This Gaming Life: Travels in Three Cities - Jim Rossignol

Advantages: Good read
Disadvantages: A bit thin on details

...Cities in flight. Chris is a nosey teenager and one day that nose gets him into trouble. He is snooping around the outskirts of a town called Scranton hoping to see the town 'lift off' as it launches itself into space but he misjudges and is inside they Spindizzy field when they engage themselves and he is carried up and into space. He will never see his old life again. He goes on an adventure with the town but is then traded over to the City of New York with whom he finds a new and interesting life and career. He will have his mind expanded by the robot 'city founders', he will take part in battles and politics before uncovering a great secret. The Sci-Fi in this book whilst sounding interesting and a little bit different is not really explained. It is left hanging in the air, no pun intended. The inhabitants... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: ?
Disadvantages: YES

...Cities in flight. A life for the stars. WARNING !!! PLOT REVEALS AHEAD. I - REPEAT - PLOT - REVEALS - AHEAD. When the work runs out, cities begin to simply lift off into space looking for their future. The main character in the story is Chris and one day whilst out spying on Scranton he is caught inside the spindizzy field as the city of Scranton begins its ascent into space. His old life gone forever. All must contribute on the now space city so he becomes an apprentice astronomer under the tutelage of Prof Boyle Warner. But he is no astronomer, so when scranton meets New York city he is swapped for some machinery. On New York chis is adopted by the chief of police and given the special "gas" brain education with which the majority of pre earth history is revealed. They land on a planet with where a feudal system reigns... Read review

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Advantages: well written, funny, compelling read
Disadvantages: not a single truly likeable character; no lasting impact

...This is the first book by A.M. Homes that I have read and thus I had no preconceptions of my own approaching it. The professionals' reviews uttered things like 'glass-sharp' and 'acid-etched' while the readers' ones were more along the lines of 'nice' and 'uplifting'. And Stephen King said that it might even save somebody's life. There is little doubt that "This Book Will Save Your Life" won't do any such thing, in fact it's one of those books that one enjoys a lot while reading, but which leaves no lasting impact. On the surface, it's an enjoyable story of emotional redemption, of a man re-establishing his connections with human world and his own emotions and history and thus coming back to what's defined as 'life'. Richard Novak is rich and independent. He is in fact, so independent of social connections that he's not sure that he... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful