The California Voodoo Game, A Dream Park Novel [Hardcover]

Larry Niven (Author), Steven Barnes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 4, 1992

Dream Park is the ultimate fantasy experience, where participants can play the California Voodoo Game, interacting with holographic images and virtual-reality technology, unaware that they are being used as subjects to test a Martian terraforming project. 35,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Dream Park, the ultimate in amusement parks, was about to embark on the greatest Game ever: the California Voodoo Game. Across the world bets were being placed; fortunes and reputations hung in the balance. Gaming careers would be made--or destroyed. And the most advanced software package ever invented was going to be tested.
But one of the players was a murderer--and worse. Only Alex Griffin, head of Dream Park Security, and Game Master Tony McWhirter guessed the extent of the treachery tainting the Game. Somehow, they had to catch the killer--but above all, the Game must go on.... --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 355 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey / Ballantine Books; 1st edition (February 4, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345365984
• ISBN-13: 978-0345365989
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,153,060 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars That Voodoo That They Do, August 8, 2003

By 

Patrick Burnett "penngos" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The California Voodoo Game (A Dream Park Novel) (Mass Market Paperback)

This second followup to the cult hit "Dream Park" is not as good as its inspiration, but is mounds better than its predecessor, "The Barsoom Project". I'll save my Barsoom bashing for another review, though, and just talk about "The California Voodoo Game" in this one.

This novel has everything that was good about "Dream Park", but still manages to be a tedious, less interesting version of the original. Most of the familiar characters are back, Griffin, the tough-as-nails Security Chief with the heart of gold, Acacia Garcia, the tough-as-nails gamer with the squishy insides, Tony McWhirter, the hacker criminal made good. They're all tossed into the Dream park salad to play a game called "California Voodoo", which would be fine if not for the fact that - DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUHHHH - someone get's murdered before the game and the Dream Park staff must infiltrate the game in order to catch the killer without setting off the alarms, spooking the gamers or losing their merchandising rights.

Just like the other two novels.

Sadly, this outing picks up a little of the creaky, world-weariness of the second book and keeps none of the rollicking, out and out fun of the first. The concept of Voodoo magick played out in a gigantic, ruined building is at once interesting and limiting. The authors, for all their bibliographic citations, show only a rudimentary understanding of <i>vodoun</i> and its many variations. The random appearance of loa is distracting and confusing.

The thing that was most fun about "Dream Park" was the fact that Griffin had to join a game as a player and track his prey from under cover; this meant the reader got to experience the game much as the players did. Here, the real focus is on the investigation. Too much takes place outside the game, too little explanation goes into the game and the authors don't really support the world they've created within the walls of Dream Park.

Frankly, the mystery just isn't that compelling. While the outcome may have cost Dream Park's parent company a ton of dough, I just didn't care. While the villain had murdered someone in the beginning of the book, I just didn't care about the victim or the methods used to catch the killer. What I DID care about was The Game. And there just wasn't enough game to go around.

The writing duo's prose this time around is more accessible than in The Barsoom Project and those reading the series for the first time will not be too disappointed to finish here instead of there. But overall, the magic feels like it's gone.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Enjoyable Romp Through a Simulated Wonderland, January 15, 2001

By 

Kat K. Munro (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The California Voodoo Game (A Dream Park Novel) (Mass Market Paperback)

When science fiction like this emerges, it brings a sense of wonder, a moment of shock. "This Isn't Far Away!". California Voodoo Game tip-toes the fine lines of modern technology to bring a tale that is intriguing and imaginative. When role-players of our present meet and adopt the virtual reality technology of the near-future, then the world of this novel isn't far away.

The cast of characters is vast, and often we don't get a very indepth vision of them. The Game, which takes on a life of its own for the players, is the most fully fleshed of the "characters". The Game, virtually painted over a huge and somewhat hazardous real-world, is made even more risky when some of the players are playing for higher stakes and breaking every rule.

Okay, so the plot and the writing wasn't the greatest in Sci Fi Fiction today. The characters won't glow in godly pop-culturdom for years to come. But--the technology, the fantasy of this not-so-distant future is so compelling, it makes this book a near perfect escape.

Gaming geeks of the world..rejoice! This one is for you. To the future of gaming..closer than we imagine.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of a good series, January 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The California Voodoo Game (A Dream Park Novel) (Mass Market Paperback)

Dream Park was great, and California Voodoo Game even better. If the role-playing computer geeks ever conquer Disney World, it will be like this.

I would like to note that while Larry Niven can be seen in this work, the flavor is much more like Steve Barnes' work.