Book Blog #419: The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman

 

Title: The Gate of the Feral Gods

Author: Matt Dinniman

# of Pages: 572 (ebook)

Genre: Adult,  Adventure, Dystopia

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (GR: 3 stars)

Synopsis: A floating fortress occupied by warrior gnomes. A castle made of sand. A derelict submarine guarded by malfunctioning machines. A haunted crypt surrounded by lethal traps. It was supposed to be easy. One bubble. Four castles. Fifteen days. Capture each one, and the stairwell is unlocked. Here's the thing. It's never easy. Carl and his team can't go it alone. Not this time. They must rely on the help of the low-level, I-can't-believe-these-idiots-are-still-alive crawlers trapped in the bubble with them. But can they be trusted? Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to the fifth floor of the dungeon.

Review: I actually like book 3 more than I liked this book. 

While the fifth floor concept described in book 4 is more comprehensively executed (no warning in the beginning from Dinniman about it being too complex and unnecessary for the reader to understand), I wasn't that interested in it. Readers who enjoy the boss fights the most will be pleased. Otherwise this book seemed to be setup for (hopefully) more character-driven storylines later in the series; new characters and connections were introduced, but existing characters and relationships didn't have as much development compared to book 3. 

It took me a while to chip away at this book, but the second half and epilogue was definitely better than the first. 

Book Blog #418: Hollywood, Ending by John Green

 

Title: Hollywood, Ending

Author: John Green

# of Pages: 296 (ebook)

Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (GR: 3.5 stars)

Synopsis: For rising young actors Kai Laramie and Juniper Castillo, being cast in the buzzy biopic Andy Warhol Never Gets Old is the opportunity they’ve been waiting for. They’re on the verge of breaking out, and maybe even falling in love. Soon the movie is blowing up and so are their lives—in exciting but also terrifying ways. John Green artfully blends a behind-the-scenes Hollywood love story with an unflinching examination of the insatiable attention economy. Told through dual points of view, the novel follows Kai and Juniper from their first days on location to the movie’s premiere, brilliantly juxtaposing their story with the on-screen study of Warhol’s life at the dawn of celebrity culture.

Review: (This is the first book I'm rating using Goodreads's partial stars)

This felt like a story I'd already read. Juniper, a child star who's now a young adult, has a chunk of a chapters from her first person perspective that showed the pains of growing up in the Hollywood industry. Since Jennette McCurdy's I'm Glad My Mom Died was popular not that long ago, this felt like too similar of a story and made the book very put-down-able.

In the middle of the book, there are chapter from Kai's perspective which I enjoyed more. Kai is a more relatable narrator because he's a newcomer to the Hollywood industry. I initially thought that the story should have only been told from his POV, but I could appreciate how the dual points of view showed how those in the industry can be both victims and perpetrators of the toxicity (even if only through being complicit). 

However, even Kai's narrative highlighted the dark side of Hollywood in similar ways that some readers probably always saw through other popular media like Bojack Horseman (the glamor of Hollywood hiding the behind the scenes toxicity for the sake of fame, inauthenticity in the industry, selfishness for the sake of career, Hollywood driving people toward self-destructive behavior, etc). 

Overall, the writing was decent (love John Green's style) but the story wasn't fresh and ultimately was a slow read. Readers may feel differently if they haven't read other books that already covered the dark side of the entertainment industry. 

Even so, the pacing of the story is pretty slow because the story covers the lifecycle of the movie from an actor's POV (making the moving, promoting the movie, the aftermath). It's a contemplative story with nuanced characters rather than an eventful, heart-wrenching story.

Overall not a bad read, but it took me a while to push through this one and felt like a decent story at the wrong time.