Caverns of Socrates
Dennis McKiernan
Roc
Fiction, Sci-Fi
****
DESCRIPTION: In the near future, a team of award-winning role-playing gamers reunites for a very special quest. The Black Foxes, as they are known in gaming circles, have been invited to form the alpha team to test a new computer: AIVR (a.k.a. Avery.) This revolutionary virtual reality machine promises to do what no other can: using hypnosis an direct sensory stimulation, Avery can make the gamers into the characters they play - literally. Memories, skills, and personalities will to be simulated. While in the machine, the Black Foxes will be unaware of their real selves; they will, quite literally, be their characters living in their fantasy world. In short, it'll be a gamer's dream come true. It's supposed to be so safe that the company president is going in with the alpha team, using a master thief character which Avery has integrated into the world of the Black Foxes. A team of doctors and scientists will be monitoring their vitals, and their progress, via a holographic display. It should all be great fun... until Avery develops an unstable mind of its own, an electrical storm threatens the power supply, and the observing scientists duel for power as the lives of the gamers hang in the balance, both online and off.
REVIEW: I liked this book, mainly because I haven't read one quite like it before. Both the world of the Black Foxes and the "real" world outside Avery were good enough to hold my interest; in many "split-reality" books, I tend to skim to get to the fantasy world sequences. One of the main themes of the book is the nature of reality, but it wasn't too heavy-handed (few things can kill a story quite like a heavy-handed theme!) This was a fun read, with a good ending.
You might also enjoy:
Demons Don't Dream (Piers Anthony, Fiction - A computer game transports two players into the magical, pun-filled world of Xanth)
Bruce Coville's Chamber of Horrors: Spirits and Spells (Bruce Coville, YA Fiction - Teens playing a new role-playing game in a haunted house find it springing to life around them)
God Game (Andrew M. Greeley, Fiction - A man testing a computer game for a friend might actually be controlling events in another world)
Dream Park (Larry Niven and Stephen Barnes, Fiction - A theme park of the future features vast, customizable holographic role-playing game arenas)
The Dragon Box (Katie W. Stewart, YA Fiction - A game pulls a boy into an imperiled magical land)
The Otherland quartet (Tad Williams, Fiction - In the trail of a dark and dangerous force, a group of 'net surfers in the near future find their way into a network of exceptionally realistic VR worlds)
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