Reversible Reality
Sci-fi from Russia starts with a certain advantage if you’re not from there. The Cyrillic script adds an alien frisson, and expectations are raised because of its proud heritage. Could Obratimaya Realnost (or Обратимая Реалность, to be precise) aka Reversible Reality be another Stalker or Solaris, a Kin-dza-dza! or Inquest of Pilot Pirx? To bring things crashing down to earth, no is the answer, though there is a lot to like here. It’s a story about a contested future where most people are happy to live out their lives subsumed in virtual-reality scenarios, while a refusenik band of “Antivirts” seek to overthrow the New Life corporation running everything. To infiltrate the rebels, in … Read more
