![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dsrtao_Crysis: Legion_, Peter Watts
I've never before read a book which was the novelization of a first person shooter game. I'm pretty sure I've read some books which were novelizations of role playing game -- unofficially, of course. And some books that have been inspired by or set in various gaming systems and scenarios.
But I have learned that if Peter Watts writes some fiction, I will generally be
happy to have read it, albeit not so happy while reading. His work tends to be dark in much the same way as portions of the Mariana Trench. At the same time, I hunger to find out what will happen next, as I keep imagining courses of actions that might save our luckless protagonists. Never happens, though.
All of this is present in the instant work. We also get well-thought out explanations for alien biology and psychology, the dark depths of the human soul, a little _Planetary_-style secret history, and of course, lots and lots of action and violence and violent action and active violence. It must be tedious for Watts, somewhere near the middle, to contemplate the fact that his plot has been nailed down for him. Several times, I think, he summarizes some mandatory game mission with "and then I expended a lot of ammunition, bang bang". Well, not quite -- he's a professional -- but it gets close.
I hope it makes a good chunk of money for him. As a book, there are flashes of A-level material sewn into a C-level plot with characters mostly faceless or single-purpose. I choose to believe that the best material is his and the worst the fault of the game. I guess that makes me a fanboy.
I've never before read a book which was the novelization of a first person shooter game. I'm pretty sure I've read some books which were novelizations of role playing game -- unofficially, of course. And some books that have been inspired by or set in various gaming systems and scenarios.
But I have learned that if Peter Watts writes some fiction, I will generally be
happy to have read it, albeit not so happy while reading. His work tends to be dark in much the same way as portions of the Mariana Trench. At the same time, I hunger to find out what will happen next, as I keep imagining courses of actions that might save our luckless protagonists. Never happens, though.
All of this is present in the instant work. We also get well-thought out explanations for alien biology and psychology, the dark depths of the human soul, a little _Planetary_-style secret history, and of course, lots and lots of action and violence and violent action and active violence. It must be tedious for Watts, somewhere near the middle, to contemplate the fact that his plot has been nailed down for him. Several times, I think, he summarizes some mandatory game mission with "and then I expended a lot of ammunition, bang bang". Well, not quite -- he's a professional -- but it gets close.
I hope it makes a good chunk of money for him. As a book, there are flashes of A-level material sewn into a C-level plot with characters mostly faceless or single-purpose. I choose to believe that the best material is his and the worst the fault of the game. I guess that makes me a fanboy.
