After having an introduction book that was pretty basic, yet still enjoyable for what it was, along with a second book that blew the first one out of the water in just about every way, the Big Nate series managed to put out a third book which, in comparison to the one that had just come out just before that one, it was good…… but not quite up to par. There was nothing particularly wrong with it, it just didn't manage to reach the same heights as the last book and wasn’t as entertaining, but regardless of that, it still turned out to be yet another solid entry in the Big Nate series, giving us yet another fun and entertaining story that was also more focused then the last one too, which was good to see, the same really good set of characters paired with some pretty good writing, the same great art that goes well with the universe and the original comic it was based on, and the humor was pretty decent too, even if it didn’t manage to get any laughs out of me at any point. So it was clear that, despite hitting a little bump in the road, this series was still going as strong as every, so naturally, Lincoln thought he might as well keep the ball rolling with the release of the fourth book in the series, Big Nate: Goes for Broke.
As you could probably guess at this point, this was yet another book in the series that I read as a kid, and it's also one of the ones that I remembered the most out of all of the Big Nate books I read as a kid. I don’t know if I considered it to be my favorite one of the ones that I read back then, but I definitely remembered the plot, about how Nate and his friends are forced to go to their rival school and face them down in order to prove they were better than them, which I remember loving back when I first read it, as I am a bigger fan of rivalry stories like that than some others. But of course, like with all of the other books I have reviewed so far, I hadn’t read that book in a really long time, so I didn’t know if the story was quite as great as I remember it being back then, or even if I was going to like it as much now as I did back then. Of course though, this was still Big Nate we were talking about, which means that it was probably still gonna be as good as I remember it being, and thankfully, that did turn out to be the case!........ kind of. I wouldn't say that it is my favorite book of the bunch, as I once again run into the issue of me not enjoying this as much as what came before, because I’m a needy little shit, but I would still consider it to definitely be one of the best in the series so far, giving us yet another fun and exciting story that manages to shake things up quite a bit from the last books, while keeping the core of the series intact to make for yet another solid tale through and through.
The story is definitely the most “ambitious” in the series so far, having the most characters involved with the central conflict so far rather than just being Nate and somebody else, and bringing the kids to all new locations and scenarios that were interesting to see, making for yet another very solid tale to add to the rest of them, even if it wasn’t quite as strongly put-together as others, the characters are still pretty good, with all of the returning characters acting just like how you would expect them too, and in terms of the new characters, Dee Dee is a great addition to the crew, definitely being one of the most entertaining of the bunch, and as for the Jefferson kids……. I mean, they are just typical bully characters, but they were fine enough, I suppose, the writing is still pretty good, giving us that same sarcastic and snarky dialogue from Nate’s perspective that still works very well, even if there are some parts here or there that make me cringe more then smile, the art is still pretty good, not really changing at all compared to the previous books, but it still works, so not much more to say about that, and the humor is good too, where there was nothing here that made me laugh out loud or chuckle, but there was enough food material here that kept me smiling from start to finish, which is what matters most at the end of the day.
Once again, when it comes to why I didn’t like this book quite as much as what came before it, we have ourselves yet another instance where I mostly just wasn’t really entertained or having as much fun with what this gave me in comparison to what came before. Sure, this is definitely the story packed with the most stuff in this series so far, and it is funny and exciting when it comes to what the story does with all that previously mentioned stuff, but I dunno, it just didn’t seem to hit quite as hard as that as what came before it…. not really sure how else to describe it. What I do know how to describe though is with the issues that the book has, because there are actually some problems here compared to the last book, primarily in how it falls back into old habits. Once again, we have a book that doesn't always know how to focus on one thing at once, to where there is a central premise that all of the events in the book revolve around, but it also finds itself getting distracted at points once again, not to the level that Strikes Again managed to get to, but just enough to where it is noticeable. Not only that, but there is also the aforementioned writing, which, while still being solid for the most part throughout the whole thing, can still have some lines that hurt to read. There's this one part towards the end of the book where Nate and Dee Dee slam into each other and hurt themselves, with Dee Dee overreacting and saying she may have broken a bone, to which Nate responds with “Save the drama for your momma, Dee Dee!”.............. no kid in the history of the world has EVER said something like that, and everyone knows that for a fact.
Overall, despite the somewhat less focused plot and some lines that make me wanna end it all, Big Nate: Goes for Broke certainly did go for broke, and it succeeded in almost all of its endeavors, not quite being as fun and enjoyable as previous entries, but it was still solid enough to where it still delivers you all the goods you have come to expect while going bigger and better than ever before, and I ended up having a pretty good time with it, what with its extremely solid story, a really good set of characters that are paired with some very good writing for the most part, the same great art as always and just enough funny and memorable lines and moments that kept me smiling and enjoying myself from start to finish. I would recommend it for those that loved the previous books, as well as the original comic and books like this in general, as while I can’t promise this one will blow the other books out of the water and be everything you could ever want, it should still give you plenty of what you have come to want, love and enjoy throughout all of these books, and with a little more added to that for good measure, which is more than enough for me. But anyway, before I go, I just wanted to share that the copy of this book that I bought from eBay had all of the activity sections in them filled out, which meant that I got to see all of the…. “lovely” drawings that the previous owner of this made before I got it for myself. If I could show them to you all, I would, but let me tell ya….. they are REALLY something.
Book #15