This Is Not a Game

Starred review from January 19, 2009
Williams (The Rift
) weaves intriguing questions about games, gamers and their relationships with real life into this well-paced near-future thriller. Game designer Dagmar specializes in creating “alternate reality” games that muddle the line between fantasy and reality. Trapped in riot-torn Jakarta, she reaches out to the gamer community for help. Once back in Los Angeles, Dagmar is caught up in a web of murders and financial manipulation that she begins to blend into her latest game, using the community of players to solve clues and sift through large amounts of data. The line between real life and the game blurs as the action builds to a satisfying and thoughtful conclusion. Though the technology talk occasionally becomes intrusive, it's convincingly written; the characters are realistic and absorbing, and the story deeply compelling.

Starred review from March 15, 2009
College friends united by their love of online games make their passion a successful business, until a currency crash and government coup strand one of them in a foreign countryand their alternate reality games suddenly blur the boundaries between the real and virtual worlds, threatening real fortunes and real lives. Along with William Gibson ("Neuromancer") and Bruce Sterling ("Schismatrix"), Williams ("Voice of the Whirlwind") helped create the cyberpunk fiction movement of the late 20th century. Now, he moves beyond cyberpunk into an even nearer future, with all-too-real technologies and all-too-believable possibilities. Sharply drawn characters and sizzling prose make Williams's latest novel essential for all sf collections.

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