Death By Cliché 2: The Wrath of Con

By: Bob Defendi

Narrated by: Robert J Defendi

Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

Damico is trapped in a fantasy role-playing game. Not "trapped at the table" like Thanksgiving dinner after a particularly unpleasant election. Trapped inside.

Back in the real world, he's probably bleeding to death in the trunk of the game master's car. On a happier note, he currently rules this improbably constructed world from the very plush Comfy Chair, which he ordered built to replace the previous overlord's throne. It's amazing what a true artist can do with hard wood, soft animals, and relaxation magic.

Unfortunately, this world exists to serve a fantasy role-playing game, and players back in the real world have started rolling dice again. An artifact that grants complete control of the weather has fallen into the hands of a madman, and Damico must join the adventurers in their quest to face-stab evil in the name of justice. Also, he needs to decide whether to become the Dark God of Destruction, so his schedule is filling up quickly.

©2017 Bob Defendi (P)2017 Bob Defendi

Hehehe..

I learned that you should never drink milk while listening to this book.. Gamers be warned..

more cliché than you can shake a cat at

so, how do you review a book when humor is a strong part of it. if your a comedian you can look at how well the jokes land. I'm no comedian. to be fair, I don't even read many books where humor is part of them.

then, how about narrative structure? that is difficult to do when you have a narrator who is self-aware and not only argues with the writer, but goes against his wishes.

story structure? humor gives so much leeway here that anything I want to bring up could be explained as a joke within the story, if the narrator hadn't already called out the writer on it.

genre? humor isn't a grnre, it's a seasoning. the genre here is RPG lit, more precisely table top RPG, and here the book excells. we get a story where the freewill of the NPCs mode with the players actions, and game tropes, to give us a fun adventure filled with surprisingly well rounded characters, twists and turns, and character arcs. while never leaving the game, the story manages to show us enough of the players to get to know them and feel for what is happening to them outside the game.

this book made me smile often, chuckle every so often and even made me laugh, as well as genuinely care about what happened to these people, players and NPCs alike

and I hope that last hint is a promise, because I want more of this series