I’m going to start this by saying that this book was horribly edited. There were hundreds of misspelling and errors throughout, which is completely inexcusable for the publisher and disrespectful to the author who trusted that the company he hired to edit the story would do so with attention to detail. On top of the grievous spelling and grammatical errors, I really did not enjoy this book.

The premise involves a small town video store (referred to as the last Blockbuster on Earth, though not officially for legal reasons) and its employees. They discover a strange VCR that can seemingly change the plot on videotapes, which may or may not affect reality. It’s very ambiguous as to what is actually changing the world and what reality is, which is probably the most interesting thing about it. Affecting reality and the consequences of that lead the employees through some wacky shenanigans, but it all feels haphazard and without direction. Additionally, not a single character is likable. The only one that comes close is the stereotypical stoner guy and it’s only because he’s not a completely irredeemable piece of garbage. He’s also more of a side character and doesn’t do anything. Jerry is the first person we get the perspective of, and it shifts between him, Randy and Eva. Jerry is obsessed with Eva in a creepy way and does everything he can to work with her, trying to get with her any way he can. He’s also a film buff, and the two riff about classic movies all the time. Their relationship is really awkward, and not in a cute way. Eva is very lackadaisical. She never seems to care about anything. While she has some family issues that could explain her behavior, it’s not explored as much as I wish it was. There’s also Randy, the video store manager. He’s the most unlikable as he’s a know-it-all film guy who’s also heavily Republican, but also gay. Randy is the kind of person that does irredeemably awful things and gets away with it. The way he treats Jerry specifically is absolutely disgusting. Physically and mentally abusing him. Though Jerry is far from a sympathetic character, that doesn’t really make the behavior okay. There’s also another ex-employee who seemingly works everywhere in town part-time and she played a larger role in the latter half of the story. Her involvement definitely spices it up a bit, but not enough to make it enjoyable to read.

I really don’t have a lot to say about this story. Its indecipherable story and wholly unlikable characters make it unpleasant to read on multiple levels. In addition to that the text was not properly edited, leaving a jumbled mess of the English language throughout. It wouldn’t surprise me if AI edited this book, though I think the author is not to blame for this. He seemed to want to tell a story full of classic movie references through the lens of a video store crew in the modern world. A group of people left behind by technology and left to their own devices, which just so happen to be a magical VCR. Unfortunately it just doesn’t come together and I would not recommend reading this story to anyone. (Sorry.)