Charlie Human

It was a quick and easy read for a 300+ page novel. It is essentially a twisted Harry Potter using South African mythology for its magical underworld. The horror elements were also interesting and entertaining, and the reality hopping was also well done. Other than that, there is not much else here. Still, I would recommend it to those looking for familiar urban fantasy with horror elements and a bit of time and dimensional travel.
Favorite Quote:
I can create whole worlds inside my head, so excuse me if I don’t spend a lot of time spouting mundane bullshit like you do. [pg.339]… (meer)

I found out about this book after seeing a trailer made to promote the making of a movie. The video was great and I loved the book too. The writing is witty and the setting original. It is a bit confusing though because most books with a 16-year-old protagonist would be considered "Young Adult", but this was so "raw" and brutal that it definitely seemed like it was for adults, except then he cries about his girlfriend problems, which again makes it feel like it's a YA book.

So other than that, the book gets points for strange, funny and dark. Would LOVE to see a full-length movie and will definitely be checking out the next book.… (meer)

I very much enjoyed reading Apocalypse Now Now, a dark fantasy tale about a porn-dealing cynical teenager’s quest to retrieve his kidnapped girlfriend from a pseudo-Lovecraftian underworld populated by South African mythical beings.

Charlie Human has written a book that runs on the rule of cool: it features a high schooler who runs his school's porn distribution, an autist kid taking out flying monsters with molotov cocktails, and a fight on a boat with a flaming chainsaw. And then there's the mafia-run teenage sex trade, bounty hunter specializing in fantasy creatures, and to top it all off, the humongous time-travelling mecha duking it out in down-town Cape Town. It’s all gloriously over the top, and it’s a hoot to read.

I have two complaints about this book, though. One is that, for a book that tries to be edgy and grim, the story beats as well as the gender roles are fairly traditional -- the older mentor, the damsel in distress, the quest that turns out to be tangled up with the protagonist’s personal history, and so on. My other complaint is that at the end everything is tied up way too nicely: closure is swift, traditional and entirely predictable.

But since this is the author’s debut, I’m willing to overlook that: the rule of cool is so gleefully applied that I remember the fun I had while reading it more than the gripes. And that, I suspect, is what the book was trying to do. In other words: a success!… (meer)