David Wong

John Dies at the End

Maya

Society is doomed for one very simple reason: it takes dozens of men working months with millions of dollars in materials to build a building, but only one dumb-ass with a bomb to bring it down.

You kick and scream and cry out into the darkness, and no answer comes. You rage against the unfathomable injustice and two blocks away some guy watches a baseball game and scratches his balls.

Meagan Fischer 

I'm starting to be more stingy with my stars here, which maybe is unfair because I don't plan to go back and relate other books. 

I read this book a few years ago after coming across Wong's other book, Futuristic violence and Fancy Suits. 

It's an alright story, entertaining and amusing in its own way, but doesn't stick with me as incredibly worthwhile, unfortunately. This is too bad because I feel like he is trying to say something profound, but it ultimately comes off as a madcap drug adventure a la Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas crossed with grab-bag neo-fantasy/sci-fi like Static Mayhem, while not quite capturing the charm and cohesion of either of those stories. Which is a funny thing to say re: the latter, because those books arguably can hardly be called cohesive themselves.

There's a lot of amusing or comical images and premises in this book, but none quite rise to the level of laugh out loud funny, and I think it could be swapped out with many other books in this genre (because it is a genre book, despite claiming to be unique) for just as much enjoyment if not more. 

It's not a terrible or bad book, but it just doesn't rise to the level of especially stand-out meaningful or funny. Maybe it would work better for a younger audience, but I'd direct them to Tom Robbins' work instead, for something that has a similar feel and I think was done better.

Shape Mismatch

My first book of this sort. Funny, hilarious, but leaves a lot of space for interesting stories around the characters.

Aubrey Hicks

If you like fun, gross humor - this would be a book for you. If you don't, don't pick it up. I've read this a few times, and each time I'm sort of astounded by how much this cracks me up. The characters are interesting in a Clerks meets Shaun of the Dead kind of way - they're slackers and it's up to them to save the universe. 

You won't come out of this a better person. But then again, did you come out of War and Peace a better person? Yeah, I didn't think so. 

Read this. It's pure gosh-darn fun.

Erik Wallace

This certainly would have been a strong contender for five stars had I not just finished Ready Player One. Let me declare it a strong 4.5 - 4.75 star read.

This was a fun read and one of the more original stories I've read for some time. I'm not sure how to classify it because it has elements of both horror and science fiction... House of Leaves is a bad comparison, but the only thing I can think of. I'll settle on multigenre. Happy reading.

Gavin

There was a time, as yet unnamed, before self-conscious Social Media but after broadband. Sketch it in totems: LimeWire, ytmnd, Something Awful, Dramatica, Uncyclopedia. Thence was JDatE born. 

Slapstick body horror, and you’ll know already what you’ll make of it from that description. This is scarier than it is funny, but not a huge amount of either. I’m very happy that Wong was anointed by the internet, that the gatekeepers were evaded but.

Janice Hopper

Not quite as clever a story as it thinks it is. Ok, but a big mishmash of ideas.

Ewan

Childish, puerile, genuinely scary, wet my pants funny, waaaaay too many dick jokes, over-achingly hip, did I mention the dick jokes?

But, I have not enjoyed a book this month in years, read it in 3 days, and started the sequel the next day

DNF at 25%

Structureless, nonsensical plot, racist microaggressions, and the r word used to mean "stupid." Yeah, no thanks. After reading some other reviews, I decided it wasn't worth my time, as it wasn't going to get better.

Actually really annoyed that not only did I spend money on this book, but I also own the next two in the series (the third one is signed!) from the Nocturnal Reader's Box. These books are just taking up space now.

Malin Alexander

3,5/5 stars. 
Really enjoyed the beginning, the craziness, the "poop" humour and the writing style... But towards the end started to feel like the story and plot were going nowhere, and that it was very long, and a lot of the same thing over and over again.

Maybe I'm not a super refined reader but I was engaged the whole way through and damn was it funny. Probably the most fun I've had reading a book in a very long time.

Marie Rogowski

After the first dozen pages i allready send out messages to friends telling them to READ THIS BOOK!!! Its written in such a unique manner, somewhere in between douglas Adams and ghostbusters, that i had enormous fun with it in the Beginning. Somewhere in the middle though it gets... Looong. The Story could have easily been 20-30% shorter without loosing anything of importance. Hm - now i am not sure anymore whether the second Part is worth starting.

Zoe Smolen

I'll admit that I was a little unsure at what I had gotten myself into when I first started this book. Though it's not my usual genre, it had been on my to-read list for a while, and I finally got the chance to read it. Overall I found it very enjoyable. Wong does an amazing job at mixing the humor and horror in the story. There were parts that made me laugh out loud, while other parts made my skin crawl and made me terrified to turn off the lights when I went to sleep. 

The book is very cleverly written, and I await the novel's follow up as well at the movie which is supposedly in the works.

Jack Baty

Heather Airaudi

Ro Grayson

Jason Pargin

"[Jason Pargin] has updated the Lovecraft tradition and infused it with humor that rather than lessening the horror, increases it dramatically. Every time I set the book down down, I was wary that something really was afoot, that there were creatures I couldn't see, and that because I suspected this, I was next. Engaging, comic, and terrifying." —Joe Garden, Features Editor, The Onion "[Pargin] is like a mash-up of Douglass Adams and Stephen King... 'page-turner' is an understatement." —Don Coscarelli, director, Phantasm I-V, Bubba Ho-tep "That rarest of things--a genuinely scary story." —David Wellington, author of Monster Island, Vampire Zero "JOHN DIES AT THE END has a cult following for a reason: it's horrific, thought-provoking, and hilarious all at once. This is one of the most entertaining and addictive novels I've ever read." —Jacob Kier, Publisher, Permuted Press STOP. You should not have touched this flyer with your bare hands. NO, don't put it down. It's too late. They're watching you. My name is David. My best friend is John. Those names are fake. You might want to change yours. You may not want to know about the things you'll read on these pages, about the sauce, about Korrok, about the invasion, and the future. But it's too late. You touched the book. You're in the game. You're under the eye. The only defense is knowledge. You need to read this book, to the end. Even the part with the bratwurst. Why? You just have to trust me. The important thing is this: The sauce is a drug, and it gives users a window into another dimension. John and I never had the chance to say no. You still do. I'm sorry to have involved you in this, I really am. But as you read about these terrible events and the very dark epoch the world is about to enter as a result, it is crucial you keep one thing in mind: None of this was my fault.

Elizabeth Jones

Adine

Ryan Mateyk

Jordan

Micah

My name is David Wong. My best friend is John. Those names are fake. You might want to change yours. You may not want to know about the things you'll read on these pages, about the sauce, about Korrock, about the invasion, and the future. But it's too late. You touched the book. You're in the game. You're under the eye. The only defence is knowledge. You need to read this book, to the end. Even the part about the bratwurst. Why? You'll just have to trust me. Unfortunately for us, if you make the right choice, we'll have a much harder time explaining how to fight off the otherwordly invasion currently threatening to enslave humanity. I'm sorry to have involved you in this, I really am. But as you read about these terrible events and the very dark epoch the world is about to enter as a result, it is crucial you keep one thing in mind: NONE OF THIS IS MY FAULT...

John Dies at the End

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