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scheu's review against another edition
3.0
Austin Grossman played a lot of Nethack.
The game is not mentioned explicitly in the book, nor is this fact mentioned in any of the blurbs, but it is nevertheless really obvious. Especially when he mentions the phrase 'you suddenly yearn for your distant homeland' which is a random Nethack effect description.
I don't have any problem with this Nethack love as I also have played A LOT of Nethack. In some ways it is the 'ultimate game' - relentlessly difficult, rewarding to the clever, timeless. As a gamer, I have spent copious amounts of time playing it and the other inspirations for Realms of Gold (Ultima chief among them) in my (mis)spent youth (and adulthood). I caught all the references. It was a fun time.
Ultimately, though, I never attached to any of the characters. I couldn't figure out what Russell's deal was. I also thought the ending was pretty flat. I am probably not the only reader who felt that in the end, somehow, we would be told that THIS IS THE ULTIMATE GAME - THE GAME OF LIFE! or something, hoping otherwise, of course. Maybe there was no other reasonable ending. I don't know. I hope not.
The game is not mentioned explicitly in the book, nor is this fact mentioned in any of the blurbs, but it is nevertheless really obvious. Especially when he mentions the phrase 'you suddenly yearn for your distant homeland' which is a random Nethack effect description.
I don't have any problem with this Nethack love as I also have played A LOT of Nethack. In some ways it is the 'ultimate game' - relentlessly difficult, rewarding to the clever, timeless. As a gamer, I have spent copious amounts of time playing it and the other inspirations for Realms of Gold (Ultima chief among them) in my (mis)spent youth (and adulthood). I caught all the references. It was a fun time.
Ultimately, though, I never attached to any of the characters. I couldn't figure out what Russell's deal was. I also thought the ending was pretty flat. I am probably not the only reader who felt that in the end, somehow, we would be told that THIS IS THE ULTIMATE GAME - THE GAME OF LIFE! or something, hoping otherwise, of course. Maybe there was no other reasonable ending. I don't know. I hope not.
mazloum's review against another edition
3.0
You is a peculiar beast. Most readers, including myself, would find the prose almost maddening in its tendency to jump around from 1st to 2nd person, seemingly without pattern. But, I understood what the book was aiming at, blurring the line between Russel the human being, and whichever video-game avatar he was occupying at the moment. I just wish it was done more...masterfully, I guess. The novel often flails without purpose, causing me to skim entire paragraphs in the hopes that something interesting would happen. It doesn't help that Grossman has this tendency to over-explain, taking entire pages to describe the current environment, or the rules of a game, or the backstory of a character. The story just loops and twists and brings back elements that it discussed 15 chapters before, and by the end, I'd really just had enough of the entire thing.
I give it three stars though, because the characters themselves are ones I could relate to: Russel, Darren, Don, Matt, Lisa and doomed Simon. They were all interesting people, and I couldn't wait for the story to get back to them (which it did very little of).
If you're really interested in a story that delves into the pscyhe of video-games, development, and socially-awkward relationships, then maybe you should read this book. Otherwise, just stay away.
I give it three stars though, because the characters themselves are ones I could relate to: Russel, Darren, Don, Matt, Lisa and doomed Simon. They were all interesting people, and I couldn't wait for the story to get back to them (which it did very little of).
If you're really interested in a story that delves into the pscyhe of video-games, development, and socially-awkward relationships, then maybe you should read this book. Otherwise, just stay away.
guyfantastic's review against another edition
1.0
I had a real hard time getting into this book. I have a lot of things in common with characters in this book - I'm a software engineer, I play video games, and I'm roughly the same age. The book seemed to flow between a narrative novel and a lesson in game design and software development - some of which wasn't even correct. The main driving force of the story is , but the description of it isn't remotely accurate, and the way it would be overcome is not by . And even if it was, they totally gloss over the fact that the main character in the story is not a software developer, and is totally unqualified for . I thought the connection between the game engine and the was a strained and frankly stupid way to make the plot have meaning. There are huge problems that make the plot beyond a huge stretch of the imagination.
Besides that, there are some other issues I had that don't relate to software development. In the flashbacks, I kept waiting for the interesting bit that would put a new perspective on the current developments. It seemed like it was always on the horizon, but it never happened. The book tries to draw a parallel between the game characters and the person playing the game by switching perspective mid-sentence. It's sometimes confusing, but mainly it doesn't work, and it plays heavily into the geek-in-moms-basement stereotype. Also, there are several loose ends and things are just never really made clear. He tried to clean some of that up in a way that reminded me of the end of Animal House and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, where they throw in a "where are they now" kind of add-on blurb. And despite the similarities between myself and some of the characters, I just didn't care about any of them.
Spoiler
a software bugSpoiler
playing through all the gamesSpoiler
bug fixingSpoiler
economyBesides that, there are some other issues I had that don't relate to software development. In the flashbacks, I kept waiting for the interesting bit that would put a new perspective on the current developments. It seemed like it was always on the horizon, but it never happened. The book tries to draw a parallel between the game characters and the person playing the game by switching perspective mid-sentence. It's sometimes confusing, but mainly it doesn't work, and it plays heavily into the geek-in-moms-basement stereotype. Also, there are several loose ends and things are just never really made clear. He tried to clean some of that up in a way that reminded me of the end of Animal House and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, where they throw in a "where are they now" kind of add-on blurb. And despite the similarities between myself and some of the characters, I just didn't care about any of them.
motoyugota's review against another edition
3.0
There is a good story here. There really is. However, it is INCREDIBLY hard to follow. The author goes from first person to second person to third person and from high school flashback to college flashback to current time real life to inside the video game to into the main characters dreams (or more likely delusions and hallucinations). This could be okay, except these transitions happen from paragraph to paragraph, or sentence to sentence (and it seemed to happen within the same sentence more than once).
I only made it through the whole thing because I really liked the concept of the story. If it wasn't so close to home for me, I doubt I would have made it halfway through. But even with that known, I still rate the book highly, because if you can work out the story, it is excellent.
Maybe the book is easier to read with a physical copy (rather than ebook or audiobook) because you can flip back and forth easily to make sure you know what is being talked about at any given time, but you can't blame the technology for your flaws in execution (which, coincidentally, is one of the points made in the book).
I only made it through the whole thing because I really liked the concept of the story. If it wasn't so close to home for me, I doubt I would have made it halfway through. But even with that known, I still rate the book highly, because if you can work out the story, it is excellent.
Maybe the book is easier to read with a physical copy (rather than ebook or audiobook) because you can flip back and forth easily to make sure you know what is being talked about at any given time, but you can't blame the technology for your flaws in execution (which, coincidentally, is one of the points made in the book).
sitnstew's review against another edition
2.0
I desperately wanted to love this book. It was sold as a novel of the same flavor as Ready Player One, which is so terribly inaccurate that I could pull my hair out. The only similarity is the fact that both discuss video games. The similarities end there. Where RPO was a work of spectacular genius, You failed to get me even remotely interested in the subject matter. I can see a small group of game designers and programmers getting a chubby over this novel but outside of that, I feel betrayed by the hype.
I'll admit that I didn't finish the book and perhaps the second half would have completely redeemed it but You failed to captivate me sufficiently to give a care.
On to the next one.
I'll admit that I didn't finish the book and perhaps the second half would have completely redeemed it but You failed to captivate me sufficiently to give a care.
On to the next one.
shack70's review against another edition
4.0
loved the nostalgia of this book. Anyone that loves video games or ever played D&D will get a smile from reading this book
emheld's review against another edition
4.0
An introspective look into creativity and maturity. It's not the companion to Ready Player One that some want it to be - not nearly so obvious or plot-heavy - and that's a good thing. Grossman is writing a bit of memoir here, though perhaps more fictionalized than we'd want it (in that it still has a level of Protagonist on a Quest that real life doesn't contain). Recommended for gamers, writers, frustrated creators, fans of RPGs.
fisk42's review against another edition
3.0
I probably would have rated this lower if I weren't a computer programmer interested in video games.
Don't read this if you're expecting Ready Player One part 2. It's a good book, but they're not very similar.
Overall it's a decent read, and I could tell that there is an awesome book underneath. It's just not executed as well as it could have been.
Don't read this if you're expecting Ready Player One part 2. It's a good book, but they're not very similar.
Overall it's a decent read, and I could tell that there is an awesome book underneath. It's just not executed as well as it could have been.