Review: Otherworld - Jason Segel & Kirsten Miller

The Company Welcomes you To OTHERWORLD The new generation of gaming.

Welcome to real life 2.0.
Are you ready to play?

There are no screens. There are no controls.
You don’t just see and hear it—you taste, smell, and touch it too.
In this new reality there are no rules to follow, no laws to break.
You can indulge your every desire.
Why would you ever want to leave?
Step into Otherworld.
Leave your body behind.

Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller have created a brilliant and terrifying view of a possible future that’s not far away. OTHERWORLD asks the question we’ll all soon be asking: if technology can deliver everything we want, how much are we willing to pay?

Otherworld Series:
Otherworld
Otherearth (2018)

Visit Kirsten Miller's website for more information

Review:
I love stories that look at what technology might make possible in the not too distant future and with virtual reality something that is becoming more and more easily accessible Otherworld appealed to me as soon as I heard about it. The virtual reality game in this book is way more advanced than anything we have now though, it is a full on experience where you can not only see and interact with your surroundings but you can also taste and touch everything in the Otherworld as if it was completely real.

This story has two very distinct storylines, first there is the action adventure that Simon is on inside the Otherworld, his quest is to track down his best friend Kat and find a way to bring her safely out of the virtual reality environment. Then there is the real world which is more of a mystery story where Simon is trying to find out more about the company that created the Otherworld and a rash of mysterious illnesses that seem to be effecting people in his city.

This was a really fun story to read, it doesn't take itself too seriously and I have to admit it could have done with a little more development of the main characters but if you just relax and go along for the ride it's an amusing journey. I think I enjoyed the story taking place inside the Otherworld slightly more, Simon collects a ragtag group of allies as he goes along and the virtual world created was really vibrant and interesting. I had a harder time with the real life side of the plot because it was harder to suspend belief that Simon was able to uncover all these secrets and sneak into secure facilities without having too much difficulty.

Otherworld was definitely a story I enjoyed though and I'll definitely be picking up the sequel when it's released later this year.

Source: Received from Rock the Boat in exchange for an honest review

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Blog Tour: Otherworld - Jason Segel & Kirsten Miller (Exclusive Excerpt)

Today I'm taking part in the blog tour to celebrate the release of Otherworld, the latest release from Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller. I've already read the book (watch out for my review coming soon) so I can tell you that it's a fantastic, fast paced adventure in both the virtual reality world and the real one. Thanks to the UK publisher Rock the Boat I have a fab excerpt to share with you today but before we get to that let me tell you all about the book.

The Company Welcomes you To OTHERWORLD The new generation of gaming.

Welcome to real life 2.0.

Are you ready to play?

There are no screens. There are no controls.

You don’t just see and hear it—you taste, smell, and touch it too.

In this new reality there are no rules to follow, no laws to break.

You can indulge your every desire.

Why would you ever want to leave?

Step into Otherworld.

Leave your body behind.

Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller have created a brilliant and terrifying view of a possible future that’s not far away. OTHERWORLD asks the question we’ll all soon be asking: if technology can deliver everything we want, how much are we willing to pay?

Excerpt:

I step through the opening and into another reality. And damn, is it amazing. It may not be Earth, but it’s no game, either. With an Otherworld headset, you can see, hear and touch, but that’s the extent of your sensory experience. Here, I’m immediately hit by the fragrance of flowers. I inhale deeply as a light breeze ripples the hem of my robe. I’m standing on a balcony on a tall white building. I can feel the floor beneath my feet. I reach out for the metal railing and it’s warm from the sun. Far below me is a beautiful city surrounded by tall stone walls. Beyond the walls lies a vast green land. I can see the hazy outline of mountains in the distance. Inside the city walls, there are other white buildings, all marvels of modern architecture. They’re linked by a paved path that snakes through the town. I’m watching a driverless pod navigate the curves in search of its next passenger when a magnificent bird lands on the railing beside me. Its face is golden and its feathers a shimmering iridescent green. Intellectually I know these are graphics. Every other part of me believes it’s all real. I can see the shaft in each of the bird’s feathers and every scale on its feet. The creature regards me with an intelligent, slightly hostile expression. Then it squirts a dollop of guano onto the balcony and flies off toward the puffy white dream clouds that decorate the sky.

I turn around and see that the portal to the setup environment is gone. In its place is a set of glass doors. They slide open easily, granting me access to an apartment. On a nearby side table is a tablet. It lights up as I approach, offering an impressive home decorating menu (starting with Amish farmstead, Argentinian estancia and Ashanti traditional), along with the options to build your own pets, children and companions from scratch. I quickly scroll through the companion menu—just to see what’s available. I’m expecting a good snicker, but it seems disappointingly clean. And even if it weren’t, I remind myself, I’m not here to play house with some AI hottie. I’m here to find Kat. I toss the tablet onto the couch and head straight for the front door.

The hallway outside my apartment is empty. I take a glass elevator to ground level and it deposits me at the bottom of a silent atrium. The plants soaking up the digital sunlight are unlike any I’ve ever seen in New Jersey, but I could swear they’re all real. I can smell the soil they’re growing in. I can see the tiny ridges and valleys on their leaves. I reach out and grab one of the round red fruits dangling from a nearby tree. I bite into it and I can feel and hear my teeth break through its skin. The flesh is sweet and smells like a plum. There is nothing about the experience that feels artificial—nothing to remind me that my brain has teamed up with software to trick me. In fact, there’s only one thing about this whole experience that strikes me as odd: There doesn’t seem to be anyone else around. The building is empty.

Don't forget to check out the rest of the stops on the blog tour:

Review: The Eternal Ones - Kirsten Miller

Have you ever fallen in love at first sight?
Do you long for a place you've never been?
Do you often experience the sensation of déjà vu?

Ever since Haven Moore can remember, she's experienced visions of a previous life as a girl named Constance, whose love for her soulmate Ethan ended in tragedy.

And the sight of the world's hottest movie star, Iain Morrow, brings Haven to her knees. She knows she has met him before. Is Iain her beloved Ethan?

Unable to deny her past any longer, seventeen-year-old Haven flees to New York to find him - and an epic love affair begins. But it is both deeply fated and terribly dangerous. Can Haven unlock the deadly secrets hidden in her past lives - and loves - before all is lost and Ethan disappears again...forever?

Eternal Ones Series:
The Eternal Ones
All You Desire (2011)

Visit Kirsten Miller's website for more information

Review:
As a child when Haven had visions of a man called Ethan her Grandmother was convinced that she was possessed by a demon. With even the preacher in agreement the whole town is wary of Haven and she has always been an outsider with only her best friend Beau to rely on.  Then at 17 she sees Iain on TV and her visions begin happening again. She becomes convinced that Iain was Ethan in a previous life and as memories of her life as Constance start coming back to her she becomes determined to go to New York to track Iain down. She remembers being a member of the Ouroboros Society and when she discovers that the organisation still exists she sets off in search of answers.

I was intrigued by the idea of The Eternal Ones and had been looking forward to reading this book for a while but I ended up finding it a frustrating read.  The beginning of the book is quite slow and it seemed to take ages for anything particularly interesting to happen. I was curious about Haven's life in her small minded town but I think this section could have been cut down quite a bit without us missing out on any of the information we were given. Once Haven makes her way to New York the pace picks up quite nicely and I did enjoy the mystery of who was behind the death of Constance.

I didn't really feel a connection with any of the main characters. Although Haven is young and inexperienced I found the way she constantly changed her mind about Iain was frustrating. All of her memories of Ethan are of them being happy and in love but I was glad that she realised that she didn't know the full story and was wary when first meeting Iain. However when they did actually meet she constantly flipped from being madly in love with him to taking the word of total strangers who she had no memory of and becoming frightened of him. Then Iain would tell her he loved her and everything would be OK again - until the someone came along and said something negative about him that is.  This continued throughout much of the book and at times I just wanted to shake her and tell her to walk away from the whole mess.

For the hero of the book Iain just didn't capture my interest, we didn't see enough of him for me to get to know him properly and what we did see didn't give me any reason to trust or even like him. I was suspicious of him throughout the whole book and just didn't feel the attraction between him & Haven. There didn't seem to be any real connection between them and the romance completely missed the mark for me. My favorite character by far was Haven's best friend Beau - the scenes with him made me smile and he stole the book which was a shame considering he wasn't one of the major players in the story.

I have to say I enjoyed learning about the Ouroboros Society and I believe there is more to learn about the organisation and it's members. It was interesting trying to figure out who was involved in the plot to kill Constance and I didn't work out the full story until right near the end of the book. I'm just not sure if I enjoyed the story enough to continue reading the series though.

Source: Received as part of a book tour arranged by UK Book Tours, this book has already been sent on to it's next destination.

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