Killobyte [Hardcover]

"Killobyte" wouldn't have to be anything more than what it's described as on the back - a near-future hyper-realistic virtual reality game where players can play almost any role, until a hacker brings into the game the possibility of real death to the players - and succeed marvelously as an exhilirating adventure story and prime fodder for any number of dreams and fantasies. But, being written by Piers Anthony, it also adds in some extra dimensions for even more reward.

First, the VR-adventure themes - players play 'online' with and against any number of other players (and bear in mind that this was written in 1993, when things like the Internet were still in their infancy), choosing from a vast array of scenarios - High Fantasy type with dragons and sorcerors and dashing knights and beautiful maidens; Science Fictional settings; 'real-life' political intrigue/military settings - just about anything you can think of - and select from a host of loosely-defined 'roles' within their scenario, then go on to custom-make the specific attributes of their character. Players can log in and out of their scenario and come back in inprogress, but if killed ingame must start a new character. For any fan of video games, adventure/fantasy movies, and the sexier possibilities in Virtual Reality role-playing, this guarantees a great novel provided it's written well, which this is.

But there's more - first of all, though it's evident that the majority of Killobyte-players are 'normal', reasonably well-adjusted people whose excursions into the VR world no more mean that they can't enjoy the real world, any more than people who watch a lot of movies or read a lot of books can't enjoy numerous other aspects of life; the two lead characters - Waler and Baal - are indeed hampered by limitations that severely hamper their ability to partake of the 'real' world. And their backstories are given, providing insight into and generating real empathy for the characters. Baal, for example (this isn't giving anything away, it comes up early in the book) is both severely diabetic and hypershy. This is one thing I love about Anthony's writing: like Stephen King and Dean Koontz he includes characters with physical and/or mental ailments as main parts of the cast - sometimes it's not a main point, just a 'just-happens-to-be' kind of thing; other times it's a significant part of the character. But even when it's significant in the character and the story, it's always made clear that the affliction (or disability or whatever you want to call it) is FAR from the sole characteristic that makes up the person. This is true of Koontz's and King's books as well.

Piers also frequently includes characters of different races, belief systems, ethnicities, and the other things that unfortunately tend to divide people, into his books. Here, for example, the Druze religion is briefly brought into things, an actual religion that I had never heard of before reading "Killobyte". As a species, humanity isn't doing as good a job as it could of the different peoples mingling and understanding and respecting one another in the real world. Perhaps greater exposure to different cultures, religions, etc., through things like books and movies is a place to start? (If you agree with that, I'd enthusiastically urge you to check out "The Veiled Web" by Catherine Asaro, an excellent book that has the very notions above as one of its two main themes, along with the emergence of genuine Artificial Intelligence)

There's one other thing about this that's a big drawing point - the Author Notes at the back. Years back I gave up reading most Author Notes and interviews and the like, and I Never watch the behind-the-scenes making-of features on DVDs, because I don't want to risk spoiling the magic of the story. At the time I ceased with the interviews and stuff, I decided there were a few sources who were 'safe' in this way, Anthony being one of them. His notes are always entertaining, enlightening, and never take away even a smidgen of the magic of his books

Killobyte is a 1993 science fiction novel by Piers Anthony. Here, a paralyzed ex-cop and a depressed teenage diabetic find escape in an online virtual reality game, but are hounded by a malicious hacker/griefer with real-life-threatening results.

The writing here is decent, but not Anthony's best. The dialogue is often stilted and expository, and the story strains credulity at times, usually when it's trying to be feel-good or needs to make the plot go. Not for the first time, Anthony seizes on a few topics and themes, and rather than simply including them in the novel, forcibly educates the reader over many pages - here these topics include diabetes, the Druze, and early-1990s hacking.

Anthony perhaps spends too much time on his characters' backstories, particularly as their profound self-pity is something of a barrier to reader sympathy; it might be natural, but it's not great reading. Anthony also uses his protagonists to reaffirm gender stereotypes: Walter is fixated on his impotence, Baal on her looks. And it doesn't help that Killobyte features a teenage villain who's socially crippled and mentally disturbed - in all, a pitiable figure. Nevertheless, Anthony keeps the pages turning pretty well, and that covers a multitude of flaws.

The real star of the book is the game itself, which is appealing, and which is filled with logic puzzles and logistic challenges - staples of too many Anthony books to list. They aren't as good as those in the Xanth or Apprentice Adept series, but the Killobyte scenarios are generally immersive and engaging enough to bring the reader through, even if Anthony does overstay his welcome from time to time.

From a gaming perspective, however, Killobyte has not aged well, at least inasmuch as the players of this MMORPG bear precious little resemblance to the modern gaming community. This disrupts suspension of belief in many ways that it wouldn't have fifteen or even ten years ago. Where are the hardcore gamers? The trolls? The kill poachers? The angry teenagers and their homophobic slurs? (Well, there's one, but he's not a player.)

There's a related problem with Anthony's Killobyte game itself: it's presented as a role-playing game, and the players treat it as such, but it's an inherently kill-count-based game, not unlike any Call of Duty-type shooter (compounding this, some RPG elements, like the standard stat allocation system, don't feel well thought out). The result is that the ambitious players don't do the things you'd expect them to do if they were actually trying to rank up (i.e., play for points). Even casual modern gamers will readily see the obvious opportunities for boosting, even if every single one of Anthony's supposed "serious" gamers are completely oblivious. The game is further muddled by the copious availability of sex, which is typical of Anthony but hard to buy in this context. The game is simultaneously an RPG, a shooter, a vacation destination, and a wish fulfillment, and if it existed as-is in real life, the shootists would ruin it for everyone else - you'd log on to nothing but unrestrained killing and sex.

That may seem like a lot of criticism, but many of these things are just extremely interesting (to those with gaming interests, at least) because they're so far off the mark (for example, they're doing VR that's indistinguishable from reality on dial-up modems with zero lag). Most of it doesn't seriously damage or break the story.

So then, while Killobyte is dated and certainly not as good a read as it was fifteen years ago, it's still entertaining enough. If I were reading it for the first time in 2012, there's no way I'd be able to give it more than three stars, max, but I have fond memories of it from the mid-nineties, before its propositions were so ludicrous. It's recommended, but only to those with a gaming interest.

Killobyte (1993) is a one-off science fiction adventure by Piers Anthony.

The core premise of Killobyte is that virtual reality technology works. Gamers put on special suits in their living rooms, then plug in all around America to the game of Killobyte. They play cooperative and competitively, in environments that range from 'fantasy castle' to 'Beirut'.

Also, because this is Piers Anthony, the limitless freedom of the new technology enables people to talk endless about their childhoods and, of course, go at it like rabbits.

Killobyte starts as an intriguing, well-paced investigation of the virtual reality concept. The protagonist, Walter, explores the game from the earlier 'levels' - ushering the reader through the early ramifications of the new technology. Walter soon encounters multi-player gaming and Anthony, to his credit, deftly explores the repercussions of that aspect as well - a virtual reality world for one is wildly different than a world shared with others. Anthony even does a credible job showing the difference between power-gamers, social gamers, role-players. While Walter is out to explore the new world, others, like the woman, Baal, are merely using it as escapism. And still others are playing to 'win' - ignoring the meaning of the worlds they play in and just trying to rack up points.

Anthony being Anthony, however, the initial promise of the book is quickly ruined. Walter and Baal immediately kick off a romance (complete with VR sexual exploration), based almost entirely on the fact that they're both 'misfits' - Walter is wheelchair-bound, Baal is diabetic (something Anthony touches in repeatedly in his books). Several meandering expositional (yet in no way interesting) chapters later, their budding relationship is spoiled by a HACKER. Hackers, we learn, are the emo terrorists of the future. This one, Phreak, is a lonely kid who reaches out by logging in to Killobyte and heckling people. Unfortunately, in the case of Walter and Baal, his heckling has the potential to prove lethal. (dun-dun-DUN!)

Although the reader should be grateful for Phreak's interruption of Baal & Walter's awkward sexual ministrations, the plot is nothing less than pure goofiness. In the weird 1994 version of the internet, full Virtual Reality is possible (on a modem, no less!), but the equipment is magically and conveniently lethal (and inescapable), and a single hacker has godlike power.

Walter and Baal are both fairly wretched characters as well. Although Virtual Reality is positioned as a godsend for both Baal and Walter - a chance for both to experience a 'normal' physical life, that is quickly undermined by the whole plot of the book. Even in the realm of imagination, the two are unable to escape who they are. Cue: an entire book filled with sterile, self-absorbed internal monologues. Anthony's tendency for super-rational, over-thinking protagonists is on full display here, as Walter dutifully contemplates everything in painstaking detail before doing anything.

Anthony's traditional sexism is on display here as well. Anthony is quick to point out that the female roles in Killobyte are sexist. In the 'fantasy castle' scenario, for example, the only female roles are 'nymph' and 'princess'. Walter and Baal are constantly shocked by the sexual availability of the computer-controlled female characters.

Alas, that doesn't cut it. Just having characters comment about how sexist something is... doesn't actually make it any less sexist (please take note of this, Joss Whedon). Rather than using virtual reality as an excuse to step out of gender roles, the game reinforces them. Similarly, rather than exploring the concept as an means to avoid stereotypical gender roles, Anthony uses the book to reinforce them. Girls are girls and boys are boys, and nothing can change that. One will always be the hero, the other will always be the object. He is defined by his concerns over his manhood, she is defined by concerns over how pretty she is. The whole thing is more than a little painful.

Overall, Killobyte is like having an entire Anthonian series condensed into one short volume: an interesting premise, swiftly ruined by an appalling commitment to lackluster characters and ludicrous sexual escapism. The book's trite ending is particularly appalling - a ham-fisted appeal to some sort of geeky gamer utopia, where geek meets geek under the starry sky, to be accepted by one another - if not by the rest of the world.

Given 1 star, and that's only for the outrageous mullet in the cover art.