Book Review: Idlewild [Nick Sagan]

RATING: A smart read.

The Matrix meets Agatha Christie

Idlewild isn't something I'd normally read. Techie-sci-fi stuff don't really appeal to me, and I don't usually go for first-person narratives. However, I picked up a copy because the plot seemed interesting enough for me to include it to the year-long supply of books I was bringing to a country where English books were a rarity. And partly because I loved the artwork on the cover :D

Reading a bit like Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None", the story opens in a world that is obviously VR, where Lovecraftian monsters, hobgoblins and Smileys serve as foot soldiers for a group of warring teenagers. Our hero, Gabriel a.k.a. Halloween, has just awoken from an electric shock - he can't remember anything except that somebody is trying to kill him. He also thinks that his virtual teacher, Maestro, a computer program, is harboring a grudge towards him. Paranoia? Perhaps. The story slowly unfolds through his re-exploring this world, and his gradual recollection of memories. He eventually finds out that he is one of 10 students studying through VR, and that one of them, Lazarus, is missing. He also thinks that he may have killed Lazarus, whose girlfriend Simone is coincidentally the love of Hal's life.

In a world ruled by an omnipotent computer program, Hal uses this device called a jammer (which hacks the virtual world and returns him to reality) to conduct some private investigating on Lazarus' disappearance and the attempt on his life. One question leads to another until Hal begins to doubt his and everyone's existence, and reality itself.

I can find no fault with Idlewild, theme or prose, but there is something missing from it which keeps me from giving it full marks. Also, there are some parts in the story where it just gets so dragging - probably because it's so predictable - that you just want to skip the damn chapters and get on to the next plot.

Sagan creates a myriad of very interesting characters - delusional and schizophrenic Fantasia, morbid and paranoid Hal, wild and angry Mercutio - every character is bursting with personality. I absolutely love Fantasia - she's so much fun and her childlike insanity balances Hal's dark, morbid broodings. Another thing I thoroughly enjoyed was Hal's philosophical musings about life and death and his incredibly sarcastic remarks. For example: "Every idiot goes through life thinking that he's special. That whole solipsistic conceit where you suspect that everything revolves around you and only you. Are you born with it? Probably. When you discover empathy, you're supposed to grow out of it, but I doubt anyone ever really does. Zen monks spend their lives trying. But it's hard. There's always that possibility, remote as it might be, that nothing exists outside your head. That you're the star of the show. That everyone else is a supporting character. And after you die, it all ceases to exist."

Idlewild is a smart book, dripping with information ranging from biogenetics to history to philosophy and literature. Although not my usual cup of tea, it was interesting enough for me to keep on going until the very end.