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1st out of 11 books
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4 voters
Constellation Games
First contact isn't all fun and games.
Ariel Blum is pushing thirty and doesn't have much to show for it. His computer programming skills are producing nothing but pony-themed video games for little girls. His love life is a slow-motion train wreck, and whenever he tries to make something of his life, he finds himself back on the couch, replaying the games of his youth.
Then...more
Ariel Blum is pushing thirty and doesn't have much to show for it. His computer programming skills are producing nothing but pony-themed video games for little girls. His love life is a slow-motion train wreck, and whenever he tries to make something of his life, he finds himself back on the couch, replaying the games of his youth.
Then...more
ebook
Published
November 2011
by Candlemark & Gleam
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Jul 31, 2012
Dan
rated it
5 of 5 stars
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review of another edition
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The galactic civilization has arrived in Earth orbit. They've turned a big chunk of the moon into a smart-matter space station, and they come in peace. While others see the arrival of the Constellation as a watershed event in the history of humanity, Ariel Blum's greatest ambition is to find out what kind of video games ETs play and write about them on his snarky game-review blog.
The book is lush with science-fictional thought experiments; the entries in the "Constellation Database of Games of a...more
The book is lush with science-fictional thought experiments; the entries in the "Constellation Database of Games of a...more
This book took a little while to warm up, so if your tolerance for goofy sci-fi is low you may never get to the payoff. For about the first half I was enjoying it as a fun read that might as well be in the same universe as Ready Player One or Year Zero. Lots of pop culture injokes and references for video game fans, pretty well executed to seem fun if you get them and not be too intrusive if you don't.
In the second half (or so) though, the characters seem to open up and expose a whole level of d...more
In the second half (or so) though, the characters seem to open up and expose a whole level of d...more
I am a big science fiction fan. One of the most seen tropes in the genre is the First Contact Scenario, in which humanity is faced with the existence and arrival of aliens. I really enjoy good first contact stories, from The Day the Earth Stood Still to Carl Sagan's Contact. Constellation Games is by far the most entertaining first contact story that I have ever read. One of the themes of just about every first contact story that I have ever encountered is that of finding a commonality between h...more
The plot: aliens visit, and they call themselves the Constellation. They're kinda strange, but they want to help, even if they don't understand humanity all that well. A video game programmer who also reviews old games writes to them, and for some reason they write back and start sending him alien games to play.
Maybe I'm old. Maybe I'm tired. Maybe I'm an emotionally hollow shell of a man. But this book isn't all that great.
The idea of starting off with an alien first contact and somehow establi...more
Maybe I'm old. Maybe I'm tired. Maybe I'm an emotionally hollow shell of a man. But this book isn't all that great.
The idea of starting off with an alien first contact and somehow establi...more
I'm in several minds about this one, because honestly how many books can be written about a man who "needs to grow up"? It's not really surprising that this is the theme of a book I picked up on the recommendation of Cory "Boing Boing" Doctorow, a habit that I really should try to break.
It worked out mostly for the better here - but I'm erring on the side of three stars because most of what I have to say will come out sounding negative.
Constellation Games is a novel that never really has a focus...more
It worked out mostly for the better here - but I'm erring on the side of three stars because most of what I have to say will come out sounding negative.
Constellation Games is a novel that never really has a focus...more
My review will focus solely on the quality of the epub provided by Kobo Books.
There are sections where the main character provides blog entries, and these are not formatted correctly in the book. They are readable, just with narrow columns that don't fill the page, and this is completely independent of any font size, line spacing or margin setting.
Additionally, there is a very important conversation at the climax of the book between visitor and something to do with a library. These sections are...more
There are sections where the main character provides blog entries, and these are not formatted correctly in the book. They are readable, just with narrow columns that don't fill the page, and this is completely independent of any font size, line spacing or margin setting.
Additionally, there is a very important conversation at the climax of the book between visitor and something to do with a library. These sections are...more
Constellation Games made me mad. That is why I liked it.
Say I am driving to work after reading a bit of the book in the morning. I am mad. Why the hell would Ariel (main character) do THAT?!?! It doesn't make sense. What the hell is going on here?
Sometimes I feel this a bit when I read a sloppily written book. Some hack "author" will write a book and then have the protagonist execute a series of random, unlikely decisions. That is just trash. It doesn't stay with me and instead serves as furth...more
Say I am driving to work after reading a bit of the book in the morning. I am mad. Why the hell would Ariel (main character) do THAT?!?! It doesn't make sense. What the hell is going on here?
Sometimes I feel this a bit when I read a sloppily written book. Some hack "author" will write a book and then have the protagonist execute a series of random, unlikely decisions. That is just trash. It doesn't stay with me and instead serves as furth...more
I bought this after reading Cory Doctorow's rave on Boing Boing, and was not disappointed. A truly original plot in which our narrator -- a hapless but very appealing video game designer -- becomes the inadvertent ambassador for humanity to a loose confederation of aliens who have approached Earth to see if it's ready to join the Constellation. In reviewing the Constellation's archive of long-defunct games, Ariel Blum gains insights into its ancient culture and its plans for the Solar System. Ri...more
This book has some neat ideas and was entertaining to read, but in the end felt flawed. This is basically a peaceful contact story. Aliens show up, humans deal with the (relatively minor) consequences, and this is all told from the perspective of an emo video game programmer with emotional issues who gets some minor attention from peaceful the aliens.
There is no real arc to the story. The story just lazily follows our emo nerd protagonist as he aimlessly wanders through life and alien contact, w...more
There is no real arc to the story. The story just lazily follows our emo nerd protagonist as he aimlessly wanders through life and alien contact, w...more
First contact has happened. The Constellation, a large, diverse group of aliens, has popped out of a wormhole and turned a large chunk of the moon into a space station. Now they visitors want our two civilisations to get to know each other in the hope that one day, maybe in a couple of thousand years, humanity might join the Constellation too.
Constellation civilisation has been around for hundreds of millions of years. Their technology is unbelievably advanced. And it occurs to twenty-something...more
Constellation civilisation has been around for hundreds of millions of years. Their technology is unbelievably advanced. And it occurs to twenty-something...more
I had some problems with the ending, which is why it was a 4 instead of a 5. There was an interesting question posed but I felt the ending did not resolve that question. Almos reminded me of the ending to Candide in a way. It explores a contact scenario from the lens of looking at old video games of the aliens. They also touch on post scarcity and the technological singularity. It touches on a lot of concepts but also doesn't explore them in depth. Instead of a usual "what if" sci fi novel, this...more
4/6/2013: Breezy read with deeper meaning. This is not 'Ready Player One'. More archaeology via very old alien games. 'Constellation Games' is closer to 'Year One' by Rob Reid; though not a complete satire. The ending was also very good; while open (and no, I do not expect a sequel) it was sudden, unexpected and yet somehow satisfying.
3/29/2013: Ok, after having knocked off "Great Expectations" and "Les Miserables" in the first three months of the year, it's time for some fun. Which for me is ty...more
3/29/2013: Ok, after having knocked off "Great Expectations" and "Les Miserables" in the first three months of the year, it's time for some fun. Which for me is ty...more
I'm conflicted over this book. Not because it was bad, since it wasn't. Rather because it didn't end as the same book that it started being.
It starts out as a funny book. And it is, often extremely funny. Slowly though, it becomes apparent that this is a serious book, no matter the funny clothes its wearing.
And this is why I'm conflicted. See, I like this book. I was expecting something funny with aliens though, and I got an exposition on how cultures are forced to change and adapt, and some i...more
It starts out as a funny book. And it is, often extremely funny. Slowly though, it becomes apparent that this is a serious book, no matter the funny clothes its wearing.
And this is why I'm conflicted. See, I like this book. I was expecting something funny with aliens though, and I got an exposition on how cultures are forced to change and adapt, and some i...more
The book is interesting mostly for reasons, first of all it features video games as a cultural Rosetta Stone. The thesis is that one would be able to help widely different advanced cultures understand each other through a game's design and play. The other thing is that the alien races here are truly alien. They think and act differently than humans and that is a difficult idea to show in a novel.
Unfortunately the author doesn't have a consistent style or tone throughout the novel and it gets dis...more
Unfortunately the author doesn't have a consistent style or tone throughout the novel and it gets dis...more
Constellation Games is a space opera epic--one told largely through blog posts, faux twitter feeds, and reviews of extraterrestrial video games--about a first contact event with earth. Plot points (mild spoilers): climate change crisis, chase sequence involving gravity wells and an art museum, extraterrestrials playing MLP-themed casual games and Halo and deducing facts about our civilization from these. The game reviews alone would be worth the price, and famous ZZT programmer and professor Ada...more
OK, Cory Doctorow was right. This book is brilliant. It swerves, swoops and moves like Ali in the ring...because just when you think you know what's up, you don't.
Game programmer hates his job making My Little Pony 5 when we have First Contact with the Constellation, an alien anarcho-syndicate hundreds of millions of years old. We make First Contact because well, they're building a base on the Moon. And then they start tossing packages from up there. The game programmer asks for games from the...more
Game programmer hates his job making My Little Pony 5 when we have First Contact with the Constellation, an alien anarcho-syndicate hundreds of millions of years old. We make First Contact because well, they're building a base on the Moon. And then they start tossing packages from up there. The game programmer asks for games from the...more
I started this as a serial, getting a chapter a week via email which I read on my phone; but I missed reading some weeks and then decided to wait until the serial was finished. The purchase (from Candlemark & Gleam) included the full eBook when the serial was done. So now I've started reading the book again.
I got about one-third through the first time around and I'm almost caught up with where I stopped last time. I'm enjoying it as much the second time around as I did the first time. I'm th...more
I got about one-third through the first time around and I'm almost caught up with where I stopped last time. I'm enjoying it as much the second time around as I did the first time. I'm th...more
This was a wonderful book, as I was told it would be. It is also a silly book in that the premise is that the main character is a game programmer with a blog reviewing crappy old games. When the aliens show up, he asks to review their crappy old games, which they give him. Through this and subsequent events, we explore the aliens, what is going to happen with human civilization, and the aliens at the times when they went through first contact. As a computer geek who plays game, this was close to...more
Richardson takes one of the geekiest premises (meant in the best way) I've ever encountered (a guy decides to review and then remake an alien video game) and creates out of it something awesome, funny, and moving. The self deprecatory protagonist Ariel Blum (It was a boy's name until 1989, so he just made it in under the wire) even somehow remains interesting when compared to the novel's flashiest character, a seven foot long monkey/lizard alien fond of malapropisms and sex -- that's good writin...more
Disclaimer: I'm a friend of the writer, and in fact, read earlier drafts of this before publication.
Richardson has a wicked sense of humor. His protagonist, Ariel, has a sharp tongue, a serious case of self-deprecation, and not a lot of motivation to get off the couch and on with his life. Which means he has a very different spin on first contact that most science fiction characters. This is what alien contact would be like for most of us--a weird backdrop that doesn't keep us from screwing arou...more
Richardson has a wicked sense of humor. His protagonist, Ariel, has a sharp tongue, a serious case of self-deprecation, and not a lot of motivation to get off the couch and on with his life. Which means he has a very different spin on first contact that most science fiction characters. This is what alien contact would be like for most of us--a weird backdrop that doesn't keep us from screwing arou...more
This is the funniest book that I didn't particularly like ever. Bits of the dialogue and tech culture observations are dry and utterly hysterical; think Michael Marshall Smith or Stross's Laundry series, if that's your kind of thing. The character side is a bit wispy through the book though it comes home strongly in the end. But my main quibble is that the book is just too long - there isn't enough mid-novel drama to hold it up. As Bierce would have it, the covers of this book are just too far a...more
frustrating book. on the one hand, tons of great ideas about how alien cultures would express themselves in their games, the characters are very enjoyable to spend time with, the scope is quite grand and the full depiction of the Constellation is definitely intriguing. on the other hand, the book takes forever to get moving, never really develops a real time conflict equal to the premise (deferring its big crisis to a point well past the end of the book), and bobbles its main love stories pretty...more
I really want to give this four and a half, but five stars it is. A marvellous, entertaining, inventive, thought-provoking book marred only by being a tad too long. The best first-contact novel I've read for a long time. The best novel about gaming I've ever read. It's funny and surprisingly moving. Highly recommended.
(Thanks, Cory Doctorow, for giving it such a rave review on Boing Boing that I felt compelled to read it immediately: http://boingboing.net/2013/02/20/cons....)
(Thanks, Cory Doctorow, for giving it such a rave review on Boing Boing that I felt compelled to read it immediately: http://boingboing.net/2013/02/20/cons....)
The story of the review, more or less, of millions of years of alien games, with a little space travel and intrigue built into the story. I was disappointed that the author didn't get into games like prisoner's dilemma or other symbolic games of reason. Instead they were just dumb games, although creative in an alien sense. The story is also quite long, over 800 pages, but just interesting enough to keep you going. This was not a great read, but it was a nice diversion.
Lots of fun - a book that takes some of the cliches of first contact with aliens and turns them around, giving them a very 'now' feeling: video games being the central prism through which the narrator communes with the various alien beings making up the anarchic Constellation civilization.
It has moments when it flirts with larger issues, but doesn't quite pull the trigger on them. But it doesn't pretend to be deeper than it is, and I appreciate that in a book.
It has moments when it flirts with larger issues, but doesn't quite pull the trigger on them. But it doesn't pretend to be deeper than it is, and I appreciate that in a book.
Constellation Games is the awesome first contact sci-fi book about videogames and blogging you always wished existed.
But it's not just the high concept (first contact! alien videogames!) or carefully constructed setting. It's the voice of the characters, the relationships, the humanity (and alienity) of it all and the beautiful intertwined themes.
It's a book I wish I had written. And, you know what? Challenge accepted.
But it's not just the high concept (first contact! alien videogames!) or carefully constructed setting. It's the voice of the characters, the relationships, the humanity (and alienity) of it all and the beautiful intertwined themes.
It's a book I wish I had written. And, you know what? Challenge accepted.
Science fiction is my favorite genre. However, I am not a fan of a book if it is only and earth story told in space. This novel did a great job of getting into a truly otherworldly mind set, using unique new sentient races, technology and fantastic attention to language. There was little to no off putting material. Moreover the author did not have to resort to being dark or sarcastic to be sophisticated. I appreciate authors who do the work of envisioning and fleshing out possible futures that a...more
I was deceived by the rave ratings/reviews of this book. It's a video gamer geekfest (Ready Player One less the '80s retro nostalgia) slash first contact novel - but not as good as Ready Player One (or, say, Snowcrash) and vastly lacking in depth compared to innumerable first contact novels (e.g., The Sparrow, Robert J. Sawyer's stuff, Brin's Uplift universe, etc. etc.).
Cory Doctorow was right in his review and recommendation of Constellation Games. I haven't been grabbed by a story like this in a long time. I have enough shared experience with games, programming, etc. to be in the bullseye for the target audience for this story, and now that it's over I wish there was more and more and more to read.
Leonard Richardson is a new star in my constellation of interest. Thanks to Cory for arranging the star-draw. And thanks to Leonard for burning bright.
Leonard Richardson is a new star in my constellation of interest. Thanks to Cory for arranging the star-draw. And thanks to Leonard for burning bright.
Reminded me of Year Zero, which is a very good thing.
Very interesting point of view about a first contact, even if it's of course, in may ways, a transparent nerd self-realization fantasy.
Specially loved the attempts at describing games just on the edge of incomprehensibility. If they were made less understandable, there's no plot. If they were more human, then it's not fun.
Going to read the extra free content available at the book's site.
Very interesting point of view about a first contact, even if it's of course, in may ways, a transparent nerd self-realization fantasy.
Specially loved the attempts at describing games just on the edge of incomprehensibility. If they were made less understandable, there's no plot. If they were more human, then it's not fun.
Going to read the extra free content available at the book's site.
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Feb 27, 2013 05:17pm