If I hadn’t gone to my local Barnes and Noble a month or so ago, I would have never had the opportunity to read this book. Or even know it existed. Or that Jason Segel helps write books!
As some of you may know, ever since technology really started to grow and become more and more embedded in our lives, I’ve gained an interest in books that explored the benefits and the repercussions of technology on individuals and society.
Otherworld by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller, published October 31, 2017, is one of those books.
Before I get into my feelings and reactions for this new novel, I want to give the synopsis for those that maybe haven’t heard of or seen this book.
Synopsis: The company says Otherworld is amazing—like nothing you’ve ever seen before. They say it’s addictive—that you’ll want to stay forever. They promise Otherworld will make all your dreams come true.
Simon thought Otherworld was a game. Turns out he knew nothing. Otherworld is the next phase of reality. It’s everything you’ve ever wanted.
And it’s about to change humanity forever.
Welcome to the Otherworld. No one could have seen it coming.
The first thought to come into my mind when I read the above blurb was that it might end up being really similar to Ready Player One. While there are similarities, Otherworld goes a little further. Otherworld is known as a game of sorts, but a completely virtual reality one where the graphics are as a real as real life.
The story is narrated by Simon, who is a rebellious teen that like to makes his rich parents angry. His whole motivation is to figure out what’s going on with his only and best friend Kat since she stopped talking to him after he was shipped off to a boarding school. Add in a hacker set up of sorts and Simon is back in New Jersey forbidden from email and the internet, but Kat still not speaking to him.
So he buys two sets of the expensive gloves and headset to enable him and Kat to explore this new virtual reality, hopefully together.
While that does happen, he pissed his parents off too much by buying them and they ruin his set. After this happens is when the story really starts to be set into motion.
The story is complex to have enough twists and turns, but it took a long time for the story to really take off. The blurb was a little misleading since I thought within the first few chapters the story would take off and take place in the virtual reality, but that’s not true at all. Part of me likes the balance between real life and Otherworld, but I kept trying to figure out what the role the virtual reality plays into the story. To me, it was always just there in the background.
What I did really like was the growth of Simon as a character. He starts out with only one motivation – to protect Kat, to save her, but somewhere along the way he ends up with a few tagalongs. He also starts to wonder about the virtual reality and The Company behind it. He starts to wonder about the subgame that also allows you to use all your senses – something that is deemed to help those that a rare syndrome where they can’t move their body – something that Kat and other high school kids got after an accident at a party. The story is very entertaining, kept me interested, and I really liked that it took a different approach to the whole corporate conspiracy with technology idea.
However, the writing is the one thing that just didn’t stick out for me and I think is a big part of the reason that I’m so in the middle about this book (in addition to the story taking awhile to really get interesting). The writing was good, but that’s as far as I’d go, which is disappointing. But at least everything made sense.
This is the first installment of a series, though I haven’t decided if I’ll get the second book or not when it does come out. We’ll see.
Ultimately, I think it’s worth a read if you read and enjoyed books like Ready Player One and The Circle. There are also some chapters/ scenes that remind me of Hunger Games or The Maze Runner.
Sound interesting? Are you going to add it to your TBR?
Also, happy belated book birthday to Otherworld!
**I received a free ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review from a giveaway event hosted by Barnes and Noble. Thank you! No other compensation was received.
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