At one time, Sergei Lukyanenko’s book Labyrinth of Reflections made a massive impact on the IT world, a world few people even knew about back then. It practically became the bible of that generation.
The internet was still a novelty at the time, and no one fully understood what it would become, but many geeks already had personal computers at home. Communication took place on FidoNet, where people lived, debated, and created — including Sergei Lukyanenko and most Russian sci-fi writers of that era.
In fact, the novel Labyrinth of Reflections reflects this very generation, which suddenly transitions from the Fido network to a world of virtual reality. But not the kind we see now — it was from the same era of networks and computers that seemed cutting-edge at the time but now, twenty years later, are hopelessly outdated.
The central idea and fantastical premise is that someone invented a program that puts users into a trance, making everything on the screen feel like reality, while the user understands only intellectually that they are in a constructed world — the Deep. From there, the author shows how such a discovery irreversibly changes the world.
At that time, these virtual cities and living in a digital world seemed like an unattainable dream of a digital future. And since all of this was mixed with a decent story and a sprinkle of the trendy IT slang of the time, it’s no surprise how this book swept through the IT crowd like a wave. Yes, it was published in print, but I’m sure most people read it on their monitors or, at best, in homemade printouts from the same Fido network.
It was a book about us, about our everyday lives, with just one small step into the future. Outsiders, even if they read the novel, wouldn’t understand most of the references. All those moderators with “plusemotes,” interest-based conferences, “Oats are growing!” and so on. It was simply a description of FidoNet, slightly adapted to a virtual reality. (By the way, I haven’t read the English translation, so I have no idea how the translator managed to convey these Russian realities to English-speaking readers.)
Nowadays, the book reads very differently than it did in 1997. We ourselves have moved 20 years ahead, and the world has changed. But the most amazing thing is that much of what was described in Labyrinth of Reflections has become a reality in one form or another in today’s internet. Yes, sometimes it’s a bit different than imagined, but still. However, full immersion in virtual reality hasn’t happened yet. The equipment is much better, they’ve invented all sorts of suits… but it still doesn’t make you feel like you’re in another world. It seems that only neural implants in the brain will be able to provide such an experience.
And some “predictions” didn’t come true, like the author’s criticism of Apple computers:
We walk to the right, behind the shelves with software boxes for “Macintosh” computers. Dead stock — hardly anyone uses these computers anymore. There were humans and Neanderthals, and then there were “IBM” and “Apple.” Evolutionary dead ends.
Others seem laughable now — 2,035 people simultaneously playing Labyrinth of Death, a multiplayer shooter. Today, that many players would be considered a complete failure, while success means hundreds of thousands of players.
But he did predict the appearance of touchscreens, and even the way we interact with them is almost the same: “Yes… if you like the picture and want to see it in more detail — rub the image with your finger.” At the same time, though, there’s the mention of a computer mouse with a ball that you had to clean periodically — I can’t even remember how many years it’s been since those mice disappeared from use.
However, the author did manage to show how we would begin to change when distances suddenly became irrelevant, and how private life would barely differ from public life… We truly got all that with the development of the internet.
If you overlook the details tied to the book’s age, it still reads easily and remains interesting. That said, it no longer feels like a “masterpiece.” Also, in my opinion, this is one of many of Sergei’s books where the story is more captivating than the ending. But that’s a pattern in a lot of his books. He’s an excellent storyteller, but I think he doesn’t end his stories as well.
Still, I recommend reading it. It’s engaging and offers a bit of a view of our world through the eyes of a sci-fi writer from 20 years ago.
My rating: 4/5
