This was a really interesting book about video games, it worked with what I was looking for and thought the overall story was being told perfectly. I thought Daryl Baxter wrote this perfectly and had that research element that I wanted. I enjoyed learning about some boss fights that I was looking for.

50 Years of Boss Fights was a fun nonfiction profiling many memorable video game bosses. As someone who enjoys reading nonfiction about video games, I was excited to read this one.

I enjoyed the profiles of the bosses and the games they were from (even though I had never heard of some of the games) and I also liked the photos that accompanied each game.

While I found the background interesting, i found it a little strange that the book didn’t present the games in chronological order. The book jumped around a bit. One chapter would have a book from the 1990s and the next chapter would have a game from the 2010s or whatnot. I also found the book somewhat repetitive in that multiple games were featured. There were multiple Mario games and Metal Gear Solid games mentioned. While it was interesting, I would have liked a bigger sample size of different games.

Overall this is definitely worth the read if you like books about video games. It was really interesting.


<i>thank you to the publisher for granting my wish to read this book!

I have loved video games for years and one of the constant gaming memories is often fighting and losing Boss Fights so it was great to reminisce about different Boss Fights and learn about bosses from games that I haven't played yet.

This is an interesting exploration of how the concept of the end-of-level boss was first conceived and how it has developed in subsequent games over the decades. Quite a lot of the bosses turned out to be from the same series of games, and I was surprised how few of the featured games I've actually played - maybe I'll get around to them one day, who knows.

50 Years of Boss Fights - Video Game Legends by Daryl Baxter is an absolute blinder of a book! Whether you are GenX, a gamer, a cultural historian, a lover of cartoons or just someone who loves a good boss fight in all its forms, this is defo the book for you

I am GenX and I still get chills when I see Bahamut and Sephiroth, giving hundreds, yes hundres of hours of my 20s to playing every single minutae of FFVII ad FFVIII... and FFX, FFX-2, FFXIII (you get the idea) But not only does this book cover the epics of PS lover history, but also the greats of Nintendo, Sega, XBox and PC (plus many more)

I really enjoy how this book is clearly written from a first-hand perspective, and Daryl Baxters passion for the pastime is utterly infectious! I think I have mentioned before that it is always a real joy to read a gamer book of sheer happiness without judgement and that is what you get here, just an utter delight at the journey to and foray into battles with the 16-bit to hi-res legends we may have let slip from our consciousness, but are never forgotten. Bravo, an absolutely stunning book!

Thank you to Netgalley, Pen & Sword | White Owl and the author Daryl Baxter for this blinder of an ARC! My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own