valjeanval's review against another edition
4.0
I have something of a book buying problem. I walked into a bookstore because I was bored, saw this sitting on the shelf and read names like Andy Weir, Hugh Howey, Rhianna Pratchett... and the darn thing just jumped into my car. Oops. Video games are something of a peripheral hobby for me, but my own limited experience did not diminish my enjoyment of this collection at all. The stories center around games ranging from Zork and Oregon Trail to Warcraft and Halo, so everyone with even a mild level of video game interest can find a reference to which they can relate.
This is hardly a collection of silly stories, though (well, maybe Rouguelike is a bit silly, but it's one of my favorites in the book anyway). Instead, the anthology makes a point of using video games to address the issues facing the video game generation. Racism, sexism, homophobia, apathy, climate change, war, grief, a healthy sampling of issues from which people might escape into video games, only to confront them head on. That, however, is just how they need to be confronted, and something that makes this anthology stand out on the shelf.
The other thing that makes it stand out is the colorful cast, altough my favorite stories in the collection were not from my favorite authors. It's hard to pick a favorite, but Holly Black's "1Up" and Catheryne Valente's "Killswitch" rank pretty highly. The only one I felt a little odd about was "Survival Horror" which seems like a spin-off from a much larger universe that I just couldn't digest in such a short amount of pages.
So if you like gaming and/or socially conscious science fiction, you'll find something to enjoy here. You can laugh and cry and think deeply about your character selection process right through the final page.
This is hardly a collection of silly stories, though (well, maybe Rouguelike is a bit silly, but it's one of my favorites in the book anyway). Instead, the anthology makes a point of using video games to address the issues facing the video game generation. Racism, sexism, homophobia, apathy, climate change, war, grief, a healthy sampling of issues from which people might escape into video games, only to confront them head on. That, however, is just how they need to be confronted, and something that makes this anthology stand out on the shelf.
The other thing that makes it stand out is the colorful cast, altough my favorite stories in the collection were not from my favorite authors. It's hard to pick a favorite, but Holly Black's "1Up" and Catheryne Valente's "Killswitch" rank pretty highly. The only one I felt a little odd about was "Survival Horror" which seems like a spin-off from a much larger universe that I just couldn't digest in such a short amount of pages.
So if you like gaming and/or socially conscious science fiction, you'll find something to enjoy here. You can laugh and cry and think deeply about your character selection process right through the final page.
stiricide's review against another edition
4.0
I am OHMYGOD annoyed that, for whatever reason, this book is filed under F - CLI in my local library. (Ernest Cline wrote a three page throwaway intro for this anthology. Both of the editor's personal introductions are more substantive and worthwhile, but I guess they felt like they needed a "name" to attach to this. Cline continues to be useless, JJA continues to be amazing. Rinse, repeat.)
Anyway, this is a fun read. Some of the stories were personal misses, but I didn't feel like anything was out of place or poorly written.
Highlights include:
Chris Kluwe's essay Please Continue
Seanan Macguire's Survival Horror
Charles Yu's NPC
Anyway, this is a fun read. Some of the stories were personal misses, but I didn't feel like anything was out of place or poorly written.
Highlights include:
Chris Kluwe's essay Please Continue
Seanan Macguire's Survival Horror
Charles Yu's NPC
thomcat's review against another edition
4.0
Great anthology; glad I could renew it at the library. All the stories have something to do with video games, and quite a few are connected to female gamers. Especially liked the more horror focused stories - All of the People in Your Party Have Died and Desert Walk. The latter reminded me of Desert Bus - if you haven't heard of that, go read about it NOW! Many of the other stories were also darn good. My overall favorite (and not just because I played Trade Wars and hosted a BBS so my friends could play) was Andy Weir's Twarrior. Overall result - collection recommended!
mollons's review against another edition
4.0
There are some really great stories in this collection. Desert Walk, Rat Catcher's Yellows, All of the People in your Party Have Died, The Clockwork Soldier, and Killswitch really shine.
There is heavy reliance on virtual reality as a plot mechanic, that can start to feel repetitious story to story.
There are only a few places, however, where the collection truly stumbles.
I would skip Chris Kluwe's story, Please Continue, as he quickly abandons all pretense of storytelling in order to deliver a well worn, and frankly boring, sermon about video games. I'd also avoid Roguelike, by Mark Laidlaw, as it relies too much on a visual gimmick and has a very predictable outcome, which I think was meant to be funny but is more likely to elicit an eye roll than a laugh.
There is heavy reliance on virtual reality as a plot mechanic, that can start to feel repetitious story to story.
There are only a few places, however, where the collection truly stumbles.
I would skip Chris Kluwe's story, Please Continue, as he quickly abandons all pretense of storytelling in order to deliver a well worn, and frankly boring, sermon about video games. I'd also avoid Roguelike, by Mark Laidlaw, as it relies too much on a visual gimmick and has a very predictable outcome, which I think was meant to be funny but is more likely to elicit an eye roll than a laugh.
kyls's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent of collection of stories that play with what video games can be
poisonenvy's review
4.0
Average rating: 3.7* I will say that the same theme gets rehashed in a lot of stories in this anthology, and while I tried not to rate later stories unfairly on "Oh god, this theme again," there's no guarantee that I succeeded.
God Mode The repetition here is fairly effective at instilling a sense of apprehension. The story feeds us just enough information to guess at what happened, but not enough to know for sure, and the stuff I can't make sense of is frustrating to me. (3.5*)
NPC The writing style in this one is very simplistic in a way that works for the character and the story that's being told, evolving a little as the character does but never too much, just like the character. An interesting theme about how if all you're doing is work to maintain your status, instead of having people you care about, there is no point. (3.5*)
Repawn This, for the most part, was fairly interesting. The narrators ennui throughout was palpable, and I didn't love the ending. (3.5*)
Desert Walk This was a nice little take on people's sometimes excessive gaming habits, and it's complete with a spooky twist at the end. (3.5*)
Rat Catcher's Yellows This was a heartbreaking story about losing a loved one to dementia, The very, very end of the story was heart-wrenching and beautiful. (4.5*)
1UP This was really sweet and the kind of story I would have loved as a teenager when most of my friends were usernames on a screen. I still love it. It's a great story. (4.5*)
Survival Horror We finally meet Artie in the flesh!I giggled at how easy it wound up being to finally exit the game in the end, though I am a little disappointed that in the end, this thread will probably be dropped. Maybe it won't be! Lots more InCryptid short stories to go! (4*)
Real 90% of this story is just two dudes sitting in a booth over a couple of beers, and yet somehow it still manages to be gripping and intriguing - not an easy task. The ending was very well done. (4.5*)
Outliers honestly, a lot of this went over my head. It's not that it was bad, it was just that I don't think I "get it." (2.5*)
<endgame> I feel like I missed something. I understood the format, but that didn't make it any less annoying to read. The whole story seemed kind of pointless and nonsensical. (2*)
Save Me Plz I really enjoyed the world-buildingin teh first half of this story, when the world was still halfway. But man, does my heart ever ache for Meg, the girl who was slowly chipped away into nothing until she was exactly how her boyfriend wanted her to be. This was a great analogy for emotional manipulation. (4*)
The Relive Box This seemed very Black Mirror-eske. Heartbreaking and frustrating to read, with a super depressing ending and no real resolution. (4.5*)
Roguelike This was short and sweet, simply written but surprisingly funny. (4*)
All the People In Your Party Have Died Overall, I really liked this. The romance was sweet Lizzie's obsession with the game was believable, and the nods to the AIDS crisis was depressing and heartbreaking. (4.5*)
Recoil It had Die Hard vibes, which I loved. Overall, great story. (4*)
Anda's Game I found, at first, the writing style to be grating and I nearly considered skipping this story, but I'm glad I didn't. It's not fantasy or sci-fi, but rather the story of a growing girl who learns more about herself and the world she lives in through gaming, going through personal issues at the same time that she learns that the stakes she's playing for are higher than she anticipated. I don't know how much of what happened int he story is true to life, but it deals with real world issues in a compelling way. (4*)
Coma Kings That was unexpectedly depressing, and I came close to crying at the end. Losing someone to a game is a popular motif, but this one was very well done. (4*)
Stats Honestly, something about this story just didn't click at all, and I doubt it would have even if (3*)
Please Continue As far as creative non-fiction goes, this isn't bad, but (3.5*)
Creation Screen This story seemed weirdly preachy, especially toward the end. (2.5*)
The Fresh Prince of Gamma World Why was this in a video game anthology? Ah well. It was pretty good, and a prime example of short stories not needing to explain everything a full-length novel would. I'm sure I missed something with the bracketed letters. (3.5*)
Gamer's EndFor much of this story, I was sure that everything was a simulation, even after he apparently exited it. There was plenty of foreshadowing at the beginning of the story that somehow the head dude managed to make his tests instill the feeling of actual pending death, so I was sure that somehow it was just more realistic simulations. So, I wasn't surprise that the whole thing really was a test all along, but I was surprised that the test was "real," so to speak, in that it was done by actors instead of by simulations. I'm not entirely sure why it was in second person perspective, but I really can't imagine it being written any other way and it might have actually been a worse story had it been written in first person. (3.5*)
The Clockwork Soldier Oh wow, what an ending. It was unexpected and poignant. The actual story of Alex and Ryder and the game Ryder wrote about Alex and the Clockwork Soldier are interwoven seamlessly, and it makes for a fantastic story. (4.5*)
Killswitch An urban myth created by Valente (I was compelled to google it har har). it's creative for sure, and has obviously been entered into the annals of video game lore, but I did not love the style of writing, and after all the narrative fiction that I read before that, it was a bit of a disappointment. I respect it more knowing that she created it all herself, but I still didn't dig it. (2.5*)
Twarrior CW: A homophobic slur is used repeatedly in this story, but not really in a... malicious way? I guess? There was something weirdly charming about Twarrior and its netspeak. This story was short and sweet, but I didn't love it. The writing style - short, simple stories throughout the entire story with very little variation in sentence structure or length - did this story no favours. (3*)
Select Character This story was surprisingly sweet. A husband who is just stoked that his wife is showing interest in his hobby, a wife who just wants to play a (violent) video game in her own special way. It's just charming and very, very sweet. (4.5*)
God Mode The repetition here is fairly effective at instilling a sense of apprehension. The story feeds us just enough information to guess at what happened, but not enough to know for sure, and the stuff I can't make sense of is frustrating to me. (3.5*)
NPC The writing style in this one is very simplistic in a way that works for the character and the story that's being told, evolving a little as the character does but never too much, just like the character. An interesting theme about how if all you're doing is work to maintain your status, instead of having people you care about, there is no point. (3.5*)
Repawn This, for the most part, was fairly interesting. The narrators ennui throughout was palpable,
Spoiler
right up until he took out the yakuza. But I felt disappointed by the dropped thread of Lon,Desert Walk This was a nice little take on people's sometimes excessive gaming habits, and it's complete with a spooky twist at the end.
Spoiler
I wonder what would have happened had the kid come through.Rat Catcher's Yellows This was a heartbreaking story about losing a loved one to dementia,
Spoiler
thought The Divine Right of Cats seems to have almost a nefarious feel to it that I would be very interested in reading more about.1UP This was really sweet and the kind of story I would have loved as a teenager when most of my friends were usernames on a screen. I still love it. It's a great story. (4.5*)
Survival Horror We finally meet Artie in the flesh!
Real 90% of this story is just two dudes sitting in a booth over a couple of beers, and yet somehow it still manages to be gripping and intriguing - not an easy task. The ending was very well done. (4.5*)
Outliers honestly, a lot of this went over my head. It's not that it was bad, it was just that I don't think I "get it." (2.5*)
<endgame> I feel like I missed something. I understood the format, but that didn't make it any less annoying to read. The whole story seemed kind of pointless and nonsensical. (2*)
Save Me Plz I really enjoyed the world-building
The Relive Box This seemed very Black Mirror-eske. Heartbreaking and frustrating to read, with a super depressing ending and no real resolution. (4.5*)
Roguelike This was short and sweet, simply written but surprisingly funny. (4*)
All the People In Your Party Have Died
Spoiler
Wow, fuck Lizzie.Spoiler
until it wasn't.Recoil
Spoiler
I realized this was a simulation pretty early on, but it was still fun to read about the not-so-badass would-be action movie star.Anda's Game I found, at first, the writing style to be grating and I nearly considered skipping this story, but I'm glad I didn't. It's not fantasy or sci-fi, but rather the story of a growing girl who learns more about herself and the world she lives in through gaming, going through personal issues at the same time that she learns that the stakes she's playing for are higher than she anticipated. I don't know how much of what happened int he story is true to life, but it deals with real world issues in a compelling way. (4*)
Coma Kings That was unexpectedly depressing, and I came close to crying at the end. Losing someone to a game is a popular motif, but this one was very well done. (4*)
Stats
Spoiler
Rich white dude is forced to live a few minutes of his life in the bodies of those he's marginalized and learns absolutely nothing at all.Spoiler
Joey had learned his lesson.Please Continue As far as creative non-fiction goes, this isn't bad, but
Spoiler
the author eludes to the thing he did as if he's going to state what it actually was, and then never actually does, which is frustrating, and the end is more of a plea than a story.Creation Screen This story seemed weirdly preachy, especially toward the end. (2.5*)
The Fresh Prince of Gamma World Why was this in a video game anthology? Ah well. It was pretty good, and a prime example of short stories not needing to explain everything a full-length novel would. I'm sure I missed something with the bracketed letters. (3.5*)
Gamer's End
The Clockwork Soldier Oh wow, what an ending. It was unexpected and poignant. The actual story of Alex and Ryder and the game Ryder wrote about Alex and the Clockwork Soldier are interwoven seamlessly, and it makes for a fantastic story. (4.5*)
Killswitch An urban myth created by Valente (I was compelled to google it har har). it's creative for sure, and has obviously been entered into the annals of video game lore, but I did not love the style of writing, and after all the narrative fiction that I read before that, it was a bit of a disappointment. I respect it more knowing that she created it all herself, but I still didn't dig it. (2.5*)
Twarrior CW: A homophobic slur is used repeatedly in this story, but not really in a... malicious way? I guess? There was something weirdly charming about Twarrior and its netspeak. This story was short and sweet, but I didn't love it. The writing style - short, simple stories throughout the entire story with very little variation in sentence structure or length - did this story no favours. (3*)
Select Character This story was surprisingly sweet. A husband who is just stoked that his wife is showing interest in his hobby, a wife who just wants to play a (violent) video game in her own special way. It's just charming and very, very sweet. (4.5*)
rxh05d's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked most of these stories. My favorites were NPC (Charles Yu), Respawn (Hiroshi Sakurazaka), Desert Walk (S. R. Mastrantone), 1Up (Holly Black), Survival Horror (Seanan McGuire), Anda's Game (Cory Doctorow), and The Clockwork Soldier (Ken Liu). I think Anda's Game and The Clockwork Soldier were probably the best. Roguelike (Marc Laidlaw) was a little too short and repetitive to be a good story for me. I thought Stats (Marguerite Bennett), Creation Screen (Rhianna Pratchett), and Select Character (Hugh Howey) were a little too preachy for my taste. I thought the same thing about Please Continue (Chris Kluwe) until I realized who wrote it, but I wish the meaning had been in the text of the story instead of his bio. It was a good idea but not well executed IMO.
amyiw's review against another edition
4.0
Only read "Survival Horror" of Seanan McGuire 3.5 stars
Annie and her incubus half cousin get sucked into a video game. They find that it was made to target the cousin because he was asking questions about coo coos. Unluckily for the coo coo they had to hire out to program and the programmers are all into fairness. In the end, the exit is found but going after the makers would be a bigger scope than this short novelette. It was good but I think you need to know the characters.
Annie and her incubus half cousin get sucked into a video game. They find that it was made to target the cousin because he was asking questions about coo coos. Unluckily for the coo coo they had to hire out to program and the programmers are all into fairness. In the end, the exit is found but going after the makers would be a bigger scope than this short novelette. It was good but I think you need to know the characters.
innae's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
I have read many anthologies, but rarely do I find one where the majority of the stories are winners…I liked so many of these stories and excepting the one I skipped, even the “bad” ones were pretty good.
Forward by Ernest Cline
Introduction by John Joseph Adams
The forward and the intro have made my husband want to read this book when I’m done
God Mode by Daniel H. Wilson this story was very trippy
NPC by Charles Yu this is not one of my favs
Respawn by Hiroshi Sakurazaka I liked this one…feels like someone might have adapted the story into a Twilight Zone episode…or could
Desert Walk by S.R. Mastrantone I really enjoyed this one. A take on how mindless the games can be..but this one may be more…
Rat Catcher's Yellows by Charlie Jane Anders the scariest thing about dementia in all it’s firm I’d being stuck in your own head…can games change that??
1Up by Holly Black this o e was really good. How much do you trust those online friends??
Survival Horror by Seanan McGuire an enjoyable story, but I wanted it to be more…
Real by Django Wexler a bit Interview with the Vampire…an interesting story
Outliers by Nicole Feldringer a story about crowd sourcing gone wrong..I quite enjoyed it
<end game> by Chris Avellone a different take on the text based game
Save Me Plz by David Barr Kirtley manipulating your world to become the game to become the world…trippy
The Relive Box by T. C. Boyle a little creepy…we can all get obsessed with the past
Rouguelike by Marc Laidlaw kind of humorous..and repetitive- like so many of the games out there
All of the People in Your Party Have Died by Robin Wasserman I never played Oregon Trail, but this version doesn’t seem to be the old familiar
Recoil! by Micky Neilson games can be too real
Anda's Game by Cory Doctorow a what would happen if we all played the game fairly story
Coma Kings by Jessica Barber this one is really sad…obsession with a game can lead to terrible things
Stats by Marguerite K. Bennett one of my favorite in the book…do you take the red pill or blue pill?
Please Continue by Chris Kluwe this story is true…
Creation Screen by Rhianna Pratchett really creepy, had some of the same premise as Free Guy.
The Fresh Prince of Gamma World by Austin Grossman an interesting story
Gamer's End by Yoon Ha Lee can’t get into this one, so I am skipping it
The Clockwork Soldier by Ken Liu this one makes me sad. A lot like The Steadfast Tin Soldier…
Killswitch by Catherynne M. Valente this one feels as if it could be the start of a horror story. Really intriguing
Twarrior by Andy Weir short but cute. Kind of everyone dream to have a genie
Select Character by Hugh Howey this is a lovely story about a first person shooter..only she’s not
Forward by Ernest Cline
Introduction by John Joseph Adams
The forward and the intro have made my husband want to read this book when I’m done
God Mode by Daniel H. Wilson this story was very trippy
NPC by Charles Yu this is not one of my favs
Respawn by Hiroshi Sakurazaka I liked this one…feels like someone might have adapted the story into a Twilight Zone episode…or could
Desert Walk by S.R. Mastrantone I really enjoyed this one. A take on how mindless the games can be..but this one may be more…
Rat Catcher's Yellows by Charlie Jane Anders the scariest thing about dementia in all it’s firm I’d being stuck in your own head…can games change that??
1Up by Holly Black this o e was really good. How much do you trust those online friends??
Survival Horror by Seanan McGuire an enjoyable story, but I wanted it to be more…
Real by Django Wexler a bit Interview with the Vampire…an interesting story
Outliers by Nicole Feldringer a story about crowd sourcing gone wrong..I quite enjoyed it
<end game> by Chris Avellone a different take on the text based game
Save Me Plz by David Barr Kirtley manipulating your world to become the game to become the world…trippy
The Relive Box by T. C. Boyle a little creepy…we can all get obsessed with the past
Rouguelike by Marc Laidlaw kind of humorous..and repetitive- like so many of the games out there
All of the People in Your Party Have Died by Robin Wasserman I never played Oregon Trail, but this version doesn’t seem to be the old familiar
Recoil! by Micky Neilson games can be too real
Anda's Game by Cory Doctorow a what would happen if we all played the game fairly story
Coma Kings by Jessica Barber this one is really sad…obsession with a game can lead to terrible things
Stats by Marguerite K. Bennett one of my favorite in the book…do you take the red pill or blue pill?
Please Continue by Chris Kluwe this story is true…
Creation Screen by Rhianna Pratchett really creepy, had some of the same premise as Free Guy.
The Fresh Prince of Gamma World by Austin Grossman an interesting story
Gamer's End by Yoon Ha Lee can’t get into this one, so I am skipping it
The Clockwork Soldier by Ken Liu this one makes me sad. A lot like The Steadfast Tin Soldier…
Killswitch by Catherynne M. Valente this one feels as if it could be the start of a horror story. Really intriguing
Twarrior by Andy Weir short but cute. Kind of everyone dream to have a genie
Select Character by Hugh Howey this is a lovely story about a first person shooter..only she’s not
bookfessional's review
Reviewed by: Rabid Reads
Survival Horror, InCryptid 2.4
3.5 stars
So that started out super cool.
Annie is chillin' in Artie's lair when he downloads an evil game meant to suck them into the prison dimension holding . . . NOT TELLING! Mwa ha ha!
But then solution was kind of basic . . . Maybe also brilliant, but regardless, it felt anti-climactic, so meh.
Survival Horror, InCryptid 2.4
3.5 stars
So that started out super cool.
Annie is chillin' in Artie's lair when he downloads an evil game meant to suck them into the prison dimension holding . . . NOT TELLING! Mwa ha ha!
But then solution was kind of basic . . . Maybe also brilliant, but regardless, it felt anti-climactic, so meh.