What do you think?
Rate this book
World Leader Pretend
With over 100 million players world wide, virtual games are more than just a niche community, it's phenomenon. Now comes the first novel set in the world of virtual gaming World Leader Pretend .
Xeres Meticula is a failure. A casualty of the dot.com bust, he now lives in his parents' basement and spends all day on one pursuit, winning The Realm. Fortunately he's not alone. Joining him in his world is; Gek-Lin, an orphan in Thailand who spends her nights in an internet cafe; Dietrich Bjornson, a welder working in Antarctica; and Tres Rawling, a former Olympic skier for England whose career was cut short when an accident left him a quadriplegic; and many more. Together they communicate and connect, working to achieve virtual world dominance, but when tragedy on and off line occurs, can these real people trust each other enough to find the help they need in one another?
World Leader Pretend is a provocative novel about virtual connection in the modern age that reads like Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night meets Indecision.
Xeres Meticula is a failure. A casualty of the dot.com bust, he now lives in his parents' basement and spends all day on one pursuit, winning The Realm. Fortunately he's not alone. Joining him in his world is; Gek-Lin, an orphan in Thailand who spends her nights in an internet cafe; Dietrich Bjornson, a welder working in Antarctica; and Tres Rawling, a former Olympic skier for England whose career was cut short when an accident left him a quadriplegic; and many more. Together they communicate and connect, working to achieve virtual world dominance, but when tragedy on and off line occurs, can these real people trust each other enough to find the help they need in one another?
World Leader Pretend is a provocative novel about virtual connection in the modern age that reads like Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night meets Indecision.
336 pages, Paperback
First published February 20, 2007
1 person is currently reading
19 people want to read
About the author
James Bernard Frost
14 books21 followersJames Bernard Frost is the author of the novels A Very Minor Prophet and World Leader Pretend, as well as the vegetarian guidebook, The Artichoke Trail, which won a Lowell Thomas Award for travel journalism. His articles, essays, and fiction have appeared in periodicals and journals as varied as Wired, the San Francisco Examiner, SF Weekly, the Official Magazine of World of Warcraft, The Nervous Breakdown, the Farallon Review, and Trachodon. He lives in Portland, Oregon with the author Kerry Cohen.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 27, 2008
I couldn't put it down
It's not easy for me to review a friend's book, especially fiction (as you'll see from my other reviews, I've exclusively posted reviews of non-fiction). I've known Jim for about a dozen years so it was kind of a guilty voyeuristic experience to read the book and try to pry out the biographical from the pure flights of fancy.
Some of the objective reasons why I think it's a worthwhile read and why others may love it as much as I did:
- the writing style and observations are very quirky and catch you off-guard. Without fraying, the plot weaves between multiple points of view, locations and story lines. It is complex but coherent.
- the characters each really have something special about them. They are presented in a consistent manner throughout and remain true to themselves and their journey. Each one speaks, thinks and behaves both in the virtual world of the game they are playing and in the "so-called real world" in a way that is truly genuine. The characters have their limitations and flaws and moments of sef-reflection.
- the underlying message seems to be that we matter, all of us. That our thoughts and actions, whether online or in-person, have ripple effects and form bonds with other lives. In this last respect, I was reminded of Malcolm Gladwell's THE TIPPING POINT and BLINK where the social impacts of individual actions and the power of context on the individual are described.
It was a really engrossing experience to stay up almost all night reading WORLD LEADER PRETEND and feeling that giddy unreality that gamers experience after pulling an all-nighter with head buried in some virtual world.
It's not easy for me to review a friend's book, especially fiction (as you'll see from my other reviews, I've exclusively posted reviews of non-fiction). I've known Jim for about a dozen years so it was kind of a guilty voyeuristic experience to read the book and try to pry out the biographical from the pure flights of fancy.
Some of the objective reasons why I think it's a worthwhile read and why others may love it as much as I did:
- the writing style and observations are very quirky and catch you off-guard. Without fraying, the plot weaves between multiple points of view, locations and story lines. It is complex but coherent.
- the characters each really have something special about them. They are presented in a consistent manner throughout and remain true to themselves and their journey. Each one speaks, thinks and behaves both in the virtual world of the game they are playing and in the "so-called real world" in a way that is truly genuine. The characters have their limitations and flaws and moments of sef-reflection.
- the underlying message seems to be that we matter, all of us. That our thoughts and actions, whether online or in-person, have ripple effects and form bonds with other lives. In this last respect, I was reminded of Malcolm Gladwell's THE TIPPING POINT and BLINK where the social impacts of individual actions and the power of context on the individual are described.
It was a really engrossing experience to stay up almost all night reading WORLD LEADER PRETEND and feeling that giddy unreality that gamers experience after pulling an all-nighter with head buried in some virtual world.
Read
November 5, 2008I'm getting close to abandoning this book. The style is getting increasingly annoying. The continuous amplification/repetition technique has gotten old. At first it was somewhat novel, but it's in, literally, every single paragraph.
Example from pg. 74 (though I could literally turn to any page in the book and find a similar piece of writing):
"The gems of aqua were gone. The gems that contained within them the ocean, the sea primordial, the oneness, the wholeness, the soup from which all life began. The gems were inside me and soon I would be there, be there with the everything, be one with the all. The gems were inside me and I could already feel the warm fuzzy pinkness of the all rising up from my stomach juices, jumping up my esophagus like the flesh-eating bacteria. The warm fuzzy pinkness--..."
In case you think I'm exaggerating the omnipresence of this technique, check out the first page of the excerpt here:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/google_...
See the way the "caught an edge" phrase is repeated, then the "immobile" phrase. The entire novel goes on like this.
Example from pg. 74 (though I could literally turn to any page in the book and find a similar piece of writing):
"The gems of aqua were gone. The gems that contained within them the ocean, the sea primordial, the oneness, the wholeness, the soup from which all life began. The gems were inside me and soon I would be there, be there with the everything, be one with the all. The gems were inside me and I could already feel the warm fuzzy pinkness of the all rising up from my stomach juices, jumping up my esophagus like the flesh-eating bacteria. The warm fuzzy pinkness--..."
In case you think I'm exaggerating the omnipresence of this technique, check out the first page of the excerpt here:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/google_...
See the way the "caught an edge" phrase is repeated, then the "immobile" phrase. The entire novel goes on like this.
January 22, 2012
Like a DFW on speed.
It is unlike anything I've read.
It's in a style not for everyone but PC Gamers and programmers and such.
I liked it.
It is unlike anything I've read.
It's in a style not for everyone but PC Gamers and programmers and such.
I liked it.
August 13, 2007
A great read that explores varied players of a fictional text-based online strategy game. Since this is his first novel, there were times when the author was reaching, but overall it's well-thought out and intriguing. There are some squicky parts that would definitely inspire a word of caution, especially for the feminists in the house! Not for everyone, but definitely for me.
January 17, 2014
The virtual game is played in the Realm among ardent online gamers, who connected by very diverse in background and intention. Then tragedy strikes one of the competitors, and both online and offline worlds become very complicated!
I learned a lot about online games--and the odd psychology of those who immerse their real lives in them!
I learned a lot about online games--and the odd psychology of those who immerse their real lives in them!
January 28, 2015
I was oddly surprised at how this book turned itself around so many times. There were parts throughout where I thought, "I don't know how much more of this I can read..." & other times when I couldn't put it down! Especially the last few chapters were absolutely delightful. I would definitely recommend to anyone and everyone.
May 14, 2007
you think it's just about dorky gamers, and it is, but it's much smarter than either being mired in game culture or pretending to be above it. it's neither.
August 16, 2010
Not a replacement for infinite jest, as the cover promised. Couldve been an interesting story if it hadn't been so cripplingly, poorly written.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews