It's a Young Adult novel that I first read in 2002 or 2003. The story revolves around a boy living in a dystopian setting in which a sort of virtual reality simulation is extremely popular. I believe it involved some sort of needle that would allow the user to experience a virtual reality while in reality they were in a sort of temporary coma body-wise. The main boy has some sort of condition (I don't remember if it's a disease or an allergy) to this stuff, so he can't do the virtual reality simulations. I don't remember a lot of the plot, but I do remember that where the boy lives is ruled by this cruel kid with a terrible reputation. Near the end of the novel the main character finds this terrible boy emaciated and hooked up to the virtual reality stuff, and he realizes that all the stories about him are fake, because he has clearly been hooked up to the simulations for a very long time.
4
-
Was the book new or old when you read it?– HDE 226868Mar 6, 2015 at 1:22
-
I don't think it was very old, but I don't know if it was a new release then or not.– WinsophMar 6, 2015 at 2:00
-
possibly the same as scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/142774/… (which is newer but has an accepted answer)– OtisJul 10, 2019 at 21:36
-
One of the first fantasies of this kind was "Labyrinth of Reflections" of Sergei Lukyanenko in 1997 (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinth_of_Reflections). However, it is not the story you are looking for.– Andrey BelykhOct 16, 2019 at 16:03
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
I think you might mean The Last Book In The Universe. The protagonist lives in a gang-ridden world after civilization is destroyed in an earthquake. Many people choose to use virtual reality simulations to escape the situation, but the protagonist is epileptic and cannot. Much of the book's plot involves him rediscovering literacy.
