MOGWORLD
By Yahtzee Croshaw
Published By: Dark Horse Books
ISBN:1595825290
Series or Stand Alone: Stand Alone
First Sentence: QUEEEEEEK QUEEEEEEK QUEEEEEEK QUEEEEEEK QUEEEEEEK .
In a world full to bursting with would-be heroes, Jim couldn’t be less interested in saving the day. His fireballs fizzle. He’s awfully grumpy. Plus, he’s been dead for about sixty years. When a renegade necromancer wrenches him from eternal slumber and into a world gone terribly, bizarrely wrong, all Jim wants is to find a way to die properly, once and for all.
On his side, he’s got a few shambling corpses, an inept thief, and a powerful death wish. But he’s up against tough odds: angry mobs of adventurers, a body falling apart at the seams – and a team of programmers racing a deadline to hammer out the last few bugs in their AI.
As I am sure I have mentioned previously, Phillip doesn’t read – in the traditional sense. He is an audio book fanboy, through and through. Don’t get me wrong – I can see the benefits of listening to your books. Your hands are free to do all kinds of things while you can still be whisked away to other worlds. I just can’t do it.
ANYWAY, Mogworld was Phillip’s audio book of choice for a 8 hour-long road trip to visit his family. Now, I don’t do long distance drives very well, and I usually spend most of my time asleep. So, I found myself dozing in and out all the while, getting random snippets of this book that sounded.. well.. it sounded ridiculous.
Obviously, I bought the book on Amazon and went back to sleep.
I dove into this book expecting a comedic fantasy world like WoW, but I quickly realised that Yahtzee had actually woven a rather original plot line that was really enthralling and exciting to read. It’s predictable – I won’t deny that. As soon as something is brought into the light you think, well.. yeah. That is going to happen when you do X while Y and Z is also in play. Anyone who has played through a game or even read a fantasy novel know how this is going to end. But, Yahtzee still manages to through in those curve balls that leave you stunned.. or in my case.. heartbroken and punching Phillip.
Character wise, don’t expect anything too in-depth and fleshed out. Jim, the main protagonist , is our hero.. just don’t mention that to him because he is all dark and broody and just wants to die. His faithful doormat sidekick is the painfully positive and frankly unwanted Meryl. Along the way, they meet all the expected character tropes you would expect to find in a fantasy world over run with the righteous and the evil. Evil guys with perfectly evil names. Female warriors wearing nothing but a leather bikini for protection (I have been known to rock a shameless slutty transmog in-game). You know.. all those deliciously painful flourishes we come to expect in our fantasy worlds.
For those of you unfamiliar with Yahtzee’s humour, I really do recommend you check out his YouTube channel, Zero Punctuation. If you find yourself roaring in laughter while watching his video game reviews, you will find happiness in the humour of Mogworld. He brings the same hilariously dark and edgy humour. The laughs range from a slightly cracked smile to that awkward honking laugh you don’t make in public because people have concerns for your mental health. Some jokes fall flat or are so lame that you can’t help but groan in a ‘really?’ kind of way. But I think that simply adds to the whole charm of this book. It is a shameless mockery of games and those who lose themselves in the worlds they provide.
The Good: Mogworld takes you away and immerses you in the world of the NPC – the people left behind when the servers go down. Everything from the characters to the landscape is cliché and predictable but Yahtzee manages to give just enough originality to the plot that you find yourself immersed and addicted.
The Bad: Sometimes, the tropes are just too much. I found myself groaning whenever Jim would start-up with his dark and gloomy hyperbole or whenever Slippery John would begin role-playing his character, talking in third person about whatever is the topic of the day. I guess the parody is sort of double-edged sword? It was bearable, but it was always lingering and it might get annoying for other readers.
The Verdict: I truly loved this book. This book will forever have a place on my bookshelf.Yahtzee injected his relentless cynicism and dark humour to Mogworld and I think he has created an incredible world within a world. It is immersive. It is entertaining. It is hilarious.
Rating: 5 compelling arguments — DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME DELETE ME
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