Another weird and wonderful story from William Pauley III. I never know what the stories will bring but I know they will bring me joy.
Connor Brannigan once again brings William's stories to life. I love listening to Connor narrate these novels. His voice is like velvet and he always brings that extra bizarre/creepy factor.

Looking forward to reading the next William Pauley III book when it is released!

Reynold and Divey Crunk run a “brackfas burrito” truck, using a mystery source of meat. After a car accident, Divey gets possessed by Vandenboom, leader of the Damned Dirt Devils, leading Reynold on a chase to get his brother back. This is a short synopsis without giving too many spoilers.

We start with an opening scene where the brothers try to trick their business partner into a game of Russian Roulette using an overpowered 1984-era Nintendo zapper. You remember that gray plastic pistol that came with the old 8-bit Nintendo consoles? Yeah, that's the one.

Unfortunately, this felt like where the novel peaked. Being a huge fan of old-school games, not to mention a regular reader of Bizarro fiction titles, I wanted to like this book a lot more. But something about it just didn't click for me. The references to Nintendo accessories being used as actual weapons felt tacked on and silly rather than clever or...well, bizarre.

The story felt very average and there seems to be some lack of motivation to the characters for their actions, or there are changes to character directions that, instead of making you go “Ooooo” with a sense of awe, make you go “huh?” with a sense of confusion.

A particular aspect to the novel that could have been played a little better in this regard was Pete, or rather Meat Pete. After being captured by Wasp Women, Reynold uses the meat for the brothers' burritos made from Pete to reconstruct him as a pile of talking meat that only he can hear talking to him (it made me flashback to Pizza the Hut from “Spaceballs”). This seemed clever in a way, but at the same time felt like a lost opportunity that could have been used to greater effect. It should also make the case that gory does not equal bizarre. Don't expect that slapping buckets of blood or fresh human meat all over a book will make it bizarre or clever (it doesn't necessarily preclude it, just don't rely on it).

Upon looking up the author, William Pauley III, it appears that this is not the first novel he's written in this particular world, such as [b:Doom Magnetic!|7845512|Doom Magnetic!|William Pauley III|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1268248679s/7845512.jpg|10951116], which would explain some of the passing reference that seemed like we were supposed to already know who or what some of these people were. This wasn't clear from the book description and might have helped. Or it might not. I'm not sure. I may try to track down [b:Doom Magnetic!|7845512|Doom Magnetic!|William Pauley III|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1268248679s/7845512.jpg|10951116] and see if it helps in understanding and appreciating The Brothers Crunk a little more.

Don't get me wrong here. I would not say that The Brothers Crunk is a bad book, but it felt rather mediocre. It's short, so if you don't like it, it won't be major waste or time, or you could like it quite a bit and take more away from it than this reviewer did, which after reading some other reviews could very well be the case. It seems that this book may be very specific to the reader. There are aspects to like, but this reader ultimately found it disappointing.

2.5 out of 5 stars (2 stars for the book, meaning it was “OK;” however, I do want to add that the cover art is awesome and alone deserves 5 stars, so since we can't give half stars on the system, The Brothers Crunk gets the benefit of the doubt and gets 3 stars). ( )

You know that sound you hear when Pacman dies? Yeah, everyone knows that sound. Imagine hearing that sound right now and that pretty much sums up how i felt about this book.

It read like a B sci-fi movie script crossed with a video game ... with mediocre writing instead of bad acting. I appreciated a few of the creative twists and the characters had a bit of potential, but this turned out to be an "action adventure" more than anything else. And I find that boring. A very short book--i didn't hate the hour and a half it took to read it, but was it worth it? imho, no. ( )

I really enjoyed The Brothers Crunk, by William Pauley III. It was an exciting, weird story set in a post-apocalyptic version of Japan. In this world, video game peripherals, like the old NES Zapper or Power Glove, work like actual weapons, and video game cheat codes can affect the real world.

The story is about two brothers, Divey and Reynold Crunk, who run a breakfast burrito truck, which breaks down in the middle of the desert. Then Divey gets possessed by a sort of techno-demon thing, and stuff starts getting really weird. This being Japan, they all end up in Tokyo for a final showdown with the forces of evil

It's a really exciting bizarro adventure story set in a cool, post-apocalyptic world.I think it would be a good choice for anyone who's old enough to remember the good old days of the Nintendo Entertainment System. ( )