Editorial Reviews
All Published Editorial Reviews - Good, Bad, Indifferent
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Self-Publishing Review
Whip-smart satire and a cutting-edge premise make Toys in Babylon a tongue-in-cheek romp for savvy language lovers everywhere. Bursting at the seams with wordplay and whimsy, this pun-packed whodunit is a surreal and allegorical ride through our complex contemporary landscape. The multilayered, reality-blurring story is ultimately a vehicle for linguistic gymnastics and the pure pleasure of words, relentlessly poking fun at the tangles and paradoxes of language. Finegan delivers a beautifully bizarre and thought-provoking novel, one that poses crucial questions for real-world society, delivered with linguistic confidence and inimitable creativity.
John Staughton, Self-Publishing Review, ★★★★ - 10 October 2024
Reedsy Discovery
Must read 🏆
A thoroughly engrossing infotainer, blending sci-fi and cozy mystery about contemporary AI technology, leaving behind much food for thought...
I absolutely loved the concept of using a language learning app to explore the impact of AI... The book sheds light on the ed tech industry, the lack of concern of tech companies for people (own employees and even customers)... It also provides food for thought on topics like mankind’s readiness to handle AI at its fullest, the potential of AI sentience and the limits when they start broaching the limits of self-awareness, philosophy and emotions.
When I had picked up this book, I hadn’t expected to enjoy it as much as I did. It is an infotainment. This is a medium length book, highly recommended for anyone interested in AI, feel-good and/or cozy mysteries.
Indie Reader
Patrick Finnegan’s [sic] second novel TOYS IN BABYLON is both satire and mystery and a sendup of AI. Coki, the mascot of a popular language app, is missing, and feared murdered. The app’s AI, who has evolved lives and ideas of their own, plans to take over the way language is taught, making human teachers irrelevant. Further plot dissection would reveal spoilers, and there’s too much fun to be had in discovering the twists and turns as they unfurl. Love, language, friendship, deception, and AI are all entwined for a roller coaster of a ride. The author has a sharp eye for the absurd and ironic, and weaves all the elements together in ways that are delightful surprises. TOYS IN BABYLON is a fast, funny page turner.
Readers' Favorite
Toys in Babylon by Patrick Finegan is a very different kind of book. It is both humorous and satirical, mixing actual characters with animated avatars. It is up to date with AI and ChatGP entwined with a real-life and modern scenario. Coki Bear, the bright pink corporate mascot, has gone missing. It is time for the license renewal and both the ‘real’ CEO and the ‘imaginary’ characters are desperate to find her. There is a large cast, and so the list at the beginning of the book is very helpful. Inspired by the Duolingo online language app, this satire mixes fantasy and even history, with references to early songs, television series, and past events. The avatars, each with their unique personality, rise up to overpower those who created them, or do they? Is that all a dream? The cartoon characters bear a strong resemblance to those you meet on the online language app, even to the green scarf and pink feathers. Readers need to suspend disbelief as the cartoon creatures converse with those in real life while attempting to solve the disastrous disappearance of Coki Bear.
Patrick Finegan has written a totally unique book in Toys in Babylon, an apt description of an international online language app used by millions around the world. I could relate to many of them since I am a daily Duolingo fan. It is a very clever satire as the story races at breakneck speed from the first page to the last. Most of the cartoon avatars are both cute and cuddly and quite endearing. They possess more wit, intelligence, and savvy than their creators envisaged. An eclectic mix of fairytales, old musical hits, previous events, and the mystery of the missing Coki Bear, the mainstay of the Cok Dill Corporation, makes for an interesting read. There are passages in French and German and song lyrics among the mixture of the AI-generated animated teaching characters and actual company executives. The reader is kept guessing with every page. A niche book that will appeal to a select audience who will appreciate the hidden and parallel messages.
Feathered Quill
Toys in Babylon is such a different kind of story and it is hard not to sing its praises. I found the story to be satire at its best. With plenty of artificial intelligence, great friendships between characters, a lot of jokes, a little romance, and a big mystery, it contains so much that readers will love, while being completely unlike anything you have read before...
Toys in Babylon is a story that I would recommend to others regardless of the type of books you favor. It is different, fun, and in some ways, very educational. For fans of artificial intelligence, it is a book that just may teach you a lot. For mystery fans, it is just a great story with clues that you can enjoy trying to figure out. For everyone else, it is just a fabulous parody to have fun with. Mr. Finegan has done something wonderful here and I will be very interested to see what he comes up with next.
Quill says: Toys in Babylon is such a humorous and creative story and quite different from other things out there, which is what makes it such a fun read. It is not often, dare I say never before, when a mystery fan can get a really good mystery wrapped around a group of cartoon characters.
BookLife Prize for Fiction (Critique by Publishers Weekly)
Plot/Idea: Billed as a "language app parody and whodunit," Toys in Babylon does exactly what it says on the tin [sic]. Brilliantly eccentric and packed with a colorful and unforgettable cast of characters, readers will instantly lap up Finegan's effervescent and mindbogglingly enjoyable journey.
Prose: Finegan's fresh and vibrant text is humorous, well written, and consistently entertaining. His sharp and witty observations are infectious, lending the book a vivacious and charismatic spirit.
Originality: Toys in Babylon is a bold and jocular novel that shares a close affinity with the madcap world of Douglas Adams. Finegan's undoubted love of language and language learning shines through and although the story teeters on the edge of being too clever for its own good, it eventually wins through with its compulsive energy and boundless wit.
Character/Execution: Finegan's characters are affable and well crafted, particularly the array of digital cartoon characters. These altogether creative and imaginative characters perfectly illustrate Finegan's insatiable thirst for the eccentric and bizarre.
Blurb: A curious and compelling murder mystery parody.
Publishers Weekly, BookLife Fiction Prize Critique - 6 September 2024
Reader Views
Anyone who’s ever studied a language online will recognize the conversation between the baker and the shopper; between the bus driver and the passenger. In Finegan’s book, these characters have broken free of the script and taken on lives of their own. This clever concept is most emphatically not a book you’ve read a million times before... Finegan is a really smart writer... [He] doesn’t burn a lot of time explaining how ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ characters are able to interact on the same playing field – just accept the premise and let his wit roll over you... You’ll have fun puzzling out the various threads, languages, and references found within Patrick Finegan’s “Toys in Babylon,” and in the end, you’ll probably learn something as well.
Midwest Book Review
Toys in Babylon: A Language App Parody and Whodunit gives readers the perfect demonstration of a parody written with lively intention... The plot revolves around a cast of satirical, fictional characters and situations that embrace animated teaching characters, AI influences, jokes, and mystery alike... Romance, poetic interludes, and more emerge from unexpected encounters. Readers are kept on their toes by a progression of shifting events and realities that keep the characters engaging and memorable... It’s the literary-minded reader interested in the changing devices of satire and parody who will find the progression thoroughly absorbing, albeit steeped in language not ordinarily seen in standard writing approaches... These strengths are why Toys in Babylon: A Language App Parody and Whodunit is especially recommended for advanced students of language and parody, who will find the story’s contemporary twists and usage to be both thoroughly engrossing and ultimately educational.
Diane Donovan, Recommended Reading – Donovan’s Bookshelf - 2 July 2024
Diane Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review - 10 July 2024
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Amazon reader reviews for Toys in Babylon
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