Reviewo Numero Uno

I just finished reading Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow (you can't really search inside unless you go to Amazon).

It's Science Fiction, not really my favorite genre, and after reading this, it's still not. The book itself is fine, good story, accessible to the non-Sci Fi'r such as myself, and in the end I even found myself caring about what happened to the characters. And that's a good thing. If you're rooting for the hero to die in the end, something went awry.

I'm not sure what it is, but there's something about science fiction that doesn't sit with me very well. A minor annoyance? I dunno... It's like listening to dischords over and over. It's similar to how I felt after listening to Joy Electric (don't go there, it's awful, awful music) or watching the first 10 minutes of Solaris (seriously, has anyone watched this entire movie?). Granted, the sense wasn't strong with this particular book, but it was still there in the back of my mind. If it were longer than 200 pages, I don't know that I would have made it.

In the end, it's not really a negative take on the book itself, but how I feel about the genre. And I don't think other people shouldn't like it, like I tell people they shouldn't like Ladder 49 (don't go there, it's an awful, awful movie), but I'm just not meant to be a fan.

Despite all that, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is a good book. It's interesting, it's intriguing, it's different. It takes a little while to figure out, but I don't usually want the author to spell everything out in the first few pages. My distaste for Sci-Fi was overcome, if only briefly, and I was hooked in enough to want to know what happens and to figure out what the heck was going on in this future.

So there you have it.