Review: I highly recommend this book
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 27, 2014
Review by Harmony KentOn behalf of The Review BoardGHOSTS OF ARCADIABY RAMSEY ISLERScience FictionArcadia is the most technologically advanced gaming system ever developed.  It reads neural signals from user’s brains and replicates them, and the user’s every response, within the game arena.  The players don headsets, which are linked to every other headset in existence.  A player can even make a proxy, an exact replica of themselves, to play for them when they are unable to be online.  These proxies learn from the actual player, and develop their persona from the information gathered.  Then things go wrong, badly wrong.  Millions of dollars go missing in smaller amounts syphoned off from user’s bank accounts.  Dead player’s proxies still exist, and interact, within the Arcadia platform.  Investigative journalist, Miguel Naciamento, picks up the story and manages to track down the game’s creator, Ivy Yeun.  Together they attempt to identify the hackers, and work out just what went wrong.Okay, so, a certain amount of fanfare needed for this one.  Ghosts of Arcadia is the first book, ever, in the history of me reviewing for The Review Board, to be awarded 10 out of 10 stars by my good self.  Or my bad self, for that matter.  Believe me, I’m a tough reviewer, so full marks from me is quite an achievement *winks*.The plot, pacing, character development, world building, and prose are all excellently done.  The narrative is tightly written and has been edited and proofed to a very high standard.  There are some very minor editing quibbles, but—seriously—not anywhere near enough to matter.The Verdict:This is a fairly short book, and I read it in a couple of hours.  I’m not a science fiction aficionado, nor a computer geek, but I understood everything presented to me—kudos to the author for that.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would highly recommend it to everyone who likes a good sci-fi, or who is into computers and/or gaming.  I award a strong 10 out of 10 stars (or 5 out of 5), and will be looking out for more from Ramsey Isler.