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A review by allisonwonderlandreads
Otaku by Chris Kluwe
2.0
Thanks to Netgalley and Tor for sending me this copy to review! Sadly, DNF @ 33%.
The future world Kluwe envisions includes a flooded landscape (thanks, global warming) with no anonymity online (hello, censorship), one where pro gamers are the new pro athletes and Florida is ruled by a theocracy. Sounds fun, right?
Let's start by saying Otaku is a book about gaming that is probably best enjoyed by gamers. The first chapter is a wash of lingo that fits the scenario. If you're familiar with rpgs, it's as easy to follow as clicking "load game" on a home screen, but if not, you're left afloat without a tutorial. For me, it felt natural and added credibility to the environment. Gamers talk a certain way, after all.
However, the same overwhelming approach is taken to introducing the world, and I found this less forgivable since anyone reading is a newbie to this possible future world. Country names, technologies, and slang inundate the writing as if I should be able to follow along. World history and social context comes via info dump disguised as conversation four chapters in.
The main character is Ashley, known online as Ashura, the best gamer (called an otaku) out there and a general badass black woman. While I appreciate the direct and appropriately angry discussion of the stigmas and discrimination she faces in the game and in the real world, it comes across as wooden in the writing rather than the living, breathing nightmare it represents.
I also have to say that the violence against women in this book was astounding and at times, triggering. I'm talking all kinds: physical, sexual, and graphically verbal. The stilted, shallow telling of these events I suspect to originate with the fact that the author does not share the identity markers of the character who is being attacked and lacks the necessary emotional connection with the situations to do it justice.
The future world Kluwe envisions includes a flooded landscape (thanks, global warming) with no anonymity online (hello, censorship), one where pro gamers are the new pro athletes and Florida is ruled by a theocracy. Sounds fun, right?
Let's start by saying Otaku is a book about gaming that is probably best enjoyed by gamers. The first chapter is a wash of lingo that fits the scenario. If you're familiar with rpgs, it's as easy to follow as clicking "load game" on a home screen, but if not, you're left afloat without a tutorial. For me, it felt natural and added credibility to the environment. Gamers talk a certain way, after all.
However, the same overwhelming approach is taken to introducing the world, and I found this less forgivable since anyone reading is a newbie to this possible future world. Country names, technologies, and slang inundate the writing as if I should be able to follow along. World history and social context comes via info dump disguised as conversation four chapters in.
The main character is Ashley, known online as Ashura, the best gamer (called an otaku) out there and a general badass black woman. While I appreciate the direct and appropriately angry discussion of the stigmas and discrimination she faces in the game and in the real world, it comes across as wooden in the writing rather than the living, breathing nightmare it represents.
I also have to say that the violence against women in this book was astounding and at times, triggering. I'm talking all kinds: physical, sexual, and graphically verbal. The stilted, shallow telling of these events I suspect to originate with the fact that the author does not share the identity markers of the character who is being attacked and lacks the necessary emotional connection with the situations to do it justice.