arrcristi's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
4.5/5 - This book has been a wonderful surprise, even if it took me four years to pick it up after I bought it. Above all, I'd say this is an extremely funny and amusing story, apart from completely bonkers! It can be read pretty fast as a lot of things go on and you're never bored. What I liked the most about it was the narrator and the way the reader is led throughout the story. It's just great! I also enjoyed the fact that the author included interesting facts about history and science in a very interesting way. I didn't think my first read of 2022 would be this good, but I'm thrilled!
dubiousdeeds's review
4.0
Before I start this review, I implore you to read this. Trust me.
If you don't, here's some thoughts.
The trilogy consists of Awful End, Dreadful Acts and Terrible times, three books, that, though related in characters and writing style each have their own quirks.
Awful End was written in letters sent to Ardagh's nephew and is thus a bit chaotic and episodic. The chaos actually works well in this crazy, world. The jokes are largely based on everyone in Eddie Dickens' world aside from himself being complete nutjobs (sometimes malevolent, sometimes benevolent) and a lot of (meta-)narratological shenanigans that sometimes make me wonder what child would like this (answer being what's left of my internal child).
This style of narratological twists and turns grows to new heights in Dreadful Acts. But from the structure of the story, the two couldn't be more different. While the listener ducks under a table trying to avoid pun-shrapnel and various kinds of self-referrential debris, Ardagh makes fun of their inability to follow what in god's name is going on and employs a lot of setup-based jokes, the joke mostly being that you lost track of something or someone in a particular situation, for which the narrator subtly calls you stupid. Despite this begrudging feeling of being outsmarted by a children's book, I enjoyed this one the most.
Terrible Times on the other hand (if you had three hands) takes a step back from joke-salvos and just lets the strangeness of the story develop. The trcik here is that a lot of the story happens while you're waiting for it to start.
There should be more adults reading children's novels and it's exactly for these kind of fun little intricate machines of novels which boast levels of hilariousness I haven't seen since A Light Fantastic. Read this, give it to children in your circumference and then steal it from them because it's to good for their small minds.
If you don't, here's some thoughts.
The trilogy consists of Awful End, Dreadful Acts and Terrible times, three books, that, though related in characters and writing style each have their own quirks.
Awful End was written in letters sent to Ardagh's nephew and is thus a bit chaotic and episodic. The chaos actually works well in this crazy, world. The jokes are largely based on everyone in Eddie Dickens' world aside from himself being complete nutjobs (sometimes malevolent, sometimes benevolent) and a lot of (meta-)narratological shenanigans that sometimes make me wonder what child would like this (answer being what's left of my internal child).
This style of narratological twists and turns grows to new heights in Dreadful Acts. But from the structure of the story, the two couldn't be more different. While the listener ducks under a table trying to avoid pun-shrapnel and various kinds of self-referrential debris, Ardagh makes fun of their inability to follow what in god's name is going on and employs a lot of setup-based jokes, the joke mostly being that you lost track of something or someone in a particular situation, for which the narrator subtly calls you stupid. Despite this begrudging feeling of being outsmarted by a children's book, I enjoyed this one the most.
Terrible Times on the other hand (if you had three hands) takes a step back from joke-salvos and just lets the strangeness of the story develop. The trcik here is that a lot of the story happens while you're waiting for it to start.
There should be more adults reading children's novels and it's exactly for these kind of fun little intricate machines of novels which boast levels of hilariousness I haven't seen since A Light Fantastic. Read this, give it to children in your circumference and then steal it from them because it's to good for their small minds.
lohn's review against another edition
5.0
Series Rating: (5 ⭐️ average)
Awful End ★★★★★
Dreadful Acts ★★★★★
Terrible Times ★★★★★
Awful End ★★★★★
Dreadful Acts ★★★★★
Terrible Times ★★★★★
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