Loser’s Thoughts on Michael S. Atkinson’s mash-up comedy fantasy. ‘Don’t Go, Jason Waterfalls’ had me laughing aloud numerous times. It is funny, very well written, and structured perfectly. The humor is definitely this book’s shining element in my eyes, yet I was continually impressed by the plot and story. Everything came together nicely and played a role. Even the very beginning impressed me by sneakily including itself in the opening of the Wizard of Oz book/movie. I was not expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did — it’s outside my usual consumption – sounding almost like fanfic upon summary, plus I’m not a huge fan of the world of Oz (Wicked, Wizard of Oz, Oz, Stephen King’s Fairytale[?], all that). Yet this book had me from beginning to end. I enjoyed every single chapter and never felt like I needed to know more than I did about the worlds the story threads together. I would never have expected to laugh out loud at a commemorative t-shirt (first edition), or a Paris sewer-system master architect, or a safety and security conscious rat, but I most assuredly did. And I never would’ve expected to be saddened by the death of {SPOILERS – REDACTED – GO READ IT SHLUB} The character voices are so strong and well-written, you can hear them speaking in your head. (Also side note — I caught the spice girls lyric joke, and I’m fairly certain there were others I missed.) So, my only critique is sort of just a thing I would’ve liked to see: more secondary characters flitting about the Island of Misfit One-Scene Characters, but I could also see an argument for that being gratuitous and ruining the fun. Oh and another very important critique — why wasn’t there an epilogue chronicling the fate of that poor singular snack cake left behind?? I am very concerned about the snack cake.
Read original Note here.
