If you ever want to read a book that makes you question reality than Devil in the Pale Moonlight by D. Hollis Anderson might just fit the bill. It tells the story of Tomahawk O’Murtaugh, a young man living in a futuristic Texas, after they have seceded from the United States. He works as a welder and is just trying to get by, at least until another young man he was mentoring dies on the job. Deciding to help he does something rather drastic, he enters what is known as the Siv. The Siv is a virtual reality world in which many people work for others by selling either their time in the game or the actual energy generated by their body while there. Tom wants to help rescue the people trapped in the Siv as indentured servants, practically slaves in reality, one of whom is his friend’s father. To do so he must first take out the various overlords in the game many of whom are counterparts of people who are wealthy in real life. Things get complicated though when Tom realizes that he is descended from one of the creators of the Siv and that there is someone or something in the Siv that wishes to stop him.
I was fascinated by some of the ideas in this book but was slightly disappointed by others. A lot of books deal with the idea that futuristic societies have large segments of the population that escape from reality in some kind of virtual reality world. This was one of the things that was rather disappointing as we see it so frequently in fiction. However, there were some semi-unique elements that were present that altered it just enough to make it still enjoyable and novel. A big one was the idea that the equipment is so expensive that people frequently have to take out loans to buy it which resulted in a society where people end up in a type of indentured servitude to the rich people in the game. I don’t think I have seen that angle before so that rather grabbed my attention. Tying into that the idea that they can harvest energy to power society’s technology from the human body was also rather unique and that some people enter the Siv and sell the energy from their body while there. Honestly, I was a little disturbed thinking about the idea that our society could potentially end up in that kind of situation. Then there was the common concept of some person wanting to help a friend and decides to do so by trying to topple the whole system, again a pretty common theme in fiction. It was only altered by the fact that the story didn’t stay on that as it changed course and focus partway through. However, I was slightly disappointed by how easy everything was for Tom. There were obstacles present as he tried to change things but he seemed to overcome them way too easily for it to be remotely realistic. I felt like either he was overpowered or his opponents were underpowered, especially at the beginning when he first gets started. The change in purpose for Tom partway through also kind of threw me at first as it felt like the whole course of the novel changed with it and I wasn’t prepared for such a shift. The book was still really good though and I definitely enjoyed it. I am happy to give it four out of five stars.
As you have probably gathered this book is a pretty stereotypical science-fiction novel and if you happen to enjoy that genre than you may consider trying it. It is slightly futuristic but it deals exclusively with a heavily technology based society is that also based entirely on Earth and in Texas. There are no references to space travel or anything like that so if you prefer that type of sci-fi you may not enjoy this book all that much. If you happen to prefer other genres than you may also not really enjoy this book. I would consider this book to be aimed primarily at adults but it would be mostly suitable for young adults provided they are no younger than their late teens. It does contain some violence and does reference potentially sensitive content due to the indentured servitude situation. Irregardless of your age make sure to be careful when considering this book. It is a good book and don’t let that deter you from reading it. If you decide to try it out feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. I acquired this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.