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The End of FUN

Sean McGinty

3.19 · Rating details · 235 ratings · 57 reviews

Everyday reality is a drag.

FUN—the latest in augmented reality—is fun (yay!) but it’s also frustrating, glitchy and dangerously addictive (boo!). Just when everyone else is getting on, seventeen-year-old Aaron O’Faolain wants off.

But first, he has to complete his Application for Termination, and in order to do that he has to deal with his History—not to mention the ...more

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Hardcover, 416 pages

Published April 5th 2016 by Disney Hyperion

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· 235 ratings · 57 reviews

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Jan 11, 2016 Natalie rated it it was ok

I confess myself...disappointed. I was so hopeful going into this book. I liked the idea of a virtual reality that is taking over the world, and some adventuring by our intrepid MC Aaron. However, this book was nothing like I expected. The world in which Aaron lived wasn't explained very well. The reader is simply thrown into this world with no warning or a "please fasten your seat belts" message. You just go. I was very confused by the premise of FUN. I was never quite sure what exactly it was, ...more

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Nov 20, 2015 E. rated it liked it

Imagine if Ready Player One and Catcher in the Rye had a baby book, and that baby book had more sex and drugs than either but also had less of a whiny protagonist and was less enamored of its virtual world than either of its parent books.

It's pretty fab.

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Dec 03, 2018 Yamu Govere rated it liked it

This was a pretty okay book. Interesting premise, but i don't think the concept of FUN was explained well enough for me to visualise what exactly the world was like; i was a bit confused sometimes. I also kinda feel like the idea that reality is actually better than virtual reality came out of nowhere, because I saw little evidence of this, and maybe it is just me, but I still don't get why he wanted to stop having FUN

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Feb 20, 2017 Maegan Woodlee rated it liked it

This book is narrated by the protagonist, Aaron, as he navigates his life through obstacles of new romance, family drama, and a new technology called FUN. If you combined Facebook, in-app purchase games, and iMessage, plus a holographic sidekick, you could imagine what FUN would be like. Aaron encounters many colorful characters - from his delinquent friend Oso to a bible-wielding, nosy neighbor - on his journey to search for a treasure planted by his late grandfather.

While I really enjoyed the ...more

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Oct 13, 2016 Tonstant Weader rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

When The End of FUN begins, Aaron O’Faolin is applying to terminate his contract. It is not an easy process and to do so, he has to provide his user history. That history, to our delight, is this book, the first from Sean McGinty, the first of what I hope will be a long bibliography full of more satiric novels that anticipate our near future with scarily reasonable and likely scenarios.

Aaron just wanted to have FUN. That’s Fully Ubiquitous Neuralnet to be precise. He was in a bad place, recently When The End of FUN begins, Aaron O’Faolin is applying to terminate his contract. It is not an easy process and to do so, he has to provide his user history. That history, to our delight, is this book, the first from Sean McGinty, the first of what I hope will be a long bibliography full of more satiric novels that anticipate our near future with scarily reasonable and likely scenarios.

Aaron just wanted to have FUN®. That’s Fully Ubiquitous Neuralnet to be precise. He was in a bad place, recently expelled from school and sent to attend YouThrive® Academy while living with his mother who, it turns out, refused to let him stay with her. He settled into a HumanHive® sub-SRO in San Francisco and tried his luck at pan-handling, but with all digital amores replacing paper dollars, pan-handling was a bygone occupation. Instead, he signed up as a beta user of FUN, and soon was making a “living” with his frequent YAY!s for this, that, and the other registered brand name.

He goes to Parties™ to meet with other users and add to his YAY!s because he fell behind, playing too many games, neglecting his YAY!s and generally ringing up a big debt to FUN. And then he is called home to bury his grandfather. He’s worried that his dad and his sister Evelyn will discover that he was not in school, has been living off his tuition money, and generally not moving on with his life.

He goes home, discovers his granddad left him his house, his land, and everything on it, including a treasure and a lot of clues for him to unravel in order to find it. Along the way, he reconnects with old friends, meets new ones, falls in love, and has a lot of adventures. All the time he is living life, he is still having FUN, but sometimes the FUN interferes.

I love The End of FUN. It is in a near future so easily traceable to the trends that are driving our present, our ever-increasing connectedness, the commodification of our time and attention. There are shifts in the world, too, the digitized economy, and even the Avis Mortem. After all, we are witnessing the honeybee collapse and shrugging. It’s likely in the future that mass extinction of the birds will be glossed over and accepted as the cost of doing business, as we have for the bees.

Sean McGinty is a naturalistic writer. This first person narrative feels completely authentic in it’s 17 year old voice. This is a Young Adult novel and I am no longer a young adult, but no matter, young adult novels are where some of the most interesting experimentation is happening. Each chapter asks you to BOO! or YAY! at the end. I am sure most of you will YAY!

★★★★
http://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpres... ...more

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Apr 01, 2016 Nicole rated it liked it

To be honest, this book kind of wore me out. I'm not sure if it was just the challenge of dealing with a narrator who had the judgement of a three year old or if it was the format, which required a lot of product placement. Both of those elements are essential to the humor and the strong narrative voice in the story, though, and are actually what I think many YA readers will find appealing. Aaron is an impulsive idiot, but he is trying to move in the right direction, and his attempts at taking To be honest, this book kind of wore me out. I'm not sure if it was just the challenge of dealing with a narrator who had the judgement of a three year old or if it was the format, which required a lot of product placement. Both of those elements are essential to the humor and the strong narrative voice in the story, though, and are actually what I think many YA readers will find appealing. Aaron is an impulsive idiot, but he is trying to move in the right direction, and his attempts at taking charge of his own fate are often disastrous and hilarious. I liked him, but I felt like he needed a babysitter. As far as the cast of supporting characters went, they were just as likeable, if often as misguided as Aaron. If you are looking for a book to make you laugh, this is probably a good choice. But I, of course, want something more than just laughs, so I was disappointed that the satire of the story was so subtle. My initial impression was that this book was going to push at issues of technology and the environment, but, by the end, I was confused about what the message really was. Okay, I'm pretty sure the message was that humans suck and only really care about their own happiness and entertainment, even when they know it comes at a great cost. That might be more disturbing than the thought that the author just lost the thread. Either way, I wasn't quite satisfied that Aaron didn't take some action, and I'm not talking about some huge action, which would have been out of character. A verbal warning about the apparent negatives of Fun! to his nearest and dearest would have satisfied me. While I'm not sure my high school students will be able to articulate the issue, I do think the book will provoke some discussion, and that is always a good thing. Overall, this wasn't my cup of tea but I can see many of my readers, guys especially, enjoying it. Language and situations are most appropriate for grades 9+. I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ...more

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Jan 01, 2016 Katy Noyes rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley-reviewcopy

A good attempt to hold a mirror up to our technology-filled lives and mock the world (real or otherwise) we are living in today.

I was impressed by the simple observation of FUN—the latest in augmented reality—a fun yet frustrating, totally time-consuming and all-encompassing social networking world that you have to be operated on to become a part of. It features throughout the story, butting in to speak to the protagonist and remind him of how he's a 'loser' and failing to earn enough points to ...more

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Jan 29, 2016 Lisa Brennan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: reviewed-netgalley

Rebooted for Generation Z, The End of Fun is a classic coming-of-age story deftly pixelated with a hilarious first-person narrative. Aaron is seventeen and navigating a rocky road to adulthood. Eternal optimism propels his journey, and a close-knit cast of quirky characters serves as his compass. He may stray off course at times, but that just fuels the zaniness of his quests: get the girl, level up in the game, pay his debts, and get his GED.

What’s obstructing his path? Mental health ...more

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Nov 04, 2016 Lucie marked it as didn-t-finish

I made it about 45% of the way through and I realized the last 15-20% was a struggle so I've decided to DNF.
I was mostly just bored. I found the main character uninteresting and his attitude annoying. He acted as if the world owed him and he could do no wrong even though the whole premise of this book is that he messed up and he has to fix it. I expected this book to be a fun adventure, but nothing was really happening for me and I was getting bored waiting for something exciting to happen. I ...more

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May 16, 2016 TheSaint rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya

I can't quite put my finger on what I liked about this one, except maybe that it was so obviously written from a masculine perspective.
Sure, it had some interesting near future elements -- The augmented reality, of course, plus the avian die-off. But the author just expected the reader to take the ride; there wasn't a lot of world-building, nor was there really a need.
No need, because this was really a coming of agey love story. A love story with a lot more interesting plot elements than the ...more

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Aug 03, 2016 Jory rated it did not like it

Shelves: gmba-2017-18

I was so bummed out by this book. I read the first 100 pages faithfully and kept waiting to get pulled in and get past the cliched use of language/writing, but I never actually understood FUN, or the YAY! he uses -- in general, the technology in his world didn't quite connect for me. In the first few pages I was setting myself up for a Ready Player One world, but this certainly wasn't my experience with this book. It was jumpy, and felt like important events were handled with a casualness that ...more

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Mar 26, 2018 Nick added it

The End of Fun is a fiction book that is centered around the idea of the world coming to a time when people were more centered around virtual reality rather than human interaction. This book centers around our world being distracted to what's actually going on around us in the real world instead we’re focusing on the virtual one. In the book The End of Fun you’ll find Sean McGinty’s view to what our society is coming to is full of distractions, but if we look past our distractions we’ll find The End of Fun is a fiction book that is centered around the idea of the world coming to a time when people were more centered around virtual reality rather than human interaction. This book centers around our world being distracted to what's actually going on around us in the real world instead we’re focusing on the virtual one. In the book The End of Fun you’ll find Sean McGinty’s view to what our society is coming to is full of distractions, but if we look past our distractions we’ll find something even more meaningful.

The End of Fun takes part in a futuristic society that has almost been entirely engulfed in the world of virtually reality. The story centers around a 17 year old boy named Aaron O’ Faolain. When everyone is starting to use the new augmented reality platform “FUN” Aaron wants no part of it. But before he leave “FUN” he must complete a Application for Termination in which he has to explain his entire history so he can get to his reason including his grandfather’s suicide. As the story continues Aaron must unravel the mystery of his grandfathers death through the few clues he left behind. Through the entirety of the book Aaron will go through love, losses, dog-bites, wildfires, wild horses and even a Mcdonalds hive house.

The most interesting character throughout the book is Aaron O’ Faolain. Aaron is different from almost everyone in his society. When everyone is jumping on the new augmented reality program Aaron wants off. In this society there is an avian flu which is killing all the birds but most people don’t notice because “FUN” has the program “Birdsong” installed so everything seems normal to society but not Aaron. In the beginning of this story Aaron might seem like a immature teenager who leaves his home to go play video games instead of going to school. But as you read on you’ll find out that their is more to Aaron that may appear.

But sadly overall the book seems to be very disorganized and has many parts that seem unnecessary. You’re first drawn in by the concept of virtual reality and how many adventures could happen with this unique idea. But as you read Aaron starts to drift away from his Termination and starts to seek girls that from the readers view are unattainable and time-wasting.

If you read this book, you need to be ready for a complex augmented reality and a stop and go sort of plot. If you are looking for a book like Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One don’t expect it to be another take on the concept of augmented reality. But if you like books in about where our society is heading towards with some comedy then this book is for you. ...more

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May 11, 2018 Henry Davenport rated it it was ok

So I just finished “The End of Fun” and it was mediocre. The best thing I could compare it to is Ready Player One but with worse characters. In the beginning I thought I was going to completely hate this book, as the main character Aaron was the cookie-cutter sarcastic teenage boy that we see often way too much in modern youth books. But as his character progresses throughout the story he becomes ever so slightly more likable, and the supporting cast was okay no one in the story stays too long ...more

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Jan 20, 2017 Bradley Zouck rated it really liked it

The End of Fun by Sean McGinty is about a 17 year old boy, Aaron O’ Faolain and how he gets himself into trouble. First he gets suspended at school and has to move in with his mom to go to a new one. He ends up living on his own and gets into more trouble. While on his own, he starts to have F.U.N. . F.U.N. is an augmented reality chip that is inserted in his head. But F.U.N. gets in Aarons way and he regrets ever starting it. His father later calls him and tells him about his grandfather's ...more

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Nov 02, 2019 Teri rated it did not like it

I really didn’t want to finish the book but did as the book was included on my Grandson’s school reading list and he read the book. I didn’t enjoy the weird new reality and found the story line inappropriate for a 12 year old. The beginning was boring and all the wrong decisions made by Aaron just kept mounting. I get the fact that his early life was traumatic and he was trying to understand his circumstances and move to a better place, but some of the experiences were just out there. And some ...more

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Dec 20, 2017 Brady Wynia rated it really liked it

I think this book was alright but not the best. It had some parts that were hard to follow because it kept jumping back and forth between scenes. However it was a good book with many problems and solutions. This book offered some challenging parts to follow but in the long run it was a good book. It often times jumped from one of the main characters problems to the next without smooth transitions. The book offered many sections that allowed for variety in the story. Without these the story would ...more

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Aug 06, 2017 Lisa Nocita rated it it was ok

Shelves: tag-contenders-2017

Not for me. The writing style is too stream of consciousness and there was too much I couldn't understand and, honestly, didn't care if I did. The world building is minimal and the lack of explanations were frustrating. The currency has changed, maybe the government, and all the birds are dying or dead. But that doesn't seem to serve a tangible purpose. Plus FUN is never really explained although you get the gist. Not fun for me. Boo.

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Oct 29, 2019 Kaitlyn Smith rated it really liked it

The book is good for a stand point that I feel will happen in the near-future. I feel that it would become essential that we “need” to get technology that goes in our eyeball. And the matter of Aaron becoming broke is the fact that some people are not the brightest of people. As in people who spend too much money for their own good. But overall I think the book was good so far, as I am only about half way through it.

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Oct 26, 2018 Alice rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The End of Fun is a very a FUN read. ...more

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May 17, 2018 Bethany rated it did not like it

Shelves: read-on-goodreads

wtf was this

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Jun 21, 2018 Tristan Burke rated it really liked it

I'm glad that the book wasn't just about fun, but rather the life of somebody who just happened to be having fun. It wasn't the main focus of the book.

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Jul 02, 2017 Grace rated it liked it

> YAY! for The End of FUN by Sean McGinty published by Hyperion Books. ...more

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May 03, 2017 Ashleigh rated it really liked it

This book was great, it really got me to think about how technology and how as it develops it affects us. Aaron gets the FUN tech put into his head; this allows you to access the internet and phone through a lens in his eye. He ran away from home in his teens and lived in a community home where he would sit and play games all day. This ended up with him getting in FAIL mode. This book and the way McGinty wrote it was like he had control over all of your emotions. There was death, love, and ...more

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May 23, 2016 Hollowspine rated it liked it

Shelves: ya

It has taken me forever to get through The End of Fun. Although there were many funny parts in the story, I had a hard time connecting with Aaron O’Faolin the main character who uses the money his Dad and Sister give him to attend school in California to pay rent in a Hive House and play games on his newly installed AR (augmented reality) implant FUN instead. Which goes ok until he plays too much Tickle, Tickle, Boom and ends up in Fail. Users in Fail can’t do much of anything until they YAY! It has taken me forever to get through The End of Fun. Although there were many funny parts in the story, I had a hard time connecting with Aaron O’Faolin the main character who uses the money his Dad and Sister give him to attend school in California to pay rent in a Hive House and play games on his newly installed AR (augmented reality) implant FUN® instead. Which goes ok until he plays too much Tickle, Tickle, Boom and ends up in Fail. Users in Fail can’t do much of anything until they YAY!® enough products to pay their way out of it.

The world Aaron lives in seems just down the road from the present. An avian flu is killing all the birds, but with FUN installed Aaron (along with the majority of the population, all on FUN) the augmented world still contains birdsong, so he doesn’t realize how quiet the real world has become.
When a death in the family brings Aaron back home he has to face up to his Dad and Sister with the truth, that he hasn’t been to a single day of the school they went into debt to pay for. Reading his grandpa’s will provides a solution, there’s a treasure buried somewhere on his grandpa’s land, so all Aaron needs to do is find it and he can pay everyone back, get out of fail and finally get off FUN.
But, there’s many more complications, including falling love with a Space Amazon, taking Werewolf Pills with a best friend who may or may not be in trouble with a drug cartel, and falling in a big hole.

I actually enjoyed the parts with Homie (the interface for FUN) and wished there was a little more about the AR world that Aaron inhabited, it actually didn’t seem to me like Aaron was really ‘addicted’ to FUN, especially since the way the games were described made it sound like he was addicted to Candy Crush, which while addicting, doesn’t really cause people to stay up for days subsiding on energy drinks and occasionally results in hospital stays (or worse). It was more like Aaron decided to put blinders on his life and turn all the volume controls of real emotion down and then once he went into fail and started having to exist in ‘the real world’ again realizes how much he missed while using AR.

I think the real interesting thing about the book is the ending where, while Aaron is finally getting out of FUN, everyone else, even people who said they’d never get into FUN (like people who claimed they’d never have a Facebook) are getting the implants.

Overall, not my favorite coming-of-age Catcher in the Rye type novel, but not the worst either. ...more

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Sep 21, 2016 Ryan Madman Reads & Rocks rated it really liked it

The End of Fun by Sean McGinty is part Catcher in the Rye and part semi-pre-post-apocalyptic YA novel. Exactly which parts is hard to define.

Aaron is your typical hormonal teenager whose entire world revolves around his own interests. One day, instead of finishing high school he decides to drop out and sign up for a new augmented reality program called FUN. FUN is accessed via brain implant and eye lenses. Each participant is guided through the world of FUN by a holographic emoji named HOMIE.

At The End of Fun by Sean McGinty is part Catcher in the Rye and part semi-pre-post-apocalyptic YA novel. Exactly which parts is hard to define.

Aaron is your typical hormonal teenager whose entire world revolves around his own interests. One day, instead of finishing high school he decides to drop out and sign up for a new augmented reality program called FUN. FUN is accessed via brain implant and eye lenses. Each participant is guided through the world of FUN by a holographic emoji named HOMIE.

At first, Aaron has loads of fun having FUN. Until he is no longer able to pay the monthly fee and is sent into Fail mode. This immediately blocks his access to every awesome thing that FUN has to offer. So, he decides to file for termination of service but before he does he must recount everything that led up to him wanting to terminate service. And so begins all of the typical YA drama.

Aaron is contacted by his sister and father who notify him about his grandfather's recent passing. His grandfather committed suicide for no reason other than boredom and leaves all of his worldly possessions to Aaron. Unfortunately, Aaron must go on a treasure hunt in order to claim his inheritance. Such a task involves deciphering codes and figuring out where to dig. As if that weren't arduous enough, Aaron falls hopelessly in love with an older girl named Katie who only thinks of him as a good friend.

And during all of this- HOMIE, the holographic emoji, keeps popping up and reminding Aaron that he is in Fail.

If you haven't guessed by now... this story takes place sometime in the not too distant future.

I liked the basic premise of the whole augmented reality program but the rest of the story just seemed to fall flat. The ending is quite philosophical but good.

One could say that the entire novel is really more of a commentary on how dependent on technology society has become. In that regard, I agree wholeheartedly with the author.

I give The End of Fun by Sean McGinty 4 out of 5 stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ...more

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Dec 16, 2015 Seanean rated it did not like it

http://librarytalker.blogspot.com/201...

In the future, nearly everyone is having FUN.

Aaron is one of the first to have FUN installed as a beta tester and his days are filled with FUN. Every day, Homie pops up right in front of his eyes to help him have FUN with everything around him. He plays virtual games, rates friends and parties, and spends quite a bit of money online.

Of course, it's the spending that really gets him in trouble. Soon, Aaron is in FAIL and he's not having much FUN at all. ...more

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Apr 06, 2016 Erikka rated it liked it

Shelves: 2016, realistic-fiction

This wasn't really all that great. It seemed like it could have been--conceptually, it was somewhere between Ready Player One and Feed by MT Anderson--but it was cluttered and haphazard. There were several unnecessary parts, an entirely unneeded character in Oso, and the whole concept of the Yay for Fun thing got really annoying when every other sentence had trademark symbols or "Yay!" in it. I don't like social media tropes (like it, poke, thumbs up, etc), so it irritated me to read it in this ...more

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May 03, 2016 Anne rated it did not like it

Shelves: 2016, action-adventure, washyarg-reviews, fantasy-sci-fi, young-adult

Aaron is 17-years-old and addicted to FUN - an augmented reality program/lifestyle. Sadly his account is in arrears and he needs to have a lot more FUN in order to be able to delete his account. While trying to do this, he is also dealing with his grandpa's suicide and the will that leaves clues to a possible buried treasure, plus girl troubles, werewolf pills, and many other crazy things.

I was hoping for a funny book, but mostly all I got was annoying. Lots of references to sex and sexual ...more

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Oct 03, 2016 Ashlee rated it it was ok

Shelves: npl

Okay, the concept spoke to our technology filled existence, but then at the end threw religion at you. Not a specific one, I'm sure as not to offend anyone, but how we can't see through digital eyes and we have to use our light-filled, holy eyes.
(view spoiler) ...more

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Apr 12, 2016 Hayley rated it liked it

Shelves: romance, mystery, puzzles, highschool, middleschool, sciencefiction, funny

Aaron O'Faolin follows clues in his grandfather's will to find a cache of treasure, but his real quest is to find connection and love. Overlaid on this is a very funny skewering of modern consumerism, with the augmented reality implant, FUN. See my full review here. Reviewed from an ARC.

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