Who Hunts The Whale - Book Review

Who Hunts the Whale by authors Laura Kate Dale and Jane Aerith Magnet  is a satirical critique of the videogame industry. So far so good as gosh knows a few powerful individuals and CEOs need to be taken down a peg or two; but, is it any good?

I read the book whilst on holiday as it was a light and easy read.

The story follows the newly hired PA Avery as she  joins the hit making Supremacy Software family. With access to the Top floor she sees the excess and extremes of the industry and how it chews people and spits them out, all in order to make more for the 1% ers. Over the course of the year, we see Avery collecting evidence of managerial impropriety in the hope of taking down the system. Will it work though?

I bought this book as I felt that the blurb had the potential for it to be an acerbic takedown of an industry that is well known to protect it's own, even if it is rotten in certain places (a lot of places). However, I found that the characterisation was bland and the story of releasing the next iteration of Call of Shootey, whilst highlighting the poor conditions and abusive management, didn't really hit for some reason. True, the book showed the downsides of the industry and, having read a lot about the layoffs, abuse and the solemn jpeg over the years, there is a story to be told but it needs to told better.

I know it is satire but satire can be ascerbic, refined or broad but this is paper thin when addressing issues like doxxing, predatory monetisation, crunch, the shuffling around and failing upwards of abusive staff.

This book is on the side of the good and I was rooting for it but it was just not that well written or executed in my opinion as it doesn't do things subtly or with nuance. Read it if you'd like an insight into the industry but don't expect Haruki Murakami, Sandor Murai, David Mitchell or any other impressive authors who have surnames ending in M. Rather, I'd recommend the books and articles of Jason Schreier, who is the Ronan Farrow of videogame journalism, or the videos of James Stephanie Sterling, who looks at the abuses within the system in their own unique and hilarious way.