Radioactive Evolution | Richard Hummel | Review

Thursday, 1 August 2019

Radioactive Evolution | Richard Hummel | Review

Cropped cover shot from Word of the Nerd

Before this book I hadn't knowingly stepped into the genre that is LitRPG. You heard that right, books that are based around RPGs (role-playing games for those of you who don't know). To be honest with my love of video games I'm amazed I haven't stumbled into it before, the closest I've probably gotten is Ready Player One which isn't classed as LitRPG but is probably borderline.

Basically, LitRPG's are when games or game-like challenges form an essential part of the story and visible RPG statistics (for example strength, intelligence, damage) are a significant part of the reading experience. The first chapter of Radioactive Evolution* ends with the initial look into this game like form when Jared unlocks a dragon?!?!?

Sidekick Unlocked: Dragon

The idea of the whole story is so gamelike, from beating creatures and levelling up your skills to fighting the 'boss' creatures. Jared and Scarlett are on a big quest to unearth Scarlett's family of fire dragons from where they've been hiding in the earth's core, and on the way come across various obstacles to overcome from people, giant rats, and another dragon?!?! I will say that although I enjoyed the whole gamelike aspect it did give me the kind of stress that video games give you. Stressed throughout a fight in case you lose and have to redo the level, however, Jared can't redo the level he'll just die a regular human death because 'LIVES' DON'T EXIST! Super stressful.

The basis of this dystopian world is a virus has taken out most of the human race and in order to stay alive you must inject yourself with boosters every few months but of course the boosters are running out. The nanites from the boosters can allow you to connect with a creature, like Jared and Scarlett are connected, and allow you to increase your stats and you can even obtain special abilities from killing and extracting nanites from boss creatures. This may sound a little confusing but trust me Richard Hummel explains it much better throughout the book. I think the coolest part though is being able to connect with another creature, there's another bonding you meet further into the book which I won't go into too much as spoilers, but they bond with a big cat called Kitty - so it's not just dragons!

If you like any aspect of video gaming or dystopian stories with dragons I totally recommend Radioactive Evolution. Now I'm going to move onto the second book and the rest of the LitRPG genre.

If you could connect with a creature of some kind, what would you choose? I think I'd choose a big cat like Kitty!

*This book was given to me to review, but all opinions are my own

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Chainmail Bikini | Hazel Newlevant | Review

Monday, 3 April 2017

Chainmail Bikini | Hazel Newlevant | Review

Summary:

A collection of comics about women in gaming by women in gaming. The type of gaming includes: video games, LARP-ing, and tabletop gaming.

Review:

I first learned about this book when I saw a kickstarter campaign for it. I couldn't afford to help it out, but I was very happy to see it get funded. When I found a copy of this book at my local comic book shop, I had to pick up a copy and I am so very happy I did.

A lot of the stories in this collection are about the trials and tribulations a lot of women go through in the gaming community. One or two of them end there, but the rest show signs of hope and change in their communities. This includes fictional and non-fictional stories about women and LGTBQ gamers finding where they belong, in all the right ways. There is a place for everyone at the gaming table. 

Some of the stories were more about how gaming had affected the author individually. From one author who talked about living with severe OCD to another who talked about how defeating gaming monsters helped her stay strong against real ones. Other stories talked about how the authors find themselves and who they want to be in the characters they play as. 

This is an incredibly moving anthology that I think all gamers, or those interested in gaming, should read. I identified with more of the stories than I thought I would and I cannot recommend this book enough. 

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Ready Player One | Ernest Cline | Review

Wednesday, 6 February 2013

Ready Player One | Ernest Cline | Review

"It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place. Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them." Source

When OASIS creator James Halliday dies the world that worships him and his creation are presented with the ultimate challenge; Halliday has left them an Easter Egg and the one who finds it will win the ultimate prize of fortune and power.

At the beginning of Ready Player One in the five years that have passed since Halliday’s death although many people have dedicated their lives to studying his pop culture favourites in the hope of finding clues no one has yet made any progress towards finding the first of the three keys; Copper. So when main character Wade Watts, or Parzival as he is known in the OASIS, becomes the first gunter (the name for Halliday’s fans which comes from ‘egg hunters’) to obtain the key and make it through the first gate the story really kicks off. From then on it is all action as we follow Wade on his quest to find the remaining two keys (Jade and Crystal) and hopefully to also be first to find the highly sought after Easter Egg. The gunters however are not the only ones after Halliday’s prize, there is of course a villain in the form of the IOI, a global internet service provider who are out to win by finding loopholes in order to gain control of the OASIS and monetize it.

Ready Player One is definitely very geeky, there are a ton of pop-culture references from games to films, television to music and for this reason it does need a little more concentration than your average read. Don’t let this put you off though, the story is very easy to follow even if you don’t fully appreciate each and every reference because Cline has foreseen this issue and they are all sufficiently explained. Amongst the references Ready Player One tackles the modern-world issue of how you choose to represent yourself online, something which most people can relate to – even if you don’t appreciate all of the geeky references!

Protagonist Wade is a likeable and sympathetic character who makes a great guide through this fairly complicated world. Along the way he meets fellow gunters and leaderboard toppers Shoto, Daito, Aech, and most importantly Art3mis. I personally loved the relationships that form between Wade and his fellow gunters, at first each out to win for themselves but at times coming together against the IOI. Without giving away too much I particularly enjoyed the reveal of what each of these characters looked like in real life and in turn the reasons behind the designs of their OASIS avatars. Co-creator of the OASIS Ogden Morrow, or Og, is also a fantastic character.

As much as I loved the plot and characters the most impressive thing about Ready Player One was the planning. Every little detail was so well thought out and things just seemed to fall into place making it much easier to immerse yourself in Cline’s version of the world. As I was reading I found myself asking questions but just paragraphs or even sentences later I would find the answers and overall I think this makes the whole story much more convincing.

Ready Player One has certainly been one of those books that has stuck with me long after reading it, and although I had never intended to review it, here I am months later still thinking about what a great read it was. This unusual and clever debut novel from Ernest Cline is suitably geeky and extremely enjoyable. 5/5 

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