Wednesday, January 7, 2015

If~Nicholas Bourbaki | Review

Title: If
Author: Nicholas Bourbaki
Genre: Experimental
Length: Varies
Publication: July 2014
My Rating: 3/5 Stars

I received a free copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis
If is a story of choices. You are the main character and must choose where to go at the end of every chapter. There are twenty-two possible endings based on the choices you make throughout the story. 

Review
I do agree with the author that this novel would work better in a print version, but the kindle version was ok. I really like the idea of these novels. I read one when I was younger-though I can't remember the name-that was very similar. It involved choices at the ends of the chapters. Here the reader is the character, a young boy in the beginning, who must make several life altering decisions. 

My main problem with this novel was the story. I thought the connection based on different decisions-I followed more than one path to see how it would flow-was done very well. I just didn't feel like the story, no matter which path you chose, was very developed or interesting. I think this type of novel could work better with some type of mystery. Or maybe it was just the paths that I didn't like. I'm not sure. I just didn't feel like the story did much for me.

There is not a whole lot I can say about this story. Since it's up to the reader to make choices that determine what follows the story can have several different endings. It's definitely an interesting concept so if you like the idea then picking this up might be interesting for you. 

Happy reading my friends!

Courtney

6 comments:

  1. This concept sounds really interesting and I would love to try it! Are there print versions of this book?

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    1. Yes, you can physical copies of this book. I know you can find it on Amazon (it seems kind of expensive though). It's definitely an interesting concept. I would love to read or write a mystery novel using this style. That would be so interesting. If you read it, I can't wait to see what you think!

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    2. Yeah a mystery book in this format sounds cool! I think I might have read a goosebumps book that was like this a really long time ago.

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    3. I remember reading something similar with my brother when I was little, but I cannot remember anything about it. The only thing I remember is having to make decisions and then several possible endings. I've been fascinated by this type of book ever since.

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  2. Yeah it sounds really interesting! Where did you get this book, if you don't mind me asking? :)

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    1. I actually received a free copy from the author. He was looking for reviews through a goodreads group. He may still be looking for reviews if you wanted to contact him. Here is his goodreads link:https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/36849860-nmbourbaki

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