The Eye of Minds

The Eye of Minds
James Dashner
Fiction D26e

Michael is a gamer. And like most gamers, he almost spends more time on the VirtNet than in the actual world. The VirtNet offers total mind and body immersion, and it's addictive.  Thanks to technology, anyone with enough money can experience fantasy worlds, risk their life without the chance of death, or just hang around with Virt-friends.  And the more hacking skills you have, the more fun.  Why bother following the rules when most of them are dumb, anyway?

But some rules were made for a reason. Some technology is too dangerous to fool with. And recent reports claim that one gamer is going beyond what any gamer has done before: he's holding players hostage inside the VirtNet.  The effects are horrific--the hostages have all been declared brain-dead.  Yet the gamer's motives are a mystery.

The government knows that to catch a hacker, you need a hacker.

And they’ve been watching Michael. They want him on their team.  But the risk is enormous.  If he accepts their challenge, Michael will need to go off the VirtNet grid.  There are back alleys and corners in the system human eyes have never seen and predators he can't even fathom--and there's the possibility that the line between game and reality will be blurred forever.

(From publisher.)

Edda

Edda
Conor Kostick
Fiction K848ed 2012

When your whole world is virtual, what is reality?

Everyone in the universe of Edda is made of pixels—except for Penelope. While her body is kept alive in a hospital bed, her avatar runs free, able to go anywhere and do anything, including create deadly weapons for Edda’s ruler, her guardian Lord Scanthax. When Scanthax decides to invade another virtual world, Erik/Cindella from Epic and Ghost from Saga become part of the story—and soon the virtual universes are alive with fighting, alight with bombs, and brought together by three teenagers who want peace and understanding.

(From publisher.)

Saga

Saga
Conor Kostick
Fiction 848s 2009

Ghost is part of an anarcho-punk airboard gang who live to break the rules. And there's a good reason--their world, Saga, has a strict class system enforced by high-tech electronics, armed guards, and a corrupt monarchy.

But something is changing within Saga. Strangers are appearing and disappearing on the streets, like some kind of special effect. Soon Ghost and her gang learn the complicated truth. Saga isn't actually a place; it's a sentient computer game. The strangers are "playing" from their home on New Earth, and access to Saga works on them like a drug. The Dark Queen who rules Saga is trying to enslave the people of New Earth by making them Saga addicts.

And she will succeed unless Ghost and her friends -- and Erik, from Epic, and his friends -- figure out how to stop her in time.

(From publisher.)