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1cedargrove
I listened to this book on the way to and from work. It took about 4 days, though it would have been quicker if I'd put the voice speed up at bit. As such I didn't make many notes at all on the book - not that there were many to make to be honest. It was the kind of book that when you read it you go, "Yeah... oh-kay then."
Here is the only note that I did make:
His soft voice was overwhelmed by the bed. Location 456 10%
I liked the phrasing of this... a good way to describe a little tiny scrap of a boy in a big hospital bed.
It wasn't that the book was bad... though it really wasn't all that good it was just... ordinary. It wasn't really all that suspenseful either... and as a horror book went it was more... gore than horror, and even that was not really much more than half-hearted descriptions of lizard like creatures eating the organs of a living human being.
The premise was good enough, and it could have been a far more frightening and gripping book if time had been taken to build the suspense, and not give away too much too soon. I thought at times too, too much effort had been made to sound 'childlike' since one of the main characters is the little boy described in the note above, and as far as the characters go, they were likable enough, but somewhat... stereotypical. Nothing really outstanding about any of them. In the end I felt I didn't really understand the 'how' of the defeat of the bad guys either... other than a poorly hidden admonition for people to believe in themselves and anything is possible.
That's probably what my review will say as well.
Here is the only note that I did make:
His soft voice was overwhelmed by the bed. Location 456 10%
I liked the phrasing of this... a good way to describe a little tiny scrap of a boy in a big hospital bed.
It wasn't that the book was bad... though it really wasn't all that good it was just... ordinary. It wasn't really all that suspenseful either... and as a horror book went it was more... gore than horror, and even that was not really much more than half-hearted descriptions of lizard like creatures eating the organs of a living human being.
The premise was good enough, and it could have been a far more frightening and gripping book if time had been taken to build the suspense, and not give away too much too soon. I thought at times too, too much effort had been made to sound 'childlike' since one of the main characters is the little boy described in the note above, and as far as the characters go, they were likable enough, but somewhat... stereotypical. Nothing really outstanding about any of them. In the end I felt I didn't really understand the 'how' of the defeat of the bad guys either... other than a poorly hidden admonition for people to believe in themselves and anything is possible.
That's probably what my review will say as well.
3mirrani
I think part of the problem with genres is that the modern idea is changing. I'm reading a pulp fiction book right now and the whole culture around that stuff is so different. Reading as a culture is COMPLETELY influenced by the culture you are /in/ while you're reading it. As a result, writing changes too. Maybe it's a cycle that doesn't end, one thing influencing the other, things become popular and fall out of style, writers adjust, readers adjust, writers evolve, readers evolve... I don't know. It happens in movies too, right now we're in a "scrapbook" kind of mindset as a visual culture. People are decorating their houses with stickers. Literally stickers put on the wall, big ones with words and quotes all over, where that would have been unheard of a while back. Who /wants/ quotes written on their wall? Well, once that's what cross stitching was for. No more. Movies and shows are all flare and visual. Where's the plot? Books are starting to have the shock factor too, I'm afraid. Granted, horror and blood and guts are /not/ my thing and I don't want to read them or watch them and that's a personal choice, so I don't have that much authority to say stuff, but what I /have/ seen and read seems to be headed for what was once the shock factor and is now just expected. As much blood and guts as you can find, please, lay it on /thick/ and heavy. If it's not like that it's no good any more. It used to be good if you were biting your nails and clinging to your seat, calling out to the character to turn around as you turned the page, hoping they'd notice they were about to get it. Now you have to read page after page about how much blood they lose and you're not at all worried for them because you just assume it's going to be a gruesome thing. Not tragic, emotional, or captivating, just guts and gore and another page of something else afterward.
