History Literature / Reaper2016

In the year 2519, people on Earth don't grow old and die any longer; their bodies are frozen and they start a new life in the virtual reality of the global Game.

Jex is almost eighteen, working twelve hour shifts, and dreaming of when she'll be legally adult and begin her long-planned idyllic life in one of hundreds of wildly differing virtual worlds. When a bomber attacks a server complex, one of the virtual worlds crashes, and eleven thousand immortal players die during emergency defrost. Death has struck for the first time in centuries, and Jex is questioned as a suspect in the bombing.

With this on her record, Jex will never be allowed to enter the global game, but then a 400-year-old legendary player offers her the chance to join his investigation into the bombing. Jex must help Hawk catch the true bomber to protect the global game and save her own future. She joins a chase that will lead through real and virtual worlds, but the bomber has good reason to call himself the Reaper, and the heroic Hawk has his own secrets to hide.

''Reaper'' is a novel by Creator/JanetEdwards

''Reaper'' is a standalone novel by Creator/JanetEdwards, author of ''Literature/EarthGirl'' and ''Literature/HiveMind2016''.

* MissingMom: Played with. Jex's mother is not good at dealing with reality. She has a habit of, for example, saying she'll call next week, then not calling for a month but still expecting Jex to be up on all her news. Her talking to Jex about the stalker she once had when she believes Jex is in a similar situation is seen as a big step for her.

* YouKilledMyFather: Jex's father is killed in the bombing.

* CessationOfExistence: What the deletion weapon does; literally deletes players' minds from Game. For a time, Jex is concerned that the Reaper has used it to KillAndReplace Hawk. [[spoiler:In fact, he's replaced another Founder Player, using their position to take Jex hostage and almost use the weapon on her.]]

* EarthThatUsedToBeBetter: When Hawk is put in charge of investigating the bombing, he's shocked by how much Earth has changed in the four hundred years since he last paid it any attention. He's especially shocked by the way children leave school to work at ten, every aspect of their lives is based around entering Game and they're casually treated as if they're not people until they do.

* DudeWheresMyRespect: Turns out to be the Reaper's motive. [[spoiler:He's one of the original Game Techs, and once Game opened to the public he expected to be a celebrity. But instead, it was decided to make the Founder Players celebrities and for the Game Techs to be anonymous behind-the-scenes figures, plus a load more were brought in to cater to the increased number of players, making him feel doubly passed over. He targeted Avalon because it was the first Game world made without him, and planned to bomb the Celestius server to get revenge on the FOunder Players.]]

* MayDecemberRomance: Hawk (or Micheal) is four hundred to Jex's eighteen, although as people's development ceases when they join Game he insists that the centuries between them don't count. Due to the ways society has changed since he went into Game, he says she's much more of an adult than he is.

* NoSocialSkills: Micheal, a.k.a. Hawk, does not know how to deal with people, especially girls. That's why he entered Game, as one of the very first players. Hawk is his public persona, and only the other Founder Players know Michael. At least until he draws Jex and Nathan into his investigation, falls for Jex and ''wants'' her to know the real him.

* MissingMom: Jex's mother is not good at dealing with reality. She has a habit of, for example, saying she'll call next week, then not calling for a month but still expecting Jex to be up on all her news. Her talking to Jex about the stalker she once had when she believes Jex is in a similar situation is seen as a big step for her.

* MayflyDecemberRomance: Hawk (or Micheal) is four hundred to Jex's eighteen, although as people's development ceases when they join Game he insists that the centuries between them don't count. Due to the ways society has changed since he went into Game, he says she's much more of an adult than he is.

* CryonicsFailure: When the server for Avalon is destroyed in the bombing, every player there is dumped back into their body, resulting eleven thousand of them dying from shock.

* PoliceAreUseless: Unilaw are now the global law enforcement agency, and they ''stink'' at their job. Jex and Nathan are drawn into the investigation when every teenager who worked in the body stacks (where the frozen bodies of Game players are stored) who had a player die is pulled in for questioning. At one point, they're on the point of arresting a ''baby'' whose identity has been used to hack something. JustifiedTrope as they are dealing with an unprecedented attack, and most of them are teenagers because of the way society is shaped around Game.

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* DeathIsCheap: Averted. As people no longer die, the attack that kills eleven thousand people on Avalon causes shock and outrage throughout society, so much so that even being questioned - and found innocent - is enough to make someone a Game reject and social outcast.

* NoSocialSkills: Micheal, a.k.a. Hawk, does not know how to deal with people, especially girls. That's why he entered Game, as one of the very first players. Hawk is his public persona, and only the other Founder Players know Michael.

* PoliceAreUseless: