OK hands up the author is a mate of mine, but if you can track this book down its well worth a read.
In the near future at the University of Wessex Sir John Westgate and Dr Katherine Beckford have created a a huge databank of over 200 characters from all times as an educational resource. People can log on and interact with people from different times, from Napoleonic soldiers and early 20th century streetwalkers to fire and brimstone puritans and comely serving wenches. But the AIs become self-aware and when the authorities try to shut them down they break out of the Museum of the Mind into the world wide web. Chaos and panic ensues.
Now it may sound like a well worn plot from Star Trek or any other Sci fi show, but Eugene's first novel is written from a very British perspective. The characters are all very well developed, even the artificial ones, the plot is very clever,and there is a great deal of humour and not a little social comment.
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