David Wong (1)Recensioni

Light, fast read. A cross between Hiaasen/Westlake/Moore. Note: a lot of ripping violence and gore.

I had a lot of fun reading this one. It's legitimately scary, but ridiculous and funny as well. Heck, there are even parts that were touching. Mostly, it's a very fun ride. Will probably have to check out the sequel.

When a new drug called “Soy Sauce” is unleashed on a group of unsuspecting users, its effects start a mind-altering chain reaction that has those impacted wondering what’s real, who is Korrok, and what is his endgame. Creatures, alternate universes, and strange occurrences threaten friends John and Dave as they try to figure out how to save those they care about most.

Witty, strange, and well-written John Dies at the End starts promisingly enough as Dave sits down with journalist Arnie Blondstone to tell a fever dream-sounding series of events since ingesting “The Sauce.” The writing is imaginative, the banter quick-witted, and the dialogue is top-notch. Plotting, however, stalls a little over halfway through the novel.

The last forty percent or so is perhaps a few too many strange occurrences that made me wonder if there would be a resolution. I won’t say questions are answered in the end, but the story comes back around in a way that feels well thought out and interesting enough to pull me into the next novel in the series.

A fun read recommended for fans of The Tales from a Gas Station series, which is similarly humorous and horrific without the mid-novel lull. I’ll be taking a break from the John Dies at the End series before jumping into book two, but I’m curious what Dave and John might get up to next. 3.5 stars rounded to 4 for excellent writing.

I only read the first 44 pages of this book... it does have some funny moments that made me laugh out loud, but both the humor and the writing is just too juvenile for me to spend much time with...

I remembered only the premise from reading this back in 2009. What I'd apparently forgotten is the directionless, episodic nature of these tales, and how they don't ever seem to sustain their energy or resolve satisfyingly. Also the frequent, casual use of the word "retarded."

Pargin (Wong) makes a lot of progress as a writer between this and "If This Book Exists...." I'd intended to relisten to the whole series, but this is making me re-think.½

You might well think that a book about parasitic, trans-dimensional spider-like parasites taking over your brain would not be humorous. In other hands, you might be right. But David Wong manages to take a thriller-adventure and by virtue of brilliant narration turn it into a literal laugh-out-loud novel. Now I need to go read the prior book, [b:John Dies at the End|1857440|John Dies at the End (John Dies at the End, #1)|David Wong|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1189289716s/1857440.jpg|1858059].
[Audiobook note: excellent reader].

Another action novel from David Wong featuring an unpredictable plot and a great touch of humor.

I am so glad I read the sequel to this first. This one's plot wanders so much by comparison, and the comic rhythm isn't as solid.

More laugh-out-loud funniness from John Wong. Yes, some of is is positively peurile. But it's still damn funny.

More like 3.5. This really grabbed me at the start but it went a little off the rails. On the whole, it was funny, but there were a few points where it got too absurd for me. It also wasn’t always obvious whether the author was using certain tropes to poke fun at the genre or whether they were legitimate blind spots. I think given the overall tone that they were part of the satire, but I don’t blame people who read them as misogynist.

Hilarious and scary

As funny and fun as "John Dies at the End". Books like this are made for me. Someone described them as "Nonchalant Absurdism" and that just about nails it. I smiled and/or laughed the entire time.

This was a wild ride. It had “Rant” and “Idle Hands” energy and I was here for it.

As I said in my check ins: JDatE continues to be simultaneously the most disgusting thing I've read while also being super funny AND juvenile, with occasional sincerity. I'm very glad Amy continues to be a core viewpoint, and in a mystery where perceptions lie, it was neat to bounce between David, Amy, and John's perspectives on the same events.

In book 3, Stephen R. Thorne returns to narrate. I feel like Nick Pohdehl had an appropriate mania to his performance in 2, but honestly if I hadn't looked up the narrators I proooooobably wouldn't have noticed the change. I'm glad I read these via audio though, because the performance of shrieks and sounds for the various creepy specters and weirdos we encounter is just so fitting for this. Book 1 had some text-specific things that work better in that format (which makes sense as it started as a web serial), but as audiobooks they're short (under 15 hours) and fun.

Finally got to this, nearly a decade after putting it on the TBR... and I think I would've liked it more if I'd read it in 2012, as it very much has that edgy early 2000s on the internet feeling. Felt a bit serial which makes sense because this DID begin as a web serial. Reading it in 2022 feels dated, using 'retarded' as a pejorative really does remind me of high school (and it was going out of fashion even then).

I'm not totally sure I follow the other worlds thing, but I was entertained enough.

The audiobook was fine, though I had to consult a physical book for the chatlog because narrating makes it come across differently. Stephen Thorne's delivery reminded me of Ryan Reynolds' patter.

I listened to this on audio, and I think I'll continue that for [b:What the Hell Did I Just Read|33574090|What the Hell Did I Just Read (John Dies at the End, #3)|David Wong|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1488489522l/33574090._SY75_.jpg|54380521] because these books demand a virtuosic performance, and Nick Podehl rises to the occasion! I actually hadn't noticed a change in narrator from the first book so that was a smooth transition.

John Dies at the End was put together from a web fiction serial, so This Book Is Full of Spiders feels more cohesive as it was intentionally written from the start as a book. The tone still feels very early 2010s to me, but listening to a story about an outbreak and people reacting out of fear during a global pandemic feels thematically appropriate! Like it's predecessor, this book continues to be simultaneously the most disgusting thing I've heard while also being hilarious. The book isn't wrong in that people act stupid during an outbreak and I'm curious to see where we go in the next...

also I'm still sad about Molly, best girl. :(

So by the end of the book this honestly made me uncomfortable more often than anything else.

Molech was...I didn't like him. I didn't like his way of doing things, I didn't like his justification, I didn't like his motivation. I didn't like how he kept saying piggy to Zoey. Or the fact that Molech's favorite threat was that he would let his men brutalize Zoey. It wasn't his only threat, but its the one he went back to again and again. On top of all the physical violence he committed against her. I didn't like that while what he was saying wasn't without merit his reasoning was so flawed.

That said I wasn't fond of much of the cast at large. Communication would have gone a long way and if Will was half the strategist he claimed he would have realized that quicker. It constantly felt like a game of 20 Questions and not in the good fun way. Will, and by extension the other Suits, kept their plans to themselves because they either thought Zoey wouldn't understand the nuances and screw it up or would get upset about how they handled things. Well here's a newsflash - after the first time that goes supremely badly, maybe change your diagnosis. Every time the plan went wrong, it was because Will did not tell Zoey "hey so here's the play". Zoey literally had no reason to trust him but he kept getting morally offended and righteously angry that she would be upset that he again said he's hand her over to the bad guys' if they would just give him time.

Will this wasn't a game of "Cry Wolf", words have meanings especially if you don't have any history to back up the fact that you're trust-able.

And Zoey? She felt inconsistent. One minute she acts tough as a guy describes to his Blink followers how he will mutilate her body and the next she's freaking out because she can't handle a different guy threatening her.

Some of what Wong posits in this near-future tale (I don't remember an exact year given but it's after 2023, since there's a luxury car mentioned minted from that year) tracks well, but there's also a lot that does not. Or I'd like to believe would not. Especially about social media (something y'all know I am fond of). BLINK as a concept isn't so far-fetched when you consider Google Glasses or the augmented reality tech that's being developed and shown off for our smart phones.

The actual use of it though...its highly disturbing. It takes lack of personal space and privacy to a whole new level. Since Tabula Ra$a* is meant to be the absolute shittiest place, but also the most Tech Evolved I don't think its a fair template to gauge just how wide spread the use (or misuse) is nation, if not world, wide. I would have liked a little more information in that regard. Zoey, being from a trailer park and barely having a cell phone, isn't a decent gauge of the average citizen either. The book is all extremes one way or the other, with the ordinary citizens being regulated to either cannon fodder or nameless BLINK users.

In the end I am glad I listened to it, but feel way too disturbed to want to dwell on it. Christy Carlson Romano, the narrator, was as always a joy to listen to and she did a very good job differentiating the characters through cadence and tone (there's a good two dozen with regular speaking lines throughout and I could tell them all apart without needing help). I just...this book is disturbing as an entity in itself and as a possibility for our future.

(*)no that's not a mistake, that's how the city was literally named by a bunch of no-good billionaires

Goodreads! This is why we need half-star ratings. 4.5. One of the most unique writing voices you'll ever find. Fantastic if you love your horror with an overabundance of penis jokes.

A more restrained novel then John Dies at the End. David Wong shies away from the usual horror and humor though not completely. The book really unleashes the crazy towards the end, and his wacky turns of phrase do appear in brilliant places. This story will not go where you expect it to and Zooey is an amazingly resilient female character. It would have been easy to have her play a victim to some atrocious events in her life but her constant vigilance to not put up with other peoples crap really made her shine. A great statement about the horrors of social media and toxic masculinity.

This is a crazy book to review. It had some genuinely funny moments. It was an interesting story and had moments of brilliance. This doesn't change the fact that the end of this book was a hot mess. In a book which stretches your ability to let ridiculous slide the end made me slap my forehead and beg for it to end.

4.5 stars

Fun like the first one.

This was by far the best John Dies at the End book and I absolutely loved every second of it. The series is worth reading for this book alone.

I read 78% of this, and I feel so aggressively uninterested in it that I let the library digital copy expire. There's a particular obnoxious self-loathing from the narrator that makes me wish he would die already.

uhhhhhh not my kind of thing?