Winter

The Demi-Monde Saga #1

by Rod Rees

The Demi-Monde is the most advanced computer simulation ever devised. Created to prepare soldiers for the nightmarish reality of urban warfare, it is a virtual world locked in eternal civil war. Its thirty million digital inhabitants are ruled by duplicates of some of history's cruellest tyrants: Reinhard Heydrich, the architect of the Holocaust; Beria, Stalin's arch executioner; Torquemada, the pitiless Inquisitor General; Robespierre, the face of the Reign of Terror. But something has gone badly wrong inside the Demi-Monde, and the US President's daughter has become trapped in this terrible world. It falls to eighteen-year-old Ella Thomas to rescue her, yet once Ella has entered the Demi-Monde she finds that everything is not as it seems, that its cyber-walls are struggling to contain the evil within and that the Real World is in more danger than anyone realises.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Steampunk, Fiction, Dystopia, Cyberpunk, Ebooks

522 pages, Hardcover

First published January 6, 2011

Reviews

[Kat Hooper · Rating 2 out of 5]

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

"One more acronym and murder will be done."

To train soldiers for different high-stress combat scenarios, the U.S. military has developed a virtual reality game called The Demi-Monde. The game world is divided into different sections with boundaries like spokes on a wheel. These adjacent sections are overpopulated and made up of different mixtures of races and cultures that should clash and create wars. In addition, scientists have used the DNA of real historical people to create “Dupes” (duplicates) of actual historical tyrants and other bad guys to populate the Demi-Monde with the kinds of people who are likely to initiate conflicts. These dupes think they are real people and that the people who come in from the real world are “Daemons.” To make it as realistic as possible, when U.S. soldiers are in training in the Demi-Monde, their brains are completely immersed — they are not aware that they’re only playing a game. However, this leaves their consciousness separated from their bodies so that if they are killed in the game, they slip into a vegetative state in real life.

When Norma Williams, the U.S. President’s daughter, is kidnapped and held hostage in the Demi-Monde, the government must figure out how to rescue her. They hire Ella Thomas, a black jazz singer, to go into the game and bring Norma out.

The Demi-Monde: Winter has an entertaining premise and I’ve been looking forward to reading it since I heard about it more than a year ago. Unfortunately, I could not finish it. I worked on it for 6 weeks and I had to keep starting over. It was the only print book I was reading at the time and I dreaded picking it up — I just couldn’t get into it. One problem is that the writing is not engaging; it is merely utilitarian and, though it often attempts to be witty, it usually doesn’t succeed. The second problem is that there is a lot of information about the world dumped on the reader at the beginning, so the plot takes a long time to wind up.

The biggest problem, though, the one I couldn’t get past, was the outrageous beliefs of the Demi-Mondians and the way these are presented. All of their ideas (mostly radical racism and sexism) are ideas we’ve heard before, which makes sense because the people who tend to rise to the top in the Demi-Monde are the Earth’s former tyrants, but their beliefs are conveyed in such a ham-fisted manner that, lacking any subtlety, they become cartoonish. What makes them even more laughable (except that I wasn’t laughing, I was wincing) is the way they’re explained in scholarly quotes at the beginning of each chapter:

"HerEticalism is a Covenite religion based on female supremacy and the subjugation of men. Rabidly misandric in nature, the HerEtical belief is that Demi-Monde-wide peace and prosperity — an unfeasibly idyllic outcome given the tag “MostBien” — will only be realized when men (”nonfemmes” in Coven-speak) accept a subordinate position within society. HerEticalism has a more aggressive sister religion known as Suffer-O-Gettism (a contraction of Make-Men-Suffer-O-Gettism) which espouses violence as the only means of bringing change in the Demi-Monde. Suffer-O-Gettes are of the opinion that the removal of the male of the species from the breeding cycle is a vital concomitant to the securing of MostBien. Such are the unnatural and obscene sexual activities of HerEticals that they are lampooned throughout the Demi-Monde as “LessBiens.”"

These kinds of awful puns (and equally ridiculous acronyms) gallop unbridled through the entire novel. MALEvolent, HimPerialism, nanoBites, pawnography, PsyChick (a cute female who assists a psychic during his presentations), Terror Incognita, ThawsDay, UnFunDaMentalism, woeMen, neoFights... If you’re into masochism, you can read the official dictionary of Demi-Monde slang.

This nearly drove me insane. Despite its dull writing style, I was interested in the plot of The Demi-Monde: Winter, but it’s kind of hard to get through it when you’re rolling your eyes during every line of text and then have to keep finding your place again. I finally quit halfway through.

[Emiliya Bozhilova · Rating 4.25 out of 5]

The Bulgarian review is first, the English translation follows it below



В света на Деми-монд всичко е до болка познато и същевременно напълно неочаквано.

В този свят АББА не е иконична музикална група, а свръхкомпютър и изкуствен суперинтелект, който поддържа Деми-монд - виртуален свят на умишлено подклаждани насилие и конфликти на база религия, идеология, етнос, раса, пол и всичко, което в човешката история е водило до изстъпления. В този свят армията на САЩ тренира умения за асиметрична война срещу технологично по-слаб, но неумолим противник. Жителите на Деми-монд са неразличими от истински хора, а АББА поддържа и определен брой реални социопати от човешката история, които допринасят за постоянния хаос и насилие.

В Деминонд - на цената на 5 милиона долара - е “транспортирана” Ела Томас, за да спаси дъщерята на американския президент, чието съзнание неизвестен извършител държи в плен.

В умален и силно концентриран мащаб тя се сблъсква с всички конфликтни точки и моменти от човешката история, които в Деми-монд имат същите съсипващи последици както в реалния свят. Основният конфликт в тази първа книга се върти около ФундаМентФашизма, ръководен от дигиталния еквивалент на Хайдрих, превзел два от петте сектора в този свят и с апетит за още.

Героите са всевъзможни и отлично изградени, мярва се дори другарят Троцки, който в това си превъплъщение е просто умен НоВреин от Варшавското гето.

Приключения, интриги, битки, загадки и немалка доза чудеса и малко техно-магия дебнат из страниците. Не ми доскуча нито за миг, като житейският опит, ерудицията, иронията и познаването на историята от страна на автора са глътка свеж въздух, подобно на отказа му от клишета и удобни матрици.


——
🚩”Революцията се отразява отвратително на маниерите ми.”

In the world of the Demi-monde, everything is painfully familiar and yet completely unexpected.

In this world, ABBA is not an iconic pop group, but a supercomputer and artificial superintelligence that maintains the Demi-monde—a virtual world of deliberately fueled violence and conflicts based on religion, ideology, ethnicity, race, gender, and everything that has ever led to atrocities in human history. In this world, the US military trains asymmetric warfare skills against a technologically inferior yet relentless adversary. The inhabitants of the Demi-monde are indistinguishable from real people, and ABBA also maintains a certain number of actual sociopaths from human history who contribute to the constant chaos and violence.

Ella Thomas is "transported" into the Demi-monde—at the price of 5 million dollars—to rescue the US president's daughter, whose consciousness is being held captive by an unknown perpetrator.

On a miniature and highly concentrated scale, she comes face to face with all the conflict points and flashpoints of human history, which carry the same devastating consequences in the Demi-monde as they do in the real world. The main conflict in this first book revolves around Fundamental Fascism, led by the digital equivalent of Heydrich, which has seized two of the five sectors in this world and hungers for more.

The characters are wildly varied and excellently developed; even Comrade Trotsky makes a brief appearance, though in this incarnation he is merely a clever NoBrain from the Warsaw Ghetto.

Adventures, intrigues, battles, riddles, and a healthy dose of miracles along with a touch of techno-magic lurk across the pages. I wasn't bored for a single moment, and the author's life experience, erudition, irony, and grasp of history are a breath of fresh air, as is his refusal to rely on tropes and convenient formulas.

[Zornitsa Rasim · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5⭐ Много интересна първа книга, и много различна от всичко което съм чела досега, доста шантава за мен хаха, но ми хареса! Това,че е различна,бързо се чете,интересен сюжет 🤔. Между другото случайно попаднах на тази поредица в приложението на Озон, и си казах защо пък не, и въобще не съжалявам! Продължавам с втора книга "Пролет" 🤔, съвпада и със сезона хаха.

[Strange · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Whatever happened to 'Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law'?"
- Norma Williams

I will at the very least give Rod Rees this about his book The Demi-Monde: Winter. He is an ambitious son of a bitch*. In his debut novel, he takes cyberpunk, melds it with a certain post-steampunk sensibility, adds some nasty historical tones, some outright horror elements, and flings it all headlong into our laps without so much as a casual "look out". He tries, and he tries very, very hard. You can tell there was quite a bit of effort that went into The Demi-Monde, and that Mr. Rees wanted to make this an ambitious epic full of narrow escapes and frightening terror. He wanted to make the threats real and the story one that twisted and turned, with betrayals and an actually competent villain who won more than they lost. He wanted an epic, and that's what he tried to write.

You'll notice a lot of "wanteds" and "trieds" in that last paragraph. If you think that's an accident, I regret to inform you it is most certainly not.

The Demi-Monde by Rod Rees is the story of a virtual reality environment used to train soldiers in "asymmetrical warfare". In the environment, the Demi-Monde of the title, technology is locked into the year 1789, and the world is split into several areas, each ruled by a different faction. Each faction has their own leader, a "dupe" of a real-world historical figure. The world is also crippled by warfare so that each faction has an immediate reason to go to war with the others, simulating the real-world conditions of asymmetrical warfare environments**. The biggest and most dangerous of these factions are a bunch of war criminals (and inexplicably, Aleister Crowley***) named the ForthRight. Due to some mysterious circumstances, Norma Williams (the President of the United States's daughter) gets herself trapped in the Demi-Monde. When this happens, the US military sends a young jazz singer named Ella Thomas into the Demi-Monde to save the First Daughter and bring her to the only remaining exit in a mission that I am completely justified in describing as "far too reminiscent of Escape from L.A.****, only with virtual reality".

Ella is transported into the Demi-Monde to inhabit the role of a dupe that looks like it could be her spitting image, and is given the mission of navigating a world ruled by incurable psychopaths and inhabited by sentient programs used to a culture of betrayal and brutal politics to save Norma and, as things escalate, possibly the real world itself. But if she wants to survive, she will have to navigate several plots and counterplots, as well as two revolutions and the surprisingly savvy maneuvers of Heydrich's forces to find the exit and escape.

And I'm not going to lie, the book is interesting, and the right kind of trashy, but it's just so very bad. It's like finding the rare un-enjoyable B-movie, a book that desperately wants to be so many things and tries so hard to reach an ambitious narrative and thrilling pitch...but then falls flat on its face. And slides along like a stop-motion man in a student film. The issue with Rees's writing isn't so much that there's not a good plot in the whole mess, oh no, there are the makings of several good plots in The Demi-Monde: Winter. The issue is that they're buried in the five hundred page disaster that is the published book.

But I'd be remiss not to present evidence. So why is this book a disaster?

Well, let's start with the issues in Rees's writing. While there is nothing wrong with the technical side of the writing, there are serious issues with the tone and level of exposition Rees has decided to adopt. The tone alternates between actual writing, massive info-dumps on the denizens of the Demi-Monde, and historical in-jokes. Historical in-jokes that then have info-dumps explaining the nature of the in-jokes and why we should find them funny in case we don't actually know who these people are and how clever the author is for making the jokes. And then there are the neologisms and portmanteaus he uses. Oh god so many neologisms and portmanteaus. About half the concepts introduced have stupid names attached. This is just poor writing****. Furthermore, when the actual history and personality of the real-life figures veers from what Rees wants them to do, he waves his hand dismissively and does a half-assed job of explaining it away. The most notable of these is his take on Aleister Crowley, Crowley simply dismisses some of the quotes and acts attributed to him when they're brought up and continues on his way as an evil Nazi sorcerer.

Since it's a nice segue, let's look at his characterization next. It's terrible. Ella's pretty much a Mary-Sue****** who swings between being a mouthpiece for the author's own views half the time and being irritatingly contrarian towards everyone she meets the other half. The other characters are equally inconsistent, seemingly adopting modes and attitudes as the plot requires and then abandoning them at the most convenient times. One in particular, Trixiebelle Dashwood, winds up growing out of her initial bratty upper-class character into a fine example of a strong woman, only to regress the moment the plot calls for her to be a brat again. The only characters who seem to develop or be at all thought out are a psychic con man named Vanka Maykov, and Baron Dashwood, Trixiebelle's father. But, of course, since the book isn't about them and they can't take any snobbish and sanctimonious stances on sociopolitical matters, the author has them both as secondary characters. Everyone else tends to be historical and inconsistent, or underdeveloped and inconsistent.

Furthermore, the characters tend to be idiots. Ella frequently forgets what she's allowed to do with her powers and what plans she can make with them, abandoning them for the good of the continuing story. In the two most blatant examples, knowing full well that there's an evil plot afoot, Ella does nothing to try and circumvent it whatsoever. This becomes especially obvious when she's given a literal deus ex machina to play around with and instead of using the damn thing to make her goals that much easier, she instead completely ignores any possible options that would bring a swift end to the conflict and instead goes for the ones with very little impact. She has every advantage given to her, and yet instead of using them properly, she just conveniently forgets she has ways to circumvent the laws of her current reality.

Which leads us into the plot. Of the several plots going on, there are exactly two worth exploring-- Ella and Vanka's attempts to run a short-con on Heydrich's forces to spring the President's daughter, and the building rebellion in the Demi-Monde. Neither of these emerge until at least halfway through the book, and while each one would make a lovely book on their own, as a whole package, they suck. The plots do intersect and wind up dovetailing quite nicely, but both of them would have been much stronger on their own. As a whole, they merely wind up weighing each other down. It's like Rees couldn't decide between those and the numerous subplots he tries to introduce, so he tries to keep them going all at once. To add to this ADD theory of plot explosion, the various factions in the Demi-Monde seem to act a certain way only when it suits them. One of the final plot twists hinges on a non-aggression between two groups who are so ideologically opposed that any agreement between them is impossible, simply because...the plot says so? Things seem to happen more or less for this very reason.

And finally, the ending. Or rather, the lack of one. Since this is the first book in a four-book series (and we'd have to assume a four-book series...this one's winter, the next one's called The Demi-Monde: Spring, and Rees has said the last book will be The Demi-Monde: Fall.), Rees has decided to end Winter on a cliffhanger where everyone is almost very nearly dead and/or routed. But it seems like a cop-out. He doesn't bother to resolve anything, just sort of lets the loose ends be loose ends with the empty promise that all of this will be resolved by the end of the series. Well, I highly doubt it.

I suppose in the interest of objectivity, I should say that there are a lot of cool ideas in The Demi-Monde. I love what he's done with the world and the cultures, and it all feels like there's a good book in there somewhere. My issue is that the book that could be and the book that we wound up getting are two entirely different books. And since I can't review the book that could be, we have this book. Hopefully he'll have a better editor for the next three.

So in the end, don't read this book. Give it a miss. If you have to read it, wait until he finishes his little "masterwork" and then either steal it or pick it up from the library. I, for one, will certainly hamstring Mr. Rees in both his legs and make him crawl to the top of the Guggenheim Museum if he ever pulls something like this out of whatever festering hole he found this particular heap of offal in. He should know better, and if he doesn't, someone needs to teach him.


*For those of you who follow me regularly, I think I may have given the game (and my verdict) away using an expletive so soon. Don't tell anyone, would you? I certainly won't.
** Think of it as Civilization V on downers with a steampunk mod.
***A man who, despite being called "The Black Beast" and apparently being a massive creeper, has done more to further knowledge of mysticism in the modern era more than anyone, and believed more in open liberation than repressive theocracies.
***You see? You see? Rod Rees couldn't even rip off the good Escape movie.
****And if anyone'd know, it'd be me. I've done this before, and was soundly trounced for it.
*****Contrary to popular belief, Mary-Sues are allowed to fail at stuff. And do. I don't know why people keep thinking otherwise.

[Jessie Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read This Review & More Like It On My Blog!

Ambitious is the word best used to describe this melange of various genres, alternate realities, and mishmash of famous, reviled persons from across history. Rod Rees has indeed created something very unique and quite wonderfully different with The Demi-Monde: Winter. As the first published part in a four-book saga about an alternate reality populated with "Dupes" or a cyber duplicate, of such nasties and reprobates as Henry VIII, Robespierre, Lucrezia Borgia, Shaka Zulu, Aleister Crowley and the main villain Reinhard Heydrich, engineer of the Nazi's "Final Solution", I have to admit this series is off to one hell of a start. This is a novel that will suck you in completely, as if you were a visitor to the Demi-Monde itself; it will envelop you wholly in its individual amount of awesome and flair.

The Demi-Monde, put most simply, is an immersive alternate reality created by the United States Army to better train its soldiers without actual harm (an 'Asymmetric Warfare Environment' or AWE), but still with plenty of threat. As a heuristic (aka self-teaching) program, The Demi-Monde is constantly evolving, changing system and at least TWO of the five will always, always be at war with one another. With five sectors (The Rookeries, The Coven, Rodina, Quartier Chaud, and NoirVille), each radically, racially and religiously opposed to the others, it is a place of constant war and pain. It's a delightfully steampunkian locale, with technology equivalent to the 1870's in our (real) world. With 30 million Dupes NowLive, created from actual human DNA, this is a populous, dangerous and utterly alien world. And with Dupes considered basically the same as real humans, with no real difference between them, these horrible people are doppelgangers/reincarnations of the most vile people to walk the earth. Another twist added onto the constant fractious nature of the sectors is the reliance on blood throughout the Demi-Monde. Without it, a Demi-Mondian won't last two weeks, so supply and deman dictate life. Yes, this is a cyber-reality full of Dupes that are vampires, though not in the paranomal-type way: the Dupes simply can't survive without the Red Gold. With such a scarce supply of real blood within the AWE, this is another element is used to keep the sectors constantly at the point of war/invasion. The blood supply for this world could even be seen as an allegory for the real world's attitude regarding oil.

You can't fault Rees for being inconsistent or not planning out in minute detail every aspect of this historical fiction/fantasy/steampunk/science fiction-ish-esque story. There's varying cultures, conflicting political parties, isolationist religions. . . any stressor involved in real life, real world strife has been thought of an represented in Rees' hell of a world. From the steampunk flair of "mutoscopes", "steam-limos", the ubiquitous gas-lights, the required mention of "aether", this was a genre that worked well for a recreated subreality/world, coupled with the additional touches from sci-fi and fantasy. I do wish I had a better visual representation of the sectors, The Hub, Terror Incognita, etc. for the maps provided in the digital arc left a lot to be desired with their tiny type and indistinct markings. I never really got a picture in my head of the world itself, and better maps would remedy such an easy fix. While the constant influx of information and data just on the Demi-Monde itself, it can get a bit old but it's also so interesting. I fully admit to googling random side characters mentioned by others just to see who they were (are?), and just what they did to merit a doppelganger in a cyber-reality populated with humanity's worst vermin.

I loved the Demi-Monde and all the possibilites it brought for Rod Rees' story but I didn't love all about this tome of a novel. New, invented terms and acronyms are constantly tossed at the reader, from the first page. While it's usually quite easy to figure out the modern-equivalent of what the Demi-Mondians are saying/doing, it's disruptive in the initial part of the novel. Another aspect of the style itself I grew VERY wear of: the random capitializations. Rees will also often subvert a word or saying from the Real World for his Demi-Monde and the results are like this: LessBienism (lesbianism), RaTionalist, nuJus (new Jews), woeMen, etc. Between that and the overdone acronyms (TRUE, ABBA, PINC, AWE) it hampered the story. What started out as a clever but subversive homage to the messed up real world became a schtick to mask a non-advancing plot. It was a bit, "Here, look at all these clever observations I've made and incorporated! Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain stagnating characters and plotlines." The story itself is told is a very direct and almost simple style, switching from the lives of Ella, rebel Trixie, Trixie's father Dashwood and (my personal favorite character) a Russian colonel named Vanka Maykov.

Ella herself is a bit of an issue for me. As part of "Operation Offbeat" to rescue Norma, the President's daughter somehow caught within the AWE, I wanted to like her. I wanted to enjoy her dark humor, sarcasm and muse into her obviously troubled personal history. It's just hard to feel a genuine rapport with this woman, for me personally. I also thought her intelligence fluctuated strangely: she says she is the top of her class, best SATs, but doesn't know basic world knowledge? She meets Colonel Ivan Ivanovich and doesn't realize he's a Russian? It was random, and weird. I didn't really "get" any of the females of this novel: Norma and Trixie also fall short of my favorites list As for Ella, I definitely liked that she wasn't a general, cliched white female - she's a tough, smart African American young-woman, who is supposed to be the top of her class. Too much of Ella's plot and actions revolved around every Dupe man in the Demi-Monde finding her abnormally, irresistibly attractive, so much so that they are distracted from, say, torturing her. I'm sorry, but especially with white supremacists doing the torturing, the villains are not going to be conveniently distracted by a nice ankle, or a muscled thigh. I also got SO SICK of hearing her own incredulity at using expletives. I stopped counting the instances after the fourth one, but that needs to go, QUICK. The only time I really enjoyed Ella was in her scenes with the amusing Colonel Maykov... and that's more to do with the fake psychic than the Shade PsyChick.

As for Trixie Dashwood, former Lady of the royal regime, now enmeshed within the Demi-Mondians white supremacist version of the Third Reich (the ForthRight as it's called) she's constantly in danger. Trixie is a hard-headed and hard-hearted young-woman. Between her, Ella and Norma three different types of woman are portrayed (seductress/rescuer, wimp/whiner/rescuee, cold/closed off) and I didn't love a single one. Trixie is just too much: too much anger, too much selfishness, too much action and no thought. Ella, by far comes the closest, but in this world of EXTREME character arcs, she remains far from a favorite. Ella's development from "jad" singer to rescuer to Messiah? Really? I can't say I predicted that at all, but that's a risky and inventive move to take for a (female) character. . I can buy Trixie's revolutionary bent, but her abrupt and entirely unreal switch from proto-RaTionalist Lady to Commander of a militia? In days? With Trixie "[knowing] exactly what had to be done" for an entire military camp? I. Do. Not. Think. So. I call shenanigans, Mr. Rees. That is too far-fetched for a steampunk alternate reality inside a computer with murderous villains from across the ages. But even there, Trixie's evolution does not stop. Slight spoiler ahead: her eventual (and honestly, quite disheartening), bloodthirsty command turns her into something murderous and terrible, something not very far from the SS themselves. Rees does a subtle but effective job of pointing out that fighting fire with fire will sometimes turn you into what you fight. I had to admit that besides a certain charming, scheming Russkie named Maykov, it was the side, bit-players that I enjoyed the most: Louffie, Roza (LOVED HER), Dabrowski. I also quite liked Trixie's sneaky but smart father, the former Baron Dashwood and wished he'd had a bit more time to operate on the page/within the Demi-Monde itself. He sadly was the most underutilized of all the players.

The Demi-Monde: Winter is a lot of book. With plotlines that seem to tie together seamlessly and lead to a satisfying and thoroughly original read, I can't not recommend this novel. One of those rare books where antagonists both outnumber and outclass their counterparts, this was one I both didn't want to finish while simultaneously wishing I had the sequel, The Demi-Monde: Spring, in my hands as soon as I closed the cover, metaphorically speaking. Yes, there are a lot of uncomfortable themes about race, religion, politics, women - but they're all handled with aplomb and finesse and I wasn't off-put by them. The ending doled out some much-needed information, while offering unforeseen complications, a few answers and a burning desire to read the second as soon as humanly possible.

[Susan Tunis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now, this is a Winter I can get on board with!

I started reading this novel on Christmas Day, and what a gift to me! I enjoyed it way more than expected—to the point that I could barely drag myself away to celebrate with friends. Why the limited expectations? Well, I was unfamiliar with the author, but even more I was wary of a science fictiony-sounding premise. The novel does indeed intersect the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and thriller, making it a bit difficult to pigeonhole, but it all comes together terrifically.

Unfortunately, if you try to summarize the plot to anyone, you’ll sound like a lunatic. Early in the novel, a character explains the basic set-up to Ella Thomas, the novel’s protagonist:

“Asymmetric Warfare is the U.S. military’s name for all those messy little conflicts that our country keeps finding itself fighting in hellish places like Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. They are wars without rules and without honor and, to be blunt, they are wars the U.S. Army isn’t particularly good at fighting. When the U.S. military began to study its performance in Asymmetric Warfare Environments it discovered that its soldiers, especially its officers, weren’t effective because they had no appreciation of or understanding of what sort of war they would be fighting. So in order to prepare them better, the U.S. Army InDoctrination and Training Command came up with the idea of creating a computer simulation that would let our combat personnel experience what was waiting for them in Peshawar and desperate places like it… The Demi-Monde is the most sophisticated, the most complex and the most terrifying computer simulation ever devised. It’s a simulation that recreates the visceral anxiety and fear of being in an… Asymmetric Warfare Environment. To play the Demi-Monde you have to be hardwired into it and the hardwiring creates a full sensory bypass: you believe you are in the Demi-Monde.”

Oh, and one other little detail… If you die in the Demi-Monde, you die in real life. Ella has been recruited for a rescue mission. She possesses unique skills and qualifications—and is desperate enough to risk her life—in order to save the daughter of the President of the United States, who has somehow been lost in the Demi-Monde.

Okay, that is not the premise of what I typically read, but this book grabbed me almost immediately. Without being “literary” in any way, the novel is very well written. Rees isn’t merely setting his novel, he is world-building. And doing so very, very effectively. (In addition to the descriptions within the novel, I was fascinated by the maps scattered throughout.) Elements of the Demi-Monde are based on Nazi Germany, but the world that Rees has created is so much richer and more complex than just that. The novel is both political and philosophical, and Rees plays around a lot with language. In fact, at the back of the book there’s a complete glossary of words like UnFunDaMentalism, HerEticalism, HimPerialism, ill-ucination, and the like. At first, I thought the author was just having fun and being clever, but soon enough the use of language became highly Orwellian. After all, it was Orwell who said, “But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” It’s all so entertaining and so smart.

And we haven’t even discussed the characters yet. Ella is terrific character to build the novel around, but is actually one of several major characters. The bulk of this novel takes place in the virtual reality of the Demi-Monde, which is peopled with 30 million “dupes,” basically artificial intelligences. And they are so convincingly rendered that the reader experiences the same cognitive dissonance that Ella does in distinguishing exactly who and what is real. The relationships depicted encompass the entire spectrum from love to hate and everything in between. Race, religion, nationality, and yes, reality, all cause conflict with countless lives on the line. But do dupe lives even matter?

You’ve probably gathered by now that this is a complicated 500+ page novel, and it is only the first of a quadrilogy. There is a story arc in this first novel, but there really is no resolution. It ends on multiple cliff-hangers. This is the sort of thing I generally hate, but I was so caught up in this fast-moving epic that really I’m just looking forward to the next installment and pleased that there will be three more volumes to look forward to. Hooray for trying something a bit outside my comfort zone! What a great find! My New Year’s resolution: resist ordering a copy of the sequel from England. It’s going to be hard.

[Shaun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Straight away I'll state that I'm intimidated by doorstop books. They look like they'll take forever to read, but in the case of The Demi-Monde I zipped through it at a blistering pace (at least it was blistering for me and I have the papercuts to prove it). Rod Rees has constructed a well thought out world populated with characters that you'll love and hate, some purely fictitious, others based on the most vicious and brutal characters out of the pages of history. Blending fact with fiction and history with religion, this is a seamless piece of work and I for one can't wait until Spring. A compelling read.

[Книжни Криле · Rating 5 out of 5]

Добре дошли в Деми-монд. Най-новото във виртуалната реалност – военна опитна площадка и ярък, симулиран свят на жестокост и хаос, управляван от психопати, безумци и фанатици. Ако умреш там, умираш и в Реалния свят... Ужасяваща виртуална реалност, свят, управляван от най-безсърдечните и кръвожадни психопати – от архитекта на Холокоста Райнхард Хайдрих и безмилостния мъчител от Испанската инквизиция Торквемада до кръвожадния и чудовищен Лаврентий Берия, главен екзекутор и дясна ръка на Йосиф Сталин. Прочетете ревюто на "Книжни Криле":

https://knijnikrile.wordpress.com/201...

[Kara Babcock · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let me explain the Demi-Monde to you. Basically you get plugged into a virtual reality, like in the Matrix, except instead of being in a shitty reproduction of office life, you’re plunged into an urban warfare environment where you basically have to fend for yourself. Oh, and you have no memory of who you were, because that makes it more authentic, see? But it’s all designed to help the US Army train its soldiers in guerrilla tactics. To make things even worse, the creators of the Demi-Monde populated it with incredibly realistic simulacra (“Dupes”) of psychopaths through history.

So, in case you weren’t paying attention to that first explanation, let me recap for you. The Demi-Monde is a virtual training world for the US Army, filled with Dupes of historical figures, including psychopaths like Reinhard Heydrich, who has taken over two fifths of the Demi-Monde. You have to understand that this was a training simulation, right? Except if you die in there, you die in real life (because that’s never been the case before). Did I mention how there are duplicates….

My main issue with The Demi-Monde: Winter, as demonstrated above, is its front-loaded and redundant exposition. Rees spends several chapters laying the groundwork for Ella Thomas to enter the Demi-Monde on her rescue mission, and in those chapters, we hear the same information over and over. This doesn’t really let up once we’re in the Demi-Monde either—if Rees has an opportunity to repeat or reiterate a plot or character point, he takes it. Similarly, there’s a great deal of telling rather than showing when it comes to characters’ feelings for one another—and while that isn’t always a bad thing, combined with the heavy amounts of exposition, it basically grinds the story to a halt.



The Demi-Monde: Winter is just too long and too dull, which is saying something for a mash-up of historical psychopaths. But even that isn’t done in a very interesting way. Props to Rees for choosing Heydrich as a principal Nazi antagonist over a more default choice like Hitler. I can see how much effort Rees has put into replicating axes of oppression within the Demi-Monde’s analogous socioethnic groupings. Nevertheless, it doesn’t quite gel. Would a bunch of “pyschopaths” (if indeed these people all were such a thing) like Crowley and Clement actually team-up with Heydrich? I’m reminded of the TOS episode “The Savage Curtain”, in which a lava/rock life-form forces Kirk to team up with historical “good guys” to do a battle to the death with historical “bad guys” to decide whether good or evil is stronger. All the evil people, historical or future-historical, ripped from the context of their times, become caricatures of themselves. It’s not quite the same here; Rees is trying to provide analogous context. But … I don’t know. Something about it rubs me the wrong way, like with the “nuJus”. It’s not that I want to say that Rees is being disrespectful of Jewish people and the other victims of the actual Holocaust … but it exists within this uncanny valley between analog and allegory and I’m not fully on board with it.

Also, I could have done without all those camelCase terms for everything in the Demi-Monde. Between that affectation and the length I felt like I was in another Neal Stephenson novel, and I did not sign my Stephenson waiver this month.

There are moments when it seems like the book is going to get it, is going to pick up steam and really deliver some thoughtful storytelling. It just never quite gets there for me. As far as the idea of simulating Dupes of people in the real-world goes, it’s intriguing and definitely the kind of philosophy I like in my science fiction. Yet for all his penchant for exposition, Rees frustratingly hints at a few things that might only be explained in later books. Or relies on contrived coincidences, like Heydrich’s daughter looking exactly like the President’s daughter. Yet while Rees acknowledges the existential quandary of the Demi-Monde Dupes if the “real world” shuts down the simulation, we never really tackle that on a substantial level. None of the real-world characters wrestle over the morality of it (Ella comes close, thanks to her thing for Vanka).

Finally, the characterization just feels incredibly inconsistent. I don’t understand what Rees was trying to do with Ella. She vacillates between being calm and collected and very mature for her age, knowing exactly what she needs to do, to being appropriately freaked out considering the whack nature of this whole quest of hers. Ella is not the only character who suffers from odd or out-of-character characterization, and it kept pulling me out of the story.

In short, The Demi-Monde: Winter has a tiny idea swamped by overly ambitious attempts to execute it and turn it into a good story. Sometimes these wild rides are rescued by their ideas, or by the humour, the dialogue, etc. None of that happens here. It’s just an unqualified train wreck.

[Dee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank goodness that's over.

The Demi-Monde is a computer simulation modelled on real life and history (Matrix-style, full immersion), used for training purposes. As a starting premise, it's a minefield. When you want to condense the world into microcosm and rejig it, the question isn't whether it will be problematic, it's how and to what degree. Now, as rendered in the book, I found it appalling Euro-centric. There are five sectors, and three of them are Euro (Anglo, Russian/Slav, and Romantic) which leaves the other two being "Asian and stuff" and "African and Muslim and stuff", and these also being the two with skewed gender dynamics. Given that the purported objective of the simulation is to train US forces in low-intensity conflict scenarios - which usually do not occur in Europe - this seems a ridiculous set-up. (On the other hand, would setting it up in any other way provide dangerous options of "only the whites are good"? He avoids that problem neatly by having Nazis. Nazis are always as evil as it gets! No wuckers!)

But there were so many things about the way the simulation was set up that made little to no sense. The selection of historical personalities was occasionally interesting, but mostly just baffling. (What on earth was Aleister Crowley doing there? He deserves, in my mind, neither such praise nor such censure; I may have, in ranting about this, referred to him as the Paris Hilton of Victorian esoteria.) There are many detail flaws in the construction of the world - the locals don't bleed, but they bruise; trees can't grow except when we need them for military purposes; the language involves ongoing ridiculous references to things that don't and have never existed in the simulation.

Let's take a moment to fully appreciate the compound irritation offered in those ridiculous reference by the auThor's flagRant misUse of his Shift keY. YOU ARE NOT CLEVER, SONNY.

But the big problem of the book is in the lack of grace in its telling. It starts terribly slowly, "establishing" the simulation nature of things before plunging in (at which point things pick up considerably). I use the quotemarks because very little of actual substance is established about the simulation itself. We learn bugger all of the technical details, which enables the author to handwave such things as the fact that they can jack a character in, but seem unable to jack her out again (even in the Matrix, you could exit through the entry door), not to mention why programming can't solve the problem. IT'S A COMPUTER UNDER YOUR CONTROL.

Pacing and "but why?" continue to plague the story. Major changes in character direction occur over the space of twelve hours, huge action sequences are given the one-paragraph summary ("and then they took the barricade") and big character emotional points are crammed into the last few lines before the end of a chapter, occasionally feeling like they needed to fit it in so they didn't have to go over the page and interrupt the typeset. The writing itself has all the elevation of a kid lying across the coffee table pretending to be Superman, and the main character kept forgetting her reason for being there at all. Not to mention the author's abhorrent tendency to solve everything with her deus ex striptease; in fact, her skin seems to exert such a hypnotic tendency on everyone in the Demi-Monde that I assume if she was naked, she'd crash the server.

Conceptually, I feel like there's a lot of interesting going on here, but the execution is so cack-handed I couldn't recommend it to anyone.

[Gabriela Kozhuharova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Съвършеният ад „Деми-монд: Зима“: http://azcheta.com/demi-mond-zima-rod...

Ако искате да създадете отвратителен свят, от който да се получи страшно добра книга, какви съставки ще използвате? Първо, ще подберете завидно количество психопати от всички периоди на човешката история, като по възможност се стремите избраниците ви до един да са мегаломани, расисти и садисти. Второ, ще ги натъпчете на минимална площ, така че мигновено да се намразят и да влязат във война за контрол над силно ограничената територия. Трето, ще намерите един-двама симпатични и сравнително нормални герои, та да има кой да пострада качествено от целия ужас, който сте създали. Накрая закачате на творението си табела „Деми-монд“, отпускате се удобно във фотьойла си и се наслаждавате на шоуто, както е направил и американският писател Род Рийс.

Гореизброените характеристики на „Деми-монд: Зима“ леко изкривяват удоволствието от четенето ѝ, но пък всички знаем, че психопатите имат положителен ефект върху литературата и не бива да ни гризе гузната съвест, че се развличаме с изстъпленията им. Докато препусках през романа, постоянно го свързвах с жанрове като стиймпънк, киберпънк и алтернативна история, без да съм сто процента сигурна дали наистина е представител на който и да е от тях. В крайна сметка реших да го наричам приключенски роман – адреналинов, с интригуваща концепция и добре развити герои, които постоянно са в опасност и страдат. Много.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two days, and I want more. I read this book in two days flat and I cannot wait to get my hands on Spring. Left at an excellent stopping point, both in keeping you wanting more, but not in that frustrating way where someone is on the edge of a cliff about to jump off and leaving you at a point where the story will certainly take a turn. Don’t get me wrong, this is not an easy read, nor at 500+ pages is it a short book. But it will drag you into Rees’ well-thought out and impressive world that is The Demi-Monde. The program envelops the soldier, utterly and completely, and Rees draws the reader in until she becomes part of the Demi-Monde herself.

Rees has created an interesting if not the least bit terrifying virtual reality. As described in the Product Description Manual (a copy is available for viewing on the book’s website) the world of the Demi-Monde is an heuristic alternate reality populated with duplicates “Dupes” of real world people alive in our world today. Some of the more prominent ‘dupes’ have no real world counterpart alive today, but they are well-known figures from our most horrific events. The first dupe Ella and the reader are introduced to is Reinhard Heydrich, engineer of the Nazi’s “Final Solution” and it certainly will chill you to the bone to see how accurate Rees has portrayed these villains of our past.

I could write a whole post on just the workings of the Demi-Monde and how well-thought out it is, especially after reading the PDM referenced above. There are varying cultures, conflicting political agendas, isolationist religions, and many more stressors that have shaped our history each expressed throughout sections or the whole of the Demi-Monde creating a unique world always in upheaval and on the brink of war. Clearly Rees spent significant time developing his world, and I can see why the series is in four parts, if Rees expects to cover half of what I think he will as the series progresses. Thankfully, there is a wonderful website (linked at the top of this post) that will make you want to read the book if you haven’t, or increase your craving for the second book if you have.

As characters are revealed, you cannot help but spend some time Googling the names that pop up or the references to events. I’m not history buff, but this definitely made me wonder just what the character had done in real life to warrant a doppelgänger in the Demi-Monde. Many of these characters are very well-known while others are lesser known, but Rees weaves them all together into a very interesting cast of characters. Aside from the random villainous singularities like Heydrich and Aleister Crowley, Shaka Zulu, and Empress Wu, there are the main protagonists: Ella, Norma, the president’s daughter, and Trixie Dashwood. These three women are the focus of the first book in the Demi-Monde Saga.

Ella is brought in as part of “Operation Offbeat” to rescue Norma. Somehow, unknown to the scientists and military men who created the Demi-Monde, Norma was brought into the Demi-Monde and has since been trapped. Heydrich and the other singularities have gotten out of control, and the plan is to pull the plug, shutting the whole thing down despite the loss of life for a few soldiers still caught in the program, but they cannot do that until Norma is out. As we have seen in our real world, the life of a soldier isn’t worth anything, but the life of the president’s daughter is worth more than 17 of them. Rees really hits it on the head with some of his observations such as this one. Another good example of this is how Ella, who is a smart, extremely attractive African-American woman, is able to distract even the toughest white supremacists out to capture her with her good looks and feminine whiles. Yes, they should hate her so much that she cannot fool them, but there are plenty that while they claim to hate all African-Americans they can still be swayed by a pretty woman despite her skin color. There are many examples of this through the book, and sometimes perhaps Rees uses Ella’s good looks to get her out of a situation that Rees wrote her into, but couldn’t figure out a more valid way to get her out. However, that is a small detractor in what is otherwise a phenomenal book. I look forward to seeing what the Demi-Monde has in store for Ella in Spring.

Norma is the president’s daughter who starts all of the trouble that has brings Ella, Norma, and Trixie together. Norma is in the Demi-Monde, no one knows how or why, although they do allude to it a bit later in the book, and found out to be a Daemon. She is captured and being held by Heydrich’s men and then taken to Trixie’s house in the hopes that Norma and Trixie will befriend each other allowing Trixie to get at the Daemon’s secrets. Norma as expected turns out to be a holier than thou, whiny, emo, bitch. I think I would have preferred her to be more like Ella and Trixie as strong female leads, but perhaps it would have been too crowded with three of them. Thankfully for the most part, Norma, although the story revolves around rescuing her, doesn’t play much of a role throughout the book, only popping up here and there to let the reader into what is happening when she isn’t with Ella or Trixie. Given the cliffhanger, I am curious to see how her character plays out in Spring.

Trixie Dashwood is quite a mutable character. In the beginning she is a head-strong RaTionalist girl who is on the brink of being a huge trouble to her father. She thinks for herself, and is always curious about the barrier that surrounds the Demi-Monde, how to get through it and what’s on the other side. Admirable ambitions in a character, but once Trixie feels that all is lost, thinking her father dead, and doing all she can to revenge her father’s death, she becomes, as Ella notes, more like Heydrich. Trixie goes from being a head-strong independent girl to a military leader out for blood. It is an interesting transition, but Rees manages to show just enough of what drives Trixie to see how this change happens as she rises to become a leader and revenge becomes her main focus.

As these three characters grow and evolve, there is a host of supporting characters that add to the greatness of this book. I hope that they continue on in the future books, as I would love to see how Rees develops them and their storylines.

As I indicated earlier, I could go on and on about this book. There is so much to say about it, that a few paragraphs, even a few pages are not enough. It is a tome, and at over 500 pages, it is not a light read, but it is a read that is well worth your time. The plotlines tie together seamlessly, and it is a satisfying original read.

[Julie N · Rating 1 out of 5]

The basic premise is that in the future the US military created a virtual reality simulation of our world using major cities and randomly inserted the personalities of major criminal figures (Mengele, Heydrich, Robespierre, and Torquemada to name a few) as well as overpopulating the world. The program insures that there will be constant political strife and war amongst the four major populations groups, as they are led by evil masterminds and programmed to have wide variations in political, religious, and sexual ideology. The government will then use this Demi-Monde to train new troops.

In the first book, the President's daughter is lured into the Demi-Monde and kidnapped. The army finds a young jazz singer named Ella who is reluctantly recruited to go into the Demi-Monde (which the government has already lost control of) and retrieve the President's daughter. In the second book, our main characters are still trapped in the Demi-Monde and are faced with an even greater evil than the computer-generated villains of the first novel. That should cover the basics.

Writing

My main problem with the writing was that there was WAY too much going on. During the first book, we have this whole totally unsubtle Judeo-Christian theme. The computer system is called ABBA and everyone in the Demi-Monde considers ABBA to be their god. When Ella is able to save a population of Eastern Europeans known as the nuJus (ugh, so offensive!) to a "promised land" of safety, she is dubbed the "Lady ImManual" based on the IM Manual she uses to break the code. At first I thought we were in for a skewering of organized religion, but that never really happened. So I figured the reason for all the religious references would be made clear in book two.

Except that never happened. Book two seems to go in this completely unrelated direction of supernaturalism. Where as the first book was focused on a future version of the world we live in and dealt more with technology and had the steampunk feel that I appreciate, the second book goes off into the supernatural, introducing vampire-like creatures and all kinds of mythological gods and goddesses and it all just made no sense in any way.

Finally, I have to mention the many, many, many holes in logic. Like, why would the United States of the future choose to create a world to train its soldiers in which modern technology doesn't exist? That just seems dumb to me. Even in combat situations in third world countries, many rebel groups have semi-automatic weapons. Wouldn't we rather train our soldiers in a world where those things exist?

And the whole "if you die in the Matrix Demi-Monde, you die in the real world" thing also made no sense. So we're going to train our soldiers by putting them into a life-threatening situation in virtual reality? If they can die in the game while they train to fight, why not just put them in the actual combat situation where they might also kill an actual enemy instead of a computer simulation of an enemy?

Honestly, I don't think I'm nit-picking here. If you're going to write speculative fiction, you can't just put down anything you feel like without regard for logic. Yes, you're writing a make-believe world, but your world still has to make sense.

Entertainment Value

I think I could have overlooked the mistakes in writing and at least somewhat enjoyed the book if it weren't for the use of alternate spellings/homonyms for no real reason. For example: soldiers in the future version of our world are called Neo Fights. Like neophyte, but spelled differently, get it? A few others, just off the top of my head: HerEticalism (female-dominated religion/government), Suffer-O-Gettes (violent women who want to make-men-suffer-o-gettes), UnFunDaMentalism, HimPerialism, and on and on and on.

At the best it's just annoying, at the worst it's flat out offensive. Women who like other women? LessBiens (because they're Less Bien/Good). Also, everyone with dark skin lives in a place called Noirville where they hate women and live like savages. I can't make this up. By the second book, I was twitching at every senseless homonym and offensive stereotype. I know that a huge part of the plot revolved around racial and gender-based conflicts between people groups, but I felt like the words chosen to represent these groups were kind of gross, for lack of a better word.

Again, it comes down to an issue of logic. Would it make sense for a Heydrich or Mengele to come up with a racist or sexist term to define a people group? Yes. Does it make sense that the US government of the future came up with racist and sexist terms to describe the fictional world they created? No. It needs to make sense. And when it doesn't make sense in terms of the world we need to accept as real, it comes across as the writer's bias instead of the character's bias.

Overall
It's a do not recommend on all fronts.

A major thank you to TLC for setting up the tour and, as always, check out the official tour site to see the reviews of others and get a balanced perspective from other readers who may have enjoyed the books more than I did.

[Minakat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book as a free read from Amazon, not looking much beyond the little blurb. Then I started reading it. HOLY CRAP. This is a book about what happens in an artificial world where conditions are artificially created to cause strife between groups of people and highly motivated evil leaders are thrown into the mix to drive that strife to warfare--all so real world soldiers can learn to fight in the kinds of wars we have now.

There were things that were hard about it--the language of oppression in it regarding racism and anti-Semetism and sexism are hard to read. Harder for a black reader, I'd think. I know the Jewish stuff made me a little sick. That said, it's UTTERLY appropriate and handled deftly. I just wouldn't want anyone to stumble over that imagery unawares.

That said, the Demi-Monde is a fascinating universe that sets up some serious questions about why we hate, what power does, how our prejudices limit us. The writing is solid, characterizations deft and convincing, and the plot is so gripping that when this book ended on a cliffhanger, I gasped out loud and paged back on my Kindle, heartbroken it was really over.

[Abi Ainley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just to put my opinion on everyone's issue with the capitals in words:
They're not random, as people are suggesting. They are used because the Demi-Monde is a different place to the real world. In the Demi-Monde, they do capitalise a letter in the middle of words such as "HerEticalism", "LessBiens", "UnFundamentalist" etc. It's a thing they do to their words regarding beliefs. I personally found it easy to read, and I thought it worked really well. xD Anyhow...

One of the best books I've ever read by far! I love the characters and the plot. The entire thing is genius. The second book, Spring, was also amazing!!!

I have to say though, warning to you all, stop at the end of number two. The third book, Summer, is just doolally. I've actually had to stop reading it half way through because it feels like the author's had a mental breakdown and just completely lost the plot with it. Like, the plot has actually just kapow, I don't even know how to describe it. It's just terrible.

So yeah, read the first two but don't even try on the third unless you have the mental capability of keeping up with the dodgy plot - which, as far as I know, is not humanly possible.

[Ежко Таралежко · Rating 4 out of 5]

Интересна алтернативна история, представена като улра реалистична компютърна игра, в която може да умреш...буквално
Без наистина да блести с нещо, първи том от явно дългата поредица е интригуващ (макар и доста политически на места). Това което малко ме дразни (като похват, не само тук) е че в течение на книгата се добавят нови и нови герои, достатъчно важни да си имат свои глави и в един момент става леко объркващо, но само леко. Няма да издавам много от историята, но представете си какво ще стане ако сложите хитлеристи, Робеспиер, Чингиз Хан, Троцки, Борджиите, Распутин и де що е имало побъркан за власт човек в световната история на едно място, и ги оставите да се борят за надмощие.
И....страхотно оформление на корицата от страна на Артлайн Студиос, както и високо качество на хартията, в редките случаи в които виждам нещо качествено у нас не мога да не го похваля :)

[PopcornReads - MkNoah · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I saw The Demi-Monde: Winter being publicized as a winter release, I had no idea what it was about but the title kept capturing my eye. Little did I know what a treat I had in store for me. The Demi-Monde: Winter by Rod Rees is Book #1 in the Demi-Monde Saga series. Although it could probably best be described as near-future sci-fi, I believe it has a much broader reach than that. This is one genre-bending novel. It’s a thriller, it’s dystopian, it’s got steampunk elements, it’s an action adventure, it’s a novel filled with political and military intrigue and strategy, and much more. Read the rest of my review at http://popcornreads.com/?p=2490.

[Vojtěch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Velmi poutavé čtení, které se zkrátka čte jedním dechem. Celý příběh je dosti propracovaný, na začátku jsem si myslel, že "něco takového jako tetralogie není možné", ale nyní si říkám, že to možné docela je. Jsem velmi natěšený na druhý díl, musím si zažádat co nejdříve o recenzák :)

[Bücherfresserin · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Ein gefühlter Naziabklatsch …"


Inhalt:
Ella Thomas ist 18 Jahre jung und hat schon unglaubliche Geldprobleme. Gerade aus diesem Grund lässt sie sich von einem Auftrag überzeugen, der vor allem ihr Leben in Gefahr bringt. Sie soll die Tochter des Präsidenten aus der Computersimulation „Demi Monde“ retten. Doch als Ella in die Computersimulation eintaucht wird ihr schnell klar, dass die „Demi Monde“ mehr als nur ein Spiel sind. Sie sind bittere Realität, wenn auch auf eine andere Art und Weise. Ella befindet sich plötzlich in einer brutalen Welt voller Krieg, Rassenhass und vergangener Geschichte …

Geschichte 3/5
Spannung 4/5
Charaktere 2/5
Thematik 2/5
Umsetzung 2/5

Meinung:
„Demi Monde 01: Die Mission“ ist der Start in eine neue Science Fiction Buchreihe. Der erste Roman ist vor allem brutal und beinhaltete vieles aus unserer vergangenen Geschichte, in Mitten einer gefährlichen Computersimulation, die den U.S. aus der Kontrolle gerät.

Die Geschichte wird aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven erzählt. Allerdings geschieht ein sehr großer Teil aus Ellas Sicht. Sie ist 18 Jahre alt und lässt sich von der Regierung mit Geld überzeugen. Obwohl sie eigentlich eine Jazzsängerin ist, wird sie auf eine Mission geschickt und soll die entführte Tochter des Präsidenten aus der Computersimulation retten. Mir war Ella durchweg zu positiv. Außerdem erscheint sie nicht wie 18 sondern eher wie 25 aufwärts. Sie setzt ständig ihren ach so perfekten Körper ein, ist intelligent, witzig und vernebelt die Gedanken eines jeden Mannes. Alles in allem war sie mir einfach zu heldenhaft, zu stereotyp und positiv, zu langweilig. Zudem gab es immer wieder Stellen wo Ella nicht authentisch wirkt. Beispielweise vergisst der Autor ab und an ihr zartes Alter und schreibt als wäre sie viel älter. Ich fand das unglaublich nervig.

Außerdem sind die weiteren Charaktere auch eher Stereotypen. Ganz schlimm fand ich die Entwicklung von Trixie. Sie war arrogant, nervig und unverschämt. Dazu total naiv und hohl und entwickeln sich im Laufe der Geschichte plötzlich zu einer Art Killermaschine, ist klar … Als wenn eine Gehirnwäsche so einfach umzuwandeln wäre. Insgesamt konnte ich mit den Charakteren kaum mitfiebern. Mich hätte es nicht gestört wenn alle von einer Bombe erwischt worden wären und die Geschichte so geendet hätte. Der einige Lichtblick war Vanka, so eine Art männlicher Protagonist. Er ist intelligent und hat Charme, war damit aber auch die Ausnahme.

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Nicht dass Vanka sich allzu große Sorgen darüber machte, dass General Skobelew hinter ihm her war. Wenn es nach ihm ging, konnte der General nach ihm suchen, so lange er wollte.
(Seite 136)

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Die Geschichte in „Demi Monde“ ist ein wenig exotisch. Es dreht sich alles um eine Computersimulation die von der U.S. Regierung ins Leben gerufen wurde. Ziel war es eigentlich Kriegsszenarien durch eine lebensechte Simulation zu üben. Doch die Regierung verliert die Kontrolle und so kommt Ella ins Spiel als die Lösung. Irgendwie fand ich den Punkt schon unglaublich lächerlich, dass die Regierung sich an ein 18 jähriges Mädel wendet …

Im Grunde fand ich die Idee dann auch auf den ersten Blick richtig spannend. Auf den zweiten Blick wurde ich immer genervter. Wieso? Ganz einfach der Autor mischt einfach nur Vergangenheit mit Science Fiction. Alles in allem ist die Geschichte ein Naziabklatsch. Das ganze System in der „Demi Monde“ Welt besteht vor allem aus ähnlichen Nazifiguren, aus Rassenhass und Uniformen. Ich habe die ganze Zeit gedacht ich lese einen zweiten Weltkriegsroman. Dazu mischen sich dann ein paar „moderne“ Aspekte wie ein feministisches Land, oder es werden unterschiedliche Kulturen bzw. Religionen einfach zusammengehauen. Mir sträuben sich dabei die Nackenhaare. Vor allem das ganze System, die Regierungen und die Kriegsgeschehnisse sind so unglaublich zusammengeworfen! Und alles ist so vereinfacht. Die Computersimulation ist dazu da, dass mindestens immer zwei Länder Krieg führen, aber die Simulation entwickelt sich weiter. Aber heißt Weiterentwicklung nicht auch mehr als Krieg? Fortschritt bedeutet Frieden, um so wirtschaftliche Ziele durchzusetzen. Mir hat der Autor einfach alles viel zu vereinfacht und das bei so einem komplexen Thema! Alles wirkt als ob der Autor sich nur beim zweiten Weltkrieg orientiert hat. Alles liest sich wie die Geschichte der Nazis und das hat mich sooooo unglaublich genervt. Ich studiere Politik und weiß dann doch einiges zu diesem Thema … aus diesem Grund fand ich die ganze Umsetzung total enttäuschend. Wo sind die neuen tollen Science Fiction Idee in „Demi Monde“?

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Trixie konnte es kaum fassen, dass sie diejenige war, die da sprach. Dass ausgerechnet sie Partei für die UnterWesen ergriff, war mehr als erstaunlich.
(Seite 387)

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So enttäuschend und vereinfacht ich die Geschichte fand, so schlecht lag mir auch die Umsetzung im Magen. Entweder liegt das an der Übersetzung, oder der Autor hat seine Idee aus den Augen verloren. Beispielweise ist auf Seite 287 die rede von „klang nach einem schlechten Science-Fction-Roman“, was aus Trixies Mund stammt. Sie wohnt aber in den „Demi Monde“ ist ein „Dude“ und dürfte somit doch gar keine Ahnung von Science Fiction haben, denn immerhin spielt die Computersimulation ca. im 19. Jhr. Es gibt noch kein Licht, Strom, aber die Dame redet schon von Science Fiction. Ist klar! Solche Fehlerteufelchen sind mir immer wieder ins Auge gesprungen und zeugen von einer schlechten Umsetzung der Manuskript Idee.

Alles in allem fand ich nur den Spannungspegel in „Demi Monde“ überzeugend. Die Geschichte ist spannend und nur aus diesem Grund habe ich den Roman auch beendet. Aber um diese Spannung zu erreichen muss sich der Leser auch erst mal durch ca. 100-130 Seiten Einleitung kämpfen. Es gibt zig Erklärungen hier und da. Hinzukommen immer wieder komplexe neue Wörter, die sich ein Leser erst einmal merken muss … Ich vergebe somit 2 Sterne. Alles andere wäre anderen Romanen gegenüber unfair. 2 Sterne für einen Spannungspegel.

Der Schreibstil ist nett, flüssig. Es gibt immer wieder Wechsel in der Perspektive. Aber gerade dieser Aspekt bekam dem Autor wohl nicht gut, denn es gibt immer wieder Sinnfehler im Text …

Das Cover ist nett. Der Titel lang und verwirrend. Insgesamt fand ich es aber sehr gut, dass es im Inneren einige Karten gibt, so dass der Leser die Computerwelt besser verstehen kann.

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Norma erkannte die Stimme. Es war Crowley. Und nach dem Widerhall zu schließen mussten sie sich in einem Saal oder einer Höhle befinden.
(Seite 552)

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Fazit:
Von dem ersten Band der „Demi Monde Reihe“ hatte ich mir mehr erhofft. Aber mehr als 2 Sterne vergebe ich nicht. Ich habe beim Lesen immer wieder an einen Naziabklatsch gedacht und insgesamt finde ich die Umsetzung nicht gelungen. Ein dicker Pluspunkt geht an den Spannungsbogen, aber leider ist dies auch der einzige Punkt der mir gefiel.

[Filip · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5

PoloSvět je místo, které by neměl spatřit žádný žijící člověk, ani voják, který by se měl v této simulaci cvičit. Dokáže si představit svět, ve kterém by Reinhard Heydrich žil a byl na vrcholu moci místo Hitlera? Už jenom to jméno vyvolává husí kůži. To zarážející je ale to, že Hitler byl pouze slabým odvarem toho, co chystá Heydrich. Takovýto svět by neměl existovat. Jenže nám lidem nehrozí žádné nebezpečí. PoloSvět® je naprosto bezpečný a simulové o své osobě v naší historii neví nic. Co by se ale stalo, kdyby si někdo uvědomil, že existuje náš svět? Snažil by se ho potom ovládnout?

Ella Thomasová je pověřená jistým úkolem. Musí zachránit prezidentovu dceru, které se podařilo dostat se do PoloSvěta. I když se Ella zdráhá tohoto úkolu, pět miliónu dolarů přesvědčí přeci každého, že? A tak se vydává do PoloSvěta, kde je svět roztržen do pěti sektorů a každý sektor má jiné podmínky přežití. Panuje mezi nimi velice pestrá nálada a schyluje se k válce. V té době ale Heydrich obsazuje Hnízdiště a Otčinu a vytváří si svou oblast: FortRight v čele s Crowleym a jednotkami SS. Lidé jsou manipulování a nuceni žít poklidný život. Ella ale naruší svým příchodem celou situaci a nepřátele jsou nuceni jednat. Norma, dcera prezidenta USA, je držena Crowleym a označena za daemona, neboli ducha, který přišel z našeho světa. Naše mladá hrdinka Ella je nucena ji zachránit a dostat se z PoloSvěta rychleji, než Heydrich a Crowley započnou své plány a ovládnutí nejen PoloSvěta, ale taky Země…

„Když vidí dívku, civilistku, jak bojuje a poráží to nejlepší, co FortRight má, začínají věřit.“
„Věřit čemu, seržante?“
„Že to všechno možná není tak zoufalé a proklatě beznadějné, jak si já myslím.“

Myšlenka, že vědci USA vynalezli simulátor PoloSvět® jako řešení kvůli neschopnosti velitelů vést správnou válku, je podle mě opravdu zajímavá myšlenka. Celý příběh se totiž v téhle „simulaci“ odehrává. I když se jedná pouze o program tvořený jedničkami a nulami, působí jako náš svět a tamější lidé si ani neuvědomují, že náš svět existuje. Začátek se jeví tak trochu podivně. Jste vrhnuti do nového světa plného podivných názvů, sektorů, nevíte, kdo je kdo. Časem, až se začtete, se se jmény sžijete a dobrodružství Elly si vychutnáte do poslední stránky.

Když si přečtete anotaci, prakticky nic vám o knize neřekne a tak nějak trochu naladí na jinou vlnu, než ve které je příběh napsán. Chvíli jsem se nad výběrem knihy zdráhal, protože jsem se bál, že by se mi kniha nemusela líbit. První stránky byly zmatené a já se doslova topil v těch informacích, které na nás autor vychrlil. Ale jakmile jsem se začetl… Začala opravdová jízda! Akci střídaly intriky, které zase pro změnu vystřídalo napětí. Autor tento PoloSvět opravdu promyslel dopodrobna. Pomalu odhaloval pravé záměry úhlavních nepřátel, aby mohl konec nechat otevřený a čtenáře si opakovat miliony otázek, na které se (snad) dozvíme odpovědi v dalších dílech.

Rod Rees převedl do knihy ty nejstrašnější myšlenky, které se mohou naskytnout. Reinhard Heydrich jako Vůdce, ze kterého už jenom při pohledu na něj srší rasismus? Aleister Crowley, který se pokouší pomocí svého UnFunDaMentalismu prorazit hranice mezi PoloSvětem a naším světem. SS jakožto hlavní udržovatelé pořádku. Rasismus vůči černým ženám a ženám obecně. PoloSvět je navržen přesně tak, aby naučil velitele řídit válku, ale tato simulace si žije svým vlastním životem. Někdo takový, jako je Heydrich, by se neměl nikdy chopit vlády. Nemluvě o tom, že jeho vyvražďování Poláků, NuJu a ostatních dospívá k vyřešení „věčné otázky“. Nepřipomíná vám to něco? Při čtení si často budete říkat, že se naše historie promítá do tohoto příběhu. Ale nezaobírejme se pořád jenom tím špatným. Autor taky poskytne náhled do života tehdejšího lidu ve FortRightu.

Musela se zase postavit a vyzvracet se přes okraj balónu.
„Přesná trefa,“ poznamenal Sokolík. „Tam pod námi je pár tisícovek vojáků FortRightu a někomu z nich to rovnou plesklo do ksichtu“

Samotné postavy jsou důležitým prvkem v každé knize. Bez nich by příběh neměl smysl. Jenže tady, v PoloSvětě, zažijete změnu mnohých postav. Na začátku se jeví jako neškodné malé, šedé myšky, které stojí v koutě a bojí se vyřknout pravdu, kterou v sobě cítí. Na konci knihy se z těchto postav vyklube úplně někdo jiný. A mohu s radostí říci, že ne všechny postavy se změní k lepšímu. Autor se snaží vykreslit realistické postavy v simulovaném světě, jako kdyby žili v tom našem. Daří se mu to a já smekám…

Kniha je i přes svou obsáhlost strašně čtivá a nemusíte se bát, že se budete v těch slovíčkách ztrácet věčně. Nejen, že je před každou kapitolou krátký článek o jednotlivých informacích, operacích a náboženství, ale když nechytíte niť ani v polovině, autor vám úplně v zadu připojil slovníček všech pojmů (na který jsem já přišel až v ¾ knihy). Kniha se na první pohled jeví jako nějaká patlanina všeho, co máte po ruce. Jenže poté vás opravdu překvapí. V PoloSvětě si nikdo není jistý zítřkem. Všichni žijí dneškem, protože nikdy neví, kdy je Heydrich a spol. zabijí. Intriky a lži jsou na denním pořádku. Jste připraveni tohle všechno podstoupit? Jestli ano, tak vítejte v něčem opravdu šíleném. Vítejte v programu PoloSvět®.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply utterly stunning. Vivid world, vivid characters.

[Suzy]

This felt like an excuse for a dude to be a racist misogynist. Of course I didn't finish it.

[LeAnn Suchy]

DNF, so no rating.

I stopped reading this one. I even made it halfway through, but I couldn't handle all the inconsistencies and the stupid premise any longer. I really wanted to love it, but I didn't want to continue turning the pages.

The Demi-Monde is a computer simulation training program for the military. The program runs completely on its own, like a highly intelligent and super creepy Sims. It's super creepy because they populated the Demi-Monde with history's biggest war criminals, like high-ranking Nazis, and they set up conditions to make everyone pretty much hate each other.

This sounded good and I was on board, but the stupidity of the computer program is annoying. It was designed that if we humans entered it and we died in the Demi-Monde we die in real life, like The Matrix. The military would use a computer program to train people on combat where they could actually die? Please. The Demi-Monde was also set to have technology consistent with technology from the 1870s, so the military wants to train current soldiers to fight an enemy stuck in 1870? Come on.

Besides these dumb things, another stupid thing is that people in the Demi-Monde are designed to have no blood in their system, yet they have to drink a certain amount every week in order to live, so there are blood banks all around the Demi-Monde but there is also an underground blood trade. But when we humans enter the Demi-Monde, and remember this is a computer simulation so a computer version of us enters it, we have blood in our system and if any of the people running the underground blood trade catch us they will capture us and use us for their blood trade. This was described as a mistake in system design, but one would think this could be any easy thing to fix since they learned how to make the residents of the Demi-Monde without blood.

Oh, but it gets better. I don't think there were any editors reading this book before it was published because we are clearly told that the Demi-Monde residents have no blood in their systems so when they get scratches they won't bleed but they will just appear white. Then how do Demi-Mondians have bruises? Call me crazy, but I'm pretty sure you need blood in your system to have bruises.

There are also some other stupid things the editors missed, like an idiotic Demi-Mondian girl who meets a human and when the human talks about how the women of Demi-Monde are brainwashed the girl questions what a brain is. So if they don't have blood they don't know what a brain is? Why would she pull "brain" out of "brainwashing" then? Why not question what "brainwashing" is? This girl has also never seen anyone shake hands before and wonders why the human shakes her hand, but no one else in the Demi-Monde has a problem shaking hands because a lot of hand shaking happened. Also, if people in the Demi-Monde don't know what a brain is, how do they know what a heart is, because a heart was mentioned a few times, but why would they know what a heart is if they have no blood in their system? Do they have a heart that doesn't run with blood?

There are more things I could talk about, but these annoyed me the most. Some people may think these things are minor, but when you're building a world I have to buy into it. This has too many things that annoyed me. Maybe they are explained in the last half of the book, but I don't really care anymore.

[Andy Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Demi-Monde - a computer simulation designed for the US military, peopled by some of the most dangerous and psychopathic characters from history, for training the US military in Asymmetric Warfare Enviroments. It is "the first simulation product ever to be platformed on and operated by the ABBA quantum computer" This computer has enough processing power to simulate sentience in the Dupes (the 'characters in the simulation') and herein lies the root of the problem. The US military want to shut the simulation down but the Dupe leaders have other ideas!

They have managed to trap Norma Williams, the daughter of the US President in the Demi-Monde and have shut down all but one of the access ports. Until Norma can be rescued the Demi-Monde continues to exist.

Enter Ella Thomas, an eighteen year old American who is the perfect match (indeed, the ONLY match) for a dormant Dupe in the Simulation, who has to go in, rescue the President's daughter and get her out.

The first section of this book sets the story up well, telling you all you need to know about the Demi-Monde, while having every alternative chapter actually set in the Demi-Monde. An appetiser, if you will.

The second section, though, really steps things up a gear as Ella enters the Simulation and we are introduced to more of the Demi-Monde's inhabitants such as Vanka Maykov, who takes Ella under his wing and, one of my favourite characters in the early sections, the disreputable club owner Burlesque Bandstand who has great comedy value.

The world of the Demi-Monde is a semi-steampunk victorian setting and very well realised. It is split into different sections representing various 'Real World' settings, all side by side with the five main sections (Noirville, The Coven, Rodina, The Rookeries and Quartier Chaud) seperated by five rivers. Each area has it's own belief systems and ideas for rule. This first book in the series deals only with events in The Rookeries and a small part of Rodina.

It is obvious from early on that there is more going on than meets the eye and later books will open the story out even more. Thankfully I have volume two (Spring) near to hand as Winter finishes on three seperate cliffhangers.

There is a lot of 'derring-do', capture and escape and general rollicking adventure in this book, which means the story rattles along at a good old pace - I reveiwed from the Hard Back edition and though it is a chunky doorstop of a book it was over far too soon. The characters are very well defined and believable (the transformation of Trixie Dashwood is especially well done). The world comes to life off the page and feels real, and it also reminded me of the gaming worlds of, for example, Grand Theft Auto, where you are only allowed to play in one section until you have completed set tasks. The other areas are there, you can see them, but you can't get into them yet - I am looking forward immensely to visiting these places in the remainig three books of the series

[Evelin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Винаги съм имала слабост съм изданията на Артлайн, те са така красиви, очевидно създадени с внимание към детайлите, но този път въпреки голямото ми въодушевление за "Деми-монд" бях разочарована. Самата идея за книгата е много оригинална и бих казала даже много подходяща за времето, в което живеем, където всичко е виртуално, най-лесният начин да се научиш да боравиш с компютър е да играеш някаква игра. Това е една от причините въпреки всичко да дам на книгата 3 звезди, другата е че в самата идея за съществуването на Деми-монд е заложено това да е игра, в която да влизат войници и да се обучават на военни техники без да се налага да отиват до другия край на света, Деми-монд си е един своеобразен Ад, събрал всички злодеи познати на човешката история като са пропуснати героите, които са ги победил. Когато човек влиза вътре идеята е не да промени света, а да тренира във възможно най-ужасното място на света, което е разделено на 5 самостоятелни части, всяка управлявана от съотвения злодей, всяка различаваща се със своето уникално управление, раса, вяра и разбирания, като съществуват и раси като еврейските (новреи), които са навсякъде. Хареса ми самото пресъздаване на тези исторически личности, които си взаимодействат едни с други. В реалният свят те изобщо не са съществували по едно и също време и това би било невъзможно за наблюдение. За съжаление с това поне за мен се изчерпват положителните неща в книгата.
Поради новата терминология, която авторът опитва да въведе в книгата и своеобразният свят, който е създал повествованието се развива много бавно - говоря за над 100 страници, които се влачат една след друга и бях на косъм да се откажа изобщо да продължа. Това е един вид цялата първа част. Несъмнено авторът се е опитал да разчупи нещата показвайки, как се развива действието едновременно в реалния свят и в Деми-монд, където представя главните герои, но това разконцентрира читателя и за съжаление поне с мен не постигна желания успех. Като стана дума за героите, главните действащи лица бяха почти само жени, но за съжаление нито една от тях не можа да ме накара да се привържа, да й симпатизирам или просто изключително да се вълнувам от оцеляването й. Дори второстепенните герои не ме грабнаха, а техните истории също бяха развити добре. Общо взето няма нещо, което да те привърже към книгата и да те кара да я прочетеш на един дъх, освен разбира се, ако не очакваш с нетърпение следващия момент, когато някоя героиня (най-често Ела) ще се окаже гола или ще се разголва, за да съблазни някого, което не е чак толкова натрапчиво и моментите биват елегантно вмъквани поне преди края, но когато двойничките биват съблечени голи за извършването на ритуала става вече прекалено. Макар че и вмъкването на Джозефин Бейкър (историческа личност, джаз певица, която е известна, че танцува само по пола от банани) беше вмъкнато целенасочено, заради разголването, а не като главна част от развитието на сюжета, което също ме отблъсна.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've probably had this book on my to-read list since it came out. A longish plane ride and finding this on a library shelf on a lark later and it turns out that I tripped up on a great read similar to Tad Williams's Otherland.

In the near future, the US military has developed a computer program to help train soldiers against a more insurgent style of warfare. To provide leadership, they uploaded the personality profiles of some of history's greatest psychopaths to help round things out and make things a little more realistic. As with any good plan, though, it goes haywire in a hurry and the president's daughter ends up logging into the simulation. Our heroine, Ella, has a very specific personality and identity profile to perhaps be the person who can go in and extract the president's daughter before it's too late.

The book is just really outstanding. From the start, the gravity and lunacy of the situation hits. As the story moves into the Demi-Monde itself, the situation in place and the gravity of everything just gets amped up and doesn't really stop. The politics of the simulation, the way everything is crafted, it's incredibly well thought-out and entertaining as a result. Plus, Ella is really an awesome, interesting protagonist and the way the book interweaves a more diverse cast with the needs of the story is one that should really be a model in how to do it.

Just well done all around, and I'm really looking forward to jumping in on the next one. I have no idea where it would go next, and I can't wait to find out.

[Robert Williams · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just really couldn't get into it, so not for me.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

A monumental effort. Rees creates a shadow world representative of the worst of recent human history, gives it a rationale based on the worst of current human politics, and sets it spinning to wreck chaos on its characters. The resulting heavily researched and written tome might work better if his touch had been lighter.

The story successes or fails based on the reader's acceptance of the premise that human consciousness is independent of the human body. (It's that same idea exploited in the Matrix movies.) Once that logical, philosophic hurdle is cleared, the plot sails clear. Otherwise, it sinks.

Advice to the potential reader: ignore the chapter heading "quotes" and do not refer to the glossary. It only distracts. Rees adequately tells you what you need to know in the text. Likewise, the maps--in the ebook edition--are unreadable.

Probably best enjoyed by fans of alternate histories, mad scientists and out-of-control military. All that said, this book is just the introduction to the series. Nothing really happens. Oh, there's lots of action, but all the characters remain as they were introduced until the cliffhanger in the last pages. Three stars was a gift. (I usually hammer books like this. I won't read more of this series.)

[Corey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was free on my Nook one wintry Friday... and oh how glad I am! I loved this book so much. It was really hard to stop reading it once I got started. So many elements that I love, a computer generated world, a strong female character, historical bits, and even some jazz!

The Demi-Monde is a very interesting idea, a super computer built by the military to train soldiers better. You jack into it like in the Matrix. Neither of those are spoilers, you get as much from the book description, and The Matrix has been out 15 years, go watch it already, damn you!

I liked the drawing in of so many historical elements, and personalities. Are there mistakes? Maybe. Most of those people lived so long ago I doubt we really know who they truly were. Artistic liberties are to be expected.

Story-wise, it was a good one, perhaps not the most exciting thing ever. But it does hold onto you in several places, once you get near the end its almost impossible to stop reading. The ending itself was good, difficult elements of course, mixed feelings about it, but it makes you want to keep going with the next book.

I recently purchased the second one, I look forward to reading it soon.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

If you can get through the first bit of this, the plot really gets complex and deep. It's so unique and bizarre, and at first I thought I was reading another mediocre, Nook-freebie, but I hung in there because the premise was so interesting. This book is one of the best books I've read in a really long time, barring a few logic flaws. As of this review, 50% of raters gave the book a four or five-star rating.

I'm partial to stories with full immersion virtual realities so your mileage may vary. I urge you to read other reviews and see if you want to give this one a go. You have to be patient at the beginning, but the payoff is SO worth it.

This is a five-star book, but the ending is so abrupt with excessive cliffhangers that I don't think it's fair to the reader so I'm docking it 1-star. You can't ask your readers to plow through 500 pages only to leave them with nothing. If I knew I was going to have to read another book to get the remainder of the story I might not have been so disappointed with the ending, or lack of. I do intend to read the next in the series though.