Danjal Jannik Tindholm
3½ stars, rounded up to 4.
For the most of the book I really loved it, it was between 4.5-5 stars. The reasons I end on 3½ are that, to me, some of the drama felt too forced, and some of their getting back seemed to easy. Also, the ending. It wasn't a bad ending, but it wasn't an ending anyone hoped for.
On the plus side, it was laugh-out-loud funny and it was deeply moving, and Arthur and Ben (and their friends) are all really sweet.
And it really shows how difficult it can be to be together, even if you both want it, because we all carry insecurities and things from our past that hold us back, no matter what age we have.
Not 100% satisfied, but I will definitely recommend it.
I loved the movie Love, Simon; it was both hilarious and touching. This book is doubly so.
Even though I was Simon's age in pre-internet times, he's a character that my younger self can identify with, as I was never that much into drinking and the party scene and all that (that came later), and I was also a kind of a nerd (that never went away, though). I was a pretty average kid, and it's actually nice to read about those too, instead of those stories that only center on - and I'm no prude, trust me - endless hook-ups and drug-fueled parties. Yeah, those people exist and their stories need to be told, too, but all the average, self-doubtibg kids need their stories too. And Simon vs. is definitely one of them.
Be warned. Paul Tremblay goes to some VERY dark places in this book. That's a compliment, as I don't want my horror to be safe, but it may turn some readers off.
The reason I'm not giving this four stars is the same reason I gave Disappearance at Devil's Rock three stars: it has some parts that drag in the middle. IMO all the banter about “you have to”, “but we're not going to”, “but you must”, “we won't” could have been 1/3 of what it is and still not lose its impact.
But, overall it's a very gripping story and, being a gay man, it was nice to see a horror novel with gay main characters, and not just someone who is stereotypically helpless.
Jeg er ikke fan af stand-up, men af en eller anden grund har jeg altid syntes, at Linda P. er sjov. Måske fordi jeg godt fornemmede, at der under hendes fanden i voldske rutine gemte sig et sårbart menneske.
Denne bog bekræfter mig i det.
Jo, der er masser af grin i bogen, men der er også tårer og knugen i maven. Nogle af tårerne er gudskelov forløsende. Og tanker, man selv har haft, bliver bekræftet.
Den er hurtigt læst, men gør stort indtryk.
I am not afraid of flying; at worst I find it annoying, depending on who's sitting next to me. Normally I just find it boring.
That being said, there are some spine-chilling stories and movies about flying. King's own The Langoliers comes to mind. Also, the plane crash in Dean Koontz's Cold Fire is harrowing.
This collection, however, doesn't chill much.
The stories one by one:
Cargo by E. Michael Lewis: Great set-up without any payoff.
The Horror of the Heights by Arthur Conan Doyle: Could have been decent, but the telling instead of showing kinda killed it.
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet by Richard Matheson: Maybe the best-known story in the collection, if not just because it has been filmed a few times. The story isn't as intense. Nor Matheson's best work.
The Flying Machine by Ambrose Bierce: Not even half a page and doesn't really do anyhting.
Lucifer! by E.C. Tubb: This one was really good. I predicted the outcome, but liked it nonetheless.
The Fifth Category by Tom Bissell: Maybe the most boring of the lot, almost nothing but politics... I guess. I zoned out.
Two Minutes Forty-Five Seconds by Dan Simmons: Maybe I just didn't get it, but there was noting to this story at all.
Diablitos by Cody Goodfellow: Maybe the must straight up horror tale in the collection, but it was really really bad. Tried to be scary and gross and failed on all accounts.
Air Raid by John Varley: Fun idea that didn't quite reach its potential.
You Are Released by Joe Hill: Maybe the best of the bunch. It made me anxious and had well-rounded characters despite the short form.
Warbirds by David J. Schow: Talk, flashback, talk. There may or may not be a giant bird awakened by war(?!??). Bad and boring and too much war stuff.
The Flying Machine by Ray Bradbury: A fun little thing, but no biggie. Sadly, since Ray Bradbury has written some really scary stories.
Zombies on a Plane by Bev Vincent: Nothing happens! Only discussions about where it's safe to go, a guy dies, the end.
They Shall Not Grow Old by Roald Dahl: Again, a lot of war talk... sigh... Also, again, the telling not showing kills it.
Murder in the Air by Peter Tremayne: Fun idea, but stupid conclusion, and the killer is obvious from the moment he/she is on the page.
The Turbulence Expert by Stephen King: Very Twilight Zone-ish. Not scary, but an interesting story.
Falling by James Dickey: A poem based on a true story. Annoyingly written and spaced, so much so I was wondering if something went wrong in print or I was reading it wrong. Bad.
So, 3 out of 17 stories worked for me. That's not a good score.
Well, this was a long read. I mean, no, it isn't, it just took me long enough.
The story itself is intriguing, it is well-written, but it should have been maybe 100 pages shorter. The baginning and ending are powerful, but there are long stretches of padding and repetition in the middle, which is too bad, because the book loses momentum now and then.
But: it wasn't bad at all, and it also mangaes to surprise.
About 30 pages in you already knew that this was going to be a far better book than Sleeping Beauties, more Stephen-y.
It starts out as a normal, albeit macabre, police procedural but about a third into it it takes a turn... and then another... and then another.
I liked the first half of the book best, and kinda wished it would have stayed that way for the rest of the story, but it was still a compulsive read.
King's well-known talent was on full display, his characters well-rounded as usual.
Also, there's a reunion with an old character...
Highly recommended, 4½ stars :)
Was it scary? No, not really, but it had an unrelenting sense of dread. You were anxiously awaiting what would happen next and you were never quite sure what direction it would go.
I hate reality TV, so I loved the dissection of it in this novel, it really makes you question what you're actually watching.
I am willing to read more books by Tremblay.
2½ stars slight spoilers
I wasn't impressed, sadly.
I mean, the premise is interesting and it starts out good enough with a couple of handfuls of interesting characters, but very soon a lot of them start to blend together, and after a while I had trouble remembering who was who, except for a handful of main characters.
There was a lot of filler and I usually like it when Stephen King writes long novels (I wanted 11/22/63 and IT to last forever), but there was just so many characters that were introduced and then killed off few pages later without having an impact on the overall story.
It drags on for a couple of hundred pages and around the middle, when one of the characters “passes over”, it picks up speed and has a lot of interesting stuff going on, but they are interspersed with the less interesting stuff. Had the novel been cut in half, or even just two-thirds, it would have been so much better.
Around 85 pages from the end it becomes really riveting and sadly just reminds you how much better the book could have been.
The writing was serviceable, I missed a lot of King's usual humour, musings on humanity, and shocking situations, all of which I think he usually excels in. I have never read anything by Owen King, so I don't know how much of his voice was coming through.
So, overall... it is not a book I would recommend to anyone right off the bat.
In a few months The Outsider comes out; I have high hopes for it, but will try to not expect too much.
Shine On, Sweet Princess.
Since I was nine and the original Star Wars came out, I have been a big fan of Carrie Fisher. Back then it was “only” because Princess Leia was a kick-ass character. As I grew older I learned a lot about her and her life and I became even more of a fan, because she was also a kick-ass character in real life. Strong, vulnerable, smart, funny and inspirational.
That's why it hurts a bit to say that I didn't find this her best book. Not bad by any means, but I just knew 98% of it beforehand (that's the downside of being a fan, you search for every little thing about your idol, before you ever get the chanc to read their memoirs ;) ). It still has her trademark humour and snark, though, and that I could never tire of.
So, why do I give it 4 stars?
The pages from her diary. Maybe it was the timing, but her frustration, love, sadness, confusion, all resonated very deeply with me and actually brought a bit of a heartache, and a tear to my eye.
I am saddened than in less than a year we will have seen her last movie ever. And saddened that we will never see an interview with her again.
Shine on, Carrie. You will never be forgotten.
Here is yet another Stephen King short story-collection. Those have been hit or miss for me in the past (as have the novels), with Night Shift and Skeleton Crew as the outstanding works, freakishly scary on a lot of levels. Later, there were Nightmares & Dreamscapes and Everything's Eventual, two collections I couldn't get into – especially EE. Different Seasons, Four Past Midnight and Full Dark, No Stars are overall very good stories, with the novella The Langoliers being one of my absolute favourites. Just After Sunset proved that King could still scare the s**t out of us while tugging at our heart strings. I also loved how he wrote a lot about the problems of getting older.
And now we have The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, which I really looked forward to, so I'm sad to say that it is a mixed bag.
There may be slight spoilers in the following.
Mile 81: A monster car that eats people. Yes, you read that right. It's a very juvenile and silly story, without any scares or reflections on the human condition.
Premium Harmony: A dysfunctional couple going to the supermarket. Of course something happens that changes the husband's life and though the story is somewhat melancholic, it never really hits home.
Batman and Robin Have an Altercation: A man and his Alzheimer-ridden father confronts a road ragey guy. Had some sweet elements but just peters out.
The Dune: An old judge discovers a dune on a remote island where upon names are written, names of people who will die shortly after. I liked the idea a lot, but it couls have been so much more and it was extremely predictable.
Bad Little Kid: This may be my favourite story in this collection. A kid shows up several times during a man's lifetime and everytime, something bad or violent happens. This story really had a surreal and tense feeling.
A Death: A western murder mystery. Rather boring and silly.
The Bone Church: A poem which didn't make a lick of sense to me.
Morality: A couple in financial trouble gets a proposition that can erase all their problems. I liked this story, though the wife's later reaction to it all seemed a little cartoonish.
Afterlife: A man dies and is given the choice to pass on or go back and live his life again in every, little detail. Again, loved the idea but the execution lacked substance.
Ur: Read this one a year or two ago on my Kindle for PC, and didn't really get into it, but this time I really liked it. Ironically, this story is about a Kindle that has access to parallel worlds, and I can't seem to get into a book when using an electronic device for reading it.
Herman Wouk Is Still Alive: Two trailer trash women go on a drunken road trip with their kids in the back seat. I kinda liked this one, it was tense, but it just ends too sudden.
Under the Weather: A ”love story” with a dark twist. Grim and somewhat sad.
Blockade Billy: A baseball story. I gave it a chance, read one third of it and gave up. I have no interest in sports whatsoever.
Mister Yummy: An old man at a retirement home tells his friend that he's seeing some version of the grim reaper, in the shape of a young guy he and his gay friends lusted after when they were young. Again, King writes very well about people at the end of their lives, but this story also lacked bite.
Tommy: Another poem about a friend thinking about one of his dead friends. Better than The Bone Church, but a little meh.
The Little Green God of Agony: A man has been in an accident and can't seem to get well, so he gets a priest to get rid of this ”pain demon” inside him. This is more of a straight-up horror story, just without any scares. And a silly conclusion.
That Bus Is Another World: A man is on his way to New York City for a job interview, when things start to go wrong and he sees something that forced him to make a moral choice. I liked the set-up of this and it would have benefitted from being fleshed out.
Obits: A man discovers that he can kill people by writing fictional orbituaries. I liked this one as well, though it didn't quite go as far as I wanted it to.
Drunken Fireworks: A man and his mother start a fireworks competition every year on July 4th, with the people across the lake from them. This, I guess, was more of a dark comedy that didn't go all out. It has the honour, though, of being the only story in this collection that had a line that made me laugh out loud.
Summer Thunder: The end of the world. This one was one of the best, not scary, but chilling and rather melancholic.
While King is a gifted writer, and I liked the fact that this collection dealt a lot with moral choices and their complications, none of the stories really hit home.
Overall I will give this collection 2½ stars, rounding up to three, because of the cool cover and the endless hours of entertainment King has given me in the past.
May contain minimal spoilers
The good news is, I didn't hate it.
After the dud that was Deeply Odd, I really didn't expect ANYTHING at all from this book. I'm happy to say, that it was a fast and somewhat amusing read.
There were a few problems, though: too much action, endless pursues and shooting. No bodachs. Very few ghostly apperances. Also, the inclusion of characters I had all but forgotten about (Tim, Blossom Rosedale), though they did not have an impact on the story at all. Too little of known characters: only a few pages of Ozzie, a handful of pages of Edie Fischer and Annamaria only in dreams/flashbacks.
Other than that it seemed that Koontz had become less preachy and less political. Those were two of my main gripes with Deeply Odd, but in this it only slips through in very few instances. And thankfully, there is almost no trace of his trademark “humour”. This one is played much more serious and I like it the better for it.
The showdown is not epic in any way and the ending, as others have pointed out, is kinda rushed. I was worried how he would describe the afterlife, but I actually kinda liked his version of it.
Overall, Koontz is not back to his roots, but I must say that I find this the third best installment of the series (After Odd Thomas and Odd Apocalypse). I do understand if someone finds it less than fulfilling, but after finding Deeply Odd and Odd Interlude abysmal beyond hope, I actually enjoyed this.
Sorry, but I really didn't find this book all that interesting.
I missed a lot of King's usually great characterization, I didn't feel Danny was the same person as the kid (I know he grew up and all, but still...), I missed some more Wendy and some more Dick.
I felt that King skipped over too much, too easily, in this one.
I missed the feeling of danger that is present in all of his other books.
Still looking forward to Revival, though, and the sequel to Mr Mercedes, ‘cause King is still mostly a superb story-teller.
I really don't know how King does it, again and again turning out a great novel, even when it's rather short. His characters - both the bad and the good guys - are so true to life and scaringly relatable in many ways.
King knows people and humanity and I like that he doesn't shy away from the ugly sides of life and that he, at the same time, has a great love for humans and the utmost respect for their struggles.
Though not scary, Joyland provides deep insights and tons of quotable phrases on every page and leaves you teary-eyed with sadness and, yes, joy.
As you know, this is the 6th book in the Odd Thomas series and deals with Odd coming across a dangerous cowboy who has plans to kill a bunch of children. Odd starts a cross-state hunt to stop him and along the way he meets 86-year old Edie Fischer, who helps him on his way; she's as mysterious as AnnaMaria but far more action oriented.
I LOVED the first Odd Thomas, as most of us did, and didn't really feel I needed a sequel. But we got them, with varying success. I have found the odd-numbered books better than the even-numbered, and that is especially true for this book. I am not a slow reader and bought the UK edition of the book the day it came out – and one month later I'd barely gotten halfway through. Up until then I'd only liked chapter 14 and some few – VERY few – scenes that came before and after. That first half of the book is the most boring stuff I'd ever had to paddle through. I know, I could just stop, but I have promised myself to read all of the Odd series, even though I feel Koontz has lost his grip on what makes books, well, gripping. Back in the day I was the biggest Koontz-fan in Europe (maybe an exaggeration, but I was a BIG fan), but in recent years he's just been lacking in quality. I'm not only talking about him going overboard with his catholicism and right-wingery either, he seems to have lost the edge, to dare going to dark places, and in this book his descriptions of skies and seas and lakes and houses and rooms and the such REALLY went into overdrive, so much so, that I occasionally zoned out and just read the damn paragraphs without really absorbing them, but just to get them over with. We don't NEED half page descriptions of some room, ESPECIALLY not in the middle of a chase. Also, hammers on anvils isn't the best way to describe even the hardest rain, methinks.
Often his descriptions of the most mundane things are laughingly stupid. Like: “Blood has an odor faint but distinct, of conceit and modesty, of courage and cowardice, of charity and greed, of faith and doubt, in short the fragrance of what we might have been and the smell of what we are...” No, Koontz, the smell of blood is coppery and sweet, no more, no less. This isn't even clever or profound, it's just a ramble of the worst kind.
At one point he even had Odd mention that he'd read a book called Twilight Eyes.
Later, as he's driving with Edie, they start talking about laws and she says something about “idiot laws” and Odd asks “what law?” and she says, “Oh, all kinds of laws, sweetie. Idiot safety laws, bone-headed environmental laws that actually contribute to pollution...” I know that you're a Republican, Koontz, but you're still allowed to think for yourself and not believe every lie Fox News tells you about pollution and/or global warming; it's not a hoax, maybe if you actually READ the gazillion, independent studies on it and its effects, instead of equating science = evil, God = good, then you might actually avoid sounding “bone-headed” yourself. And idiot safety laws?? What, shouldn't there be limits on how fast you can drive? You DO know, that even a few miles extra an hour can cause severe damage that could be avoided by just driving a bit slower, right?
Then, as he and Edie are talking in a diner, he comes up with this gold nugget (he's talking about mottoes to live by when it all goes to hell and states some examples): “The secretary of defense announces from Sweden that he is having a sex-change operation, is in love with the prime minister of Russia, and has given his lover our nuclear launch codes.” REALLY, Koontz? In that short sentence you display an ugly opinion of trans-, homo- and xenophobia. Transgendered and/or gay people are a threat to the US? This IS what you're saying with this, and it's a blatant lie, it is typical right wing-Michele Bachmann-paranoia crap; but it is no wonder, as it's well known that Koontz has supported Michele Bachmann, John McCain and Mitt Romney who all LIVE for installing fear for foreigners and gays in the American population. Shame on you for this, Koontz, you had a lot of gay readers back in the day and since none of them are hurting YOU, why do you have to be such a bigot?
Just a few pages later he, ironically, muses on this: “Usually I spare myself from the news, because if it's not propaganda, then it's one threat or another exaggerated to the point of absurdity [...], of bigotry and oppression misnamed justice, of hatred passed off as righteousness...” This IS all very true, but, again, Michele Bachmann and her ilk are the worst offenders in doing this, AND YOU SUPPORTED HER! That is bigotry!
Then he becomes delusional: “Among the nations of the Earth in all its hstory, ours is one of the few that has not brought forth its Hitler, its Stalin, its Pol Pot, its Mao Tse-tung, its Vlad the Impaler.” A lof of nations haven't brought forth one of those, the US not being one of them: the massacring of Native Americans, Bush starting a war on grounds there were lies, bombings, shootings. Yup, it all adds up. You have just as much blood on your hands as a lot of other warring nations.
Near the end of the book, when all is ending with kids and dogs and happy sunrises, he writes: “I will not say that they were all beautiful by the standards of our culture, which is obsessed with models and airbrushed celebrities...” Well, dear Mr. Koontz, when was the last time you had a less attractive female lead in one of your books? They all have long black/blonde hair (never redheads) and deep almon-shaped brown eyes/deep truthful blue eyes, they all move with grace and have slender legs and full breasts and what have you. In a LOT of your books you have equaled beautiful = good, ugly = evil, so you're as much to blame in that culture you slam. That's bigotry too. I even remember in one of his earlier books, I think it was The Eyes of Darkness, where he had an elderly maid think about how this culture idolizes young people. Again, Koontz IS part of that culture, as it seems that the older he gets, the younger his protagonists are.
Which brings me to his slamming of Hollywood and everything it stands for; that is deeply ironic, since his books use every Hollywood cliché available.
His love for dogs is also too exaggerated; in one scen, Odd is attacked by three Dobermans, pacifies them, and freaking starts APOLOGIZING for having to do it!
And would it have killed you to kill off just ONE of the 26 children in this book? I don't wish death on anyone, but it's suspense fiction and the stakes are supposed to be high. ALL the bad guys die, ALL the good guys survive - where is the excitement in that? Booooring!
Of the five or so people Odd kills, one of them is a young woman, the only woman in the entire book who shows any sexuality and the only one of the killed ones whose death throes is disgustingly described. I'm not saying Koontz is a misogynist, but catholicism is and it's also afraid of sex and he's a self-proclaimed catholic, but I find it realy disturbing that he's in a way “slut-shaming”, intentionally or not.
My last gripe with this book is his decriptions of Satanism. Maybe Koontz should take the time to read The Satanic Bible; Satanism is NOT about sacrificing children, or grown-ups, or goats or anyting else like that; it is NOT about summoning the devil. It IS, however, about not wanting to be shamed for all the stupid things the bible says and live your life as YOU see fit, without hurting anyone. That is ALL satanism is about. Of course, there's always some bad seed in every group, even catholic priests abuse kids, but get your facts straight, Koontz. Also, some of the symbols the satanists use are ankhs and Celtic crosses. These are NOT associated with satanism in any way, it isn't just catholicism that is good and loving, far from it, in fact!
Normally I hate spoilers, but for this book I actively sought them out to see if ANYHTING would happen that would make it worthwhile, but found nothing and thus had to FORCE myself to finish it.
Overall this is a very, very, very bad book; I WILL read the last Odd book, but then I think my 28 year long affair with Koontz is over. It seems like a loooong time since Whispers, Watchers, Midnight and Dragon Tears. MAYBE I will read Chris Snow #3 if he ever gets around to write it; I'm not sure, because even though they were alright books, they are not among my favourites.
Too bad, because you have given me many a good read.
CONS:
Within the first 20 pages, Koontz lashes out against liberals 4 times.
Inconsistency: In Odd Interlude, Odd encounters aliens, but in this book, he doesn't believe in UFOs.
No bodachs =(
NEUTRAL:
Curse words: I don't mind whether or not there are curse words in a novel, but, seeing what Odd goes through, it's impressive that he never utters a st or somesuch, and always describes others' curse words - except for the occasional st or a** - in politically correct terms.
Odd is supposed to lead a very sparse life with no possesions, but he apparently read Stieg Larsson, W.B. Yeats and lots of other stuff - when? Does he have time to go to the library while on the run? Or what? Same goes for all the movies he mentions.
The overuse of pop cultural references. Not a problem as such, but the novel will be dated in a few years. Remember a few years back, when Koontz referenced SecondLife in one of his books? Does anyone know or use it now?
Not really an Odd Thomas story, but entertaining enough.
PROS:
At least the humour in this one isn't over the top. Neither is the sweetness. And not too much dogness.
Actually an engaging story and well-written - two things we've lacked from Koontz in ages.
He didn't go back to when Stormy was still alive, which is good, as that would have diminished the impact the first novel had.
Bad Odd - want to see more of him =)
OVERALL:
I found this the most engaging Odd novel since the first, though it was a bit over the top and really didn't bring the story arc further.
What was Koontz thinking??
I gave part 1+2 of the kindle version 2 stars each, not sure why, maybe because it was the beginning and middle of the story and had the opportunity to really go an awesome route; but sadly, it never did.
Remember the X-Files? How the overall mythology of the series was the most interesting aspect, occasionally halted by a monster-of-the-week episode, that could be either really lame or really disturbing? Well, Odd Interlude is like a really lame monster-of-the-week episode, with a plot that could easily have been based off of an X-Files episode.
Even in this short story, Koontz rambles on about flowers and houses and delivers long-winding and far-fetched desciptions of the aliens - yes, ALIENS! (Koontz has written some older, great alien stories, but they don't belong in the Odd Thomas universe) - that he's up against. All of this would be okay, if there at some point was any sence of danger, but there isn't. All is so safe and tidy as to become downright annoying.
Ultimately, it seems like a teen wrote it, what with the alien-snake-human-thingie with six(!!) arms and the (over)use of the word s**thead in one of the first chapters of part one. I have nothing against curse words at all, but this just seemed juvenile.
Skip this and jump directly to Odd Apocalypse.
Dear Mr. Stephen King,
I hate you! WHY would you write a book like 11/22/63, when you KNEW, that your Constant Readers will have a hard time finding ANYTHING that can match it for a loooong time? Was that your agenda? Writing a book, that people will talk about, and long to come back to, for ages? You made me laugh out loud twice, made me cry (in public!!) thrice; you had me turning pages on the edge of my seat and being downright frustrated for 800+ pages. You wanted to destroy readers' experiences and expectations for the next stack of books they're going to read? If so, you succeeded. I loved the book and thus I hate you.
Sincerely.
It wasn't as bad as I'd expected or feared, but I can't consider it a masterpiece. It could easily have been shortened to a novella and still regain all of the main ingredients. And it wasn't too cute or dog-ish, which I'd certainly expected.
But let me start off by saying, I'm not religious, I do believe in more than meets the eye, but I can't really believe that evolution is wrong. Maybe there are some holes here and there, but I think that there's enough proof to back up, that evolution is, indeed, fact. I'm not saying we know it all, as it is clear that there are tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of things yet to be discovered.
Overall the book entertained me and I was never really bored with it - except, maybe, for the Henry parts, I really didn't find them interesting or particularly well-written. They didn't seem to belong in this story - and no, don't say that I didn't “get it”, it's entirely possible to get it and still don't think that it fits.
I really liked the story of Tom Bigger the best, would have loved to read a whole novel about him.
Also, why does it seem, in all his later books, that unless a couple is married, people are asexual? That really isn't realistic. He has no qualms writing about violence, but sex is a no-no.
My main gripe with the book is, that it seemed really juvenile. I have read children's books with better plots and better characterization. Plus, there really seemed to be a lot of filler just to meet some length-requirements.
Which brings me to: The Darkest Evening... is 354 pages long, Your Heart.. is 337 pages, Frankenstein 3 352, Relentless 356 and Breathless 337....what, is Koontz now under contractual obligations to write between 335 and 360 pages? Just semes weird.
Anyway, it kept me going, but it's definitely not a masterpiece, I'll reserve that praise to Under The Dome ;)
Oh, maybe koontz should just shift gears entirely and start writing religious fiction. There's a big market for that.
Koontz has totally lost it. He's gone over the edge.
First. Frank 3 was a borefest, okay? No way you can deny it. I wanted to like it, but could not fool myself. And I really do believe, that anyone who says that he/she liked it is fooling him/herself. But, to each his own...
My main gripe with the book (aside from being badly written, suspenseless, anticlimactic and nonsensical) is on page 219-220, when Carson is talking to Erika Four on the phone and Michael sits next to her.
Some quotes:
“All he wanted was to build a utopia.”
“Paradise on Earth. Nothing wrong with that.”
“A one-nation world without war,” Carson said.
“All of humanity united in pursuit of a glorious future.”
“The New Race wouldn't pollute like the Old Race.”
...
“No greed, less waste, a willingness to sacrifice.”
“They'd save the polar bears,” Michael said.
Carson said, “They'd save the oceans.”
“They'd save the planet.”
All this from their conversation, and it's written in a mocking way, as if wanting to build a paradise, ending wars, waste and greed, saving the polar bears, the ocean and the planet are bad things.
Is Koontz so gone now, that he thinks that only dogs and humans are allowed to live?
I know it's all fiction and that he sometimes has a wicked sense of humour, but mocking things that would actually be good...? Now, I don't really find it funny the way he did it here, mainly because I know that he always lets his own beliefs shine through in his books (which, sometimes, can be extremely annoying and preachy), so I have to wonder if he really thinks that it's not worth saving the oceans and the polar bears, and not worth stopping wars. Oh, and the only mention he has of anything gay in it, is a clone gone wrong. Thanks, Koontz.
Oh well, from what I've learned, he was a Bush supporter and now supports Michele Bachmann.
