The strength of this novel lies entirely in its setting. It is one of the few stories set in the world of retro gaming (and certainly the first, as far as I know), and Weiss clearly knows his subject matter well. Several chapters are devoted to nostalgic descriptions of old arcade games, whilst providing hooks on which to hang backstory and character development.
A standout section describes how the narrator dealt with the trauma of a terminally-ill parent by locking himself away, playing a Fantastic Voyage-style game, fervently imagining that his actions would halt a real-life disease. This perfectly captures the magical thinking of childhood, and makes for enthralling reading. As we move forward in the narrator's timeline, we are presented with increasingly convoluted interpretations of games like Donkey Kong and Frogger, as though they had a deeper philosophical message. When the author starts comparing Pac-Man's "insatiable hunger" to Marx’s revolutionary socialism, it reads like a mockery of the kind of breathless prose of Wired magazine. It's not great satire, but it works to illustrate the increasingly unstable mindset of the central character, whilst still remaining rooted in the real world.
Sadly, it's the introduction of the fictional game "Lucky Wander Boy" where the book goes off the rails. The titular game is presented as a 'holy grail' of retro-gaming: hard to find, impossible to emulate, and written by a reclusive programmer. This tantalising premise is then unexpectedly dropped, as the book takes a sharp left turn into sci-fi fantasy. This is intercut with unnecessarily gruesome sequences, supposedly extracted from an old Chinese book about torture and dismemberment. The tone of these sections fits uneasily with the rest of the novel, and don't really connect to the narrative at all.
The final sections of the novel introduce some promising non-linear elements, as events get 'replayed' several times, arcade-style, in the search of an elusive happy ending. Sadly, Weiss can't really recover from the middle third.
I dearly wish that this book had been more harshly edited. It's so full of promise, and many threads of the plot hint at a much more profound resolution. Like the 8-bit gaming industry it celebrates, Lucky Wander Boy has a wildly promising start, that never really gets the ending it deserves.
That said, if you know your Magnavox from your Famicom, it's certainly a novelty to read a story that shares your culture, and for that reason alone, it's worth a read.
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Spitzenrezensionen aus anderen Ländern
JackJack
Ambitious, entertaining, but sadly flawed.
Rezension aus dem Vereinigten Königreich vom 9. Juni 2016
One Guy's Opinion
Plot – 3, Characters – 3, Theme – 4, Voice – 4, Setting – 3, Overall – 3
Rezension aus den Vereinigten Staaten vom 2. Februar 2014
Cindy
I prefer Ready Player One or any other book with a likeable main character
Rezension aus den Vereinigten Staaten vom 4. März 2014Paul M. Harmon
Not so lucky after all
Rezension aus den Vereinigten Staaten vom 6. Januar 2014