*Spoiler free*
Recently, I reviewed a MMORPG themed book from the World of Warcraft franchise, and gaming wise, there are plenty of books out there. Reamde, however, hits the gaming book genre from a completely different angle.
Unlike other gaming books, that typically show you the world solely through the eyes of the in-game characters; Neal Stephenson’s Reamde shows you the world through the eyes of the characters, the players and the developers themselves, inside the screen and out.
MMORPG games connect people the world over and often, when you’re playing, you have no idea who’s on the other side of the screen, playing alongside you. In Reamde, Stephenson experiments with how far away your in-game actions can be felt, and shows just how far that concept can go.
So, how far away can your actions be felt in a MMO? If Reamde is anything to go by: very. Stephenson takes you around the globe, seeing the game at the hands of American fans, English authors, Chinese hackers and Russian crimelords, showing that a couple of bad decisions in online gaming can change your life forever.
Neal Stephenson has done his best to research everything in his book, from computing and gaming terminology to English and Chinese culture, to ensure he provides an authentic experience to his readers and, despite doing a great job at it; he may have been slightly overly-ambitious, and to a learned reader, some of the terms and facts he throws in either miss the mark, or appear unnecessary, as if to say “look at how much research I did” and nothing more. This hardly hinders it, though, and once you see past some of the minor content, the writing itself is very well constructed and entertaining throughout.
The book splits into several sub-plots quite early on, so you’re constantly seeing a change in scenery, but you never feel lost, and the constant changes serve as a great mechanic for separating the giant and complex book into easy-to-follow chunks. Again, this has a downfall towards the end, as the different storylines begin to emerge, and it slows the ending down with repetition and deja vu. A lot of other reviews of the book complain about the size of the book and argue that it could have been halved, but if you invest in the characters and treat the book as a thriller; you find yourself encouraging the detail, and using it to place yourself into some of the tough, seemingly inescapable scenarios that the protagonists have to face.
As a gaming book it’s truly unique, and despite a couple of hurdles was an incredibly enjoyable read, with some great, engaging characters and some unlikely scenes and twists from start to finish.
A rare find, as far as gaming books go, and a must read for fans of the genre.
BehindTheWires 