NAJDG

One Thing to the Next

Revisado: 07-02-24

Fun concept, and it had a few memorable moments, but very few plot points built off of one another. It felt like we went from one fantastical journey to the next, with each chapter introducing new “rules” that usurped the previous chapter’s. The payoff just wasn’t there in the end. The strength was in the wordplay and writing, not the story.

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Dig Deep for the Allegories

Revisado: 08-28-20

I read listened to this book across one single car ride. Fiction is not really my jam (and especially not YA), but I found the strength of this book to be in its masterful writing. Howard does an exceptional job in painting this sun-ridden world: her descriptions are so vivid that even the least-creative readers won’t need to strain to imagine the colors and sounds around the characters at any given time. Howard’s vocabulary is vast and you can tell that each sentence was given utmost care and attention for an optimal experience for the reader, and she never seems to run out of similes or metaphors to help bring a sentence to life. I felt like Howard’s mastery of imagery rivaled some of the literary giants that I read in high school - Harper Lee, Chinua Achebe, William Golding. Yes, I’m serious.

As an aside, I should mention that I loved the theme of false narratives throughout this book. Without giving away any of the major plot points, our protagonist is faced early on with the reality that the history that is taught in schools isn’t completely true, and she also faces the idea that the narratives she was raised to believe might not be entirely accurate. For instance, she was indoctrinated with the idea that mages and nymphs had some ill-favored personality traits, which had led her to acquire some damaging prejudices against these races. As she goes on her journey throughout the story, the reader sees her ignorance get confronted and we watch as she has to deal with those consequences. This theme of “questioning the narratives we’ve all been hand-fed since birth” is one that is needed so badly in 2020.

More than anything, if you do choose to read this book (and I hope you give it a chance), please look for the beautiful allegories. Understand that what you’re reading on the surface - that is, a time-old take on good vs. evil and light vs. dark - isn’t all that’s available to you. This story gets better the deeper you go with it.

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esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

Now You're Listening With Power

Revisado: 07-01-19

This was one of the most fascinating books I’ve ever read. It provides a detailed history of the rise of Nintendo, including the origins of favorites like Mario and Kirby, as well as a riveting re-telling of how Nintendo bested Universal Studios in a legal battle over Donkey Kong in the 1980s. I learned about Nintendo lore that I would’ve never otherwise been aware of, including “Mario Ice Capades” starring Jason Bateman, the origins of Service Games (aka “SEGA”), and the laughable (but enjoyable) "Super Mario Compact Disco," which I tracked down and bought immediately after finishing this book.

There are still a couple problems with the book. For instance, the last chapter - which makes the argument that the future of video games is in the motion control system that the Wii introduced to the world - did not age well.

Additionally, many minor details are incorrectly reported - details that most serious Nintendo fanboys likely wouldn’t make. The author cites the bad guy in Super Mario Bros. 2 as Bowser; in reality, it’s the one-appearance-villain, Wart. “Mario Party” and “Mario Tennis” are referenced as “Mario’s Party” and “Mario’s Tennis.” The author describes Tony Hawk’s signature skateboarding move as the “700,” when it’s actually the “900.” (A 700-degree spin wouldn’t even physically work!) The author pronounces former Nintendo President Reggie Fils-Aime as “Reggie Fee-a-me” rather than the correct pronunciation, “Reggie Fee-suh-may,” and even goes out of his way to incorrectly cite the pronunciation for readers. And perhaps most glaringly, Samus Aran is referred to as “Samus Arau,” which made for a cringeworthy audiobook experience during the brief “Metroid” section.

The result of this was that I couldn’t trust the book’s credibility, so after I’d read about a specific anecdote reported by the book, I had to fact-check it each time to make sure I was receiving correct information. This is unfortunate and not what you want from an informational book like this. It would nice to see a re-release of this title with a full update of the post-Wii years, as well as corrections made to the minor details that undercut the author’s credibility.

That being said, this was still a very solid find, and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn how Nintendo made its way to become a household name.

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Complaining, but in Ron Swanson’s voice

Revisado: 04-30-19

Do you want to hear a celebrity complain for 11 hours about politics and religion and anything else that arbitrarily comes to his mind? Boy, do I have the book for you!

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