Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits: A Novel

Not a book which I did expect from David Wong. His two previous books was much-much better.
Predictable weak plot. Pathetic characters. The ending is stupid and looks like there will be sequel, which I am not going to read :lol:
He-he, bought it on the store, and in a week saw it for a half price at BN.

Please not that I have not finished the book, so you can discount my review if you'd like, but I have had the book for almost 3 months and have been able to force myself through maybe 1/4 of the book so far, and have no real desire to finish it, so that is something of a review in itself.

By contrast, I could not put John Dies at the End or This Book is Full of Spiders down until I finished them, easily reading through both within a day or two of starting them. I don't know for sure what it is I don't like about this book, as it seems well written, but something about it just rubs me the wrong way. Maybe I just don't care about any of the characters, the plot hasn't interested me, I don't like the tone of the book, or something along those lines, but whatever it is I can say that this book is by far my least favorite David Wong book. Hell, considering I can't even get myself to finish it right now, it might just be one of my least favorite books period.

I hope I'll be able to finish the book at some point, but the book has done nothing through the first quarter to interest me at all.

Quick summary of the entire book: Rich people = bad.

That statement is as subtle here as it is in the book. Wong (Pargin) is not a fan of the "show, don't tell" mentality in writing. If you've read any of his Cracked.com stuff, imagine if he tried to add in his own fictional character into one and stretch it out for a few hundred pages. I read his first book and I liked it, but I read it in high school so maybe I'm just wrong on that and it doesn't hold up if you're not a teenager.

"Oh this entire city founded by rich people to avoid the law is so violent and mean! I'm just simple trailer trash! These people don't care about me at all!" Well duh. There is a main plot, but it's narrated through the eyes of what I think Wong (Pargin) thinks he would be as a girl. She is not a fully developed character, she is a one-liner delivery vehicle that likes to tell everybody around her how awful they are. She loves to point out how simple and trailer trashy she is throughout as if it's a morality high horse. The cat is smelly and is named Stench Machine. Probably. We don't really know, since literally nobody else mentions the cat smelling. It's just a "haha I'm so quirky" thing that gets old pretty quick.

[minor spoilers] Towards the end, when a massive squatter camp is in real danger of being leveled, our main character goes on lamenting how these people are just so poor. They have nothing! Literally. No. Place. To. Go. So they just sit there and hope for the best. Instead of, I don't know, walking a few blocks down the road to a place that was not explicitly announced that it was gonna be blown up. But never fear, our billionaire trailer trash protagonist bought them all pizza earlier, so you can see how important these people are and how deeply she cares for them. I was actually starting to sympathize with the antagonist towards the end. In short, the plot is driven entirely by the main character's very bad decisions. This does not create suspense or any sort of connection to any character, it just makes the book a tedious exercise in annoyance.

For what the book is about, read the synopsis, then go to Cracked.com and only read the snarky captions below the pictures in whatever top 10 or worst 7 list you come across. That's the entire book right there. Don't bother spending money on this if you like scifi, stories, or funny things. DO spend money on it if you hate money and think it is a horrible corruption that needs to stay away from you and your precious family.

One star is for this being, in fact, a book, and one star for not being so horrible that I could not finish it. (This has only happened once though. I've read upwards of tens of books. Possibly even more.)

If you enjoyed John Dies at the End and This Book is full of Spiders than I highly recommend you pick up this book as well. It's full of the same dark humor. David Wong did a marvelous job at painting an insane world that was actually believable and I found myself unable to put this book down.

This book is amazing. If I could only pick one book to read for the rest of my life, it's this one. I just finished reading this for the second time, and I still laughed, and had my mind blown. If you like sci-fi and insanity this is definitely the book for you.

Note: I haven't completely finished the book during the time of this review; But I'm pretty close to the end so screw it.

As a fan of John Dies at the End, I had high hopes for this book, but it just fails to deliver. The main character is astoundingly unlikable. Annoying and stubborn in every scene she's in; I found myself wishing that some one else took her place as protagonist because anyone else would have been a more likable character. David from Wong's previous books was a stubborn loser as well; But unlike Zoey, he had an ounce of charisma and didn't whine and yell at others in almost every conversation he had.
It's not like the supporting cast is a whole lot better. Most of the characters are flat. There are some characters who I couldn't even tell what personality traits they were supposed to have. I even had trouble remembering some of their names even if I just read them a chapter ago, that's how forgettable they are. What was Budd's thing beyond being vaguely like some sort of cowboy? What was Moloch's thing beyond being a stereotypical frat boy? What was Andre's thing besides occasionally trying to be funny? I couldn't really tell you and I'm only a small handful of chapters away from the end; far past the point where there was supposed to be all the character development.
Maybe at the end I'll turn out to be wrong and there'll be an explosion of personality from all the characters that will make me fall in love with them; I doubt it though. This book started boring and will probably end boring.

The premise was really cool though, shame it was wasted on this. It was also really annoying how often the book went to bashing on men when ever it felt like it. It seems like the book answers a lot of questions with "Because men are dumb and immature" And while I agree that some men can be awful, the book just seems to generalize all men as idiots only interested in power and sex. It comes off as a tad sexist. I think David Wong has been hanging out with the Tumblr crowd too much.

Overall 2/5. Could've been way better.

really not a sci-fi novel in any realistic way, it's not addressing any of the core themes of sci-fi, (read Phillip K Dick on what Sci-fi is and isnt, and what good Sci-fi is) its really just a fairly thin thriller with technology thrown in as the McGuffin.

Please not that I have not finished the book, so you can discount my review if you'd like, but I have had the book for almost 3 months and have been able to force myself through maybe 1/4 of the book so far, and have no real desire to finish it, so that is something of a review in itself.

By contrast, I could not put John Dies at the End or This Book is Full of Spiders down until I finished them, easily reading through both within a day or two of starting them. I don't know for sure what it is I don't like about this book, as it seems well written, but something about it just rubs me the wrong way. Maybe I just don't care about any of the characters, the plot hasn't interested me, I don't like the tone of the book, or something along those lines, but whatever it is I can say that this book is by far my least favorite David Wong book. Hell, considering I can't even get myself to finish it right now, it might just be one of my least favorite books period.

I hope I'll be able to finish the book at some point, but the book has done nothing through the first quarter to interest me at all.

Quick summary of the entire book: Rich people = bad.

That statement is as subtle here as it is in the book. Wong (Pargin) is not a fan of the "show, don't tell" mentality in writing. If you've read any of his Cracked.com stuff, imagine if he tried to add in his own fictional character into one and stretch it out for a few hundred pages. I read his first book and I liked it, but I read it in high school so maybe I'm just wrong on that and it doesn't hold up if you're not a teenager.

"Oh this entire city founded by rich people to avoid the law is so violent and mean! I'm just simple trailer trash! These people don't care about me at all!" Well duh. There is a main plot, but it's narrated through the eyes of what I think Wong (Pargin) thinks he would be as a girl. She is not a fully developed character, she is a one-liner delivery vehicle that likes to tell everybody around her how awful they are. She loves to point out how simple and trailer trashy she is throughout as if it's a morality high horse. The cat is smelly and is named Stench Machine. Probably. We don't really know, since literally nobody else mentions the cat smelling. It's just a "haha I'm so quirky" thing that gets old pretty quick.

[minor spoilers] Towards the end, when a massive squatter camp is in real danger of being leveled, our main character goes on lamenting how these people are just so poor. They have nothing! Literally. No. Place. To. Go. So they just sit there and hope for the best. Instead of, I don't know, walking a few blocks down the road to a place that was not explicitly announced that it was gonna be blown up. But never fear, our billionaire trailer trash protagonist bought them all pizza earlier, so you can see how important these people are and how deeply she cares for them. I was actually starting to sympathize with the antagonist towards the end. In short, the plot is driven entirely by the main character's very bad decisions. This does not create suspense or any sort of connection to any character, it just makes the book a tedious exercise in annoyance.

For what the book is about, read the synopsis, then go to Cracked.com and only read the snarky captions below the pictures in whatever top 10 or worst 7 list you come across. That's the entire book right there. Don't bother spending money on this if you like scifi, stories, or funny things. DO spend money on it if you hate money and think it is a horrible corruption that needs to stay away from you and your precious family.

One star is for this being, in fact, a book, and one star for not being so horrible that I could not finish it. (This has only happened once though. I've read upwards of tens of books. Possibly even more.)

If you enjoyed John Dies at the End and This Book is full of Spiders than I highly recommend you pick up this book as well. It's full of the same dark humor. David Wong did a marvelous job at painting an insane world that was actually believable and I found myself unable to put this book down.

This book is amazing. If I could only pick one book to read for the rest of my life, it's this one. I just finished reading this for the second time, and I still laughed, and had my mind blown. If you like sci-fi and insanity this is definitely the book for you.

Note: I haven't completely finished the book during the time of this review; But I'm pretty close to the end so screw it.

As a fan of John Dies at the End, I had high hopes for this book, but it just fails to deliver. The main character is astoundingly unlikable. Annoying and stubborn in every scene she's in; I found myself wishing that some one else took her place as protagonist because anyone else would have been a more likable character. David from Wong's previous books was a stubborn loser as well; But unlike Zoey, he had an ounce of charisma and didn't whine and yell at others in almost every conversation he had.
It's not like the supporting cast is a whole lot better. Most of the characters are flat. There are some characters who I couldn't even tell what personality traits they were supposed to have. I even had trouble remembering some of their names even if I just read them a chapter ago, that's how forgettable they are. What was Budd's thing beyond being vaguely like some sort of cowboy? What was Moloch's thing beyond being a stereotypical frat boy? What was Andre's thing besides occasionally trying to be funny? I couldn't really tell you and I'm only a small handful of chapters away from the end; far past the point where there was supposed to be all the character development.
Maybe at the end I'll turn out to be wrong and there'll be an explosion of personality from all the characters that will make me fall in love with them; I doubt it though. This book started boring and will probably end boring.

The premise was really cool though, shame it was wasted on this. It was also really annoying how often the book went to bashing on men when ever it felt like it. It seems like the book answers a lot of questions with "Because men are dumb and immature" And while I agree that some men can be awful, the book just seems to generalize all men as idiots only interested in power and sex. It comes off as a tad sexist. I think David Wong has been hanging out with the Tumblr crowd too much.

Overall 2/5. Could've been way better.

really not a sci-fi novel in any realistic way, it's not addressing any of the core themes of sci-fi, (read Phillip K Dick on what Sci-fi is and isnt, and what good Sci-fi is) its really just a fairly thin thriller with technology thrown in as the McGuffin.

I can't understand the high ratings. This book is overly brutal and has a very poor story line. In the end there is always a solution to the most ridiculous situations (and most of the times not a smart one) and there is so much collateral damage which nobody seems to care about.

For those of you who loved his first two books, prepare to be seriously disappointed. Sigh. There's just no getting the time back lost in this piece of garbage. Having said that, I will be eagerly waiting for third installment of John dies at the end.

This is like an R-rated literary version of "Ready Player One" or "Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai." If you are a fan of either of those book/movies, I think you'll appreciate the cinematic style of 'David Wong.' It is an over-the-top, ready-for-the-movie adventure that starts fast on page one and drives to a fairly solid finish.

Other reviews have noted the plot - it's not that easy to define. It's sort of a chase narrative, and kind of a buddy film, and sort of a quest book - all of the above. Lots of characters with about half-dozen central to the plot, including some well-done villains.

I do think it's maybe 50 pages too long. At about 350 pages it's a serious length for what amounts to a hyper-violent adventure story. It doesn't drag as much as have lots of scenes, relationships, etc., that maybe could have been trimmed. But I was never bored. The ending is as good a payoff as these sorts of books can handle, and while it relies a lot on a lucky twist, it works okay.

The strength of the book is the dialogue - Wong (a pen name) gives all his characters full life, even the ones who just show up for a scene or two. Even a bad/thin story can be entertaining if the dialogue is strong (any Elmore Leonard story, even the weak ones, are fun to read) - and this isn't a bad story.

It doesn't have the pop-culture references of "Ready Player One" but it does have that same future dystopia vibe, and grown-up readers of that book should like it. This is a good 'next step' for those fans of that PG-13 book. And if you're old enough to remember "Buckaroo," same thing - you'll get the same vibe from this story. Like I said, it's a hard R for violence - especially against the female main character. Normally any sort of violence toward female characters is a big turnoff for me, but in this case it wasn't exploitative or gratuitous, so I could accept it.

The title is an inside joke that I didn't get until halfway through.

I liked this book a lot. It's a little light and maybe I'm not going to really remember it six weeks from now except to say, "oh David Wong, he was really good." And I do plan to get his other books. It was a lot of fun and he's a great writer.

After reading Wong's amazing manic drug-induced horror show books, John Dies at the End and This Book is Full of Spiders, you may think you have a good idea of what to expect from any other books from him.

And you would be wrong.

While Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits does share some of the creative insanity that caused me to fall in love with John Dies at the End, it's a wholly different tone and style. And that's not a bad thing.

What might be even more interesting to me is how much more difficult to classify this book is over Wong's other books. It's got this hard boiled detective novel vibe, with a bit of horror element, with a hefty dosing of science fiction and fantasy, and let's not forget the whole mafia angle. But it's all wrapped up in this pseudo coming of age story for a female protagonist who is thrown into the middle of this world that is so far from what she knows (you know, the good ol' fish out of water story).

But genre isn't really what should bring you to a book. It's the writing. And Wong again showcases his amazing creative talents by creating this brilliantly developed near-future world where Vegas just wasn't wild enough. Where superpowers are just a scientific development away. And where megalomaniacal villains can crop up simply because they didn't get the latest firmware upgrade.

This story has so much going on that I simply can't do it true justice except to say that it's more than worth the read.

Welcome to Tabula Ra$a, a futuristic city in the heart of the desert built as a pleasure-filled den of sin for the exceptionally wealthy. The most powerful man in town is Arthur Livingston, who built his empire through cunning investment and shady backdoor dealings. When he is killed, a race breaks out to locate his heir, the only one who can unlock Livingston’s hidden vault and reveal the future of his company. The one who inherits all is Zoey Ashe, a girl who grew up in a trailer park and wants nothing to do with her absentee deadbeat dad or his legacy. Zoey is thrust from the poverty line to the hedonistic mansion of her father with only a smelly cat for companionship, but all the protection Livingston’s money can buy might not be enough to protect her from those who want to kill her for fame, fortune, or reasons far more sinister.

Not only is Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits a great title for a book, it’s a fantastic story. Zoey’s fish-outta-water story absolutely addictive. Initially overwhelmed by the pace and unbelievable wealth of Tabula Rasa, Zoey wants nothing more than to return to her trailer park and her life as a barista. It is only when she realizes that going home is a sure way to guarantee the death of her mother that she decides to remain ensconced in her father’s wealth. Initially overwhelmed, Zoey proves to be a chip off the ol’ block, as unorthodox in her management style as her father was. Snarky and funny, generous and compassionate, still somewhat innocent but surprisingly clever and observant, Zoey is a joy to read.

Extremely fast-paced and full of explosive energy, the book has the urgency and intensity of a super-realistic video game. Sex and violence are mingled in a hyper-gory experience that definitely isn’t for everyone. But if you can stomach the carnage, it’s good.

As a critique of modern culture, FVFS punches hard at social media and our increasing reliance on it. Everyone in this world seems addicted to Blink, a Youtube/Twitch sort of hybrid on which everyone vies to get the most viewers. When a disaster strikes, people flood the scene – not to assist folks in need but to get the best footage so they will gain the most followers to their stream. The misbehavior of Internet trolling has been taken to a terrible extreme in which serial killers murder their victims on camera for hordes of fans. Sociopaths who might go on a shooting spree in a school today can now augment their bodies with technology giving them god-like powers, so the death of hundreds can buy them notoriety and fame. It’s a dark, scary world in Tabula Rasa.

Did I mention that the book is funny? I don’t think I have, but it is one of the most biting and entertaining novels I have read all year. David Wong, the alias of [...] editor Jason Pargin, has created a science fiction thriller that’s impossible to put down – and this is coming from someone who normally doesn’t read much in that genre. I loved this book and can’t wait to check out his previous novels.

If she knew someone was trying to kill her, Zoey Ashe wouldn't have been outside in the freezing cold trying to get her cat off the roof of her trailer. The Jackal/Hyena/Shark (he hasn't really settled on an alias yet) is lurking around with millions of viewers waiting for his moment to pounce. Will Blackwater (sporting a fancy suit) saves her and brings her to the explosive, overwhelming world of Tabula Ra$a. This strange city is garish, loud, and mostly lawless. Zoey's biological father Arthur Livingston is a wealthy entrepreneur who amassed his riches using a combination of legal and illegal means. Zoey doesn't want anything to do with him, but she's mixed up in this trouble anyway. She caused the deaths of a couple of people coming after her who were followers of an internet sensation named Moloch. He takes great offense and vows to kill her, asking his followers to bring her to him in return for praise. Everyone with an internet connection is either after her or willing to be entertained by her death. What's a girl to do?

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits is a fun book that sucks you into its screwed up futuristic world. It's stylistically similar to David Wong's John Dies at the End series except in science fiction instead of horror and with a female protagonist. The story takes place in the nearish future and features advanced technologies. Cars drive themselves. Advertisements are holographic. Google Glass-like technology is everywhere. The drive to record everything about one's life is even more prevalent than today. The stream website that is the most popular is called Blink and almost everyone watches and/or records their own Blink streams. Also, weirdos have tech-based enhancements to their bodies to make them stronger, faster, produce electricity, and a whole slew of nightmarish things. I loved all the technology and how it infused every day life. Most of it is a logical evolution of technology we see today or the expansion of present burgeoning technologies.

The characters are full of sarcasm and irreverence and the odds are stacked astronomically high against them. All of the characters are quirky and interesting in their own way. Zoey was just a regular trailer park resident scraping by with her stripper mom. Her self driving car barely works and her cat, while somehow still lovable, is stinky and contrary. Her whole world gets turned upside down with her father's death. People are after her in the first place because of his riches and one mysterious object everyone wants. Zoey went from trailer park girl to the richest, most privileged girl (plus America's most watched) in the course of a few minutes. She's drawn into all of this trouble because of her hated father and she has no choice but to ask his posse of fancy suits for help. I liked Zoey a lot. She doesn't know how to navigate this world and tries her best. I think she should have listened to her fancy suit posse a few times more than she did, but I thought she made pretty good decision throughout. She didn't let the newfound wealth get to her head or alter who she is. I also really liked Will Blackwater, fancy suit posse member and alcoholic extraordinaire. He does whatever it takes to get the task done, but he isn't without humor. His past is dark and twisty plus he doesn't sugarcoat things for anyone.

David Wong is amazing at what he does and I can't stop reading his books. Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits is similar in tone to his first series, but sets itself apart with the focus on science fiction and different types of characters. I love this urban fantays/science fiction that he writes. It isn't epic or grandiose and I can see real people living in his books. I will read anything he writes. I'll be reading This Book is Full of Spiders: Seriously Dude, Don't Touch It while he finishes the third John Dies at the End book. Fans of his first series, The Unnoticeables by fellow Cracked writer Robert Brockway, or Richard Kadrey's Sandman Slim series will enjoy this book.

This novel suffered from characters who lacked internal struggles and managed to waste the interesting premises it had with its setting and tech. Wong's work with Cracked and the JDATE series are both fantastic, and it was a real shame to see this underbaked second draft with his name proudly stamped on the front. The novel has no lack of unique concepts or intrigue but is dragged down by the persistence of the main character being the antithesis of everything that readers will find interesting. The omniscient narration has to whip around for our benefit, setting an interesting scene only to quickly tell us how our protagonist is above or disinterested in it. A brief example will tell you whether or not you'll be able to stand this novel's logic: the main character has access to a Facebook-live esque stream that shows her the actions of all of the people plotting to harm her. She chooses to ignore it and is not narratively punished for it. Are you tearing your hair out yet? I know I was.

Obviously a lot of people liked this book. It is weirdly funny in a dark, dystopian way. I liked the first couple of chapters too, and enjoyed the pointed critique of social media and the emptiness of mindless entertainment. The author is a good writer and skilled at painting word pictures. The villains are truly evil, and the heroine, Zoey Ashe, is someone I could root for.
But, and this is a big but, the things I liked in the first part of the book got old pretty fast. It is like a comedy routine where the standup comic uses the same pratfalls over and over. The supporting cast of characters are pretty much cardboard cutouts, there to fill space. The novel finally meanders to an unsatisfying conclusion.
The morbid violence finally got to me, also and left a bad taste in my mouth. I wanted to like the book, because it is fresh and zany and clever. But the truth is, it lost me along the way. Really can't recommend it, unless you simply want a brutal critique of where our wired culture might be leading us. The novel does work on that level, I must admit.

As envisioned by David Wong, in the not too distant future, even the faintest flames on the candelabra will emit intense heat in the form of wit, snarkiness and snappy retort no matter whatever threats to one’s existence may loom in the dark recesses or shadows. The revolution may not be televised but you will be able to pick up the feed from everyone’s web cam.

Futuristic Violence isn’t a sardonic tongue in the cheek commentary on the escalation of intrusiveness in our personal lives, it is a full on raspberry smeared across the face of societal acquiescence to technologically driven invasion of personal space. The characterizations will persist in the memories of the reader and one might even take sit the book aside for a few minutes to consider what personal narrative he or she might elect to fashion just in case some less fantastical aspects of this warped future prove unavoidable.

The flow of the story is fast paced and fundamentally consistent although once the final chapters are reached the transition to nearly complete dependence on comic book style superhero interactions to bring the storyline to conclusion as was noted regarding the mental state of the lead character during an earlier critical arc, the absurdity of the situation may make the reader dizzy.

"Man, you got a drinking problem. You people know you got a living, severed head out in your courtyard? Thing is out there chewing on the snow. Gonna give me nightmares."

Zoey said, "It's been a weird week."

For the record, this story has absolutely nothing to do with zombies. What it does have is one hell of a lawless city set in some undefined yet still familiar future, adrenaline fueled over-the-top action of the type typically seen in summer action flicks, super-powered villains, a young woman from the trailer park, a look into a possible - and disturbing - future for social media, fancy suitsSuits, and liberal doses of humor. Oh, and a cat named Stench Machine.

It wasn't a perfect book. There were some clunky lines and a bit too much of Will said... followed immediately by Zoey said.... There was also one bit where the smoking gun didn't go off in quite as spectacular a fashion as expected but I can live with it because, in all honesty, I didn't want it to be something else. Overall it was a fun, exciting book that kept me turning pages to see what would happen next. The author has stated that he may write more about these characters and I certainly hope that's true.

I'm bumping this up a star (or a half star I guess) because I am a David Wong fan. Not out of charity but because as a fan I think the book delivers most of what I want from David Wong. His wit and funny slant on things. His pop culture references that are sometimes almost lovingly awkward. And often as not darkly funny. His love of action scenes that translates into wacky and yet thrilling moments I found myself emerging almost dazed pages later.

So David Wong gave me many elements of what I want from a David Wong book.

However I will say that this is not the tight and gripping read his other two books were for me. In between those great moments are not almost just as great moments. I felt that it did not have the smooth background richness the other two books did. The simple patter between characters never comes alive either. So it felt more like a great fan fiction of a David Wong feeling book almost. Or maybe the early rawer work that gets dusted off and published after an author becomes established.

Overall i liked the book. Overall though I felt there was something missing. More than just the flow of the other two novels, more than just the smaller but just as important connective elements Wong has shown in the past. But perhaps the deeper and more complete sense of what and where the author wants to take the reader. John Dies At the End was such a departure for me and it never let up. Instead the intensity of the read grew right to the end. In This Book is Full of Spiders... I had a book that was building off the first. And it had a smoother storytelling effort than John...

This seems more like going back to the drawing board. Yet it lacks the explosive verve of John... and it never gains the height of storytelling the two books achieve in terms of setting.

I'm glad a I read it. Wong does things I see others try and just not quite pull off. He still manages that here if in a more tepid fashion. I just want the third book to John Dies... Not just because I feel slightly let down by this, but because it also strongly reminds me of what Wong CAN do.

What a horrified and terrified story...
How the author could imagine things like this...
It's so impossible and possible !
And that really scared me.

I really love it and hate it at the same time..
I was torn between giving it 1 star (0 if I can) and 5 stars (100 if I can).
But I chose the max one, 'cause it's the book you have to read.
Read it and decide by yourself which choice you will choose at the end.
(tell you, I like the 'Afterword' very much)

The reasons as to why, I think all the comments are going to be spoilers,
so I will not go into any details.
Just that...

>If you think even as Super-Villains, they should be (or still) man (or woman) enough to not kick a girl in the face, you may have to brace yourself for that (in case you decided to read it).

>If you think the heroes have to at least be a bit smart with high morals or ethics, you need to prepare your heart some.

>There are load of sarcasms in nearly all aspects and moments.
Even you know beforehand and decided to take it as it was, not think too much, it'll still poke you to give it more attention.
(I still wonder how the author could implied those ones like that)

>This book will betray you at every turns. Nothing go as you may expect it will be during your ride.
I got the highest level of frustration myself, but could not put the book down!! '(''')'

>This book will make you laugh out loud even when you don't think you are in the mood, or after you just felt sick about the scenes before that point.

Anyway, frankly speaking, I think this book should be rated for its violence level, or some warning.
After all the book's title is [Futuristic 'VIOLENCE' and Fancy Suits].
Don't take the word 'Violence' for granted.
This book is not for a soft-heart reader. I warned you.

PS.In case you're reading this review 3 or 4 years from now, you are very lucky!! (may be?).
Because at least you don't have to wait for the 2nd book of this series to come, like me (dying) now.
Well, that would mean our Dave (Mr.David Wong) is still in great health after many adventures with his 'John' too'

Here is another excellent novel from Cracked's David Wong, writer of the amazing John Dies at the End. His novels combine humor, action, and great story-telling in a rare way that so many authors wish they could emulate. His style is crisp, face, and ultimately one of the most entertaining in contemporary fiction.

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits introduces us to the overweight, very un-hero-like hero of Zoey and a posse of people in suits who guide her through the turbulent, strange city of Tabula Rasa. After her father dies and reveals she is the key to his vault, assassins and profiteers from around the world come after her. The hunt is of worldwide interest thanks to the fact everyone seems to have a camera from which they livestream their life to Blink.

Wong tackles some Big Brother and cybernetic evolution issues, though to a much lesser degree than other cyberpunk writers have. Wong seems to show some of the pitfalls of modern civilization through the book, but it's not exactly a violent commentary a la 1984 or even a particularly intelligent cyberpunk novel such as the works of Neal Stephenson. Instead he writes a very easy story that anyone, whether into sci-fi or not, can enjoy.

The story is pretty good, though does fall apart toward the end. I wasn't real impressed with how the story wrapped up, and I guess the majority of it was because Molech, the villain of this novel, was not a great character. He was a typical villain to me. And that was his point, sure, he was supposed to give long monologues and act like every idiot villain ever. But that character has been played out before and I'm sorry to say that Molech wasn't someone I'll remember as a great villain.

But don't let these things dissuade you. This book, for me, isn't near as good as John Dies at the End (but a step up from This Book is Full of Spiders). I figured with a fresh world and characters to work with Wong would wow me with another story full of twists and turns and everything that made me fall in love with his work years ago. But instead, what I got was an enjoyable, compelling read full of great action, comedy, and some neat ideas. Definitely worth a purchase.

You simply can not go wrong with David Wong. You just strap yourself in and enjoy the ride.

Fans of Wong's previous work will recognize the absurd action and characters who are lost in a world which is swirling around them. This time we have left behind the monsters and extra-dimensional creatures for a near future version of Vegas back in its glory days (when it was still run by the mob and not a family friendly adventure town).

Trailer dwelling Zoey is pulled out of her comfortable world when a cybernetic version of the Bond villain Jaws attempts to kill her. It seems that she is the sole beneficiary of her recently deceased father (who she has no connection to), one of the movers and shakers of Tabula Ra$a. She also has a price on her head, causing her to be pursued by cybernetically enhanced hit men. Throw in a plausible but hysterical future world, super heroes and villains, organized crime, and a cat named Stench Machine.

If that doesn't make you want to read this book, nothing will.

In 2030, Zoey lives with her stripper mom in a trailer park in Colorado. She is being stalked by a man who intends to kill her and eat her bones. He has an implant that makes his jaw strong enough to chew bones. He also has a miniature camera that uploads to the internet what he sees as he stalks her. And several hundred thousand followers are watching his upload in real time. Some other group hacks her phone and warns her of her stalker and promises to help her if she will then come to Tabula Ra$a, Utah to help them.

Arthur Livingston, America’s top gangster and richest man, had an affair with Zoey’s mother and abandoned her when she got pregnant. He helped build Tabula Ra$a in the Utah desert, which now has become the new Las Vegas but with no police. Arthur recently was killed and there is a rumor on the internet that the key to opening his vault that contains all his wealth is controlled by Zoey. Now, hundreds or even thousands of people would like to kill Zoey to collect a bounty or abduct her to get her to open Arthur’s vault.

The beginning of the story is punctuated with laugh out loud incidents and jokes. But as the story develops and becomes more serious, there are fewer and fewer jokes. Some bad guys have access to powerful technologies, almost like an episode of X-Men. Can Zoey find allies and survive long enough to find a way to neutralize the bad guys and their technology?

The violence becomes quite violent and parts of the plot are not really plausible. So enjoy the early jokes and treat the violence as part of an adult comic book.

Wow. David Wong burst onto the scene with the trippy, self-aware horror-comedy John Dies at the End. I loved that book, even though it was rough around the edges. I never did pick up the second book (an error I'm remedying right now), so I jumped right into Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits. What a difference. Wong has grown exceedingly well as an author. This novel was hard to put down.

Zoey Ashe, a rather poor person living in a trailer park, is suddenly thrust into a completely different world of eccentric billionaires and fame. Her estranged father was a billionaire himself and left all of his fortune to Zoey when he passed. Unfortunately, that's not really a good thing as she now has super-powered bad guys out for her blood and a giant payday. The novel zips by in a flurry as she's forced to deal with a variety of evil people all wanting to do bodily harm to her. Wong populates Fancy Suits with a number of fun, larger-than-life characters and finds a good protagonist is the snarky Zoey.

It's not world-changing, but it is very fast paced and unputdownable. Fans of Wong's previous novels will find much to love.

Fast-paced. Fun. No wasted words.

It's an enjoyable read. The plot isn't completely predictable but also isn't riddled with surprises just to be thought clever. The protagonist has no special powers that resolve everything: she doesn't know any obscure languages that turn out to be the key to everything, have taken up archery as a hobby only to have to use a bow in competition, or any similar skills that have become so trite as plot devices. As a result, she is relatable. You root for her without feeling like the story or other characters are unimportant if she's out of the scene.

This is a fun light read. It's fairly positive as dystopian novels go. Comic in its violence. Explicit enough it's probably not for book clubs.

A few years ago, David Wong (not his real name) came out with a book called "John Dies At the End"

It was totally off-the-wall funny, frightening, tense, wacky, wild, and beyond description

And because David Wong (not his real name) tells the truth, at the end of the book, well, you know.

The reaction to this, and the VERY strange movie made from it, and because it was part of a trilogy which, if you are doing a trilogy REQUIRES a second book, led to "This Book is Full of Spiders" a book which was funny, terrifying, suspenseful, and didn't even recognize that there WAS a wall, and which, because David Wong (not his real name) tells the truth, was, well, you know

Before writing the third book in the (let's call it) John trilogy, David Wong (not his real name) has chosen to start what he promises is a new trilogy with the above book.

It is funny, terrifying, Science-Fiction-y, suspenseful and wouldn't know a wall if you built one on it.

And, yes, there is violence of the futuristic kind, and more than a few fancy suits because David Wong (not his real name) tells ONLY the truth

This is a pretty fun novel. The story of Zoey, trailer trash daughter of an absent and now blown up father, as the world (watching her through smart glasses) chases after her, for her ability to enter Daddy's vault.....in a futuristic, techno-driven outlaw world -- is quite funny. The author has a great eye, and facility with phrases, and generates a very fun book to read.

My only quibble is Zoey herself, whose pluck and inventiveness sorta works, but only sorta, in that she seems a contrived character, at times both more and less than her background would lead you to expect.

Otherwise, this is a very funny and interesting book, witty and self-aware.

It's a rare book that makes me laugh out loud. This was one of those books. This is simply a snarktacular adventure!

Wong takes near future SF and ramps it up with assassins, a locked vault containing something that just might change the world, and a particularly smelly cat. And, funny as it is, you can actually envision a future where the entire world can watch anything you do at any time.

The book manages to pull off violent and funny at the same time and it's one of those incredibly fast reads - suddenly hours have passed, you're done with the book, and you're sad that there's no more!

I completely loved this and I hope that Wong revisits Zoe and Stench Machine in the future!

I've followed David Wing (the pseudonym for Jason Pargin) on Cracked.com for a few years, where he works as an executive editor. His articles mix humor and thoughtful insight. His book, "Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits" does nothing less.

This book has a lot to offer. Laughter, excitement, memorable characters, and an interesting take on how the world will be shaped by our technology. I found the course of the story to be unpredictable. Wong both mocks and subverts tropes. This book was exciting from the first page to the last.

I haven't read Wongs other books, but if they as witty as FVAFS, I'll be picking them up real soon.

If you've read John Dies at the End or This Book is Full of Spiders, you already know what you're getting into when you pick up a David Wong novel. There's going to be plenty of humor, a smattering of pathos, a lot of gore and an incredibly unique yet recognizable world. David Wong really succeeds in the world building, what made JDATE and Spiders so great is that despite tyhe fantastical the world around the was almost painstakingly normal. A hero has to fight demons, or monsters from another realm, but only after his shift at the video store is over because he's called out too much already and he still has bills to pay. Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits takes you into a city of the future in the future of Tabula Ra$a, where the rich are obscenely rich and there are no laws. I won't spoil the plot too much, but it involves psychopaths who have a surprising Darwinian goal, becoming enhanced through mechanical implants and wrecking havoc.
Like I said earlier, if you're a fan of David Wong's two previous novels you shouldn't be disappointed with his latest novel. The gore and the humor and the main character's complete inability to handle the situation that is thrust on them is similar to those previous works in a good way.
What is also similar to the previous works in not such a great way is that like both JDATE and Spiders, Wonge still hasn't learned to really stick the landing.
He juggles so many great ideas, characters, moments of action, suspense, and amazing surprises, but the endings always seem anti-climatic. The ending of this novel ends in what one supposes is an attempt to keep the character as close to pure as anyone in the story could be, but when it comes and goes without much fanfare or exposition, it ends up feeling rushed and, for me, flat.
I loved Wong's previous novels and I thoroughly enjoyed the Futuristic Violence, I just believe there was a more interesting and reader satisfying ending to the story.

The novel is entertaining, and even if you've never read a David Wong novel I think this novel would be a good read, and I can see myself going back to it one day, and if a sequel came out I'd be interested in that as well.

This next part has nothing to do with the quality of the book, but it's something that I feel like needs to be said:

The inside of the book's jacket reads, " A world in which at least one cat smells like a seafood shop's Dumpster on a hot summer day."

Which is pretty funny, but besides a few lines in the beginning, the smell of the cat in question is never mentioned again, and has nothing to do with the story itself.

And then there's, "Her only trusted adviser is the aforementioned cat, but even in the future, cats cannot give advice. At least not any that you'd want to follow."

And the problem with that is; *minor spoilers*, the cat never gives any advice whatsoever, and is not her only trusted adviser. In fact the cat is literally just a cat with no special abilities at all. Which again. has nothing to do with the quality of the novel, but it is incredibly misleading if you expect the cat to be involved in the plot at any time.

But I'm sure those quibbles (and the jacket art which, again has nothing to do with the novel) should be left for the marketing people.

Ok, this book was shockingly good. I say this because I picked it up largely at random at a thrift store, because the cover appealed. That is how you are supposed to pick a book, right? It sat on my bedside table for several weeks, untouched. Went on a plane trip and threw it in my carry on bag. Opened it up and couldn't put it down. I laughed out loud on the plane, to the chagrin of my husband, for nearly 4 hours. Was sad when it was over. It is a near-future wild romp by a young spirited woman with a little extra meat on her bones. I will be handing this book off to my two young adult daughters, who will surely find joy b/w its pages. I observed that some of the reviewers commented that many of the jokes are "immature". Perhaps. However if you are a middle aged woman who enjoys a good fart-joke, you will have fun with this book!

I'm a huge fan of David Wong's Cracked articles. I'm not a big Lovecraft fan, but I enjoyed John Dies at the End because of how sharp the plotting and writing was. There are moments of that in Futuristic Violence but they are too few and too infrequent. This felt like one big fight scene that didn't really amount to anything. The villain was an X-rated version of either The Incredibles or Megamind, I can't decide which. Zoey was a great character, though. There was a great novel waiting to unfold with the engaging setup, but alas, it strayed into a cartoon exploration of game theory. Empty calories, sadly.

This book was an exciting, fast paced romp from start to end, but it was almost fatiguing to read because the "slower" scenes were still ratcheted with the same tension as the action scenes, which made it blur together a bit mentally and emotionally.

Wong does a great job of introducing a mystery, solving it quickly, and ramping up to the next, bigger question so you are constantly rewarded and intrigued on every new development. The setting is unique, and the characters each have their own voice and observations that are entertaining and engaging, but the main protagonist felt a little...emotionally detached from what was happening to her, though I can't explain why. Her primary method of problem solving is to smash through other people's plans (which I thought was great), or throw insane and obscene amounts of her sudden inheritance around, which took me out of the story to picture an Oprah meme ("You get a million dollars, and you get a million dollars, everyone gets millions of dollars!") I didn't really connect with her, so maybe I'm not giving a fair account of her as a character. There were things about her I did like, and I applaud her consistent characterization and general attitude, which was basically two middle fingers to cliches. Overall, an entertaining adventure and worth reading. Check it out!

If you've read and enjoyed the first two books by this author, you really don't need to be reading these reviews. This novel is the same over-the-top mixture of hilarious, implausible, and horribly interesting nonsense as the others, while actually being a bit easier to relate to. By that I mean that the heroine Zoey is a really tough version of someone we've all met, and the villain... well, the villain is a moronic, misogynistic, self-declared superman obsessed with how manly he is. We've all met various iterations of this guy, because he is unfortunately everywhere, and watching Wong tear apart this personality type is one of the chief joys of the book.

The plot revolves around the race to control an Iron Man-style technology that allows high-energy weapons to be implanted in people's bodies. Zoey gets sucked into the situation and finds herself the heiress to an immense fortune. While trying not to get killed by the idiot bad guy and his shirtless minions, she mostly fails to adjust to the lifestyle of the rich-and-famous, and mostly refuses to cooperate with her new allies. In a word, she's wonderful and it's a great deal of fun to watch events unfold.

If you're a fan of Wong's, read this book. If you're not yet a fan of Wong's, read this book. It's the most fun I've had with a novel in a long time.

If you like violence for the sake of violence you have come to the right place. If you can suspend all footing in any reality you have come to the right place.

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits is a smartly written novel, that will make you cringe while you laugh out loud. Zoey is the daughter of Arthur Livingstong, an absentee father with a secret lying in a vault that only Zoey can open. Thus begins a romp, televised live around the world from those who want her dead, to those who maybe even more scary want her alive for her ability to open the vault.

I enjoyed it thourougly and any fan of Mr. Wong will as well. I have a feeling sales of his others novels will get a bounce after the public release of this book. Very entertaining read.

I finally got around to reading David Wong's third novel, and it was all I could ask for.

The first page gets you curious, and then it just moves. It's a departure from the occult background of his JDaTE series, this time focusing on science fiction of a sort, but he still infuses insights on society and power dynamics.

Full of action, suspense and of course
d--k jokes. I couldn't help but liking the characters, the main character is full of moxie and spunk. Her supporting cast range from ultra slick to loveable goofballs that are very good set what they do.

The only problem is that once it's over you want more. The set-up is there for some continuing adventures and I guess we just have to wait.

I knew this one was going to be different right off the bat, with the way the author started out with the prescience of the third person point of view. And how he kind of jumped around, giving you one snippet that led you to one conclusion, then another one a bit later that basically negated the first one he said.

There was enough ambiguity and unknown bits of statement of fact in the first chapter that I knew I was going to continue reading this. Often an author demonstrates a writing style or lack of imagination that really grates on my nerves, and I won't even bother reading any further. I read for enjoyment, so I want to be entertained, not annoyed.

And I have to say, this book is entertaining. This must be how it feels when someone does some legally questionable chemicals and everything seems totally apropos of nothing. He jumps through descriptions and metaphors that are completely off the cuff as easily as I inhale and exhale, and it seems he does it about as often. The first three chapters were just insanely surreal enough to really set the hook.

The story progresses quickly enough, the pacing is steady. There's enough of a "grounding" in the story that makes it easy to experience the suspension of disbelief, and just sit back and enjoy the ride.

The downside is the way this female protagonist is so enamored of farts, and refers to them many, many times. That's a bit jarring, and kind of pulls you back out of the "zone" as you read since it's just too much like a kid's book at those times, something my 11 year old already outgrew. So every time I'm really invested in this, and sunk deep into it to the exlcusion of my surroundings, there will be one of these references, and that's the point where I take a break again and put it down and move on. And there are parts where you just shake your head at how contrived a few scenes get, as if he wrote a couple chapters strictly to try to force some kind of connection between points A and C. But that's something that we see in many books, and so it wasn't as much of a detraction here as the flatulence obsession.

There's plenty of politically incorrect parts in here to enjoy as well.

Action scenes are well done, they flow nicely and he doesn't overdo the descriptions like some authors do, trying to detail every bit of dust in the air, detracting from the enjoyment of the action. He seems to strike a good balance there.

I kept expecting the "traitor" to turn out to be one person, just since that seemed the most unlikely one, but he did a good job of making it someone even less obvious than THAT. I was honestly all set to make some comments about the predictability, but this guy took those chances away by not being predictable.... Darn...

For the most part, I fully enjoyed this book the whole way through, but the ending was just insanely abrupt, and the whole book ended, like driving on a bridge and suddenly the bridge just ends and is dangling there in space, unexpected. I'm not much of a fan of the ending, although the author did the obligatory line that opens the door for the next book and a new antagonist.

But even with the IMHO not good ending, the book was an enjoyable read. Some great phrases in here that I'll have to throw at people just to see the confused look on their face when they don't get the reference, some total non sequiters thrown liberally throughout, and just a fun ride overall. I'm going to have to look into the other books by this author now, this one has gotten my interest enough to warrant buying some of his other work.

I absolutely loved this book, humor, action, violence, interesting characters, great plot, good plot twists, smooth story flow, and surprises!
I can't remember having this much fun reading a book, I could not stand to put it down, any excuse to go back to reading was used, I actually read it in two days and somehow managed to get work down in-between reading sessions.

If you love to read, you love a strong story, an interesting female main character, humor, fun, some random violence, you owe it to yourself to
get this book.

Highly recommended

This is a hilarious and snarky story of sci fi. It's actually laugh out loud funny, and it's a pretty quick read. The author has a gift for delivering the ridiculous and unexpected, and keeping the reader's interest throughout. The characters are funny and well fleshed out, and the plot moves fast and flawlessly. It's a tough novel to explain and to do justice to it in an explanation. It's one of those you just have to read to appreciate it. And I was happy that I did. Highly recommended to anybody who loves sci fi, snarky, laughter and fun.

Few books are as fun and imaginative as this one. Like Blade Runner meets South Park, the story has a wild, futuristic setting married to a sophomoric potty-mouth. The beginning beats are the best when the story has not quite established itself into a linear and predictable direction. Once the action settles into gear, some of the humor and scenes can grown stale and redundant. A book with this many jokes will inevitably have a few fall flat. Yet the story always tirelessly charges forward with high stakes and epic moments from the unadulterated id and insane imagination of an excited teenager.

When This Book is Full of Spiders came out, I bought it only for the continuation of those characters. I expected it to be a half-assed follow-up to one of my favorite books. I was wrong; it was miles above John Dies at the End. Wong has proven himself to be an increasingly insightful, entertaining writer who I'd follow anywhere.

So, imagine my surprise when cruising around my neighborhood Barnes & Noble to find Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits, a book I didn't even know was in the works, lying in a stack on a table of new releases. They say don't judge a book by its cover. I did. Hard. The cover for this book is so hilariously ugly, stupid, and nonsensical, with a backing cover to match, that I thought, "Eh, I'll give this a pity read."

The worst moment in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was Thorin's berating speech to Bilbo, a dramatic pause, then a music cue to mark the change in emotion as he repents, "I have never been so wrong in my entire life."

That exchange happens toward the very end of the film but I experienced the exact same thing two chapters into this book. This is a fantastic read with wonderful characters and fun yet terrifying look into the future. I cannot wait for the TV adaption.

This is a fantastic near-future science fiction novel. One of those crazy though experiments. Takes place maybe 20 years in the future, starting out in Colorado but then the story moves to Utah. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but this book is a departure from the John Dies at the End universe that the author David Wong tell in his first two novels. Whole new cast of interesting characters. The main character is a funny self deprecating type of character that you can't help but root for. It's great, but if you know this author that's not surprise.

I would recommend this book to anybody with a sense of humor and is literate.

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits was a fun story. Who would think that from the title and book description? Not me - I was surprised, but not put-off, but the sarcastic and light-hearted tone. I think Wong, by writing in such a way, made the actual story playful, as opposed to horrifying, like many of the acts that take place in the book. I think with a more character development (they seemed a little flat; i.e., they had only one major characteristic and they never veered from that descriptor) and re-writes on the dialogue this could easily be a 4-star book.

If you liked David Wong's previous novels (John Dies at the End and This Book Is Full of Spiders), then you'll love this too. Set in the near future, Zoey finds out that her absentee, play-boy father has died mysteriously and left behind a vast fortune . In the wake of his death, power-players from the futuristic city of Tabula Rasa are searching for her father's most valuable and dangerous asset of all, which could have horrifying consequences for the entire world if it falls into the wrong hands. Like it or not, Zoey is the key to unlocking this mystery, which puts her life in imminent danger. Now she has to decide who she can trust in this violent, exotic dystopia.
I'm a big fan of David Wong. I love his previous works, so I had high hopes for this book.... And he didn't disappoint! Wong creates a future where technology has evolved, but the collective maturity of our culture unfortunately has not. He explores familiar themes and concepts such as the over-saturation of social media, the constant live streaming of one's own life, internet trolls and mob mentality, economic inequality, organized crime, corruption, and toxic masculinity. It's a wild ride from start to finish, with colorful heroes and villains who are, at times, disturbingly familiar.
I can't wait for Wong's next book and really hope we'll get to go another adventure with our heroes someday soon.

If David Wong's first two books can be described as "snarky horror," this one qualifies as "snarky science fiction," and it's a much tighter tale than his earlier work. The plot moves briskly, everything ties in beautifully and yet most of the plot twists are unpredictable. The book resembles William Gibson's recent The Peripheral in that it involves an impoverished young woman in the near future thrust into the dangerous world of the extremely rich, and relying on her own wits and the experience of various employees and agents of the upper classes to survive. Frankly, I enjoyed it more than I enjoyed The Peripheral, and I'm giving five stars with the following caveats:
1. Many of the earnest characters sound the same as each other, and many of the snarky characters sound the same as each other, and
2. The ending is a bit of deus ex machina.

Much of the development feels cinematic, and I bet this book is made into a movie. The main character would be played by Jennifer Lawrence, I think.

Jason Pargin (aka David Wong) is clearly one of the best writers of science fiction and horror to date. If you were a fan of either "John Dies at the End" or "This Book is Full of Spiders", then you will love this book. Witty, action packed, and thought provoking. This book is a must read.

I’ve never read anything by David Wong before this but ‘John Dies at the End’ has often been enthusiastically recommended to me by people whose tastes in books are, shall we say, eclectic.

If ‘John Dies at the End’ is a ‘horror/adventure novel’, as the author describes it, then ‘Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits’ is likely to be called a ‘horror/adventure/sci-fi/thriller’. It’s a rowdy, rollicking geekfest that starts out as fast as a roller coaster and picks up speed with each chapter.

As the story opens, twenty-two year-old Colorado trailer park resident Zoey Ashe is about to get more than her allotted 15 minutes in the national spotlight. Her trip to the Wendy’s drive-thru is interrupted by an attempted assassination, which results in her flight via train to Tabula Ra$a, a lawless boom town in the desert of western Utah (think Vegas on acid-laced steroids) where, after more assassination attempts and a kidnapping attempt, she learns that her estranged father, gangster-turned-real estate mogul Arthur Livingston has died violently in an explosion leaving Zoey, for reasons I’ll let you discover for yourself, on the run with a multi-million dollar bounty on her head.

All this, which takes place in the first 36 pages, is what readers will eventually recognize as the slow parts.

What fascinates me is that, at the heart of the story is a preview of social technology’s future that is as plausible as it is frightening. ‘Blink’ is social network that combines the immediacy of Twitter with the video technology of GoPro and Google Glass. If 24-hour news channels scare you, imagine ‘millions of live feeds broadcasting from glasses and pinned-on cameras, in addition to most car dashboard cams (standard on every new model since 2020) and a swarm of aerial drones owned by police departments, TV News channels, and tens of thousands of random voyeurs’ provide a constant video stream that allow ‘Blinkers’ to watch any person, place or event (newsworthy or otherwise) ‘in real time, the view hopping from one feed to the next’, automatically switching to the feed with the best view of the event as it happens. Anyone with a camera is now a newscaster and anyone desiring his 15 minutes of fame has an audience of millions if his stunt is dramatic enough. In FV&FS, ‘The Hunt for Arthur Livingston’s Daughter is the story of the day and everybody in Tabula Ra$a wants to get the best shot of the action.

If the book has a weakness, it is that many of the characters are two-dimensional. They have as much depth built in to do what they were written to do, and not much more.

By now I assume you get the idea. The story is rocking, raucous, rollicking and very violent. I really enjoyed it, except for those moments when the author decided to kill off characters that I liked. If you like your reading laced with adrenaline, you will too.

*Quotations are cited from an advanced reading copy and may not be the same as appears in the final published edition. The review book was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.

FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:
• 5 Stars – Nothing at all. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
• 4 Stars – It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it’s pretty good as it is.
• 3 Stars – A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered <i>good</i> or memorable.
• 2 Stars – This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending.
• 1 Star - The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire.

I won a copy of Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits via Goodreads first reads!

Hilarious and witty. Fast paced futuristic fun.

Zoey a 22 year old is about to be killed off all before she can enjoy her chili from Wendy's. The Suits step in. She boards a train to Tabula Ra$a. She burns Doll Heads crotch (and blows him up, this is important). She opens a vault and now has a s*** ton of money and property from her dead dad she didn't even like!

I hope one day I can enter a room in my home and a theme song plays.

I'm a big fan of David Wong's work, so I was really excited to grab this when it first came out. After reading it a second time I think I can finally leave a review. After a pretty interesting and slightly confusing start I found it hard to put the book down just to find out what was even going on. I wanted to learn more about the world he developed and I find that the ridiculous humor helps readers stay just on the edge of interested and overly curious. I found that any troupe used in the story ended up with an interesting twist or an over the top representation of that quality, something I really enjoyed. I was disappointed in the ending of the story because I didn't want it to end, and I'm honestly about to pick it up for a third time. Whenever I need a quick pick me up or jolt of humor I find myself opening up one of David Wong's books on my iPad. I honestly don't know which one of his stories I want him to start up again more.

I am not a reader. Most books I've read have been textbooks or how to do research on things, and to say I finished reading those is a very generous description. When I've read for fun, which was probably 10 years ago at least, I never read straight through a book. I always skipped around reading chapters in random order before finally settling on reading straight through, and even then it was a chore. People talk about the "magic of reading" and the "ownership of books" as if only troglodytic subhumans never read bound paper. Quite frankly I felt like s*** for this.

I bring all this to bear to show how good this book is from my perspective. I had seen John Dies at the End and regularly read David Wong's posts on Cracked.com. His writing is superb- witty and sly with the right hooks to keep you moving forward. After much debate due to my past experiences of reading for fun I decided to pick up Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suites. I just finished this book and have never felt a feeling close to this with other fiction books. The story keeps you going and there are parts where you genuinely wonder if David Wong is seriously going to let that happen to his characters. You care about their fate and growth, you want to see how it all plays out. The book is as extravagant in it's action and violence as the fictional city it's set in. If you've never fancied yourself a reader, give this book a shot. The near-futuristic setting, the city of Tabula Ra$a, the story of Zoey Ashe and the Suites, it's all fantastic. No, it's not War and Peace or Huckleberry Finn, but if you came in expecting the next great classic I'd sincerely have to question your intelligence. The title gives you an idea of what to expect, and if like your books fun and full of futurism, action, violence, and humor, you'll certainly enjoy the read, or at least some part of it. I don't know, I'm not you.

I loved this book, pretty much from the beginning. It was the first thing I'd read by David Wong. Since then I've read his other two books, and this one is still my favorite. Wong has shown that he has some serious Sci-FI chops and real understanding of humanity that so many authors quite frankly lack. Not only can he write a cool tale about technology and cutting edge science, but he can make realistic characters who work within that world.

This is a hilarious and snarky story of sci fi. It's actually laugh out loud funny, and it's a pretty quick read. The author has a gift for delivering the ridiculous and unexpected, and keeping the reader's interest throughout. The characters are funny and well fleshed out, and the plot moves fast and flawlessly. It's a tough novel to explain and to do justice to it in an explanation. It's one of those you just have to read to appreciate it. And I was happy that I did. Highly recommended to anybody who loves sci fi, snarky, laughter and fun.

Few books are as fun and imaginative as this one. Like Blade Runner meets South Park, the story has a wild, futuristic setting married to a sophomoric potty-mouth. The beginning beats are the best when the story has not quite established itself into a linear and predictable direction. Once the action settles into gear, some of the humor and scenes can grown stale and redundant. A book with this many jokes will inevitably have a few fall flat. Yet the story always tirelessly charges forward with high stakes and epic moments from the unadulterated id and insane imagination of an excited teenager.

When This Book is Full of Spiders came out, I bought it only for the continuation of those characters. I expected it to be a half-assed follow-up to one of my favorite books. I was wrong; it was miles above John Dies at the End. Wong has proven himself to be an increasingly insightful, entertaining writer who I'd follow anywhere.

So, imagine my surprise when cruising around my neighborhood Barnes & Noble to find Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits, a book I didn't even know was in the works, lying in a stack on a table of new releases. They say don't judge a book by its cover. I did. Hard. The cover for this book is so hilariously ugly, stupid, and nonsensical, with a backing cover to match, that I thought, "Eh, I'll give this a pity read."

The worst moment in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was Thorin's berating speech to Bilbo, a dramatic pause, then a music cue to mark the change in emotion as he repents, "I have never been so wrong in my entire life."

That exchange happens toward the very end of the film but I experienced the exact same thing two chapters into this book. This is a fantastic read with wonderful characters and fun yet terrifying look into the future. I cannot wait for the TV adaption.

This is a fantastic near-future science fiction novel. One of those crazy though experiments. Takes place maybe 20 years in the future, starting out in Colorado but then the story moves to Utah. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but this book is a departure from the John Dies at the End universe that the author David Wong tell in his first two novels. Whole new cast of interesting characters. The main character is a funny self deprecating type of character that you can't help but root for. It's great, but if you know this author that's not surprise.

I would recommend this book to anybody with a sense of humor and is literate.

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits was a fun story. Who would think that from the title and book description? Not me - I was surprised, but not put-off, but the sarcastic and light-hearted tone. I think Wong, by writing in such a way, made the actual story playful, as opposed to horrifying, like many of the acts that take place in the book. I think with a more character development (they seemed a little flat; i.e., they had only one major characteristic and they never veered from that descriptor) and re-writes on the dialogue this could easily be a 4-star book.

If you liked David Wong's previous novels (John Dies at the End and This Book Is Full of Spiders), then you'll love this too. Set in the near future, Zoey finds out that her absentee, play-boy father has died mysteriously and left behind a vast fortune . In the wake of his death, power-players from the futuristic city of Tabula Rasa are searching for her father's most valuable and dangerous asset of all, which could have horrifying consequences for the entire world if it falls into the wrong hands. Like it or not, Zoey is the key to unlocking this mystery, which puts her life in imminent danger. Now she has to decide who she can trust in this violent, exotic dystopia.
I'm a big fan of David Wong. I love his previous works, so I had high hopes for this book.... And he didn't disappoint! Wong creates a future where technology has evolved, but the collective maturity of our culture unfortunately has not. He explores familiar themes and concepts such as the over-saturation of social media, the constant live streaming of one's own life, internet trolls and mob mentality, economic inequality, organized crime, corruption, and toxic masculinity. It's a wild ride from start to finish, with colorful heroes and villains who are, at times, disturbingly familiar.
I can't wait for Wong's next book and really hope we'll get to go another adventure with our heroes someday soon.

If David Wong's first two books can be described as "snarky horror," this one qualifies as "snarky science fiction," and it's a much tighter tale than his earlier work. The plot moves briskly, everything ties in beautifully and yet most of the plot twists are unpredictable. The book resembles William Gibson's recent The Peripheral in that it involves an impoverished young woman in the near future thrust into the dangerous world of the extremely rich, and relying on her own wits and the experience of various employees and agents of the upper classes to survive. Frankly, I enjoyed it more than I enjoyed The Peripheral, and I'm giving five stars with the following caveats:
1. Many of the earnest characters sound the same as each other, and many of the snarky characters sound the same as each other, and
2. The ending is a bit of deus ex machina.

Much of the development feels cinematic, and I bet this book is made into a movie. The main character would be played by Jennifer Lawrence, I think.

Jason Pargin (aka David Wong) is clearly one of the best writers of science fiction and horror to date. If you were a fan of either "John Dies at the End" or "This Book is Full of Spiders", then you will love this book. Witty, action packed, and thought provoking. This book is a must read.

I’ve never read anything by David Wong before this but ‘John Dies at the End’ has often been enthusiastically recommended to me by people whose tastes in books are, shall we say, eclectic.

If ‘John Dies at the End’ is a ‘horror/adventure novel’, as the author describes it, then ‘Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits’ is likely to be called a ‘horror/adventure/sci-fi/thriller’. It’s a rowdy, rollicking geekfest that starts out as fast as a roller coaster and picks up speed with each chapter.

As the story opens, twenty-two year-old Colorado trailer park resident Zoey Ashe is about to get more than her allotted 15 minutes in the national spotlight. Her trip to the Wendy’s drive-thru is interrupted by an attempted assassination, which results in her flight via train to Tabula Ra$a, a lawless boom town in the desert of western Utah (think Vegas on acid-laced steroids) where, after more assassination attempts and a kidnapping attempt, she learns that her estranged father, gangster-turned-real estate mogul Arthur Livingston has died violently in an explosion leaving Zoey, for reasons I’ll let you discover for yourself, on the run with a multi-million dollar bounty on her head.

All this, which takes place in the first 36 pages, is what readers will eventually recognize as the slow parts.

What fascinates me is that, at the heart of the story is a preview of social technology’s future that is as plausible as it is frightening. ‘Blink’ is social network that combines the immediacy of Twitter with the video technology of GoPro and Google Glass. If 24-hour news channels scare you, imagine ‘millions of live feeds broadcasting from glasses and pinned-on cameras, in addition to most car dashboard cams (standard on every new model since 2020) and a swarm of aerial drones owned by police departments, TV News channels, and tens of thousands of random voyeurs’ provide a constant video stream that allow ‘Blinkers’ to watch any person, place or event (newsworthy or otherwise) ‘in real time, the view hopping from one feed to the next’, automatically switching to the feed with the best view of the event as it happens. Anyone with a camera is now a newscaster and anyone desiring his 15 minutes of fame has an audience of millions if his stunt is dramatic enough. In FV&FS, ‘The Hunt for Arthur Livingston’s Daughter is the story of the day and everybody in Tabula Ra$a wants to get the best shot of the action.

If the book has a weakness, it is that many of the characters are two-dimensional. They have as much depth built in to do what they were written to do, and not much more.

By now I assume you get the idea. The story is rocking, raucous, rollicking and very violent. I really enjoyed it, except for those moments when the author decided to kill off characters that I liked. If you like your reading laced with adrenaline, you will too.

*Quotations are cited from an advanced reading copy and may not be the same as appears in the final published edition. The review book was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.

FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:
• 5 Stars – Nothing at all. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
• 4 Stars – It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it’s pretty good as it is.
• 3 Stars – A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered <i>good</i> or memorable.
• 2 Stars – This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending.
• 1 Star - The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire.

I won a copy of Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits via Goodreads first reads!

Hilarious and witty. Fast paced futuristic fun.

Zoey a 22 year old is about to be killed off all before she can enjoy her chili from Wendy's. The Suits step in. She boards a train to Tabula Ra$a. She burns Doll Heads crotch (and blows him up, this is important). She opens a vault and now has a s*** ton of money and property from her dead dad she didn't even like!

I hope one day I can enter a room in my home and a theme song plays.

I'm a big fan of David Wong's work, so I was really excited to grab this when it first came out. After reading it a second time I think I can finally leave a review. After a pretty interesting and slightly confusing start I found it hard to put the book down just to find out what was even going on. I wanted to learn more about the world he developed and I find that the ridiculous humor helps readers stay just on the edge of interested and overly curious. I found that any troupe used in the story ended up with an interesting twist or an over the top representation of that quality, something I really enjoyed. I was disappointed in the ending of the story because I didn't want it to end, and I'm honestly about to pick it up for a third time. Whenever I need a quick pick me up or jolt of humor I find myself opening up one of David Wong's books on my iPad. I honestly don't know which one of his stories I want him to start up again more.

I am not a reader. Most books I've read have been textbooks or how to do research on things, and to say I finished reading those is a very generous description. When I've read for fun, which was probably 10 years ago at least, I never read straight through a book. I always skipped around reading chapters in random order before finally settling on reading straight through, and even then it was a chore. People talk about the "magic of reading" and the "ownership of books" as if only troglodytic subhumans never read bound paper. Quite frankly I felt like s*** for this.

I bring all this to bear to show how good this book is from my perspective. I had seen John Dies at the End and regularly read David Wong's posts on Cracked.com. His writing is superb- witty and sly with the right hooks to keep you moving forward. After much debate due to my past experiences of reading for fun I decided to pick up Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suites. I just finished this book and have never felt a feeling close to this with other fiction books. The story keeps you going and there are parts where you genuinely wonder if David Wong is seriously going to let that happen to his characters. You care about their fate and growth, you want to see how it all plays out. The book is as extravagant in it's action and violence as the fictional city it's set in. If you've never fancied yourself a reader, give this book a shot. The near-futuristic setting, the city of Tabula Ra$a, the story of Zoey Ashe and the Suites, it's all fantastic. No, it's not War and Peace or Huckleberry Finn, but if you came in expecting the next great classic I'd sincerely have to question your intelligence. The title gives you an idea of what to expect, and if like your books fun and full of futurism, action, violence, and humor, you'll certainly enjoy the read, or at least some part of it. I don't know, I'm not you.

If you love grown up action adventure comic books, you will love this novel. Our hero is an ordinary young woman whose greatest strength is her stubborn pride and her quick thinking.

This story is not a realistic vision of the future, but there is social commentary. Do the rich gain their wealth by violently exploiting the poor?

While this story is different in topic from the author's big hit, John Dies at The End, the attitude of the narrative is the same.

David Wong/Jason Pargin is an amazing writer, an awesome human (probably) being and all man. JDATE and TBIFOSSDDTI were fantastic, and he keeps the victory train rolling right on over your nerts with FVAFS. He takes violence and humor into unexpected places where innocence cannot survive long, like a clown at a children's birthday party. Read it today before someone blows up the world, because we're outnumbered a thousand to one by the dead, so you know the waitlist in the afterlife for library books is insane.

This book was definitely a lot of fun to read. I found the characters crazy and fascinating. Wong has managed to capture some of that magical Douglas Adams/British skill for understatement. His clever turns of phrases has me repeating them to everyone within earshot who still pays attention to me.

I did not like this book as much as his JDatE series, but I did enjoy the weird settings, futurism, villains, and weird mafia men.

"Futuristic Violence & Fancy Suits" by David Wong is an action-packed extremely violent summer blockbuster movie cleverly disguised as a book.

Did you like the two previous David Wong novels, "John Dies At The End" and "This Book Is Full of Spiders" ? You'll like this one.

Did you dislike the two previous David Wong novels, "John Dies At The End" and "This Book Is Full of Spiders" ? Why the hairy halibut are you even bothering to read this review?

Special note: I didn't buy the book, I borrowed it from the library. This is because I have the paperbacks of the other novels, so to keep the shelf consistent I will wait to own. Also because libraries are keen and deserve support.

My Fiance and I listened to the Audio book while at the cabin. It is a fairly short book, but omg is it funny! I the woman reading can be a little hard to listen to some times as she isn't the best at making it easy to distinguish between who is speaking, however, she is perfect for the main character. You really feel the main character's personality coming through. I highly recommend this book for a quiet weekend.

There are actually a lot of interesting ideas thrown out in this romp. Literally, they just get thrown out in passing. The story of Zoey Ashe and her inheritance is filled wth gadgets and weird sociology. But it was fun to read. The characters rise a bit above stereotypes, mostly to satisfy Wong's satirical tone.

I would wish the human (and structural) carnage was a bit less pronounced, but suppose it adds some urgency to stopping the evil madman.

I'm still not sure why I should care about the cat, though.

Double Wow actually! I had no idea what to expect when I ordered the book - it just looked interesting. LOL - what an understatement!

I was caught up in the reading of this book from the first page. I have never read anything like it - it's just so bizarre and creepy and thrilling and twisted and surprising and way out there, that it is hard to put down. The characters are so unbelievable and yet really could be believable in a future world.

This will be the best movie! I want to see these characters on the big screen! I want to see the scene 'on the ice' come to life as well as dozens of others and that should be something as some were just mind-numbing to read.

This was pure escapism for me and I loved it. I now need to read the prior books and am looking forward to that as I am definitely a new follower of David Wong's writings.

This new effort by David Wong is great. To reiterate my choice of the fancy buttons I had to press before getting to this review box: the story has a good amount of twists and mystery to keep the reader engaged; the tone of the book is very hopeful in a "we need to save the world" way; the pace is very steady and it keeps the action up without losing momentum in the dialogue scenes; and the characters are developed enough to seem like real people.

The characters were my favorite part. Wong has a knack for writing believable people with believable personalities. They're the kind of characters that you can see either a little bit of yourself or people you know in. They're all full of quirks, flaws, ambition and hope.

I recommend this book highly if you're a fan of crazy, humor-laden sci-fi.

Wow, I didn't think the author could outdo himself after John Dies at the End and This Book is Full of Spiders. Clearly he has a mainline to some crazy dimension that exists solely in his own head. And what an amazing dimension it is! Funny, action-packed and a great protagonist who has almost no f____s left to give.

I really, really enjoyed this book. It does a great job of mixing comedy, horror/suspense, and action. It's more polished than Wong's "John Dies at the End", but still maintains that off-the-wall humor that made JDatE so endearing. It also really gets you thinking about where technology is taking us, and how it is morphing our views on the world and our approach to violence and media-based consumption of it.

My expectations were high after This Book is Full of Spiders. Not having Dave around was disappointing me. Zoey needed to prove herself after such a good book. So I started Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits telling myself that it could not be bad; even if it was different, it was from Wong.
Indeed.
I'm not sure anymore if I prefer the John Dies at the End series or Futuristic Violence...
In a too-technological-future-that-made-people-crazy-and-scary world, this book was full of lovable characters set in unbelievable situations.
If you loved the John Dies at the End series, this will not disappoint you. Now that I'm done, I'm just regretting that it is over.
God, I can't even...
Damn!

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits was a wild ride of a book. The pace is fast and full of action, constantly throwing the reader for unexpected loops. Full cast of dynamic characters. Amazing portrayal and continuity of details within the world. I found myself laughing out loud every other page. Would recommend to any reader looking for high action, comedic, futuristic novel.

I give this 5 stars as a whole.

As usual characters are super fun to read and enjoyable to follow whether you like them as people or not.
The world set up is also fun to read and enjoyable to discover and learn how things work.
Writing style detailed, but not over explanatory. Decent vocabulary usage and yet not pretentious. Once again uses his main character's ignorance and curiosity to control how much detail is necessary, and to leave room to change and grow throughout any possible sequels.

Fun to watch him grow as an author. Fun to read, can't put it down. Great audio book to listen to; excellent narrator who brings characters to life.

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits is a smart, funny roller coaster of a story that shamelessly taps every male adolescent cultural icon of the last 50 years. Men In Black, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, and a host of DC/Marvel heroes and villains provide self-referential fodder and meta subplots any 13, 33 or 63 year old boy will adore. Techno gadgets and mini-cams, talking toilets and slapstick violence (villains literally get their nuts roasted, on more than one occasion) will delight the adolescent in us all. It will also cause some readers to dismiss Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits as mere self-indulgence. A literary cocktail of testosterone and steroids. That, I think is a mistake.

This is the the story of 22 yearl old Zoey Ashe--trailer trash with a 38 year old stripper mom--who wakes to find herself a billionaires with a a bounty on her head. Worse still her pursuit and attack is featured on Blink, a live-stream that allows every subscriber to be both cameraman and viewer. In David Wong's disturbing future you no longer have to go to the Coliseum to watch them feed the lions--the Coliseum comes to you. Reality TV ratcheted up to sadistic indulgence. Zoey's fate plays out in Tabula Ra$a, a futuristic "new city", where law and rules no longer apply. Politicians have capitulated to donor greed and demands, allowing a capitalistic Free Zone. The result is a mecca for Immorality and Vice. The female protagonist with clear-eyed humanity is a key relief valve to the Fancy Suits, offering a counterpoint to predatory maleness that has literally gone amok.

Zoey's background and perspective serve as a searing indictment of those in the thrall of mammon or indifferent to the poor. There's much Ayn Rand garbage spouted and endless examples of corporate abuse and indifference. It is all refuted by an unaffected manner and goodness of a heroine who refuses to hop on the bandwagon that exploits the weak. Tucked in among the car chases and explosions is a steady decency serves as the book's moral core. Amid the giggles and guffaws are just as many pauses Wong forces the reader to make. Think what it means to surrender every vestige of privacy, be indifferent to the weak and adopt the philosophy of Arthur Livingston: "the market is a machine, if any man is so foolish as to try to stop the works from turning, he not be surprised when he gets ground up in its gears."

The book is not without flaws. A single fart is funny. A dozen gross (no pun intended). There is entirely too much "deus ex machina", particularly toward the end. These however, are small complaints. Very funny and sometimes hilarious is how people will initially describe Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits. Upon reflection they will add...and very disturbing. A terrific read.

If you have read any of the other books by David Wong, the quality of the writing will not surprise you. This book has the same captivating, compelling story telling as his previous 2 works, with slightly fewer penis jokes, and perhaps a bit more violence.The humor is top notch, and I had very little idea where Mr. Wong was leading me (which is unusual for me, as I can usually pick up what's going to happen from the foreshadowing), but I was all too happy to go along for the ride. I've already recommend this book to practically everyone I know, and now I'm recommending it to you, people I don't know.
One word of warning. There is a scene in which Zoey gets beaten up a bit. It doesn't take up much of the book, but if that's hard for you to handle, you should know it going in.

As much as I enjoyed JDATE, and its sequel, I wasn't properly prepared for Futuristic Violence. Like, at all.

The violence was stunningly, awesomely, fantastic. The characters were equally as stunning, and the story was probably one of the best I've read in a while. It was a one sitting book, which is rare for me.

I hate to use reviews to bug authors, but c'mon, Mr. Wong! We need more, soon! Pretty please?

I enjoyed Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits.
The protagonist was relatable even though the world she was thrown into was so over the top and crazy.
This book was exciting and over the top, basically everything it advertises itself to be.

This was a lot of fun. A lot of action, just the right dose of ridiculous and comedic without going too crazy. The premise was brilliant. Everyone spends so much time watching everyone else's life - people who aren't really doing anything at all - that you wonder what the fuss is about. Sound familiar? Definitely one to read again.

This book marks the end of a two day marathon, reading all four books , written by David Wong.
To say that his books were a departure from my usual reading fare is an understatement. I found them entertaining although the gross factor was high. Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits was to me the best one , David Wong has come into his own and it is evident with this book.

After reading John Dies at the End and its followuo I expected more from this book. To me, it seems like the author had the beginnings of a good idea but couldn't come up with the gaps. I really want to give this book a better than average rating but I feel like the whole story left me disappointed.

Ok, I feel bad for doing this, but Mr. Wong I just didn't like this one. I really hung in there too and finished it even though my heart wasn't in it. I have read all of your other books and they were epic, but this one is just meh for me.

We got off to a good start introducing your main character and the whole chase scene in the trailer park. However, as soon as Zoey heads to the big city, you lost me. There was a lot of visual detail where I would have preferred more plot substance. I would have preferred less visual and action and more character development and inner dialogue. The whole thing had a Blade Runner feel to it, which made me feel (cynical, I know) that this was more of a pitch for a big budget movie than a great book. I actually would not want to watch the movie because the violence end of things was just way more excessive than artistically required, but I guess the title should have tipped me off.

Also, I take issue with Zoey. I am a curvier girl myself, and I can assure you that I don't spend every waking moment thinking about it. If you had mentioned her physique and wardrobe a couple of times and moved on, we would get the idea, but it was just never ending repetition. Give us girls some credit will you? We are complex beings who think about more important things. In the end my favorite character was the cat. He at least was true to character of a smelly cat.

I was really looking forward to some great mind bending concepts as we saw in your previous books, but no. Don't despair, I'll read the next one, but this one just didn't do it for me.

Incredibly well written novel. Superb character design. You know and understand even background players without the typical character building devices weak writers use. Book read like a movie I never wanted to see finish

After seeing John Dies at the End, I was just floored at how much I loved it. Downloaded the book on my Kindle, loved it even more. Later listened to the audiobook at work, once again loved it. Now with his third novel, he makes John Dies at The End look shallow in the shining awesomness that is this book. Zoe was a great lead, and you can tell the plot was very niceley penned out. (SPOILER****Except how did the coin end up in the vault, wasn't it in his pocket when he died***SPOILER) I loved it, want more, want a movie, a TV show, and sequels. This world is fantastic.

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits was a wild ride of a book. The pace is fast and full of action, constantly throwing the reader for unexpected loops. Full cast of dynamic characters. Amazing portrayal and continuity of details within the world. I found myself laughing out loud every other page. Would recommend to any reader looking for high action, comedic, futuristic novel.

I give this 5 stars as a whole.

As usual characters are super fun to read and enjoyable to follow whether you like them as people or not.
The world set up is also fun to read and enjoyable to discover and learn how things work.
Writing style detailed, but not over explanatory. Decent vocabulary usage and yet not pretentious. Once again uses his main character's ignorance and curiosity to control how much detail is necessary, and to leave room to change and grow throughout any possible sequels.

Fun to watch him grow as an author. Fun to read, can't put it down. Great audio book to listen to; excellent narrator who brings characters to life.

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits is a smart, funny roller coaster of a story that shamelessly taps every male adolescent cultural icon of the last 50 years. Men In Black, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, and a host of DC/Marvel heroes and villains provide self-referential fodder and meta subplots any 13, 33 or 63 year old boy will adore. Techno gadgets and mini-cams, talking toilets and slapstick violence (villains literally get their nuts roasted, on more than one occasion) will delight the adolescent in us all. It will also cause some readers to dismiss Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits as mere self-indulgence. A literary cocktail of testosterone and steroids. That, I think is a mistake.

This is the the story of 22 yearl old Zoey Ashe--trailer trash with a 38 year old stripper mom--who wakes to find herself a billionaires with a a bounty on her head. Worse still her pursuit and attack is featured on Blink, a live-stream that allows every subscriber to be both cameraman and viewer. In David Wong's disturbing future you no longer have to go to the Coliseum to watch them feed the lions--the Coliseum comes to you. Reality TV ratcheted up to sadistic indulgence. Zoey's fate plays out in Tabula Ra$a, a futuristic "new city", where law and rules no longer apply. Politicians have capitulated to donor greed and demands, allowing a capitalistic Free Zone. The result is a mecca for Immorality and Vice. The female protagonist with clear-eyed humanity is a key relief valve to the Fancy Suits, offering a counterpoint to predatory maleness that has literally gone amok.

Zoey's background and perspective serve as a searing indictment of those in the thrall of mammon or indifferent to the poor. There's much Ayn Rand garbage spouted and endless examples of corporate abuse and indifference. It is all refuted by an unaffected manner and goodness of a heroine who refuses to hop on the bandwagon that exploits the weak. Tucked in among the car chases and explosions is a steady decency serves as the book's moral core. Amid the giggles and guffaws are just as many pauses Wong forces the reader to make. Think what it means to surrender every vestige of privacy, be indifferent to the weak and adopt the philosophy of Arthur Livingston: "the market is a machine, if any man is so foolish as to try to stop the works from turning, he not be surprised when he gets ground up in its gears."

The book is not without flaws. A single fart is funny. A dozen gross (no pun intended). There is entirely too much "deus ex machina", particularly toward the end. These however, are small complaints. Very funny and sometimes hilarious is how people will initially describe Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits. Upon reflection they will add...and very disturbing. A terrific read.

If you have read any of the other books by David Wong, the quality of the writing will not surprise you. This book has the same captivating, compelling story telling as his previous 2 works, with slightly fewer penis jokes, and perhaps a bit more violence.The humor is top notch, and I had very little idea where Mr. Wong was leading me (which is unusual for me, as I can usually pick up what's going to happen from the foreshadowing), but I was all too happy to go along for the ride. I've already recommend this book to practically everyone I know, and now I'm recommending it to you, people I don't know.
One word of warning. There is a scene in which Zoey gets beaten up a bit. It doesn't take up much of the book, but if that's hard for you to handle, you should know it going in.

I really love all of David Wong's books and this one is no different. The title really explains it all. Action packed with plenty of laughs. Lots of really great characters and a plot that keeps you flipping the pages to get to the end and figure out what the hell is going on. Fantastic!
PS: don't read it in public places where its inappropriate to laugh out loud. So many times i had to put the book mark in to get the giggles under control.

As much as I enjoyed JDATE, and its sequel, I wasn't properly prepared for Futuristic Violence. Like, at all.

The violence was stunningly, awesomely, fantastic. The characters were equally as stunning, and the story was probably one of the best I've read in a while. It was a one sitting book, which is rare for me.

I hate to use reviews to bug authors, but c'mon, Mr. Wong! We need more, soon! Pretty please?

I enjoyed Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits.
The protagonist was relatable even though the world she was thrown into was so over the top and crazy.
This book was exciting and over the top, basically everything it advertises itself to be.

This was a lot of fun. A lot of action, just the right dose of ridiculous and comedic without going too crazy. The premise was brilliant. Everyone spends so much time watching everyone else's life - people who aren't really doing anything at all - that you wonder what the fuss is about. Sound familiar? Definitely one to read again.

This book marks the end of a two day marathon, reading all four books , written by David Wong.
To say that his books were a departure from my usual reading fare is an understatement. I found them entertaining although the gross factor was high. Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits was to me the best one , David Wong has come into his own and it is evident with this book.

After reading John Dies at the End and its followuo I expected more from this book. To me, it seems like the author had the beginnings of a good idea but couldn't come up with the gaps. I really want to give this book a better than average rating but I feel like the whole story left me disappointed.

Incredibly well written novel. Superb character design. You know and understand even background players without the typical character building devices weak writers use. Book read like a movie I never wanted to see finish

More sci-fi than horror, but full of beautiful, tightly written and often loop de loop plot line. Zoey goes from rags to riches and has to use wits and pluck to maneuver in a landscape of wealth and crazy people. Coolness.

After seeing John Dies at the End, I was just floored at how much I loved it. Downloaded the book on my Kindle, loved it even more. Later listened to the audiobook at work, once again loved it. Now with his third novel, he makes John Dies at The End look shallow in the shining awesomness that is this book. Zoe was a great lead, and you can tell the plot was very niceley penned out. (SPOILER****Except how did the coin end up in the vault, wasn't it in his pocket when he died***SPOILER) I loved it, want more, want a movie, a TV show, and sequels. This world is fantastic.

Okay, so this is no where near as good as the other million things David Wong has written, produced, or been involved in. On a scale from 1 to JDATE, this book is a 1.

Soooo wth Wong? Why did you write this trite crap? Feels like a money grab and reads like what? Like all the best parts of the YA, SF, and fantasy novels out in the last 10 years all mixed up and watered down and boring. I would have never put "David Wong" and "boring" in the same sentence but there it is.

I don't know whether it's because I just read a spate of depressing books, the political climate or what, but this was the best book I've read in a very long time. Funny, action packed, and containing cats (which always elevates a work), this book is not fine literature but worth your time IMO.

Cannot say enough good things about this book. Great read (technically i listened to the audiobook), and now i cannot wait for "David Wong" to write more novels that i can listen to.

PS im not really a doctor.

I never read John Dies at the End, but I saw the movie and immediately wanted to read more of David Wong's novels. Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits delivered in so many ways that I needed to read it again! The protagonist is funny and self-aware, the villains are threatening, and the overall journey with all of the characters are incredibly fulfilling!

Awesome story and a great satire on social media and the culture of internet trolling. Zoe is hilariously dry and helps balance the dark tone of what's happening around her, and the the plot keeps one throwing twists at you without making it feel forced (i.e., complex plans usually go to hell and you're forced to improvise). Great read!

More novels should be like this one. It's fun, funny, fast-paced, and very particular about which chunks of our imminent future to 1) believe will come to pass 2) use for maximum dramatic effect. If you've ever turned on a machine that accesses the Internet, or known someone who has, this is the book for you (THAT MEANS YOU, the store USER).

I'm leaving a review (for the first time on the store) because the novel is superb and I really want more people to buy it so David Wong can write a sequel. If you're into fast-paced action with lots of pew-pewing and explosions, dark sardonic humour owing to some brilliantly caricatured characters, cyberpunk aesthetics, and cats, then this book is definitely for you. David Wong is a consummate humourist, and will make you laugh out loud more than once throughout this novel. A lot of the dialogue between the characters, including the bumbling protagonist, reads like a snarky exchange between Ari Gold and the rest of the cast of Entourage, which I obviously enjoyed greatly. And jeez, it's just an awesome, highly entertaining read. Overall, the story comes off like an action movie that's both smart and funny, and I'd say features a mashup of themes from movies like Diehard, The Fifth Element, and Total Recall. Do yourself a favour and buy the book.

David Wong has an unmistakable sense of humor, but also a very keen critical eye. The over-the-top antics in his books are full of sharp insights that sneak up on you and pounce, seemingly out of nowhere. Despite the playful premise and setting of the book, it's clear that he's matured as a writer since John Dies at the End. This may well be his best work yet.

After reading David Wong's first two books and LOVING THEM. I had gotten this on my kindle, I couldn't put it down I recommended it to all of my friends even bought a physical copy I have reread it twice!! As much as I couldn't wait for a 3rd book about John and Dave this book was is now my favorite!

Spoilers: I am not even going to try not to, this is too bad.

I listened to the audible version of this which may have made it even worse. The awful reading helped present our 'heroine' as a ditzy 'Valley Girl', and that may not all be due to the writing. But even if she wasn't read as a whiney bitch it would still be terrible.

We are supposed to be invested in a lead character who is so stupid and selfish that on discovering she is rich beyond the dreams of avarice, and despite having been targeted by three killers so far, immediately fires everyone including her security. She supposed to be a poor girl who worked for a living and yet she casually dismisses all the staff, including the people who rely on her for keeping their house and home together. She either has no empathy or is completely stupid. She then orders pizza and just lets the delivery guy waltz in leaving her front gate open. Surprise! It's not really the pizza guy! She has let a serial killer into her home. Soooo privileged. This just isn't credible for a poor girl growing up in a world out of control and short on law and order. Or she's a cretin? She continues to be persistently slow and stupid and whiney. Women really aren't useless self absorbed morons. I don't want to strangle normal women to put the rest of us out of their misery. This is not a fair portrayal of half the population. Guiding Zoey through this story is like stuffing a toddler into her clothes when she really doesn't want to go anywhere. There are numerous occasions on which it is necessary for someone to be really stupid to progress the story. Usually it's her.

And the final orgy of pointless violence and suffering. Dude, you wrote this for the wrong gender! The only actor who takes all these roles is Mel Gibson. Zoey is portrayed as way too dumb and lacking in any useful motivation to be an acceptable character for Mel, even he has limits. Yes it's the tired old trope where the hero, heroine in this case, gets captured and mutilated. Beaten half to death as a plot device. Really? Does the author watch snuff movies for fun? Even though we know she's going to win in the end, because it's that sort of book, we have to have her mangled and beaten. Is this fulfilling some need you have to portray women as the subjects of violence? Is this what you really want to do to women? Is she really how you see women? Anyway, the last two hours are nothing but tiresome. We already know that the secret special device is sitting in the manufacturing machine, Zoey's magic bullet is just waiting to be coughed out. So we have the whole sadomasochistic episode, then the deus ex additive manufacturing machine makes its appearance and magically fixes everything. With a last pathetic yelp from Zoey. Saw that coming. A MILE off.

This was so desperately bad, but here's some other little sins: Nobody who actually likes cats enough to own and look after one would call their cat Stench Machine. Every time I read that I want to kick the author in the gonads. That's just not a cat owner's thing. I have never met a cat that wasn't near death that smelled bad. Ambush hunters need to not smell, which is why cats are always cleaning themselves. That's not the only bit of bad or totally lacking research in this book. Coffee beans aren't roasted where the plants are grown, the green beans are shipped and roasted by the coffee producer. Petes, for example, will even roast them in the store in Berkeley where they started out, you can go there and tell that what beans and what roast and you can watch it happen. the store sells coffee roasting machines and green beans, even I have bought them and roasted them myself. The speed of sound is pretty close to 1,000 feet per second, it varies with altitude and weather, but that's close enough for government work. If the real world bang follows the on-tv bang a second later then the explosion was 1,000 feet away. A fifth of a mile. Which puts Arthur's mansion right next to the hospital.

Why did I put myself through this? I wanted to reach the end so I could actually review the whole thing instead of stopping part way and not really knowing for sure that it didn't get any better.

I can't say enough good things about this book. A scathing satire of where we are headed as a society in the not-so-distant future, filled with over-the-top insanity. It's somehow laugh out loud funny and downright horrifying at the same time. The heroine is one of the best I've read in a long time, and the bad guys are awful, rage-inducing, and very VERY relevant.

Read this book. Read it now.

David Wong is an undercover genius, hiding his intelligence under thick layers of dick and fart jokes, sort of like Arnie at the end of predator. If that sounds like a fun author to you, buy his books. If not, don't buy his books, but do some serious soul searching until you can feel joy again.

I have enjoyed the first two books from David Wong. This is my favourite so far. The writing is as informed and funny, as seems to be a pretty fair expectation from the Cracked crew. A meditation on surveillance culture, media, and the value of life shown through a pop cult lens of scifi action.

Cannot say enough good things about this book. Great read (technically i listened to the audiobook), and now i cannot wait for "David Wong" to write more novels that i can listen to.

PS im not really a doctor.

I never read John Dies at the End, but I saw the movie and immediately wanted to read more of David Wong's novels. Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits delivered in so many ways that I needed to read it again! The protagonist is funny and self-aware, the villains are threatening, and the overall journey with all of the characters are incredibly fulfilling!

Awesome story and a great satire on social media and the culture of internet trolling. Zoe is hilariously dry and helps balance the dark tone of what's happening around her, and the the plot keeps one throwing twists at you without making it feel forced (i.e., complex plans usually go to hell and you're forced to improvise). Great read!

More novels should be like this one. It's fun, funny, fast-paced, and very particular about which chunks of our imminent future to 1) believe will come to pass 2) use for maximum dramatic effect. If you've ever turned on a machine that accesses the Internet, or known someone who has, this is the book for you (THAT MEANS YOU, the store USER).

I'm leaving a review (for the first time on the store) because the novel is superb and I really want more people to buy it so David Wong can write a sequel. If you're into fast-paced action with lots of pew-pewing and explosions, dark sardonic humour owing to some brilliantly caricatured characters, cyberpunk aesthetics, and cats, then this book is definitely for you. David Wong is a consummate humourist, and will make you laugh out loud more than once throughout this novel. A lot of the dialogue between the characters, including the bumbling protagonist, reads like a snarky exchange between Ari Gold and the rest of the cast of Entourage, which I obviously enjoyed greatly. And jeez, it's just an awesome, highly entertaining read. Overall, the story comes off like an action movie that's both smart and funny, and I'd say features a mashup of themes from movies like Diehard, The Fifth Element, and Total Recall. Do yourself a favour and buy the book.

David Wong has an unmistakable sense of humor, but also a very keen critical eye. The over-the-top antics in his books are full of sharp insights that sneak up on you and pounce, seemingly out of nowhere. Despite the playful premise and setting of the book, it's clear that he's matured as a writer since John Dies at the End. This may well be his best work yet.

After reading David Wong's first two books and LOVING THEM. I had gotten this on my kindle, I couldn't put it down I recommended it to all of my friends even bought a physical copy I have reread it twice!! As much as I couldn't wait for a 3rd book about John and Dave this book was is now my favorite!

Spoilers: I am not even going to try not to, this is too bad.

I listened to the audible version of this which may have made it even worse. The awful reading helped present our 'heroine' as a ditzy 'Valley Girl', and that may not all be due to the writing. But even if she wasn't read as a whiney bitch it would still be terrible.

We are supposed to be invested in a lead character who is so stupid and selfish that on discovering she is rich beyond the dreams of avarice, and despite having been targeted by three killers so far, immediately fires everyone including her security. She supposed to be a poor girl who worked for a living and yet she casually dismisses all the staff, including the people who rely on her for keeping their house and home together. She either has no empathy or is completely stupid. She then orders pizza and just lets the delivery guy waltz in leaving her front gate open. Surprise! It's not really the pizza guy! She has let a serial killer into her home. Soooo privileged. This just isn't credible for a poor girl growing up in a world out of control and short on law and order. Or she's a cretin? She continues to be persistently slow and stupid and whiney. Women really aren't useless self absorbed morons. I don't want to strangle normal women to put the rest of us out of their misery. This is not a fair portrayal of half the population. Guiding Zoey through this story is like stuffing a toddler into her clothes when she really doesn't want to go anywhere. There are numerous occasions on which it is necessary for someone to be really stupid to progress the story. Usually it's her.

And the final orgy of pointless violence and suffering. Dude, you wrote this for the wrong gender! The only actor who takes all these roles is Mel Gibson. Zoey is portrayed as way too dumb and lacking in any useful motivation to be an acceptable character for Mel, even he has limits. Yes it's the tired old trope where the hero, heroine in this case, gets captured and mutilated. Beaten half to death as a plot device. Really? Does the author watch snuff movies for fun? Even though we know she's going to win in the end, because it's that sort of book, we have to have her mangled and beaten. Is this fulfilling some need you have to portray women as the subjects of violence? Is this what you really want to do to women? Is she really how you see women? Anyway, the last two hours are nothing but tiresome. We already know that the secret special device is sitting in the manufacturing machine, Zoey's magic bullet is just waiting to be coughed out. So we have the whole sadomasochistic episode, then the deus ex additive manufacturing machine makes its appearance and magically fixes everything. With a last pathetic yelp from Zoey. Saw that coming. A MILE off.

This was so desperately bad, but here's some other little sins: Nobody who actually likes cats enough to own and look after one would call their cat Stench Machine. Every time I read that I want to kick the author in the gonads. That's just not a cat owner's thing. I have never met a cat that wasn't near death that smelled bad. Ambush hunters need to not smell, which is why cats are always cleaning themselves. That's not the only bit of bad or totally lacking research in this book. Coffee beans aren't roasted where the plants are grown, the green beans are shipped and roasted by the coffee producer. Petes, for example, will even roast them in the store in Berkeley where they started out, you can go there and tell that what beans and what roast and you can watch it happen. the store sells coffee roasting machines and green beans, even I have bought them and roasted them myself. The speed of sound is pretty close to 1,000 feet per second, it varies with altitude and weather, but that's close enough for government work. If the real world bang follows the on-tv bang a second later then the explosion was 1,000 feet away. A fifth of a mile. Which puts Arthur's mansion right next to the hospital.

Why did I put myself through this? I wanted to reach the end so I could actually review the whole thing instead of stopping part way and not really knowing for sure that it didn't get any better.

I can't say enough good things about this book. A scathing satire of where we are headed as a society in the not-so-distant future, filled with over-the-top insanity. It's somehow laugh out loud funny and downright horrifying at the same time. The heroine is one of the best I've read in a long time, and the bad guys are awful, rage-inducing, and very VERY relevant.

Read this book. Read it now.

David Wong is an undercover genius, hiding his intelligence under thick layers of dick and fart jokes, sort of like Arnie at the end of predator. If that sounds like a fun author to you, buy his books. If not, don't buy his books, but do some serious soul searching until you can feel joy again.

I have enjoyed the first two books from David Wong. This is my favourite so far. The writing is as informed and funny, as seems to be a pretty fair expectation from the Cracked crew. A meditation on surveillance culture, media, and the value of life shown through a pop cult lens of scifi action.

As usual, David Wong never ceases to amaze and inspire with his writing. I will be buying his books for as long as he writes them. Finding time to sit down and read a book is so hard nowadays, but (like his last two books), I am always glad to dedicate my time to his writing. Thank you for continuing to bring witty, amazingly interesting, fantastically written characters to life, Mr. Wong!

Funny at times (sometimes just barely), contrived, not quite up to the level of John Dies at the End. Instead of being some kind of cautionary tale about the future, it seems to embrace all that is bad about Tabula Rasa and its stupid citizens.

Can't recommend this enough. I personally believe this book is connected to the John Dies at the End universe. That the villain was driven by korrock much the same way that other villains are in Spiders. Great characters - great use of heroics that aren't quite heroic. Totally worth the price.

This book gives Wong's previous series a run for its money, which is truly impressive! It has more of a plot than John dies at the end (which isn't hard), but it has the same irreverent storytelling and brand new set of memorable and lovable characters. Great action/adventure story with a deeper layer.

David Wong has an uncanny ability to pinpoint the most ridiculous trends in modern pop culture and expose them by cranking it up to 11 in his fiction. Partner that with his knack for creating characters and settings that are perfect blends of wildly outlandish and completely down-to-earth, and you have a terrific read.

This is my favorite book. It plays on modern trends, very possibly predicting where they are heading in the near future. This book may well make you laugh out loud, so maybe don't read it in a public library or dentist's office. Or do. Who cares.

Fantastic read! Since "John Dies at the End" and"This Book is Full of Spiders.." and after following his Cracked articles prior, I'm eagerly looking to the next chapter in David Wong's career! Worth every minute of reading!

A wonderfully smooth, entertaining and inspiring read. Reads much more concise and focused than "John Dies at the End" and with a clear message. Look forward to (hopefully) more of these characters (and world).

I love this book. It's not Lovecraftian like his other books, but that's good and a breath of fresh air. Best piece of Sci-fi I've read in years. He blends Social Media with his world very well, and it seems all to likely what will become present in our future. Great book.