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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What got me back into reading this year. It was beautiful written and I loved all the characters despite their flaws.
Enjoyed this book, but found it difficult at times to stay engaged. If this book was a bit shorter, I would've rated it a 4 star.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was incredible. I understand why is was so hyped and on everyone’s must read list back when it came out. Glad I finally gave it a read.
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
the whole time i kept wishing the story dove deeper into the actual game-making. my review might not be fair because i was expecting something else from this book.
i would have loved to read about the intricacies of game development: the triumphs and failures, the technical challenges, dealing with a customer base, etc. and don't get me wrong, there is a lot of that in the book. however, it seemed to be written by someone that has not researched how games are developed or even someone that hasn't played the type of games that are mentioned in this book. the most eggregious example is the game set in theOld West, with a protagonist that seemingly has infinite dialogue choices, that can switch from selling books to hand-making board games and selling them. it seems the author did not really imagine how the game would realistically look. what are the parameters of the gameplay? from what we see, players can farm, they can open up stores and decide to sell hand-made board games, they can become optometrists..? as a game, that makes no sense. it just made the game design feel very convenient for the plot and not actually realistic.
in the second half of the book, the story takes a shocking turn, completely sidelining the game-making aspect of the plot, which was disappointing for me. the constant time jumps did not help in keeping my interest. you have something extremely crazy happen and then the book tries to give some backstory about a character. i found myself partially skipping some time jumps because the current timeline was left hanging in the middle and i just wanted to finish the arc before going on a tangent.
a lot of the book is also multiple character studies on people i did not like, using archaic language that i have never heard in my life. so out of place.
for example, what put me off the most was the details of the abusive and predatory relationship between Dov and Sadie. female programmers are already not really talked about in the game-dev world, choosing to make your female character have her "big break" partially because of the help of a creepy, repulsive male teacher is just... demoralizing. and he kept showing up until the very end, it was weird how he was not really framed as an awful person. i did not love Sam or Sadie as characters, they were quick to make assumptions about the other, and extremely bad at communicating. that made their relationship frustrating to read about and hard to root for them. it's like those movies where the entire conflict relies on a miscommunication that could be resolved with an hour-long honest conversation.
overall, i liked the game-making aspects of the book and i wish it laser-focused on that, instead of trying to show off stylized writing full of "deep" video-game metaphors (in a game... you can start over... but in real life... you only have one try...)
i would have loved to read about the intricacies of game development: the triumphs and failures, the technical challenges, dealing with a customer base, etc. and don't get me wrong, there is a lot of that in the book. however, it seemed to be written by someone that has not researched how games are developed or even someone that hasn't played the type of games that are mentioned in this book. the most eggregious example is the game set in the
in the second half of the book, the story takes a shocking turn, completely sidelining the game-making aspect of the plot, which was disappointing for me. the constant time jumps did not help in keeping my interest. you have something extremely crazy happen and then the book tries to give some backstory about a character. i found myself partially skipping some time jumps because the current timeline was left hanging in the middle and i just wanted to finish the arc before going on a tangent.
a lot of the book is also multiple character studies on people i did not like, using archaic language that i have never heard in my life. so out of place.
for example, what put me off the most was
overall, i liked the game-making aspects of the book and i wish it laser-focused on that, instead of trying to show off stylized writing full of "deep" video-game metaphors (in a game... you can start over... but in real life... you only have one try...)
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book made me feel so many emotions. I know I liked certain parts of it but it feels unfair to myself if I gave it more than 3 stars. The book was too long and confusing. It felt like I was reading a book with a multiple-personality disorder. I wanted to like this book so badly but it was such a letdown. The author did try to bring a full circle to the book in the end. But I don't feel satisfied by it. Sam and Sadie deserved much better. And so did Marx.
informative
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes