This Is Not a Game: You Don't Get a Second Life
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Review
'[An] eerily prophetic thriller' SFX 'Combines droll satire, cyber-fu knowingness, ingenious extrapolation, social commentary and techno-thriller suspense' SciFiWire.com
Product Description
Once upon a time, there were four of them. And though each was good at a number of things, all of them were very good at games ...But when one of them is gunned down in a parking lot, the survivors become players in a very different kind of game - one that is played for the highest stake of all. Now they must draw on all their resources - not least millions of online gamers - to track down the killer. Imagine a game with no boundaries. Waiting in a parking lot, sitting at your computer, walking down the street - you could be called at any moment, and you'd better be ready. This is not a game. This is a novel that will blow your mind.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"An alternate reality game, also known as an altered reality game (ARG), is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions."
When Dagmar is stuck in a foreign country after a connecting flight is cancelled her problems are only just beginning. With the country's currency collapsing and coming under military lockdown, the situation deteriorates very quickly and she fears for her safety. Her boss and friend, Charlie, is a multi-millionaire and uses his money to hire specialists to help get her out. But as the Puppetmaster of Great Big Idea, a company that focuses on ARGs, she uses the wide fan base to assist her wherever they can - and comes up with some positive results.
Back in the real world and inspired by her recent experience, Dagmar starts up the next ARG from Great Big Idea. But things start to go bad when an old friend and fellow employee is murdered. Now realising the power she has in the real world through the players of her ARGs, Dagmar starts to insert real events into the latest adventure in the hope that they can help solve this real world crime. But as events unravel she discovers just how bad things could get - can her and the Alternate Reality Gamers solve the clues and get to the bottom of things before it is too late?
The first thing that struck me about This Is Not A Game is how easily I slipped into the characters we follow. Dagmar is the main focus of the novel and we discover things with her and live through her experiences, it's very pleasing to follow someone that is likable, and enjoyably so. With her experience as the puppetmaster of Great Big Idea she has many tools at her fingertips that we learn very quickly can make a huge difference to her predicament. Of course, this also serves to bring us up to speed with the jargon and nature of ARG's and the basis of the novel.
This is the main plot point in the novel and if you don't understand the mechanics of how things work it could mean that the story drags. I don't think this is a major issue though as essentially this is a techno thriller with some good characters and a well developed and thought through plot. Above all else, that is what matters, but Williams does such a good job at immersing you in the story and layering the plot just right that the pages soon fly by.
I don't really have any issues with This Is Not A Game either, everything to make a good, enjoyable novel is present. If I had to be picky I would simply say that once certain revelations happen it is fairly easy to see the outcome, not that this detracts from the entertaining storytelling in any way. All in all a highly recommended techno-thriller that will make the time you spend reading it fly by!
When Dagmar is stuck in a foreign country after a connecting flight is cancelled her problems are only just beginning. With the country's currency collapsing and coming under military lockdown, the situation deteriorates very quickly and she fears for her safety. Her boss and friend, Charlie, is a multi-millionaire and uses his money to hire specialists to help get her out. But as the Puppetmaster of Great Big Idea, a company that focuses on ARGs, she uses the wide fan base to assist her wherever they can - and comes up with some positive results.
Back in the real world and inspired by her recent experience, Dagmar starts up the next ARG from Great Big Idea. But things start to go bad when an old friend and fellow employee is murdered. Now realising the power she has in the real world through the players of her ARGs, Dagmar starts to insert real events into the latest adventure in the hope that they can help solve this real world crime. But as events unravel she discovers just how bad things could get - can her and the Alternate Reality Gamers solve the clues and get to the bottom of things before it is too late?
The first thing that struck me about This Is Not A Game is how easily I slipped into the characters we follow. Dagmar is the main focus of the novel and we discover things with her and live through her experiences, it's very pleasing to follow someone that is likable, and enjoyably so. With her experience as the puppetmaster of Great Big Idea she has many tools at her fingertips that we learn very quickly can make a huge difference to her predicament. Of course, this also serves to bring us up to speed with the jargon and nature of ARG's and the basis of the novel.
This is the main plot point in the novel and if you don't understand the mechanics of how things work it could mean that the story drags. I don't think this is a major issue though as essentially this is a techno thriller with some good characters and a well developed and thought through plot. Above all else, that is what matters, but Williams does such a good job at immersing you in the story and layering the plot just right that the pages soon fly by.
I don't really have any issues with This Is Not A Game either, everything to make a good, enjoyable novel is present. If I had to be picky I would simply say that once certain revelations happen it is fairly easy to see the outcome, not that this detracts from the entertaining storytelling in any way. All in all a highly recommended techno-thriller that will make the time you spend reading it fly by!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In a world that's going to hell in a hand basket financially it is with perhaps interesting timing that the latest novel by Walter arrives on the UK shelves. A techno thriller that transcends the troubles of the world in an adventure that will take the reader on a rollercoater of a tale that really takes some beating. Well written, excellently crafted it's a tale that will appeal to many readers and not just the typical reader of the genre. How do I know? I passed this onto my grandfather who devoured it with relish. If an 86 year old can get as much thrills and spills out of this tale as any other reader then you know that it has to be a quality read. Well done Walter.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Ok, too easy a title to mimic but yes, this is a good read, an excellent thriller with just a hint of technology and the future infused into it.
Williams can do no wrong in whatever area he chooses to write in. This shows him crafting a neat thriller with the insight of the potential of online communities to effect the 'real world'.
All, without trying to stretch or over elaborate beyond what is needed to tell a good story.
Williams can do no wrong in whatever area he chooses to write in. This shows him crafting a neat thriller with the insight of the potential of online communities to effect the 'real world'.
All, without trying to stretch or over elaborate beyond what is needed to tell a good story.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
This is not a turkey... not quite
Not a turkey but not that great either.
It reads easily and well, and fundamentally he can write, also the subject matter feels accurate and well researched - there is a... Read more
It reads easily and well, and fundamentally he can write, also the subject matter feels accurate and well researched - there is a... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Cornelius Z_G
Nice idea but 2-d characters
I'd never heard of the author before picking up this book although apparently he's been writing for years and been nominated for loads of SF awards. Read more
Published 15 months ago by zerot
TINAG
Tapping into the current vogue for alternate reality games or ARGs, Walter Jon Williams' novel stands shoulder to shoulder with Vernor Vinge's Rainbow's End and Cory Doctorow's For... Read more
Published 18 months ago by S. Bentley
Nice near-future sf
I've been a long term fan of WJW, insofar as I read Voice of the Whirlwind as a callow youth and was most impressed, and a few years ago I read Hardwired: he could certainly write... Read more
Published 21 months ago by James C. Foreman
Fun and clever thriller against a background of gaming
I hadn't read any of Williams' books before, I've clearly been missing something because "This is not a Game" is a tensely plotted, intelligent and many layered thriller - and I... Read more
Published 23 months ago by D. Harris
Neat thriller/SF/gaming combo
Dagmar, Austin, Charlie and BJ are gamers. They met playing RPGs and grew into professional gamers, trying to make money out of their hobby. Read more
Published on 29 April 2010 by A. J. Poulter
This Is Not A Dud
Gibson's cyberpunk genre is far from obsolete or even dead. Walter Jon Williams has written a finely crafted and gripping novel where role-playing online gaming meets a mcguffin... Read more
Published on 4 April 2009 by The Electric Ghost
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