Kubrick's Game

By: Derek Taylor Kent

Narrated by: Jonathan Frakes, Yvette Nicole Brown, Peet Guercio

What if Stanley Kubrick left behind more than just his classic films? What if he also left behind an elaborate puzzle cleverly buried within his films, which would lead the player toward a treasure that could change the course of human history?

Fifteen years after his death in March 1999, Stanley Kubrick has apparently arranged a hand-selected announcement that his films are far more than they appear to be. As UCLA's resident Kubrick expert, Professor Mascaro was the recipient of Kubrick's package. Inside is a reproduction of the famous photo Kubrick took for the cover of Look Magazine following the death of FDR. The image has become emblazoned in the American zeitgeist.

On the back of the photo is a message written by Kubrick that reads: "Follow me to Q's identity." Mascaro is stumped and asks Shawn Hagan, his brilliant but socially awkward film student, what he thinks that might mean.

Shawn takes the photo and studies it with his only two friends at school-Wilson Devereaux, an infamous former child star bent on becoming a respected director, and Samira "Sami" Singh, a graduate film student with a dark, rebellious past.

©2016 Evolved Publishing LLC (P)2016 Evolved Publishing LLC

Ernst Klein and Dan Brown for film buffs?

Kubrick was a great director and this points out some information I hadn't known... but...

A clever idea, an idiot plot.

The sad truth of this book is that it's such a great idea. Film students solving puzzles created by Stanley Kubrick.... it has so much potential. But the story itself collapses under the weight of a lot of bad decisions.

The major problem is that it's an Idiot Plot. The story doesn't make any sense unless EVERYONE is an idiot. All of the characters, including the ghost of Stanley Kubrick, make catastrophically stupid decisions. If they weren't idiots, all of the conflicts could be resolved very quickly. With, like, one phone call.

I really wanted to love this book. Anyway, I can't recommend it. Pick another book to spend your monthly credit on.

Such Fun!!

Kubrick’s Game is a story in the same vein as The Da Vinci Code. It’s fast paced, full of puzzles and exceedingly well done in its execution.

I’ll be honest and say I fall asleep during Kubrick films. I can watch exceedingly long movies with no problem..but put in a Kubrick film and I’m out after the first 20 minutes. So I was hesitant going into this because I knew my appreciation for the puzzle solving would be automatically lessened due to my somewhat unwilling ignorance on the films themselves. However, I found that I had no issue what so ever following along and enjoy the ride! The puzzles are so engrained in the media they pull from that it makes you want to pop in the movies and start hunting yourself. The sheer amount of Kubrick trivia in this novel is just amazing, I went from knowing next to nothing about the main to knowing parts of his process and habits during filming. In fact, it sort of keyed me in on details I missed in my viewings of the films and made me appreciate them a bit more.

The main character, Shawn, provided a perspective that I have never read anything from nor was I was expecting. Shawn has Aspergers. I can’t speak to the authenticity of the voice itself, however, I really appreciated the viewpoint as he navigates his problems with social interactions, maintaining relationships, and learning more about himself.

The audiobook itself is narrator by Johnathan Franken and Yvette Nicole Brown. Franken, or Riker from Star Trek, provides the main narration for the book and Brown provides the voice of Desiree. It’s an odd style for an audio but as it is explained in the beginning this takes on a sort of radio show type feel to it and gives the book a bit of it’s own style. While I really did enjoy both Franken and Brown’s reading I will say that at points the quality dips a bit. The volume will randomly drop down in areas, so there was a lot of playing with the volume controls.

Overall I think this is a must for movie fans and for those who love a thrilling ride filled with riddles and danger.

I received this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Not bad, not great

I enjoyed most of this book. Most. There was one section that was a little bit far-fetched and not realistic. I enjoyed Frakes' narration. Browns narration was decent, but sometimes didn't match up to the level and intent of Frakes. In other words, I could tell they weren't in the same room recording at the same time.

better than Ready Player One

Two thoughts stood out as I finished this exceptional new story from Derek Taylor Kent and a Evolved Publishing:
1) That has to be the smartest mystery story I’ve ever experienced.
2) Am I really considering that Kubrick’s Game was BETTER than Ready Player One by Ernest Cline?
It’s been two days since I finished, and I’ve yet to discredit either of those lofty claims. First off, the story centers on some geeky film students, one who had a form of autism, and has become an unrecognized expert on all things Stanley Kubrick. His best friend is studying to be a director after his acting career stagnated and left him with a cheesy catch phrase as his legacy. Both characters are fun and very likable.
Their story begins with an invitation to solve a scavenger hunt engineered by Kubrick before his death fifteen years ago. I wasn’t sure what to think coming into this book with only a minimal grasp on Kubrick’s biography and films. I’m glad to say that Kent wrote a mystery that was both highly knowledgeable of Kubrick’s work, creating an intricate puzzle that is both brilliantly woven and accessible to readers who know or don’t know anything about Kubrick. Seriously, this puzzle is amazing in how it kept me guessing and how the pieces tied together in ways that made me question how in the world Lent had fit them together so perfectly. This perfect match of seemingly abstract and unrelated pieces to the puzzle enhances the chance that Kubrick really created this game.
I’m tempted to go on, but I won’t spoil anything. Needless to say, I’m excited to read more, and I can’t wait to not only rewatch Kubrick’s movies, but also check out Derek’s website where he has an additional real life The Game.
I listened to the audiobook, which has top notch narrators. Not too many audiobooks have the narrators faces on the cover, having become famous for their television or movies. Listening to this book, it felt like I was being treated by actors at the top of their craft. I had a few small critiques of the audio production. There was a bad habit of the main narrator fading out between spoken dialogue. I wish the producer would have leveled out the volume a little better in those places, as well as a brief part in chapter 54 when there is an obvious break in the text. I tried to sync my kindle version to see how much I missed, but couldn’t…I don’t think it was much.
In searching my kindle version I found that they have images of the movies in the text, which would have been awesome to see as I read. Whichever format you use, this needs to be on your reading list. Evolved Publishing shows once again how they put out some of the most solid and enjoyable stories you can find.

Good Story, Poor Production

I really enjoyed the story, and loved the extra insights into Kubrick's films. However, Frakes was not a good reader...too many weird pauses and his accent for Wilson makes no sense. Also, the arbitrary use of the extra actors was jarring.

Page-turning puzzle-based adventure book

I loved the puzzling nature of the book (kind of like a Da Vinci Code/National Treasure. The book made my one monthly credit disappear- I couldn't stop reading.

For someone who is not knowledgeable of Kubrick it was still great, and just makes me want to learn more and watch his movies.

I just have 4 starts because some parts of the narration seemed like it changed throughout (particularly Sean half-way through. Story-wise a 4 because although on the whole I liked it, a few of the puzzles seemed to be far-fetched for me.

Overall would recommend!

Great book for Kubrick fans and fans of fiction.

I do not usually do fiction but I love Kubrick so I decided to go for it and it was well told and a great story.

In the spirit of Ready Player One

Ready Player One, 4 movie for Stanley Kubrick fans. Maybe more of the latter than the former.

Not bad - but production quality suffered.

What did you like best about Kubrick's Game? What did you like least?

I enjoyed the obscure details or the hook of using Kubrick's movies to tie the book together. It was a fun story.

What didn’t you like about the narrators’s performance?

Jonathan's reading of the book was actually pretty good, however the production of the narration was not subject to good quality control. Multiple times the volume levels dropped significantly causing me to lose the stream of the story. I also question the use of one other naarrator for just one character. This was mildly disconcerting as well.