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Dagmar Shaw #1
This is Not a Game
Once upon a time, there were four of them. And though each was good at a number of things, all of them were very good at games...
Dagmar is a game designer trapped in Jakarta in the middle of a revolution. The city is tearing itself apart around her and she needs to get out. Her boss Charlie has his own problems � 4.3 billion of them, to be precise, hidden in an off-shore account.
Dagmar is a game designer trapped in Jakarta in the middle of a revolution. The city is tearing itself apart around her and she needs to get out. Her boss Charlie has his own problems � 4.3 billion of them, to be precise, hidden in an off-shore account.
Austin is the businessman � the VC. He's the one with the plan and the one to keep the geeks in line.
BJ was there from the start, but while Charlie's star rose, BJ sank into the depths of customer service. He pads his hours at the call-center slaying on-line orcs, stealing your loot, and selling it on the internet.
But when one of them is gunned down in a parking lot, the survivors become players in a very different kind of game. Caught between the dangerous worlds of the Russian Mafia and international finance, Dagmar must draw on all her resources � not least millions of online gamers � to track down the killer. In this near-future thriller, Walter Jon Williams weaves a pulse-pounding tale of intrigue, murder, and games where you don't get an extra life.
369 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2009
74 people are currently reading
3,691 people want to read
About the author
Walter Jon Williams
250Ìýbooks872ÌýfollowersWalter Jon Williams has published twenty novels and short fiction collections. Most are science fiction or fantasy -Hardwired, Voice of the Whirlwind, Aristoi, Metropolitan, City on Fire to name just a few - a few are historical adventures, and the most recent, The Rift, is a disaster novel in which "I just basically pound a part of the planet down to bedrock." And that's just the opening chapters. Walter holds a fourth-degree black belt in Kenpo Karate, and also enjoys sailing and scuba diving. He lives in New Mexico with his wife, Kathy Hedges.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 307 reviews
August 12, 2023
Catching up with four people that were 'gamers' together 15 years previously - one, Charlie is a mega tycoon; Austin is a successful Venture Capitalist staked by Charlie; BJ was cast off and now works at a crap job; and the heroine of the piece, Dagmar, who's stranded in Indonesia during what is beginning to look like a civil war!
A pretty original and wonderful piece of what Margaret Atwood would call speculative fiction as ultimately the power of the internet is used to try and rescue Dagmar, and then in the second half of the book solve serious crimes in this tale of online gaming, world money markets, the global village, greed, revenge, murder and the power of the Internet. I couldn't put this down once I got into the second part of the book. This is a 7 out of 12, online-centred Three Star read. This one's one of those reviews that after reposting that I desperately want find and read the book again!
2011 read
A pretty original and wonderful piece of what Margaret Atwood would call speculative fiction as ultimately the power of the internet is used to try and rescue Dagmar, and then in the second half of the book solve serious crimes in this tale of online gaming, world money markets, the global village, greed, revenge, murder and the power of the Internet. I couldn't put this down once I got into the second part of the book. This is a 7 out of 12, online-centred Three Star read. This one's one of those reviews that after reposting that I desperately want find and read the book again!
2011 read
October 14, 2018
By page 60 I knew that my interest, which had waned earlier, wasn't coming back. I don't know maybe I'm too old or the wrong generation for this book. Told from points of view varying from "Dagmar" (our game designer protagonist) to the people "back at the office" and of course, the people on the internet the story wanders along seemingly searching for a conspiracy to be part of. With the danger and threats of the real world closing in around her and her survival in question Dagnar has reached out to the gaming community.
And a lot of them are apparently idiots.
I just got tired of the interplay, the changing places interspersed with the Email posts and so on. For my money it wasn't worth the time to slog through it for the story provided. I didn't hate it and there are books I've disliked a lot more so I gave it 2 instead of 1. On the other hand, I didn't like it so I don't plan on reading Dagmar #2.
If you like it (and I can see where a lot will love the premise) enjoy it and I'm happy for you. For me, I have a lot of books waiting to be read and this one just leaves me cold...not planning to read more in the series unless something changes.
And a lot of them are apparently idiots.
I just got tired of the interplay, the changing places interspersed with the Email posts and so on. For my money it wasn't worth the time to slog through it for the story provided. I didn't hate it and there are books I've disliked a lot more so I gave it 2 instead of 1. On the other hand, I didn't like it so I don't plan on reading Dagmar #2.
If you like it (and I can see where a lot will love the premise) enjoy it and I'm happy for you. For me, I have a lot of books waiting to be read and this one just leaves me cold...not planning to read more in the series unless something changes.
January 8, 2023
2019 reread. A slow start and the gamer stuff put me off, to the point that I considered putting it aside. But the novel really starts to cook when the action shifts back to LA, and the murders start....
Dagmar Shaw is an engaging anti-hero and the geeky computer stuff is appealing even if I didn't believe for more than a moment that gold-farming software could take over the world! WJW is a good enough writer to almost pull it off. Not one of his best novels, but the second half is very fast-moving indeed. 3.5 stars, rounded down for the slow start, the dated feel and the gamer stuff.
The real review to read here is Alan's, /review/show...
And Jo Walton's:
Dagmar Shaw is an engaging anti-hero and the geeky computer stuff is appealing even if I didn't believe for more than a moment that gold-farming software could take over the world! WJW is a good enough writer to almost pull it off. Not one of his best novels, but the second half is very fast-moving indeed. 3.5 stars, rounded down for the slow start, the dated feel and the gamer stuff.
The real review to read here is Alan's, /review/show...
And Jo Walton's:
August 7, 2010
This Is Not An Average Novel
An intense near-future thriller that merges live-action role playing games with a realistic high-tech plot—this is one SF mystery that really works. Published almost simultaneously with ' similar , it shares a number of general plot points—the intersection of online life, role-playing, with so-called "meatspace," in particular—but goes in a radically different direction.
This Is Not A One-Note Book
The novel is structured as a series of revelations, each foreshadowed by the chapter titles, which all begin "This is not a..." We start with Dagmar, whose not-a-vacation has encountered a hitch when she gets stuck in a luxury hotel in Jakarta as a revolution unfolds around her. Dagmar is the primary viewpoint character, but she's only one of four protagonists. While I never really saw Dagmar in my mind's eye, I liked her immediately as a character, and eventually I got used to not really knowing what she looked like. The other three major characters—BJ, Austin and especially Charlie (hmm, any particular Charlie in mind, Walter?)—are more physically distinct.
Dagmar was en route from India, where she was overseeing a lavish—if fake—wedding, the climax of a carefully-managed role-playing experience that merges online gaming with real-world entertainment in a way few, if any, of our contemporary media have managed. That is what Dagmar and her associates do for a living, actually—their company (well, it's Charlie's company, really), Great Big Idea, creates such experiences on a subscription basis. Of course, mingling fantasy with mundanity this way can make dramatic events difficult to take at face value...
This Is Not—Quite—The End Of The Review
Even in the midst of the chaos, it is Dagmar's connectedness—her wired existence—that helps her most. This coherent central theme is developed throughout the book; while there are plenty of dramatic face-to-face encounters, and individuals do heroic things, over and over it is collective action—mediated and amplified by ubiquitous online communication—that consistently gets results.
Despite the dramatic and all-around interesting time in which Dagmar lives, I can imagine far worse futures to find myself in. This is a fun, fast and high-octane novel.
An intense near-future thriller that merges live-action role playing games with a realistic high-tech plot—this is one SF mystery that really works. Published almost simultaneously with ' similar , it shares a number of general plot points—the intersection of online life, role-playing, with so-called "meatspace," in particular—but goes in a radically different direction.
This Is Not A One-Note Book
The novel is structured as a series of revelations, each foreshadowed by the chapter titles, which all begin "This is not a..." We start with Dagmar, whose not-a-vacation has encountered a hitch when she gets stuck in a luxury hotel in Jakarta as a revolution unfolds around her. Dagmar is the primary viewpoint character, but she's only one of four protagonists. While I never really saw Dagmar in my mind's eye, I liked her immediately as a character, and eventually I got used to not really knowing what she looked like. The other three major characters—BJ, Austin and especially Charlie (hmm, any particular Charlie in mind, Walter?)—are more physically distinct.
Dagmar was en route from India, where she was overseeing a lavish—if fake—wedding, the climax of a carefully-managed role-playing experience that merges online gaming with real-world entertainment in a way few, if any, of our contemporary media have managed. That is what Dagmar and her associates do for a living, actually—their company (well, it's Charlie's company, really), Great Big Idea, creates such experiences on a subscription basis. Of course, mingling fantasy with mundanity this way can make dramatic events difficult to take at face value...
This Is Not—Quite—The End Of The Review
Even in the midst of the chaos, it is Dagmar's connectedness—her wired existence—that helps her most. This coherent central theme is developed throughout the book; while there are plenty of dramatic face-to-face encounters, and individuals do heroic things, over and over it is collective action—mediated and amplified by ubiquitous online communication—that consistently gets results.
Despite the dramatic and all-around interesting time in which Dagmar lives, I can imagine far worse futures to find myself in. This is a fun, fast and high-octane novel.
September 23, 2021
I have no idea why I haven't read any Walter Jon Williams books before (or did I before Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, which is the main way I remember what I've read?). This is good. It's a little like Neal Stephenson's REAMDE, which also combines gaming, running a software company, and real-life action. Or vice versa; Williams's book was apparently written first. Also like REAMDE, this isn't really science fiction; the technology is similar to what we already have.
One thing that makes this book unusual is that the main characters blend their software company's game with real life. At the beginning, game designer Dagmar, the main character, is stuck in the middle of a chaotic situation in Jakarta, due to an Indonesian financial collapse. Things are scary and getting worse, and the company's efforts to get her out aren't working. As a last resort, she appeals to the gamer base. She's already written real-life into the games; the last one has just ended with a real-life wedding in India, albeit with actors playing the bride and groom. To get to that point in the game, the players had to solve puzzles that included real-world information. So, she gets on an online player forum with members all over the world and sets the players to finding her a way out of Jakarta. Some of the gamers don't even know if it is real or some kind of mini-game.
Dagmar, Charlie, Austin, and BJ were gamer buddies and close friends in college, some 15 years back. After that, Charlie and BJ owned a gaming software company, but it failed, and Charlie forced BJ out in the transition to a new company. Dagmar and Austin currently work in the new company. Dagmar is developing a new game, and the company needs it to be a multi-million-player success. After the Jakarta incident, she decides to use the more of the real-life element to make the game interesting.
Problems develop. Charlie is acting oddly, something happens to Austin, and BJ is back on the scene. Oh, and it turns into a murder mystery, and the Russian Maffiya is involved, and more countries start having currency collapses like Indonesia did. It's all connected. Due to Charlie's seemingly irrational requirements and her own suspicions, Dagmar enlists the gamers to solve real-life problems - all disguised, to the gamers, as part of the game.
This is all done so well. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book, and will try to read the rest of the series.
One thing that makes this book unusual is that the main characters blend their software company's game with real life. At the beginning, game designer Dagmar, the main character, is stuck in the middle of a chaotic situation in Jakarta, due to an Indonesian financial collapse. Things are scary and getting worse, and the company's efforts to get her out aren't working. As a last resort, she appeals to the gamer base. She's already written real-life into the games; the last one has just ended with a real-life wedding in India, albeit with actors playing the bride and groom. To get to that point in the game, the players had to solve puzzles that included real-world information. So, she gets on an online player forum with members all over the world and sets the players to finding her a way out of Jakarta. Some of the gamers don't even know if it is real or some kind of mini-game.
Dagmar, Charlie, Austin, and BJ were gamer buddies and close friends in college, some 15 years back. After that, Charlie and BJ owned a gaming software company, but it failed, and Charlie forced BJ out in the transition to a new company. Dagmar and Austin currently work in the new company. Dagmar is developing a new game, and the company needs it to be a multi-million-player success. After the Jakarta incident, she decides to use the more of the real-life element to make the game interesting.
Problems develop. Charlie is acting oddly, something happens to Austin, and BJ is back on the scene. Oh, and it turns into a murder mystery, and the Russian Maffiya is involved, and more countries start having currency collapses like Indonesia did. It's all connected. Due to Charlie's seemingly irrational requirements and her own suspicions, Dagmar enlists the gamers to solve real-life problems - all disguised, to the gamers, as part of the game.
This is all done so well. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book, and will try to read the rest of the series.
January 20, 2012
This is the first Walter Jon Williams book I've read. I picked it up at a passenger terminal in Afghanistan somewhere because I had finished the book I was reading and didn't have anything to read and this looked interesting. Rest assured it won't be the last.
A complex tale involving a specific type of video game called an alternate reality game (ARG). An ARG is a game that blurs the line between a fictional reality and our own 'real' reality. In an ARG, characters from the game will contact players via text messages or email and ask them to decipher clues on Web pages and then perform tasks in the real world. Payoffs might be real merchandise or rewards or just plain bragging rights.
While attending Caltech, the protagonist, Dagmar Shaw, makes three friends with whom she plays table-top role playing games. One of her group becomes a successful software developer. One of his companies makes games and he employs Dagmar as a producer for the ARGs used to promote the company's games. After concluding a successful ARG, Dagmar is en route to Bali for vacation when she is trapped in Jakarta when a revolution breaks out. This then leads into the main plot of the book which I don't want to spoil since it's interesting and novel.
Williams' writing style is very clear and straight forward even though the plot is fairly complex. I read this book in three or four days (I also had a lot of spare time on my hands so I can't give all the credit to Williams).
If you like books involving technology or are into games, then you won't be disappointed by this book.
A complex tale involving a specific type of video game called an alternate reality game (ARG). An ARG is a game that blurs the line between a fictional reality and our own 'real' reality. In an ARG, characters from the game will contact players via text messages or email and ask them to decipher clues on Web pages and then perform tasks in the real world. Payoffs might be real merchandise or rewards or just plain bragging rights.
While attending Caltech, the protagonist, Dagmar Shaw, makes three friends with whom she plays table-top role playing games. One of her group becomes a successful software developer. One of his companies makes games and he employs Dagmar as a producer for the ARGs used to promote the company's games. After concluding a successful ARG, Dagmar is en route to Bali for vacation when she is trapped in Jakarta when a revolution breaks out. This then leads into the main plot of the book which I don't want to spoil since it's interesting and novel.
Williams' writing style is very clear and straight forward even though the plot is fairly complex. I read this book in three or four days (I also had a lot of spare time on my hands so I can't give all the credit to Williams).
If you like books involving technology or are into games, then you won't be disappointed by this book.
May 6, 2019
A comfortable reread - sort of a kinder gentler Daemon - though that's not something I knew the first time I read this. And definitely remembering the scene in a later book when Dagmar is given test questions with a lie detector and gives surprising answers, changes the feel of this book. And yet I still haven't searched out and played an Alternative Reality Game.
And another re-read. This time a bit too fast and remembering a bit too much. And now I have played an ARG - though Ingress is a far cry from what's in this book. Maybe more like a 4.5 on this go-round. But snappy witty dialogue. And some characters I rather appreciate.
And another re-read. This time a bit too fast and remembering a bit too much. And now I have played an ARG - though Ingress is a far cry from what's in this book. Maybe more like a 4.5 on this go-round. But snappy witty dialogue. And some characters I rather appreciate.
April 18, 2017
‘This Is Not A Game� explores the extent to which online gaming and, as a by-product, social networking can be exploited to serve an individuals interest. Collectively controlled by a puppet master, participants of games that routinely blur the line between fact and fiction are caught up in a complex web of mystery and intrigue as they seek the killer of Big Game Ideas founding member, Charlie.
The protagonist, Dagmar, essentially a second-in-command figure at Big Game Ideas, went to college with Charlie and two other prominent computer geeks linked to the company in some way or another takes it upon herself to solve the murder.
As her circle of friends dwindles, Dagmar realizes there is far more at stake than uncovering a mysterious link to the Russian Mafia as the world economy threatens grinds to a halt thanks to sofrware her boss developed.
Just as much food for thought as high octane entertainment, TINAG delivers on all fronts � compelling story, classic whodunit elements, multi media exploitation, engaging characters, and page turning dialogue. I've read this book twice now and can't rate it high enough - 5 Stars.
The protagonist, Dagmar, essentially a second-in-command figure at Big Game Ideas, went to college with Charlie and two other prominent computer geeks linked to the company in some way or another takes it upon herself to solve the murder.
As her circle of friends dwindles, Dagmar realizes there is far more at stake than uncovering a mysterious link to the Russian Mafia as the world economy threatens grinds to a halt thanks to sofrware her boss developed.
Just as much food for thought as high octane entertainment, TINAG delivers on all fronts � compelling story, classic whodunit elements, multi media exploitation, engaging characters, and page turning dialogue. I've read this book twice now and can't rate it high enough - 5 Stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 25, 2020
Not the best outing for Williams, sad to say. The four main characters are all involved in an alternative reality game (ARG) that has millions of players, who interact both on the web and in reality. Set in a near future (almost always a killer after the novel has been out for a decade or so), the lines begin to blur between the game and reality when people start getting murdered. This is really a thriller, so to give a synopsis of the plot would be to give away the novel. This book tries to be too clever for its own good.
June 30, 2015
This turned out to be a really good choice for a nervous time in which I needed distraction and for weather that was just too bloody hot to do much of anything else but read after getting home from work. I got sucked into the plot, eagerly turning pages. Good use of detail made the story so vivid.
This was probably the most fun I’ve had reading a WJW book. He’s a good craftsman, but I’ve found the other works of his that I’ve read a lot darker than this. While there were plenty of scheming and violence and tense situations in this, there was still a feeling of hope to it; and ultimately there was a positive outcome for Dagmar, at least.
At the beginning, I’d wondered if Dagmar was going to be one of those tough Teflon, emotionless chicks. I like female characters with strength who can take charge mentally and/or physically, but I don’t like characters who are emotionally flat. Although Dagmar was smart and very resourceful, she also displayed authentic human emotion. She had moments in which she feared for her own safety and catalogued her limited number of self-defense skills, but seeing people around her get hurt also upset her. When people died trying to mount the operation to rescue her in Indonesia, she felt guilty and sad that people died on her account. She was truly grateful and impressed with the people who did manage to help her get clear of a perilous situation. I also liked how she was steadfast in her resistance of her ex-fling’s attempts to regain her interest after she found out he was married. And her knowledge of SFF stuff was great.
I don’t want to post major spoilers, so I’ll just say that I figured out one major plot point and thought I knew the identity of the bad guy (although I had part of it wrong) by page 290. But it didn’t spoil the book for me; there were plenty of juicy twists and turns. I just felt pleased that I’d picked up on some clues. And the more I thought about it, the more troubled I was about a particular character being a sociopath and the depths of the scheming. Watching someone pretending to care about someone else while plotting to kill them is chilling!
The pop culture references--including Pinky & the Brain, Star Wars (and not only the mainstream movies--someone has a roommate called Jacen, after the EU book character), Marvel, Harry Potter, Terry Pratchett, and more--throughout were priceless.
Chapter Six is titled “This Is Not the Bat Cave.�
Then there are these two passages as further examples:
[Name redacted] had left the real world altogether and now lived somewhere in supervillain territory. He was Magneto. He was Lex Luthor. He was Doctor Doom.
He was the Napoleon of Crime.
When the hell had [he] found time to develop this secret life? …She’d seen him nearly every day, and she’d never once seen him meeting with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
Probably the meetings took place in his secret base in a dormant volcano. --pg 291
Out-of-work actors walked up and down the sidewalks dressed as superheroes and offered to let visitors take their picture for a small fee.
Fly this bomb to where it belongs, Tony Stark, she thought, but Tony was busy posing with a couple of kids from the Midwest and failed to hear her mental command. --pg 442
I’ve never been into role-playing games like D&D--I tried a couple of times, but I’m too much of a control freak and find the minutiae of it boring; but the book’s narrative made the talk of games accessible. I have participated in online forums/chat rooms, played some word games online, and participated in ‘continue the story� type things, so that helped me relate to the story. I could very much relate to the stuff about writing that’s part of Dagmar’s life. The conversations among the Our Reality Network members reminded me of real things I’ve seen. It seems every group as at least one know-it-all, the moderator-personality type, and the gullible types. I liked many of the helpful gamers/online chatters featured in the book--obsessed with their games, one-upping each other in that way nerds do…yet earnest and helpful when something real that actually mattered came up.
I can see the appeal of Alternate Reality Games (ARGs), but I’ve never had the time/inclination to participate--and I tend to be suspicious of strangers. I wouldn’t trust whoever’s running the game to be entirely benign. It would be all too easy for someone to get participants to unwittingly contribute to a destructive or criminal act as depicted in the book.
I was pleased to see that there are 2 more Dagmar books and have put them on my to-read list.
This was probably the most fun I’ve had reading a WJW book. He’s a good craftsman, but I’ve found the other works of his that I’ve read a lot darker than this. While there were plenty of scheming and violence and tense situations in this, there was still a feeling of hope to it; and ultimately there was a positive outcome for Dagmar, at least.
At the beginning, I’d wondered if Dagmar was going to be one of those tough Teflon, emotionless chicks. I like female characters with strength who can take charge mentally and/or physically, but I don’t like characters who are emotionally flat. Although Dagmar was smart and very resourceful, she also displayed authentic human emotion. She had moments in which she feared for her own safety and catalogued her limited number of self-defense skills, but seeing people around her get hurt also upset her. When people died trying to mount the operation to rescue her in Indonesia, she felt guilty and sad that people died on her account. She was truly grateful and impressed with the people who did manage to help her get clear of a perilous situation. I also liked how she was steadfast in her resistance of her ex-fling’s attempts to regain her interest after she found out he was married. And her knowledge of SFF stuff was great.
I don’t want to post major spoilers, so I’ll just say that I figured out one major plot point and thought I knew the identity of the bad guy (although I had part of it wrong) by page 290. But it didn’t spoil the book for me; there were plenty of juicy twists and turns. I just felt pleased that I’d picked up on some clues. And the more I thought about it, the more troubled I was about a particular character being a sociopath and the depths of the scheming. Watching someone pretending to care about someone else while plotting to kill them is chilling!
The pop culture references--including Pinky & the Brain, Star Wars (and not only the mainstream movies--someone has a roommate called Jacen, after the EU book character), Marvel, Harry Potter, Terry Pratchett, and more--throughout were priceless.
Chapter Six is titled “This Is Not the Bat Cave.�
Then there are these two passages as further examples:
[Name redacted] had left the real world altogether and now lived somewhere in supervillain territory. He was Magneto. He was Lex Luthor. He was Doctor Doom.
He was the Napoleon of Crime.
When the hell had [he] found time to develop this secret life? …She’d seen him nearly every day, and she’d never once seen him meeting with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
Probably the meetings took place in his secret base in a dormant volcano. --pg 291
Out-of-work actors walked up and down the sidewalks dressed as superheroes and offered to let visitors take their picture for a small fee.
Fly this bomb to where it belongs, Tony Stark, she thought, but Tony was busy posing with a couple of kids from the Midwest and failed to hear her mental command. --pg 442
I’ve never been into role-playing games like D&D--I tried a couple of times, but I’m too much of a control freak and find the minutiae of it boring; but the book’s narrative made the talk of games accessible. I have participated in online forums/chat rooms, played some word games online, and participated in ‘continue the story� type things, so that helped me relate to the story. I could very much relate to the stuff about writing that’s part of Dagmar’s life. The conversations among the Our Reality Network members reminded me of real things I’ve seen. It seems every group as at least one know-it-all, the moderator-personality type, and the gullible types. I liked many of the helpful gamers/online chatters featured in the book--obsessed with their games, one-upping each other in that way nerds do…yet earnest and helpful when something real that actually mattered came up.
I can see the appeal of Alternate Reality Games (ARGs), but I’ve never had the time/inclination to participate--and I tend to be suspicious of strangers. I wouldn’t trust whoever’s running the game to be entirely benign. It would be all too easy for someone to get participants to unwittingly contribute to a destructive or criminal act as depicted in the book.
I was pleased to see that there are 2 more Dagmar books and have put them on my to-read list.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 12, 2022
CW: multiple explosions, stabbing, murder
I really enjoyed this game-based book. There were lots of twists and turns in the story and I couldn't figure out what wad going to happen next.
I really enjoyed the real-life view in this story, whereby the players of the game were asked to help out by looking for clues and then report to Dagmar with them. I hadn't read anything like that in a book before and I thought it was a refreshing angle.
I enjoyed this book a lot and I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series.
I really enjoyed this game-based book. There were lots of twists and turns in the story and I couldn't figure out what wad going to happen next.
I really enjoyed the real-life view in this story, whereby the players of the game were asked to help out by looking for clues and then report to Dagmar with them. I hadn't read anything like that in a book before and I thought it was a refreshing angle.
I enjoyed this book a lot and I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series.
September 18, 2015
This is the third WJ Williams book I have read - the others being and . The story precedes the events of The Fourth Wall, and I probably would have understood that book better if I had read This is Not a Game first. There are 4 main characters in the book- all former college mates who participated in gaming, and whose paths later diverged. Three are successful and continue some association- Dagmar works as a fiction writer for games for one of Charlie's companies. Austin is a venture capitalist who does business with Charlie. BJ worked for Charlie but was thrown out and is embittered. But the story starts out with Dagmar stranded in Jakarta, Indonesia as a revolution breaks out, and the first third tells of attempts to get her evacuated, enlisting the help of an online community. The next concerns the four former college mates as one of them is killed, and Dagmar continues her work, again with the help of the online community, which in effect serves as the fifth main "group" character. The book was a lot of fun, and I really liked how the chat group functioned in the "game" and the book.
November 25, 2012
I flew through this book. It had me hooked on page one and, thanks to a four hour flight, kept me engrossed to the end. I thought the plot was deftly woven, the use of an on-line role playing game in real-time/real-world was fascinating. I liked the murder-mystery elements of betrayal, revenge and double revenge. I liked the way world wide financial elements were manipulated on a more intimate level, shall we say. I can totally see the self replicating software happening at some point in the future if it hasn't happened already on a smaller scale.
My only complaint was this felt like a William Gibson book, not a Walter Jon Williams book (no offense to either author, I enjoy them both). I kept thinking I had been introduced to these characters before, but like a thought niggle just out of reach, I couldn't place where. This book felt like Pattern Recognition, Spook Country and Zero History. But it wasn't. And that niggling feeling bugged me for the entire book.
Despite that strange disconnect between authors, I will be reading Dagmar #2.
My only complaint was this felt like a William Gibson book, not a Walter Jon Williams book (no offense to either author, I enjoy them both). I kept thinking I had been introduced to these characters before, but like a thought niggle just out of reach, I couldn't place where. This book felt like Pattern Recognition, Spook Country and Zero History. But it wasn't. And that niggling feeling bugged me for the entire book.
Despite that strange disconnect between authors, I will be reading Dagmar #2.
April 6, 2018
All of the chapter and section titles in This Is Not a Game begin with the phrase "This Is Not a..." so I'll have to preface my observation with the comment that this is not a science fiction novel. It is a very good suspense/thriller with a little genre content, but... The book has a ten-year-old copyright, and it's closer now to reality than I imagine even the author could have imagined. It's a good murder mystery with more social-media-community influence than anything else I've read that comes to mind. There is a rather sharp and jarring break between the first section which is set in a revolution-disrupted Jakarta and the rest of the story which is set in Los Angeles, but that's tempered somewhat by the constant reminders that reality may be what we perceive rather than what we believe we know. Or vice versa. The four main characters are exceptionally well drawn, and their past relationships help build the tension admirably. The exploration of the gaming community is also quite convincing. It's a surprisingly good read.
August 29, 2023
This is the first novel I’ve read by this author.
Immediately, I liked the orienting use of chapter titles, and it was fun that each chapter title was preceded by the phrase “This Is Not a....[insert word],� which echoes the phraseology of the book’s title “This Is Not a Game.� Clever. Novels that just meander on interminably annoy me as much as the meandering lines queuing around and all over at amusement parks. Sometimes I like to stop and take stock.
I also liked the accuracy of the description on the book cover, which promises “greed, betrayal, and social networking.� Yes, it has all of those things.
But oddly enough, for a book classified as a hi tech thriller, there is absolutely nothing thrilling or suspenseful about this book. Not that I’m complaining—at least everything proceeds logically.
Immediately, I liked the orienting use of chapter titles, and it was fun that each chapter title was preceded by the phrase “This Is Not a....[insert word],� which echoes the phraseology of the book’s title “This Is Not a Game.� Clever. Novels that just meander on interminably annoy me as much as the meandering lines queuing around and all over at amusement parks. Sometimes I like to stop and take stock.
I also liked the accuracy of the description on the book cover, which promises “greed, betrayal, and social networking.� Yes, it has all of those things.
But oddly enough, for a book classified as a hi tech thriller, there is absolutely nothing thrilling or suspenseful about this book. Not that I’m complaining—at least everything proceeds logically.
April 3, 2009
I love most of WJW novels and some like Aristoi, Metropolitan, City on Fire are among my top sff books, with Dread Empire and Implied Spaces close also, but sadly this one should be entitled "Not a Novel"
I fast plowed through it to see if it has anything of interest to me; it was just unreadable and boring - artificial, could not connect with the characters or the setting, seemed just a "game" so to speak, not "real"
A while ago I would have shrugged and said, well, near-future thrillers are not for me, but after the very good Daemon and the superb, brilliant In the Courts of the Sun, this one was such a massive let down that it really disappointed me a lot.
I fast plowed through it to see if it has anything of interest to me; it was just unreadable and boring - artificial, could not connect with the characters or the setting, seemed just a "game" so to speak, not "real"
A while ago I would have shrugged and said, well, near-future thrillers are not for me, but after the very good Daemon and the superb, brilliant In the Courts of the Sun, this one was such a massive let down that it really disappointed me a lot.
January 9, 2018
Really enjoyed this one- especially interesting reading in 2017, when several of the near-future predictions about our online lives have come and, in the case of ARGs, seemingly gone already.
Fun mystery/thriller also featuring a great exploration of how technology impacts our lives, good and bad, and how to live ethically in an online world. To be clear, none of this is preachy, heavy-handed, or at all artificial.
Also enjoy the fact that all the pop culture reference are now 8 years out of date and/or timeless, which means I'm actually in on the jokes. Heh.
Fun mystery/thriller also featuring a great exploration of how technology impacts our lives, good and bad, and how to live ethically in an online world. To be clear, none of this is preachy, heavy-handed, or at all artificial.
Also enjoy the fact that all the pop culture reference are now 8 years out of date and/or timeless, which means I'm actually in on the jokes. Heh.
January 28, 2024
One star might be harsh. I was so excited to read this book. This book was just not for me. I love to read and I’ll never give up on a book, but when it becomes something you don’t even want to read, aren’t excited to read, and starts feeling like a chore, that’s when you know. When I first got this book, I understood the storyline to be something completely different than what it actually is. The beginning plot was kind of interesting, but it kept dragging on and on with no real resolution or excitement. The writing turned out to be predictable, elementary, and honestly kinda cringy at times. I don’t want to steer anyone away from this book. I’m sure there are people who love it, but it was just not for me.
May 27, 2017
What happens when on-line gaming and real life intertwine into a single narrative. The author merges together influences both of the game \ gamers affecting the real world and real world affecting the game. There are some interesting concepts with some nice nostalgic memories of when the games RPG etc started.
February 21, 2025
It was definitely a weird book and didn’t have a traditional story structure but was still very good. It switches what you think the plot will be in the first act
February 6, 2012
This Is Not A Game by Walter Jon Williams was a book that I thoroughly enjoyed and one which I will continue to explore, as there are more books in the series. Exploring the experiences of Dagmar, a young woman employed by a video game company, it is more than a good read, but really encourages us to explore the role that social media plays in our lives, and how we are affected by it.
The first story in the book, as there are several, takes place at the very beginning, as Dagmar is trapped in Indonesia, as a conflict has torn apart the country, and the Indonesian dollar has dropped completely in value, a product of Chinese inflation. Dagmar, who works for a billion-dollar company as the story writer for video-games, is trapped in the Royal Jakarta Hotel, and she must use her followers on a social media site to escape from the hands of angry rebels. It is this first story which made me enjoy it very much, as it was a lead-in to the other story. I find that often times, novels lead into their stories too quickly, and there is not enough time to establish the story, nor the characters, but This is Not A Game did the exact opposite. By using the first fourth of the book for a lead-in, the second story, a "Who Dun' It?" essentially, did not need to set up the characters nor their relationships, and so once the second story started, I was able to feel like a part of the action, as a true reader, as I did not have to stop to know what was going on, as it was explained already.
Another reason for my love of the book was the overall reality that it provided, unlike the book I read before. In Being, my previous RWR book, it was rather science-fiction-y, and Kevin, the protagonist, had an alien machine inside of him. However, This Is Not A Game was extremely realistic, and clearly was well researched, as it explored what life would be life in the following years. The conflict in Indonesia, in the beginning of the book was particularly realistic, as it explored how mass-production in China and lack of regulation in the United States destroyed the world, and caused civil-unrest in Indonesia, leading to the mass-genocide of Indians and Chinese in Jakarta. Because the book was this realistic, and I was able to connect to it, and see how the world could change if we keep on our constant course.
One part of the book that I did not enjoy, however, was the descriptions of some of the technology and ideas used, which I did not follow. While it came off a simply a nerdy-book, it seemed as though you had to know a bit more about social media than the average Joe to truly understand what was going on, which at some points I did not appreciate, as there were certain computer programming ideas that I did not follow. However, these parts were few and far between, and I did enjoy the book, because of the overall descriptions and reality, and how I could connect to the novel because it described social media so accurately.
The first story in the book, as there are several, takes place at the very beginning, as Dagmar is trapped in Indonesia, as a conflict has torn apart the country, and the Indonesian dollar has dropped completely in value, a product of Chinese inflation. Dagmar, who works for a billion-dollar company as the story writer for video-games, is trapped in the Royal Jakarta Hotel, and she must use her followers on a social media site to escape from the hands of angry rebels. It is this first story which made me enjoy it very much, as it was a lead-in to the other story. I find that often times, novels lead into their stories too quickly, and there is not enough time to establish the story, nor the characters, but This is Not A Game did the exact opposite. By using the first fourth of the book for a lead-in, the second story, a "Who Dun' It?" essentially, did not need to set up the characters nor their relationships, and so once the second story started, I was able to feel like a part of the action, as a true reader, as I did not have to stop to know what was going on, as it was explained already.
Another reason for my love of the book was the overall reality that it provided, unlike the book I read before. In Being, my previous RWR book, it was rather science-fiction-y, and Kevin, the protagonist, had an alien machine inside of him. However, This Is Not A Game was extremely realistic, and clearly was well researched, as it explored what life would be life in the following years. The conflict in Indonesia, in the beginning of the book was particularly realistic, as it explored how mass-production in China and lack of regulation in the United States destroyed the world, and caused civil-unrest in Indonesia, leading to the mass-genocide of Indians and Chinese in Jakarta. Because the book was this realistic, and I was able to connect to it, and see how the world could change if we keep on our constant course.
One part of the book that I did not enjoy, however, was the descriptions of some of the technology and ideas used, which I did not follow. While it came off a simply a nerdy-book, it seemed as though you had to know a bit more about social media than the average Joe to truly understand what was going on, which at some points I did not appreciate, as there were certain computer programming ideas that I did not follow. However, these parts were few and far between, and I did enjoy the book, because of the overall descriptions and reality, and how I could connect to the novel because it described social media so accurately.
August 17, 2009
When Dagmar lands in Jakarta, she finds her connecting flight has been canceled... along with every other flight out of the country. The currency is under attack and a revolution is underway. Luckily, Dagmar is the major producer/writer for Great Big Idea, a company that specialized in creating ARGs: alternate reality games. Her boss is a multimillionaire and he's determined to get Dagmar out of the country and back to safety, where she can start writing the next big game. When some of the more conventional rescue attempts fail, Dagmar turns to the online gaming community to help her.
Fast forward to a few months later, with Dagmar back in LA and starting a brand new ARG. As the game gets underway, one of Dagmar's longtime friends is murdered. Can she once again call on gamers to help solve this murder? And, as Dagmar digs deeper to solve this mystery, other countries come under attack, just like Jakarta. The line between game and reality begins to blur... however, This Is Not A Game.
Okay, this book is difficult to sum up, particularly without sounding cheesy. Williams does an excellent job between joining online games with reality, as well as recognizing the strange potential of massive amounts of gamers. I think he creates a story that will appeal to classic RPGers as well as those who've only gamed on a console or computer. I liked Dagmar - she was resourceful, funny, and creative.
If I have any complaints for this book, it's that it felt like there were a few loose ends or unnecessary characters/plot bits. The transition from the chapters in Jakarta to the start of The Long Night of Briana Hall was abrupt, and the ending didn't have quite the punch I expected... or maybe I was just thinking there was going to be another plot twist. The moments with the gamers are gold... I wish there were more (why is it I hate reading message boards in real life, but enjoy them in a story?). And there's just something thoroughly enjoyable about a plot involving what happens when gold-farming goes so wrong.
If you love gaming, whether it's on paper and involves d20s or if it's on a console or involves being in character, this is a book you'll probably enjoy. I'm glad it was recommended to me!
Fast forward to a few months later, with Dagmar back in LA and starting a brand new ARG. As the game gets underway, one of Dagmar's longtime friends is murdered. Can she once again call on gamers to help solve this murder? And, as Dagmar digs deeper to solve this mystery, other countries come under attack, just like Jakarta. The line between game and reality begins to blur... however, This Is Not A Game.
Okay, this book is difficult to sum up, particularly without sounding cheesy. Williams does an excellent job between joining online games with reality, as well as recognizing the strange potential of massive amounts of gamers. I think he creates a story that will appeal to classic RPGers as well as those who've only gamed on a console or computer. I liked Dagmar - she was resourceful, funny, and creative.
If I have any complaints for this book, it's that it felt like there were a few loose ends or unnecessary characters/plot bits. The transition from the chapters in Jakarta to the start of The Long Night of Briana Hall was abrupt, and the ending didn't have quite the punch I expected... or maybe I was just thinking there was going to be another plot twist. The moments with the gamers are gold... I wish there were more (why is it I hate reading message boards in real life, but enjoy them in a story?). And there's just something thoroughly enjoyable about a plot involving what happens when gold-farming goes so wrong.
If you love gaming, whether it's on paper and involves d20s or if it's on a console or involves being in character, this is a book you'll probably enjoy. I'm glad it was recommended to me!
January 5, 2016
A decent semi-detective story that gets pretty good once it finally heads in for the main plot a third of the way through. The author uses the first third to convey the impact of what the story means to the people of the world who are not directly involved, but it made it hard to get into the book and could have been a LOT shorter. The book is a bit like in terms of being about mixing games and reality until it's hard to tell the difference, although maybe this is the flip side of that coin. It definitely does a better job in terms of showing how the two could mix than Halting State, which mostly suggests it and then chickens out of actually doing it.
The central ideas behind the MacGuffin are fairly implausible, which you might not catch on to if you don't know much about programming and code, bot nets, or financial markets. Unfortunately I know more than most people about all three, so the flaws glared at me until I ordered them to go away and let me dig into the mystery part. I can't really decide which of the three things the author knows the least about, but that's what you get when your education on the topics come from your poker buddies. And it's not a terrible absence of any comprehension or even background knowledge like , so it doesn't ruin the story. And it's nicely contained in the MacGuffin so you could still continue a series without having to drag the flaws with you.
Each chapter is titled "This Is Not (A)..." with some word or phrase afterwards. It's one of those "neat" ideas which don't lend any clarity to the chapters and probably should have been dropped if the editor could have convinced the author to do so.
The central ideas behind the MacGuffin are fairly implausible, which you might not catch on to if you don't know much about programming and code, bot nets, or financial markets. Unfortunately I know more than most people about all three, so the flaws glared at me until I ordered them to go away and let me dig into the mystery part. I can't really decide which of the three things the author knows the least about, but that's what you get when your education on the topics come from your poker buddies. And it's not a terrible absence of any comprehension or even background knowledge like , so it doesn't ruin the story. And it's nicely contained in the MacGuffin so you could still continue a series without having to drag the flaws with you.
Each chapter is titled "This Is Not (A)..." with some word or phrase afterwards. It's one of those "neat" ideas which don't lend any clarity to the chapters and probably should have been dropped if the editor could have convinced the author to do so.
February 29, 2012
unfortunate cover images... and catchphrase... but hey, i'll give a shot at a book following the folly of rich white ARG (alternate reality game- for the un-initiated) producers as the real world goes to shit around them.
and frankly it was the closest book to my backpack this morning that i hadn't already read. seriously considering making a book cover for this though, the cover is honestly embarrassing.
thoughts after finishing this book:
the author has some decent ideas and has some insight into people who play ARGs (not sure about knowing people who create them, however) and all in all the plot is at least somewhat interesting if not mildly clever at times.
that being said, ALL of the characters were one-dimensional, the dialog unemotional (or overly dramatic) and predictable (especially the internal dialog- borderline cheesy), and many aspects of the plot were shockingly fantastical for a book meant to be 'realistic.' also, the language is pretty lame all-around and I don't get the impression there was a single compound sentence (much less any exemplary/advanced use of the English language) in the entire book. I knew people who could write better in high school.
It took me a week to read something that shouldn't have taken me more than a day and a half, mainly because it was just that uninteresting... and did I mention the cover sucks?
TL:DR This book just isn't worth reading. I can't believe the author has ever been nominated for Hugo and Nebula awards.
and frankly it was the closest book to my backpack this morning that i hadn't already read. seriously considering making a book cover for this though, the cover is honestly embarrassing.
thoughts after finishing this book:
the author has some decent ideas and has some insight into people who play ARGs (not sure about knowing people who create them, however) and all in all the plot is at least somewhat interesting if not mildly clever at times.
that being said, ALL of the characters were one-dimensional, the dialog unemotional (or overly dramatic) and predictable (especially the internal dialog- borderline cheesy), and many aspects of the plot were shockingly fantastical for a book meant to be 'realistic.' also, the language is pretty lame all-around and I don't get the impression there was a single compound sentence (much less any exemplary/advanced use of the English language) in the entire book. I knew people who could write better in high school.
It took me a week to read something that shouldn't have taken me more than a day and a half, mainly because it was just that uninteresting... and did I mention the cover sucks?
TL:DR This book just isn't worth reading. I can't believe the author has ever been nominated for Hugo and Nebula awards.
October 25, 2014
In my opinion, this was a very good book. The title lured me in a little bit. I thought that this would be a strange type of book since it was about a video game, but it actually wasn't that bad. I was very surprised by the ending because it took a sharp turn and changed what I thought was going to happen. Many parts of this book are suspenseful and keep you drawn in to where you don't want to put it down.
This book is about the main character, Dagmar, who, at the beginning of the book, is stuck in Jakarta as the currency is starting collapse. She contacts her boss Charlie, who is a mulit-millionaire (almost billionaire), who hires some people to get her out. Finally she escapes after going through problem after problem. When she returns to America, she talks with her friend Austin and BJ (Game designers and players) about the next game they are going to release. BJ and Charlie don't like each other because of an incident in the past, but Dagmar hires BJ to help prepare this new game for release. This book takes a sharp turn at the end when something happens to one of the workers on the game and everyone is confused. Even later, something else happens which causes Dagmar to try and find out more. You'll have to read to find out what she discovers.
This book is about the main character, Dagmar, who, at the beginning of the book, is stuck in Jakarta as the currency is starting collapse. She contacts her boss Charlie, who is a mulit-millionaire (almost billionaire), who hires some people to get her out. Finally she escapes after going through problem after problem. When she returns to America, she talks with her friend Austin and BJ (Game designers and players) about the next game they are going to release. BJ and Charlie don't like each other because of an incident in the past, but Dagmar hires BJ to help prepare this new game for release. This book takes a sharp turn at the end when something happens to one of the workers on the game and everyone is confused. Even later, something else happens which causes Dagmar to try and find out more. You'll have to read to find out what she discovers.
April 1, 2011
This was a fast, engaging read that, I thought, got internet culture mostly right (although I haven't played any Alternate Reality games, so I can't speak to that aspect). I had trouble putting it down. There was insufficient denouement, but on the other hand, it had more of a wrap-up than most Neal Stephenson books have. Unfortunately, a major plot point hinged on a completely ridiculous premise - that when you have a list of many thousands of items, and you have a program that acts on one of those items, that somehow this is a problem and that you need to parcel out the list of items to individuals to type them in. And the people who come to this conclusion both have technical degrees, and one of them is a sysadmin. This completely dragged me out of the story as I fought the urge to violently beat my head against the desk. (There was some other stuff about code vs. binaries, but it wasn't as critical to the story and I mostly glossed over it rather than thinking too hard about it.)
Other than that, though, a really fun book that mostly got it right.
Other than that, though, a really fun book that mostly got it right.
June 26, 2011
one star for a book that I started and did not finish. Nor did I get very far. Just not interested in the premise or feel of the writing, though I normally like WJW.
odd thoughts:
I am beginning to develop this theory that Charles Stross and Walter Jon Williams are working together behind the scenes.
The description of this book looks like a different take on the same or eerily familiar universe as Stross's Halting State.
Likewise, Implied Spaces grappled with the same ideas behind Stross's Glasshouse. Both of the Williams books appeared well after the Stross books, so maybe it's just that Williams is using heavily Stross's ideas.
But Implied Spaces had a glowing review by Stross on the back. Not a coinicidence, I say. Somebody for some reason decided that Stross should be tapped for a review on the back of that book. There is complicity here. There is something going on.
odd thoughts:
I am beginning to develop this theory that Charles Stross and Walter Jon Williams are working together behind the scenes.
The description of this book looks like a different take on the same or eerily familiar universe as Stross's Halting State.
Likewise, Implied Spaces grappled with the same ideas behind Stross's Glasshouse. Both of the Williams books appeared well after the Stross books, so maybe it's just that Williams is using heavily Stross's ideas.
But Implied Spaces had a glowing review by Stross on the back. Not a coinicidence, I say. Somebody for some reason decided that Stross should be tapped for a review on the back of that book. There is complicity here. There is something going on.
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