Original title: Sensored Reality 1: Beta
Authors: Aki Parhamaa, Anders Vacklin
Published: 2018
Publisher: Tammi
Genre: Young Adult (13 or 14+)
Pages: 400
Part of a series: Sensored Reality
Reading material:
English sample & synopsis
Divergent meets Assassin’s Creed in this YA adventure set in a futuristic world where only video games offer an escape from rising sea levels.
It is 2117 in a flood-ridden world, 16-year-old Bug’s mother uproots their lives from Sea-Tokyo and moves her unwilling daughter to Helsinki Island after Bug’s father dies in an accident. Devastated, and rejected by her new schoolmates, Bug retreats in to the world of video games. When a mysterious parcel containing a virtual reality gaming suit arrives on her doorstep, Bug is drawn into a beta version of a new game set in feudal Japan. But the game proves to be more realistic and far more dangerous than expected.
Beta is the first novel in the YA series Sensored Reality, historically-inspired cyber trilogy about video games and virtual realities with suspicious corporations looming in the background. It also tells a relatable story of an outsider struggling with friendships and family ties.