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A review by lonelyasfranz
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart
3.0
Imagine the finale of the second book being varied a bit and then stretched to 391 pages and made into its own book. That’s the Prisoner’s Dilemma.
There was no bus in the book, nor a Ten Man (or Pressisus?) pursuing one. The cover makes no sense.
The story itself was confusing as well. The entire thing felt like a few chapters stretched thin into an entire book. Seriously, I’m not sure what the point was. There was no obvious goal or plot like in the other books, and everything feels like a lucky stretch. The saccharine ending certainly didn’t help.
To summarize: they get captured and then escape.
That’s the whole book.
Fortunately for them, the circumstances allow them to finally take down the bad guy and live happily ever after.
I feel like this series went from slightly unrealistic fiction to full-on magical realism. The original spirit is nowhere to be found.
This book was really just a confusing waste of time. The entire thing could have been condensed into maybe a quarter of a book. It would have been decent as an ending, but was at best okay on its own.
One overwhelming feature of this book that I despised was the omniscience and omnipotence of Benedict himself.
Early in the book, the Society is eavesdropping on him, and he discovers them by DETECTING THE DIFFERENCE IN SOUND WAVES!
Then at the end, a government agent he doesn’t like is fired for asking too many ~perfectly valid~ questions, to be replaced by the subservient agent who easily bends to Nicky’s will. Tell me, how is that any different from what Curtain did? From what he desired? It isn’t. I admit the agent was a jerk, but he was villainized for making reasonable queries, something I would expect a series about precocious children to promote. Instead, Benedict is god- he makes the flowers bloom on time- and anyone who dares look too much into him must be disposed of.
I would not be surprised if book four reveals that he was Leddy No Mates all along.
Benedict is apparently against democratic government.
He is morally and intellectually superior than everyone and must be obeyed by all those under him (read, everyone).
Also, for literally no reason, Sticky GETS RID OF HIS GLASSES and REPLACES THEM WITH CONTACTS.
I would have greatly appreciated elaboration on the S.Q.-Curtain dynamic, but the author was apparently too busy making poor creative choices to do so.
He is not currently in my good graces.
That is all.
There was no bus in the book, nor a Ten Man (or Pressisus?) pursuing one. The cover makes no sense.
The story itself was confusing as well. The entire thing felt like a few chapters stretched thin into an entire book. Seriously, I’m not sure what the point was. There was no obvious goal or plot like in the other books, and everything feels like a lucky stretch. The saccharine ending certainly didn’t help.
To summarize: they get captured and then escape.
That’s the whole book.
Fortunately for them, the circumstances allow them to finally take down the bad guy and live happily ever after.
I feel like this series went from slightly unrealistic fiction to full-on magical realism. The original spirit is nowhere to be found.
This book was really just a confusing waste of time. The entire thing could have been condensed into maybe a quarter of a book. It would have been decent as an ending, but was at best okay on its own.
One overwhelming feature of this book that I despised was the omniscience and omnipotence of Benedict himself.
Early in the book, the Society is eavesdropping on him, and he discovers them by DETECTING THE DIFFERENCE IN SOUND WAVES!
Then at the end, a government agent he doesn’t like is fired for asking too many ~perfectly valid~ questions, to be replaced by the subservient agent who easily bends to Nicky’s will. Tell me, how is that any different from what Curtain did? From what he desired? It isn’t. I admit the agent was a jerk, but he was villainized for making reasonable queries, something I would expect a series about precocious children to promote. Instead, Benedict is god- he makes the flowers bloom on time- and anyone who dares look too much into him must be disposed of.
I would not be surprised if book four reveals that he was Leddy No Mates all along.
Benedict is apparently against democratic government.
He is morally and intellectually superior than everyone and must be obeyed by all those under him (read, everyone).
Also, for literally no reason, Sticky GETS RID OF HIS GLASSES and REPLACES THEM WITH CONTACTS.
I would have greatly appreciated elaboration on the S.Q.-Curtain dynamic, but the author was apparently too busy making poor creative choices to do so.
He is not currently in my good graces.
That is all.