Rating: 
Summary: A Little Low on Whuffie
Review: Jules is just a typical guy. He's a century old, has written three symphonies, died and been revived into a clone twice and is in a relationship with a woman 15% his age. His world takes place in a future that has no death and no scarcity and is run by the Bitchun Society. The currency of the day is Whuffie...or self respect/esteem. Jules finds himself in the Magic Kingdom in Orlando being a castmemeber who faithfully maintains the rides at the park at their original status. His life takes a turn for the worse when an ad-hoc committee moves in and threatens to "improve" the park ride by ride by making them more current and less retro. We watch as the story unfolds and Jules goes from a guy high on whuffie to a whuffie nobody. The setting is unique but the story is same old....guy in search of his meaning finds that life is really never what it seems but what you make of it yourself... It had many interesting concepts but non were fully developed. It left me wanting for explanations and expansions to have a more fully developed plot. I liked the book it was short and original but it was no science fiction masterpiece.
Rating: 
Summary: Best first from an author ever
Review: sea-floor, sea-floor, sea-floor, down by the sea-shore, sea-floor!"Down and Out..." is a short novel that depicts a future void of scarcity, where "money as you know it" is obsolete. The only measure of wealth is human capital (r-e-s-p-e-c-t), which can be monitored and traded freely. Simply put, Doctorow's passion leaps off the pages --> intravenously flowing --> straight into your heart and mind.
Rating: 
Summary: It's cotton candy for the mind!
Review: Pretty cover, catchy name, but no nutritional value. Junk. Or, rather, I should say, "garbage." I threw this book in the garbage after 100 pages (the book is a slim 200 pages total, and 12 point type and wiiiiide leading...more like a novella). Science fiction has another Chuck Palahniuk: a writer with great ideas but no writing ability whatsoever. If you don't mind stilted writing, weak narrative, lack of character development, awkward syntax and bad punctuation (who hyphenates "sea-floor"?) -- then this book is for you. Mr. Doctorow's book reads more like a sketch than a real novel. That's unfortunate, because in the hands of a good writer (or a writer who cared enough to write a good book), the book contains the seeds of an excellent story. If you're looking for futuristic adventure, stick with Gibson, Sterling, Dick and Stephenson.
Rating:
Summary: Wild premise, immature writing.
Review: 'Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom' is Cory Doctorow's first science fiction novel. Set around 100 years from now, the main character, Jules, lives in Walt Disney World in Florida. Jules has died a few times and been rebooted from a back-up each time. At Disney World a power play ensues between "ad-hocs" over the control of the Hall of Presidents and the Haunted Mansion. Jules has to deal with this while also dealing with the fact that his inner wiring is failing. Doctorow's writing shows signs of a first-time endeavor. It shows undeveloped characters, glaring editorial mistakes, and somewhat adolescent viewpoints. It also shows tiny bits of brilliance. I really enjoyed the premise of Whuffie, the barometer of a person's respectability, which one can use, in a sense, the same way one uses money today; the more Whuffie you have, the better position in life, the nicer living arrangements, etc. For me the ending was unsatisfying. Overall, this book is 3.5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Over-Hyped
Review: Unfortunately, I went into reading this book with high hopes. That, I think, led to my ultimate dissatisfaction. Other than whuffle (spelling? - i.e. eBay ratings applied to people, which I hope was meant to comically appear as technology gone awry), there are no really new groundbreaking ideas here. The storyline wasn't all that interesting and the characters were fairly one-dimensional. In the end, I really didn't care what happened to anyone. The book seems to be trying to combine the fantasies of a Disney and SciFi fan. Overall, I just felt it wasn't that interesting of a plot and just not all that well executed. Maybe that's just me though. I wouldn't recommend it unless you're a big Disney fan, and even then, I wouldn't get your hopes up too high.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun, yet with wisdom
Review: It would be too simple to say it's a short sci-fi novel (clocks in at 200 pages), which it is. But Down & Out in the MK transcends the genre. It's a good story loaded with ideas. What impressed me most? Even though it takes place in a future when--among other advances-- people don't die (they just get "rebooted" from their most recent "backup")...the book's underlying theme is timeless: the depersonalization (for better or worse) caused by advanced technology. Fun read? Yep. But its wisdom takes the book to another, deeper level.
Rating:
Summary: Poor, Poor Writing
Review: The thing with Corey is that he's a surprisingly bad writer, and he doesn't seem to know it. His writing is stiff, amateurish, and uninspired, and it sucks the life out of his (somewhat) interesting ideas. I am really not sure what kind of drugs critics are smoking, or what kind of payola may be involved. But regardless of what Entertainment Weekly says, whatever this newspaper or that magazine says, you shouldn't waste your money. Download it for free from Corey's site, read the first page, and look away in disgust -- this book is for people who think Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code is great writing.
Rating:
Summary: Just bought it...
Review: ...after I had read it. Twice. Which is possible because Cory Doctorow lets us download the book plain text (or in what format have you) as a teaser from his site www.craphound.com. Which is a good thing, because otherwise I would have missed all the fun. The story is a classic tragedy, in a not so unbelievable future world where everything has gone P2P. Much future gizmo speak, but you get around that nicely. Also much word play, which helps to relate with the cast, and in particular the protagonist. Read it! And buy it, too.
Rating:
Summary: A fine Imagineering extrapolation...
Review: I admit to being a bit of a Disney-geek, so this book was definitely right up my alley. (Although since my theme park activities are limited to Anaheim, the references to the Orlando layout confused me some. Luckily, maps are available online.) There are lots of interesting ideas (post-market economy, effects of brain-implant technology, and the never-explicitly-explained "whuffie") sprinkled throughout the book, and it moves along very quickly. And I think that Julius's difficult choice between conservancy and upgrades are a reflection of the choices that modern Imagineers must face. I recommend it! (It gets "Impie's Seal of Approval!")
Rating:
Summary: Bitchun
Review: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, is a story of a man in the "Bitchun Society" where death has been conquered, the only scarce resource is reputation, and Disneyland is open source. A simple story that doesn't de-construct the technology or culture in great detail, rather chooses to portray the basic human condition in a very different (but very believable) reality. It reminded me a little of the Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy and Philip K Dick's short stories. A fun read, highly recommended.
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