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wouterk's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I'm giving this book 3,5 stars rounded to 4. It is a wonderful palate cleanser that I would recommend to anyone. I always feel kind of guilty to make someone's hard work to out to be the ginger of the sushi restaurant, but let me tell you why that is a great compliment. For me a good palate cleanser is a book that is:
1. A well-written book that is very easy and accessible to read;
2. fit for almost any time and any mood to read;
3. fast to medium-paced, so no slogging;
4. something completely different from most things you will read and therefore really resets your mind and reading experience.
This book does them all, but then I get to immediately the first personal thing that kind of tempered my enjoyment. This book is an amazing noir work from the perspective of a funny, interesting and well thought out protagonist, Detective Tippy Triceratops. However, I've recently read 4 of the best books in the Dresden Files after each other. And it is not a fair comparison between late Butcher and Hayes' debut (hence the rounding up). I'm just slightly satiated with the first person smart guy detective vibe and then the flaws become more visible.
But let's start with the good, cause it is mostly a great and wonderful book. Tippy is a detective in the Stillreal where all important and special ideas and imaginary friends go after their person does not need them anymore. It is a very rich world that gets explained very well and we meet some amazing and fun creatures. Hayes does a great job to make them as diverse as the people you encounter on a day to day basis (of all ages). I love this world!
In the Stillreal usually creatures do not die, but now there seems to be a villain that actually kills 'friends'. And Tippy has to try and found out who or what this villain is and try to stop it. The villain is interesting and the way they try to stop it as well.
Another thing that Hayes does very naturally is using the nature of the Stillreal to make it very logical to ask for pronouns. Yes in the Stillreal someone can probably actually identify as a lamppost. But that makes sense. It is the fluidity of ideas that makes it very natural to ask a person how to call them and what their pronouns are.
Now one of the things that I liked less was that some responses of the people/creatures we encountered were somewhat repetitive, as were some of the steps in the process of solving the mystery of the murderer. By no means was it bad enough to judge the book unfavourably but there were some points where I kind of zoned out because of similarities. And then again, this is also one of the greatest risks of noir novels.
And that brings me to the unfortunate comparison to the Dresden files. Tippy is imagined and invented by his person as a very stereotype noir detective, with the particular tone of voice, jibes and banter that come with it. And I like that, but that was also somewhat repetitive in this book. And this book is short enough to not get annoyed by it, but I'm satiated with it through Dresden and Dresden really does it better. But no shade to this author at all and if you miss the Dresden file and have read everything, this is actually a great new take on the same subgenre. My recommendation is just not to read them parallel to each other.
1. A well-written book that is very easy and accessible to read;
2. fit for almost any time and any mood to read;
3. fast to medium-paced, so no slogging;
4. something completely different from most things you will read and therefore really resets your mind and reading experience.
This book does them all, but then I get to immediately the first personal thing that kind of tempered my enjoyment. This book is an amazing noir work from the perspective of a funny, interesting and well thought out protagonist, Detective Tippy Triceratops. However, I've recently read 4 of the best books in the Dresden Files after each other. And it is not a fair comparison between late Butcher and Hayes' debut (hence the rounding up). I'm just slightly satiated with the first person smart guy detective vibe and then the flaws become more visible.
But let's start with the good, cause it is mostly a great and wonderful book. Tippy is a detective in the Stillreal where all important and special ideas and imaginary friends go after their person does not need them anymore. It is a very rich world that gets explained very well and we meet some amazing and fun creatures. Hayes does a great job to make them as diverse as the people you encounter on a day to day basis (of all ages). I love this world!
In the Stillreal usually creatures do not die, but now there seems to be a villain that actually kills 'friends'. And Tippy has to try and found out who or what this villain is and try to stop it. The villain is interesting and the way they try to stop it as well.
Another thing that Hayes does very naturally is using the nature of the Stillreal to make it very logical to ask for pronouns. Yes in the Stillreal someone can probably actually identify as a lamppost. But that makes sense. It is the fluidity of ideas that makes it very natural to ask a person how to call them and what their pronouns are.
Now one of the things that I liked less was that some responses of the people/creatures we encountered were somewhat repetitive, as were some of the steps in the process of solving the mystery of the murderer. By no means was it bad enough to judge the book unfavourably but there were some points where I kind of zoned out because of similarities. And then again, this is also one of the greatest risks of noir novels.
And that brings me to the unfortunate comparison to the Dresden files. Tippy is imagined and invented by his person as a very stereotype noir detective, with the particular tone of voice, jibes and banter that come with it. And I like that, but that was also somewhat repetitive in this book. And this book is short enough to not get annoyed by it, but I'm satiated with it through Dresden and Dresden really does it better. But no shade to this author at all and if you miss the Dresden file and have read everything, this is actually a great new take on the same subgenre. My recommendation is just not to read them parallel to each other.
tobrie_or_nottobrie's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
majabwds's review
4.0
In this book we follow a toy detective triceratops as he tries to solve a murder of a new arrival to his imaginary town.
The world building is the best thing in the story. It is imaginative but with doses of realness, it's not all flowers and rainbows, there are real towns, there is a henchmen bar and an evil lair and so on. Each part of this imaginary place has it's own rules and customs and interesting character. Tippy the triceratops does his job with such care and sensibility making me feel safe as he went into dangerous territory. The relationships he has with other characters are so refreshing because there is constant communication between everybody and owning up to ones mistakes. There was no unnecessary drama. There was a lot of tension as Tippy was zeroing in on the bad guy.
I had a good time reading this book.
TW: (SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!) serial killer
The world building is the best thing in the story. It is imaginative but with doses of realness, it's not all flowers and rainbows, there are real towns, there is a henchmen bar and an evil lair and so on. Each part of this imaginary place has it's own rules and customs and interesting character. Tippy the triceratops does his job with such care and sensibility making me feel safe as he went into dangerous territory. The relationships he has with other characters are so refreshing because there is constant communication between everybody and owning up to ones mistakes. There was no unnecessary drama. There was a lot of tension as Tippy was zeroing in on the bad guy.
I had a good time reading this book.
TW: (SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!) serial killer
willrefuge's review
4.0
4.5 / 5 ✪
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2019/09/03/book-review-the-imaginary-corpse-by-tyler-hayes/
The Imaginary Corpse is an adorable book in a number of ways. It’s a cross between Toy Story and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, under the night sky of a film-era detective noir. Detective Tippy is a stuffed, yellow triceratops. Yes, you read that right. He’s the head and only detective at the Stuffed Animal Detective Agency. There’s nothing he likes more than root beer floats, long rides in the dryer—and of course—his creator, Sandra.
The Stuffed Animal Detective Agency operates in the Stillreal, a place where capital-F Friends end up when their creators are forced to abandon them. It’s hard to explain, but the book does a stellar job—I’ll give it a quick shot. You see, some imaginary friends are just that: Imaginary. But if a friend is imbibed with such a force of love or affection, or detail to the extent that they’re very real to their creator, they become a Friend. Alternatively, a nightmare that frightens and terrifies can often feel very real in its own right, thus becoming a Friend as well (albeit a different kind). Now, most often these Friends will be parted with or forgotten when a child outgrows them, discarded when an artist or writer moves on or their commission is canceled. But occasionally, there’s an event that leads to a Friend being abandoned. Some trauma, some insight, some… thing else. And the Friend is forcibly ripped from their creator, never to return. These Friends end up in the Stillreal.
Going to the Stillreal is a one-way trip. Friends can get hurt or injured there—most experience trauma, anxiety or worse from their forced separation from their creator—but once arriving in the Stillreal, they can’t actually die. That is, until they start.
When Tippy witnesses this, the case begins. It will lead down paths even dark by Playtime Town standards. It will force Detective Tippy to confront his own issues—the trauma, the loss, and his mounting depression. It may even change him for the better, should he and the rest of the Stillreal survive it. For even in Playtime Town does darkness loom, and Tippy may not have enough in his pocket flask of root beer to see him through it.
What to say about the Imaginary Corpse? Mostly good things, I promise.
I mean, it’s good. It’s definitely worth reading! It’s in a class all on its own, for a whole host of reasons—but mostly because it is adorable. The yellow triceratops lead, the amount of hugs offered and given, the Rootbeerium… And yet the issues these Friends deal with draw a number of parallels to everyday life. The trauma, the loss, the anxiety, the depression they feel; all seems a tangible, weighted thing, that I struggled with in my read through. Some have overcome the lot, though most still struggle on valiantly in a world they can’t escape, a living memory of a life they’re never to revisit, the memory of their creator, their best friend still fresh in their mind and yet irretrievable at the same time. Tippy walks a fine line—love, hope on one end with depression, darkness and loss lurking on the other side.
Tippy may be one of my favorite characters ever. From his time with Sandra, Tippy was imbued with Detective Stuff, a kind of sixth-sense that helped him know things, feel things, gather clues almost as if by magic—as it might seem to a small child who witnesses detectives doing such. Despite this yellow triceratops being filled with no more than root beer and stuffing, he’s more human than most of what you’ll find in media nowadays.
While Hayes starts with an interesting premise, a fantastical setting and a generally entertaining plot, the Imaginary Corpse falls short of perfection. The mystery lets the story down, sadly. And the Detective Stuff—while a powerful tool—is not enough to carry the story by itself. A couple of times I had to backtrack and reread a section where Tippy connected the dots, because it didn’t exactly make sense. Occasionally, the Detective Stuff would just bypass key details and leap on to the next, like they were too hard to explain or write. Though I suppose that’s a good use for a superpower, innit?
TL;DR
The Imaginary Corpse is a fantasy-mystery-noir, set in a strange but delightful world, filled with some of my favorite characters of all-time. And I really can’t say enough good things about it. An immensely entertaining read, the book takes its readers through the trauma and darkness—coaxing them all the while with hope and acceptance, before finally reaching a hard-fought conclusion that is neither, yet somehow both. While the novel’s mystery may be its biggest weakness, the Imaginary Corpse manages to tell the story it set out to, in the manner it set out to, while toeing the line between dark and adorable. And that above all else is its greatest triumph. Quite the debut from Tyler Hayes—one I’ll not be forgetting any time soon!
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2019/09/03/book-review-the-imaginary-corpse-by-tyler-hayes/
The Imaginary Corpse is an adorable book in a number of ways. It’s a cross between Toy Story and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, under the night sky of a film-era detective noir. Detective Tippy is a stuffed, yellow triceratops. Yes, you read that right. He’s the head and only detective at the Stuffed Animal Detective Agency. There’s nothing he likes more than root beer floats, long rides in the dryer—and of course—his creator, Sandra.
The Stuffed Animal Detective Agency operates in the Stillreal, a place where capital-F Friends end up when their creators are forced to abandon them. It’s hard to explain, but the book does a stellar job—I’ll give it a quick shot. You see, some imaginary friends are just that: Imaginary. But if a friend is imbibed with such a force of love or affection, or detail to the extent that they’re very real to their creator, they become a Friend. Alternatively, a nightmare that frightens and terrifies can often feel very real in its own right, thus becoming a Friend as well (albeit a different kind). Now, most often these Friends will be parted with or forgotten when a child outgrows them, discarded when an artist or writer moves on or their commission is canceled. But occasionally, there’s an event that leads to a Friend being abandoned. Some trauma, some insight, some… thing else. And the Friend is forcibly ripped from their creator, never to return. These Friends end up in the Stillreal.
Going to the Stillreal is a one-way trip. Friends can get hurt or injured there—most experience trauma, anxiety or worse from their forced separation from their creator—but once arriving in the Stillreal, they can’t actually die. That is, until they start.
When Tippy witnesses this, the case begins. It will lead down paths even dark by Playtime Town standards. It will force Detective Tippy to confront his own issues—the trauma, the loss, and his mounting depression. It may even change him for the better, should he and the rest of the Stillreal survive it. For even in Playtime Town does darkness loom, and Tippy may not have enough in his pocket flask of root beer to see him through it.
What to say about the Imaginary Corpse? Mostly good things, I promise.
I mean, it’s good. It’s definitely worth reading! It’s in a class all on its own, for a whole host of reasons—but mostly because it is adorable. The yellow triceratops lead, the amount of hugs offered and given, the Rootbeerium… And yet the issues these Friends deal with draw a number of parallels to everyday life. The trauma, the loss, the anxiety, the depression they feel; all seems a tangible, weighted thing, that I struggled with in my read through. Some have overcome the lot, though most still struggle on valiantly in a world they can’t escape, a living memory of a life they’re never to revisit, the memory of their creator, their best friend still fresh in their mind and yet irretrievable at the same time. Tippy walks a fine line—love, hope on one end with depression, darkness and loss lurking on the other side.
Tippy may be one of my favorite characters ever. From his time with Sandra, Tippy was imbued with Detective Stuff, a kind of sixth-sense that helped him know things, feel things, gather clues almost as if by magic—as it might seem to a small child who witnesses detectives doing such. Despite this yellow triceratops being filled with no more than root beer and stuffing, he’s more human than most of what you’ll find in media nowadays.
While Hayes starts with an interesting premise, a fantastical setting and a generally entertaining plot, the Imaginary Corpse falls short of perfection. The mystery lets the story down, sadly. And the Detective Stuff—while a powerful tool—is not enough to carry the story by itself. A couple of times I had to backtrack and reread a section where Tippy connected the dots, because it didn’t exactly make sense. Occasionally, the Detective Stuff would just bypass key details and leap on to the next, like they were too hard to explain or write. Though I suppose that’s a good use for a superpower, innit?
TL;DR
The Imaginary Corpse is a fantasy-mystery-noir, set in a strange but delightful world, filled with some of my favorite characters of all-time. And I really can’t say enough good things about it. An immensely entertaining read, the book takes its readers through the trauma and darkness—coaxing them all the while with hope and acceptance, before finally reaching a hard-fought conclusion that is neither, yet somehow both. While the novel’s mystery may be its biggest weakness, the Imaginary Corpse manages to tell the story it set out to, in the manner it set out to, while toeing the line between dark and adorable. And that above all else is its greatest triumph. Quite the debut from Tyler Hayes—one I’ll not be forgetting any time soon!
sirswanny's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
mackle13's review
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I have to say, this book is definitely much darker - more "noir" - than I was actually expecting for a book that's about Imaginary Friends, lead up by a stuffed dinosaur detective. I went in sort of expecting a sort of "kids noir", but it wasn't that. It hit heavier than I was expecting.
Which isn't a bad thing. Just took me a few chapters to adjust my expectations.
Once that was done, I was able to get into the character and the world. It took me a bit to get a grip on the world-building - exactly how Friends are made, because there seems to be a couple of different methods, and it was kind of exposition heavy at the start, and I was trying to make logical sense of everything.
But, eventually, as we got more into the story and less into the expositionary parts, I really got into the story. I loved the characters and the way they interact. I love Detective Trippy trying to rein in his snark, but finding it difficult at times. (Something I, personally, really relate to.)
I admit, I still had a little trouble following some of Trippy's conclusions. It took a little while for him to start putting the clues together, but once he did everything came together very quickly. The hows and whys of the whodunit was scary but intriguing.
While this appears to be a standalone currently, if this becomes a series I'll definitely pick up the next. I would love to spend more time with Trippy, Spiderhand, Miss Mighty, and the other Friends.
Which isn't a bad thing. Just took me a few chapters to adjust my expectations.
Once that was done, I was able to get into the character and the world. It took me a bit to get a grip on the world-building - exactly how Friends are made, because there seems to be a couple of different methods, and it was kind of exposition heavy at the start, and I was trying to make logical sense of everything.
But, eventually, as we got more into the story and less into the expositionary parts, I really got into the story. I loved the characters and the way they interact. I love Detective Trippy trying to rein in his snark, but finding it difficult at times. (Something I, personally, really relate to.)
I admit, I still had a little trouble following some of Trippy's conclusions. It took a little while for him to start putting the clues together, but once he did everything came together very quickly. The hows and whys of the whodunit was scary but intriguing.
While this appears to be a standalone currently, if this becomes a series I'll definitely pick up the next. I would love to spend more time with Trippy, Spiderhand, Miss Mighty, and the other Friends.
kcup21's review against another edition
I loved the concept and the world and characters that were built but after a good portion of the story unfolding I could not feel very invested in the story or characters - it felt fleeting. I appreciated the humor and the unique world. I think if you like film noir then you’d really enjoy this.
kickingpaper's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
coris's review
4.0
Tippy the triceratops was an imaginary friend, before his little girl lost faith in him. Now he lives in the Stillreal, the underbelly of the imagination, where discarded ideas go when they're too Real to disappear. He's a detective, mostly taking on small cases, until he witnesses the violent murder of a newly-arrived idea and has to solve the mystery before there's nothing left but imaginary corpses.
This is absolutely not a kids book -- yet it is also quite sweet, and Tippy is true to his triceratops stuffie roots in some really fun ways. It also doesn't try too hard with morals or meaning, it's just a good time in a very creative alternate world. Lots of great side characters, of various genders and physicalities and radical acceptance throughout ... the underlying experience of being unwanted supercedes any other consideration.
Read if you'd like literally fluffy noir or stories about the imagination. Avoid if the imaginary friend storyline from _Inside Out_ annoyed you, you hate anything even slightly super-hero, or the content warnings aren't for you.
This is absolutely not a kids book -- yet it is also quite sweet, and Tippy is true to his triceratops stuffie roots in some really fun ways. It also doesn't try too hard with morals or meaning, it's just a good time in a very creative alternate world. Lots of great side characters, of various genders and physicalities and radical acceptance throughout ... the underlying experience of being unwanted supercedes any other consideration.
Read if you'd like literally fluffy noir or stories about the imagination. Avoid if the imaginary friend storyline from _Inside Out_ annoyed you, you hate anything even slightly super-hero, or the content warnings aren't for you.