Inapt review combos
I recently read Tom Holt’s 1987 fantasy novel Expecting Someone Taller. On the front cover is this blurb:
“RECALLS BOTH TOLKIEN’S LORD OF THE RINGS AND TWAIN’S CONNECTICUT YANKEE … AN ENTERTAINING ROMP!” —Publisher’s Weekly
I’ve never been terribly fond of the style of review where you describe a work as a cross between two other works, but I can put up with it when the combination comparison is reasonably apt. But this one is just wrong. The novel recalls Lord of the Rings in that it features a magic ring that can turn you invisible, and Connecticut Yankee in that it’s a comedy set in Britain. Aside from those superficial facts, it bears no resemblance to either of the cited works.
Which amused me enough to want to turn it into a game.
So your task is to describe a work in terms of two other works that are almost but not quite entirely unlike the work you’re describing.
(I’m quoting Douglas Adams here in passing because the Holt book is far far more like Adams than it is like either Tolkien or Twain.)
Example:
A Wizard of Earthsea is like Harry Potter [wizard school] crossed with Titanic [boats].
You may, or may not, find the A + B = Awesome pitchbot useful in coming up with works to compare to.
