Omnitopia Dawn is actually written for adults, but this excellent science fiction title is written by beloved YA author Diane Duane. Fans of her "So You Want to be a Wizard" series will be eager to pick up another of her titles, even though the protagonists in this book are adults.
Omnitopia Dawn is set in the near future, where genius programmer Dev Logan has created a gigantic MMORPG: a massively multiplayer online role playing game where participants with good game karma can build their own microcosms, and create a universe for every taste.
With over two hundred million people playing worldwide, Omnitopia is more than just an online game: it's a gigantic corporation with a huge financial footprint on the world stock markets. As Omnitopia prepares to roll out a massive game expansion, the company learns that a viscious hacker attack is being planned, with the potential to bring the entire system crashing down. Crashing the game would destroy the company, and ruin the creations of millions of micocosm creators who have invested their time and hearts into the gameworld.
We follow likeable programmer and CEO Dev as he and his idealistic team of elite programmers work frantically to disable the attack, and save the complex and beautiful world of Omintopia. Even in the face of betrayal and impending disaster, Dev retains his good-guy nature: he's portrayed as uniformly likeable, as are his smart and dedicated employees. The teen appeal in this book comes from the very clear good-guy-vs.-bad-guy plot cycle, and Diane Duane adds just enough fantasy science into the game structure to interest technology buffs (while not alienating those of us who just like to play!). Anyone who's every been sucked into an RPG game, or those who just enjoy a great science-fiction espionage yarn, will find Omnitopia Dawn an engaging read.
Science Fiction
Grade 11 and up
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