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Death Dream

Death Dream

List Price: $27.00
Your Price: $27.00
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An interesting foray into vr
Review: Although Bova tends toward the odd and strange ways of men dealing with children and society, DEATH DREAM is a great book. The only reason it does not deserve 5 stars is because the descriptive nature is not quite as good as it could be. I would reccommend this book to anyone interested in computers or VR.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: entertaining...
Review: My initial thoughts when I saw a VR related story made me cringe. All I could think of are all the Late Night B Movies that so make VR an unattractive subject.

I got the audio version from the library on the simple fact that Ben Bova is an established fiction author. Suprisingly I enjoyed this quit a bit. The audio version had me anticipating what would happen next more from the story than from the reading of the story.

If the reading was done a bit more like acting things out I probably would have gave this a five stars. At least they had some different sounding voices for some of the characters but the reader's ability to switch between character voices had some flaws.

This story based on VR technology really did get my thoughts going on the dangers of other pieces of technology. Interesting and entertaining story.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: scary
Review: The theme of manipulation through virtual reality is unsettling in that it is so possible, but the book is well done and interesting to read. One of Ben's best efforts.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very Well Done
Review: This book was written very well. Featuring a slew of fun, dysfunctional characters, it would only take a small stretch of existential angst for me to give it a 5th star. As it is, though, it is merely a precautionary tale of the dangers that virtual reality may bring to the world. Precautionary tales are nice, and sometimes they are fun (like this one is), but they don't really have the meaning to earn that 5th star.

This is the first book I have read by Mr. Bova, and I think that it is good, with some small imperfections. He has a certain writing style that is somewhat stilted to me, and it is sometimes hard to read. I can't place my finger on exactly what it is, though. It may be overusage of the character's names, or it may be the fact that the characters are a bit hackneyed, but whatever it is, it is somewhat annoying, like a tiny piece of flesh hanging from the top of your mouth...you know what it is and you want to fix it, but you can't really get directly at it, so you just worry it around with your tongue.

Other than the lack of any real substance and the small writing annoyance, the book was very good overall, and I am quite impressed. Don't get me wrong, the book is fun to read, and I will read it again sometime in the future, it just won't alter my perceptions of the world in any measurable fashion.

It is an exciting book, though, and it is fun to see Kyle Muncrief's whole world fall down around his sick, twisted feet, and I can't see why anyone should have to face repercussions for the consequences of his last VR sim.

That's just me though. Read it, enjoy it, and pass it on. Definitely a buyer.
Harkius

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHTMARE
Review: This is my first taste of the prolific and lauded Ben Bova. He is a good writer, he is definitely strong on character development. This is one of the drawbacks of this book. We get to know the characters well enough, but in doing so, Bova stifles the pacing of his book. This would work great on the movie screen; there are some really original and exciting virtual "games" going on here. There aren't a lot of characters to like in this book, although Dan certainly goes through hell to best his lifetime friend, Jason. Dan's wife, Susan, is whiny and sometimes I wanted to slap her; the daughter is a typical little brat, and what Uncle Kyle wants to do to her is pretty sick. WE get a lot of background on why Kyle Muncrief wants little Angela so bad, though.
If Bova had cut some of the excess fat off this book, it would have been a stunner!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHTMARE
Review: This is my first taste of the prolific and lauded Ben Bova. He is a good writer, he is definitely strong on character development. This is one of the drawbacks of this book. We get to know the characters well enough, but in doing so, Bova stifles the pacing of his book. This would work great on the movie screen; there are some really original and exciting virtual "games" going on here. There aren't a lot of characters to like in this book, although Dan certainly goes through hell to best his lifetime friend, Jason. Dan's wife, Susan, is whiny and sometimes I wanted to slap her; the daughter is a typical little brat, and what Uncle Kyle wants to do to her is pretty sick. WE get a lot of background on why Kyle Muncrief wants little Angela so bad, though.
If Bova had cut some of the excess fat off this book, it would have been a stunner!


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