to head back to IVR. Halloween calls his parents and reports that he is dropping out. After a long discussion with both his parents and Ellison, the school's headmaster, Halloween is sent back to the virtual world. Halloween "graduates" all of the remaining students, waking them up from the virtual world. They decide to fulfill Gedaechtnis' plans for them to rebuild the world, but Halloween rejects the plan. The book ends with Halloween standing in the woods of Michigan, angry at the world for robbing him of his illusions, the girl he loved and his two best friends. Reception Kirkus Reviews wrote that while the book "might seem a rather lumbering affair when laid out", it "nips along quite nicely, deftly sidestepping the overly drawn-out or too-fraught-with-meaning scenarios one might expect from this apocalyptic masquerade." Publishers Weekly wrote that "Despite a compelling twist near the middle, the low tension and meandering plot will likely frustrate the primary target audience, mainstream fans of such futuristic action films as The Matrix and Minority Report." Ann Kim of Library Journal wrote that despite "occasionally reading more like a drawn-out short story rather than a novel", the book is a "fine debut by a writer with potential to grow". Sally Estes of Booklist wrote that Sagan "captures perfectly the voice and actions of a rebellious, extremely intelligent teenager." Gerald Jonas of The New York Times wrote that the book is "long on visuals, short on narrative logic and, surprisingly, weak on science." Sequels A sequel, Edenborn, was published in 2004. A second sequel, Everfree, was published in May 2006. See also Simulated reality Simulated reality in fiction Bibliographical information : U.S. Hardback (Putnam Publishing Group) : U.S. Paperback (New American Library) : UK Hardback (Bantam Press) : UK Paperback (Bantam Press) References External links 2003 American novels American science fiction novels 2003 science fiction novels