Justin

5 out of 5 without the puns.... Seriously, it's too much.

This book is a bit annoying. The first 3/4 of the book was slow and a bit plodding. There were several times that I wasn't sure I was going to finish. However, I stuck with it, and the last quarter was suddenly very good, comparatively. Which led up to a plot-cliffhanger at the end...

So, now I'm stuck, I haven't decided yet if I'll give the second one a try.

His terror of the gallows drove him continually to commit temporary suicide, and return to his subordinate station of a part instead of a person; but he loathed the necessity, he loathed the despondency into which Jekyll was now fallen, and he resented the dislike with which he was himself regarded.

When Stevenson wrote a sentence he turned it into a paragraph and when he wrote a paragraph he turned it into a chapter. This is a short but dense novel (in a good way). I'm amazed at the amount of story that Stevenson was able to squeeze into less than 200 pages. I really enjoy the poetry of the language of this type of literature.

And, yes, the story still holds up. I had my doubts at first (the ending was obviously already spoiled - Thanks, Scooby Doo...) that the story would be relevant, outside of the cultural dualities of Victorian society, but it, nevertheless, held up.

The ending is... a bit abrupt... But, the rest of the book is pretty great.

... I'm confused. This character is completely changed from the previous books and not for the better. It's as if the author suddenly decided to make his serious main character into the manic, comic-relief side character for someone else's story. I'll likely give the next book a try but the reviews from that book look worse than the reviews for this one - so, I'm betting it didn't get better.