Slum Online
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Slum Online by Hiroshi Sakurazaka is about Etsuro Sakagami; a student, who spends most of his time playing the massive multiplayer online combat game called Versus Town. Sakagami realizes that he is addicted to Versus Town, and he also realizes the dangers of that as one of his best friends has locked up himself in his room doing nothing but playing the game. Still he does not want to do anything about it. In fact, the book describes playing the game as something that can be life-fulfilling. Sakagami's aim in life is to become the best fighter in Versus Town. The books originality is that Sakagami's life in Versus Town and Real Life are treated on an equal footing, trying to bring across the excitement that Sakagami feels when he is fighting in the game. It does not moralize by depicting the game as all bad. Although this book is very different from Sakurazaka's other book in the Haikasoru series All You Need Is Kill, it is just as highly recommended.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
6 reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
The Hustler Online
12 May 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Slum Online is an interesting novel, in that it's an idea I'm surprised hasn't been done before. The concept of a great quest inside a video game being the main focus of the story while reality plays out in a more mundane way around it, you would think with the rise in popularity of video games in the last decade that this would be the sort of story more people would have come up with.
That said, the novel is interesting in that it's actually rather deeper than the plot description lets on. The classic movie buffs reading the novel will instantly catch all the references to the 1961 classic "The Hustler" staring Paul Newman. If you haven not seen the movie, then you'll actually be missing out on some of the nicer details in the novel. They draw so many parallels between our protagonist's quest to find the infamous Ganker Jack and Fast Eddie's desire to beat Minnesota Fats that they flat out mention the movie on a few occasions. Comparing the two stories is part of the fun of the novel.
The book was a nice short read. Entertaining, but with many faults. While the story was deeper than I was expecting, some chapters seem to end rather abruptly and then suddenly two weeks of time will pass in-between the chapters. Also the constant use of "FX" as describing sounds in the real world got annoying. I understand that it was supposed to show how the main character felt more at home in the video game world, but it still was overdone.
For the American release there's a bonus short story after the novel, from the point of view of a side character. It's a nice little addition, and to be honest, in some ways it's better than the actual novel. It flows slightly better and ends on an interesting note that makes the reader consider how the story will truly end.
That said, the novel is interesting in that it's actually rather deeper than the plot description lets on. The classic movie buffs reading the novel will instantly catch all the references to the 1961 classic "The Hustler" staring Paul Newman. If you haven not seen the movie, then you'll actually be missing out on some of the nicer details in the novel. They draw so many parallels between our protagonist's quest to find the infamous Ganker Jack and Fast Eddie's desire to beat Minnesota Fats that they flat out mention the movie on a few occasions. Comparing the two stories is part of the fun of the novel.
The book was a nice short read. Entertaining, but with many faults. While the story was deeper than I was expecting, some chapters seem to end rather abruptly and then suddenly two weeks of time will pass in-between the chapters. Also the constant use of "FX" as describing sounds in the real world got annoying. I understand that it was supposed to show how the main character felt more at home in the video game world, but it still was overdone.
For the American release there's a bonus short story after the novel, from the point of view of a side character. It's a nice little addition, and to be honest, in some ways it's better than the actual novel. It flows slightly better and ends on an interesting note that makes the reader consider how the story will truly end.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
If you think your children play on the computer too much...
3 Jan 2011
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This might be an excellent book to pass on to a child that seems lost in online gaming. That's the whole plot, in a nutshell: Etsuro Sakagami is a college freshman busy failing at life, until he finds a way to integrate his online fun with an offline life.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
The Cover Lies So Much
23 Nov 2010
Format:Paperback
I don't know what is up with this cover lol. It clearly expresses the concept of a scene more than anything that happens in the book. It's got the entire scene all wrong! I still love the way it's drawn though.
The book can be described as light cyberpunk. It's well written enough, with multiple story lines, and light romance. I'm not typically one for romance being included in everything, but it worked well.
A college student who is obsessed with an online game begins working to make his life in the real world more stable. He begins having to balance the game and his new girlfriend. It also allows you to make several guesses at who the characters in the game are in real life.
It's a bit reminiscent of .hack// In some ways, but it also has its' own feel to it. I felt it was a great portrayal of how life is for people who can feel indifferent, or crushed by life sometimes and retreat off to videogames. Also an interestingly accurate portrayal of some of my gaming experiences.
If it's so great, why 4 stars? Because I save perfect reviews for perfect things. Very few exist. It's not that the book did something to warrant knocking a star off, it hasn't done something to warrant that extra star.
The book can be described as light cyberpunk. It's well written enough, with multiple story lines, and light romance. I'm not typically one for romance being included in everything, but it worked well.
A college student who is obsessed with an online game begins working to make his life in the real world more stable. He begins having to balance the game and his new girlfriend. It also allows you to make several guesses at who the characters in the game are in real life.
It's a bit reminiscent of .hack// In some ways, but it also has its' own feel to it. I felt it was a great portrayal of how life is for people who can feel indifferent, or crushed by life sometimes and retreat off to videogames. Also an interestingly accurate portrayal of some of my gaming experiences.
If it's so great, why 4 stars? Because I save perfect reviews for perfect things. Very few exist. It's not that the book did something to warrant knocking a star off, it hasn't done something to warrant that extra star.
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