Book+Review

John Dies at the End is a book about the supernatural adventures of David Wong and his friend John. Not little ghosts and goblins and sprites that you see from time to time, but full on demons and devils and your worst nightmares. This book is about Hell on earth. Drugs that make you see what is all around you but cannot be seen, and understand things nobody else can. Demons made of shadow, alternate universes, and body doubles to aide in the domination of Earth by the demon lord, Korrok. Written by Jason Pargin under the pen name David Wong I found that I really liked John Dies at the End, and don't have anything bad to say about it.

One reason I particularly liked this book was the characters. David and John often reminded me of Zim and I, with me being David. David is a guy who mostly does what he's supposed to, keeps a job, has a place to live, but sometimes should be having more fun. John on the other hand parties too much, is drunk most of the time, has crappy horrible ideas, is rather dumb, but somehow consistently ends up on top of David when he should be either dead or living on the streets. But the best suit for the characters would be that the character telling the narrative isn't a complete and total moron and the biggest loser in the world, which has been the case with a few of the last books I have read.

The storyline is good, always unpredictable and keeps you on your feet. Through the book things make just as little sense to you as they do to the characters, with everything gradually falling into place. There is good character development as the longer David spends with other characters he learns more about them and his high school misconceptions are changed, or they are simply killed or taken over by demons. Also David himself goes through a few character changes, although John does not but what do you expect from somebody who drinks and plays video games all the time?

Often reminding me of myself and my own dumb crazy friend, a good story, and competent narrative. Fast paced, unexpected, and gripping. Relevant, witty, manly, and immature. I found this to be one of the best books I have read. Although I'm not sure who I would recommend this book to exactly.