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alisong7's review against another edition
1.0
At first this book was really interesting to me. But after reading more it just got confusing and weird. It made sense but at the same time it didn't. Too many characters and not enough character development.
barbec's review against another edition
2.0
I thought the mix between action and science fiction was kind of odd. The story was interesting in some parts but the entire story seemed predictable and a little cliched. On the upside, this story makes me wonder what James Patterson's other books and stories are like.
rosepetals1984's review against another edition
2.0
I knew what I was getting into when I picked up James Patterson's "Toys". This was entirely self-inflicted on my part. The overblown premise, for one, with the comparison of the hero being above James Bond and Jason Bourne, suggested that not everything in this book was what it seemed. Not to mention the character's living a Gary Stu perfect lifestyle, which suddenly comes crashing down when a startling discovery changes his life and sets him on the run from governmental authorities.
Still, I decided I'd give it a go. It helped that Matt Bomer, of USA's "White Collar," narrated the audiobook. He was probably the most consistent and great thing about the experience, so I'm not even sorry that I spent about eight hours listening to his smooth delivery of the story. The book on the other hand? Meh.
The action scenes were decent, fluid in their pacing - that's probably the one good thing I can say about the story. The rest was a mess. I'm not going to say that the story didn't have decent ideas and worldbuilding structure for a potentially enthralling sci-fi thriller, but the characters and plot details were a massive fail. How does the character end up hating humans all his life to all of a sudden aligning with them and fighting with them when he discovers himself to be one of them? The logic seemed to be missing in the flesh of the story and that's one of the things that turned me off. I didn't mind the setup of of the world, the elite versus the domestic classes, but a lot of it was basic cheese. The sex references/scenes I would've rather done without entirely.
I'd honestly recommend that people give this story a pass. There are much more thorough sci-fi thrillers out there with great worldbuilding, memorable characters, and clashes that actually mean something. This was nothing more than a stock story with not much logic.
Overall score: 1.5/5
Still, I decided I'd give it a go. It helped that Matt Bomer, of USA's "White Collar," narrated the audiobook. He was probably the most consistent and great thing about the experience, so I'm not even sorry that I spent about eight hours listening to his smooth delivery of the story. The book on the other hand? Meh.
The action scenes were decent, fluid in their pacing - that's probably the one good thing I can say about the story. The rest was a mess. I'm not going to say that the story didn't have decent ideas and worldbuilding structure for a potentially enthralling sci-fi thriller, but the characters and plot details were a massive fail. How does the character end up hating humans all his life to all of a sudden aligning with them and fighting with them when he discovers himself to be one of them? The logic seemed to be missing in the flesh of the story and that's one of the things that turned me off. I didn't mind the setup of of the world, the elite versus the domestic classes, but a lot of it was basic cheese. The sex references/scenes I would've rather done without entirely.
I'd honestly recommend that people give this story a pass. There are much more thorough sci-fi thrillers out there with great worldbuilding, memorable characters, and clashes that actually mean something. This was nothing more than a stock story with not much logic.
Overall score: 1.5/5
cindy_todd1's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting concept. Set in the future... not exactly my favorite James Patterson style, but ended up pretty decent. If you don't mind using a little imagination, about amazing technology ideas... this book's for you.
malinanna's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
billies_not_so_secret_diary's review against another edition
2.0
This was a very quick read! It only took me a couple of hours to read the thing. But I really didn't like it. The story was like other books/movies, "I thought this, but it was really that", so it wasn't very original, it was pretty boring.
queengwen's review against another edition
2.0
I only gave this three stars because its better than the last james patterson book I read. The writing annoyed me so bad, I had to listen to the rest of the book.The book dosent have much of a backstory .Its fact paced which is good in some cases but some detail would have took this story a long way. I dont recvommend james patterson books to avid readers who can easily see his flaws in them.
tdeshler's review against another edition
3.0
There were a few clever bits here, but in the end it was hard to be very sympathetic about the characters. The cartoonish plot relied too much on cardboard cutouts of real people.
george_farrants's review against another edition
1.0
Poor - found myself in a crisis on holiday with nothing to read and picked up a pack of three James Pattersons for £5. It turned out that the price was far too high for these books. (but I still read it - a crisis is a crisis!)