Multiplayer (The Multiplayer Saga)
by John C. Brewer
Hector West is a typical kid. He plays soccer, rides dirt bikes, and hangs out with his friends. But all that changes when his father is killed in Iraq and the family moves back to his mom’s dull hometown. Bored and angry, Hector escapes into the online game Omega Wars, where he can reconnect with old friends through his character Izaak Ersatz. In the virtual world, there are few rules, no algebra, and death isn’t permanent.
When Izaak is robbed by a rival gamer known as Mal-X, Hector abandons questing and assembles his clan, the Spartans, to find the cheater and take revenge. But it is real life that turns deadly when Hector discovers that Mal-X’s clan is actually using Omega Wars to plan and train for something that could plunge the real world into a devastating war. And only Hector can stop them.
The seed for Multiplayer sprouted in author John C. Brewer’s head from encountering gamers from around the world while Brewer and his three sons played HALO on XBox-Live. As a physicist and rocket scientist, he was also aware of the technical difficulties government authorities would have monitoring for voice evidence of criminal activity in a mixed data stream, and the idea for the book was suddenly obvious. The military family setting, and the trials that it brings, was a natural backdrop for him, having grown up in a family with a long military history. While Multiplayer’s joys, tragedies and real life challenges appeal to a wide range of readers, Brewer hopes the novel’s context will also draw in those game-playing teens who have given up on books as a source of entertainment.
Excellent real-world characters and plot, and clearly the beginning of a great franchise! Will make a fantastic movie! Give me more!!! Perfect book for teens and families to share, particularly in households with video gamers. Asks deep questions about the future of technology and society without getting preachy. Tons of action, yet filled with touching moments of humanity. Loved the perfectly structured scenes that show how math and science actually mean something in the real world beyond just passing a test in school. These kind of stories inspire young people to be their best. Where are more books like this? Eagerly awaiting the next book in this series!– Amazon Reviewer, 5 StarsHaving discovered Brewer when he was a self-published author on Cafe Press, I have found his novels to be hugely entertaining. As a fan of Stephen King and Michael Crichton, I find Brewer to be a naturally gifted story-teller. He balances character, plot, and pace to pull you out of your world into his and, in this case, one step further into a virtual world beyond.
I finished Multiplayer in record time, and, as always, I close the back cover and think, “Man, I can’t wait for the movie.” I look forward to seeing his revised Silla Project on Amazon soon. Like Multiplayer, it’s worth reading again.
– Russell Carden, Amazon Reviewer, 5 Stars
Author John C. Brewer claims to have once been a time-traveling Shaolin monk, but after taking an arrow to the knee he retired to become a biker, physicist, soccer player, movie-aficionado, rocket scientist, dad and husband. And somewhere in there, he writes books.
John fills his novels with interesting characters in difficult situations. From a teen facing his worst fears in a video-game, to a scientist trapped into developing a tyrannical state’s nuclear capabilities, to environmentalism run amok, his books raise questions about the development and use of technology in society, wrapped in action-packed adventures that leave readers on the edge of their seats.
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