Questland

<b>Westworld meets Jurassic Park...</b> <br /><br />Unicorns. Dragons. Elves. These are a few of my favourite things. I love fantasy and literature and all those things rolled into one so Questland, about a literature professor sent on a quest to take back a fantasy island seemed like an actual dream.<br /><br />It wasn't quite what I was expecting: Questland was neither a serious "what if" story exploring the ramifications of AI creatures and the boundaries of danger for tourists (I'm looking at you Jurassic Park) or a fun, lighthearted adventure. I'm not sure it knew exactly what it wanted to be and it got a bit muddled. <br /><br />It handled gun-related PTSD of a main character in a sensitive way, which I liked, and I didn't dislike it overall. It just didn't wow me. I would recommend it to anyone who likes easter eggs in stories (there are tonnes of literature and gaming references) and anyone looking to explore a more lighthearted speculative fiction featuring AI.<br /><br /><i>Thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley. </i><br /><br /><b>Read more reviews on <a href="https://www.velvetopus.com" rel="nofollow noopener">Velvet Opus</a><br /><br />Find us on <a href="https://www.twitter.com/velvetopusreads" rel="nofollow noopener">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/velvetopus" rel="nofollow noopener">Instagram</a></b>

Carrie Vaughns trek into LitRPG territory is a solid run even if it feels like a half-attempt to legitimize the sub-genre by giving it fairly extensive SF roots, a real-world base, and economic "reasons".<br /><br />Of course, most of the LitRPGs I've read don't bother with any of that. They just go straight into the adventure and let us have all the *ding* level-ups we want, letting us revel in the adventure and learn the basic gaming rules as we go with easy-to-follow diagrams. :)<br /><br />Vaughn's is more along the lines of Ready Player One, but with a more devoted eye to direct LoTR mythology and normal myths that aren't limited to '80s schwag. I LIKED that. I even liked the idea that a PHD in Literature got the leading role.<br /><br />So what didn't I like? The plot. Maybe the first half was okay because it's standard journey stuff, but once we got into the evil corporation arrogance and the rats trying to steal all the company cheese, I either wanted it to go out with a big bang or defy my expectations. It did neither.<br /><br />It wasn't bad, but it didn't wow me, either.

This book...<br /><br />Prepare yourself for a spoiler-filled rant-o-rama. The TL;DR spoiler-free version of my review is this: The entire problem with this book is Addie is a classic example of that character type we all love: Too Stupid To Live.<br /><br />And now let the rant-o-rama begin!!<br /><br /><input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="e617341f-fe98-458e-8b7f-103c98ccbafc" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="e617341f-fe98-458e-8b7f-103c98ccbafc">Did I mention that Addie is stupid? Because she is painfully, excruciatingly stupid. She is supposedly a woman who I think is 32 but who behaves like a wayward toddler. The minute she sees something sparkly, she's off. I kept thinking that Torres and the other military types with her should have put her on one of those toddler leashes so that she wouldn't be able to get away from them anymore.<br /><br />How stupid is Addie, you ask? So stupid that every bad thing that happens in this book is all down to one factor: her stupidity. Had she not wandered off from her group, none of what happens in the last sections of the book would have happened. But why wouldn't Addie wander off? Because despite that she knows she's in a potentially dangerous situation, Mirabilis is just way, way too cool for a giant geek like her to resist.<br /><br />I am also a geek. Addie is an insult to us all.<br /><br />Addie is a survivor of a school shooting, which we know because the book keeps telling us about it. Why show it when you can tell it, am I right? Also, if the book did try to show it instead of tell, Addie wouldn't have done a fraction of the idiotic things she does because she would have had at least some *shred* of a sense of self-preservation. Instead, all Addie can do is marvel at how super cool everything is, even if it's trying to kill her. I mean, she throws herself in front of a bunch of animatronic animals when her soldier buddies point guns at them. Let that one sink in for a few.<br /><br />Fact: one of Addie's biggest issues is her inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality, despite that she's constantly reminding herself that things on Mirabilis aren't real. Every time she does this, she ignores the part of her that operates within the confines of reality and decides the stuff she sees IS real. The problem is, the stuff on the island is as real as the country jam band at Chuck E. Cheese. It's just more high tech and looks better. This would be disturbing enough if it weren't for the fact that Addie constantly puts things that ARE real--such as her companions--in danger because of her inability to differentiate, case in point being the fake animals she saves by using her own body as a shield.<br /><br />I'd like to take a moment here to address something. This island makes no sense to me. I mean, sure, I have no doubt that there are people who'd be willing to pay big bucks in order to LARP at this hardcore level that includes the possibility of actually dying by being roasted alive by an animatronic dragon that breathes literal, actual fire. But do I think a LOT of people would pay for that? No, no I do not. Granted, there are more vanilla levels of tourist options planned for the island that would certainly have much wider appeal, but while this book is so eager to show off its geek cred, I think it misses something essential: many of us geeks do NOT want this actual level of danger. I love video games and play all kinds. I do not want to live in a video game. I also do not want to actually go to Hogwarts because the possibility of getting eaten by a three-headed dog is just not my jam. I'm willing to accept that I may have an unusually low tolerance for risk, as far as geeks go, but I firmly believe that the big reason many of us love video games and books and movies and shows so much is because of the disconnect. Yes, those worlds look really cool and pretending to be the hero is fun, but how many people actually want to take on slogging across Middle Earth while battling orcs in order to pitch a ring into an active volcano? I'd venture to guess that not many of us do.<br /><br />The whole fake aspect bugged me so much because the whole reason Addie gets herself into the scrapes she does is because she's entranced by how real this world is. I get it, it's high quality, but it's still a theme park, Addie. It worries me that you don't understand that. It worries me that when the dude you broke up with, who may be the villain of this entire piece, shows up, you jump right into bed with him because he's had his ears surgically altered to make them pointy.<br /><br />Yep, you read that right. Addie sleeps with Dom, who clearly has major issues, because she keeps thinking he's Elrond. And despite that he kidnaps her, despite that he puts her life at risk, despite that his actions help get another character killed, despite that he's severely burned because of his alt-universe view of the world, at the end of the book, Addie is not sure if she wants to see him again. Not sure? Is it possible to be any more sure of anything?<br /><br />The fact of the matter is Rucker deserved better. He dies because Addie is stupid. Worse yet, he doesn't blame her, even though his death is most certainly a direct result of her idiotic actions. Nor do any of the other military-types blame her. I guess that also makes Addie something of a Mary Sue, since she can apparently do no wrong as far as the other characters are concerned.<br /><br />Look, this book had an interesting concept and it could have worked had it been handled well. Had the author shown us how appealing it is to Addie to fall into this fantasy of a kinder, gentler, more magical world as a result of her trauma, the book could have worked. Instead, we get Addie making repeated geek-culture references and literally deciding she can be the hero at the end of the book because she rolled a natural 20 with her lucky d20. What?<br /><br />I am so over these terrible scifi books that are really nothing more than an author geeking out over their expansive fandoms. Creating a shaky plot that's propped up by nothing more than a bunch of insider references strung together into sentence form does not a good book make.</label>

This is an old idea: real world crimes in a Disneyland-like environment based off of classical fantasy RPGs. I was hoping for an 2020s update on <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/357922.Dream_Park__Dream_Park___1_" title="Dream Park (Dream Park, #1) by Larry Niven" rel="noopener">Dream Park</a>, but this one disappointed. The main issue was the point of view character, a woman who's so burdened by back-story that the author kind of forgets to give her a personality. An appreciation for fantasy gaming and literature tropes is not enough, and nor is PTSD from a school shooting or a past relationship with one of the antagonists.

This was a fun, fast read, but really not as good as I expected. It's something of a blend of Crichton's West World or Jurassic Park with Dream Park by Niven and Barnes. (As many of the other reviews have said, but true nonetheless.) There are many genre pop culture nods, some subtle and some not so, and a lot of love for fantasy gamers, with good dialog and many clever quips. On the other hand, the technological developments seemed uneven to me, and none of the characters struck me as sympathetic or particularly likable.

How am I only hearing about this now??? This sounds like READY PLAYER ONE!<br /><br />#NEED

Our narrator is a college professor in literature who is called in to help a team penetrating an island where a magical theme park is being built with futuristic tech, and which is cut off from the world.<br /><br />Despite being the survivor of a shooting with PTSD.<br /><br />In part because of the literary elements, but chiefly because one of the major employees involved knew her once.<br /><br />They do a lot of trudging on the island, with our narrator proving her worth by getting past a sphinx (excellent realism, the age-old and so obvious riddle), and into the problems of the islands.<br /><br />It involves inscriptions, rings, a kidnapping practiced for, three kingdoms and the employees in each, a squirrel that is only a squirrel after they are already paranoid, questions about plumbing, a wardrobe that leads to a different place, and more.

This book had me internally screaming and eye rolling <i>constantly</i>. Now, let me be honest, I didn't have high expectations. A Jurassic Park for fans of Tolkien, Narnia, and D&amp;D seemed difficult to pull off and turns out, it is. <br /><br />So yeah, I didn't like it. At all, turns out. I wanted it to be a fun, cozy read, but Questland was too much of what it wanted to be. <br /><br />I'll spoiler tag what annoyed me because I'm aware this is just me being annoyed. I see many reviews liked this book and I may have had weird expectations on it, I don't know. So take my rating with a grain of salt and go read other reviews.<br /><input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="82fbde39-03f2-4154-b2bb-5ef59a3e89cf" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="82fbde39-03f2-4154-b2bb-5ef59a3e89cf">- TOO many references of the Lord of the Rings. I cannot believe I'm saying this, but it was TOO much. And it was all pretentious with everybody knowing Sindarin or "my Elvish is coming back to me now that I hear it" or the worst thing, implying that the (unlikable) main character read the Silmarilion when she was a kid and understood it easily. Like hello. And don't even get me started with all the rings (or should I say "Rings", capital R).<br />- Calling the Sphinx riddle a "PhD level question". For God's sake. Seriously. EVERYBODY knows that riddle. MY TEENAGE SISTER knows that riddle.<br />- The main character being basically a plot device. She would say CONSTANTLY that the team had to stay together. And every chapter she would wander off and fuck things up. <br />- Too many "roll for perception/initiative" jokes. Two would have been okay. One every three chapters became too much. I played DnD and I've never heard any of my friends speak this way.<br />- Dwelling too much in every non-Tolkien reference. Whenever the main character would spot something that did not belong to the Lord of the Rings, you knew she'd waste a bit of page about it even if it was not relevant to anything. </label>

Tech meets fantasy when a billionaire tech genius creates an island where technology is indistinguishable from magic. It looks like a dream come true, except his team starts a mutiny and he thinks only Addie Cox can help him get his island back.<br /><br />I was really excited to read this book. I admit I absolutely love fantasy worlds like Narnia and Middle Earth. Did this story live up to my expectation? No, not really to be honest. Let me explain why:<br /><br />First, I want to point out that it took me really long to get interested in the characters. I had trouble keeping them apart for the first 80 pages, and the story didn't make me feel like I wanted to get to know them. Also, I think Addie was just not that likable to me. I wanted to like her, but just couldn't. Also, the character-building for Dominic was just not enough<br /><br />The first few problems the team ran into after arriving on the island, moved way too fast for me. After 150 pages the story started moving a bit slower, but that was not for long because the last 50 pages moved really fast again. Just too fast for my liking. I did not have the time to really get invested in what was happening in the story because before I knew it, the moment was gone.<br /><br />What I obviously loved were all the tropes from fandoms that I knew, that got mentioned. But at the same time, it felt like so many things I already knew, that I missed some original elements. Maybe if a few original elements had been put on the island, I would have liked it more.<br /><br />It also felt like the same thing just happened over and over again. Addie got herself in trouble and she had to be saved. Only the end was different, but to me, that came out of nowhere and it should have had more of a buildup.

Tech billionaire, Lang, decides he wants to create a real-life quest a la Lord of the Rings or Narnia. This includes hyper realistic mechanical ‘beasts’ like dragons and such that a quester would come across while ‘playing the game’. It also includes having people live on the quest island full-time. People that will be 100% invested into the story and will live and breathe that quest lifestyle. But what happens when one of these full-timers wants to take over the island for themselves? This is basically what this story is about. A group of full-timers have taken over the island and aren’t letting anyone onto it. A boat of individuals sent to the island to find out what’s going on is killed when they hit into a shield that surrounds the island. This sparks a larger issue and now we have a group of mercenaries hired by Lang to get onto the island and take it back. In tow the mercenaries have Dr. Addie Cox, a literature professor who also happens to be the ex-girlfriend of a man on the island who may be one of the dissenters. <br /><br />For not being a fantasy fan I really enjoyed the first part of the book, with it’s quests, puzzles, traps and even a tavern right out of any fantasy video game. What I didn’t like, through the entire part of the story, was Addie herself. If this story is a kind of love letter to the fantasy nerds out there, then Addie was an absolutely horrible representative. Yes, she was SUPER into the lifelike world that Lang created, for which I can’t blame her. But she is absolutely one of the dumbest characters I’ve ever read about. She is so caught up in the fake/real world around her that she completely disregards any and all possible dangers. Even knowing that people have died and been seriously hurt (herself included!!) she has zero issue just tramping off into the woods while everyone’s back is turned. She is CONSTANTLY putting the group she is with in danger and making their jobs that much harder because she can’t, figuratively, keep it in her pants. It really doesn’t look good on the fantast/LARPing culture and honestly, I feel like it instead 100% proves all the negative stereotypes correct. <br /><br />The further the story goes the more far-fetched it gets. Right till the end when we get an almost mustache-twirling villain scenario. Just super OTT.<br /><br />I decided to give this 3-stars because I really enjoyed the idea of the story more than the execution itself. Although, if you’re a big fantasy fan, you may enjoy this more than I did. Addie’s complete stupidity ruined most of this story for me.<br /><br /><b>Releases June 22, 2021</b><br /><br /><i>Received from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing via Netgalley</i><br />