Anyone read "Dream Park"?

[Rechan]

It's near future (2050) set in an amusement park where holograms are so sophisticated that they run LARPs with people playing actual adventurers fighting fake monsters (and actors in makeup).

It's a real trip.

 

[Umbran]

I've read Dream Park, and the sequels, The Barsoom Project and California Voodoo Game. All written by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes.

It should be noted that these novels are at their core mysteries, not fantasies or action-adventure stories. They also include a goodly amount of fan-service references from the days in which they were written (so, '82, '89, and '92). And when I'm talking fan-service, I don't mean just references to media. I mean references to sci-fi fandom of the time. Filk music, for example, is featured.


It looks like there's now a fourth, The Moon Maze Game, released just this year. I haven't read this one yet.

 

[Rechan]

I don't know Umbran; in Dream Park, it was more action-adventure than mystery (the mystery seemed secondary, even if it was the reason for some characters' involvements).

Just started Barsoom Project today.

 

[Umbran]

I don't know Umbran; in Dream Park, it was more action-adventure than mystery (the mystery seemed secondary, even if it was the reason for some characters' involvements).

Admittedly, it has been years (closer to decades, really) since I read them. However, the primary thing that needs to get resolved in the book is the murder mystery. The action-adventure is merely the setting in which that mystery investigation plays out.

 

[MarkB]

The appeal of the novel was, in large part, the interplay between those two elements - the grand, overblown action-adventure in which the only real stakes were prestige, and the espionage murder-mystery played out alongside it for much more serious stakes. It wasn't so much a case of one outweighing the other as it was the two synergising with each other to create something greater than the sum of its parts.

 

[Croesus]

The appeal of the novel was, in large part, the interplay between those two elements - the grand, overblown action-adventure in which the only real stakes were prestige, and the espionage murder-mystery played out alongside it for much more serious stakes. It wasn't so much a case of one outweighing the other as it was the two synergising with each other to create something greater than the sum of its parts.

Agreed. This may be why I didn't like the middle book (Barsoom Project). I don't remember much about it, but I remember thinking that it was just a poor sequel with nothing fresh. The third book, however, I did like, as it wasn't a rehash of the first one, and it kept the same well-written mix of crime/mystery + fantasy game in the Park.

 

[Gronin]

I have read Dream Park and remember enjoying it -- I never got around to reading the sequels though. I'm a big Larry Niven fan and read most of what he put out (as well as that by his more frequent collaborator - Jerry Pournelle).

Thanks for putting the thought in my head as I may just have to pick them up again.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I've read Dream Park, and the sequels, The Barsoom Project and California Voodoo Game. All written by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes.

It should be noted that these novels are at their core mysteries, not fantasies or action-adventure stories. They also include a goodly amount of fan-service references from the days in which they were written (so, '82, '89, and '92). And when I'm talking fan-service, I don't mean just references to media. I mean references to sci-fi fandom of the time. Filk music, for example, is featured.


It looks like there's now a fourth, The Moon Maze Game, released just this year. I haven't read this one yet.

Ditto! I always thought of the novels as one part Westworld, one part mystery, one part RPGer's wish-fulfillment.

And thanks for the heads-up on the new book. I hadn't heard.

 

[MarkB]

Agreed. This may be why I didn't like the middle book (Barsoom Project). I don't remember much about it, but I remember thinking that it was just a poor sequel with nothing fresh. The third book, however, I did like, as it wasn't a rehash of the first one, and it kept the same well-written mix of crime/mystery + fantasy game in the Park.

I'd agree with that. The second novel was okay, but it didn't recapture the appeal of the original, though the mythology they used for the game-world was rather good.

The third, however, managed to get the formula right, using a similar conjunction of story styles and a very well-realised new setting.

I too hadn't heard about a sequel before reading this thread. I'll be interested to check it out.

 

[Rechan]

Yeah I'm going through Barsoom now, I'm more interested in the Game than the other parts. (I originally started California Voodoo Game and realized there were previous ones, had to go back and get those first).