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verumsolum's review against another edition
3.0
I think my biggest problem with the book is: I'm not the target audience for this book. I found it mostly pleasant enough, but not very interesting and engaging for me. And then, near the end of the story… came a passage that I may have read more into than was intended, and because of my personal history, it struck me the wrong way. So… being doubly on the wrong side of this book, I don't know that I can step back enough to guess how this book might appear to another reader.
ki4eva's review against another edition
3.0
I received this e-book free through Goodreads First Read.
A unique and funny read.
A unique and funny read.
kriscq's review against another edition
3.0
General Comments
In all honesty, it took me a while to warm up to this book. While nothing grabbed me at the beginning, the story was well-written and the concept was so pleasantly different that I kept reading. As I read on the book became more engaging. I found myself laughing, raising my eyebrows, and sometimes squealing in surprise and excitement after the author used a familiar element from cartoons. Jeremy Rodden did a lovely job of bringing life to cartoons as we know them and it was very easy to tell that he knew his subject well.
Critical Review
Author’s Voice/ POV:
The majority of the book is written in the third person POV, however, there are some journal entry-type sections and these are written in the first person. The transitions from the main story, which was set in the Tooniverse, and the journal entire, which were set in the real world, were smooth and did not disrupt reading. This is due in part to the easy flow of the story as well as to the fact I found myself able to accept that the two worlds existed side-by-side or rather one-on-top-the-other and that it was only right that we should see the events occurring in both of them as they affected each other.
Characters:
The majority of the characters that we come across in Toonopolis were relatively flat. However, they did represent the perfect example of many supporting characters in cartoons. Our protagonist, Gemini, was reasonably fleshed out but I found it hard to really relate to him. He wasn’t a very emotional character and I identify best with those types.
Jimbob, the talking eggplant, was the perfect example of a cartoon and I loved him from the beginning. His quirkiness and his corny jokes really spoke to me, however, it got to be a little too much by the end and I really felt that some of the other characters’ treatment of him was unnecessary and a little forced.
Storyline/ Plot:
My strongest feelings about Toonopolis came from the concept. A human boy in a toon universe on a quest to save the cartoons as well as to discover the truth about himself. While the base plot something we’ve seen many times, the setting alone makes this book standout. Especially as it’s a setting that is so utterly familiar yet alien. Who didn’t watch cartoons when they were younger? Who didn’t laugh at the funny and unrealistic things our favourite cartoon characters did? What struck me most was how well the author knew his subject. He managed to voice opinions or bring attention to certain things that we all accept in cartoons but never really think about and he also created rules for them. His writing provides the oddest but most amusing example of world building that I have ever seen.
Other:
Okay, I have to mention this again but I really loved the concept. It was brilliant and the author did it justice. I also loved the short flashes back to reality. They provided that extra something that helped me to connect to the story. My biggest turn-off was comment made by one character about teenagers in general and somehow, I took it personally. It felt a little too judgmental especially when teenagers make up part of the book’s audience.
Rating Conclusion
Overall, I’d give this story 3 out of 5 stars. While the concept was brilliant, the overall story didn’t grab and hold my attention as much as I would have liked.
For more reviews check out my book blog: Words That Fly
In all honesty, it took me a while to warm up to this book. While nothing grabbed me at the beginning, the story was well-written and the concept was so pleasantly different that I kept reading. As I read on the book became more engaging. I found myself laughing, raising my eyebrows, and sometimes squealing in surprise and excitement after the author used a familiar element from cartoons. Jeremy Rodden did a lovely job of bringing life to cartoons as we know them and it was very easy to tell that he knew his subject well.
Critical Review
Author’s Voice/ POV:
The majority of the book is written in the third person POV, however, there are some journal entry-type sections and these are written in the first person. The transitions from the main story, which was set in the Tooniverse, and the journal entire, which were set in the real world, were smooth and did not disrupt reading. This is due in part to the easy flow of the story as well as to the fact I found myself able to accept that the two worlds existed side-by-side or rather one-on-top-the-other and that it was only right that we should see the events occurring in both of them as they affected each other.
Characters:
The majority of the characters that we come across in Toonopolis were relatively flat. However, they did represent the perfect example of many supporting characters in cartoons. Our protagonist, Gemini, was reasonably fleshed out but I found it hard to really relate to him. He wasn’t a very emotional character and I identify best with those types.
Jimbob, the talking eggplant, was the perfect example of a cartoon and I loved him from the beginning. His quirkiness and his corny jokes really spoke to me, however, it got to be a little too much by the end and I really felt that some of the other characters’ treatment of him was unnecessary and a little forced.
Storyline/ Plot:
My strongest feelings about Toonopolis came from the concept. A human boy in a toon universe on a quest to save the cartoons as well as to discover the truth about himself. While the base plot something we’ve seen many times, the setting alone makes this book standout. Especially as it’s a setting that is so utterly familiar yet alien. Who didn’t watch cartoons when they were younger? Who didn’t laugh at the funny and unrealistic things our favourite cartoon characters did? What struck me most was how well the author knew his subject. He managed to voice opinions or bring attention to certain things that we all accept in cartoons but never really think about and he also created rules for them. His writing provides the oddest but most amusing example of world building that I have ever seen.
Other:
Okay, I have to mention this again but I really loved the concept. It was brilliant and the author did it justice. I also loved the short flashes back to reality. They provided that extra something that helped me to connect to the story. My biggest turn-off was comment made by one character about teenagers in general and somehow, I took it personally. It felt a little too judgmental especially when teenagers make up part of the book’s audience.
Rating Conclusion
Overall, I’d give this story 3 out of 5 stars. While the concept was brilliant, the overall story didn’t grab and hold my attention as much as I would have liked.
For more reviews check out my book blog: Words That Fly
pandemoniumpizza's review
I’ve had this for a while and have been meaning to read it for such a long time and then the other day I just decided to read it because I was looking for something funny. Needless to say there were quite a few funny parts in the book.
There are so many funny references in this book that it was so awesome. If you watch older cartoons then you will notice a lot of these. I thought it was really fun going through and spotting the different references.
The story line was really interesting and it was nice and simple which is good because I wasn’t really in the mood for something with a heavy story line. I just found it really entertaining which was great.
The main character Gemini, was interesting. It’s always interesting to read a book from a male point of view. He was also funny which I really liked. As were his companions, such as Jimbob the eggplant.
I really whizzed through Toonopolis: Gemini as it’s a whole lot of fun and has a really entertaining story line. If you’re looking for something funny and different then definitely check out Toonopolis: Gemini.
There are so many funny references in this book that it was so awesome. If you watch older cartoons then you will notice a lot of these. I thought it was really fun going through and spotting the different references.
The story line was really interesting and it was nice and simple which is good because I wasn’t really in the mood for something with a heavy story line. I just found it really entertaining which was great.
The main character Gemini, was interesting. It’s always interesting to read a book from a male point of view. He was also funny which I really liked. As were his companions, such as Jimbob the eggplant.
I really whizzed through Toonopolis: Gemini as it’s a whole lot of fun and has a really entertaining story line. If you’re looking for something funny and different then definitely check out Toonopolis: Gemini.
stevethomas's review
3.0
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
“Toonopolis: Gemini” follows the adventures of Gemini, a fairly nondescript boy in bright fuchsia pants from our world who has been sucked into a land of imagination via a shady government experiment. Toonopolis is the land of cartoons, where it’s always Saturday morning and characters imagined by humans live and play until either their creators die or they become TMed and move on to a more permanent residence elsewhere. They are sorted by category, with separate settlements for anime, video game characters, racy late-night cable cartoons, and so forth. As a human visiting Toonopolis, Gemini is an Outsider, which gives him the ability to manipulate the cartoon world in ways a normal cartoon could not--kind of like Neo in The Matrix (instead of knowing Kung Fu, he knows how to keep his eyes closed while running off a cliff; in Toonopolis, you don’t fall until you notice you’re in the air). He’s on the hunt for another Outsider named Shadowy Figure, who has been murdering cartoon characters and causing general mayhem. There are some cool twists to the worldbuilding that I’d rather let you discover for yourself.
For the most part, each chapter follows the same pattern. Gemini travels to a new corner of Toonopolis, the reader gets a rapid-fire series of jokes about the topic of that realm, Gemini meets a character who helps him push the plot along, and he moves on to the next realm. It makes the chapters feel a little formulaic, but it keeps things fresh and it keeps that pacing fast. This isn’t a book about character development or a complex plot; it’s a vehicle for the author to riff on cartoons and related media and winking at classic characters and stories without violating T.M.
The comic style is very much an “anything for a laugh” approach. The first major gag happened right after Gemini entered the cartoon world. Rodden had just introduced us to the character, so a cartoon mirror walks up to him out of nowhere to give an excuse for a physical description in the tropiest way possible: the main character checking himself out. To rattle off a few other representative gags, in the Superhero world, we meet a bear-themed hero and his sidekick, Little Dipper (A+ pun). In the video game world, Gemini picks a quest off a job board and gets bullied into a turn-based battle. While traveling through the sewer, we meet Poot the Sentient Fart Cloud, who has a heart of gold and the stench of a butt. In the anime world, background characters catch a glimpse of a girl’s panties and have spontaneous nosebleeds, and Gemini has to decide between dubs and subs. Fight scenes are full of cartoon physics.
My main criticism is that we never stay in these realms long enough to get past the surface-level humor, so I felt like many of the jokes were low-hanging fruit. But they came fast and enough of them landed that I had a good time reading this one. The other issue is that most of the characters were kind of bland and didn’t really have much of a schtick; this is setting-based humor, not character-based. The stand-out character was Gemini’s guide, Jimbob the Two Foot Tall Talking Eggplant. Jimbob was crass, irreverent, and sarcastic, making him my kind of dude and the highlight of the book for me. There’s a moment where he’s worried about going for a swim because salt-water can suck the bitterness out of an eggplant, so Gemini gleefully tosses him in.
The humor most reminded me of self-aware postmodern cartoons like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Tiny Toons, and Bonkers. There’s not a lot of depth here, but you’ll probably find something to laugh at.
“Toonopolis: Gemini” follows the adventures of Gemini, a fairly nondescript boy in bright fuchsia pants from our world who has been sucked into a land of imagination via a shady government experiment. Toonopolis is the land of cartoons, where it’s always Saturday morning and characters imagined by humans live and play until either their creators die or they become TMed and move on to a more permanent residence elsewhere. They are sorted by category, with separate settlements for anime, video game characters, racy late-night cable cartoons, and so forth. As a human visiting Toonopolis, Gemini is an Outsider, which gives him the ability to manipulate the cartoon world in ways a normal cartoon could not--kind of like Neo in The Matrix (instead of knowing Kung Fu, he knows how to keep his eyes closed while running off a cliff; in Toonopolis, you don’t fall until you notice you’re in the air). He’s on the hunt for another Outsider named Shadowy Figure, who has been murdering cartoon characters and causing general mayhem. There are some cool twists to the worldbuilding that I’d rather let you discover for yourself.
For the most part, each chapter follows the same pattern. Gemini travels to a new corner of Toonopolis, the reader gets a rapid-fire series of jokes about the topic of that realm, Gemini meets a character who helps him push the plot along, and he moves on to the next realm. It makes the chapters feel a little formulaic, but it keeps things fresh and it keeps that pacing fast. This isn’t a book about character development or a complex plot; it’s a vehicle for the author to riff on cartoons and related media and winking at classic characters and stories without violating T.M.
The comic style is very much an “anything for a laugh” approach. The first major gag happened right after Gemini entered the cartoon world. Rodden had just introduced us to the character, so a cartoon mirror walks up to him out of nowhere to give an excuse for a physical description in the tropiest way possible: the main character checking himself out. To rattle off a few other representative gags, in the Superhero world, we meet a bear-themed hero and his sidekick, Little Dipper (A+ pun). In the video game world, Gemini picks a quest off a job board and gets bullied into a turn-based battle. While traveling through the sewer, we meet Poot the Sentient Fart Cloud, who has a heart of gold and the stench of a butt. In the anime world, background characters catch a glimpse of a girl’s panties and have spontaneous nosebleeds, and Gemini has to decide between dubs and subs. Fight scenes are full of cartoon physics.
My main criticism is that we never stay in these realms long enough to get past the surface-level humor, so I felt like many of the jokes were low-hanging fruit. But they came fast and enough of them landed that I had a good time reading this one. The other issue is that most of the characters were kind of bland and didn’t really have much of a schtick; this is setting-based humor, not character-based. The stand-out character was Gemini’s guide, Jimbob the Two Foot Tall Talking Eggplant. Jimbob was crass, irreverent, and sarcastic, making him my kind of dude and the highlight of the book for me. There’s a moment where he’s worried about going for a swim because salt-water can suck the bitterness out of an eggplant, so Gemini gleefully tosses him in.
The humor most reminded me of self-aware postmodern cartoons like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Tiny Toons, and Bonkers. There’s not a lot of depth here, but you’ll probably find something to laugh at.
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