science fiction

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom - Cory Doctorow Book Review

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Review Summaries
"Julius is an ad-hoc leader of Disney World's Liberty Square and a castmember of the Haunted Mansion or the "Mansion” as it has come to be known by its zealous crew and worldwide horde of enthusiasts. He has been drawn to a life of living and working at the park since his first visit as a ten year-old kid. Disney World is now run by the “ad-hocracy” who wrested control from the shareholders years earlier in a bloodless coup. Julius, called Jules by his younger, crack smoking girlfriend Lil, spends his days in costume working to entertain the public or maintaining the mechanical aspects of the precision tuned ride. One day Jules wakes to find he had been murdered. All the gory details are caught on the parks camera as an unknown female assailant shoots him from a distance with a coded bullet that will fly around others striking only him and his matching DNA. Jules believes he was murdered by a rival ad-hoc parkmate named Debra. Thinking her motive for having him killed is to rush through a makeover of the Hall of Presidents while he is being cloned and rebooted. It is not his first death, as years before he drowned in a scuba diving accident. Debra is a resourceful, veteran Disney ad-hoc, having cut her teeth in the violent takeover and reprogramming of Disney Bejing. She is a legendry figure, having been killed virtually everyday during her service to the theme park in China. She has a top-notch team of engineers and technicians who help her to retool rides as she sees fit. Jules decides to get revenge by fusing the electronic components of the Hall's animatronic characters by firing an energy-transmitting weapon from an abandoned garbage tunnel that runs under the attraction. With his side kick Dan, who recently wanted to kill himself, they fire the gun but later learn that it had no effect. Dan's thoughts of suicide have been postponed until he increases his Whuffie to a much higher level. Jules devises a strategy to upgrade the Mansion before Debra can have him killed again in order to revamp it, usurping his authority while he would be recovering from another round of cloning. With buy in from Lil and Dan the three set in motion the plan involving the participation of legions of die-hard Mansion fans. The Mansion devotees are being invited to the park to join in the reverie of ad-hoc life. Charged with adrenaline and equal parts excitement and apprehension they move forward and risk a full confrontation with Debra and her loyal subordinates."
David Fletcher, Resident Cory Doctorow Scholar


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Overall Review
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 20%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 30%




Tone of book - humorous or laughable
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Political power play Yes
Political plotlets - factions fight within govt for control
Story involving clones/duplicates? - good clones fighting bad clones
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Clones Yes

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - performer
Age: - long lived adults
Eccentric: Yes - eccentric
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Female
Age: - long-lived adults
Profession/status: - mastermind
Eccentric: Yes - obsessed
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a lot
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Setting
Earth setting: - near future (later in 21st century)
Takes place on Earth? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - explicit references to deaths
scientific jargon? (SF only) - quite a lot of techical jargon
How much dialogue? - significantly more dialog than descript
Most similar books by Gordonator ranking
The Simulacra by Philip K. Dick
The Multiple Man by Ben Bova
When the Past Meets the Present by John Orizon
Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert
Crucible by Nancy Kress





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