Customer Reviews

Secret Realms

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

'Secret Realms' has the makings of a pretty good story. There is love, and pain, and a burgeoning sense of humanity and self-knowledge. There is a cast of archetypal characters. Actually, not only are they archetypal, their names pretty much point them out, so you don't even have to figure out who is who. Dreamer is dreamy, Snake is sneaky, and Trickster's got plenty a trick up his sleeve.

The premise of the book is that there is a bunch of characters living in this virtual reality environment, where they go through increasingly complicated battle problems. They aren't aware that they are training to be warriors in the next war against Japan. They're also not aware that their bodies are actually being kept in a cage, encased in some sort of strand which holds them up and responds to their movements. Like most of the technological phenomena in this book, these strands' actual method of operation remained pretty unclear.

The main character has growing revelations and epiphanies concerning the nature of reality. Finally, with the help of an outside character who only interacts in the VR environment sometimes and is not trapped there, he discovers the workings of the world and how to manipulate it. Then he frees the other people in the VR so they can be in the real world, and then all kinds of bad stuff happens. As the book jacket puts it so well, "And the first thing they discover is pain."

The VR environment is rendered masterfully, and is very entertaining. Despite knowing that the world was not real, I found the scenes in the environment to be quite engaging. For the characters, the world clearly is real, and their ties to it feel very believable and genuine.

However, this book has some other major problems. First, there is the incredibly cheesy and moralistic dialogue and themes. There are passages in this book which make Ayn Rand's "Anthem" look strikingly subtle. Like, "The tribe, he realized, was humankind. Together, they were all victims in the same realm. The realm of the real world. Victims of war."

Secondly, the technical aspects of this book are hopelessly muddled. The rules of the VR environment and its interaction with the real world remain extremely unclear at best and clearly impossible at worst. I am not sure whether or not such an interface could be described in a realistic manner, but it does not happen in this book. In general, the main character's technical feats are conveyed so implausibly that they merely leave the reader baffled.

But, all in all, it was a pretty good read. The author seems to be striving for something more insightful and literary than a mere sci-fi yarn, but never quite hits it - the thematic aspects of the book are too moralistic and blatant. I wish he would have been content to write a good VR/survival story, and spent a little more time focusing on a plausible atmosphere and plotline. I would recommend this book if you are looking for sci-fi paperback type story: some short term entertainment and a cyberspace fix, but not much substance.

No one can deny that the provisions for modern (global scale) warfare are closing the gap between the training simulations and actual combat with a bewildering rapidity. Secret Realms deals with the use of an enclosed virtual simulator which has been designed for the purpose of developing the entire human potential for tactical and strategic thinking in select individuals who have been ruthlessly isolated from actual real-life experiences in their virtual simulator from infancy (a project implemented by those ultimate pragmatists, the Chinese). I personally have little use for computer games, but the author has managed to make the virtual trainee's imaginative environment fascinating, and more important, has made the characters alive and important to the reader in their bizarre context. Tom Cool has combined first-rate story-telling with an exceptional visual imagination to produce a great story.

Having only read a few sci-fi novels in my lifetime, I took a chance and read "Secret Realms" by Tom Cool. I was very impressed with it. The author spent great effort in being very detail-oriented. It was obvious that he had the technical knowledge to go with his military background in creating a plot that had depth and high interest. I found the concept of growing up in a virtual world almost mind boggling, but accept its plausibility; the concept took me into new territory of thought as I read it. I would highly recommend (and already have recommended) Cool's book. I have already put in an order for his first book, "Infectress," and am looking forward to receiving it.

The author had some very interesting ideas. The beginning was somewhat complicated, but the author made it relatively easy to pick up on what was going on.

Though there were a lot of fascinating aspects, the bottom line is that one can lose interest very quickly. The characters weren't that likable, and the average reader will find some of the revelations in the story dissapointing.

Realms creates an intriguing visions of the future of warfare... cybernauts raised from infancy in a virtual world designed specifically to breed uber-tacticians. Believable enough, but from there on the suspension of disbelief becomes a little more challenging. For example, despite somewhat limited use of their muscles throughout their lives - and having only lived in a very controled & sterile environment, on emergence into the real world they're much stronger and faster than your average highly trained commando who was born and raised in the harshness of our reality. Uh huh, I not so sure about that.

This is a very good book that is well setup for an ongoing series. I found the characters believable and interesting. The concepts playout with some basis on reality. There is a military tone to the book but it is an important part of the story. Looking forward to the next book.

Being in the Navy has given me a unique insight into one of the main characters of this book: a United States Naval Officer. It seems as if the author believes that only Naval Officers, not Enlisted, have any brains. Tom Cool could make a living writing manuscripts for the television show "JAG". The movie, "Crimson Tide" gives an inaccurate view of true shipboard life. Would the second-in-command of a nuclear submarine rush into and put out a galley fire? Hell no! I'm tired of movies that portray "Officers" as invincible supermen. I call it "Top Gun Syndrome". "Secret Realms" is the literary equivalent to "Crimson Tide". I am also stationed in Japan, which is numerously mentioned in the book. I don't even want to mention how the author mangled the "future" of the Japanese people. Overall, I wish this book had been kept in a secret realm.

This is truly a great book. I am not just saying this because the author of Secret Realms is my Uncle (and yes our name really is cool.) Secret Realms combines good action, an interesting plot, and a good cast of characters. Althought this is probably something that will never happen on this earth it is very fun to read about. All of the tecniqualitys of it are great. If you liked this book I recommend you read Tom's other books which include Infectress, and Solider of Light. Hope you like this book as much as I did.