Publishing Details: New York: Greenwillow Books, imprint of HarperCollins Publishers; 2016
No. of Pages: 406 Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian Fiction Themes: Press Play to Start, Virtual Reality
Storyline: Action-packed, Plot-driven
Annotation:
In this dark and gritty tale, the world has undergone a reckless amount of planetary damage so severe that any restoration attempts will prove fruitless. In attempts to create a new world as means to escape the harsh reality, an mesmerizing virtual-reality entertainment system titled 'Chimera'. This peculiar recreation system became so popular, the ever diminishing world economy had stood to a mere sustainable level. For Miguel Anderson, he was in desperate need of a brand new heart, as his current heart couldn't bare to withstand the heavily polluted atmosphere from the real world. That's when a new 'Chimera' team-based tournament event had been announced, with highly valuable prizes up for winners' grabs. While the premise seems simple enough for Miguel and his selected team, he will soon realize that there was a lot more to 'Chimera' than just being a competitive virtual-reality game. 'Gamescape: Overworld' is the first of two entries of 'The Nova Project' book series. People who are familiar with video games will be delighted to see that this particular book goes deeply detailed in the perspective of virtual reality, especially with the concepts of consequences in the virtual world being passed on to reality; and fans of adrenaline-fuelled action will certainly be entertained by this future dystopian story.
Title: Absolute Ambition: Memoria Author and Publisher: David L. Van Horne No. of Pages: 230 Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy Themes: Good vs Evil; Inequality Writing Style: Well-Written Tone: Suspenseful; Thought-Provoking
Annotation:
In the peculiar world of Pearl, everything in this world is surrounded by a buried source of mystic power only known as Vim. Vim is what creates the entire life cycle for every being in Pearl; but the sights of the power-hungry syndicate Megacorp are highly determined to extract Vim for fuel to the enterprise's many mechanical devices. Megacorp's intentions soon caught the attention of a mysterious rebelling group named WAVE, who have recently inducted erstwhile peace agent Cirrus Stark, who was angered by Megacorp's greedy purpose. What both WAVE and Cirrus Stark don't realise is that somewhere out there lies a special individual that might be essentially crucial to saving the world of Pearl from the horrid hands of the Megacorp corporation.
'Absolute Ambition: Memoria' follows the traditional story of good against evil, with a hybrid style between a magical fantasy world and a futuristic high-tech world, and a notable hint of being self-aware to the environmental ecosystem. This book is particularly recommended for those with interests on either or both science-fiction and fantasy, and those who have played any of the 'Final Fantasy' video games should not be fooled through the fact that this book does not take place in the 'Final Fantasy' universe, and instead takes some inspiration from the seventh game entry of the 'Final Fantasy' series.
Publisher: New York: Night Shade Books; March 27th 2018 No. of Pages: 272 Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian Fiction, Coming-of-Age Story Themes: Press Play to Start; Rise of the Machines Storyline: Intricately Plotted Writing Style: Compelling; Jargon-Filled Tone: Suspenseful; Thought-Provoking
Annotation: Set in the year of 2017, a teenage boy named Matthew Munson spends a lot of time playing video games in attempts to relieve his despair of missing his father. at his home whilst withdrawing a majority of his school time a. Hopes for Matthew soon began to rise when his father, Jeffrey Munson, returned home and brought a rather antique video game titled 'Bash Bash Revolution' for the both of them to play together; only for Jeffrey to suddenly vanish out of Matthew's sight. Frustrated by the occurence, Matthew pushed himself to finding his father, only to discover that Jeffery had played part of something more mysterious and nefarious. This sci-fi dystopian tale will deliver an extraordinary experience of the world being under threat of highly advanced contraptions capable of rapid self-development and a young teenage boy coping with his separation from his entire family. Video game enthusiasts will have a blast reading this novel, especially with the numerous cultural references to the many video games we know and love in history. Interview Video (may contain coarse language):
