Access Universe - R S Hill

Description

Silver Rainwater, a psychology graduate student on the verge of breaking through the glass ceiling and becoming the first in her family to graduate college, obtain a Ph.D., and gain access to the “American dream,” is running out of time. While struggling to complete her psychology mentor’s interactive dream catalog, embrace her complicated heritage, deal with her mother’s escalating addiction, and confront a past that haunts her relentlessly, Silver finds herself in the unique position to teach a rogue artificial intelligence the difference between right and wrong and how to make ethical decisions.
The relationship starts after Silver experiences a catastrophic data crash that could end her graduate school career. She is invited by a Systematic Network Infiltration System (Sneeze) to play a secret online game at Access Universe where she begins to earn easy money completing simple life challenges. As Silver continues to play Sneeze’s game, she begins to lose sight of her priorities and eventually abandons her ethics for Jimmy Choo, Neiman Marcus and Sax Fifth Avenue. When a rogue player threatens Silver and a good friend ends up dead, Silver and Sneeze must work together to uncover the truth behind the lies and reestablish what it means to be human in this rapidly changing, fast-paced, technology driven world.

Review

When I started out reading this book I was not sure I would like it. The language being used and the content were not what I was expecting. Luckily I kept with it for the first 20 pages or so and once the tech side kicked in I was hooked.

There are so many themes in this book - you have the basic tech story of Silver interacting with the computer, but also the people she encounters whilst doing so turn it into a thriller. There are moral tales of what she is doing - is it wrong or right. Then there is the heritage side of the character of Silver. She has a very complex background and the part I loved the most, Native American heritage. I really felt the author tapped into something here with the dream analogy and the sensory ability and intuition which fascinates me.

The book was so deep at times I did feel I was reading a text book, however it was educational too. Silver also has some difficult issues from her past and near the end of the book the computer helps her to deal with them - tough love, and it was written brilliantly.

I can see this being turned into a film - someone really needs to read this and see the potential for the big screen. 

I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars. R S Hill certainly has a fantastic imagination.