this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2024
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The first one was so bad though. The characters had ZERO depth, and the "game" was obviously created by someone who has never played a game before.....ever. The dialogue was so cringey at spots.
Like...I can't bring myself to read the second book.
I read most of the first book in Chinese, and so attributed it to my language level not being high enough. So I read it in English, and it was worse. Then later, again, someone recommended the TV series, and I watched the whole thing thinking that I might have missed something. I believe the first season also contains parts of book 2. Still, I don't understand why so many people like it. It feels like it was written by someone who never read other sci-fi before, to say the least.
I felt like that about Everything, Everywhere All at Once. People raving how amazing it was and it just seemed like a campy romp of nonsense...and I love quirk books or shows.
And lauded by people that have never read SF before. It's like it was written by a literature prof with zero understanding of anything scientific and if he handwaved enough, everyone was just going to hypnotized into a suspension of disbelief. And the terrible character development. And the deus ex machina plot device that invalidates everything else. And and and. Just horrible.
They're all bad. Don't bother.
I hated it. Other than the folding think I didn't find anything worthwhile in it, and I've read other books with the same gimmick, if at a smaller scale.
I agree with your points, but I liked the first book despite its flaws. The second book actually has an interesting protagonist that’s not solely a vessel for the story, which is why I particularly like that book. And there’s no weird VR game involved (apart from one very short section).