Review: John Dies at the End by David Wong

Title: John Dies at the End
Author: David Wong
Genre: Paranormal, horror, humor, fantasy, sci-fi, adult
Published: 2007
Source: Kindle loan

This book is a bit of a cult classic, originally published online then turned into a print book. It was completely trippy and the strangest book I have ever read. I'm also pretty sure it could almost be classified as "bizarro."

John and David, two college dropouts and beer connoisseurs living in Undisclosed, have gotten involved in some heavy stuff. The drug is called Soy Sauce, and their lives are forever changed the instant they first take it. The drug causes intense hallucinations, time travel, and visits to various dimensions. Once taken, your life will be permanently altered and filled with terror. The world is counting on them to destroy the monsters and creatures that appear . . .

Erm, okay, so . . . this book was so completely all over the place, it's a bit hard to classify. Instead, I'll tell you that it has a little bit of everything: sci-fi and fantasy aspects with the time travel and dimension traveling, horror and paranormal aspects with the monsters and creatures, humor with the character's personalities and strange one-liners . . . and the list could go on. I felt quite disoriented while reading, and vaguely confused the entire time. I think that's an expected reaction with this book, though.

The story kind of dragged at times which bummed me out, but then at other times it ran through at a rapid pace. I'd have to say I liked David, who narrated, because he was kind of a jackass, and I enjoyed John too, because he was kind of a smartass. For the most part, this book isn't actually scary, it's more humorous and just plain strange than anything else.

This is book is NOT for everyone. In fact, it's for a very small audience. I'm a big Chuck Palahniuk fan, and I thought his stuff was weird . . . well that's nothing compared to this story. So, if you decide to read it, be prepared to be weirded out, grossed out, and completely confused. You'll kind of feel like you're on the Soy Sauce yourself. Hmm . . .

My Rating: 3/5