Reviews

Sidequest: In Realms Ungoogled by Frank J. Fleming

smmcgoldrick's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

ogreart's review against another edition

4.0

I found the juxtaposition of the mundane and the magical to be very entertaining. Cute little story.

anon27's review against another edition

3.0

The story started oddly, but was soon engrossing, often funny. Unfortunately, it went downhill, not boring, but the wit and humor was farther apart. It kept me going to the end, but what started as four to five stars, ended with barely three. I think thid kind of story would have appealed more in my teens. The narrator did a good job.

randeth's review against another edition

5.0

Argh! I got to the end and SOOOO want this to be a series.

As others have pointed out, this book is an odd read. You just have to go with the flow and the world building will happen around you. I love it when authors can pull that off, and in my opinion Fleming did that in spades here. I love the ethereal feel of the setting, it's mix of fairy tale and modern characters and actions. I love the characters and their relationships. Even when they are brief they feel real. It is definitely a character driven story. And I love the ending. It all builds naturally and I ended very satisfied. It probably doesn't need a sequel, but if it gets one I'll be first in line to read it.

lexicon_luthor's review against another edition

3.0

I really like the modern setting for a more epic fantasy story.

vaderbird's review against another edition

3.0

5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish

sdramsey's review against another edition

5.0

This book was a ton of fun and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Now, you might come out of the first chapter or so thinking, “wait, what’s going on here?” but it’s definitely worth continuing on because your questions WILL be answered! Terrance, the hero of the story, accepts a lot of things in life without really thinking about them—don’t we all? But when his eyes are opened, he has a lot of decisions to make, and they won’t be easy ones. The characters are engaging, the humour is sly, and the plot is fast-paced. The audiobook narration is also top-notch. Highly recommended if you like quirky contemporary fantasy.

theartolater's review against another edition

3.0

I have been a fan of this author mostly for his humorous political takes on Twitter. This is not a political read at all, but more of a fantasy comedy. Reading this prior to Matt Groening's Disenchanted, I'll simply say two things: 1) this works better than the TV series, and 2) This is an okay diversion that's maybe 50 pages too long as a sort of parody of fantasy tropes.

I hate the "this is fine for a self-published book" fallback, but that's where I ultimately land. Good for a quick, cheap read, but it won't blow your mind.

clockless's review against another edition

4.0

I'm almost tempted to call the book allegorical, it's biggest flaw is that it is not very subtle about it. Beyond the humor and repeated geek culture references, pushing the story forward is one message that is kind of hammered away at, some might say excessively, about not ignoring evil and taking a stand, even when you know doing so will not make a difference. The book has Something To Say and wants to make sure that you get it. The plot was enjoyable enough to make the message part tolerable, it was very well-paced and surprisingly unpredictable, and while the fantasy elements are by-and-large the store brand variety rather than something more unique, the book is genre-savvy enough to make up for it. I liked it.

bookbandit's review

4.0

So, this book is a bit interesting. It's a lot like Pulp Fiction. You're given all the answers at the beginning of the story and don't realize until the end exactly what happened at the beginning. I really can't say much else about the book without giving a LOT of it away. Also, this is one of those few books where the line between light and dark are HEAVILY skewed. I mean HEAVILY. There are people on the good side doing really really bad things, and there are people on the bad side doing really really good things. When you finish the book it leaves you wondering a LOT about what would have been the best way to go about things. Overall, I rather liked this book.