Rachel and their two children. He earned his degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Missouri Rolla. After finishing up his M.B.A. in the summer of 2006, he returned to his roots of writing fiction. ( )