Book #46 of 2015: NPCs | 2015 book: The Time Garden

[thistlechaser]

NPCs by Drew Hayes
Rating: Loved (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)



NPCs was one clever, fun book.

The story started with a bunch of young boys sitting around a table, playing Dungeons and Dragon-- er, Spells, Swords, & Stealth. Most of the players didn't take it seriously/weren't playing well, they were doing the "my character is everything I wish I was! Killing everything! Taking no back-talk! Getting all the treasure! 100% perfect!" thing that new players do. As such, they tended to die. A lot.

Their characters died (stupid death, too) and the story didn't miss a beat -- it continued on with how the NPCs of the D&D/SS&S campaign world reacted to the adventurers dying. I was tickled and amused to see that! What a fun idea! I've never seen a story like that before!

Most of the story followed those NPCs as they formed a party and tried to take over the roles of the PCs who had died. It was so believably handled, and so much fun. (I keep coming back to that: This was such a fun, clever idea.)

I wavered between rating this a Liked and a Loved, because the middle dragged just a tad (there was a fight scene that I swear went on for a third of the book), but everything other than that one part was so darned enjoyable, I went with Loved rating.

An extra fun side note: The main character's name was Thistle! The same name I've used online for decades! That tickled me so endlessly.

I already have the second book in this series (Split the Party) and will be reading that next.

---

The Time Garden by Edward Eager
Rating: Okay (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)



While there was nothing wrong with this book, it didn't hold my interest at all. The only thing I semi-enjoyed about it was the glimpse of a much older world (it was published in the 50s or 60s). None of the children came off as children to me, though that could have been because of the datedness -- maybe kids of the 50s did speak like the ones in this book.

I didn't reach the 50% mark, thus the book doesn't count towards my total for the year.

Comments

[mycroftca.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I intend to hunt down NPCs and Split the Party due to your glowing recommendation.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I hope you enjoy NPCs as much as I did! And that Split the Party is as good as NPCs.

I look forward to hearing what you think of them! You'll post on 50 Book Challenge, I bet? :)

[mycroftca.livejournal.com]

Of course!

[jeane nevarez (from livejournal.com)]

You should try a different Edward Eager. Half Magic is my favorite, Magic by the Lake and Seven-Day Magic are pretty good, too. The rest of his series I felt really iffy about. Yeah, the kids seem to know a bit too much but I enjoyed some of it.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I know I have other books of his on my Kindle. Checking... I do have Magic By the Lake and Half Magic. I deleted the other books, but I'll keep those two on. Thanks for the advice!

[adam-0oo.livejournal.com]

With all the books on here, have you thought of doing an Amazon affiliate program? So that people can link off of you directly and get a little dosh?

I have added NPCs to my wishlist, it is very much up my alley.

Since you liked that, have you read Redshirts? It is half very much in the same vein of non-main characters in an adventure dealing with the adventure.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I'm torn on the Amazon affiliate's thing. I link to their pages because I like reading the reviews on a book before I consider buying them (or used to, before Amazon got flooded with paid reviews), but I'm always quick to tell people that I don't get anything out of them following the link. Kind of feels more honest if I don't get money out of it, I guess? Though with money being tighter for me now, that's something I should consider...

I hope you enjoy NPCs a much as I did! I'm happy to report the second book seems just as good so far.

I actually haven't read Redshirts yet, though I've read a bunch of other stuff he's written. I've heard such strongly mixed reviews of it, I never put it on my list of things to read. Sounds like you were in the 'liked it' camp?

[adam-0oo.livejournal.com]

Like...you have a relatively small audience here, if all of a sudden everybody thought you were reviewing everything with glowing reviews just so you could get money, I could see that as a problem. But so many reviews are mixed or of you thinking stuff is bad, I dont' see that as a problem. Go for it, I can't imagine anybody having a problem with it.

Well, exactly half of the book is from the point of view of NPC's on a faux Star Trek ship. Then, half of it is...related, but very much NOT that. I think that is what bothered me, I kind of just wanted to spend more time with the first scenario.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Drat, lost my reply to your comment. Here goes again!

I set it up, and edited this post with the new link. Thanks for suggesting I do it! I'll make mention that I'm doing it in my next review... then I have to remember to make the special links. That's going to be the hard part!

I suspect I'd share your opinion on Redshirts, the first part sounds like it would be the more interesting one. I'd much rather see what the NPCs thing!

[jeane nevarez (from livejournal.com)]

I would suggest that you read the Amazon affiliate contract carefully. I was a member for many years, but never earned much- my blog gets very modest traffic and my books of choice are not very popular, so even after several years in I only had a few dollars of earnings. You can't get paid until you've earned a certain amount- I forget what the threshold is now. It's either fifty or a hundred dollars. They just put in a new policy that if you don't make enough to get paid, you have to pay THEM $10 a month for maintaining your account! I backed out of the program at that point. Just letting you know.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

... Holy cow, I missed that! It's $10 minimum if you want a gift card (fine with me) or $100 for a check. I was okay with that, but by the looks of it, this is pointless for me to join. Google tells me they won't bill me, but they will drain the account until the $10 is covered. I highly doubt I'd make enough to avoid that.

Oh well, it was a good thought. Now I just have to find out how to un-sign up for this. Thanks for letting me know!