Tag Archives: funny

Book Review of The Wrong Dead Guy (Another Coop Heist #2), by Richard Kadrey

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I borrowed an audio copy of The Wrong Dead Guy, by Richard Kadrey, through Hoopla. I chose it because I also happen to have a physical copy of it sitting on my shelf. I figured, if I wasn’t going to get round to reading it anytime soon, I might as well listen to it. Two birds, one stone and all that.

Description from Goodreads:
In this fast paced sequel to The Everything Box—the second entry in Richard Kadrey’s comedic supernatural series—chaos ensues when Coop and the team at DOPS steal a not- quite-dead and very lovesick ancient Egyptian mummy wielding some terrifying magic

Coop, a master thief sort of gone legit, saved the world from an ancient doomsday device—heroism that earned him a gig working for the Department of Peculiar Science, a fearsome top secret government agency that polices the odd and strange. Now Woolrich, Coop’s boss at the DOPS, has Coop breaking into a traveling antiquities show to steal a sarcophagus containing the mummy of a powerful Egyptian wizard named Harkhuf. With the help of his pals Morty, Giselle, and a professor that’s half-cat, half-robotic octopus, Coop pulls off the heist without a hitch.

It’s not Coop’s fault that when DOPS opened the sarcophagus they didn’t find the mummy they were expecting. Well, it was the right mummy, but it wasn’t exactly dead—and now it’s escaped, using a type of magic the organization hasn’t encountered before. Being a boss, Woolrich blames his underling for the screw up and wants Coop to find the missing Harkhuf and make it right, pronto.

Digging into Harkhuf’s history, Coop thinks the mummy is hunting for an ancient magical manuscript that will help him bring his old lover back to life.

Which wouldn’t be so bad if she wasn’t a warrior sorceress hell-bent on conquering the world with her undead armies.

Coop would very much like to run from the oncoming chaos. It’s one thing to steal a mummy, but another to have to deal with head-hunting bureaucrats, down-on-their luck fortune tellers, undead mailroom clerks, and a rather unimpressed elephant. Unfortunately, there’s nowhere to run. If he wants the madness to stop, he’s going to have to suck it up and play hero one more time. But if Coop manages to save the world AGAIN, he’s definitely going to want a lot of answers. And a raise.

Review:
I thought this was ok. It was funny (as it was meant to be), but it felt like it went overboard into slapstick, almost stupid-funny. And stupid-funny isn’t really my cup of tea.

Also, I didn’t realize was a sequel when I picked the book up. I was able to follow it just fine—it basically stands alone—with the exception of any sort of character introductions. Maybe I’d have been more invested in them if I hadn’t had to figure out things like Jizelle being Coop’s girlfriend on my own. But honestly probably not. They were too busy being pithy to be relatable.

All in all, I’d call this a middle of the road read for me. I liked it well enough, but didn’t love it. Oliver Wyman did a fine job with the narration though.

Book Review of The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths & Magic, by F.T. Lukens

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I received a copy of The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths & Magic, by F.T. Lukens through Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
Desperate to pay for college, Bridger Whitt is willing to overlook the peculiarities of his new job—entering via the roof, the weird stacks of old books and even older scrolls, the seemingly incorporeal voices he hears from time to time—but it’s pretty hard to ignore being pulled under Lake Michigan by… mermaids? Worse yet, this happens in front of his new crush, Leo, the dreamy football star who just moved to town.

Fantastic.

When he discovers his eccentric employer Pavel Chudinov is an intermediary between the human world and its myths, Bridger is plunged into a world of pixies, werewolves, and Sasquatch. The realm of myths and magic is growing increasingly unstable, and it is up to Bridger to ascertain the cause of the chaos, eliminate the problem, and help his boss keep the real world from finding the world of myths.

Review:
Super cute, I mean it’s a little ridiculous too, but utterly adorable. I thought the characters had realistic young adult, coming into themselves sort of problems that they handled well. I thought the couple was too cute for words. I liked the side characters. I thought the fantasy aspect of the book was engaging and interesting. And I thought it was funny. Granted, some of the humor was of the slapstick, silly sort. But still I enjoyed it. A rare, all around win for me.

On a side note, if you hurry, there’s even a giveaway to win a copy. It ends Sept. 30th.

Book Review of Straight Outta Fangton, by C.T. Phipps

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I received an Audible copy of C. T. Phipps‘ Straight outta Fangton through AudioBookBoom.

Description from Goodreads:
Peter Stone is a poor black vampire who is wondering where his nightclub, mansion, and sports car is. Instead, he is working a minimum wage job during the night shift as being a vampire isn’t all that impressive in a world where they’ve come out to mortals. 

Exiled from the rich and powerful undead in New Detroit, he is forced to go back when someone dumps a newly-transformed vampire in the bathroom of his gas station’s store. This gets him fangs-deep in a plot of vampire hunters, supernatural revolutionaries, and a millennium-old French knight determined to wipe out the supernatural. 

Sometimes, it just doesn’t pay to get out of the coffin.

Review:
This was really quite good; funny in a witty, sarcastic way, with a widely diverse cast and entertaining plot. Cary Hite did a wonderful job with the narration, which only enhanced my enjoyment of the book.

Going in, I was a bit iffy about the main character being a black vampire and joking about this at times, with the author being white. There are jokes people can make about themselves and their own group that outsiders really just shouldn’t. But I never felt Phipps was irreverent or insulting about his characters in any way. Peter and crew were marvelous!

I thought a lot of the geekdom references were funny, but I also thought they went a little overboard; too much of a good thing, if you will. Abut all in all, however, I loved this and hope for more.