Reading this book, it seemed fairly sedate and straightforward; two men debating the existence of God. Ultimately, however, it’s much more than a philosophical treatise – it’s a character study, written by the modern master of nuanced and layered dialog. It’s a story about Black and White, Light and Dark, and all the shades in between. The end, though, is where it really grabs you. It’s powerful, stunning, and heartbreaking. 5 Stars.
Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I don’t usually post bad reviews, even when I hate a book, because i know from experience how much blood, sweat and tears go into writing. I’m one of those ‘if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all’ kind of people. That said, it’s also rare that I give a book five stars either, because, let’s face it, you can’t love everything. I really like a lot of books, but I hardly ever LOVE one.
And I loved this one.
I really, really loved this book. I’m a big fan of Mike Carey’s Felix Castor series, but frankly I think James Stark is an even better character. He’s about as hard-boiled an anti-hero as one can find, though oddly, still likable as hell. Kadrey’s writing is fun, and the pacing excellent. The whole book is chock full of modern cultural references and arcane mythological lore, scattered about like inside jokes you can share with a cool friend. It’s an action flick with brains, all slick weapons and snappy dialogue. If you like clever, well-written supernatural mystery stories, you’ll love Sandman Slim. I just can’t wait to read the next one.
Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man’s Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut by Rob Sheffield
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Written by a columnist for Rolling Stone, Talking to Girls is a beautiful love song to Generation X, filled with enough anecdotes and warm nostalgia to make anyone proud of their own awkward teenage years. Sheffield manages the right mix of longing and laugh-out-loud humor, reminders of a time when we were were all more innocent, even though the threat of nuclear war was all around us and the world at large seemed to be going to hell on a daily basis. Thanks, Rob, for helping me remember what a silly, yet awesome, decade it was to grow up in.
Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Say what you will about George R.R. Martin, the man is a master of characterization. From the moment I began to read, the author slipped away and I was left with a complete world filled with character detail that was simply staggering. Written years before the Song of Ice and Fire series, Fevre Dream already hints at Martin’s ability to create stories that are engrossing and genuine. A great addition to the vampire canon.
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Although many reviewers describe this book as too “atmospheric”, in my opinion this is exactly what made it extremely frightening. Hill House pervades every page, looming over the reader every bit as much it looms over the characters who reside there. As any fan of Hitchcock knows, things unseen, whether imagined or real, are most always far scarier than the gag props in cheap carnival haunted houses. If you like horror books that creep up on you, that bring a cold dread to your heart and make you sleep with the light on, Jackson’s Hill House is exactly what you’re looking for.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book is something of a crossover into the speculative fiction arena, a la Margaret Atwood. Unlike many genre novels, however, Never Let Me Go is highly character-driven, a poignant and heartbreaking story of what it means to be human, and how we survive under the most horrific of circumstances. I found it well-paced, even though Ishiguro occasionally lapses into slightly formulaic storytelling conventions. Still, a beautiful book, well worth the read, a study in how to create characters who are multi-layered yet subtly compelling.
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
What can I say? Another edge-of-the-seat thriller from Larsson. It was a great read, and kept me glued to the page until I was finished. All the hype about this writer is deserving. Such a shame he died without receiving the fruits of his labor.
Last night I finished Horns by Joe Hill, an author I discovered a year or so ago, though he’s apparently been a fairly big deal in the world of comics for some time now as the author of the Locke and Key series. I haven’t read Locke and Key, though I loved his first collection of short stories, 20th Century Ghosts, and liked, though didn’t love, his first novel, Heart-Shaped Box. I think he has a lot of promise as a speculative fiction novelist – a good narrative voice, strong characters, and the ability to create a wonderfully creepy vibe that keeps the reader immersed in his stories. When I read last year that he had a new novel releasing in the spring, I was eager to check it out.
The book has a groovy premise – a guy wakes up after a night of drunken carousing to find that he’s grown horns and inherited the powers of a demon. When he touches someone, their deepest, darkest sins and desires are revealed, and in his presence, people confess to their most depraved fantasies. He can command snakes. I mean, did you hear that? He can command snakes. For me, a life-long lover of fantastic fiction, this was basically one of those, ‘you had me at hello’ moments.
And I liked it, I really did, though probably not as much as I could have, or as much as I wanted to.
The protagonist, Iggy Perrish, is a likeable guy. He always tries to do the right thing: He goes to church regularly, is faithful to his high school sweetheart-girlfriend, volunteers for charities, and seems to be liked by pretty much everyone. He’s the stereotypical ‘boy next door,’ and I guess maybe when it comes down to it that’s really my biggest criticism. Iggy is too nice. In the book he’s believed to have committed a horrible crime by everyone around him, even though his character has never so much as crossed the street without the light. It’s never clear, exactly, why the Devil chose him to get this little gift, other than to get the chance to set things right. No real evil is done and no real evil is revealed, except in the thoughts (and sometimes deeds) of the people around him. To the end, horns, fire and all, Iggy remains a great guy, looking out for everyone around him, using his powers for…well, I won’t reveal that, but you get the point. I’m not sure I can exactly put my finger on it, really, but the entire time I was reading it, the book seemed like it was almost there, brushing the edges of greatness, on the verge of revealing some hidden secret about the nature of mankind and our relationship with evil and how the Devil works. Instead I was left wondering, why? What was in it for Lucifer? Why, of all the wrongs done to innocent people, of all the good guys who somehow can’t win, why was Iggy Perrish chosen?
I give Horns four stars because it was a good, fun read, but I wish I could have given it five. It could have been great.