Having finally been invited to enter the select group of participants into this virtual world, Nick Dunmore is only too happy to agree to these conditions. In so doing he finds himself a player in a brilliant and addictive adventure in which characters battle fabulous monsters and each other as they vie to join the Inner Circle, an elite group of five fighters who will spearhead the final battle against the ultimate enemy, Ortolan.
The game is controlled by the Messenger, a powerful and sinister figure who metes out reward and punishment at will. Players can gain powers and levels by carrying out actions in the real world, while those who refuse his commands are expelled from the game. At first these orders seem harmless; move a package from one location or another, take photographs of a person or place, make a phone call. But soon people start getting hurt and Nick realises that the Messenger's motives are far from benign.
Cast out for refusing to carry out one such mission and increasingly worried about his friends still caught up in the game, Nick is determined to discover what the creator of Erebos really intends to achieve.
In Erebos, German writer Ursula Poznanski has created a scenario that is both psychologically and technically plausible, frighteningly so. This in itself was enough to keep me turning pages, but she has also captured the addictive, all-consuming nature of the gaming world. I found I cared as much about Nick's avatar and his fate as I did the "real world" story, and this novel will give a taste of their attraction to anybody who has never really understood quite where the fascination is in such diversions.
Although likely to be relegated to the Young Adults section because of its teenage protagonists, this gripping novel deserves a far wider readership.
- Dr McKinney is a Dunedin scientist.
