Game Slaves

In his smart debut, Skinner embraces SF genre conventions but keeps things entertaining with well-crafted dialogue and action sequences. In the near future, individual artificial intelligences are used to play the enemies in online video games. Phoenix is the head of the top AI squad, leading a group of veterans who handle the hardest missions in the hardest games. No one on the squad can remember anything before starting to game until a new member named Dakota joins the team. She starts asking questions, and after the group meets a young gamer named Charlotte, they begin to seek answers, too. Charlotte's older brother, a hacker named Jimmy, sheds additional light. Skinner wisely lets the problems inherent in the setup%E2%80%94why would AIs feel emotion and have autonomy?%E2%80%94become apparent to the characters at just the right moment, letting the storyline evolve fluidly. Phoenix, as narrator, brings the right balance of toughness and uncertainty, and the interactions between the virtual and real worlds effectively integrate the book's themes of free will, individuality, and exploitation. Ages 12%E2%80%93up. Agent: Andrew Stuart, the Stuart Agency. (Jan.)