John Dies at the End

John Dies at the End, #1

by David Wong

362 pages

English language

Published Nov. 2, 2007

ISBN:: 978-0-9789707-6-5
Goodreads:: 1857440

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(95 reviews)

John Dies at the End is a comic horror novel written by David Wong that was first published online as a webserial beginning in 2001, then as an edited manuscript in 2004, and a printed paperback in 2007, published by Permuted Press. An estimated 70,000 people read the free online versions before they were removed in September 2008. Thomas Dunne Books published the story with additional material as a hardcover on September 29, 2009. The book was followed by three sequels, This Book Is Full of Spiders in 2012, What The Hell Did I Just Read in 2017, and If This Book Exists, You're in the Wrong Universe, in 2022. A film adaptation by Don Coscarelli was released in 2012.

11 editions

FediversalPublicFriend reviewed John Dies at the End (John Dies at the End, #1) by David Wong

Decent horror, awful humour

2 stars

The novel doesn't do a very good job fusing horror and comedy. Both exist in the book, but it feels more like there are designated horror segments and designated comedy/action segments that you whip between at the author's whim. The horror is quite evocative and enjoyable, but the bulk of the book is the action and the comedy, which is so bad it's insulting. It's not witty or clever, it's crass, violent, and gratuitously edgy, with penis and shit jokes and characters who say slurs and bad guys who punch everyone in the balls making up the bulk of the author's comedic repertoire.

If you enjoy that sort of stuff, you might find the book enjoyable. I certainly don't object to reading books with transgressive, strange, or potentially offensive material, but in this novel it feels like meaningless shock humour, edge for the sake of edge, serving no purpose other than to make you go "omg did he REALLY just say that?!?!?!?!" after the bad guy sings some pop song with the lyrics rewritten to be half racial slurs. It's an agonising read if the humour doesn't work for you, and it did not work for me at all.

The Gnome King reviewed John Dies at the End by David Wong (John Dies at the End, #1)

Review of 'John Dies at the End' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This book is complete and utter nonsense!!!!

Read at your own peril.

One of the funniest books I have read in a long time, David and John bounce from scene to scene without a care in the world, if something is going to happen then it will and how they deal with each situation is hilarious. John is such a good character and the stories that David Wong tells are brilliant in how absurd they are.

The only real weakness in the book is when the pace slows down the story does struggle to keep going, luckily this doesn't happen too often so I am still gonna give this 5 stars.

I recently watched the movie version of this book and it was adapted well, all my favourite little bits from the book had been included.

Old_Tim reviewed John Dies at the End by David Wong (John Dies at the End, #1)

Review of 'John Dies at the End' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Maybe you’ve been in this situation: You’re at a party, or a bar, and you find yourself talking to some guy sitting or standing next to you. It’s late, and everyone is a bit altered, but this guy seems to be beyond the norm. His eyes are wide and he’s a bit manic. He’s telling some story and you can’t remember how it started. But it just seems to go on and on getting more improbable the longer he talks. The story barely makes any sense, and you don’t believe a word of it. But clearly he does. He’s emphatic that no, this stuff happened to him and his friend. No, his friend’s not here, but if he were, he would back up this story 100%. So this story keeps going on and on, and you find yourself thinking “how did I get in this situation” and eventually “oh God, …

Nikita reviewed John dies at the end by David Wong

Review of 'John dies at the end' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Weird. Good read, but still, weird.

Jamie reviewed John Dies at the End by David Wong (John Dies at the End, #1)

Review of 'John Dies at the End' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

First abandoned book of 2013!

Viscera! Ooze! Gore! The more, the funnier! (I guess?) Author's favorite adjective?: "retarded". I abandoned this one after the fifth instance.

Jack Baty reviewed John Dies at the End by David Wong (John Dies at the End, #1)

Review of 'John Dies at the End' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Hilarious and scary

John Kelly reviewed John Dies at the End by David Wong (John Dies at the End, #1)

Review of 'John Dies at the End' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Is this some experiment in allowing a first-time writer to publish a book without ever sending it through the traditional editing process? A blisteringly entertaining opening gives way to a glacial middle third, and then the book just fizzles to a close without any sense of any sort of through-line or cohesion. I guess the through-line and cohesion would appear if you read the follow-up, but honestly, after slogging my way through this, I don't think I'll return for seconds, thanks.

ghostchaser reviewed John Dies at the End by David Wong (John Dies at the End, #1)

Review of 'John Dies at the End' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

like a bad LSD trip you need to ride it to the end.

Eduardo Santiago reviewed John Dies at the End by David Wong (John Dies at the End, #1)

Review of 'John Dies at the End' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This was... really fun. Overtones of Joss Whedon and Carl Hiaasen, all in good ways. Smart characters, sassy dialog, improbable situations accepted with total coolness. Deliciously unpredictable. And did I mention fun?

I started it last night, desperate for some bubblegum after failing with [b:Infinite Jest|6759|Infinite Jest|David Foster Wallace|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165604485s/6759.jpg|3271542], and found quite a bit more than I was expecting. Delightfully more.