One Word Kill

Impossible Times, Book 1

De: Mark Lawrence

Narrado por: Matthew Frow

A Goodreads Choice Award finalist.

“I enjoyed the hell out of One Word Kill. Mark is an excellent writer.” - George R.R. Martin

In January 1986, fifteen-year-old boy-genius Nick Hayes discovers he’s dying. And it isn’t even the strangest thing to happen to him that week.

Nick and his Dungeons & Dragons-playing friends are used to living in their imaginations. But when a new girl, Mia, joins the group and reality becomes weirder than the fantasy world they visit in their weekly games, none of them are prepared for what comes next. A strange - yet curiously familiar - man is following Nick, with abilities that just shouldn’t exist. And this man bears a cryptic message: Mia’s in grave danger, though she doesn’t know it yet. She needs Nick’s help - now.

He finds himself in a race against time to unravel an impossible mystery and save the girl. And all that stands in his way is a probably terminal disease, a knife-wielding maniac and the laws of physics.

Challenge accepted.

Ready Player One meets Stranger Things in this new novel by bestselling author Mark Lawrence.

©2019 by Mark Lawrence. (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Time travel with an AD&D twist

Interesting how AD&D is integrated into the story of a kid with cancer, his friends and his future self.

Mostly ok.

I'm still not sure if this book was meant for young teens or not, but the narrator sounded like he was reading the Hardy Boys or Goosebumps. As for the book itself, in a time travel sci-fi narrative you'd expect many twists and turns as nothing is what it seems. Here, everything is what it seems and nothing is subverted. I'm left wondering what I got from listening.

Reads like very good YA fiction

Nice blending of alternate time / time travel possibilities with a coming of age story. Very different that Mark Lawrence’s better known work, but still a good listen.

good for d&d players

not sure how others will like it. also quantum physicists may be critical, I suspect.

Unexpected

As a fan of Mark Lawrence's work I was uncertain about this venture into SF. Totally different, but with the same great character development. Thoroughly enjoyable, with terrific narration. Finished in one sitting.

Interesting start, Underwhelming ending

I appreciate the comprehensive view of time travel, but the D&D aspect seemed entirely unnecessary andtrivial to the story. Then all of a sudden it ended.

Mark Lawrence

I freaking love Mark Lawrence. He can do no wrong. Everything he does, so amazing. Great narrator too.

Read this book

This is an instant classic, brilliant in every way. Matk Lawrence has given us a true masterpiece. READ THIS BOOK.

Excellent 6+ hours of entertainment

One Word Kill was an excellent story by Mark Lawrence. It was on the shorter side at about 200 pages or 6 hours and 45 minutes on audible but this meant there was never a dull moment. I’m used to reading Lawrence’s fantasy books and it was nice to see that he’s able to produce good content in other genres as well.

I see this get compared to Stranger Things quite a bit and I think that’s fair. It takes place in the 80’s, there’s a nerdy D&D group and there’s one girl in the group but I think this is where the similarities end. Although this takes place in the 80s it doesn’t rely on the nostalgia factor as much as Stranger Things does, it’s just the setting for the story. It’s hard to give other reasons why this book is different without spoiling anything but I think I can say it’s more straight SciFi than supernatural (at least so far) without giving too much away.

Another difference from Stranger things was the setting. This takes place in England instead of the U.S. I honestly didn’t realize that Lawrence grew up in the U.K. until I read this book. The slang and jargon seemed so similar to what I hear teens using in other English shows so I had to go look at his biography to see that he grew up there. Getting to see teens in 80’s England was interesting as I haven’t really seen content (besides in the actual 80s) produced in this setting.

I do have a few nitpicks. The main character has cancer. This isn’t really an issue but there’s a lot of talk about it and chemotherapy. If someone has cancer or has family or friends who do this might be a bit of a downer. The only other thing is that this book is pretty short and paying full price or an audible credit for such a short book seems a little steep. The nice thing though is that this is free on Kindle Unlimited and if you have that you can also get the audio book for $1.99 which is well worth it. I was also going to say I don’t see why Lawrence didn’t make this trilogy one book but I’ve already started book two and, although short, these really do seem like full complete arcs of a trilogy.

Overall a fantastic 6+ hours of entertainment and I look forward to the rest of the trilogy.

Mathew Frow was an excellent narrator for this book especially since it’s set in England. His narration was spot on and was one of the reasons I had to go look and see if Lawrence was from the U.K.

Lawrence at his best!

I’ve read every one of mark lawrence’s series, and this is by far the most engaging story yet. Full of twists and turns, with plenty of call backs to a decade I grew up in. The story was energetic, fast paced, and it never seems to slow down. I cannot wait to see if he writes a sequel to this brilliant book!