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Horror's Call
Call of the Arcade
A sci-fi horror novel about the most mysterious arcade game ever made. Two friends travel to an arcade in downtown Chicago, which they suspect may contain a haunted arcade machine from urban legends- Polybius. Unknown horrors await them, as they inch ever closer to the truth behind the sinister arcade game.Part of a series of interconnected horror novels that can be read in any order. Each book serves as a stand alone story, yet builds a greater picture behind a dark mystery in Chicago.
- GenresHorror
125 pages, Paperback
Published March 23, 2021
26 people are currently reading
361 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 27, 2021
If the author is going to incessantly viral market his books, perhaps he should make sure he has a finished product on his hands before publishing this crap. I enjoy niche outsider-type books written by deluded or deranged individuals, but this novel takes the cake for worst written and hardest for me to get through.
The style is that of YA, with teenaged characters and a school setting, yet the subject matter becomes just explicit enough to disqualify it from that classification, with talk of suicide and snuff films. This leads me to assume that this was not intended as a YA novel, which given the simplistic prose (especially in regards to the dialogue) is extremely offensive.
There are basic rules of punctuation which exist for good reason. One can look stuff up in a grammar manual, sure. However any reader of books should have picked up most of these tools simply through the practice of reading. Gardner should be embarrassed that he cannot utilize quotation marks and commas properly.
The plot has fun moments certainly. There are a few genuinely entertaining dreamlike sequences, and a well executed twist. But these do not compensate for the sloppy package as a whole.
The style is that of YA, with teenaged characters and a school setting, yet the subject matter becomes just explicit enough to disqualify it from that classification, with talk of suicide and snuff films. This leads me to assume that this was not intended as a YA novel, which given the simplistic prose (especially in regards to the dialogue) is extremely offensive.
There are basic rules of punctuation which exist for good reason. One can look stuff up in a grammar manual, sure. However any reader of books should have picked up most of these tools simply through the practice of reading. Gardner should be embarrassed that he cannot utilize quotation marks and commas properly.
The plot has fun moments certainly. There are a few genuinely entertaining dreamlike sequences, and a well executed twist. But these do not compensate for the sloppy package as a whole.
January 27, 2021
Horrible. Stupid story, one-dimensional characters, ridiculous situations. This guy apparently can’t afford a proofreader or an editor. He does love commas, though - he puts commas EVERYWHERE. This was painful to read but I had to finish it as part of a personal project so I pushed myself. I will never get that time back. What a piece of sh*t excuse for a novel.
January 17, 2021
This author is truly comfortable in his writing style. It is clean, lean, just what is needed to help the reader look forward to his future stories. If there is a series to follow, his books will be gobbled up. I couldn't stop till the end! Extremely imaginative and creepy interpretation of an urban legend. I happily endorse this novel to any and all who are looking for a science fiction novel enjoyable read and a completely different experience than anyone could imagine on their own. Great book!
July 27, 2021
Call of the Arcade is actually kind of good.
This one follows Johnny and Mark as they discover the Polybius arcade cabinet that's just sort of vibing in a lower floor of an arcade.
The characters still come across as if Adam Sandler is playing literally every single character but this one doesn't constantly switch perspective like CotC did. In fact, this one is a genuine improvement from CotC as a result. The dialogue and the writing in general still suffers from that uncanny valley effect where you can understand what's being said but the liberal use of a thesaurus makes a lot of the writing seem off.
This one will appeal to those who browse both /lit/ and /x/ whilst generally being an entertaining read. Things got a little silly towards the end but it was fun. It's funnier when you imagine Sam to be Ben 10's uncle. I didn't expect this one to connect to Call of the Crocodile.
All in all, a fun read. It's better than Call of the Crocodile but I read it for the memes anyways. If you want a more in-depth review, feel free to check out my YouTube channel (Chris Dw i) where I'm hoping to go through the entire series. Cheers.
This one follows Johnny and Mark as they discover the Polybius arcade cabinet that's just sort of vibing in a lower floor of an arcade.
The characters still come across as if Adam Sandler is playing literally every single character but this one doesn't constantly switch perspective like CotC did. In fact, this one is a genuine improvement from CotC as a result. The dialogue and the writing in general still suffers from that uncanny valley effect where you can understand what's being said but the liberal use of a thesaurus makes a lot of the writing seem off.
This one will appeal to those who browse both /lit/ and /x/ whilst generally being an entertaining read. Things got a little silly towards the end but it was fun. It's funnier when you imagine Sam to be Ben 10's uncle. I didn't expect this one to connect to Call of the Crocodile.
All in all, a fun read. It's better than Call of the Crocodile but I read it for the memes anyways. If you want a more in-depth review, feel free to check out my YouTube channel (Chris Dw i) where I'm hoping to go through the entire series. Cheers.
October 11, 2021
Two boys find an ad offering a reward for the first person to find the mythical video game Polybius. Though they don't really believe that the game exists, they go to the arcade anyway, and end up embroiled in a conspiracy.
This story, though it has its convoluted moments, takes the reader on a lot of twists and turns that have quite a lot of disturbing implications. It includes a callback to the previous book, though the emotional impact of that callback doesn't get fully realized until the end of the book.
This story, though it has its convoluted moments, takes the reader on a lot of twists and turns that have quite a lot of disturbing implications. It includes a callback to the previous book, though the emotional impact of that callback doesn't get fully realized until the end of the book.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews