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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Stayton Public Library | TEEN SEGAL | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | YA Fic Segel, J. 2017 | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Newberg Public Library | TEEN SEGEL | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Willamina Public Library | YA Segel, J. | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
"Full of high stakes, thrillers, and fantastic twists and turns, fans of Ready Player One are sure to love this addictive read." --Buzzfeed
"A potent commentary on how much we're willing to give up to the lure of technology." -- EW
"A fantastic journey from start to finish." --Hypable
New York Times bestselling authors Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller imagine a world in which you can leave your body behind and give into your greatest desires in the first book in a fast-paced trilogy perfect for fans of the hit HBO show Westworld and anyone interested in the terrifying possibilities of the future of technology.
That's how Otherworld traps you. It introduces you to sensations you'd never be able to feel in real life. You discover what's been missing--because it's taboo or illegal or because you lack the guts to do it for real. And when you find out what's missing it's almost impossible to let it go again.
There are no screens. There are no controls. You don't just see and hear it--you taste, smell, and touch it too. In this new reality, there are no laws to break or rules to obey. You can live your best life. Indulge every desire.
This is Otherworld -- a virtual reality game so addictive you'll never want it to end. And Simon has just discovered that for some, it might not.
The frightening future that Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller have imagined is not far away. Otherworld asks the question we'll all soon be asking: if technology can deliver everything we want, how much are we willing to pay?
"An engaging VR cautionary tale." --The A.V. Club
"[A] fast-paced adventure." -- Publishers Weekly
"Authors Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller keep the action nonstop. " -- Shelf Awareness
Author Notes
Jason Jordan Segel was born on January 18, 1980 in California. He is an actor, author, musician, songwriter, and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Marshall Eriksen in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, as well as for his work with producer Judd Apatow on the television series Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, and starred in several films, including Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Sex Tape, Knocked Up, The Muppets, Despicable Me, and The Five-Year Engagement.
Segel's first major role was as stoner "freak" Nick Andopolis on the critically acclaimed but short-lived 1999 NBC comedy-drama series Freaks and Geeks. Segel had recurring roles on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation as Neil Jansen and on Undeclared as Eric. He played Marshall Eriksen/Beercules on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. His feature film appearances include Slackers, SLC Punk!, The Good Humor Man, and Dead Man on Campus. In 2007, he appeared in Knocked Up, directed by Freaks and Geeks creator Judd Apatow. Segel starred in the lead role of 2008's Forgetting Sarah Marshall. In 2014 he made The New York Times Best Seller List with his title Nightmares!.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 8 Up-Simon is just your average delinquent teenager with a heart of gold until he returns to his New Jersey home after getting kicked out of boarding school, only to realize that his best friend and crush is avoiding him. Kat is hiding something and it looks like she's in real danger. Meanwhile, Simon gets a glimpse at the new VR game, Otherworld, and hopes to meet up with Kat there to figure out what's going on. There is an accident, and the two realize they are in much more trouble than they thought. People around the area are all mysteriously getting wounded and falling into comas, Otherworld doesn't want to let players out anymore-the code is going rogue, and the stakes might not just be a game reboot. The quick pick for conspiracy theory fans gives teens just enough setting for their imaginations to run wild while keeping the pacing quick for reluctant readers. There is just enough character building for an average action novel to keep readers plugged into the drama and enough dangling digital ethics threads to keep gamer geeks interested. Fans of M.T. Anderson's Feed, James Dashner's The Eye of Minds, Cory Doctorow's Little Brother, and Mary E. Pearson's The Adoration of Jenna Fox won't want to leave Otherworld either. VERDICT Purchase where fast-paced sci-fi thrillers are popular.-Rachel Reinwald, Lake Villa District Library, IL © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Actor (and author) Segel (How I Met Your Mother) enlivens this middle grade techno-thriller, the fifth in the Nightmares! series that he has been cowriting with Miller (How to Lead a Life of Crime), with an impressive variety of colorful character voices. The story revolves around a game that merges virtual and actual reality so well that players don't want to unplug. Simon becomes concerned when his friend Kat is injured in a suspicious accident, falls into a coma, and gets hooked up to a new, experimental version of the game. As he investigates, he discovers clues to a sinister conspiracy involving the executives of the video game company and decides to enter the game himself to find Kat. Segel reads the first-person narrative in a serious, determined tone, which matches Simon's demeanor as he risks his life to save his friend, but it's surprisingly straitlaced compared to Segel's comedic television and movie appearances. His playfulness comes through in the multitude of voices he adopts for the video game characters Simon encounters, giants, trolls, and a malevolent monkey creature among them. The fun, goofy voices add much-needed levity to a plot heavy with ethical undertones about the effects of technology and society. Ages 12-up. A Delacorte hardcover. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
After Simon's estranged best friend Kat is hospitalized for severe injuries, her mind is sent from her unresponsive body into the virtual reality game Otherworld, where Simon goes in search of her. He soon realizes the breathtaking fantasy world he'd previously visited for fun holds many dangerous secrets. Two-dimensional characters detract from the novel's timely warnings about technology's invasive potential in the not-too-distant future. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A delinquent teen searches a virtual world for his best friend. Simon and Kat have been best friends since they were preteens, but following a series of peculiar events the two white teens have not spoken for several months. After a disastrous accident leaves Kat unresponsive in a hospital bed, the famous Company behind virtual-reality tech such as the Otherworld offers to plug Kat into a new world using experimental, state-of-the-art technology. When Simon discovers that the Company's plans are less than virtuous he smuggles himself into the virtual world in search of Kat. The authors sketch a believable, not-too-distant future, envisioning the evolution of virtual reality as a truly seductive life choice. The Otherworld itself is fairly standard fantasy stuff, with knights, dragons, witches, wizards, and cities. Simon journeys through this dangerous land and struggles against a chosen-one narrative thrust upon him by the game's indigenous inhabitants and players alike. This thread blends with the Company's corporate-intrigue plot points deliciously, but the book's place as series opener lessens the development in some frustrating ways. Equally maddening is Kat's damsel-in-distress status; she is less a character and more a goal until the novel's very end. An exciting start to a mostly well-conceived sci-fi series that has room for improvement. (Science fiction. 12-17) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
An accident at a party in an abandoned industrial site sends Simon's best friend (and love interest) Kat to the hospital, where she's diagnosed with locked-in syndrome, a condition that leaves her mind intact but her body paralyzed and there are three other high-school students with the same diagnosis. Already suspicious, Simon teams up with Busara (whose father envisioned medical uses for virtual reality), and they uncover what looks like a conspiracy connected to an Oculus-Rift-type virtual reality gaming world known as Otherworld. It seems the company is using badly injured people as beta testers for a commercial product, and when they can't find them, they create them. Can Simon get in and get himself, Kat, and a few new friends out before their virtual death means death IRL? VR lovers and other gaming types will be in heaven reading this book, which is an imaginative and entertaining game walk-through combined with mystery and danger. Try this with reluctant readers and use it with fans of James Dashner's Mortality Doctrine series or Emma Trevayne's Gamescape: Overworld (2016). HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The best-selling duo behind the Nightmares! series will be touring in the wake of heavy publisher promotion, so grab spare copies while you can.--Welch, Cindy Copyright 2017 Booklist