“Before you look at the description of this book DO NOT READ THE DESCRIPTION OF THIS BOOK. OR READ ABOUT IT ANYWHERE ELSE.
As the very beginning lines point out, Tom ends up in an alternate world kingdom thingy and is its chosen one, which is what he’d always hoped for. Buuuuuuut it turns out that the kingdom pretty much sucks.
It’s a quick read, fun for people who like stuff like Zelda or have gotten a little tired of the whole thing where a guy falls into some stupid cabinet, ends up in a forest, and then has a magic sword all of a sudden.
The book has some twists and funny lines, and I honestly think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I hadn’t heard so much about it before. The book description spoils a pretty fun reveal that doesn’t happen until over a hundred pages into the story.
This is partially my fault. I’m a fan of D.C. Pierson, especially his last book, The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To. And he recently made the podcast rounds and ended up on a few shows I listen to. Between those, I heard too much about the book.
It’s a tough line. How much do you tell someone in order to get them interested in reading the book, and at what point do you start spoiling some of what makes it enjoyable? And what do you do if there’s crossover between those two points?
It reminds me of when the Matrix came out. The movie was a big deal and everything, but what people sometimes forget is that the ad campaign, the trailers, told us almost nothing. And it still turned out to be a hit. I remember thinking, “Yeah, what the hell IS the Matrix?” Part of going was almost to see what it would turn out to be, and it was win-win because if it was great, it was great. If it sucked, we could all rejoice in Nerd Rage, one of the more potent forms of stress release.
Honestly, at this point I kind of wish that things were less outlined. The internet has opened up so many ways to find media we’re interested in, I don’t know that I need to be hand fed as much. When there’s a movie coming out that I know I’m going to see (the latest Batman, for instance) I have to bend over backwards to avoid it completely before its release. Because even a brief trailer can really blow a lot of the fun. Jesus christ, bloggers, podcasters, and internet commentators are more responsible about not blowing the best parts than the creators are.
It’s not Pierson’s fault. He’s got to sell books, and I’m betting that some of the things he did (writing the names of those who pre-ordered into wrap songs, making that same podcast circuit, and so on) had a lot more impact than a lot of traditional marketing does.
The real answer, just like with everything, is that I have to take responsibility for myself, I suppose. When it comes to books, video games, movies, whatever, I just have to try picking more with less information. Especially if I KNOW I’m going to read it.
Next book by Pierson, I’ll just wait for it to hit the shelves.”