I love Wrestling, which is why I co-host a Podcast about it.
I love silly Stories, which is why I do this Site.
I also love stuff that is from my childhood, whether I personally experienced it or not.
I sometimes love Books, although I'm way behind on them.
So what should I do for my 4,500th Post?
The premise: a High School Teacher invents a Machine that is supposed to help make you smarter.
Instead, it lets you swap minds with people.
Whoops.
The Book in question revolves around Wrestling, so that's why I picked it. Will I be confused 15 Books into the Series?
Yeah, these were made for Middle Schoolers, so I'm good.
Like most Shows that add Wrestling into themselves, we suddenly learn that our Leads have *always* been into it. Did it come up in the last 14 Books?
There's also an odd bit of continuity involving the Device being broken in the last one...but just fixed by one of the Students for this one.
Couldn't be bothered to explain it better, eh Todd?
The Story proper has them attend a local Show, but they need a Chaperone.
The only one available- the Science Teacher, who they find to be lame.
Yes, the guy that made them the device. Kids can be jerks, after all.
Yes, the guy that made them the device. Kids can be jerks, after all.
To add to the conflict, a local Bully is going, so they have to avoid him.
Also a girl who spreads gossip is ALSO going, so they can't be seen with the Teacher.
Again- kids are jerks.
One of the kids brought the device to the Show and swaps bodies with the guy from the book Cover. Well, kind of. That guy is *sort of* in this Story, since the Artist kind of just made stuff up for him.
They realize what happened and swap bodies with another Wrestler...and his Dad, a Harley Race-type guy.
It all ends in a silly Tag Team Match and everyone switches back.
The old, broken Wrestler did like a younger body...but it belongs to a Science Teacher, so f#%k that!
To wrap up the side conflicts, the Bully got distracted by everything that happened and didn't see them.
As for the girl, one of the Wrestlers fell on her during the 'match' and she got head trauma, forgetting everything from the night. No, really. Ouch!
So as a far-too-old-for-this guy, is it fair for me to critique this Book? Probably.
That said, it is goofy, loosely-connected to the World of Wrestling (it came out in 1999) and seems to be written by someone who's just heard about it for a Book he needs to write. It's possible that it is so shallow due to its intended market too, to be fair.
The Chapters are all like 3 pages long too, which is not uncommon for these Books. Whenever I get around to reading 2061: Odyssey Three, I'm guessing that they won't be so short.
It's dumb. It's silly. I spent like 50 cents on it, so I got my money's worth.
Since I'm doing this in October, I might as well highlight the one Horror-themed one in the Series...
As a fun aside, I read this to pass the time on my first Flight in 15 years. It took less than an hour, but it did the trick.
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