Monday, February 20, 2012

"Epic" by Conor Kostick Review 1


Book Response 1: #32 (LA)Compare the book to other texts with the same themes or from the same genre.


I found this book, Epic by Conor Kostick, to be very similar to works by Cory Doctorow such as For The Win. Both stories have a strong video game background, and I think video game enthusiasts of any kind will enjoy both books immensely, particularly those who like playing MMORPG's.


Epic takes place sometime in the future on "New Earth," a planet that has been colonized by humans. Much of this colony is poor, living in rural areas and working in agriculture and mining. What really makes this society unique is it's judicial system: all conflicts of any kind are solved by means of the greatest and most integral video game ever, "Epic." Violence of any kind on New Earth is not tolerated, in fact it's unheard of. Any dispute, be it an issue between civilian and civilian, or a peasants request for better equipment, is decided by a battle in an arena. These battles involve using characters taken from an era of knights and kings, with some added video game flair, such as magical elves and wizards. Everyone plays Epic, and they consequently build up characters in which to make real-life decisions with. In addition, money earned in the game by killing creatures or discovering caches of treasure, equate to your wealth in the real world. This means their entire society is completely entwined with this one, ever changing video game that appears to be it's own entity.

This means that when a group of teenagers decide to challenge the government, physical strength or influence mean practically nothing, and their prowess at mastering Epic will be the difference between dissolving a corrupt system and being banished forever. I found this tactic very similar to Cory Doctorow's book because they utilize a MMORPG to unite workers all over the world to demand better conditions and wages. In both scenarios they realize that in the video game, they hold all the power to change things for the better, and ultimately succeed. While the government intended this to be their shining beacon of power and ability to take advantage of the working class, in the end it becomes a lightning rod for their downfall.

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