Strangewood

After reading a few books by Christopher Golden one has to wonder about the women in his life......every female character I've encountered so far in his work is extremely self centered, controlling, demanding and annoying......is this how he believes women to be? Are the women he has experience with this way? Meanwhile, the men are weak and overly obliging of the women, to the point of often being taken advantage of. This trend tends to ruin his otherwise good story plots.

Unfortunately, this was true to that pattern......The characters here are Thomas, the writer of Strangewood, his ex Emily, their son Nathan, and Emily's new boyfriend Joe.
Thomas feels the need to worry more about Emily than his son at some points......and Joe is show more willing to tolerate her abusive and dismissive behavior for the sake of being in Emilys presence. Emily's hypocrisy and self serving attitude makes her hard to stomache....example: she finds it perfectly acceptable to attack Thomas for going home to shower and not coming back soon enough....or coming to her home to talk and leaving Nathan alone at the hospital.....but its fine for her to stay overnight at Joe's. The focus on their dynamics and relationship issues distracted from the heart of the story......which should have been about Nathan and Strangewood.

Strangewood is Alice and Wonderland meets The thief of always and Travels to Oz....the inhabitants are delightful. I wish the book had primarily taken place here....you end up feeling as though you were hardly in Strangewood at all.....not acceptable for the books namesake. The ending was disappointing to say the least. This story could have been so much more..

All in all.....it was an ok read.....the parts that take place in Strangewood and the creative characters that reside there were the only saving grace. show less

Strangewood, you are a strange one. You sounded so exciting. Blending fantasy with writing and writer lifestyle, making a written world in a book come to life. Instead I was lost and downright bored half the time. The shame of it all. I almost felt annoyed after reading this book because of the letdown I felt after being so excited about the promised adventure that sounded so unique.

We all crave uniqueness after we've read so many books - some genres start blending together since they share and embrace tropes and cliches that readers come to know and expect. You've read one serial killer story, you recognize twists in others. You've read horror with a particular creature, you're basically an expert on ways to try and make that creature show more stand out next. You've read so many mysteries, it becomes easier to solve the riddles through spotting red herrings and eyeing the least suspected culprits. Strangewood seemed like a potential breath of fresh air because it seemed like it would be so different from the get-go.

Pacing is a hindrance. The beginning takes too long to start up the demented storyline with drawn out foreshadowing. During this slow buildup I should have warmed to the main characters, but it felt disjointed. The situation with the child custody situation is a personal pet peeve and tugged on my heartstrings, in a bad and distracting way. When the fantasy came into play, it was slow paced and rather humdrum. The invented characters were so unique they were awkward. It felt like childhood characters - demented ones - trying to make themselves work into an adult story where they just didn't.

Christopher Golden is a new-to-me author, and fortunately I did enjoy his writing style. It's direct and evenly flowing. He has imagination for sure, but the pacing needs work, some of the scenes felt awkward, and characters didn't come across as anything more than plot devices with suitable personality quirks just suited to get a plot point of the story started. The biggest letdown was definitely the invented creatures for the story, though. They just don't work.

While I did like a twist at the end, this was a chore to read. I hope I find more success with another Golden book. show less

This book is kind've like the Wizard of Oz - on acid! Popular children's author Thomas Randall's getting divorced and his personal life has gone ot the dogs. So much so, that he has been neglecting the fantasy world he created, Strangewood. The creatures of that world are not happy at being ignored; their world is becoming dark and evil is taking over. So they kidnap Thomas' son... Remarkable book with a cool twist. Highly recommended!

Earthling Publications edition is stunning. A gorgeous leather-bound book in black slipace, with illustrations throughout.