A review by boithorn
Bible Adventures by Gabe Durham
2.0
I really wanted to like this book, given that the subject matter seemed interesting and (relatively) undocumented.
Ultimately, what turned me off was the shifting tone of the work. The straight-and-narrow threading of various firsthand accounts from employees at Wisdom Tree was great, along with the research put into the niche Christian bookstore market. The descriptions of the games themselves were pretty thorough, but not super interesting to read (maybe I should've played along with the book?). The personal connections from the author to the subject matter were underdeveloped and distracting, mainly because they would interject into the journalistic narrative without adding much additional insight into the motivations of the subjects. Finally, the book has a few too many unnecessary references that I feel like are going to be dated within the next five years (even for gaming culture).
I'm definitely interested in reading more books from this series, but this one didn't connect with me unfortunately.
Ultimately, what turned me off was the shifting tone of the work. The straight-and-narrow threading of various firsthand accounts from employees at Wisdom Tree was great, along with the research put into the niche Christian bookstore market. The descriptions of the games themselves were pretty thorough, but not super interesting to read (maybe I should've played along with the book?). The personal connections from the author to the subject matter were underdeveloped and distracting, mainly because they would interject into the journalistic narrative without adding much additional insight into the motivations of the subjects. Finally, the book has a few too many unnecessary references that I feel like are going to be dated within the next five years (even for gaming culture).
I'm definitely interested in reading more books from this series, but this one didn't connect with me unfortunately.