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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
Fun book for kids. Review from 13 yr. old Milly at Paper Dolls:
http://paperdollsbooks.blogspot.com/2011/04/only-you-can-save-mankind_16.html
http://paperdollsbooks.blogspot.com/2011/04/only-you-can-save-mankind_16.html
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I read this as a companion piece to [b:Ender's Game|375802|Ender's Game (The Ender Quintet, #1)|Orson Scott Card|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1408303130s/375802.jpg|2422333] (according to my husband there is a whole subgenre of "video games that turn out to be real" SF out there). They're quite different books but they're neck and neck in terms of quality of characterization and depth of insight, with Pratchett coming out ahead with Humour over Earnestness.
If not you, who else?
Many people who are worried about female role models love Terry Pratchett because he has a LOT of realistic female characters of varying ages and sizes. While I fiercely love his women, I think his male character are underrated as role-models, especially the hero of my childhood Johnny Maxwell, who is thoughtful, empathic and generally favours non-confrontative and clever approaches to his otherworldly problems.
In a world in which even well-read and scientifically oriented Hiccup from the book universe is turned into a standard action character when translated to the big screen, I miss heroes who are NOT action heroes. I think this book is Johnny Maxwell at his most action-prone, but there is no gratuity.
Thus, when I was sixteen and depressed and had lost all faith in human goodness Terry Pratchett's books gave me back the my will to live, love of life, and my faith in humanity. Here was someone who was writing funny Fantasy with a deeply ingrained respect for human dignity. This book was part of this and it made me feel so much better. It still has this effect on me, and I can't really put my fingers on why. I can see the shortcomings today, but it still has a shadow of that same impact it had back then.
Many people who are worried about female role models love Terry Pratchett because he has a LOT of realistic female characters of varying ages and sizes. While I fiercely love his women, I think his male character are underrated as role-models, especially the hero of my childhood Johnny Maxwell, who is thoughtful, empathic and generally favours non-confrontative and clever approaches to his otherworldly problems.
In a world in which even well-read and scientifically oriented Hiccup from the book universe is turned into a standard action character when translated to the big screen, I miss heroes who are NOT action heroes. I think this book is Johnny Maxwell at his most action-prone, but there is no gratuity.
Thus, when I was sixteen and depressed and had lost all faith in human goodness Terry Pratchett's books gave me back the my will to live, love of life, and my faith in humanity. Here was someone who was writing funny Fantasy with a deeply ingrained respect for human dignity. This book was part of this and it made me feel so much better. It still has this effect on me, and I can't really put my fingers on why. I can see the shortcomings today, but it still has a shadow of that same impact it had back then.
A charming surprise. I'd never read any of the Johnny Maxwell series, but this one was fun. I'd recommend it to any Terry Prachett lover.
It was a fun little book for a quick read, however I think it may be the dicswold for me
In the mid-1990s, before I read the Discworld books in 1998 but after the publication of [b:Johnny and the Dead|462792|Johnny and the Dead (Johnny Maxwell, #2)|Terry Pratchett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1359864872s/462792.jpg|34499] in 1994, there was only one Terry Pratchett book I was able to get through. I don't know why I struggled so much with Johnny and the Dead, but something about Only You Can Save Mankind captivated the roughly-ten-year-old me in a way that Pratchett's other books did not. Coming back to it now, its fascinating to me how it transposes into a science fiction setting the mandate from the introduction to [b:The Carpet People|97361|The Carpet People|Terry Pratchett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344619032s/97361.jpg|583699] that is my favourite thing Pratchett ever wrote:
The book is incurably '90s. The slang, the descriptions of the game, the word "mankind" - certainly the fifth star of my rating is nostalgia; I'm not certain that I could give this book to any modern child and expect them to bond with it the way I have. Only You Can Save Mankind asks a not dissimilar question to [b:The Hunger Games|2767052|The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)|Suzanne Collins|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1447303603s/2767052.jpg|2792775] about the desensitising nature of the way in which news and entertainment media present warfare - the more recent novel indulges more in the violence, but perhaps shows more concern for the long-term effects. Only You Can Save Mankind is aimed at a younger audience, but in some ways it offers a more complicated discussion. I didn't recall Johnny's history essays about "what it's like to be a peasant", which he's remarkably good at, and how this emphasises empathy towards others. There's interesting commentary on the rules of war, and what they mean. It asks the question how do we do without battles, when we're told to fire, that winning is the defeat of the enemy? It's pretty much peak Pratchett.
“I wrote that in the days when I thought fantasy was all about battles and kings. Now I’m inclined to think that the real concerns of fantasy ought to be about not having battles, and doing without kings.”Science fiction doesn't tend to have kings, but it does have battles - and so, in general, do computer games. As Johnny himself puts it, "There wasn't a don't fire button." But battles aren't just dots on a screen or fictional enemies. How do you cope when you're thrust into a real war?
The book is incurably '90s. The slang, the descriptions of the game, the word "mankind" - certainly the fifth star of my rating is nostalgia; I'm not certain that I could give this book to any modern child and expect them to bond with it the way I have. Only You Can Save Mankind asks a not dissimilar question to [b:The Hunger Games|2767052|The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)|Suzanne Collins|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1447303603s/2767052.jpg|2792775] about the desensitising nature of the way in which news and entertainment media present warfare - the more recent novel indulges more in the violence, but perhaps shows more concern for the long-term effects. Only You Can Save Mankind is aimed at a younger audience, but in some ways it offers a more complicated discussion. I didn't recall Johnny's history essays about "what it's like to be a peasant", which he's remarkably good at, and how this emphasises empathy towards others. There's interesting commentary on the rules of war, and what they mean. It asks the question how do we do without battles, when we're told to fire, that winning is the defeat of the enemy? It's pretty much peak Pratchett.
Johnny Maxwell loves the computer game Only You Can Save Mankind. One day whilst defending mankind from an alien invasion, he is about to open fire on an enemy spaceship when a message appears on the screen. The message reads We wish to talk. We surrender. Aliens aren’t supposed to surrender. They fight on until you destroy them all. Besides, its just a computer game…Isn’t it?
Not the best from the Johnny Maxwell series. Teenagers may enjoy this more than adults.
Not the best from the Johnny Maxwell series. Teenagers may enjoy this more than adults.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Clever and a good read-alike for Ready Player One fans. Johnny is a mild-mannered middle school student who realizes that the aliens in the video game are living the game. What should he do?