Game Quest

Reviewer morphs into a granny: remember the old days when everyone used ICQ over MSN? When people were just beginning to master the phrase “tall non-fat latte with extra foam”? When PC gaming was just as advanced as video games? Game Quest sure does, and does and does and does. Game Quest is the new novel by Leopold McGinnis and follows an ethical PC gaming company called Madre that is trying to compete and survive in a booming mid-90s computer industry. McGinnis is able to write about 90s nostalgia, such as rudimentary chat rooms and early internet culture, with great accuracy. One chapter literally looks like the writer cut and pasted the chat room history of a teenage girl circa 1994. In fact, I was most impressed with how McGinnis was able to switch back and forth between several distinct voices, detailing the thoughts of characters such as businessmen and children believably and at times, hysterically. What Game Quest does lack is the eye of a strong editor. Spanning nearly 500 pages, the book was morbidly obese and there were various distracting spelling mistakes throughout. A secondary story revolved around the corporate maneuverings of “Che’s Coffee Revolution” a guise for Starbucks. “Che’s Coffee” was an acceptable if not ironic front, but when I started reading “Pizza Shack” and “Kepsi Kola” I started to cringe at the screaming innuendos. In the end, Game Quest failed to win me over. (Erin Kobayashi)

by Leopold McGinnis, $24.95, 496 pgs, Underground Uprising Press, 8319 81st Ave, Edmonton, AB, T6C 0W1, redfez.net