Virtual World [Hardcover]

Chris Westwood (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: PENGUIN PUTNAM * TRADE; 1St Edition edition
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670862878
• ISBN-13: 978-0670862870
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More than OK, but not quite "FUN", January 25, 2002

By 

D.A (El Salvador) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Virtual World (Hardcover)

I think this book is just OK for someone who dislikes reading. I read this book for an English project. I don't regret choosing this book because it turned out to be fine.

This story begins with a boy called Jack playing a Virtual Reality game. Jack and his friend Kyle both love VR games, so they are aware of a new game that has just been released. Jack and Kyle go to Roy McKee's house for a download of this new game. When Roy opens an e-mail from his friend Greg, who had this game. When Roy asks Greg if he could upload the game to him, the username is lost, and the only error that appears on Roy's PC was "user unknown". After this, Roy e-mailed Billy, someone he knew from the net, asking him if he knew what had happens to Greg. Billy responded that he knew nothing about Greg. He had called him by phone and e-mailed him but he never was there. Billy didn't know anything about "user unknown."

Kyle disappears after he managed to download Silicon Sphere. Jack didn't worry much about it He thought Kyle had gotten addicted to the game, and that was why he missed school, and didn't return the calls. One day Jack went to Kyle's house and he wasn't there, in that moment Jack started to get worried.

The next day, a girl called Kate sat next to him on the school bus. Kate started talking to Jack about the mysterious disappearance of children all over the world, and that is when Jack tells her about Kyle's disappearance.

Both of them start talking and they become friends. The next day, they both agree that it all has a connection with the Silicon Sphere game. What will happen to Jack?? What about Kyle??? Read this book to find out this and more.

I really thought this was an OK book, however I only picked it to have something to do my book report. I guess someone who enjoys reading and knows a little about computers and the Internet will definitely like this book a lot. I think this author took a lot of time explaining some scenes of the game and all. This book didn't have too much explanation, nor too little, it had just the right amount, so that you don't get bored, and don't get confused.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It was so incredibly REAL that I couldn't stop reading it., October 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Virtual World (Hardcover)

Virtual World is by far the best book I have ever read. I've read "All Quiet On The Western Front", "A Tale of Two Cities", name it. But when my mom got this book out of the library for me, I couldn't stop reading it. Two hours and fifteen minutes later, I called the library and told them I lost it. I paid the fee, afraid I wouldn't be able to find it in stores. I don't know a lot about computers, I don't even like video games, really, but this book was so REAL that it blew me away. The plot twists leave you wide eyed and softly cursing the fact that you haven't read this book before. I won't give away much of the story except that it is somewhat similar to the movie "The Matrix", but on a higher, riskier level. You simply cannot afford to miss this book. I would recommend it for those 14 or older, though. What are you waiting for? Go buy it from Amazon!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars When Virtual Reality Turns Real, November 2, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Virtual World (Hardcover)

A Review by Daniel

Virtual World by Chris Westwood is a complicated book about virtual reality. In Virtual World you meet Jack, a fourteen year old boy that loves virtual reality games. A new game, Silicon Sphere is coming out soon but a pre-release copy has leaked out onto the internet and thousands of people all over the world are downloading it. When Jack downloads Silicon Sphere he gets more than he bargained for when he finds out that it's more than just a game. When kids start disappearing all over the world it's up to Jack to find out what's happening.

For me Virtual World had to much "tech talk" in the dialogue through out the story. I like a nice story but all that is so distracting and I ended up just skipping over it. I did like how the story was real, for example, when most kids sit down to play a game, a few minutes will turn to hours, and hours will turn to all night. Also I think there were a few too many characters for my liking, through this book you heard about many characters and it gets to be so many it's like "Who was that again?".

Even though there were a few things I didn't like about this book it still was a pretty good story so I would be willing to give it 3 out of 5 stars. I would recommend Virtual World to anyone who likes to play, or read about computer games, particularly virtual reality games.