PDF One Word Kill Impossible Times Mark Lawrence Books
Ready Player One meets Stranger Things in this new novel by the bestselling author who George RR Martin describes as “an excellent writer.â€
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.
PDF One Word Kill Impossible Times Mark Lawrence Books
"This book was a great read and impossible to put down. Nick is a great protagonist. The book begins with Nick finding out he has cancer. He’s a teenage boy who has just realized he is mortal and his time may be running out. Instead of having time to dwell on this or even process it he finds himself drawn into a mysterious adventure. Part of the fun of this book is unraveling the mystery so I’ll leave you to read it yourself and see what is going on. At its heart this book is more of a coming of age type buddy novel with Nick and his close friends. What would you do for your friends? Who would you save if you had to choose? At first I was annoyed with the amount of pages taken up by D&D games in detail but it becomes an element of the bigger story. This novel really drew me in and I wanted to see where it was going. I normally hate shorter novels but somehow this book worked with its 200 pages. It never felt rushed or cut short. There is a definite ending for those who hate cliffhangers. It’s clear that there is more going on but this part is finished. I’m excited that book 2 is coming out soon because I definitely want to know more and I’m really looking forward to where it goes next."
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Tags : One Word Kill (Impossible Times) (9781542042833) Mark Lawrence Books,Mark Lawrence,One Word Kill (Impossible Times),47North,1542042836,AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY,Dungeons and Dragons (Game),FICTION / Action Adventure,FICTION / Science Fiction / Action Adventure,FICTION / Science Fiction / Time Travel,Fantasy fiction,Fiction,Fiction-Science Fiction,Fiction/Action Adventure,Fiction/Science Fiction - Action Adventure,GENERAL,General Adult,Monograph Series, 1st,Quantum theory,Science fiction,Teenage boys,Terminally ill,United States,Virtual reality,FICTION / Romance / Science Fiction,FICTION / Science Fiction / General,YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Science Fiction / General
One Word Kill Impossible Times Mark Lawrence Books Reviews :
One Word Kill Impossible Times Mark Lawrence Books Reviews
- I almost skipped this book because of the title, but the synopsis didn't match it so I gambled on it. I was 80% right. Nick, our 15 year old protagonist, has just found out he has leukemia and immediately starts chemo. He is a math genius and less comfortable socially. He does have a crew, though, his Dungeons and Dragons game group that meets weekly. They come from both sides of the tracks and Nick is more in the middle. A girl has recently joined the mix. We are given stream of consciousness insight into Nick’s mind. This is very well done. You feel the adolescent determination, scattered thoughts, and tendency to jump into situations without thinking through possible consequences. D&D plays heavily into the story and things in the game start to mysteriously mirror real life. There is a time travel element that drives the plot. Without saying too much, I really enjoyed the story as a light read until it got much darker with real life drug dealers, violence, and death. It's almost like two different books. The story could have gone a different direction, keeping the main elements while staying less serious and graphic, and it would be a much better read. There are expletives and profanity sprinkled throughout.
- This book was a great read and impossible to put down. Nick is a great protagonist. The book begins with Nick finding out he has cancer. He’s a teenage boy who has just realized he is mortal and his time may be running out. Instead of having time to dwell on this or even process it he finds himself drawn into a mysterious adventure. Part of the fun of this book is unraveling the mystery so I’ll leave you to read it yourself and see what is going on. At its heart this book is more of a coming of age type buddy novel with Nick and his close friends. What would you do for your friends? Who would you save if you had to choose? At first I was annoyed with the amount of pages taken up by D&D games in detail but it becomes an element of the bigger story. This novel really drew me in and I wanted to see where it was going. I normally hate shorter novels but somehow this book worked with its 200 pages. It never felt rushed or cut short. There is a definite ending for those who hate cliffhangers. It’s clear that there is more going on but this part is finished. I’m excited that book 2 is coming out soon because I definitely want to know more and I’m really looking forward to where it goes next.
- If you can put this book down without finishing it, you're a better man than I am. It's just so much FUN to read. And yet it's about a kid who might be dying of cancer.
Fifteen-year-old Nick already knows loss. His brilliant mathematician father died young, but not before telling his son the facts of life - time is rubber and not everyone moves forward in it. Some move backwards.
The year is 1986 and traffic in London is already horrible. But there are no cell phones and no internet. Nick is his parents' son. The only reason he's not already at university is that he "fakes stupid" on tests to conceal his brilliance. He's reconciled to being a nerd, but he doesn't want to leave behind the few friends he's accumulated. Elton and Simon and John and Nick are D&D buddies, united by their "otherness." As Nick says, each is locked in an invisible box and D&D is "both the box and the key." This is Nick's "tribe" and he clings to them. And then Mia enters the group and the dynamic changes.
Nick's diagnosis of leukaemia is a blow to the gut and his distant mother can do nothing but arm herself with medical knowledge. There's love between mother and son, but no emotional connection. Nick is socially inept, but he reads people well. He quickly picks up on the "practiced compassion" and "professional optimism" of the doctors and nurses who administer his chemo. He knows he's being poisoned in hopes of destroying the cancer. And he knows that the odds are against him.
Then a strange man starts following him. Demus is middle-aged, bald, and has a secret. He's come back from the year 2011. His connection to Nick is important, but what he really wants is to save the tough-but-vulnerable Mia from a future tragedy. And he needs the help of Mia's friends to pull it off. An electronic part still in testing at Motorola is necessary and the gang must break into the factory to get it.
Elton is the athletic wizard who can climb up the sides of buildings. Simon can hack into computers. John steals the passwords from his father. And Nick and Mia go along for backup. Just typical teenage hi-jinks, geek style.
This is part science fiction and part coming of age story. Nick finds other people more mysterious than the integral calculus that comes so easily to him. He views his cancer with some detachment, but he knows the fear. "Terror chasing its own tail." When his friends learn that his life is threatened, they react predictably with anger, and confusion. But they close ranks around him in love. They won't let him go. As Gamemaster Elton says grimly, "Not while I'm in charge!"
Out in the world, each faces his/her own battles. Three of the boys attend an expensive private boys school where their parents believe that they're protected. In reality, as Nick says, they're just made miserable by "a better class of bully." Most are garden variety, but Ian Rust is a true sociopath. Soon he'll be unleashed on the London and the results will be spectacular.
Elton and Mia represent poverty and limited choices. His family fled political violence in Madagascar to face hardship and racism in London. Her gang-banger brother is in prison and her mother is an alcoholic. They're street smart and tougher than their more sheltered friends, but the dangers they face are greater.
The friends are teens and they must figure out who they can trust and what they want from life and what they're willing to sacrifice to get it. They have three big advantages. They're all intelligent and they have each other's backs. And D&D isn't just a kid's game, but experience in dealing with danger. Before the night is over, they will have faced plenty of that and three people will be dead.
This book is beautifully well written. The young people are fascinating as they negotiate the dangerous territory between being a child and being an adult. I couldn't put this story down and I'm already looking forward to the next volume in the series.