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nglofile's review against another edition
3.0
Attracted to the promise of something completely different from the heavier fiction I'd been reading, I selected this at the beginning of summer as a welcome palate-cleanser. It had been reviewed as a John Hughes-ish story with dragons, which is irresistible in its absurdity, and I needed to sample for myself.
The good news is that Gork lives up to that sum-up and all the appeal that may carry (or not) for the reader. It's silly and smart and sweet, peppered with satiric insights on human behavior, and salted with fights and fantasy gore. Gork is a dragon with too-small horns and a too-big heart who must win the talon of his lady-love or be doomed as a slave. A constant disappointment to his grandfather, the infamous Dr. Terrible, he battles trying to be the dragon everyone expects him to be versus the compassionate creature he naturally is.
At first I thought this might have the fun genre-bias-busting potential of Ready Player One, but no. There will be far more readers tickled by the premise than won over by the story itself. Even as one who wanted it to succeed, I could only enjoy the first half or more of the book in small portions. It verges on too-pleased with its own quirk, and there are missteps in pacing. That said, there is wit and heart, and as long as I gave myself permission to pick it up and set it down in bits, it was fun to know it was there. Once the book finally gained traction, it was easier to more fully invest, and as an avowed fan of Some Kind of Wonderful, I can only be satisfied with the final character beats.
Readalike author names bandied about include Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, and Tom Holt, all of which I see, but ultimately this is going to appeal to a very specific taste and mood.
The good news is that Gork lives up to that sum-up and all the appeal that may carry (or not) for the reader. It's silly and smart and sweet, peppered with satiric insights on human behavior, and salted with fights and fantasy gore. Gork is a dragon with too-small horns and a too-big heart who must win the talon of his lady-love or be doomed as a slave. A constant disappointment to his grandfather, the infamous Dr. Terrible, he battles trying to be the dragon everyone expects him to be versus the compassionate creature he naturally is.
At first I thought this might have the fun genre-bias-busting potential of Ready Player One, but no. There will be far more readers tickled by the premise than won over by the story itself. Even as one who wanted it to succeed, I could only enjoy the first half or more of the book in small portions. It verges on too-pleased with its own quirk, and there are missteps in pacing. That said, there is wit and heart, and as long as I gave myself permission to pick it up and set it down in bits, it was fun to know it was there. Once the book finally gained traction, it was easier to more fully invest, and as an avowed fan of Some Kind of Wonderful, I can only be satisfied with the final character beats.
Readalike author names bandied about include Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, and Tom Holt, all of which I see, but ultimately this is going to appeal to a very specific taste and mood.
literatehedgehog's review against another edition
On the one hand, there's spoofy fantasy absurdity with dragons conquering the galaxy in space ships. On the other hand, there's a sex-obsessed dweeb teen who constantly says things like "my scaly green ass," and the hugely offensive sexism of lady dragons only being useful for making more conquering dragons - and only being interested in sexing with the powerful male dragons. Where the gay dragons be at? Where the feminist dragons be at? Hudson, don't be gross.
I'll keep listening only until my next library request comes in. CORRECTION: NO. I will chuck the discs in the backseat of the car until my next library request comes in. GROSS. REPETITIVE. GROSS. NO.
I'll keep listening only until my next library request comes in. CORRECTION: NO. I will chuck the discs in the backseat of the car until my next library request comes in. GROSS. REPETITIVE. GROSS. NO.
driedfrogpills's review against another edition
2.0
Oh man, oh man, oh man. Did I ever want to like this book, because dragons. Dragons! And everyone kept mentioning how funny the book is! I love funny books, especially ones that make me laugh out loud!
Yeah, about that.
See, I appreciate the amount of world-building Hudson created, because the world is pretty creative. From the basic concept of space (and time!) travelling dragons set on conquering worlds to the hierarchy of rankings amongst the students (organic and metallic), there is some good stuff for sci-fi and fantasy fans. Too bad it's buried under pages and pages and pages of this Queen Quest. You see the only way dragons can graduate WarWings Academy is to find a mate of the opposite sex; otherwise they become slaves. And even if I'm willing to overlook the heteronormativity of such a premise, the parts of the book dealing with Gork and his interest in Runcita reads like the worst '90s dude-bro/American Pie style movie. The very, very, very little we get of Runcita herself made absolutely love her, but oh my god everyone surrounding her and Gork's incredibly shallow interest in her just made me disgusted with the whole shebang.
Also, I get the idea of Hudson writing from a teenage perspective (admittedly one with wings that breathes fire), but dear lord the stream of consciousness is bad in this one. Random tangent after random tangent after random tangent, and I normally like stream of consciousness books! But midway through Gork and I wanted to cut up all the sections and rearrange them into something less spastic.
I really, really, really wanted to like this book. The ending is sweet, although the message gets a little lost in the noise, and I'm glad Gork's Queen Quest turns out the way it does. And Fribby was amazing, give me all the robot/cybernetic dragons. It's just the bad drowns out the good in this. And that makes this dragon fan really sad.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free e-arc in exchange for a review!
Yeah, about that.
See, I appreciate the amount of world-building Hudson created, because the world is pretty creative. From the basic concept of space (and time!) travelling dragons set on conquering worlds to the hierarchy of rankings amongst the students (organic and metallic), there is some good stuff for sci-fi and fantasy fans. Too bad it's buried under pages and pages and pages of this Queen Quest. You see the only way dragons can graduate WarWings Academy is to find a mate of the opposite sex; otherwise they become slaves. And even if I'm willing to overlook the heteronormativity of such a premise, the parts of the book dealing with Gork and his interest in Runcita reads like the worst '90s dude-bro/American Pie style movie. The very, very, very little we get of Runcita herself made absolutely love her, but oh my god everyone surrounding her and Gork's incredibly shallow interest in her just made me disgusted with the whole shebang.
Also, I get the idea of Hudson writing from a teenage perspective (admittedly one with wings that breathes fire), but dear lord the stream of consciousness is bad in this one. Random tangent after random tangent after random tangent, and I normally like stream of consciousness books! But midway through Gork and I wanted to cut up all the sections and rearrange them into something less spastic.
I really, really, really wanted to like this book. The ending is sweet, although the message gets a little lost in the noise, and I'm glad Gork's Queen Quest turns out the way it does. And Fribby was amazing, give me all the robot/cybernetic dragons. It's just the bad drowns out the good in this. And that makes this dragon fan really sad.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free e-arc in exchange for a review!
avellana's review against another edition
4.0
i really liked who gork ended up with, and the ending theme of him using his 'weakness' of kindness to start a whole ass revelation type thing. i wish there were a thousand more details, but it was written well for its age audience
jammasterjamie's review against another edition
3.0
Cute. Probably should have been shelved in YA at the bookstore and not with the general Sci-fi and Fantasy, but whatever. Good clean fun.
mtishma's review against another edition
1.0
Did not finish. I wanted to like this very much but the voice turned me off from the second chapter.
vampar's review against another edition
3.0
Incoherent at times, endlessly repetitive, with a touch of humor. Enjoyable enough to read with a great concept but lacking in follow through and sometimes confusing.
cj13's review against another edition
Could not get into it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Suicide
melvin02's review against another edition
3.0
It's a good book, but sometimes the chapters are longer than I would like and with longer I mean more than 20 pages long. In the middle of the story there isn't a lot going on but at the beginning and at the end this book just kept me reading.