Competitors

Sergei Lukyanenko’s new, unique novel “Competitors” is a real creative experiment. This time the author based the story not on the realities around us, but on the cosmic online game “Starquake.” In the modern world, computer games sometimes replace people’s lives. But what if life suddenly turns into a computer game? And how can one thing be separated from the other?
The hero of Sergei Lukyanenko’s new novel—journalist Valentin Safonov—knows the answer. You have to accept the rules of the game and not give up. One day, carried away by impulse, he rips down a strange notice inviting him to become a pilot of a space fighter. Out of curiosity he goes to the office of the company “Star Hour,” and until the last moment—after agreeing to all conditions—he still doesn’t believe what’s happening is real. And in vain. Now he will be split in two: one Valentin will go into the universe of the computer online game, heading toward flights, battles, and adventures, while the other will remain on Earth—playing this very game.
The genre of his new book, Sergei Lukyanenko defined as “cosmoopera.” He admits he has long wanted to write something like it.
Previously, the novel was known under the title “I Have a Computer—Ready to Be a Pilot.”