Not All Fairy Tales Have Happy Endings: The rise and fall of Sierra On-Line Paperback – July 24, 2020

an excellent book that tells the exciting story of the best ever video game company, from its early beginning, to their amazing games from the 80s and 90s, to the sad ending.

It was interesting to hear, firsthand, from Ken Williams. Granted, he has a biased view of Sierra and the products they made but it was fun to hear his direct accounts. Could use some better writing and editing and he could be a bit more honest in some areas but I think he may actually believe what he's saying (Sierra's products and people were the best in the industry - sorry, no...) Also when the merger with CUC happened he took offense the Bob Davidson running the company as Davidson and Associates was an edutainment (not entertainment) company. Not true, they owned Blizzard - who truly did have the best people and made the best products. It was a fun read nonetheless...

I grew up playing King's Quest and loved Sierra and Roberta Williams. I often wondered what happened to them. It was fascinating to hear the story directly from the founder himself, Ken Williams. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Some of you may know me as the guy working on the SpaceVenture game with Mark Crowe and Scott Murphy. aka Spacepope. This is the review I sent Ken, and I thought I'd share it on Amazon as well:"I finished your book! [...] I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I can tell you that you gave me what I wanted, which was lots and lots of answers. I feel like I understand more about what made Sierra special as well. The company really did come off to me as Disney like. In fact, for years I have always told people that Sierra was the Disney of the gaming industry during it's golden years. [...] I really like the feel of the paper on the cover and am glad you didn't go with the traditional glossy feel that lots of authors go with. My only complaint is I would love it to be in hardback. [...] The pictures in the book were fantastic and I already told you I loved the interludes and am glad you didn't toss them at the end of the book. There was lots of wisdom to be gleaned from some of the sections there and other nuggets of history that you threw in that I had no idea about. From a fan perspective, one of the coolest parts of the book was getting to learn more about you and your thought processes as you navigated the software industry during it's growing times. Something that was very important to me was your self deprecating honesty. Fans reading your book I feel can empathize with some of the difficult situations you were in, even though probably none of us have run multi million dollar companies.Another thing that I think hardcore Sierra fans will appreciate is your explanation on why you needed to leave Oakhurst in order to improve the company. A lot of fans out there believe that the downfall of Sierra began when that happened. Clearly that was the right move after reading what you wrote on the subject. I didn't realize how much growth Sierra experienced after the move but your book helps solidify how all that played out. I guess the only argument for that being the downfall was all the success that occurred which made the company look even better in the eyes of other public companies such as CUC. Something else I really enjoyed was learning more about Roberta. I always knew she had to be a strong woman in order to produce the magical worlds she created, but your book paints the picture of an even more incredible (not to mention feisty) woman than I imagined. If you can, please pass along a thank you from me. Amongst her other games, King Quest was such a HUGE part of growing up for me. Countless hours were spent playing her games and I enjoyed every single one of them. There will never be another game developer like Roberta Williams! So what did I not like about the book? That's a tough question. I guess I wish it were longer lol. But that is just my thirst for more knowledge about the past. The main thing for me though that I wanted out of your book was to understand the downfall and I got that. I don't believe anyone but you could give me the closure that I've wanted all these years. So again, thank you for that. I feel I won't be the only person that appreciates that I'll bet."Thanks for reading this wall of text I wrote lol. I hope something from it was helpful in regards to seeing what a Sierra fan thought of your book.""

Many books take me weeks to get through fully, and describing a book like a "page turner" is usually reserved for fiction, but this story is better than fiction, and it's extremely well written using a fun, casual tone.-Who will like this book-I have nothing critical at all to say about this book. But it could be a confluence of several things about me more than the book. Those things are:I like biographies,I loved Sierra as a kid,I wondered a lot why Sierra just disappeared,I love software development,I love business strategy and business profiles,Roberta and Ken Williams were like heroes to me as a kid.So, to me, this book:- answered questions that have nagged me for decades,- was a biography about my heroes,- was about my favorite topics of software development and business development,- and was about my most beloved company as a kid.So, a confluence like that will probably not happen for everyone, but maybe if a couple of them resonate with you, you'll enjoy this book.-Will you like this book-If you have a kindle, just download the free sample. He gives away enough of a sample so you can tell if you'd like the book and you don't have to bother reading anymore reviews and can instead form your own opinion.

This is an interesting story (though often not the one that the author thinks he is telling). However, it is in desperate need of an editor, as it is all over the place and the writing is... well, the writing is in desperate need of a professional editor.

O livro é excelente, reminiscências divertidas e nostálgicas do fundador da Sierra, Ken Williams - uma leitura obrigatória para quem curtia a Sierra e a era de ouro dos computadores pessoais nos 80s e 90s.

Ken Williams draws on his vast experiences from his life at the dawn of the personal computer to weave together a compelling, intricate retelling of the story of the company he and his wife Roberta founded and ran for many years.The book is broken up into over three dozen chapters, but each is bite-sized and reads something like a short story in itself. I haven't got to the end yet, but it's been fun to read a couple chapters at a time and follow along.Ever the salesman, Ken is really great at putting a spin only he could have on the whole thing - part autobiography, part historical record, part cautionary tale - and all recounted with an unexpected fervor and charm, from the point of view of a guy who was right there, in the best and worst of times in the computing revolution.Further, and I didn't know this when I bought it, but the book also contains a bunch of great big full-colour illustrations and photos, so that's a neat touch. Overall, if you've ever played one of Sierra's many published titles, want a glimpse at the saga of a start-up with all the highs and lows that came along the way, are a sucker for "the good old days," or just want to read something interesting and heartfelt, I'd recommend picking it up. I for one jumped at the opportunity the second I saw this book was out, and I'm very glad I did.

Absolutely enthralling read, have devoured it. I think the expert reviewers may have had a point telling Ken to put the interspersed off topic chapters elsewhere they break up the flow a little, and I find after the first two they get longer so rather than miss the timeline main thread I've set myself skipping them (but leaving a post-it on the page to go back).Not about the games, so don't expect that, this is about the business, and very much about the feel of the company and how it was put together and ultimately undone.It's just personal enough without feeling invasive, but detached enough to feel honest.

Great book with many interesting details about the history of sierra i did not know until today, especially about the fall in the end of the 90s

Como dice el propio autor acerca de este libro, la historia de Sierra OnLine es demasiado buena para no ser contada, y de primera mano. El libro tiene muchas anécdotas sobre la forma en que Roberta y Ken crearon de la nada una de las compañías de software lúdico más prestigiosas de los años 80 y 90.Con un estilo directo y entretenido, Ken Williams relata su experiencia y sus vivencias al frente de la compañía. No hay entrevistas con los desarrolladores ni guías de los videojuegos que crearon, pero da bastantes detalles de cómo los idearon y los construyeron.Imprescindible para todos los que disfrutamos de sus creaciones (tanto hace 30 años como ahora)