A Retro Classic!
Written: Sep 12 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Engaging writing style, good old-fashioned adventure, retro...
Cons: ... rather simplistic story and characters
The Bottom Line: For retro fans everywhere, or for those who simply like a good, old-fashioned adventure yarn.
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| captaind's Full Review: TRON Books |
Well here's a blast from the past and no mistake! I found that I still had my copy of this book, slightly battered but still quite readable, and remembered both the book and film of TRON when I was younger. Out of interest I decided to read it again, and what do you know? I still enjoyed it.
TRON is a classic story of good versus evil, and doesn't really have any subtlety – there are no shades of grey in between. This might spoil the story for some but the real joy of it is in the action scenes and and the retro feel it has. The backdrop to the story is the a programmer called Kevin Flynn is out to find the information that will prove it was he, not the shady Chief Executive called Dillinger, who wrote several of the arcade games that helped make ENCOM one of the most successful computer firms in existence. In doing so he enlists the help of ENCOM staff Alan Bradley and Lora Baines, but finds himself at odds with the Master Control Program, initially written by Dillinger but who has grown "2,415 times smarter since then". Flynn finds himself digitised into the computer world, where programs walk, talk, live – and die. Games that "looked so easy from the other side of the screen" are no a matter of survival or deresolution.. The key to freeing the system, and returning home to his own system, lies with Alan Bradley's program TRON, who is also a captive of the MCP. However, Flynn doesn't think and act like a normal program, so maybe there's hope... if he can survive long enough to find out just what special powers Users may have in this system. There's also the problem of revealing his true identity – the programs who believe in the Users (a belief MCP is trying to stamp out) have a reverential awe of them which doesn't quite fit in with Flynn's appearance as being the same as them...
That probably looks like I've given away most of the plot but you'll find all of that out very quickly, the bulk of the story is made up of Flynn's adventures in the electronic system itself. The writing style is fluid and accessible, though uses a rather large vocabulary that might befuddle some younger readers. There are some obvious analogies made with Jesus being on the earth, at least that's how I interpreted them, but they're pretty coincidental – I don't think TRON set out to make any religious statements, though there is one very telling sentence in the book when Flynn has first learnt what MCP's plans are. "Even here the old, old evil: surrender your beliefs or surrender your life.. Another interesting point is that the programs in the electronic system reflect the users who wrote them, which is a bit of a shock for Flynn as he meets programs he thinks he already knows.
It might by basically a children's story, but it's written as an adult's book. Daley's writing style is engaging and animated, though perhaps a little prone to tautology and over-explanation. There are a few photos from the film in the middle section of the book, adding to the feeling of nostalgia. If you can put aside the feeling that the book considers itself very high-tech when it comes across as quite primitive by today's standards, and particularly if you have nostalgic feelings about the film, you'll really enjoy this book. (Incidentally, reading the book is a very different experience to watching the film, despite the fact that several scenes from the film will be conjured up in your mind as you read the equivalent passage in the book.) I suspect children of the 90's might findit a little too old-fashioned though!
Thanks for reading,
CaptainD
Thanks to Ariane for adding this golden oldie to the database for me.
CHILDREN'S NOVELS
The Chronicles of Narnia (contains links to all 7 individual books of the series)
The Hobbit J R R Tolkein
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (in my opinion the best in the series, but conttains links to all the others)
Recommended:
Yes
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