In an increasingly AI-wary world, acclaimed sci-fi author Daryl Gregory’s latest novel, When We Were Real, entertains the ultimate question of technological sentience: What if we are really living in a simulation?
It’s been seven years since the Announcement that human existence—all of history and science, art and culture, relationships, conversations, sensations—is nothing more than lines of code run by the Simulators. Amid the continuous, collective existential crisis spurred by this new understanding, engineer JP faces the return of his brain cancer. While he is still physically fit, JP and a longtime friend, comic book writer Dulin, decide to join a bus tour of North America. Unlike ordinary sightseeing tours, this one visits the Impossibles, a series of science-defying glitches in the simulation: a tornado made of unidentifiable matter, geysers that turn off gravity, sheep you can stick your hand through, etc.
If ever a novel multitasked, When We Were Real does so with aplomb, successfully achieving several aims over the course of its page count. While maintaining an adventure quest plot and pace, Gregory delivers a philosophical feast. His characters and their dilemmas lead readers down almost every thought spiral associated with the simulation premise. What is the role of God? How can you avoid deletion? Does one simulation imply there are others? Are there Non-Playable Characters, or bots, living among “normal” humans? This is not a lighthearted sci-fi saga; rather, Gregory seriously interrogates the implications of the Announcement. In doing so, he renders this high-concept world believable, often terrifyingly so. And the story remains grounded through characters like JP and Dulin, whose primary concerns are ones readers will find relatable: health, grief, finding purpose and fear of death.
When We Were Real is written in omniscient third person, traveling between the perspectives of the tour group: the cantankerous bus driver, the professor on the run, the pregnant influencer desperate to make her unborn child famous. There are a great number of names to remember, but Gregory provides a character list and is diligent with clarifying tags, while the characters themselves are personable and hilarious. This novel is a fine accomplishment for Gregory—an intellectual, enriching and emotionally resonant read.
