molokov 's review for:

Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett

3.0

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This is a light kids' book that unfortunately feels like it belongs only at the time it was written - in the 1990s. The version I have even has a 2004 introduction update, which already feels dated. I could relate to Johnny and his friends with their computer games because it was the sort of thing I played when growing up, but kids of today would need a history lesson to understand the context of both the 1991 Gulf War (the first 'televised' war), and of course, what computers and technology were like in the 1990s. Taking the dated-ness of the book aside, it's a very simple story with fairly shallow characters - and although there's some amusing jokes and references, it definitely doesn't shine and shows its age significantly.