And Then We Came To The End is the story of a group of 'creatives' weathering the storm of redundancies and the fallout out of the US economy in the cubicles and offices of a marketing company, told in a style reminiscent of Douglas Coupland.
It's individual quirk is that there is no clear main character, instead following the fates of the employees as a coherent group, reflecting the introverted and inbred dynamic, using 'us' and 'we' as they gossip and bitch about the pariah of the moment. It soon becomes apparent that this is no dry reflection of capitalism or modern culture (while is this is lampooned in the background) but a much more bizarre and fantastical tale told in a world of emails, meetings and water cooler discussions, highlighted best by the scene where an ex-employee goes on a rampage through the office with what transpires to be paintball guns.
For a debut book, this suprises and delights, remaining light and readable while touching upon disconnection from reality and emotional contact in a corporate environment.
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
BOOK REVIEW: Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Cory Doctorow - geek, activist, contributor to Boing Boing, and active voice for Creative Commons, has released his most recent book, as with his previous novels, under an open license that allows the propagation and alteration of the text, as long as full accreditation is given. It's also free to download from here now.
Little Brother is a 'young adult' novel, based in the near future where US homeland security operates on an even more intrusive level than is currently allowed. Enter the young protagonist, who gets swept up in the paranoia and treachery after a terrorist attack hits his city. It is certainly fast paced, and given it's length, can be polished off in one sitting - which is not necessarily a bad thing. Despite it's shortness, it manages to tackle themes from young love and sexuality to heavy handed governments and the politics of revolution, whilst maintaining swift plot evolution.
I do tend to have a gripe with the concept of 'young adult' writing - it seems a little insulting to think that teenagers can't deal with 'adult' books, and there are times where the text gets a little too childish. J.K. Rowling has shown the world it is possible to write perfectly accessible stories for children which do not insult the reading capabilities of adults, whereas there are passages here which I know for a fact would have almost made me put the book down had I been reading it at the age it is intended for.
Occasional problems aside, this is an absorbing read, that generates real passion from the reader for the main character's plight, while throwing in plenty of hacks and geek-culture references for good measure. The most pleasing thing is that the hacking mentioned is all feasible today, from RFID cloners to ultra-secure linux distros - in fact, tutorials for making items from the book are springing up already.
Little Brother boils down to a slick, cool adventure, with a few unfortunate slips in writing, that will appeal to a far wider audience than that of young geeks. It is to be released in printed form in the UK later this year.
Little Brother is a 'young adult' novel, based in the near future where US homeland security operates on an even more intrusive level than is currently allowed. Enter the young protagonist, who gets swept up in the paranoia and treachery after a terrorist attack hits his city. It is certainly fast paced, and given it's length, can be polished off in one sitting - which is not necessarily a bad thing. Despite it's shortness, it manages to tackle themes from young love and sexuality to heavy handed governments and the politics of revolution, whilst maintaining swift plot evolution.
I do tend to have a gripe with the concept of 'young adult' writing - it seems a little insulting to think that teenagers can't deal with 'adult' books, and there are times where the text gets a little too childish. J.K. Rowling has shown the world it is possible to write perfectly accessible stories for children which do not insult the reading capabilities of adults, whereas there are passages here which I know for a fact would have almost made me put the book down had I been reading it at the age it is intended for.
Occasional problems aside, this is an absorbing read, that generates real passion from the reader for the main character's plight, while throwing in plenty of hacks and geek-culture references for good measure. The most pleasing thing is that the hacking mentioned is all feasible today, from RFID cloners to ultra-secure linux distros - in fact, tutorials for making items from the book are springing up already.
Little Brother boils down to a slick, cool adventure, with a few unfortunate slips in writing, that will appeal to a far wider audience than that of young geeks. It is to be released in printed form in the UK later this year.
GAME REVIEW: Burnout Paradise (XBOX 360)
The latest offering in this long-running series brings a new dynamic to the traditional road carnage classic - an open city to roam in the vein of GTA, within which all events take place. However, diehard fans needn't worry that Burnout has lost it's fast paced appeal - the environment is so well implemented, it's easily possible to spend a good proportion of gameplay simply driving around at break-neck speeds, looking for jumps, billboards, and the hundreds of hidden shortcuts and play areas. The decision to make the entire map accesible from the beginning means that you never feel confined or forced to go down a certain route, and it's truly a pleasure to experience the well designed and graphically gorgeous roads.
The actual events are simply reincarnations of classic Burnout play, from road rage, to racing and crash scenarios, although it should be noted that the crashes are ramped up by allowing you to sustain them as long as the power up bar remains filled, to bounce down literally miles of tarmac, wreaking havoc. All these are accessed by simple key-combos at certain points in the streets, meaning they blend fairly seamlessly with the rest of the experience.
Online play is simply more of the same, with increased possibilities - you can race against other people, instantly trigger grudge matches against rivals seen on the streets, or spend hours setting up beautifully synchronised jumps and crashes with multiple friends.
The game's failings are in general few and far between - mainly due to over-ambition, and one suspects, paying too much attention to the coding of the overall world in contrast to the individual events. The stunt event, in particular, feels overly forced and slow in comparison to the rest of the game, and is the one area of the game you feel forced down a particular course to gain maximum points. The other events increase in difficulty far too slowly to feel like real achievements until you've reached the higher echelons of driving licenses, and as a consequence tend to confine play sessions to quick hour drop-ins.
Overall, however, none of these matter much, and indeed, it's pick-up-and-play mentality keeps it fun and accesible. You can progress in whatever way you want, so it's easy to avoid the more painful events, and the online content should add hours of gameplay. The appeal of this game is simple and effective, and the adrenaline rush from hitting your first 'super jump,' watching the slow-motion, freeze-framing animation with soundtrack blasting is pure gameplay crack.
The actual events are simply reincarnations of classic Burnout play, from road rage, to racing and crash scenarios, although it should be noted that the crashes are ramped up by allowing you to sustain them as long as the power up bar remains filled, to bounce down literally miles of tarmac, wreaking havoc. All these are accessed by simple key-combos at certain points in the streets, meaning they blend fairly seamlessly with the rest of the experience.
Online play is simply more of the same, with increased possibilities - you can race against other people, instantly trigger grudge matches against rivals seen on the streets, or spend hours setting up beautifully synchronised jumps and crashes with multiple friends.
The game's failings are in general few and far between - mainly due to over-ambition, and one suspects, paying too much attention to the coding of the overall world in contrast to the individual events. The stunt event, in particular, feels overly forced and slow in comparison to the rest of the game, and is the one area of the game you feel forced down a particular course to gain maximum points. The other events increase in difficulty far too slowly to feel like real achievements until you've reached the higher echelons of driving licenses, and as a consequence tend to confine play sessions to quick hour drop-ins.
Overall, however, none of these matter much, and indeed, it's pick-up-and-play mentality keeps it fun and accesible. You can progress in whatever way you want, so it's easy to avoid the more painful events, and the online content should add hours of gameplay. The appeal of this game is simple and effective, and the adrenaline rush from hitting your first 'super jump,' watching the slow-motion, freeze-framing animation with soundtrack blasting is pure gameplay crack.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)