John Dies at the End by Jason Pargin (Book Beginnings & Friday 56)

 

Title: John Dies at the End

Author: Jason Pargin ... formerly known as David Wong

Publication: 2007 as Wong, 2021 as Pargin

Format: paperback & Kindle ebook

Amazon Description

STOP. You should not have touched this book with your bare hands. NO, don't put it down. It's too late. They're watching you. My name is David. My best friend is John. Those names are fake. You might want to change yours. You may not want to know about the things you'll read on these pages, about the sauce, about Korrok, about the invasion, and the future. But it's too late. You touched the book. You're in the game. You're under the eye. The only defense is knowledge. You need to read this book, to the end. Even the part with the bratwurst. Why? You just have to trust me.

The important thing is this: The sauce is a drug, and it gives users a window into another dimension. John and I never had the chance to say no. You still do.

Unfortunately for us, if you make the right choice, we'll have a much harder time explaining how to fight off the otherworldly invasion currently threatening to enslave humanity.

I'm sorry to have involved you in this, I really am. But as you read about these terrible events and the very dark epoch the world is about to enter as a result, it is crucial you keep one thing in mind: None of this was my fault.

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff

This is not my first time reading John Dies at the End -- just my first time blogging about it. The first time, I believe, was probably 2009 with the first re-issue ... and five years before the blogging began. The fourth book in the series is currently sitting on my NetGalley shelf and due for an October release so that's plenty of time to read/re-read/ramble/whatever the first three with all of their shiny re-newness of having Jason Pargin on the cover instead of David Wong. 

Might as well start at the beginning, then, right? I was tempted to do the beginning of each "book" plus the prologue, but settled for just the prologue and chapter one. And then said to hell with it and redid it because temptation can be fun.  [I could have also done the Forward and the Epilogue so ... you know ... shut up.]

There's really no good way to describe John Dies at the End. 

It's 400+ pages of "hot mess brilliance."

I guess that's as good of a way as any to describe it.

The 56 isn't going to help any. Or the 156. And probably not the 256. I could have done the 356 because, you know, 400+ pages ... but that page really didn't have much I wanted to cram into a box.

However, I do have the Kindle version as well as the shiny paperback thanks to Kindle Unlimited, so you get the bonus of the 56% ... which is also the entire eleventh chapter.

I have four pages of my notebook full of other quotes and snippets and ramblings and whatnot about whatever the hell this book is about. 

I even have a blip from fairly early on (page 61) as my  personal Facebook cover.

I'm still going with "hot mess brilliance" as my description.

 

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Friday 56 (share a blurb from the 56th page or 56% mark) is hosted at Freda's Voice 

& Book Beginnings (share the first few sentences) is at Rose City Reader