⇒ [PDF] This Is Not a Game A Novel Walter Jon Williams 9780316003155 Books

This Is Not a Game A Novel Walter Jon Williams 9780316003155 Books

Download As PDF : This Is Not a Game A Novel Walter Jon Williams 9780316003155 Books

This Is Not a Game A Novel Walter Jon Williams 9780316003155 Books

"This is Not A Game" is a 2008 novel by science fiction writer Walter Jon Williams. It is not hard science fiction, but can rather be classified as a high-tech thriller.

It is rather tricky to describe the plot of "This is Not a Game" (TINAG). The plot revolves around the main character, Dagmar Shaw, who is a writer, or 'puppetmaster," for a type of game that is organized online, but involves elements that must be completed in the real world. The "game" can be thought of as an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) that requires players to get out into the world rather than playing the game 100 percent behind a computer screen. When one of Shaw's colleagues is mysteriously murdered, she solicits help from the players of her online games to help solve the mystery (and without telling them that the scenario is real). However, as the body count rises, Shaw finds herself neck-deep in a nefarious and high-tech plot that could have ramifications for the entire world.

Unfortunately, the main plot is very slow to get off the ground. The first third of the book almost seems like a different story entirely, though Williams connects it to the rest of the plot later on, and in a creative way. Even when the ball does get rolling, the plot doesn't move at the breakneck pace that one would expect of a modern thriller, and the chapters seem overly lengthy. However, the technology end of the plot is fascinating and it is difficult to discern where the real world ends and the fictions begins. The convincing use of technology is reminiscent of a Michael Crichton novel, a testament to Mr. Williams's strong grasp of where the future might take us.

The main characters are almost entirely Millennials. Readers in their 20s and 30s will understand the characters, but older readers might be turned off (and might find the gaming angle to be foreign to them). The characters are interesting and are realistically realized, but a lack of other types of characters makes the novel less interesting and less accessible.

TINAG is well-written and does a good job of straddling the line between sci-fi vs thriller. The dialogue seems real and believable, as does the obvious pain-staking research. However, there does seem to be a change of tone from part 1 of the novel to the rest of the novel, almost as if part 1 was originally conceived as a separate novel or story, and later combined with the rest of the novel.

Overall, TINAG is novel worth exploring, particularly if you enjoy a thriller with a high-tech plot.

In Summation:

The Good:
-believable, high-tech plot
-well-researched
-characters seem true to type
-effective marriage of thriller and sci-fi

The Bad:
-not fast paced enough
-part 1 doesn't fit
-lack of variety in characters


Tags : This Is Not a Game: A Novel [Walter Jon Williams] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Once upon a time, there were four of them. And though each was good at a number of things, all of them were very good at games...<BR><BR>Dagmar is a game designer trapped in <st1:City w:st= on ><st1:place w:st= on >Jakarta</st1:place></st1:City> in the middle of a revolution. The city is tearing itself apart around her and she needs to get out. <BR/><BR/><BR/> Her boss Charlie has his own problems -- 4.3 billion of them,Walter Jon Williams,This Is Not a Game: A Novel,Orbit,0316003158,Science Fiction - Action & Adventure,Games;Fiction.,Social networks;Fiction.,Video gamers;Fiction.,American Science Fiction And Fantasy,Fiction,Fiction - Science Fiction,Fiction Science Fiction Action & Adventure,Fiction Thrillers General,Games,Science Fiction,Science Fiction - Adventure,Social networks,Thrillers,Video gamers

This Is Not a Game A Novel Walter Jon Williams 9780316003155 Books Reviews

No point in recapitulating the plot, there are other reviews for that.

The first part of the book is strongest, with the heroine drawing on the collective power of internet gamers to escape a dangerous situation. It'd make an excellent stand-alone novella. The rest of the novel becomes a murder mystery, but not all that good a one. The problem is a lack of characters the tradition of a murder mystery is, that the guilty party is sufficiently present in the novel that the reader can figure it out shortly before the protagonist does. In this book, there just aren't enough suspects two or possibly three. With such a thin field, it's easy to guess whodunnit.

On the plus side, the heroine's inability to guess is quite understandable, as she's been portrayed all along as a naive geek, trusting everyone unless proven otherwise. That means it's not one of those novels where a character gets handed the Idiot Ball; in this book, Dagmar's blind spots are carefully delineated, and also quite believable.

tl;dr
Decent book. Not award-worthy, but not a waste of time either.
This is not my favorite genre. But I figured Walter Jon Williams would put a new twist on the cyber thriller. And he does. This is not a serious work. The subtitle, "a novel of greed, betrayal, and social networking," whether supplied by the author himself or the publisher, gives that away. This is not a true whodunnit. There are only a few suspects, and the last part of the book, after the villian is revealed, is more of a how'll the protagonist will thwart the bad guy and, oh yeah, save the world than anything to do with the science of deduction. This is not a complaint. Mr. Williams does this smoothly, credibly, and with a great deal of suspense.

This is not a ponderous tale. It's fun, you'll probably like the way the online game players get together to first extract Dagmar Shaw, the protagonist-game creator, from a riot-torn Indonesia and back to LA, and then how they get together to help her thwart the bad guy and, oh yeah, save the world. But it's all more than a bit tongue in cheek. And one of the characters is really more of a running gag than anything else.

This is not an era that the author particularly likes. Along the way you'll get his take on the way science fiction writers are treated by their publishers, as well as his feelings about toilers in the service-industry vineyards--to say nothing of his obvious discontent with the present politico-economic system. This is not a book to pass by, if you're looking for something to pass the time.
Dagmar writes ARGs (Alternate Reality Games), immersive experiences where the mysteries cooked up by the game designer are solved through searching the real world to find the clues planted by the company. While on a trip to the Pacific Rim, she finds the government around her collapsing in the beginning of a global domino effect that seems hauntingly game-like, only This Is Not A Game. She must rely on her gamer wits, and the help of the gaming community, to escape the carnage and discover what new forces are afoot to bring down the global economy.

This book defies category description. It's a thriller, undoubtedly, steeped in gaming culture and an increasingly radical geopolitical climate, but no attempt at categorizing does it justice.

I've recommended this book to many friends, and their reaction is invariably hesitation, followed by reading a few pages, followed by devouring the book and then raving about it. Williams is one of the strongest prose and plotsmiths working today, though his work is often overlooked because it doesn't conform to any single genre.

This one is about a world that is eerily familiar--I recommend checking its copyright date to undercut any ideas that he was just being derivative. He was being prescient, and the next books in the series are even more so.
"This is Not A Game" is a 2008 novel by science fiction writer Walter Jon Williams. It is not hard science fiction, but can rather be classified as a high-tech thriller.

It is rather tricky to describe the plot of "This is Not a Game" (TINAG). The plot revolves around the main character, Dagmar Shaw, who is a writer, or 'puppetmaster," for a type of game that is organized online, but involves elements that must be completed in the real world. The "game" can be thought of as an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) that requires players to get out into the world rather than playing the game 100 percent behind a computer screen. When one of Shaw's colleagues is mysteriously murdered, she solicits help from the players of her online games to help solve the mystery (and without telling them that the scenario is real). However, as the body count rises, Shaw finds herself neck-deep in a nefarious and high-tech plot that could have ramifications for the entire world.

Unfortunately, the main plot is very slow to get off the ground. The first third of the book almost seems like a different story entirely, though Williams connects it to the rest of the plot later on, and in a creative way. Even when the ball does get rolling, the plot doesn't move at the breakneck pace that one would expect of a modern thriller, and the chapters seem overly lengthy. However, the technology end of the plot is fascinating and it is difficult to discern where the real world ends and the fictions begins. The convincing use of technology is reminiscent of a Michael Crichton novel, a testament to Mr. Williams's strong grasp of where the future might take us.

The main characters are almost entirely Millennials. Readers in their 20s and 30s will understand the characters, but older readers might be turned off (and might find the gaming angle to be foreign to them). The characters are interesting and are realistically realized, but a lack of other types of characters makes the novel less interesting and less accessible.

TINAG is well-written and does a good job of straddling the line between sci-fi vs thriller. The dialogue seems real and believable, as does the obvious pain-staking research. However, there does seem to be a change of tone from part 1 of the novel to the rest of the novel, almost as if part 1 was originally conceived as a separate novel or story, and later combined with the rest of the novel.

Overall, TINAG is novel worth exploring, particularly if you enjoy a thriller with a high-tech plot.

In Summation

The Good
-believable, high-tech plot
-well-researched
-characters seem true to type
-effective marriage of thriller and sci-fi

The Bad
-not fast paced enough
-part 1 doesn't fit
-lack of variety in characters