The Demi-Monde is a mechanism used for training soldiers for
combat missions. The world inside the Demi-Monde contains
racism, sexism, and hatred in general. There are many
notorious historical figures in the world that may harm the
training soldiers. The President's daughter is trapped
inside this horrific, violent world and a rescue is planned
to save her before it is too late.
Ella, the heroine, enters the world in an attempt to save
Norma, the President's daughter. When she first enters, she
believes the world to be made-up...something that could
never take place. However, the longer she remains in the
World, she begins to understand just what is going on and
the ease at which the barriers between the real and
fictitious worlds shift and blur. The author will convince
the reader that they are immersed in a World where violence
is a rule, not the exception. There is constant action as
soon as Ella, and the reader, enter the Demi-Monde. The
reader will find themselves rooting for the heroine as she
navigates a literal Hell.
Ella's character is brave and strong. She represents one of
the only good characters in the Demi-Monde and the reader
will find themselves attached to Ella within the first few
chapters. The other characters, particularly the historical
ones, are richly portrayed. The environment and action
taking place are described in great detail, leaving nothing
to the readers' imagination. The World is a place that is
easy to sink into and forget about the real world, but there
is always an undertone of suspense and mystery that will
keep the reader on their toes. The real world and the "what-
could-be" world within THE DEMI-MONDE:WINTER are not so
different from each other. The reader and Ella must be
careful to watch their step.
In the Demi-Monde, author Rod Rees has conjured up a
terrifying virtual reality, a world dominated by history’s
most ruthless and bloodthirsty psychopaths—from Holocaust
architect Reinhard Heydrich to Torquemada, the Spanish
Inquisition’s pitiless torturer, to Josef Stalin’s
bloodthirsty right-hand man/monster, the infamous Beria.
The Demi-Monde: Winter kicks off a brilliant, high concept
series that blends science fiction and thriller, steampunk
and dystopian vision. If Neil Gaiman, Neal Stephenson, James
Rollins, and Clive Cussler participated in Suzanne Collins’s
The Hunger Games, the result might be something akin to the
dark and ingenious madness of Rees’s The Demi-Monde: Winter.