I've been a fan of Stover's since reading his Revenge of the Sith novelization.

Unencumbered from playing within a franchise, Stover's writing goes into some very interesting places. His action scenes are often the thing most people praise, and I'd agree, but the the intensity of the violence, coupled with the ideas at play in this book, create some very potent character moments that stick with you after reading. Moments shift from politics, to philosophy, to straight action, and it's all interesting.

Not to mention the overarching concept: people in a futuristic Earth travelling to an alternate dimension as 'actors' having fantasy adventures that are recorded from their first person perspective, for the entertainment of people at home. This creates a fascinating frame and continuous concept on the nature of fiction and reality, how things can be crafted as a story, and our own fascinations with violence and drama.

Stover's ability to both utilize the recursive nature of this concept and allow his characters to recognize and transcend these frameworks is possibly the most powerful and useful idea in the whole book.

( )

Enjoyed this one quite a bit. I've never really seen a mashup of both sci-fi and fantasy elements like this before, at least not this well done. ( )

Incredible. ( )

A thoroughly enjoyable piece of high pulp. Matthew Woodring Stover's 1998 fantasy novel won't be winning any awards for classiness, but it's one of those books you read at a tear and with no thought for anything else. An interesting but peculiar mix of fantasy and sci-fi – in a dystopian, rigidly caste-ridden future, people pass their time watching – or rather the sensory VR experience of 'first-handing' – the real-stakes adventures of Actors in a parallel universe which seems to be every fantasy RPG brought to life. Why this alternate universe has magic in it is never really explained, but as you quickly get caught up in the story it never really matters.

The book follows the superstar Actor known as Caine as he navigates conspiracies at home in the dystopian caste society and also the blood-and-guts magical adventures of the 'Overworld' – a mix of Westworld and The Hunger Games with lashings of ultraviolence and classic fantasy narm. Looking back on it now, having finished the book, the plot doesn't seem particularly remarkable or innovative, but it's told with a real storyteller's art and a moment-by-moment sense of immersion and anticipation.

The book has its flaws – the violence is overdone and exacerbated by rape fantasies and eye torture, and the culmination of the plot isn't as mind-blowing as other reviews would have you expect – but it's really a lot of fun to chew on. Some of the story is told with exceptional skill – I'm thinking of the initial meeting between Caine and Ma'elKoth (pg. 191 onwards) – and it's a robust example of the genre, a lazy-Saturday-afternoon sort of book. It may be indulgent but it's certainly worth indulging. ( )

I read the first half of this story slowly, while reading other things. I read the second half with utter devotion.

Holy crap.

Holy crap.

Words. Uh.

Messed-up. Relentless. Worlds of trouble. Surprising. *crawls away to recover* ( )