Rating: Summary: Last but definately least! Review: About a month ago I was told there was a third book about Dreampark that wasn't available in Europe. Of course, I had to buy it. However, when you first read Dreampark and it's superb sequel The Barsoom Project, this installment stinks. It's just more of the same, but without the catchy twists and new insights. Also, the characters are much flatter and stay that way. And what's more, Niven and Barnes copy parts of the Pink Panther movies for suspense, for ifni's sake! The premises of the story add nothing new to the genre. It's basically about a kind of Star Trek holodeck simulation in a natural environment. The other technical theme is a massive 'Big Brother Is Watching You' computer system, which they named ScanNet (does SkyNet ring a bell?). Niven and Barnes can do, and have done, much better. I'm sorry I bought this. If you can, read it from a library instead of throwing away your money.
Rating: Summary: The best of a good series Review: Dream Park was great, and California Voodoo Game even better. If the role-playing computer geeks ever conquer Disney World, it will be like this. I would like to note that while Larry Niven can be seen in this work, the flavor is much more like Steve Barnes' work.
Rating: Summary: Best of the "Dream Park" novels Review: Once again, Larry Niven proves himself to be a master of storytelling, weaving fantasy and science into a stunning tale of swordplay and circuitry, fencing and foul play. Definitely the best of the Dream Park series
Rating: Summary: best of the lot/not to be missed Review: Starting with Dream Park, and ending with California Voodoo Game, Larry paints a fantastic picture of the future of entertainment and fantasy gaming, while keeping the action fast paced and the
technology believable. This book is the best of the three and not to be missed.
Rating: Summary: Last and best so far Review: The ending uses the torque of the climactic fight scene brilliantly; the beginning uses the Kama Sutra Gaming Society just enough. I'd like to see Niven use 'The Theory and Practice of Instant Learning' in his Internet scenes: a teleoperated World Wide Dream Park?
Rating: Summary: What a waste! Review: There was a time that I read every book that Larry Niven was involved in, until this book came out. I haven't read a single one of his books since. After reading Dream Park, I thought I'd give him one more chance. Then came this book, and I decided that if he was going to write such tedious books, I just wouldn't waste my time. The book involves several teams of players in an imaginary game in which some things are real, and some are just kind of projected into that reality. Meanwhile, some people are trying to play the game, while some are trying to circumvent it. It was simply too much effort to keep track of what was real, what was projected, who was playing, who wasn't playing, and who was just pretending to play. Plus, when you find out, their motives are implausable. The worst thing about this book is it serves no purpose. Science Fiction should provide the reader insight about science, human nature, possible worlds, or the direction of society. This was just a silly reason to tie some characters together and publish a book.
Rating: Summary: That Voodoo That They Do Review: This second followup to the cult hit "Dream Park" is not as good as its inspiration, but is mounds better than its predecessor, "The Barsoom Project". I'll save my Barsoom bashing for another review, though, and just talk about "The California Voodoo Game" in this one. This novel has everything that was good about "Dream Park", but still manages to be a tedious, less interesting version of the original. Most of the familiar characters are back, Griffin, the tough-as-nails Security Chief with the heart of gold, Acacia Garcia, the tough-as-nails gamer with the squishy insides, Tony McWhirter, the hacker criminal made good. They're all tossed into the Dream park salad to play a game called "California Voodoo", which would be fine if not for the fact that - DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUHHHH - someone get's murdered before the game and the Dream Park staff must infiltrate the game in order to catch the killer without setting off the alarms, spooking the gamers or losing their merchandising rights. Just like the other two novels. Sadly, this outing picks up a little of the creaky, world-weariness of the second book and keeps none of the rollicking, out and out fun of the first. The concept of Voodoo magick played out in a gigantic, ruined building is at once interesting and limiting. The authors, for all their bibliographic citations, show only a rudimentary understanding of vodoun and its many variations. The random appearance of loa is distracting and confusing. The thing that was most fun about "Dream Park" was the fact that Griffin had to join a game as a player and track his prey from under cover; this meant the reader got to experience the game much as the players did. Here, the real focus is on the investigation. Too much takes place outside the game, too little explanation goes into the game and the authors don't really support the world they've created within the walls of Dream Park. Frankly, the mystery just isn't that compelling. While the outcome may have cost Dream Park's parent company a ton of dough, I just didn't care. While the villain had murdered someone in the beginning of the book, I just didn't care about the victim or the methods used to catch the killer. What I DID care about was The Game. And there just wasn't enough game to go around. The writing duo's prose this time around is more accessible than in The Barsoom Project and those reading the series for the first time will not be too disappointed to finish here instead of there. But overall, the magic feels like it's gone.
Rating: Summary: That Voodoo That They Do Review: This second followup to the cult hit "Dream Park" is not as good as its inspiration, but is mounds better than its predecessor, "The Barsoom Project". I'll save my Barsoom bashing for another review, though, and just talk about "The California Voodoo Game" in this one. This novel has everything that was good about "Dream Park", but still manages to be a tedious, less interesting version of the original. Most of the familiar characters are back, Griffin, the tough-as-nails Security Chief with the heart of gold, Acacia Garcia, the tough-as-nails gamer with the squishy insides, Tony McWhirter, the hacker criminal made good. They're all tossed into the Dream park salad to play a game called "California Voodoo", which would be fine if not for the fact that - DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUHHHH - someone get's murdered before the game and the Dream Park staff must infiltrate the game in order to catch the killer without setting off the alarms, spooking the gamers or losing their merchandising rights. Just like the other two novels. Sadly, this outing picks up a little of the creaky, world-weariness of the second book and keeps none of the rollicking, out and out fun of the first. The concept of Voodoo magick played out in a gigantic, ruined building is at once interesting and limiting. The authors, for all their bibliographic citations, show only a rudimentary understanding of <i>vodoun</i> and its many variations. The random appearance of loa is distracting and confusing. The thing that was most fun about "Dream Park" was the fact that Griffin had to join a game as a player and track his prey from under cover; this meant the reader got to experience the game much as the players did. Here, the real focus is on the investigation. Too much takes place outside the game, too little explanation goes into the game and the authors don't really support the world they've created within the walls of Dream Park. Frankly, the mystery just isn't that compelling. While the outcome may have cost Dream Park's parent company a ton of dough, I just didn't care. While the villain had murdered someone in the beginning of the book, I just didn't care about the victim or the methods used to catch the killer. What I DID care about was The Game. And there just wasn't enough game to go around. The writing duo's prose this time around is more accessible than in The Barsoom Project and those reading the series for the first time will not be too disappointed to finish here instead of there. But overall, the magic feels like it's gone.
Rating: Summary: That Voodoo That They Do Review: This second followup to the cult hit "Dream Park" is not as good as its inspiration, but is mounds better than its predecessor, "The Barsoom Project". I'll save my Barsoom bashing for another review, though, and just talk about "The California Voodoo Game" in this one. This novel has everything that was good about "Dream Park", but still manages to be a tedious, less interesting version of the original. Most of the familiar characters are back, Griffin, the tough-as-nails Security Chief with the heart of gold, Acacia Garcia, the tough-as-nails gamer with the squishy insides, Tony McWhirter, the hacker criminal made good. They're all tossed into the Dream park salad to play a game called "California Voodoo", which would be fine if not for the fact that - DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUHHHH - someone get's murdered before the game and the Dream Park staff must infiltrate the game in order to catch the killer without setting off the alarms, spooking the gamers or losing their merchandising rights. Just like the other two novels. Sadly, this outing picks up a little of the creaky, world-weariness of the second book and keeps none of the rollicking, out and out fun of the first. The concept of Voodoo magick played out in a gigantic, ruined building is at once interesting and limiting. The authors, for all their bibliographic citations, show only a rudimentary understanding of <i>vodoun</i> and its many variations. The random appearance of loa is distracting and confusing. The thing that was most fun about "Dream Park" was the fact that Griffin had to join a game as a player and track his prey from under cover; this meant the reader got to experience the game much as the players did. Here, the real focus is on the investigation. Too much takes place outside the game, too little explanation goes into the game and the authors don't really support the world they've created within the walls of Dream Park. Frankly, the mystery just isn't that compelling. While the outcome may have cost Dream Park's parent company a ton of dough, I just didn't care. While the villain had murdered someone in the beginning of the book, I just didn't care about the victim or the methods used to catch the killer. What I DID care about was The Game. And there just wasn't enough game to go around. The writing duo's prose this time around is more accessible than in The Barsoom Project and those reading the series for the first time will not be too disappointed to finish here instead of there. But overall, the magic feels like it's gone.
Rating: Summary: What a waste! Review: When science fiction like this emerges, it brings a sense of wonder, a moment of shock. "This Isn't Far Away!". California Voodoo Game tip-toes the fine lines of modern technology to bring a tale that is intriguing and imaginative. When role-players of our present meet and adopt the virtual reality technology of the near-future, then the world of this novel isn't far away. The cast of characters is vast, and often we don't get a very indepth vision of them. The Game, which takes on a life of its own for the players, is the most fully fleshed of the "characters". The Game, virtually painted over a huge and somewhat hazardous real-world, is made even more risky when some of the players are playing for higher stakes and breaking every rule. Okay, so the plot and the writing wasn't the greatest in Sci Fi Fiction today. The characters won't glow in godly pop-culturdom for years to come. But--the technology, the fantasy of this not-so-distant future is so compelling, it makes this book a near perfect escape. Gaming geeks of the world..rejoice! This one is for you. To the future of gaming..closer than we imagine.
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