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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
Good read, lots of pop culture references. Thought the ending let it down a little, but on the whole very good.
An amazing book. It brought back so many memories of my childhood. I recommend this to everyone.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is one of those rare books that makes you regret having to read the last page, 'cause you just want it to keep going. I think the source of that phenomenon is excellent characterization - which Cline does... excellently - an excellent plot, and a brilliantly-conceived fantasy world, in this case, a virtual reality fantasy world but same difference.
I only docked it a star because of Cline's decision to flop into a reflexive trope that's gone beyond "tired" to the territory of "mildly bigoted." That is the decision to cast a caricatured EvilGreedyCorporation as the villain. I'll hasten to add that the villain - which is as important to good fiction as a good hero or heroine - is nonetheless excellently drawn. Just poorly chosen.
The problem is that there's an obvious disconnect involved in casting a business as an authoritarian villain when in real life that scenario is nonexistent (and don't say organized crime, because organized crime is: crime, not business,) rather than choosing the just-as-obvious other entity. Which other entity has a veritable trophy-room packed to the rafters with real-world instances of authoritarian villainy, in multitudes of locations worldwide and in multitudes of different eras of history. The disconnect between observable fact and the choice Cline made is so pronounced that it damages credibility. In addition, that other entity is not mentioned at all in the book - something whose oddity got magnified by the fact that I read it at the height of a situation in which that other "entity" has been engaging in unprecedented authoritarian coercion on a daily basis for the better part of the last three months.
It demands a suspension-of-disbelief that's fortunately simple to overcome however, so it's not a huge problem. But if a review is to have any value it needs to illuminate negatives along with positives ('nothing quite as worthless as an uncritical rave, unless there is literally nothing to criticize - a rarity but it does exist.) Other than that, RPO is an excellent romp led by an excellent group of heroes who survive and prevail solely by their wits, through an alternate universe so intriguing that the reader wishes it were real and is loathe to leave it behind.
I read the book after seeing the movie, something that generally diminishes one or the other, but in this case there was no downside in either direction - another rarity. As a Rush fan virtually from birth I was disappointed that Spielberg dropped that element of the book - and the important plot device of the planet Syrinx and its Temples - entirely from the film except for Aech's shirt and a couple of wall posters, but the film was excellent and mostly faithful to the source material anyway. And again, having seen the film first in no way diminished the novel. The latter remained preferable, as most novels do in the novel-vs-film comparison, but in this case there was a nice parity of appeal.
I only docked it a star because of Cline's decision to flop into a reflexive trope that's gone beyond "tired" to the territory of "mildly bigoted." That is the decision to cast a caricatured EvilGreedyCorporation as the villain. I'll hasten to add that the villain - which is as important to good fiction as a good hero or heroine - is nonetheless excellently drawn. Just poorly chosen.
The problem is that there's an obvious disconnect involved in casting a business as an authoritarian villain when in real life that scenario is nonexistent (and don't say organized crime, because organized crime is: crime, not business,) rather than choosing the just-as-obvious other entity. Which other entity has a veritable trophy-room packed to the rafters with real-world instances of authoritarian villainy, in multitudes of locations worldwide and in multitudes of different eras of history. The disconnect between observable fact and the choice Cline made is so pronounced that it damages credibility. In addition, that other entity is not mentioned at all in the book - something whose oddity got magnified by the fact that I read it at the height of a situation in which that other "entity" has been engaging in unprecedented authoritarian coercion on a daily basis for the better part of the last three months.
It demands a suspension-of-disbelief that's fortunately simple to overcome however, so it's not a huge problem. But if a review is to have any value it needs to illuminate negatives along with positives ('nothing quite as worthless as an uncritical rave, unless there is literally nothing to criticize - a rarity but it does exist.) Other than that, RPO is an excellent romp led by an excellent group of heroes who survive and prevail solely by their wits, through an alternate universe so intriguing that the reader wishes it were real and is loathe to leave it behind.
I read the book after seeing the movie, something that generally diminishes one or the other, but in this case there was no downside in either direction - another rarity. As a Rush fan virtually from birth I was disappointed that Spielberg dropped that element of the book - and the important plot device of the planet Syrinx and its Temples - entirely from the film except for Aech's shirt and a couple of wall posters, but the film was excellent and mostly faithful to the source material anyway. And again, having seen the film first in no way diminished the novel. The latter remained preferable, as most novels do in the novel-vs-film comparison, but in this case there was a nice parity of appeal.
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No