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CTRL S
by
Life in the near future's NOT ALL BAD. We've reversed global warming, and fixed the collapsing bee population. We even created SPACE, a virtual-sensory universe where average guys like Theo Wilson can do almost anything they desire.
But ALMOST ANYTHING isn't enough for some. Every day, normal people are being taken, their emotions harvested - and lives traded - to create ...more
But ALMOST ANYTHING isn't enough for some. Every day, normal people are being taken, their emotions harvested - and lives traded - to create ...more
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Paperback, 416 pages
Published
November 28th 2019
by Orion Publishing Group
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When the virtual world is becoming a staple of everyone's lives, Theo and his friends have to find his missing mother, and uncover dark secrets.
I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
In the future, taking part in virtual and augmented reality is as common and everyday as meeting up with friends in the park.
When Theo makes the choice to give up his dreams of university, and gets a dead-end job in a burger joint, to help his mother out with spiralling debts, going ...more
I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
In the future, taking part in virtual and augmented reality is as common and everyday as meeting up with friends in the park.
When Theo makes the choice to give up his dreams of university, and gets a dead-end job in a burger joint, to help his mother out with spiralling debts, going ...more

Entertaining adventure, much of which is set in an alternate reality gaming world but the gap between reality and artifice becomes very blurry indeed. With the four main characters all around twenty and the central figure searching for his mother, it does have a Young Adult feel about it. Incidentally, the characters seem to spend a fair amount of time throwing up, so there's also an icky factor! Review to follow shortly on For Winter Nights.

May 06, 2019
Adam
added it
Major problems with the eARC formatting. They need to fix the layout & make it legible.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
I had high hopes for this book as I’m a fan of Ready Player One and a few others but I was really disappointed. I felt that the characters were not likeable and weren’t developed well. Storyline was ok.
I had high hopes for this book as I’m a fan of Ready Player One and a few others but I was really disappointed. I felt that the characters were not likeable and weren’t developed well. Storyline was ok.

This book is set in the near future. VR is rife and also regulated and limited. SPACE is a virtual world that allows regular people the chance to live out their dreams, be who they want to be. People are using it too much and getting sick. Theo and his friends regularly meet up to play games, an escape from their mundane lives. But then one day, when in VR, Theo hears a call coming in on his mum's headset. He ditches the game to answer it and what he hears is shocking. His mum is being
...more

With CTRL S, Briggs explores (and exploits) the concept of SPACE, a future version of the Internet that includes VR and emotions (from and to the real world). Four young friends, around twenty years of age, hop in and out of SPACE to find the mother of one of them, who appears to be kidnapped. After a few chapters of introducing things – new concepts need to be explained, no way around that – these friends find themselves engaged in fast-paced action, almost like it were a video game.
While ...more
While ...more

Dec 03, 2019
Mira
added it
An enjoyable romp in the style of Ready Player One and a pretty similar plot too. The virtual world of Briggs' imagining is called SPACE and is a landscape where anything can happen. Unfortunately our hero Theo's mother has been dallying with some pretty nasty criminals and he is sucked into a deadly investigation to try and save her after she is kidnapped.
The eARC book wasn't formatted at all - so chapters collided and paragraphs weren't clear which made the read a tricky one. Added to this was ...more
The eARC book wasn't formatted at all - so chapters collided and paragraphs weren't clear which made the read a tricky one. Added to this was ...more

The setting of this book hooked me—a near future where we seem to have accepted the hyper-surveillance that worries us today. The concept of SPACE is fascinating too—the uploading of emotions, particularly. The characters and story are decent too, with the thrill-a-minute ride seeming more like a movie.
I’m taking away one star for a token girl character who the protagonist lusts after. The other thing that tripped me up were the occasional infodumps to explain the world. It seemed like ...more
I’m taking away one star for a token girl character who the protagonist lusts after. The other thing that tripped me up were the occasional infodumps to explain the world. It seemed like ...more

I don't read as many books in this genre as I would like, but the blurb of this book hooked me in from the off, and this continued from the first page. I hate spoilers but the characters in this book are certainly going to take you on a ride. I plan to buy this book for my brother, who will love it. Ready Player One fans, this one is a must read!

High octane, fast paced and for me completely unputdownable!! I found the technical descriptions of future tech both fascinating and a bit scary and there's a strong message about the dangers of spending too much time online that is a useful reminder for all of us. Great for any techy or science fiction loving teen or adult with plenty of plot twists along the way.
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A British writer who works extensively in Hollywood and more recently in comic books.
Hero.com and Villain.net are his first books launched in June 2008, with their sequels HERO.COM: VIRUS ATTACK and VILLAIN.NET: DARK HUNTER are out now - and more in the series coming next year.
The books are available in UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
Next year they will be out in: USA, Czech ...more
Hero.com and Villain.net are his first books launched in June 2008, with their sequels HERO.COM: VIRUS ATTACK and VILLAIN.NET: DARK HUNTER are out now - and more in the series coming next year.
The books are available in UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
Next year they will be out in: USA, Czech ...more
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