Post by mdorman

Yes, it has taken me 7 months to finish another book. It's not like I wasn't reading anything else, or working on anything else, but it's still embarrassing. Anyway.

The books in the John Dies At The End series are interesting, in that you can see their progression from, quite literally, chapters posted on someone's blog each Halloween for several years, to actual novels that are at least inclined to have more substance than the simple balls-out lunacy of the first.

Mostly I love them because in the midst of Lovecraftian horror of various stripes, these books make me laugh out loud more than anything I can remember. I could spend hours reeling out the hilarious turns of phrase, or the careful lead-ups to a punchline you didn't even realize was coming. The writing is far more sophisticated than it might seem at first blush.

That said, it is by any reasonable standard a long-running series, so the inevitable downsides are present if you really want to look for them. Do you really believe any of David, John or Amy really going to die? No. Though if I hadn't known there was already a sixth one planned, I could believe that they might have been turned into beans—I wouldn't be too surprised if Pargin decided to do something of that sort when he does decide he's done.

Anyway, they're just good dopey fun. Can't recommend them enough.