Otherworld by Jason Segel & Kristen Miller

*Disclosure of material connection- I received a copy of the book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for my honest thoughts. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions stated are 100% my own.

About the book-

New York Times bestselling authors Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller imagine a world in which you can leave your body behind and give into your greatest desires in the first book in a new trilogy perfect for fans of Ready Player One and James Dashner’s The Eye of Minds. The future is now. And the future is terrifying.

That’s how Otherworld traps you. It introduces you to sensations you’d never be able to feel in real life. You discover what’s been missing—because it’s taboo or illegal or because you lack the guts to do it for real. And when you find out what’s missing it’s almost impossible to let it go again.

There are no screens. There are no controls. You don’t just see and hear it—you taste, smell, and touch it too. In this new reality, there are no laws to break or rules to obey. You can live your best life. Indulge every desire.

It’s a game so addictive you’ll never want it to end. Until you realize that you’re the one being played. Welcome to Otherworld, where reality is dead. Step into the future. Leave your body behind.

The frightening future that Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller have imagined is not far away. Otherworld asks the question we'll all soon be asking: if technology can deliver everything we want, how much are we willing to pay?

My thoughts-

I was excited to see that Jason Segel has segued into the Young Adult genre from his previous foray into Middle Grade fiction. I enjoyed his Nightmare books, and I will pretty much read anything he is involved in so it was a given I was going to read Otherworld. To me, this was a new type of sub-genre, as I haven't read too many gamer themed novels, but I really enjoyed the feel of the book. The plot was interesting and dramatic, there was a good amount of suspense, and for the hopeless romantic in me, there was a love story. I read Otherworld in one day because I just couldn't put it down. There was a lot of action in the video game world, and a lot of story line in both the real world and in the virtual reality world.  As much as we are currently addicted to our electronics, this book was an interesting take on addiction and taking technology too far. Otherworld was a winning effort for Segel and his writing partner Kristen Miller, and I can not wait to see what happens in the next book in the series!