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Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

by Cory Doctorow

3.58 · rating details · 3,640 ratings · 497 reviews

On The Skids In The Transhuman Future

Jules is a young man barely a century old. He's lived long enough to see the cure for death and the end of scarcity, to learn ten languages and compose three symphonies...and to realize his boyhood dream of taking up residence in Disney World.

Disney World! The greatest artistic achievement of the long-ago twentieth century. Now in the ...more

Paperback, 208 pages

Published December 5th 2003 by Tor Books (first published 2003)

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Aug 12, 2008

Brad rated it

Shelves: sci-fi, canadian-lit

One of the many complaints I hear about Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is that it is "shallow." Readers see a shallowness in character, a shallowness in the work they choose, a shallowness in story depth, and a shallowness in the story's morality.

I don't see it myself.

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom may seem shallow, but there is a great deal of depth to be found if one approaches the book with a willingness to overcome the prejudices and ...moreOne of the many complaints I hear about Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is that it is "shallow." Readers see a shallowness in character, a shallowness in the work they choose, a shallowness in story depth, and a shallowness in the story's morality.

I don't see it myself.

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom may seem shallow, but there is a great deal of depth to be found if one approaches the book with a willingness to overcome the prejudices and perspectives of our current culture, to project oneself into the mindset and morality of the future world Doctorow has created.

I won't go into the story itself with any detail, as I don't want to spoil anything, but Doctorow's finest achievement in Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is the way he explores the question of morality. In a world where death and disease are over, where scarcity is barely remembered, it becomes clear that morality, even our morality today, is formed and shaped by mortality -- or the lack thereof.

The only real immorality in Down and Out seems to be the destruction of another's work. Only the tangible creations of an individual or a team ("ad-hoc") have value. Adultery, theft, destruction and even murder have no real negative value. They may reduce a person's prestige ("Whuffie") for a short time, but it is not difficult for the "victim" of any of these crimes to remain close friends or become close friends with his or her "victimizers" once he or she is "rebooted."

What this suggests for ourselves is fascinating: that morality itself is based on our mortality. The shortness of our lives, the moment of death that we all face, is the ultimate arbiter of what is right and wrong. I am sure some would say, "So what? That doesn't change anything. Wrong is wrong. Bad is bad. Evil is evil." Perhaps. But perhaps not, and what makes Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom a victory for me is that it makes me wonder about the perhaps not.

Anything that makes us consider our morality rather than just blindly accepting what has been passed down to us is a good thing, as far as I am concerned.

And so that leaves me with one nagging question: how can a book that expects us to make considerations about mortality and morality really be considered shallow? Very simply, it can't be.(less)

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Aug 02, 2008

Brooke rated it

Shelves: 2008, science-fiction

Cory Doctorow's novella spins a tale set in the "Bitchun society" - a time in the future where death has been cured and money has been replaced by a system of respect/popularity points that's immediately accessible since everyone somehow has the internet in their heads now.

The "Magic Kingdom" referenced in the title is THE Magic Kingdom - the story takes place in Disney World, which has taken on an elevated importance in a world where people no longer have jobs or...more

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Jan 27, 2011

Joel rated it

Recommends it for: Cory Doctorow

Recommended to Joel by: Cory Doctorow

Shelves: audiobooks, sci-fi-fantasy, 2009

Even though I find him massively annoying in the way I always find professional bloggers annoying (read: if I am honest with myself, it probably has mostly to do with jealousy), I have to admit, I think it is pretty cool that Cory Doctorow gives away all of his books for free (the smug bastard).

I listened to a surprisingly well-produced amateur audiobook of this one about a year ago (you can probably still grab it free from... wherever it was I found it. Podiobooks.com?) and even th...moreEven though I find him massively annoying in the way I always find professional bloggers annoying (read: if I am honest with myself, it probably has mostly to do with jealousy), I have to admit, I think it is pretty cool that Cory Doctorow gives away all of his books for free (the smug bastard).

I listened to a surprisingly well-produced amateur audiobook of this one about a year ago (you can probably still grab it free from... wherever it was I found it. Podiobooks.com?) and even though I didn't love it, I do think of it from time to time, to the degree that I am considering foisting it upon my real world book club, because I think it would be really easy to find stuff to say about it. I mean, I want to talk about Battlestar Galactica and Tron too, but we should probably try to focus a little on the book.

So anyway, as you might expect from someone who makes a living being adored on the internet, here Cory Doctorow has engineered a world where everyone is immortal (thanks to digital memory backups that can be downloaded into clone bodies) and connected to social networks all the time (literally, via implants in their brains and eyes!). If your society is going to eliminate death, you better well have all the other animal needs taken care of, and this one seems to: there is no hunger, pollution isn't an issue, and traditional concepts of wealth-through-accumulation-of-things are a thing of the past (note the book is unclear on whether this is the case everywhere; maybe, say, Ghana has been allowed to just quietly go about its business).

Instead of money, status is determined through a true social currency: others' esteem, a system Doctorow has given the stupid but memorable name "whuffie." Like an extreme extension of re-tweets, you earn more whuffie if people look at you as an influencer, an innovator: someone worth knowing. Do something dumb and they can take their whuffie back. Like Homer says, in Doctorow's world, first you get the sugar, then you get the whuffie, then you get the women (note: I know this isn't really a Simpsons quote, shut up).

So this is the interesting idea at the core of this book, which is really just an extended demonstration of the concept adorned with additional sci-fi ideas (digital immortality!) in a fun setting, namely (obviously) Disney World, where the rather unlikeable main character works as an "Imagineer," perfecting the "guest experience" of decades old theme park attractions while remaining slavishly faithful to their nostalgic qualities. This should be super fun for me, because I am a nerd who has read blogs (blogs!) about the development of Disney attractions.

But even though the book is very short, I kind of got sick of it after a while. The characters are all pretty unlikeable (no whuffie from me!), and once the whole social/economic system has been thoroughly explained and explored, there's not a lot to go on, despite the effort to turn tweaks to The Haunted Mansion and the Hall of Presidents into a high-stakes political game (memo to Imagineers: The HOP is where people go to cool off; consider relaunching it as The Hall of Naps). I mean, there are multiple murders and it is still rather dull, mostly because they don't really factor (and Doctorow pretty much sidesteps the whole theological angle, though he's probably right that people wouldn't worry about that too much once they realized they could actually live forever -- I want to know what happens next too, after all).

Still, it explores some fun ideas. And it's free and available for download now! I mean, so is everything else, but at least you don't have to steal this one.(less)

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Aug 11, 2008

John added it

In Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, times sure seem to have changed from today. Something called "Free Energy" has basically eliminated scarcity, while the ability to make computer backups of the self and download them into cloned bodies has eliminated death (and, for that matter, revolutionized medicine, since all defects can be fixed by downloading to a new body). Without scarcity, both work and money have become more or less obsolete, and been replaced by Whuffie, ...moreIn Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, times sure seem to have changed from today. Something called "Free Energy" has basically eliminated scarcity, while the ability to make computer backups of the self and download them into cloned bodies has eliminated death (and, for that matter, revolutionized medicine, since all defects can be fixed by downloading to a new body). Without scarcity, both work and money have become more or less obsolete, and been replaced by Whuffie, which measures how much respect other people have for you, whether from the everyday acts of kindness or jerkishness or from whatever kind of fame and celebrity one can chase down, and this Whuffie is used to determine access to the few luxuries that are still scarce (a table at the best restaurants or the best housing). And people are plugged into the internet 24/7--not in a virtual reality way, but more like today's internet shot into our brains at the speed of thought. People do... pretty much whatever they want.

For Julius, who's over 100 and in his third body, this finally means living and working at Disney World. The real dramas are played out in a magical land of unreality, where different groups compete to make their area of the park the best. It's a petty world, in many ways, which presumably is part of the point; nonetheless, on display are timeless emotions and struggles.

The writing remains nicely understated, hinting and implying as much as it tells, which I think works to the author's advantage, bringing the reader into a more active engagement. Doctorow strikes a balance between revealing this world of the future, exploring the characters and their relationships, and spinning a good tale. Despite the obvious differences between our world and the novel's, there exist equally-obvious parallels that offer food for thought.

I enjoyed the book thoroughly, and it was a quick read. As a bonus, Doctorow made this novel available as a free E-book, which can be downloaded free here. I found it to be worth the price and then some.(less)

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Jan 30, 2009

Ariel rated it

A posthuman novel set at Disney World? Wow, this book was written for me! It's been about a century or so since a cure for death and the end of scarcity, and backups of people are downloaded into clones if they die. The narrator Julius works at Walt Disney World as part of an ad-hoc committee that controls Liberty Square. The Disney cast actually makes their own management decisions! Woohoo, no hierarchy in the Disney workplace. Maybe that only excites me because I used to work there and f...more

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Oct 09, 2007

Jason Pettus rated it

(The much longer full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

Okay, so it's finally time; time for me to finally make my way through the complete works of cutting-edge science-fiction author Cory Doctorow. After all, he's one of the four editors of my favorite website of all time, the profoundly unique pop-culture journal Boing Boing; and Doctorow's also a big champion of the exact political issues CCLaP cares about as well, includi...more(The much longer full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

Okay, so it's finally time; time for me to finally make my way through the complete works of cutting-edge science-fiction author Cory Doctorow. After all, he's one of the four editors of my favorite website of all time, the profoundly unique pop-culture journal Boing Boing; and Doctorow's also a big champion of the exact political issues CCLaP cares about as well, including copyright reform, the elimination of so-called "Digital Rights Management" (or DRM) malware, the importance of do-it-yourself artists and the like. And besides, Doctorow also puts his money where his mouth is; that he's arguably* the most famous artist yet to offer digital versions of his projects for free download, meaning that a person can technically read his entire body of work without spending a dime, if one wants. All of these things mean that I should've become a completist of Doctorow a long time ago, and am in fact a little ashamed that I'm not; then add the fact that this thirtysomething's ouevre is not yet that large to begin with (only three novels, two story collections, and one book of essays), and I now really have no excuse.

I've decided, then, to tackle Doctorow's work in the order it was written; and that brings us at first to his explosive debut novel, 2003's "gonzo sci-fi" tale Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, which has been heralded by not only critics but also peers and fans since almost the first day of its release. And indeed, now that I've read it myself, I understand why; because it turns out that Doctorow is not just a great cultural essayist, not only a dedicated technology activist, but in fact a legitimate creative genius as well, able to craft a story out of the dense tendrils of theoretical science and economics that nonetheless has a huge humanistic heart at the core of it, not to mention a pretty large amount of sincerely laugh-out-loud humor too. To start with, for example, the novel is set in a far-future society where scarcity is no longer a survival issue; where a form of free energy has been discovered and is now in use, where replicator-type machines can now create food and clothing from scratch, where even death has been eliminated through the dual perfection of both cloning and the digitization of consciousness. (So in other words, in the world of Down and Out, people can have their entire brain and all its memories "backed up" regularly to a computer system, which is then "uploaded" into a new body whenever the old one dies.)

Among many other profound changes to society, this has led to...(less)

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Feb 25, 2009

Geoff Carter rated it

Messy, unfocused. Characters are poorly-formed and unlikeable. Doctorow starts out with several intriguing conceits -- eternal life though computer-style backups and clones, the evolution of themed environments, hard currency replaced by popular esteem -- but he can't decide which one he finds most intriguing, and he even loses those prime notions a few times through needless tangents.

Doctorow obviously loves the cyberpunk novels of Neal Stephenson (which are themselves a tangle of i...more

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Nov 27, 2007

Simon rated it

Recommends it for: Bookclubs; Utopians/Dystopians; Anyone who actually believes the Singularity is Near....

Here we are, living and dying (again) in Orange County, FLA.

Thought provoking cocktail party fodder. I disliked Doctorow’s mitten-fisted writing, banal hippie-dippy characters (Beatles references included); however, the points I found interesting don’t concern the people as much as the technology.

Don't bother to savor the words. Read it quickly for the premise, then debate the promise of "TomorrowLand."

Essentially a problematic book that I disliked i...more

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Jun 02, 2008

Matt rated it

Shelves: 2008, misc-cyberpunk

I'm torn when it comes to Cory Doctorow. In one sense, I am totally into the fact that the guy is obviously a student of 80's cyberpunk and computer technology in general. However, when I read this book, something didn't seem right about the whole thing. The best analogy I can come up with is working hard all day and thinking about eating steak for dinner, but then coming home to find out that you're getting a McDonald's cheeseburger. The technology and the ideas are there, but the story did not...more

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Jul 24, 2008

Sandi rated it

Recommended to Sandi by: SciFi and Fantasy Book Club August Theme Book

Shelves: sci-fi, 2008

As a native Southern Californian who has been to Disneyland a minimum of once per year since before birth, how could I pass up a book that combines science fiction with Disney?

I was really torn between giving this three stars or four. It scores high for creativity. It's got a very tight plot and some interesting ideas. It takes place at Disney World's Magic Kingdom. I've been there once, but it's so much like Disneyland that all the ride references made sense even if the geogra...more

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Mar 15, 2008

Talia rated it

What I enjoyed about this book was the fascinating picture of the future. Apparently in the future, there has been a cure for death, and people can be altered to look any age. Their brains are also like computers, where memory needs to be backed up in case of death so the body can be regenerated. Also, brain/computers are interlinked on a type of network, so someone can mentally “call” someone else’s brain to talk. I really liked reading about the setting of the story, but sadly, the story itsel...more

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Oct 02, 2007

Ben rated it

In a lot of science fiction, plot and characters are merely vehicles for the author's vision of his world. Philip K. Dick is not remembered for his creation of Bob Arctor, for instance, but for his postulation of a existence where identity is as fluid and changeable as the clothes you wear.

Cory Doctorow's world in the Magic Kingdom made a lasting impression on me, though i remember his characters less than his world. This is not to say that plot or characters are weak in any way, bu...moreIn a lot of science fiction, plot and characters are merely vehicles for the author's vision of his world. Philip K. Dick is not remembered for his creation of Bob Arctor, for instance, but for his postulation of a existence where identity is as fluid and changeable as the clothes you wear.

Cory Doctorow's world in the Magic Kingdom made a lasting impression on me, though i remember his characters less than his world. This is not to say that plot or characters are weak in any way, but that the world that they inhabit is as bizarre and psychedelic as any I've come across.

Doctorow is well-known as a blogger, one of the founders of boingboing.net, a popular site that evolved from a print publication of the zine era. It makes sense that he would postulate a future where the internet has expanded beyond the boundaries of cyberspace into reality. In "Kingdom," everyone is telepathically hardwired to the network, with all that that entails. Money is obsolete, having been sublimated into "whuffie," or communal respect. Whuffie is referenceable on-line, instantaneously to anyone everywhere, and seems roughly equivalent to the current notion of page-hits. If you lead a respectable life, you live richly and doors open everywhere for you. The opposite holds true also, of course...

Another advantage of an always-on network is the ability to "back yourself up." Everyone is on auto-save, their thoughts and memories regularly encoded to remote servers. One's genetic code is also stored online, so in the event of say, a boating accident, one can be cloned and replaced, inserted into a copy their own body, set to any age they choose, creepily enough. 1 up.

The story is set in Disney World, now a hallowed temple to entertainment, which is so necessary for these now-immortal, atheistic humans. Working there entails an apparently religious devotion to the duty of making the place as diverting as possible, with fierce competition between the teams maintaining each ride. The rides themselves are still the classics: Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, the Hall of Presidents...
There is a murder at Disney World, which kicks the story into gear, allowing Doctorow to explore the possibilites of this world, which is just topsy-turvy enough to seem uncomfortably like ours. Good, weird stuff.(less)

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Dec 15, 2007

Justin rated it

In the future, when we have cured damn near every disease and licked practically every problem society has thrown our way, the only battles worth fighting are fought over our culture: do we preserve it, reminding future generation that some things are worth holding on to, or do we plow ahead, looking only to the future? Those are some of the questions this book asks, when a handful of groups fight a cold war against each other over the future of Disneyland.

The book is also damn funn...more

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Mar 29, 2007

aaron rated it

· review of another edition

Another gimmick that is fun for a chapter. The central theme that it is a society which pays you with digital social rating you can spend rather then money is unique, but it is this very concept that create the most blatant holes in the story. What makes it so special is what somewhat destroys the story simultaneously.

One thing going for it is that is visual treat. If you’re a fan of Disneyland or other theme parks, I think you will appreciate the comedy and behind the scenes and ...more

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Oct 13, 2011

***Dave Hill rated it

Shelves: text

I’d not been impressed with the little snippets of this book that author Cory Doctorow had posted to BoingBong at various times, but Doyce swore that it was a truly keen read, especially for someone with an appreciation for Disney theme parks, so I gave it a whirl (read: he pressed his copy of the book into my hands and insisted I read it. Since I’ve done the same to him innumerable times, it seemed only fair …)

As it turns out, the reality is somewhere in-between the fascination that D...moreI’d not been impressed with the little snippets of this book that author Cory Doctorow had posted to BoingBong at various times, but Doyce swore that it was a truly keen read, especially for someone with an appreciation for Disney theme parks, so I gave it a whirl (read: he pressed his copy of the book into my hands and insisted I read it. Since I’ve done the same to him innumerable times, it seemed only fair …)

As it turns out, the reality is somewhere in-between the fascination that Doyce had and the general blah impression I’d had. There are some really keen bits in here, some gut-wrenching ones as well, but the framework as a whole is far less successful than the parts and concepts that went into it.

Book rankings in each section from 1 (bleah!) to 3 (yeah!).

Summary: [2] In a future where human conscience can be backed up and restored, and money has given way to computer-linked reputation indices, a fan/worker/ad-hoc owner of the last unaltered portion of Disney World’s Magic Kingdom fights both his own fears and those who would update a timeless classic.

Entertainment: [2] Lots of fascinating explorations of the ubiquitously connected world, extrapolations of what would happen if you could backup and restore the human mind, and exploration of what it would mean if “wealth” was the accurately recorded regard with which others hold you. The text is light and entertaining, the pace is quick, and the concepts fly hot and heavy, especially at the beginning.

That said, the plot is more than a bit sketchy, and everything seems to wrap up at the end with some bits that come out of the blue. Doctorow either isn’t sure how to wrap things up at the end, or he’s too busy with the setting and emotions to come up with convincing plot to conclude the affair.

Profundity: [2] Another theme in the book seems to be how easily someone who has it all can self-destruct, over and over. The book becomes positively painful at times. Indeed, the old saw about how success doesn’t bring happiness seems to be true even when there isn’t money involved.

Re-readability: [2] I may not be reading this one again any time soon, but I can see picking it up again sometime in the future. There are a lot of fun concepts here, all the moreso for (as Doyce noted) someone who loves the Disney parks, and even if the framework for those ideas is sometimes thin, I’ll want to revisit it sometime.(less)

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Oct 08, 2011

Stephen rated it

Shelves: fantasy-sci-fi, modern, society

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow is what happens when a classic geek extrapolates the cyberpunk future of a reputation-based economy combined with the extrusion of an open source ethos into the management of everyday affairs, tosses in immortality and lean project management, and sets it all in the context of the semi-religious experience of Disney World.

A well-crafted amusement park ride of the Disney-variety leads you through a thrilling story in a matter

...more

A well-crafted amusement park ride of the Disney-variety leads you through a thrilling story in a matter of minutes. The rider does not foresee the end of the ride; when it arrives, the rider disembarks enthused and ready to jump back into line. So it is with Down and Out; reading on the nook, where ignorance of page count is natural, I was stunned to look at the bottom of the screen and realize I was at the end. What a ride it had been! I wanted to exclaim out loud and rave about the book, but prudence restrained me from disturbing my fellow airline passengers.

I've been to Disney World twice in conscious memory, and I think once when too young to recall. Memories of Disney Land in the pre-K years also stir. That frequency outs me as a privileged middle class American. To those who haven't experienced Disney, I've been unsuccessful in explaining the awe and joy I still feel with respect to these parks. Explaining the mystique is like explaining Star Wars; those who didn't grow up with it rarely grok it. Doctorow's protagonist lets us in on one of the secrets: "The mark of a great ride is that it gets better the second time around, as the detail and flourishes start to impinge on your consciousness. The Mansion was full of little gimcracks and sly nods that snuck into your experience on each successive ride." In dialogue, in discourse, in contrasting experiences, the book makes a serious contribution to understanding the mythos without destroying it

Down and Out exudes love, joy, reverence for the cultural icon and the experience of Disney. And more imporantly – <span style="background-color: silver">for the condition of being human. The characters are not paragons of virtue; they are human; no, they are more-than-human: immortal, altered, freed of many of today's physical and social constraints. But still they are human: petty, ambitious, caring, loving. For all of Julius's failings, I cared about him, my fictional friend who has started to realize the failings of the society he has embraced.

The book is only 208 pages, so give it a shot. See the present and the future in a different light. Consider the implications of technology for humanity while having a heck of a ride. Stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the best Sci Fi around. Buy it, check it out at a library, or download Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom for free.

(less)

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Sep 27, 2011

Rebecca rated it

Shelves: science-fiction

When I started to wrap my head around the world that Doctorow was laying out, I had trouble figuring out what would be the conflict of this book. It's pretty hard core science fiction, full of predictions of technologies and their social ramifications. If we no longer had to fear death or illness and no one went without shelter and food and copious entertainment, what kind of conflicts would be left? Whenever you have a utopia novel, it usually ends in either discovering that the utopia is actua...moreWhen I started to wrap my head around the world that Doctorow was laying out, I had trouble figuring out what would be the conflict of this book. It's pretty hard core science fiction, full of predictions of technologies and their social ramifications. If we no longer had to fear death or illness and no one went without shelter and food and copious entertainment, what kind of conflicts would be left? Whenever you have a utopia novel, it usually ends in either discovering that the utopia is actually a dystopia with a horrific underbelly or something catastrophic happening to destroy the utopia that was somehow making us less human because we weren't striving enough or something.

Doctorow has the courage to resist the obvious choices and instead go small.

This book does not feature sweeping sociological change. Very little has changed at all in the end, which is just fine because the Bitchun Society is actually pretty awesome. But that's not to say there's no conflict. Doctorow believes that people are fundamentally the same at the bottom. And so in this world with no war and almost no crime, where everyone has enough and the only thing that matters is how much respect you can accrue from the people around you, we get a story seething with jealousy, love, resentment, friendship, pettiness, betrayal, idealism, naivete, and heartbreak.

All over an amusement park ride.

Because Jules and his friends (and foes) are still the same as any of us. And now that no one has to worry about losing their healthcare or not making enough money for retirement, everyone is free to follow their dreams--which often do not mesh with other people's dreams. Endless lifetimes do not actually confer boundless wisdom, and people keep making the same mistakes as they ever have. Which is depressing and yet ultimately a kind of hopeful way to look at the world.

This is a first novel, and it shows. Some of the pacing's a bit uneven and it's a little rough around the edges. But it's boundlessly creative and deals with the ramifications of its innovations more thoroughly than most science fiction. Also, it's published with the Creative Commons license, so you can pick up a copy for free, which is well worth doing.(less)

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Aug 29, 2011

Cheryl Klein rated it

It's hard to believe that when Doctorow wrote this novel way back in 2003, the iPhone didn't even exist. Yet he envisioned a future in which there's an app for everything. The internet is so small and user-friendly that it actually lives inside people, and if you inconveniently die, your backup will just be inserted into a clone. This raises some interesting questions about self-hood, but it's a good thing, mostly. I'm not a big sci fi reader, but it seems like many contemporary futuristic novel...more

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Aug 25, 2011

manuti rated it

· review of another edition

Este mes casi doblete, en Libros 2005-2006. 12 libros al año.

Tocando fondo ( Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom ) de Cory Doctorow es una interesante y entretenida novela, coincide en varias cosas con la propuesta de futuro de Jonh Varley en Playa de acero, o sea, el fin de la muerte y el fin del trabajo, y el aburrimiento que eso supone para la humanidad, en cierta forma creo que es algo que ya está pasando en países avanzados, o con la juventud de algunos países.

También me ha llamado ...more

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May 30, 2011

Peter rated it

Shelves: listened-to, scifi-fantasy, quirky, read-in-2011

I listened to the audiobook version of this novel. It's a strange one. By "strange," I don't mean in the "otherworldly" sense (although, like any cyberpunk-ish novel, it's got its share of that type of strangeness), but rather in the sense that the characters have weird motivations.

It's the far future, and people can choose immortality in the sense that they can be "restored from backup" to a fresh body if they die. The group of immortals is known as "...more

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May 03, 2011

Daniel Roy rated it

Shelves: sf

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom has all the landmarks of a short story: few characters, self-contained, tidy story arc, a twist ending, and the vaguest hint of a much larger canvas. It might have work wonderfully in that format, but as a novel, it comes across as a very short novel that still needs to rely heavily on filler.

The SF elements of the story have some merit, despite being greatly understated: in a future where resources are infinite, money is replaced by 'reputation economics', repr...moreDown and Out in the Magic Kingdom has all the landmarks of a short story: few characters, self-contained, tidy story arc, a twist ending, and the vaguest hint of a much larger canvas. It might have work wonderfully in that format, but as a novel, it comes across as a very short novel that still needs to rely heavily on filler.

The SF elements of the story have some merit, despite being greatly understated: in a future where resources are infinite, money is replaced by 'reputation economics', represented by points ("Whuffie") given and taken based on the prestige of one's actions. This is a somewhat intruiguing concept, obviously based on online reputation systems such as Slashdot's karma, and it would have made for an interesting novel if its consequences on a world population were more detailed.

Another interesting SF concept explored by Doctorow's novel is that of a society where death has been overcome. People can clone themselves and restore their memory from backup, making death an unpleasant hazard, or sometimes a downright tourist activity. The implications of this idea are intriguing, but nowhere are theyrealized here as they were in Wil McCarthy's Lost in Transmission, or Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon, two incredibly superior stories. The only way to mistake this novel as groundbreaking SF, I'm afraid, is by having avoided the aforementionned novels.

What's left in Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, once these concepts are established, is an uninspired story of Disney engineers fighting over the Magic Mansion ride. I understand Doctorow has a passion for the subject, and perhaps it would have made the novel better if I shared it. As it stands, I found the multiple discussions about the legacy of Disney World, and how to treat it in a land of evolving technologies, to be repetitive and trite. Doctorow seems to have a lot to say about technology and tradition, but the message is garbled by being put in the mouth of his confused narrator.

The novel, despite being so short, stumbles forward, focusing on the unsympathetic fight of the narrator against the clever and innovative business tactics of rival imagineers. The characterization is average, the narrator comes across as a fool and an ass more than once, and the pace is often slowed down by unnecessary flashbacks that sound like padding. The twist ending, and the ensuing resolution, are weak, and actually serve to discredit everything that happened before them.

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom has enjoyed great popularity, both in print and in electronic format, after Cory Doctorow released the novel under a Creative Commons license, thus causing a stir in the online world. It's a safe bet that this move has given Doctorow a lot of word-of-mouth publicity and helped boost his sales. I'll be the first to admit the subject is what has drawn me to the novel in the first place, although I paid for it because I believe in rewarding good publishing decisions by tipping the publisher. As it turns out, I'm afraid to say, the buzz surrounding the release of Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom under the Creative Commons license is serving to give incredible exposure to a novel that deserves a lot less based on its content alone.

In all fairness, Cory Doctorow is a fantastic commentator on hi-tech culture, as evidenced by his posts on Boing Boing, one of my daily web destinations. I hear good things about his short stories too, but Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is a disappointing novel, even for a first one. In other words, it's an important novel, just not a good one.(less)

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Dec 30, 2010

Karissa Eckert rated it

I like the Magic Kingdom in Florida, having visited there a number of times in my life. When I saw this Science Fiction novel centering around Disney World, and even more specifically the Haunted Mansion, I had to give it a read. It was a good book with some interesting ideas. Definitely an adult read.

Jules is your typical citizen, he lives in a world that is not run by money but by Whuffie. Whuffie is a currency based on what people around you think about you and how much joy you brin...moreI like the Magic Kingdom in Florida, having visited there a number of times in my life. When I saw this Science Fiction novel centering around Disney World, and even more specifically the Haunted Mansion, I had to give it a read. It was a good book with some interesting ideas. Definitely an adult read.

Jules is your typical citizen, he lives in a world that is not run by money but by Whuffie. Whuffie is a currency based on what people around you think about you and how much joy you bring them. If you have lots of Whuffie lots of people love you and you get lots of perks. In this future everyone can survive and gets the basics of food and shelter, but only Whuffie allows you to live in style. This is also an age where people back themselves up on computer, this is awesome because if something happens to your body then you can just upload yourself into a new clone whenever you want...at least as long as your backup is up to date. Well, Jules is at a point in time where him and his girlfriend Lil are helping to keep the Hall of Presidents running in Liberty Square in Disney World. Suddenly Jules is murdered, not a huge deal, but when a top-notch computer ride designer uses the opportunity of his death to step in and redo the Hall of Presidents, Jules is out for blood. More specifically he has decided that he will protect the Haunted Mansion from this designer's clutches no matter what it takes and sets out to redesign the Haunted Mansion himself in a way that lets it stay true to its original form.

There were a lot of things I liked about this book. Doctorow has come up with an interesting society and a very creative way at looking at human aging. Things like the ability of humans to deadhead for a few centuries and then be reinserted into a new clone when the world becomes more interesting to them, are very creative and really bring this society alive for the reader. The whole Whuffie system is in itself also very creative and a pleasure to immerse oneself in. The fixation that Jules had with the Haunted Mansion was interesting and Doctorow's description of the ride dead-on. The twist the story takes at the end was fascinating and made for a good read. The story and writing style were easily readable.

As far as things I didn't like about the book there were a few. I didn't really like Jules as a character too much, neither did I like Lil. They were almost too human; neither of them really showed any heroic qualities. Also things like suicide and deadheading were taken in stride, which might bother some people, but makes sense in a society where people are centuries old. The novel is plagued by a lot of throwing scientific terms around that the reader doesn't understand in the beginning; this is resolved as the novel continues but is a bit frustrating at first. Also sometimes Jules takes diversions in the story that don't seem necessary (for instance in the part where he goes off talking about a marriage he had to this crazy lady with fur, it had some impact on the story but not enough to go on as long as it did). Lastly the problem of overpopulation of Earth (in a society where people are born but never die) was mentioned briefly in the beginning, but then was never dealt with as the story progressed.

While this novel isn't necessarily a fun read, it is an interesting read. I would recommend it if you are interested in the downfalls of a Utopian society, or if you are crazy about the Haunted Mansion, or if you just like reading about various future versions of Earth. A good book. I will definitely check out more of Doctorow's books in the future. (less)

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Aug 19, 2010

Tivasyk rated it

Shelves: science-fiction, cyberpunk

short review in ukrainian:
http://www.tivasyk.info/2010/08/blog-pos...
----->8-----
ось ще один канадець, ім’я котрого варте уваги, — і котре навряд чи втрапляло на очі пересічним цінителям сучукрлітів (от вже ж запало мені це словечко…а що, хороше діло сучукрлітом не назвуть). втім, припускаю, що декому таки ім’я знайоме, головне через активну громадянську позицію в питаннях авторського права і лецензування літературних творів.

down and out in the magic kingdom — деб...more

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Jul 23, 2010

Brian rated it

An engaging but depressing read. The theme of trying to protect things that technology has made obsolete -- things that matter, for reasons that are hard to articulate -- has special resonance for me as a library science student. At the same time, I was impressed by the fairly neutral authorial tone. After Little Brother I was expecting this book to be doctrinaire, but it isn't! Doctorow presents his hero, a self-appointed custodian of an aging Haunted Mansion's past, as somewhere between an...more

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Dec 19, 2009

Dan rated it

Shelves: signal, indie

This story claims to be about the politics surrounding the Haunted House in Disneyland. In the far future, all more pressing issues have apparently been solved.

What this story is actually about is "Whuffie", the currency of the future. Whuffie represents a composite of how Society feels about you. If someone thinks you're awesome, some of their Whuffie flows to you; if someone thinks you're a jerk, you lose Whuffie (and presumably it flows to them). By modelling people'...more

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Nov 15, 2009

Heather rated it

Shelves: science-fiction, fiction

I was introduced to Cory Doctorow through his excellent editorials in Make magazine. Always refreshing, clear and on point. When I learned he had written books too, I had to take a peek.

A posthuman romp where mortality and money are things of the past and "Whuffie" is the cornerstone of a global reputation economy, this book would have been more fun to read if I had discovered it when it was first published in 2003. It predates online social networking now commonplace, yet...more

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Oct 31, 2009

DeAnne rated it

Shelves: kindle, modern-scifi

It's a fun little romp. I just adore Cory as a person, so I tend to hear his voice in his writing. I liked this book, but I think some of his later work does a better job showcasing his talent. That said; the universe he's created here is really well defined without bothering to explain it, which is always interesting to see a writer be able to pull off. The main characters are 3 dimensional, but the primary antagonist is more of a cardboard cutout than a fleshed out character. There's some ...more

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Sep 18, 2009

Khidr rated it

I read this book immediately following "Accelerando" by Charles Stross, which really isn't fair in any way.

What Doctorow's story offers is a simple tale of a year in the life of a semi-likeable protagonist as he rages against the inevitable march of technology into Disney World, which he envisions as a monument to be preserved. That's basically it.

What makes Down and Out an interesting read is the universe in which this story unfolds. It is a world in whic...more

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Dec 04, 2009

Abbey rated it

Shelves: fiction-sci-fi-or-speculative

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 02, 2009

Adrienne rated it

Shelves: book-count-08, science-fiction

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow is set in Walt Disney World and in the future. In this future, technology has advanced dramatically. People have computers and phones in their heads, and can access all kinds of information with a thought. No one dies anymore; much like today’s computer hard drives, a person’s conciousness is backed up, ready to be downloaded into a clone whenever needed. People can go into suspended animation (”deadheading”) and sleep for years, then be downloa...more

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About Cory Doctorow

Canadian blogger, journalist and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing.

He is an activist in favor of liberalizing copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons organization, using some of their licenses for his books.

Some common themes of his work include digital rights management, file sharing, Disney, and post-scarcity economics...more

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Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town

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“I mean, you can't be a revolutionary after the revolution, can you? Didn't we all struggle so that kids like Lil wouldn't have to?” — 2 people liked it

“It's good versus evil, Dan. You don't want to be a post-person. You want to stay human. The rides are human. We each mediate them through our own experience. We're physically inside of them, and they talk to us through our senses. What Debra's people are building--it's hive-mind [stuff:]. Directly implanting thoughts! Jesus! It's not an experience, it's brainwashing!” — 2 people liked it

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