Grant Naylor
Mass Market Paperback | Pages: 302 pages Rating: 4.06 | 11525 Users | 179 Reviews
Define Epithetical Books Better than Life (Red Dwarf #2)
| Title | : | Better than Life (Red Dwarf #2) |
| Author | : | Grant Naylor |
| Book Format | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 302 pages |
| Published | : | March 1st 1993 by Roc (first published October 25th 1990) |
| Categories | : | Science Fiction. Fiction. Humor. Comedy |
Rendition In Pursuance Of Books Better than Life (Red Dwarf #2)
Trapped in Virtual Reality17 March 2016
I version I was reading was actually part of the Red Dwarf Omnibus which, along with the first two books, also has the script of the original radio play, and the pilot episode that they used to pitch to the TV executives (and as was suggested, at the time TV executives were very reluctant to take on a science fiction show, despite the fact that at the time Doctor Who was a rip-roaring success). Anyway, in the script for the pilot episode there was a line with a star next to it, and the footnote said 'the rest of the line is missing'. Upon seeing this I immediately thought of the ancient texts that I read where you see this occurring fairly often. This made me wonder what would somebody two thousand years from now, after our society had collapsed, think if he (or she) unearthed a casket that contained a copy of the Red Dwarf Omnibus. In fact what would they think if this box contained a bunch of John Grisham novels, along with say, something by Jackie Collins. In fact, if this box contained a copy of Life of Pi, what would they think of our society – would they have this weird understanding of the world that existed before the collapse of our society, and would they actually believe that we had conquered the stars? Mind you, sometimes I have the desire to build a huge underground vault and stock it full of books (and maybe even a computer, along with all of the manuals) for somebody in the future to uncover.
Anyway, I'm not going to answer that question, but if you have any thoughts please put them in the comment section below because I would love to hear what other people would think.
This is how the first book in the series ended:
What harm was one more day? He turned away from the dissolving exit and crunched up the drive to 220.
One more night of that pinball smile.
Just one.
He couldn't leave them on Christmas Eve.
But, of course, in Bedford Falls it was always Christmas Eve …
Lister and the crew of Red Dwarf had found themselves trapped in a game called 'Better than Life' and this is where this book begins. Mind you, the book isn't set entirely in Bedford Falls, just the first part, and we learn how they escape – thanks to the fact that Rimmer has this mental disorder in which he simply cannot accept that anything good can ever happen to him. Mind you, it is not that this is a disorder that he knows, but rather something deep in his subconsciousness, something that he doesn't realise himself, but a reality that will eventually rise up and destroy any joy that he has in his life. This is hinted at in the first book, where we learn that despite the fact that they live in this virtual world where everybody's fantasies come true, the Brazillian bombshell that he married still has an affair with the pool cleaner.
That is the thing with Better Than Life – it is supposed to create a world based on your subconscious where everything is perfect, which means that when you jack into the game you never want to leave. As such while you live in paradise, your body is slowly dying. Of course the writers never consider that people living in such a world could be hooked up to an intravenous source for sustenance, but then again this game is illegal so such facilities basically don't exist. Actually, I remember watching a film once (I can't remember what it was called though) where everybody lived in such a game while in the real world they were sleeping in beds being fed intravenously (no, it's not The Matrix).
The scary thing is that we see similar things happening today, where people log onto online computer games and simply spend their entire lives immersed therein. I remember living with somebody like that, in the days before World of Warcraft (back then it was Everquest and Ultima Online). His fiancée ended up breaking off the relationship namely because he preferred to play Ultima Online than actually spend anytime with her. Seeing this unfold before my eyes sort of put me off the whole online roleplaying phenomena (and the fact that I was never willing to ply the subscription fees – though I did play around with Neverwinter Nights for quite a while, but that had more to do with creating a world using their editor than anything else).
Like the first book in the series, Better then Life contains a montage of episodes from the next couple of seasons. Mind you, I have to admit that reading some of the jokes, such as the joke where Lister and the Cat dream of having an affair with Wilma Flintstone, and then discarding it based on the fact that she would never leave Fred, are so much better when you watch the TV series than when you read it in the book. However, having watched pretty much all of the original seasons, reading the same jokes still gives me a chuckle, namely because I remember the visual jokes from the screen. In fact I simply cannot picture the crew of Red Dwarf without images of Craig Charles, Chris Barrie, Robert Llewellyn, and Danny John-Jules (not to forget Norman Lovett) in my head. Actually, I suspect that they intended this to be as such since the books were written after the TV series were released.
Better than life ends similarly to the previous book, in a way that suggests that a sequel could be coming along, and ending it in a way that could leave us quite content. While it is tempting to write about the last section of the book I think I'll leave it at that, namely because if it is similar to this book then the beginning of Backwards is going to go on from the end of Better than Life. I just hope I don't forget some of the ideas that related to this when I get around to reading that book (which shouldn't be too far into the future).
List Books In Favor Of Better than Life (Red Dwarf #2)
| Original Title: | Better Than Life |
| ISBN: | 0451452313 (ISBN13: 9780451452313) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Red Dwarf #2 |
| Characters: | The Cat, Holly, David Lister, Arnold Rimmer, Kryten, Talking Toaster |
Rating Epithetical Books Better than Life (Red Dwarf #2)
Ratings: 4.06 From 11525 Users | 179 ReviewsWeigh Up Epithetical Books Better than Life (Red Dwarf #2)
First "Living in a Simulation" book I read - was ground-breaking stuff for me at the time (1990?). But then I loved the TV series and "proper" Sci-Fi, so of course I was always going to love it. Let me fly, far away from hereFun Fun Fun, in the Sun Sun SunI want to lie, Shipwrecked and comatoseDrinking fresh mango juiceAs with the first Red Dwarf book the writers have fleshed out and made highly detailed stories within different episodes of the TV show. And once again it's done amazingly. As the title suggests the main crux of the book is set within the game Better than Life. And once again it's done in a different (and in my opinion better) than what came before. The entire rules of the game are changed here and there's even a reference to what we saw in the sitcom and explains why it's not possible here. One
I love the TV series Red Dwarf, so as soon as I saw there were some books based on it I just had to get them. The good news is that they convert over to story-book version well. You already know the characters so a lot of the work has already been done for you, this story was already been made into an episode, so even more work has been done for ya...maybe even a crap author could produce a good book from this? Luckily Grant Naylor is a really good writer and has produced an excellent book.
IT'S SO GOOD
Not as enjoyable as the first book in the series, but still a solid 3-stars. Join Lister, Rimmer and the rest of the gang as they struggle to exit Better Than Life, a highly addictive psych game and then get themselves into a raft of adventures culminating in a pretty curious finale.
Almost every Dystopian book about computers and virtual realities - see Ready Player One, James Dashners new series - probably found it's roots here...unless someone else did it ages ago.Better than life is a computer simulation where your subconscious mind combines with technology to create the ultimate experience with one of it s first functions being to wipe your memory of the starting the game. For this reason many players simply never make it out as they don't realise they are in.In this
Well after the fun of the first book in the series - the nostalgia has started to wane - not because of the show but more the book. This book starts to deviate more and more from the series - now as I said in my previous review my love for this was due to the farcical nature of the show and the visual as well as scripted jokes, with the book starting to veer further away from the path the show took I struggle to imagine those same scenes now in a new light - now do not get me wrong I am sure
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