A wonderful beginning that whets the reader’s appetite but breaks off a little too soon.
A millennium from now, a shy, insecure data security analyst enters a highly realistic simulation hoping to safely explore romance—but a computer virus threatens her virtual world.
Gillian Lawrence, junior security analyst, likes to avoid recognition—a survival habit she learned growing up. Loneliness is the price of her invisibility. After working on DiViRGen—the “most advanced prototype of human/cyber-interaction ever developed”—she comes up with a bold plan: secretly use the system to go on a romantic adventure that will allow her to confront her fears about other people and relationships. To her surprise, the system assigns Joshua, a security AI avatar, to guide her in the virtual game world, which is based on a deliberately anachronistic mix of elements from Europe’s preindustrial past. Gillian will pose as Joshua’s wealthy ward, and he’ll help her become established in society and meet suitable young men—although it soon becomes evident that handsome and kind Joshua is eminently suitable himself. But when DiViRGen is sabotaged, Gillian’s virtual reality comes under attack. As the book ends, Dr. Leonard Afton, head of the VR project, learns of Gillian’s plight and prepares to enter the simulation. Noble (Realizing Intentions [A Virtual Reality Book 2], 2015) offers an intriguing premise and an appealing heroine. Gillian’s carefully prepared plan makes sense and reveals her intelligence, enterprise, and courage. She’s thoughtful and logical as well as affectionate and lonesome. Noble’s worldbuilding is well-laid—unfortunately, science labs are still sexist in the next millennium—and she cleverly sets up expectations for fluffy VR romance with plenty of wish-fulfillment, such as pampering, ball gowns, and sex. Readers do get that, and it’s fun, but Noble subverts these expectations when Gillian’s romantic fantasy becomes a fight for survival, which ties back to her deepest fears. With so much to like, it’s disappointing to see the book end on a cliffhanger with little resolved.
A wonderful beginning that whets the reader’s appetite but breaks off a little too soon.Pub Date: April 30, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4974-4408-9
Page Count: 174
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.
Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.
A man walks out of a bar and his life becomes a kaleidoscope of altered states in this science-fiction thriller.
Crouch opens on a family in a warm, resonant domestic moment with three well-developed characters. At home in Chicago’s Logan Square, Jason Dessen dices an onion while his wife, Daniela, sips wine and chats on the phone. Their son, Charlie, an appealing 15-year-old, sketches on a pad. Still, an undertone of regret hovers over the couple, a preoccupation with roads not taken, a theme the book will literally explore, in multifarious ways. To start, both Jason and Daniela abandoned careers that might have soared, Jason as a physicist, Daniela as an artist. When Charlie was born, he suffered a major illness. Jason was forced to abandon promising research to teach undergraduates at a small college. Daniela turned from having gallery shows to teaching private art lessons to middle school students. On this bracing October evening, Jason visits a local bar to pay homage to Ryan Holder, a former college roommate who just received a major award for his work in neuroscience, an honor that rankles Jason, who, Ryan says, gave up on his career. Smarting from the comment, Jason suffers “a sucker punch” as he heads home that leaves him “standing on the precipice.” From behind Jason, a man with a “ghost white” face, “red, pursed lips," and "horrifying eyes” points a gun at Jason and forces him to drive an SUV, following preset navigational directions. At their destination, the abductor forces Jason to strip naked, beats him, then leads him into a vast, abandoned power plant. Here, Jason meets men and women who insist they want to help him. Attempting to escape, Jason opens a door that leads him into a series of dark, strange, yet eerily familiar encounters that sometimes strain credibility, especially in the tale's final moments.
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.Pub Date: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-90422-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
PROFILES
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