A dystopian tour de force with resounding thematic power, Derek Cressman’s novel, Virtuality, chronicles a world where society’s addiction to virtual reality—particularly viewing endlessly streaming “infotainment” and mindlessly consuming advertisement-fueled products—has created generations of nonthinkers with the attention span of mayflies.

The story is set in a near-future SoCal where most inhabitants have cerebral implants connecting them online, and governments have merged with multinational corporations to create massive trade unions. America, for example, is now part of Globalia. The multiple points-of-view narrative follows a handful of characters as they search for meaning in a life fueled by delusion and misinformation.

Oscar Tamero and his 12-year-old sister are orphans. He survives due to his connection to the digital world (an interface called MyndScreen), which enables him to sell “bacco” illegally. But when his implant breaks, he suddenly sees the world anew.

Meanwhile, Caspian Blaine is about to be named president of a powerful tech company that specializes in increasing digital consumer connectivity and engagement, no matter the cost—but his real undertaking is to “plant the smallest seeds of… critical thought into a post-truth society that coped with the constant torrent of infotainment by disregarding it all as fake news.” As civilization rots from the inside and the global economy hurtles towards collapse, Tamero, Blaine, and others fight for themselves—and their future.

The novel offers crisp prose, with superb world-building. Its real power, however, lies in the truth underlying the dystopia; so many lines resonate in today’s society. At one point, for instance, a character says: “I’m still offline. It’s like I don’t exist.” Additionally, numerous scenes are haunting for the plausible, nightmarish future they foresee, like babies in warehouses with robot attendants and video screens running nonstop above their cribs.

Ready Player One meets Idiocracy meets 1984’s Oceania, this is a must-read for fans of thought-provoking science fiction—one with the potential to become a dystopian classic.