User Unfriendly

My son has developed a keen interest in Dungeons and Dragons role playing games and virtual reality gaming. The former exiles that takes a lot of other players and a lot of time. The latter will probably exist in his lifetime. But he's impatient because he wants it now. He asked me lots of questions of what it would be like to be inside game.I'd read the Vivian Vande Velde's YA novel, Heir Apparent, and really enjoyed it. It was about a young girl they got trapped in a video game. So I decided to order it for him. While looking at the author's titles, I also spotted User Unfriendly. The cover is cool, showcasing a young elven boy in a dungeon with other people behind him. I could tell at a glance that this book was about a dungeon crawl, one of those role playing game adventures chock full of action. So I purchased it as well.When the books arrived, I'd intended to read Heir Apparent. But when my son saw the cover to User Unfriendly, he wanted to read that one first. So we dug in.The book is 244 pages long. That we read it in four days is testimony to my son's interest as well as my voice. Two nights we read for over 2 hours. I have to admit, I was looking for places to put the book down for the evening, but the author simply doesn't give the reader a break in this one. There is action and mysteries and puzzles all the way through. I was just as caught up in events as my son, thinking I'd read just one more chapter.The book falls short on character development because the reader doesn't get a clear sense of who the characters are in the real world. They're delineated in the fiction just enough to distinguish them and give a sense of purpose, but you don't get much more than that. Of course, you don't really need much more in a book like this. I wasn't overly concerned about who they were the real world because I was having a blast in the RPG one.Velde writes young characters well. The dialogue feels real, brimming with humor and sarcasm at times. There are even a couple of character twists that I didn't expect that were fun.Since the game is a pirated copy and the players are illegally in the virtual, there is some tension regarding whether or not they will get caught and kicked out. The game also has some problems that creates further conflict for them.Their main goal is to rescue a captured princess, but the driving pressure for Arvin and his friends is his mother's steadily increasing illness. After a bit they figure out that she must have something wrong with her in the real world that's causing her problems in the virtual one. This added element of desperation is really cool and compounds all mysteries they encounter while in the game.User Unfriendly is a great book for reluctant young, male readers. If you can get a boy to read even the first chapter, I bet you'll have him hooked till the end.

The writing in this book is still top notch, it just chose a worse subject matter. You have a full party of adventuring heroes all role-playing as incredibly out of place characters for a medieval fantasy story... Such as the Native American warrior, or maybe Robin Hood... I'd say about half the cast just really do not seem to belong in this story. Beyond that nearly none of them are likable despite how well characterized they are. It took me a while to figure out why I didn't like them, then I realized it. I put myself in the main characters shoes and noticed how all they ever do is boss him around or complain about his incompetence. They're the kind've people I never would've played DnD or MTG with... Oh and 2 more things, the party spends way too much time in prison cells and the ending is unsatisfying.I'm not saying this is a terrible read, I was able to laugh out loud at its humor on several occasions, but I just want to be clear to anyone going in who read Heir Apparent because that's where I started... This book is the same kind of story, it's just nowhere near as consistent.

bought this book because i remember reading it in the fourth grade, a little more childish than what i thought but still a great book.

I loved the,storyline and plot however there were SO many typos. I really enjoyed the book otherwise. read this book;)

Would recommend you to read.

This story has to be given a lot of credit for the origanal take on the story line of "Kids go into a computer game and hell breaks loose!" The plot is full of brilliant twists and turns, and the characters, are all entertaining enough- especially when their competetive natures to win come out. It's a good journey of showing how in an hour our lives can change completely- for the better or for the worst. Friendships can be broken, lives can be taken, new friends can be made, people can be saved; it's a great book about choices and how they effect us all. It's really worth the read, though a lot of the RPG cliche moments aren't as entertaining if you don't get them. Check it out, it's one of my favorites from this author.

This book is a breezy page turner for the adult crowd that wants a read about computerized RPG gaming. It is also good for the audience (pre-teen/young teen) it was intended for, given that the reader likes fantasy.The book begins with the characters already in a computerized RPG game that they have pirated themselves into. The game's appeal is that it allows the players to be completely immersed in their adventure and for them to be given memories and expertise so their chosen characters can survive.I give it three stars because, although I did enjoy it personally, I can see where it is a flawed book in terms of general audience appreciation. The fantasy world is generic and simplistic, just as most computerized RPG games first appear to be, so a reader who has read a variety of fantasy before will be dissatisfied in that respect. The characterizations do not make up for this drawback in the plot. They seem developed enough to carry the events of the story and to create interest in what happens to them, but do not go any further.The "mom factor" in the book--the protagonist's mom has entered the game with his group of friends--is an interesting twist that puts the book above completely bland fantasy story. She develops a disabling headache shortly after she enters the game and this detail is a key plot point.It was a fun read for me because I love gaming, especially of the computerized RPG genre, and the difficulty level of the book was such that I didn't have to concentrate on it very hard for those reading between appointments or before bed kind of times.

Great - product as promised and on time.