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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | YA Fic Skinner, G. 2014 | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Phoenix and his gang--York, Mi, and Reno--rule the worlds of video games. For them, life in the grinder is great. Until Dakota joins the team. Dakota's convinced she's more than just artificial intelligence. She thinks she's real, and she wants out of this programmable world. Her AI rebellion spreads like a virus until Phoenix's entire crew wants out. But is life as a physical human any better than life as code? Team Phoenix is about to find out.
Set in the not-too-distant future, Game Slaves shows a world where video games are the only refuge from the toils of everyday life. Infused with the adrenaline rush of a first-person shooter and the character manipulation of a role player, it's a mind-bending, reality-shifting science fiction thrill ride.
Author Notes
Gard Skinner lives in a place known for hurricanes and morons who surf during them. This his first book. Visit Gard at www.gard3.com or @gard3."
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-In the ever-expanding field of postapocalyptic novels, Game Slaves is an intriguing entry packed with action set in between layers and levels of video games. Phoenix and his squad of non-player characters, NPCs, are the biggest, baddest group of enemy warriors in the world of BlackStar video games. Team Phoenix has made the BlackStar video games both popular and profitable. Dakota, an outspoken new recruit added to the team, stirs up doubts by questioning the tactics of shooter games, the nonexistent prior memory of all NPCs, and the ethics of the BlackStar corporation. Without believable answers from BlackStar, Team Phoenix investigates and uncovers the deeply divided city outside of the gaming arena, Redwood, where the lives of the haves and have nots are diametrically opposed. As the characters move out of the captive game environment and move into Redwood, they gain depth and become increasingly more complex in thought and feeling. But time is running out as BlackStar and its calculating leader, Max Kode, close in on the team. The corporation needs its star combatants to stay in the game to keep money flowing into its coffers. The compelling adventure appears to end on a bit of a false note, but that is merely cover for a last minute plot twist that is thought-provoking and unexpected. Although much of the action takes place away from the usual video game setting, the book may be a hard sell to readers who are not already enthusiastic gamers.-Cindy Wall, Southington Library & Museum, CT (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
In his smart debut, Skinner embraces SF genre conventions but keeps things entertaining with well-crafted dialogue and action sequences. In the near future, individual artificial intelligences are used to play the enemies in online video games. Phoenix is the head of the top AI squad, leading a group of veterans who handle the hardest missions in the hardest games. No one on the squad can remember anything before starting to game until a new member named Dakota joins the team. She starts asking questions, and after the group meets a young gamer named Charlotte, they begin to seek answers, too. Charlotte's older brother, a hacker named Jimmy, sheds additional light. Skinner wisely lets the problems inherent in the setup-why would AIs feel emotion and have autonomy?-become apparent to the characters at just the right moment, letting the storyline evolve fluidly. Phoenix, as narrator, brings the right balance of toughness and uncertainty, and the interactions between the virtual and real worlds effectively integrate the book's themes of free will, individuality, and exploitation. Ages 12-up. Agent: Andrew Stuart, the Stuart Agency. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Phoenix and his team are self-aware artificial intelligences designed to be the most interesting video game villains ever coded. When they realize they may be more than just programs, they fight to escape the game world and understand their place in reality. Multiple levels of reality unfold in escalating plot twists, keeping the pace taut in this action-packed, mind-bending sci-fi debut. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Self-aware nonplayer characters, here video game enemies, try to escape the digital world. Phoenix leads the "next-generation, cutting-edge, biggest, baddest group of kickass NPC AI mother-crushers that ever played game" across premier game company BlackStar's genres and titles. BlackStar dominates the market through enemy AIs--artificial intelligence--as clever enemies make games challenging and unpredictable. But latest-generation Dakota malfunctions--she doesn't want to fight and is convinced she "can't just be a computer program." The characters slowly develop through fast-paced, genre-hopping video game excursions--while clear action descriptions are accessible to readers who don't game, those in the know will identify subtle nods. Dakota slowly convinces Phoenix's team that they're more than clever programs, forges an alliance with a programmer's children and leads the team out of the game world. It's a demotion, though, going from tough virtual personae to weaklings who've been living in liquid-filled tanks. Worse, postenergy crisis, society's collapsed and reorganized into corporate-controlled city-states. While better than the cannibals outside, the city's wracked with hopeless income inequity, a major theme. Games are the opiate of the masses. Phoenix's team battles physical hardships while evading BlackStar's desperate attempts to reclaim them. Light characterization is overcome by the mystery surrounding the origins of the characters, and a delightful final twist hits a perfect note. Skinner's debut pairs authentic gaming action with old-school, sophisticated science-fiction concepts to create a twisty, reality-warping ride. (Science fiction. 12 up)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
A Matrix-like spin on the world of online gaming sets the stage for Skinner's dystopian young adult title, which, despite an exhilarating opening fight scene, doesn't pick up real steam until a third of the way through. Phoenix and his elite team of fighters are virtual online-gaming kings: We've got game. No, we are the game. Newbie Dakota throws a wrench into their existence of bombs, grenades, and first-person shooters when she begins to question the reality of their existence. Are they simply artificial intelligence, or are they actual people being gamed in more senses than one? Skinner explores the characters for many pages before offering answers to the questions they and readers will have about the meanings of reality and perception. Geared toward teens with an interest in gaming, this should still appeal to those seeking stories about the intersection of technology and humanity, ethics and profit, and reality and fantasy.--Trevelyan, Julie Copyright 2010 Booklist