Game Play [Paperback]

Kevin J. Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 3, 1989

PB Fantasy

Product Details

• Paperback: 325 pages
• Publisher: Roc (October 3, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451162366
• ISBN-13: 978-0451162366
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,740,469 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kevin J. Anderson has written 46 national bestsellers and has over 20 million books in print worldwide in thirty languages. He has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the SFX Readers' Choice Award. Find out more about Kevin Anderson at www.wordfire.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Superficial Fantasy, more like roleplaying campaign fanfiction, September 7, 2008

By 

Judah (Terre Haute In USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Game Play (Paperback)

Gamearth (Signet) is book one and Game's End is book three.

Middle of the Gamearth Trilogy, involving the story of what happens if a roleplayed world becomes more. At the beginning of the trilogy, Scott, Tyrone, David and Melanie have been playing Gamearth for approximately 2 years. David has grown bored of the game, and wants to quit. Melanie wants to keep playing, and Scott and Tyrone can go either way. David begins introducing scenarios which will destroy the world. He failed in book one, so in book two he tries again. David is scared of what is happening. The roleplayers/Rulepeople are having too real dreams of their characters and their campaign materials are randomly changing based on those dreams. This could be spooky, but it simply isn't written that way. Anderson is no Stephen King.

This isn't your average fantasy book. It reads like the notes from a role-playing game of dungeons and dragons wilderness adventures, with the strength of magic spells being determined by the characters themselves rolling elemental gems shaped like dice. Occasionally you'll get depth, but it's hard to feel for characters who are so bound by game rules that they have little room for free action. Hexes are literally their terrain, with large black lines over the landscape. Emotionally, I didn't feel in the novel, but I didn't read book one. Maybe it gets better with more background?

Overall, I found this a 'meh' book and won't be tracking down the rest of trilogy. The mythology felt too slapdash and silly.