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kfawcett's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
whatwasmissing's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars really. 4's a touch too much and though I did like it, I'm rounding down.
I was pretty sceptical about this one through the first hundred pages or so. It felt like the romance was meant to add a kind of humanity to a story about technology, to connect us to the protagonist, but I found it kind of forced, kind of uncomfortably horny in a very het way. In hindsight maybe a kind of clinicality may have been intentional, but the descriptions of warmth and safety in it towards the end seem to indicate it was an accident.
It picks up once the plot starts going though I think there was a messy balance between keeping reveals obscured and dropping hints of what might be important. At times things were so opaque that I couldn't get what was being hinted towards at all and just following along with what I was meant to know got tricky as I sorted out the false leads and red herrings from the things that were actually true. Other times the hints were a little too much. The slip of paper with the title of the children's book, for instance, obviously a clue, so I was sort of left waiting for it to reappear. There were absolutely moments that the balance was just right, where something seemed off without screaming it - Lewis' anger about the lost bike springs to mind. But perhaps there are just as many threads dropped, like the warning from the nurse not to sneeze when she couldn't have known that would be something to warn for. I suppose Cassie wouldn't know everything in the end, though.
The ending was very well put together, from chapter 41's haphazard view swapping, to the long sequence afterwards, back to Cassie in her flat, all great stuff. Good action and then something interesting to chew on with the difference between fantasy and reality.
I was pretty sceptical about this one through the first hundred pages or so. It felt like the romance was meant to add a kind of humanity to a story about technology, to connect us to the protagonist, but I found it kind of forced, kind of uncomfortably horny in a very het way. In hindsight maybe a kind of clinicality may have been intentional, but the descriptions of warmth and safety in it towards the end seem to indicate it was an accident.
It picks up once the plot starts going though I think there was a messy balance between keeping reveals obscured and dropping hints of what might be important. At times things were so opaque that I couldn't get what was being hinted towards at all and just following along with what I was meant to know got tricky as I sorted out the false leads and red herrings from the things that were actually true. Other times the hints were a little too much. The slip of paper with the title of the children's book, for instance, obviously a clue, so I was sort of left waiting for it to reappear. There were absolutely moments that the balance was just right, where something seemed off without screaming it - Lewis' anger about the lost bike springs to mind. But perhaps there are just as many threads dropped, like the warning from the nurse not to sneeze when she couldn't have known that would be something to warn for. I suppose Cassie wouldn't know everything in the end, though.
The ending was very well put together, from chapter 41's haphazard view swapping, to the long sequence afterwards, back to Cassie in her flat, all great stuff. Good action and then something interesting to chew on with the difference between fantasy and reality.
elliethecatlover's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
loukitsune's review against another edition
1.0
DNF. Didn’t work for me as an audio book, couldn’t get into it
purplewidow's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars. I liked the direction this book was going in, but little too slow and way too much meandering.
kellyvandamme's review against another edition
3.0
Looking back, I’ve become aware of the fact that I compared quite a lot of books to Black Mirror last year… I tried not to make the same comparison now, but it was literally the first thing that popped into my mind. A User’s Guide to Make-Believe takes life as we know it, life as we’re living it today, and adds a technology that seems highly plausible and too good to be true, rubbing our noses into everything that could go wrong (if that doesn’t sound like a Black Mirror episode, I don’t know what does). The technology in this case is called Make-Believe™. And doesn’t it sound enticing? Being able to escape reality by creating your own little world in your mind? You want to fly like a bird, or on the back of a dragon, be a princess or a warrior, veg out in a hot tub with a bunch of Victoria’s Secret models, or relive quality time with someone dear but lost to you, whatever it is your heart truly desires, you can make it happen, even if it’s only in your imagination and for only a few hours a day.
Working for Imagen, the company responsible for Make-Believe™, Cassie was one of its early users, but when she became addicted, she was sacked. As such, the story starts out with Cassie down on her luck and her money, living in a rowdy, smelly bedsit in a dilapidated low-rise. From there ensues a tale that I found entertaining but that made me feel a little incredulous at times. I’m a huge Blake Crouch fan, I know how to suspend disbelief in these kind of stories, in order to allow the story to take over and I love nothing more than to give the book free reign, have it take me on a wild ride, the wilder the better. Unfortunately, however many things I enjoyed about A User’s Guide to Make-Believe, it never completely grabbed me and I failed to truly connect with Cassie. I loved the premise but I couldn’t help but find the execution a bit lacking. I can’t go into the reasons why without talking about plot lines and giving away too much, so let’s just keep it at that.
What I did love was the way A Guide is constructed. Despite having an obvious main character, Cassie, many chapters are told from the POV of other characters. Quite often a chapter from Cassie’s POV is followed by a chapter from the POV of the character with whom she has just interacted, allowing us to see the same interaction, or its aftermath, from a different perspective. I don’t think I have ever read a book constructed in this manner so it felt unique, and it’s a technique that I really enjoyed.
To my mind, A User’s Guide to Make-Believe is an entertaining enough read with an amazing premise that didn’t fully live up to its potential.
Working for Imagen, the company responsible for Make-Believe™, Cassie was one of its early users, but when she became addicted, she was sacked. As such, the story starts out with Cassie down on her luck and her money, living in a rowdy, smelly bedsit in a dilapidated low-rise. From there ensues a tale that I found entertaining but that made me feel a little incredulous at times. I’m a huge Blake Crouch fan, I know how to suspend disbelief in these kind of stories, in order to allow the story to take over and I love nothing more than to give the book free reign, have it take me on a wild ride, the wilder the better. Unfortunately, however many things I enjoyed about A User’s Guide to Make-Believe, it never completely grabbed me and I failed to truly connect with Cassie. I loved the premise but I couldn’t help but find the execution a bit lacking. I can’t go into the reasons why without talking about plot lines and giving away too much, so let’s just keep it at that.
What I did love was the way A Guide is constructed. Despite having an obvious main character, Cassie, many chapters are told from the POV of other characters. Quite often a chapter from Cassie’s POV is followed by a chapter from the POV of the character with whom she has just interacted, allowing us to see the same interaction, or its aftermath, from a different perspective. I don’t think I have ever read a book constructed in this manner so it felt unique, and it’s a technique that I really enjoyed.
To my mind, A User’s Guide to Make-Believe is an entertaining enough read with an amazing premise that didn’t fully live up to its potential.
charlmax's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
maaggggiie's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
everyotherpageorso's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0