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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
One of the worst books I have ever read, 10 Nov 2005
When I bought this book, I thought it looked fairly interesting, but I quickly realised it was simply another badly-written book trying to cash in on the art/conspiracy style of The Da Vinci Code. The difference is simple: Dan Brown's book appears well-written, and sucks you in so you don't want to stop reading. Lev Grossman's book does neither of these things.The characters are impossible to identify with - Edward, the 'hero', at times seems quite a cool, suave character, at others he seems a total loser playing for hours upon end on a computer game, and sometimes he seems dead. The love interest, Margaret, is similar, although she seems at least to have one well-defined feature - her coolness towards Edward. Since this book, although not written in the first person, is written from Edward's point of view, this sadly means we never get to know Margaret either. Similarly, the computer game Edward becomes obsessed with, MOMUS, is very badly defined. At times it seems like Age of Empires, at times like Doom, at times like something never before seen on this planet. How can we identify with a man playing the game if we don't know what he is playing? Smaller things are also to be pointed out - the chapter breakdown is difficult to understand - sometimes there are line breaks that skip two weeks, while chapter breaks that seem to have been inserted to display a vague cliffhanger, which are never remotely interesting. The book is also, in the typical American way, slightly insulting to Brits (taking one example, describing Bangor as being in England), despite the fact that quite a few minor characters seem to be British. In all, very disappointing. This book is not, as described on the cover, "compulsively readable", "mesmerizing from strart to finish", "fabulously entertaining" and is certainly not "a genuine treat." Avoid if at all possible.
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