As it turns out, Regine and Tomasz were spying on him at the time, and they were too embarrassed to introduce themselves to him after accidentally intruding on his moment of privacy. A Date with Rosie Palms: Seth attempts to do this while showering outdoors in the rain, but it's implied that he doesn't get very far due to his current situation.The end of the story has him about to return to the moment of his death to Set Right What Once Went Wrong. Seth pleads desperately for his life both near the beginning of the story (as he drowns) and near the end (as the Driver is seemingly killing him).Beautiful Void: The story takes place in a town with no inhabitants except Seth and later Regine, Tomasz and the Driver.It's this world that Seth finds himself in after a malfunction causes him to wake up from the simulation instead of dying. It was intended to be a temporary solution at first, but more and more people began following suit, until before long everyone in the world was in the online world - leaving the real world an abandoned husk.

After the End: At some point roughly eight years or so before the story begins, people began uploading their minds to a simulated world to escape the horrible existence reality was becoming due to various wars, epidemics and economic decline.

A Glitch in the Matrix: According to Regine's theory, a Tap on the Head causes one and sends you to the real world instead of killing you.

It is recommended that you finish the book before reading the examples below. More Than This reveals most details of the story as you read. This is interwoven with the secondary plot that follows Seth's life up to the moment he drowned one winter day in the ocean, with some philosophical musings on stories and life along the way. The main narrative is about Seth, a teenaged boy who dies and then wakes up to find himself in a strange, deserted world. More Than This is a 2013 Young Adult novel by Patrick Ness.

More Than This by Patrick Ness