I liked the idea of the book, but I feel like it could have been executed better.

In a dystopian future, a virtual-reality video-game designer creates a contest to determine who will inherited his estate.

I liked the parts of the book that involved the contest the best. The characters were alright, but they seemed a bit flat.

It seemed like half of the book was 80's nostalgia and descriptions of virtual reality gear. A lot of the nostalgia and the tech-talk was necessary for the story, but it was overdone so it got tiring. ( )

A guy left his Converse sneakers at the Arcade's door in 1986 and keeps looking for them. Even after death.

This pretty much sums it up. One would think that, at least, something is gonna happen to raise the suspense but no, it's just a giant videogame geek's wank where the final reward is infinite lives, superpowers, money and, obviously, the girl; with a sloppy moralistic afterthought (probably by the editor, Great Absent otherwise) about the primacy of real life, slapped on the ending like a Parental Advisory on a CD.

Style: clunky when not absent. The attempts at giving characters a voice are even worse than the general flatness.

Storyline: ridiculously childish. There is every single marker of bad narrative: Deus ex Machina; last-minute tricks; plot-serving character twists; even the Protagonist's Cunning Plot (that goes so smooth that you start doubting whether the Evil All-Powerful Corporation is run by dummies). Had I marked every instance of bad plot symptoms, finishing the book would have taken years.

Characters: cardboard silhouettes. Should I mention predictability?

A second star because I was a child in the Eighties. But it's a guilty pleasure star. It should have been one star. Guilty as charged.

EDIT: I have afterthoughts, too.
To be honest, the first third of the novel is not that bad. I remember thinking that it could have made for decent cyberpunk dystopian sci-fi with a geeky twist (apart from the style. The style is awful throughout. I know, I am repeating myself). There were many interesting threads: life in the stacks of caravans, the collective loss of contact with reality, the protagonist not being your run-of-the-mill muscular handsome fella... until he becomes one, but more about this later on, in the spoiler.
The problem is that, as the novel goes on (I don't dare say "progress" because, well, it ends up going nowhere) all these threads are left loose, and the attention narrows down to a pretty challenge-less ascent to power with little credibility. Considering that the characters are already plot-driven and that the world-building stops at the caravan stacks, with some further reference to economic implosion and to the world of hikikomori, when the plot flatlines one is left with pretty little to keep the whole thing moving.
Then there is the diversity tokenism. Every time this guy tries to wink to minorities he ends up shitting himself with a distinct David Brent: Life on the Road flavour.

SPOILER ALERT CUM RANT.

The fat black lesbian chick disguising herself until now as a white handsome guy is totally fine, let's not challenge the choice and its repercussions; it's just that her homophobic mum taught her to pass white and male online to avoid problems and that's what she will keep doing until the end of the novel. A-okay, right? Look at the bright side, at least she was not acting when drooling over arses and tits with the protagonist. Yes, this is an argument actually made in-text. You are welcome.

Our protagonist is a chubby boy, how inclusive. Until he starts exercising and becomes your run-of-the-mill handsome fella, ditto. Because one doesn't want the reader to visualise a chubby boy smooching the pretty girl-with-birthmark-so-she-is-different-while-remaining-wank-material-for-acneic-teenager-males, does one?

END OF SPOILER ALERT. RANT CONTINUES BELOW.

And the style, well, the style sucks. Have I mentioned how the style sucks? I never tire of mentioning it. I wonder why. And indeed...

...one last consideration about the style, or lack thereof. Boy, this compulsion to put in the characters' mouths pedantic citations of date and details of books, games and movies. Come on, I am a Start Trek geek myself. I don't answer casual references to Data with "well said! Star Trek: Next Generation, 1985-1992, the actor was Brent Spiner". I just don't. Either the interlocutor is a geek like me, which makes this kind of info-dumping redundant, or they are not, which makes it just annoying. One is supposed to bond by hugging in tears at the discovery of a brother in arms, or to answer with another reference if the mutual geekiness is already acknowledged. There is no universe in which info-dumping is acceptable. Unless one IS Data, of course. And one is most definitely not.

Actually, it comes out that it was a rant more than an afterthought. Thank you for your patience. ( )

Tolles Buch! Hat mir sehr gut gefallen! ( )

Excellent trip down 1980s geek memory lane.
Liked it enough, I bought my own copy (and have now lent it out, twice!) ( )

This book was solid! Full of cliches and the writing and story was so geeky it was mind boggling, but whenever a book like this really commits to the style, it tends to work out fine. Worth reading for anyone who likes games and is looking for a fun, laid back read with some twists and turns. ( )