Gillian's Reviews > The Calling

This is a joke...right?

Lol even the title is similar. Bound to be a winner >.<

How did this even get past the editors? The publishing company itself? I admit that I do enjoy the Lorien Legacies, and they are my guilty pleasure, but still...

Maybe it's being self published?

The interesting thing is I don't see a publisher listed below... but I wouldn't think James Frey would self-pub, would be? Either way, the synopsis is just insane.

Pretty sure Harper bought it, unfortunately. They were tweeting about it earlier.

Yeah, I thought so. Whyyyyyyyy

I love your review, G.

They linked to your review in Flavorwire today :)

http://flavorwire.com/433808/why-cant...

Bekka wrote: "They linked to your review in Flavorwire today :)

http://flavorwire.com/433808/why-cant..."

AHHHHHHHHHH COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

Congratulations!! We read Flavorwire pretty much every day here. :D Or at least Dan does...

Definitely not getting self-published. Making millions on this book deal. What a joke. AND a perfect analogy in the Flavorwire article.

Bekka wrote: "They linked to your review in Flavorwire today :)

http://flavorwire.com/433808/why-cant..."

YOU'RE FAMOUS, GILLIANT

I am excited to read this book. James Frey is very talented.

He's a great guy - consistent in his kindness and there for the underdog . His writing is based on a childhood favorite book and is a spectacular story teller.

Erica wrote: "I am excited to read this book. James Frey is very talented."

Laurel wrote: "He's a great guy - consistent in his kindness and there for the underdog . His writing is based on a childhood favorite book and is a spectacular story teller."

You literally joined THIS WEEK and added one book (this book) to your shelves. Fuck off.

I really can't stop laughing at "there for the underdog."

Hahahahahahahahahahaha

Thanks so much for your insightful, honest comments, Erica and Laurel. I didn't know that James Frey was all about the underdog! THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING. Except, sadly, my literary opinion. But thank you for informing me.

Lol.

Actually, I just read the book as my MIL gave us an advanced reading copy; I'd never heard of it before. It's even more a copy of a popular kids book series, the 39 Clues, which features ancient bloodlines living among regular people who all wind up vying for an ultimate power type prize in a contest set up by a will. Basically, if I were pitching "Endgame: the Calling" as a movie, a la The Player, I'd call it 39 Clues meets the Hunger Games in a world-spanning & online contest as per Ready Player One. But it doesn't borrow much more from Hunger Games than, say, Hunger Games already borrowed from the Japanese movie Battle Royale.

The YA genre has been getting "washed out" for at least the last 5 years. This is just a prelude to an eventual death the clones will bring to the genre. What will be interesting, is to see the rebirth of YA, without all the witch/warlock, werewolf, vampire, dystopia regurgitation.

Our youth are being made to appear like their interests go no farther than the same mindless hunkysparklepire, hottiebuffwolf, dystopianclone themed drivel with nothing more than a different name.

I am hoping that more teens will venture out into self publishing with their "Own YA", and bring the rightful respect to the genre that the indie authors deserve.

Hunger Games is just a rip off of battle royale. why does every dystopian book published now have to be compared to the Hunger Games, when THG isn't even original?

Everything is recycled and brought back to life in different ways. Huger Games is just like Battle Royale. We even have movies like Gnomeo & Juliet that are identical to Romeo & Juliet except they are gnomes. "A Story Found of Two Noble Lovers" was written in 1530 by Luigi Da Porto, perhaps Shakespeare ripped of that guy? Or maybe just ripping off the poem, "The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Iuliet" by Arthur Brooke. The live chess game in "Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Caroll and in Vonnegut's short story "All The King's Horses." Avatar and Fern Gully. The famous Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter Dispute. Don't even get me started, the list goes on and on. Just because you weren't alive and can't trace it back far enough doesn't mean similar stories, books, poems, and movies don't exist. People only know about the ones that end up making the bestseller list and everyone starts to criticize. You are all sheep! LOL c'mon people!

And if anyone really thinks that all the memoirs that they have ever read are 100% factual they are crazy. You must tweak things here and there in order for it to be a cohesive story. If you were trying to retell the story of your life would you be able to flow seamlessly in and out of scenes? We are human, I can't even remember what the heck I ate yesterday and everyone is having a heart attack over this man fabricating some things here and there to make a good story. The fact is, the "nuts and bolts" are factual, stop sweating the small stuff. Aside from that, any memoir you read is COMPLETELY ONE SIDED. Why? Because it's that person's version of the truth, doesn't mean it IS the truth. If you want something 100% factual read a f'ing biography and read yourself to sleep.

Skyla Happy Go Lucky and Lost in Books wrote: "Katie wrote: "Everything is recycled and brought back to life in different ways. Huger Games is just like Battle Royale. We even have movies like Gnomeo & Juliet that are identical to Romeo & Julie..."

LOL really? That is what your reply is? I am terribly sorry if I have upset you, and I didn't copy and paste on a bunch of reviews. I put one on someone's comment and then reposted it here with more information that I added to it. If that makes me a spammer than so be it.

Katie wrote: "Everything is recycled and brought back to life in different ways. Huger Games is just like Battle Royale. We even have movies like Gnomeo & Juliet that are identical to Romeo & Juliet except they ..."

So, what's your point? We should just accept that everything's a copy of a copy of a copy of a lie and toddle off to curl up and die because there's no point in trying to create something new anymore? Are you going somewhere with this or just trolling? Help a sheep understand.

Katie wrote: "Everything is recycled and brought back to life in different ways. Huger Games is just like Battle Royale. We even have movies like Gnomeo & Juliet that are identical to Romeo & Juliet except they ..."

Lol. This was kind of hilarious.

So, that's quite a lengthy comment you left on my reaction to a very old and extraordinarily derivative synopsis of this "book"! Clearly I have angered you VERY DEEPLY by expressing an opinion. The thing is, I honestly give zero shits about Frey fabricating parts of his memoir. Does it make me want to read the memoir? No. Am i going to be burning him in effigy for it? No.

But also, this book has zero shits to do with his memoir. It has to do with Full Fathom Five, which has practices I do not endorse ( http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/...).

And I'm sorry, but your first paragraph is hilarious. Of course there have been other works that are derivative of other works. I was, in fact, not a fan of Avatar because it WAS Pocahontas in Space with a dash of Fern Gully. I don't understand what your point is. (And Gnomeo and Juliet is a RETELLING of Romeo and Juliet. Not a rip off.)

There's a difference between retelling tropes or paying homage to the stories that came before you and straight up capitalizing on "what's hot right now" for cash. Personally, i think that's what this book is doing. You don't have to agree with me. Plenty of people don't. It's all good. Have a cookie and a drink, or something.

"The famous Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter Dispute. " I am unfamiliar with this dispute but I hope it involves people in costumes throwing made up spells at each other. It sounds like a lot of fun.

Far from trolling, this was the first time I ever even felt compelled to write a comment so thanks for the unnecessary low blow. And the point is to stop judging a book against the similarities of another. It would be fantastic if someone created something new but the fact that everyone is so obsessed with originality is ridiculous. If it's good, it's good. If it's original, that's great. But why is it bad because it's similar to something else?

Because insulting people and using ableist language is totally the same thing as having a difference of opinion.

Guy wrote: "Katie wrote: "LOL WOW, go ahead an..."

Bandwagon? I was commenting on this back in August, you came here after me with your peripheral soapbox rant.

The reason this girl is so butthurt, is becaus..."

I'd prefer it if we kept things a little more civil on here and focus on disagreeing on books and opinions instead of bashing on the people who disagree.

Guy wrote: "Katie wrote: "LOL WOW, go ahead an..."

Bandwagon? I was commenting on this back in August, you came here after me with your peripheral soapbox rant.

The reason this girl is so butthurt, is becaus..."

Lol there you go singling me out again. And thanks for sharing my page!

Katie wrote: "Lol there you go singling me out again. And thanks for sharing my page!"

Your Welcome... Anytime kiddo! ;-)

i don't know if something that bad can be spoiled, but here you are: ** SPOILER ALERT **

i finished this book and i found out only one thing that is different: Gale enters the arena, and Katniss kills him in front of the remaining tributes. Yeah, Peeta was there watching too... love triangle dissolved in the first book!

I don't personally care about spoilers (in fact I'm much amused), but you should probably edit that and add spoiler code!

You know what the saddest part of all this is? "Big Jim" still touts that "memoir(hahahaha)" of his in his GR profile, and there are actually 1003 fools that admit publicly to being his fans. LOL

Hunger Games is just a load of crap compared to End Game. if you have read this book, you will not see any similarities between them. Maybe they have some similarities in terms of the title and the 12 champions and the fighting for survival thing, but it is just that. You have to read the whole book and not just the synopsis.

you haven't read the book right? it isn't like hunger games the plot is very different.

Skyla wrote: "I have read it and I thought the plot WAS very similar."

And is it any good? If you, lets say, haven't read Hunger Games, would it be enjoyable?

sabrina wrote: "Gale enters the arena, and Katniss kills him in front of the remaining tributes. Yeah, Peeta was there watching too... "

We really need the ability to click like on comments...

That's a stretch to say the least

I see that everyone is comparing this book to The Hunger Games, and while I agree that the synopsis is similar, I found that both enjoyable. While THG has Katniss and Peeta, Endgame has Sara and Jago. Each player is fighting for their line, or, in THG, their district. THG has the capital, Endgame had the Sky Gods. The comparisons go on and on. So what? Anyone who enjoyed THG will enjoy Endgame, maybe even a little more. I constantly read and I can say I enjoyed Endgame, A LOT. Maybe for someone who started reading THG when the movies came out, it is harder to separate the books. I myself read THG when they were first published, so I found Endgame refreshing. And it reminded me why I enjoy this genre so much. I actually thought Endgame gave me the opportunity to meet several characters, not just follow the story of two. So, for everyone bashing Frey and bashing Endgame, try to seperate the two, and you may find you actually like it too.

Battle Royale was better, and as for Frey? Puhleese... I wouldn't let him write the alphabet on the back of a napkin for a child to practice from.

Guys I'm going to try to clear things up. My friend Haley read Endgame, I let her borrow it. I asked her if it was anything like the Hunger Games since she's read all three books. She said they were not a like, there are 12 people. There isn't 12 districts and you get to learn a bit about the people before Endgame even happens. Plus there is clues to solve and you have to find a key. Endgame is about finding the first key. Endgame is not a repeat of Hunger Games, and if it was I wouldn't be reading it.

Sami wrote: "Endgame is not a repeat of Hunger Games,..."

As much as Hunger Games was not a repeat of Battle Royale?

OKAY. VERY TIRED OF DEALING WITH TROLLS ON THIS REVIEW. I've gone through the comments and deleted QUITE a fair few on both sides of thefence. Some of them attack me, and some of them attack the people who defend the book, and I'm getting mighty sick of seeing notifications for it.

So, please stop posting incendiary comments on this review. If you heartily dislike my review, I'm sorry, but please don't comment. I have the right to my objective literary opinion.

If you heartily dislike the comment someone left on this review, I'm sorry, but please don't attack them. If it's truly nasty, I'll flag or delete.

Final notes:

1) I recognize the summary I'm critiquing above is possibly no longer accurate to the book. I was responding to the very first blurb that appeared on Goodreads, which reviewers are permitted to do. That blurb sounded like a rip off of The Hunger Games to me.

2) I won't be reading Endgame. Ever. Therefore, I will not update this review, meaning I cannot attest to whether or not this book is actually a ripoff of The Hunger Games. And I won't delete this review.

HAVE A LOVELY NON-TROLLY DAY.

So much anger here, so many sock puppets coming to the defense of Liar Liar Pants On Fire Frey.

Trolling: not just a hobby, but a way of life!

I snorted I was laughing so hard at your review, Gillian. You're one of the funniest reviewers on GR, in my opinion. It's just crazy that we have to moderate the trolling on our own discussions. Seems like GR should have an anti-bullying policy in place or something. Note to trolls: Our opinions are just as valid as yours!! Even if we don't agree. When will people chill the heck out? CrrraAzzzy.

Oh my, Gillian, I appreciated your review. :) It's funny how defensive some people get over a book that pretty much uses the same plot as another. I seriously read everything I needed to read in that "used to be" book blurb.

Ha, oh gosh, I thought this name sounded familiar! He wrote A Million Little Lies, I mean Pieces.

Hmm, since people are saying the plot's a bit more than what you said it is (which sounds too close to THG for comfort), I may skim over the book.

Wow. I just took the time to read most of the above comments. Yikes. It was worse than I thought. But I'm still kind of chuckling that people get so worked up.

Melanie wrote: "Wow. I just took the time to read most of the above comments. Yikes. It was worse than I thought. But I'm still kind of chuckling that people get so worked up."

And I deleted the really bad ones, too!

Yeesh. Scary.

How dare you accuse Frey of using material off of the hunger games? Has it even occurred to you that the Hunger Games was largely ripped off Battle Royale? This book was amazing and I disagree with you until you prove you could do a speck better.