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Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (Hardcover)

by Cory Doctorow (Author) "My girlfriend was fifteen percent of my age, and I was old-fashioned enough that it bugged me ..." (more)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 208 pages
  • Publisher: Tor Books (Jan 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0765304368
  • ISBN-13: 978-0765304360
  • Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.6 x 1.9 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 166,512 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

In Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, things are not well in the land of Space Mountain. The operations of Disney World, in this glimpse into the near future, are administered by "ad-hocs", volunteer groups devoted to retaining the old-fashioned charms of the amusement park in a society that has otherwise undergone radical change. Now that you can back up the contents of your brain and download it into a fresh clone, death has become obsolete. And rather than acquiring wealth, people are concerned with earning Whuffie, a measure of good will and admiration among your fellow immortals.

As one of the people in charge of the theme park's Haunted Mansion, Jules has no shortage of Whuffie. While he's delighted with his job and his perky girlfriend Lil, he's increasingly suspicious of the ambitious ad-hoc that's just revamped the Hall of Presidents. "Ad hoc?" Jules grumbles at one point. "Hell, call them what they were: an army." After Jules is "killed"--for the fourth time in the hundred years he's been around--he realises that the Haunted Mansion is under threat, along with the rest of his beloved Magic Kingdom.

It's the sort of wild, tech-savvy premise a reader might expect from someone with Doctorow's CV--among other things, he's one of the editors of the popular Weblog Boing Boing and a 2000 Hugo Award winner for best new writer. Doctorow, a Toronto native who now lives in San Francisco, makes savvy references to recent SF landmarks such as Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age and Snow Crash, and fans of Carl Hiaasen may be reminded of the amusement-park warfare in Native Tongue and the anti-Mickey bile of Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World. But what Doctorow's first novel lacks in originality, it more than makes up for in terms of exuberance and appeal. The action is funny and swiftly paced as the increasingly unhinged Jules tries to discover the identity of his "murderer" and protect the Haunted Mansion. Along the way, Doctorow reconfigures society in a dazzling variety of ways and creates a future that he can call his own. --Jason Anderson, Amazon.ca

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My girlfriend was fifteen percent of my age, and I was old-fashioned enough that it bugged me. Read the first page
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5 Reviews
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4.4 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Great first novel, 6 Feb 2003
By Mark Baker (Santa Clarita, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Julius has finally realized his life long dream of living in Disney World. He finds his job with the Liberty Square ad hocs to be fun and his girlfriend Lil keeps him feeling young. When his best friend Dan shows up, he feels his life is complete. But then he's murdered. Granted, it's only his third death, which isn't bad for being over a hundred, but he still takes it rather personally. He's even more surprised when he finds out that Deb moved into the Hall of Presidents while he was out.

Deb is leading a group that is slowly bringing all the attractions into the modern era with new technology. Julius and his friends oppose this because they want to keep the park the way it was in the 20th century, technology, storylines, and all. Julius feels he should take a stand, but what can he do?

First, the bad. Maybe it's because I don't read that much science fiction, but I had a hard time with the jargon of this book. For the first 50 pages or so, I was really struggling to follow the new terms the characters were using when discussing their lives.

But once I got the lingo down, I couldn't put the book down. The story is interesting with quite a few twists and turns. All the characters were interesting and well developed, but I especially liked Julius. He was easy to care about, and I had to know what would happen to him next. I'm a huge Disney fan, so the back drop of Disney World certainly didn't hurt either. In fact, it made me want to visit the park even more.

Cory Doctorow is definitely an author to watch. He weaves a good yarn in an interesting vision of the future. I'm already looking forward to whatever he has up his sleeve next.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Instant fan!, 6 May 2004
By Lance Wicks (Southampton, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (Paperback)
I read the first 3 chapters of this book online, where the author and publisher have made it available free and legal!

After getting hooked into the world in the first three chapters I bought the book and Cory's other book of short stories. I flew through the pages and have just bought Eastern Standard Tribe!

If you live in the internet world then this book will strike a chord with you I am sure.

Great modern SciFi, great computer "geek" universe. And all based in Disneyland, fantastic!

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars gone so far and yet haven't moved at all, 26 Oct 2008
This review is from: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (Paperback)
it's funny to think that a humanity which has freed itself of death, sickness, energy limitations, economical injustice, ends up worshipping the walk disney theme parks.
cory doctorow lays down some big huge solid foundations and then builds a rather light and self-ironic book on this foundations. but this is the geniality of it, this is how it escapes being obvious.
it has the taste of a new generation, of someone who has grown in another era, blogging, cyberspace, post-Gibson.
And it's his first book, so long live Cory and looking forward to catch up with all the stuff that i have lost so far.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Curious take on what the future may look like, and how some things never change
Very interesting thought experiment on what our society could look like when death is curable, and all other major current issues, like famine and poverty are eliminated as well... Read more
Published 27 days ago by Bruno Padinha

5.0 out of 5 stars Doctorow's reputation economy
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is not only a page turner, it's also a fascinating portrayal of how our social interactions will change in a digital world of plenty. Read more
Published on 23 Jun 2004 by D. Tannenbaum

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