Randy

A Good Read, An Awkward Ending?

Reviewed: 02-17-21

I will be rating #32,729. Nobody will care, but I like writing reviews. I enjoyed the book. I read many reviews of those who did not. Obvivously the aye's have it. RP2 is destined to become a sequel movie. I'll watch it and expect it to not be as good as the book, just like RP2. I think many did not like RP2 as much because for me it reads more like an LitRPG book and none of those will ever be movies. I love LitRPG, so I liked RP2. The ending leaves me a bit cold, but that's OK. The journey was great and not all endings please everyone. Glad to hear Cline is maybe writing a sequel and not a true RP3 because it would just get too weird. Oh, Wil Wheaton has always been the best narrator for stuff like this, so good.

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1 person found this helpful

Not Good

Reviewed: 02-25-20

Unfortunately this is not a good title. Maybe the gentleman is good live, but this recording was horrid. Hard to hear his routine. I found none of his material in the least interesting. No way I can recommend it.

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2 people found this helpful

Tragedy Pi

Reviewed: 01-31-20

This is not really about when math goes wrong in the real world. It's about when engineers in the real world make mistakes, people die. Lots of people die. The book makes poor taste fun when people die. Very funny, Ha, ha, ha, Not! I was expecting a lighthearted look at numbers. Math. Not bridge and building engineering mistakes or miscalculations that result in somebody's child, son, father or mother ending up six feet under leaving their family to deal. Very, very poor taste. Besides this book is for those with degrees in math and engineering and not for the masses, us. Me.

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6 people found this helpful

Fantastic 2nd Book!

Reviewed: 07-23-19

John does not mature much as far as his emotions, but the story deepens a lot. And it feels realistic. Most reviews whine about this story at this stage. Too bad too, this is a great story.

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Fantastic 2nd Book!

Reviewed: 07-23-19

John does not mature much as far as his emotions, but the story deepens a lot. And it feels realistic. Most reviews whine about this story at this stage. Too bad too, this is a great story.

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Excellent First Book!

Reviewed: 07-22-19

I really enjoyed this LitRPG. Others have complained about one thing or another. Don't matter. John is intriguing given circumstances. Lots of eye-brow raising moments. I shall continue!

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1 person found this helpful

Excellent First Book!

Reviewed: 07-22-19

I really enjoyed this LitRPG. Others have complained about one thing or another. Don't matter. John is intriguing given circumstances. Lots of eye-brow raising moments. I shall continue!

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1 person found this helpful

I'm Satisfied

Reviewed: 07-17-19

A great series that needs to end. The ending/epilogue both surprised me and didn't. It's a layer-upon-layer thing and I'm skeptical that it should continue only to have more layers until the thing becomes kind of a parody of itself. Let's just leave things where it stands now. I'm satisfied. Go and write something else Mr. Cosimo, because you ARE a great writer. And Nick's narration? Perfect. Just perfect. I think I'll go find more books he has narrated since Mr. Yap has disengaged for now.

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Essentially Almost Flawless

Reviewed: 07-04-19

I say essentially because I have an important niggle that won't go away, but does not detract from the book, it's wonderfully good heart and contemporary clever and apropos themes and attention to recent pop culture. It has to do with a declaration of bisexuality. The specifics are less important that to me the book needlessly seems to try to be too PC in that manner. It's quite obvious that the characterization is pushing a point far too hard. It's distracting, but not even close to being a loss of enjoyment for the story. The narration is fantastic. Yes, some of it is really politically fantastical, but still. The core of the book is solid and good hearted. Maybe the dialogue pushes too hard to be too clever at times, but that's OK as well, I loved the book and would highly recommend it.

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A Love Letter

Reviewed: 06-26-19

Truly, Mr. Ryan loves his topic because it was/is his home and he waxes eloquently, but in an instructive way worthy of top-notch historical research. History books and those who write them are never perfect. I always am skeptical of their truths presented because we readers are always at the mercy of the author's intent, accuracy and basically that any author of any history can distort, influence and take advantage of readers. Lie to them if they wish. Interpret in ways that can be deceptive. Make you think what they want you to think and not what really happened. Still, Mr. Ryan gives us the joy and the sadness. The triumphs, but also the failures. The cruel realities of post WWII gay America against how it "used to be" prior to the wars. What became of queer Brooklyn and then ends the book on positive notes. He writes with just a hint of or in the style historical fiction to make it just right entertaining. Conjectures of a conversation perhaps extrapolated. What the person he writes of might of thought or seemed to think from a diary note. I trust Mr. Ryan because he is not trying to hide queer folk as most histories have done for decades of time, trying to put queers back in closets. Mr. Ryan is trying to open closets, not close them. This now is the definitive history of Queer Brooklyn, perhaps indeed of queer America.

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27 people found this helpful