as a sequel, this didn’t capture me as much as “rogue protocol,� because it seemed a bit like its background goal of obviously setting up the pieces fas a sequel, this didn’t capture me as much as “rogue protocol,� because it seemed a bit like its background goal of obviously setting up the pieces for book four cast a shadow over its own plot, but I still enjoyed it. Bot’s relationship with these new characters isn’t as strong as its relationships in previous books�, but the way it reacted to and engaged with the new bot character was both interesting and heartbreaking,...more
a delightful read. i was a little underwhelmed by the answer to murderbot's origins, it felt a little anticlimactic, but i had fun with the "a" plot: a delightful read. i was a little underwhelmed by the answer to murderbot's origins, it felt a little anticlimactic, but i had fun with the "a" plot: murderbot learning how to be a person (which involves learning how to pass as human, something it is very uncomfortable with) and ultimately learning to make friends, and learning what its own morals are. ART was a great addition to this cast and Tapan is a great new human character; i hope to see both of them again in future installments. ART and murderbot watching serials together might now be my favorite scene across both books so far. excited to dig into the next one....more
I liked this more than I thought I was going to. By the time I reached the end, I was surprisingly emotional, and I realized its shortness was the perI liked this more than I thought I was going to. By the time I reached the end, I was surprisingly emotional, and I realized its shortness was the perfect length to get me attached and leave me wanting to know what happens to Murderbot after the last line. I didn’t think I would be picking up the others in the series, but after the ending here, I think I would be missing out if I didn’t continue....more
sort of. also not really. this third installment is full of just as many ass jokes as the previous bookdave and john have, dare i say it, grown up...?
sort of. also not really. this third installment is full of just as many ass jokes as the previous books, but a more (surprisingly) mature cast of main characters, even if it doesn't appear that way on the offset. we have found ourselves with a david wong who saves children, thinks about others, is still a bit of an idiot, and deals with the daily horrors of paying rent and finding meaning in a meaningless existence as often as he deals with the reality-warping nightmares he is hired to resolve.
this book did lose me in the third act. i'm not sure if, maybe, i wasn't paying enough attention or i just need to reread it again, but there were about three chapters of nonstop mindless action and i admit i started skimming because none of it really seemed to matter. but did it actually? i'm still wrapping my head around the ending.
there were some other frustrations i had, mostly with amy - i'm a bleeding heart liberal as much as the next person, but even i got frustrated with how naive she could be at times. HOWEVER>>>
[[SPOILERS]] far and away, most of my favorite, and some of the most chilling, parts of the entire series have come from this book. dave standing in the bookstore contemplating suicide. the chapter of amy and not!dave, and "his" goodbye to her at the end, how it felt so humane coming from something we (but not she) knew was terrifyingly inhuman. the reveal that inter-dimensional maggots are feasting on the people that have saved and believe them to be their children. john and dave getting high on the sauce, blacking out for a weekend, and spending the rest of the novel in some hilariously twisted scavenger hunt of clues that their high selves had left for them to find. humans being treated like pets in that dimension gone wrong. marconi's last excerpt on the future of man, and what we are capable of. [[/SPOILERS]]
why does this book of chilling cosmic horror have so much childish potty humor? i don't know. sometimes it ruins the whole scene. other times, though, it makes it. i understand why you have a character like dave, who doesn't give a shit (but really d0es (but really doesn't (but really does, maybe?))) serve as the star of this bizarre series. the david and john who walked away from an inter-dimensional war at the end of the first book aren't the same people as the david and john who hauled ass across this entire book to save the day for people who would never appreciate it.
i enjoyed this much, much more than JDATE. david and john are no longer the douchebags at the back of the classroom, but are now at least the jerks wii enjoyed this much, much more than JDATE. david and john are no longer the douchebags at the back of the classroom, but are now at least the jerks with not-quite-gold-but-better-than-average hearts. the philosophy and mythos of his universe was weaved so effortlessly into the supernatural story it seemed only natural that it eventually became a book about something else as well: the human condition, and our humanity, for good or bad. there are some genuine gems in here. granted they're often distracted by fart jokes and potty humor, and ngl that still jars me when it gets too filthy to be realistic half the time, but i think wong (the writer not the character) has matured at least in deciding when it is and isn't appropriate.
there's shit-your-pants horror, shoulder-shacking humor, and a few eye-watering moments within this book; if i could i would recommend to just skip JDATE but i think it's necessary to understand not only some of the plot points and elements, but the greater sense of wong's universe that is at stake. and though it does leave a few strings dangling, it is a great universe, if not for living in, then at least for storytelling....more
it's a comedy and horror, but the resulting combination works a bit like a parody of both - that is, it's not particularly funny, and though it is genit's a comedy and horror, but the resulting combination works a bit like a parody of both - that is, it's not particularly funny, and though it is genuinely terrifying, the lightheartedness of dave and john's friendship and goofing off mollifies it a bit. their story is pretty much what to expect if saving the world ever came down to two 20-something white boy slackers, except the problem is that i don't particularly like either of these characters and the ones that i do get ignored, disposed of, or mocked for being women (surprise, surprise - has this author ever met a woman?).
all the same i have, for some reason, really enjoyed this book, so i'm torn in reviewing it. i find the mythology really interesting; i think wong's the type of writer who plans his whole story out, spends ages on the major elements and the climaxes, but then fills in the rest with i-don't-know-what-do-you-expect-from-me filler. the terror i was feeling while reading this book was genuine, and i admire any writer that can purposefully make me feel scared. at the same time though, i have to be honest, i don't think this book is particularly /good/ - it mocks anything it attempts to do seriously, if not in the moment then at least by the next chapter, and all this fucking around and unnecessary lewdness really ruined my desire to want to become engaged when the story turned serious. (if the main character doesn't take life seriously, why should i care if his is in danger?)
he sets up such an elaborate universe with real terror and threats, yet doesn't answer his own questions and dangling loose ends. i was willing to ignore it in the beginning (dave doesn't seem to care about too many answers so i didn't, either) but when it stretches into major plot events getting forgotten or written off or... never mentioned again, there's only so much leniency i'm willing to give a writer. like, idk. you can tell this was written by a bored middle-aged white ex-fratboy who, while writing this book, was probably typing with one hand and masturbating with the other. (normally i'd feel weird writing something like that in a review but somehow, for this book, it fits.)
eta: i've thought it over and figure this book would probably work much, much better as a series of short stories rather than a singular novel. it was a choppy and uneven - which is fair considering 90% of it is being told orally by the narrator to another character. ironically, my favorite part of the book - the ending/scenes after the climax - was also a part i think wasn't necessary, or at least didn't need as much as was written... it's weird. again, it would've worked much better as a series of related short stories. i think most of my problems with it would've dissolved with that type of format....more
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