Though I suppose it really isn’t unstructured, because Michael Joyce has it carefully planned out before he hands it to his readers. Before I go into the unenjoyableness of my journey so far, let me say that the story is very good, the characterization and emotion is there and very real. I want to go through this time with the protagonist, but feel, instead of freedom, restriction in knowing him and the situation.
However, I understand that a good part of that is my unfamiliarity with the method and manner of hypertext reading. I’ve just hit "enter" at the end of each page rather than go wandering off on my own (though I have done that in previous readings), to see the development of storyline–whether by Joyce or by me. But I hit a dead end fairly quickly in the reading, where the page will not move on to another one, and this is far from any resolution of the conflict.
In reading this hypertext novel, I am almost aggravated by the medium. When I’ve clicked on links, names have come up (and this has happened even in the straight–no detours–reading) that have not been mentioned or explained. Sometimes when a link is taken as a deviation from the path, it doesn’t make sense, even as I continue straightforward from there.
I’m sure I’ll get into this; I ranted and raged against interactive fiction such as Photopia until I got hooked. But if I weren’t extremely interested in the technique and were reading this just for story, I admit that I would put it away and pick up any of the now 80 or more books "on the hearth."
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology