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Virtual Reality #1
A Race Against Time
A life-threatening virus which only affects adults has broken out, and teens Kelly and Tim are the only ones smart enough to find a cure. The catch--it's hidden in virtual reality and can only be retrieved by responding correctly to the program's biblically-based questions.
162 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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July 12, 2017
A young teen brother and sister in rural North America find that their family is involved in a rescue effort. A virus is spreading which affects adults, not young people. As the adults with them collapse, they take over the work of competing against a virtual reality computer game to win through and find the formula for a cure.
Some of the details are good given it was written in 1990s. The only computers that could run this virtual world have to be government Crays and so the twins have to be brought to a facility which has remarkably little security as their guardian has nowhere else to stash them while he works on the problem. We see the bodysuits, gloves and helmets, with electric shocks being delivered to mimic stabbing thorns and bites. However the players are playing energetically for hours without getting hungry, not very realistic.
The author clearly has his own personal view of the world and decides that the creator of the computer game - now missing - will have constructed a test on Christian principles and using the odd Bible as reference. (Indeed we could take this as a metaphor.) I would say that you don't have to be a devout Christian to be a good caring person, or to put helping others before money. I found it quite puzzling that at least once a chapter the kids say "The Lord will help us" or "I don't have to be afraid because I'm in the Lord's palm," when there is no evidence at all to support this for them and every win they make is entirely of their own making. In other words they have all the resources they need. Most teenagers do not talk in prayer and it would have been more convincing if they had spoken about pop culture references.
This is an unbiased review.
Some of the details are good given it was written in 1990s. The only computers that could run this virtual world have to be government Crays and so the twins have to be brought to a facility which has remarkably little security as their guardian has nowhere else to stash them while he works on the problem. We see the bodysuits, gloves and helmets, with electric shocks being delivered to mimic stabbing thorns and bites. However the players are playing energetically for hours without getting hungry, not very realistic.
The author clearly has his own personal view of the world and decides that the creator of the computer game - now missing - will have constructed a test on Christian principles and using the odd Bible as reference. (Indeed we could take this as a metaphor.) I would say that you don't have to be a devout Christian to be a good caring person, or to put helping others before money. I found it quite puzzling that at least once a chapter the kids say "The Lord will help us" or "I don't have to be afraid because I'm in the Lord's palm," when there is no evidence at all to support this for them and every win they make is entirely of their own making. In other words they have all the resources they need. Most teenagers do not talk in prayer and it would have been more convincing if they had spoken about pop culture references.
This is an unbiased review.
Displaying 1 of 1 review