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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
This is my first Terry Pratchett book .... I know I'm really behind but somehow even though I've had my eyes on his books for a long time, I never seemed to find the time to actually get down and read one. I don't know why I didn't start with Discworld. So, this one - Only You Can Save Mankind is the first book in the Johnny Maxwell series. Johnny is a schoolboy who regularly gets video games from one of his friends, who seems to have insane talent in cracking them.The aliens he had to fight in his latest video game turn out to be real and their captain asks him for help, believing he is the Chosen One, to assist them in leaving for their own part of the Galaxy and escape being completely wiped out by the other human players and so on and so on. In general it wasn't a bad book but nothing impressive in my opinion. I liked the wit and sarcasm supposedly typical for Pratchett and I'm hoping I would really like the Discworld series (apparently I'm among the last humans on the planet to yet read any part of it :P) and any other of his works.
I listened to the audiobook of Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett, performed admirably by Richard Mitchley. I was rather pleased at how this Sci-Fi story managed to keep the video game it was named for alive throughout the whole of it! (It wasn't clear from the description that it would.)
4h,11m
Read June 1, 2019.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
4h,11m
Read June 1, 2019.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
It is fine, but definitely not the best book of in the series. I am glad I read the sequels earlier or I might not have picked them up after reading this. If you find this book disappointing too, I would still urge you to read the two sequels as they are far better.
Not my favorite Terry Pratchett. That said, I'm not exactly the target age group ;-)
Still very clever and some of the scenes sparked some nostalgia for me.
Still very clever and some of the scenes sparked some nostalgia for me.
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
Johnny Maxwell is shocked to find that the aliens in his computer game are talking back to him. They are conceding defeat. What can he do? What must he do?
Though this book has apparently been updated (in 2004) from the original story (published in 1992), it probably needs to be updated again. Lots of computer talk and popular lingo that has changed dramatically in the past few years and would leave a modern child feeling a bit clueless.
Though this book has apparently been updated (in 2004) from the original story (published in 1992), it probably needs to be updated again. Lots of computer talk and popular lingo that has changed dramatically in the past few years and would leave a modern child feeling a bit clueless.
I do like socially concious kids' books. I enjoyed the humor and the characters, and I liked that someone who is not noticed much, who has nothing particularly special about him, is the one who listens to the cry for help, thus becoming the Chosen One. He is chosen because he chose to listen and respond to those in need. I liked that. I had fun reading it. And that, I think, it what is important about Terry Pratchett's work; he makes people think about important social issues, but he lets you have fun while you do.
Book 2 in this series came up as one of our October reads for the children's book challenge, and I bought the box set, but was then utterly incapable of not starting with book 1 first! I think this is the weakest of the trilogy, as it seems to rely on an element of remembering old computer games from the 80s - Johnny is playing a game similar to Space Invaders when the alien pace ships surrender and beg for his help to escape the line of fire from all the other people playing the game. Not his best work, but Terry Pratchett not at his best is still good, and it raised some interesting ideas. Very quick read - I raced through all 3 books in a couple of train journeys. Found it odd that although these things keep happening to Johnny and his friends, and the books are in chronological sequence, they never talk about previous adventures in later books. Not sure how well it would work for children now, but good fun.
From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
Sci-fi drama from Terry Pratchett.
This is not my cup of tea.
Sci-fi drama from Terry Pratchett.
This is not my cup of tea.