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| ★★★★✰ |
Synopsis: One minute, they're drinking away the dreariness of their lives, escaping into a fantasy game and laughing their asses off. The next minute, they're in a horse-drawn cart surrounded by soldiers pointing crossbows at them. Tim now has the voice and physique of a prepubescent girl. Dave finds that while he lost a foot or two in height, he somehow acquired a suit of armor and a badass beard. Julian's ears have grown ridiculously long and pointy. And Cooper... well Cooper has gotten himself a set of tusks, a pair of clawed hands, and finds that he's carrying a bag with a human head in it. Meanwhile, a sadistic game master sits back in the real world eating their fried chicken.
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Review: This is definitely the most crass and least politically correct comedic book I've ever read. I don't doubt there are books out there that exceed it in both areas, but in my experience of reading it represents the pinnacle. And honestly... I loved it. I have a dark, deeply politically incorrect sense of humor and this book read just like my a wittier version of friends and I sitting around having a laugh. There were genuinely moments where I thought to myself, 'you can't *say* that!' and then I cracked up laughing anyway. There were moments where the frequency of this humor grated a *little* bit, but not enough to affect enjoyment.
The plot is relatively thin (primarily composed of half the gang getting captured, and the other half attempting rescue only to be captured themselves) - this book largely sets up the people, their characters, the world they're now in. I'll forgive it that as it was an immensely enjoyable read with great characterisation, a fun world and it is also the first in the series, so now I really feel set up for the gang to go on adventures in this bizzare new world. The writing is great - crude though it is in places, and utterly disgusting at times, it's not unintelligent and it definitely creative. It's full of nerdy nods to the world of tabletop gaming - beginning with a several page description of a gaming session before they're transported to the game world. I could actually read an entire book of Bevan just describing a standard gaming session, that's how witty and fun his writing is.
I have to say this will not be for everybody - I'm not sure I actually know a single human being (well, maybe one or two) that would actually find this funny, but if you've got an obscene sense of humor and are a bit of a gaming/fantasy nerd, you should get a laugh out of this. Definitely gonna be reading the next two installments in the series - if they're half as good as this then I've got a lot to look forward to.
Rating: 4/5
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