Review: Erebos by Ursula Poznanski
Erebos by Ursula Poznanski
Release date: January 19, 2012
Publisher: Annick Press
Ursula Poznanski online (pages are in German): Website / Facebook
Find Erebos: Amazon / Goodreads
From Goodreads: An intelligent computer game with a disturbing agenda.
When 16-year-old Nick receives a package containing the mysterious computer game Erebos, he wonders if it will explain the behavior of his classmates, who have been secretive lately. Players of the game must obey strict rules: always play alone, never talk about the game, and never tell anyone your nickname.Curious, Nick joins the game and quickly becomes addicted. But Erebos knows a lot about the players and begins to manipulate their lives. When it sends Nick on a deadly assignment, he refuses and is banished from the game.
Now unable to play, Nick turns to a friend for help in finding out who controls the game. The two set off on a dangerous mission in which the border between reality and the virtual world begins to blur. This utterly convincing and suspenseful thriller originated in Germany, where it has become a runaway bestseller.
Ursula Poznanski is an award-winning children’s author. She lives in Vienna, Austria.
Amanda’s take: As an avid gamer who prefers RPGs (Role – Playing Games) over any other type of video game, when I saw the description for Erebos a few months back, I immediately added it to my Goodreads shelf. (Psst…you can find me on Goodreads here. I’ll friend back any of you!) It looked like the kind of title that, if awesome, would be one to remember; if it wasn’t so great, I would hopefully know why because of my gaming background.
Erebos is, in one word, creepy. It instantly brings to mind the capabilities of Artificial Intelligence in software programs and computers, the willingness of many people to blindly trust what they see and read on a computer screen, and how far our technology has advanced and could advance. After reading the first few chapters of Erebos, all that info settled in the back of my mind and I was even further creeped out.
Online MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role – Playing Games) like the one depicted in Erebos are insanely popular (think Word of Warcraft) but what if those types of games weren’t controlled by the user, but were fully capable of commanding those who played them? This is what Nick, the main character, faces when he gets a copy of Erebos from a schoolmate. He quickly becomes controlled by the game and its rules . 1.) Always play alone. 2.) Never talk about Erebos to anyone. 3.) Never tell anyone your player name.
Soon, the game is commanding Nick to do things in the outside world, and despite his initial incredulity at such a possibility, he finds himself moving a mysterious box from a cemetery to a spot underneath a bridge. That action is the trigger point for most of the plot that follows and I raced through the pages, wanting to know what would happen next. It’s clear that Erebos has an agenda to be carried out in the real world. Once Nick gets kicked out the game for not following an order to be carried out in his reality, things get serious very quickly. Threatening notes are left, stares and comments from classmates who are still playing follow Nick around, and at one point, he is almost shoved into the path of an incoming subway train. These actions only fuel his desire to find out who is behind Erebos and what the master plan is and who it’s being carried out by.
The really great thing about the way Poznanski wrote Erebos is that it is done in two perspectives: from Nick’s POV in the real world, and his character Sarius in the game. The author makes it clear that this game is unlike anything that has ever been produced and when Nick’s reality starts being superseded by the “reality” of Erebos, I got the chills. What else was shiver – inducing was how addicting the game was. Nick, who is a basketball player and a decent student at the beginning of the book, is suddenly missing practices and not doing his homework at all in order to play Erebos for hours on end. While I love gaming, I certainly can’t sit at a computer or stare at my TV for very long so the scenes where Nick forgets to eat, forgoes sleep, and even waits to use the bathroom to just play a little bit more are kind of scary. I’m sure most of us know that one person who just loves playing Farmville or whatever Facebook game is popular now, but yikes.
This story is just plain good. I know that might be lame to say but in essence, Poznanski’s writing is really strong, her characters (even the secondary ones) have distinctive personalities and voices, and the plotline is one that makes you think. Don’t let the fact that the book is mostly about gaming turn you off if you’re a non – gamer. If you like creepy thrillers that fling you from page to page until you can’t put the book down, Erebos should go on your To Be Read list.
I loved this book too! It’s definitely creepy, but I totally understood how the players got sucked in the way they did. I probably would have too…
Mandi: I love creepy books and after thinking about how the author portrayed the addiction the kids had to the game, I understood. There were times when I was *cough* younger *cough*, aka when my eyes didn’t tire after an hour, that I could play games all night long.