Game Slaves

Skinner, Gard. Game Slaves. 2014. 336p. ISBN 978-0547972596. Available as an eBook on Overdrive.

Phoenix leads a team of highly specialized and efficient non-player characters in the Blackstar gaming console environment. When people play a computer game, the bad bosses they encounter are Phoenix and his teammates. There is a difference between other computer games and Blackstar’s, however. They can adapt, listen in on the players’ communications, and anticipate their every move. Phoenix and the others are self-aware and know that they are computer programs created for the enjoyment of people who escape their otherwise bleak lives. They are corporate property.

But when Dakota joins the team, everything changes. As the newest model, she is faster and more accurate. She is also full of doubt that she is a computer code. How else could she remember details like swimming in a lake? In her quest to discover the truth of what, or who, she really is, Dakota leads Phoenix and his friends on a deadly game against Blackstar and its agents, who are bent on restoring the five to their place as best gaming villains and not as individuals.

Virtual reality offers authors the ability to play Russian dolls and present an environment within an environment within an environment. This book is no exception, and the reader, much like the main characters, never quite know whether they are joined the real world or are still zeroes and ones on a server. An interesting exploration of what is reality, this action packed novel provides characters that are designed to be bigger than life, and they do not disappoint.

If you enjoyed this book, consider Phoenix, a space opera adventure with similar questioning of what it means to be human.