Friday, February 22, 2013

The Demi-Monde, by Rod Rees

The Demi-Monde is a sophisticated computer program created by the US Military for training purposes.  In this virtual world, major historical figures, many of them evil, reside in a truncated version of the world, in the worst possible combinations of social, political, and economic conditions.  However, it has been discovered that if a real world person enters the Demi-Monde and dies there, they die in real life as well.  This has recently become a problem, as the daughter of the President of the United States has been lured into the Demi-Monde.  Will the she get saved in time?

This book is, in a word, explosive.  I was intimidated, at first, that this book would be to difficult for me to follow.  I sometimes struggle with technological dramas and action packed stories, because I cannot follow the line of the action.  Not so in this story.  The author has done such a superb job in creating this alternate, virtual reality of the Demi-Monde, including maps laying out the different territories.  The story mostly consists within this virtual world, and it has been brilliantly, and vividly created.  I had absolutely no difficulty imagining it in my mind.

Similarly, the characters in the book, particularly the personalities residing in the Demi-Monde, are frighteningly realistic.  The figures based on real historical figures were most striking to me, particularly the psychopathic "singularities".  There is a tremendous amount of word play involved in the naming of the territories, ethnic groups, religions, and philosophies that make up the Demi-Monde, and it is all wonderfully clever.  

The book is a dense read, full of nonstop action and many plot twists and turns.  There were times it was so intense, I had to walk away for a few moments, yet I found myself pulled back.  While not totally dystopian in nature, it will certainly appeal to fans of that genre, as well as those who enjoy technological thrillers.

I received a review copy of the book courtesy of TLC Book Tours.  See the entire tour off books from this series here.

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1 comment:

  1. Sounds like a book for me! I love books with maps because I love consulting the map and seeing where the characters are at any given time. I also know what you mean about having to step away when things become too intense!

    Thanks for being on the tour!

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