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whatulysses's review against another edition
4.0
Good concept, but at some point I had my fill of the concept/universe and was a little too old for the economics & social theory monologues that intersperse the actual story. Probably a pitfall of a YA book that includes labor unions?
Maybe would have gone differently if I'd read instead of listened to the audio version, and my library didn't keep yanking the files away after 1 week.
Maybe would have gone differently if I'd read instead of listened to the audio version, and my library didn't keep yanking the files away after 1 week.
phronk's review against another edition
4.0
[Review originally published on Phronk.com: Book Review - For the Win by Cory Doctorow]
Cory Doctorow's upcoming young adult novel, For the Win (or FTW), may not sound all that interesting on the surface.
At its core, this is a book about economics and the formation of unions. Boooring. Yet Doctorow weaves an intense story around these potentially dry topics, resulting in one of the most riveting books I've read this year.
For the Win takes place in the near future, when multiplayer online games—descendants of Everquest and World of Warcraft—have continued to rise in popularity. Gold farmers work long hours under harsh conditions to harvest digital items and currency from the games so they can be sold for real cash. When they realize they are being mistreated, they begin to come together and fight for their rights, in both the real world and in gamespace.
This isn't exactly science fiction. All of the technology described in the novel already exists, in only slightly less advanced form (e.g., the most exotic technology I can recall is a retinal scanner that starts a car). This grounding in our reality means that the struggles Doctorow deals with will become reality, where they haven't already.
Indeed, the economies of online games will begin to rival the economies of small countries; they're already worth billions of dollars per year. When that much money is involved, the line between online worlds and the real world is bound to get fuzzy. For the Win emphasizes that, at their hearts, life is a big game, and games are serious business. Economics, power, gambling, risk, violence: they're all just games that will be played in any place people gather, real or virtual.
It's interesting to see Doctorow's vision of social media, as well. He demonstrates that, in a world where text, pictures, radio broadcasts, videos, etc., can be instantly created and transmitted to a network of people anywhere in the world (the main characters are in the U.S., India, and China, yet all work together), the organizations that used to control the transmission of information no longer have power. It's like an effortless novelization of Clay Shirky's ideas about technology and social networking.
For the Win breaks some rules of the typical YA novel by being longer than it needs to be, and having so many characters that they can get mixed up. "Show don't tell" doesn't apply, with character-free tangents explaining complex economic topics that I found fascinating but could be dry to most. But you know what? Cory Doctorow can break the rules, because he's a fucking genius. He has great ideas coming out of his ass. He could bang out unedited thoughts into an unordered list and it would still be a great read.
It could, however, be considered too one-sided. While it all makes sense in the context of the story, there is nary an anti-union word in the book. With London [Ontario:]'s month-long bus strike just coming to an end yesterday [this review was originally published on December 15th 2009:], I'm of the opinion that there are situations in which unions can become the greedy organizations they were designed to combat. It's often not possible for all workers to come together, like when the workers who need buses to get to work can't do so because the workers who drive the buses want more money.
In any case, the story of unions, economics, and video games that Doctorow has created is exciting and eye-opening. It will probably appeal most to nerdier, technology-oriented types with an interest in the money game that makes the world go 'round, but almost anyone could find something to love here. for the win ftw.
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Note: This book doesn't come out until May of next year. As far as I can Google, this is the first review on the entire internet. I pledged Cory Doctorow my eternal love if he'd send me a copy, and he was kind enough to email me an early draft. It's full of errors both small and substantial, but I'm sure they will be corrected. My copy of For the Win, for the record, is the "second manuscript printing," dated October 8th 2009. If anyone expresses a problem with the existence of this review, I will certainly take it into consideration.
----------
P.S. Somebody needs to actually create Zombie Mecha (one of the games in the book), right now.
Cory Doctorow's upcoming young adult novel, For the Win (or FTW), may not sound all that interesting on the surface.
At its core, this is a book about economics and the formation of unions. Boooring. Yet Doctorow weaves an intense story around these potentially dry topics, resulting in one of the most riveting books I've read this year.
For the Win takes place in the near future, when multiplayer online games—descendants of Everquest and World of Warcraft—have continued to rise in popularity. Gold farmers work long hours under harsh conditions to harvest digital items and currency from the games so they can be sold for real cash. When they realize they are being mistreated, they begin to come together and fight for their rights, in both the real world and in gamespace.
This isn't exactly science fiction. All of the technology described in the novel already exists, in only slightly less advanced form (e.g., the most exotic technology I can recall is a retinal scanner that starts a car). This grounding in our reality means that the struggles Doctorow deals with will become reality, where they haven't already.
Indeed, the economies of online games will begin to rival the economies of small countries; they're already worth billions of dollars per year. When that much money is involved, the line between online worlds and the real world is bound to get fuzzy. For the Win emphasizes that, at their hearts, life is a big game, and games are serious business. Economics, power, gambling, risk, violence: they're all just games that will be played in any place people gather, real or virtual.
It's interesting to see Doctorow's vision of social media, as well. He demonstrates that, in a world where text, pictures, radio broadcasts, videos, etc., can be instantly created and transmitted to a network of people anywhere in the world (the main characters are in the U.S., India, and China, yet all work together), the organizations that used to control the transmission of information no longer have power. It's like an effortless novelization of Clay Shirky's ideas about technology and social networking.
For the Win breaks some rules of the typical YA novel by being longer than it needs to be, and having so many characters that they can get mixed up. "Show don't tell" doesn't apply, with character-free tangents explaining complex economic topics that I found fascinating but could be dry to most. But you know what? Cory Doctorow can break the rules, because he's a fucking genius. He has great ideas coming out of his ass. He could bang out unedited thoughts into an unordered list and it would still be a great read.
It could, however, be considered too one-sided. While it all makes sense in the context of the story, there is nary an anti-union word in the book. With London [Ontario:]'s month-long bus strike just coming to an end yesterday [this review was originally published on December 15th 2009:], I'm of the opinion that there are situations in which unions can become the greedy organizations they were designed to combat. It's often not possible for all workers to come together, like when the workers who need buses to get to work can't do so because the workers who drive the buses want more money.
In any case, the story of unions, economics, and video games that Doctorow has created is exciting and eye-opening. It will probably appeal most to nerdier, technology-oriented types with an interest in the money game that makes the world go 'round, but almost anyone could find something to love here. for the win ftw.
----------
Note: This book doesn't come out until May of next year. As far as I can Google, this is the first review on the entire internet. I pledged Cory Doctorow my eternal love if he'd send me a copy, and he was kind enough to email me an early draft. It's full of errors both small and substantial, but I'm sure they will be corrected. My copy of For the Win, for the record, is the "second manuscript printing," dated October 8th 2009. If anyone expresses a problem with the existence of this review, I will certainly take it into consideration.
----------
P.S. Somebody needs to actually create Zombie Mecha (one of the games in the book), right now.
djhobby's review against another edition
3.0
This was a good read.
It wasn't great, but definitely worth reading. It kind of dragged on near the end but I still liked it. I would love it if the author's intention of the whole world's workers organized into one large labor union. This book is pro-labor, and so am I.
My biggest complaint about this book is the phrase "chin waggling." Doctorow must have used that phrase 200 times, which is about 197 times too many. His use of that phrase started to get distracting from the actual story, and I'm still not 100% sure what he means by it...
Short review: Good book, glad I read it...Would I recommend it? Only to other pro-labor, liberal readers. Or to right wingers who need their blood pressure raised.
Keep up the good work Cory Doctorow.
It wasn't great, but definitely worth reading. It kind of dragged on near the end but I still liked it. I would love it if the author's intention of the whole world's workers organized into one large labor union. This book is pro-labor, and so am I.
My biggest complaint about this book is the phrase "chin waggling." Doctorow must have used that phrase 200 times, which is about 197 times too many. His use of that phrase started to get distracting from the actual story, and I'm still not 100% sure what he means by it...
Short review: Good book, glad I read it...Would I recommend it? Only to other pro-labor, liberal readers. Or to right wingers who need their blood pressure raised.
Keep up the good work Cory Doctorow.
godzillaismycopilot's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
maitrey_d's review against another edition
4.0
Another fantastic book by [a:Cory Doctorow|12581|Cory Doctorow|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1361468756p2/12581.jpg], I love his didactic style.
Set in the near-future where giant MMO economies rule the roost, Doctorow uses the opportunity to talk about worker-rights and economics. Unlike [b:Little Brother|954674|Little Brother (Little Brother, #1)|Cory Doctorow|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349673129s/954674.jpg|939584] where Doctorow clearly picks a side in the very beginning, For The Win clearly makes you think about the kind of rules we have made for our workers and the economies of boom and bust.
The glut of characters do tend to overwhelm in the beginning, but I especially loved his meticulously researched details on Mumbai (Dharavi) and even Indian-English (I'm sure the Chinese parts were well researched too, but can't comment on that).
Set in the near-future where giant MMO economies rule the roost, Doctorow uses the opportunity to talk about worker-rights and economics. Unlike [b:Little Brother|954674|Little Brother (Little Brother, #1)|Cory Doctorow|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349673129s/954674.jpg|939584] where Doctorow clearly picks a side in the very beginning, For The Win clearly makes you think about the kind of rules we have made for our workers and the economies of boom and bust.
The glut of characters do tend to overwhelm in the beginning, but I especially loved his meticulously researched details on Mumbai (Dharavi) and even Indian-English (I'm sure the Chinese parts were well researched too, but can't comment on that).
hollyeula's review against another edition
The beginning was way too slow paced, and none of the characters were relatable. I just didn't care enough about any of them to continue on.
mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition
5.0
Weird but cool. Definitely not science fiction, barely speculative fiction. 4.5 out of 5. Basically a lesson in union forming and strike-busting and business in China wrapped around the context of gold-farming in online games. Not evenly written and not always enjoyable. And doesn't even come across as reasonable or accurate. But still a bit of a hoot. And a new favorite.
jm_donellan's review against another edition
3.0
Gamers in particular will love this one, but you definitely don't have to be one to enjoy this. The concept of worldwide unionization and insurrection in the face of corporate greed and oppression is extremely relevant to what is happening in the world right now, particularly in regards to the Occupy movement.
The scope and concepts in this novel are huge and engaging, but the actual plot execution is a little hit and miss which makes it something of a mixed bag. This would definitely make a great film in the right hands.
The scope and concepts in this novel are huge and engaging, but the actual plot execution is a little hit and miss which makes it something of a mixed bag. This would definitely make a great film in the right hands.
srgower's review against another edition
2.0
It was okay. The story jumped around to so many characters it was easy to lose track of where the story was headed. Near the end, I got a little bored and skimmed - a LOT. I would recommend Little Brother over For The Win.
furicle's review against another edition
4.0
Great book which has been thoroughly reviewed elsewhere. An interesting optimistic peek into the gamer landscape and a series of commentary about economies small and large that ring very true for me.