emosheeran's review against another edition
slow-paced
2.0
I expected more from this. I’m not sure how a book can have so much information, yet at the same time make me feel like I learned absolutely nothing. There was something about the writing style that kept me from enjoying what I was reading, which made this quite cumbersome and grueling to get through. If I didn’t know the bands and people in here and it wasn’t said that this is about the Goth scene, I wouldn’t have a clue which scene is being talked about. It’s just so general and relays information in the same way every chapter, as if it’s Wikipedia. Even though the author is part of the scene and was there in the origin days, they added nothing to the book; it was so impersonal. I also wasn’t a fan of how the information was ordered. Instead of dedicating a chapter to a band, it was done by year, which made my brain all jumbled. So many names were mentioned, introduced in the middle of talking about someone else, and crossed over into other chapters that it was honestly hard to follow. And once again, if I didn’t already know most of the people in here, I would be a lost cause.
Since there was so much written, I would’ve expected way more mentions of obscure bands and not mainly the cult classics, and even though there were multiple mentions of the same lot, it still seemed skimmed over. Everything just didn't work for me.
One bit that did stand out was the section about Mary Shelley’s very tumultuous marriage; that was the most entertaining part of the book by far.
Seeing as I’m in the minority when it comes to my rating, I’m sure others will like this a lot more than me, but yeah, this kind of felt like a waste of my time. 2 stars get given because it did seem like the author put a lot of work into compiling this regardless.
Since there was so much written, I would’ve expected way more mentions of obscure bands and not mainly the cult classics, and even though there were multiple mentions of the same lot, it still seemed skimmed over. Everything just didn't work for me.
One bit that did stand out was the section about Mary Shelley’s very tumultuous marriage; that was the most entertaining part of the book by far.
Seeing as I’m in the minority when it comes to my rating, I’m sure others will like this a lot more than me, but yeah, this kind of felt like a waste of my time. 2 stars get given because it did seem like the author put a lot of work into compiling this regardless.
grace_machine's review against another edition
4.0
Very good. Brendan articulates a lot of things that I have been feeling about video games for a long time, but with a heavy arsenal of research and theory to supplement it. At lot of the stuff about embodiment in this book has helped me think through a ton of games I have played since starting it. It has its limits. Brendan's theoretical framework does not exclude disabled people, but it also doesn't bring them in and I would love to see someone roll with this to write a comprehensive video game theory about disability.
A good entry point into games studies and a work I will use and think about in my criticism from now on.
A good entry point into games studies and a work I will use and think about in my criticism from now on.
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