Link NealBesprekingen

Ripping yarn about a small town with a secret. Rhett & Link are shockingly solid horror authors it turns out. Looking forward to more fiction from them.

Let me start by saying I've been watching Good Mythical Morning for.. maybe two years before reading this book, so I was quite endeared by the two of them. I originally purchased this book for 3 reasons: the first was because it was a signed copy, the second because I wanted to know their secrets to building a strong friendship, and third because I was hoping that, somehow, their words could help me learn to better deal with my anxiety and depression.

I learned a lot about them that I didn't know and read some interesting experiences that they've had. There's actually a lot more stories than there are images, which kind of surprised me, but I'm not disappointed by that. I really enjoyed reading about their lives, and there were even a few interactive pages! For example, there was the LCT, or Laugh Compatibility Test, which I took with my mom and received a score of 3. There's also a Love Line Match Up, where you match quotes and lyrics to their respective speakers, along with a variety of other quirky things to experience!

I feel like this book got me thinking a lot about things. It spoke to me on a deep level and I feel like I've grown as a person just from reading it. I hope in the future I can apply some of their tips and tricks to help my own life be more mythical. You don't have to be a fan of their YouTube show, Good Mythical Morning, to read this book, though it does help. Even if you go into it knowing nothing about them, I bet you'll be a fan and want to check out their show afterward! They are both creative and inspiring individuals that have brought a whole new meaning to being mythical.

To that, I'm eternally grateful and will forever remain their fan, a true mythical beast.

I like the premise - a filmmaker trying to make a name for herself with an interesting documentary, finds something else completely in the small town her relatives are from. And a group of local kids, outcasts from society, just trying to make a horror movie for an upcoming film festival who manage to get themselves in trouble. Than there is the private school for Delinquents - kids who go there come back missing something, and lets not forget about the ones who don't come back at all. I liked the story, however at times, its told a bit to simply. The center of it all is actually quite scary.½

(4.5 / 5)

This was a fun, easy read, with 90s references and characters that seemed all-too-real. Rex & Leif, while best friends, had issues that arose from being too close, almost like sibling rivalry. The mystery of the school developed in a way that kept my attention, and especially had me wanting to come back and keep reading after I'd hit the half-way point. And the ending, which can make or break a thriller more than most other genres, was well-executed.

The main reason for the half-star detraction is that some of Rex & Leif's arguments were a little unrealistic, given what was going on around them when they had them. I know things like that can happen in real life--as someone with 3 sisters, I know that we didn't always take into account whether or not our petty squabbles were a good idea in the current circumstances. But on the other hand, I'd like to think we would have been above that during some of the particular situations in which Rex & Leif argued (not giving specifics to avoid spoilers).

While it's labeled as a horror book, this book was not scary to me at all. I said this in another review recently, but I'm really not into horror much as a genre, in any medium (so why did I just read 2 horror books in a row?). This also means I've not read much horror, so I don't honestly know how it normally works in book-form. But to me, this was suspenseful, but I wouldn't call it horror. If it were made into a movie, I could see some visuals being pretty horrific though, so maybe that means the tone wasn't set right in the book to make parts that could have been scary appropriately creepy.

I've read so many thrillers lately that promise everything up until the last 20% of the book, and then fail to deliver the right punch to drive home the thrills. I was skeptical as I neared the end of this book, but it did its job perfectly! It was just what I would have wanted it to be. Plus, a character that was a minor annoyance (intentionally) throughout the book had me laughing and cheering at the end, which was a plus!

I read this book because my nearly adult son is a big fan of Rhett & Link and Good Mythical Morning. He was interested in reading it and thought I might like to too (mostly just because he knows I've been getting back into reading a lot lately). So we got it from the library as soon as their hardcover copy came in. He hasn't finished it yet (he's never been much of a recreational reader, so he needs nudges to even remember to read it), but I can say that from the perspective of someone who has seen very little of Rhett & Link's online presence, I'm really glad I read this book. I would recommend it for fans of thrillers and horror, understanding that it's a very mild horror.

The front half has a great build, but the back half pacing falls apart. Explanations for the most important plot points are revealed quickly which contrasts with the slow build of tension in the first half. Also features some comedic "bits" which work in many places but not in others. Still worthwhile though if a fan of the authors or exploring the genre.½

I've been watching Good Mythical Morning since Chia Lincoln and T-Shirt Wars when they were still in North Carolina. The book was warm and funny. It shared insights into the brand of Mythicality. Rhett, Link, their wives and some of the crew read the book. They made a book that thousands (millions?) would read seem like it was written just for me. I'm glad I bought it.

Note for those who would like to hear a few more details of the True Story of Link's Broken Pelvis, it can be heard on a 2009 GMM at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0eiJIgVc9s.

If you’re a fan of Rhett & Link (as I am), there’s much to like in this novel. There’s definitely an It/“Stranger Things” vibe, and you’ll also get a feel for Buies Creek, NC, where Rhett & Link grew up. The biggest flaw is unevenness of tone: it often interjects humor at inappropriate times. It’s silly where it ought to be somber or sad, funny where it should be frightening. I suspect this is a failing of writing by committee, particularly when two of the committee have a YouTube franchise to consider that might make them want to pull their punches when it comes to heavier or darker material.

🤷‍♀️

3.5/5 stars
I've been a fan of Rhett and Link's for a while now. Their content is so wholesome and enjoyable - and they grew up fairly close to where I live - so it's hard for me not to enjoy their stuff. My love of Rhett and Link is what led me to their first novel, The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek. Were it not to have been written by them, it likely would have never made its way onto my radar. But, with its connection to these YouTubers, I eagerly awaited the publication of the book, unsure of exactly what to expect. Well, having read The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek definitely feels like a first novel. And I don't really mean that as an insult, but an author's first novel is often very imperfect and that's exactly what The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek is - imperfect. There are a lot of really good ideas and characters scattered throughout the book, but it's all a bit hampered by too-few pages and uneven pacing.

Let's talk about the good stuff first. This is a very promising debut novel from Rhett and Link. There's a really solid mystery at the heart of the novel, surrounded by some genuinely compelling and relatable characters who the reader quickly comes to care for. The mystery, though taking a bit of time to be set up, is suitably creepy and mysterious. It feels like a mixture of Stranger Things, Stephen King's stories, and Steven Spielberg's films - in the best possible way. It's one of those mysteries that envelops you immediately upon discovering it, one that makes you not want to set the book down until you've learned all there is to know about it. On the whole, it's a fairly well-executed mystery as all of our main characters seek to unravel the truth about what's going on in the Whitewood school. Speaking of the characters, aside from the central mystery, the characters are the most interesting aspect of the story. There's a great diversity in the characters - most notably in their ages and genders. Rex and Leif, the main characters, are teenage boys; Alice, their best friend, is a teenage girl; Donna and Janine are cousins in the mid-to-late twenties; etc.

Rhett and Link do a very solid job of bouncing back and forth from their various points of view, allowing the reader to intimately know each of the four main characters. Alicia's POV gives us our best look inside the Whitewood School and all that's happening there, but we spend so little time with her that it's hard to fully get a grip on that stuff. The same is true for Janine's POV chapters; there's something very interesting about a filmmaker coming to this town and trying to make a film about what's going on (and the resolution to her storyline is really interesting) but I also wish we'd spent a bit more time with her. Instead, most of the book is told from the POVs of either Rex or Leif. Which, to be honest, makes sense since they're clearly designed as stand-ins for Rhett and Link, themselves. And, to be fair, Rex and Leif are interesting characters. They're rambunctious and nerdy and full of passion and determination. It's very easy to root for them throughout the story and seeing these two very normal kids forced to cope with all that is going on in Bleak Creek does make for a really fun Spielbergian adventure. I just wish we got to spend a bit more time with Alicia and Janine.

This actually perfectly segues into my problems with the novel. The biggest problem with the book is its pacing. It honestly feels like the story needed another hundred pages to really do everything it wanted to do. Like Stephen Speilberg's films and Stephen King's stories, much of The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek is focused not on what's actually happening in Bleak Creek but on how Rex, Leif and the other characters react to what's happening. This isn't necessarily a bad approach to take with a story like this - grounding a supernatural plot with the very real reactions of those living through it is a great tactic to use to get an audience on board with what's happening - but what King and Speilberg do that Rhett and Link couldn't quite do is balance the elements of what's actually going on and how the characters react to it. The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek probably spends a bit too much time setting up the world and exploring the interpersonal dynamics of the characters and not enough time actually establishing the real threat of the mystery. So, when the dangers of the Whitewood House start becoming apparent, it's hard to fully buy it as we don't really know anything about it and haven't spent enough time properly building it up.

Speaking of that, it takes over nearly a third of the book for the real mystery to actually be revealed and then it takes another third of the book for us to make any actual progress on the mystery, but then right as the final third is starting, the answers are just revealed to the reader. Normally, the reader would learn the truth about the mystery alongside one or more of the characters, but that's not really what happens here. There's literally a chapter where we, the readers, are just told what's going on and why in an extremely expository way and then we never really get to see the characters learn this information; they learn parts of it but it's unclear if they learn all of it. The whole thing is just handled really strangely; it's as if Rhett and Link realized at the last second they hadn't actually properly explained what was going on, so they shoehorned an extremely expository chapter into the novel so the reader could better understand the climax. Solving the mystery in this manner totally undercuts the climax, though, as it robs readers of the chance to get to see the characters react to this revelation. They know bits of it, but we know all of it and getting to see the characters properly react to it would always be more interesting than the (fairly anticlimactic) climax we got. It's not a bad ending or anything, but it does feel like it could've been so much more if they had more time to do it. And that makes it a bit disappointing for me.

There's a few other sorta weird nitpicks about the writing of the novel that I wanna mention as it adds to the idea that The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek feels and reads like a debut novel. There's a common saying that new authors should "write what they know" and that's exactly what Rhett and Link do as this book is littered with references to their childhood. The main characters are clearly named after, and based on, Rhett and Link and the whole novel feels very North Carolina-ish, what with the pig-picking, thinly-veiled racism, and overt religious tones in the small town of Bleak Creek - which feels like an obvious stand-in for Buies Creek (also Harland County instead of Harnett County, where Buies Creek is located). The names are honestly a little distracting because, while obviously partly inspired by their childhood, this is clearly not something they actually went through and it feels a bit too on the nose to basically name their main characters after themselves. None of this is a bad thing but it did pull me out of the story numerous times and felt like the kind of thing first-time authors do in their first books that more experienced ones shy away from unless they are literally writing about a thing that actually happened to them - which clearly is not the case here. It's not a major problem, but it was something that irked me a bit and hampered some of my enjoyment.

All in all, The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek is a solid debut novel from Rhett and Link. It's certainly imperfect, littered with some of the tell-tale signs of a debut novel and suffering from a severe case of too-much-story, not-enough-pages. But all of that aside, it's very enjoyable. Even with the pacing issues, everything moves along at a brisk pace that keeps you deeply invested in reading the next chapter and seeing what Rex and Leif are up to or how Alicia is handling her time in Whitewood School or how Janine intends to unravel this mystery through her films. As for the mystery? It may have a less-than-stellar conclusion, but it's still a very intriguing and well-developed conspiracy. I wish more time had been spent with it, but I can't say I didn't enjoy it, either. The shining stars of the novel are easily its characters, all of whom feel fully realized and instantly relatable. It's easy to root for them and Rhett and Link do an excellent job at bringing readers into their heads through numerous different POV chapters. All in all, if you like these kinds of stories or if you're a fan of Rhett and Link, it's a book worth checking out. It's not perfect, but it's definitely a fun read and a good way to spend a dark, dreary fall/winter afternoon.

This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek

Three friends Rex, Leif, and Alicia have spent their Summer filming PolterDog. They aspire to enter it into the Durham Film Festival and earn recognition for their masterpiece. But as they film one of their last scenes, a horrible accident leaves Wayne Whitewood badly burned. While the boys are grounded and their filmmaking rights are taken away, Alicia is sent to the Whitewood reform school. A school where no one is allowed entry except those who work at and attend it. And the children that leave it, are forever changed. Rex and Leif refuse to leave Alicia to be reformed and begin to hatch plans to break her out. They will soon find that the Whitewood school has a heinous past.

The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek started strong. The three friends are introduced as hatching wild ideas and following along with their childhood dreams. Listening to Rex and Leif banter back and forth was comical and reminiscent of the 90s. Living in a small town that doesn’t have much to offer, the friends found plenty to keep themselves busy. Any action that was too risky in the eyes of the town was frowned on, and some religious overtones were overdramatized for comedy.

But it began to fall apart when Janine was introduced. Her backstory was not necessary to the plot. It could have been summarized well enough to trigger her appearance in Bleak Creek. Her family dynamics did add to the humor and suspense of the Whitewood mystery. But at the same time, her original reasons for filming the town were not as humorous as I believe they were supposed to be.

The theme of friendship and clever one-liners from Rex and Leif kept me engaged despite the plot feeling disjointed at times. It was almost as if different writing styles were competing against one another. I also contribute finishing the book to the audio narrator, Vikas Adam. He did a fantastic job with different voices and bringing the characters to life.

If you’re into humor books, give this a try. And if you are a fan of Rhett and Link from YouTube, you can certainly see where some of the inspiration came from. But I think I will stick to watching their videos.

I love Rhett and Link's various endeavors, whether it's GMM or Buddy System or the Book of Mythicality, but LOST CAUSES OF BLEAK CREEK, their first entry into writing a fiction novel, wasn't as successful for me. I really did want to love it! And there are many parts of it that are good! But overall, it's a solid three star read.

I didn't care terribly much for Rhett and Link's teenage self-insert protagonists, up until the very end. Character growth for those characters felt stilted at times, rushed at others. The antagonists felt flat, and it seemed like most of the town of Bleak Creek had to carry the 'idiot ball' around for most of the story to make the cult-like atmosphere around the reform school really work (although I appreciate they put in a plot-related reason for this late in the text). And too many of the horror elements relied on telling, not showing, which didn't work for me.

Having said that, the writing overall was decent, I enjoyed the female protagonists' chapters (especially my girl Alicia), and the plot twist 2/3rds through about the spring really surprised me in a good way. There are a lot of different kinds of relationships that enriched the characters and were interesting to read, including the friendship between Leif and Rex which seemed definitely inspired by the real life friendship of Rhett and Link.

I honestly do hope the GMM boys take another crack at fiction books. They can only improve from here, and I look forward to whatever ideas they have that they want to put to paper.

Will it novel? Yes. I was made aware of Rhett and Link because my girlfriend has made watching GMM part of her daily ritual. This book is a fun read and did hold me until the end. I think this was a really solid first novel. The writing was nothing to write home about; definitely readable but nothing really beyond that. I found the plot to be pretty interesting, it kept me guessing and genuinely surprised me several times. If you are looking for something quite light on characterization, plot, and immersive writing, this is the perfect book.

Rhett and Link is a source of nostalgia for me, as one of the original youtube channels I really loved. Their humor doesn't quite connect with me like it used to, but I still find their antics charming and fun. Seeing them live in Minneapolis was fantastic, their personality radiates off the stage.

It came with their book, which is a short "Guide" to essentially being a man-child. I don't say that as an insult, I think it's a very valuable skill to keep a certain level of goofiness, and lord knows I'm clutching to a certain level of silly behavior.

It wasn't groundbreaking, and it's clear that they're unfamiliar with his medium. In my opinion, Rhett and Link are at their best when performing music, so this book definitely fell short of their usual quality standards. That being said, it was impressively well put together. It's clear that it was not only professionally published, but a lot of effort and time went into the execution.

Not a bad way to spend an afternoon, but probably not worth the price unless you're a diehard fan.

Sadly not memorable. Not the characters, the story, the setting... Nothing. Just an unremarkable story.

This is was a good memoir with some fun pictures and plenty of funny anecdotes. If you are a fan of the YouTube show Good Mythical Morning you'll at least enjoy flipping through the book even if you don't read every chapter in detail. If you aren't a fan of the show I can see this not being a very easy memoir to pick up. This is a story of friendship, growing up, and curiosity - compelling messages in themselves and ones nearly every person can equate to, but if you don't have any interest in the show or its hosts this probably won't be as compelling of a book.

2.0