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Bad parts is anything but boring. The book is very gripping from its earliest moments, a skill Brandon seems to have mastered, and the plot and characters are emotionally compelling throughout most of the story. However, I do have problems with it. These are:
1. There are many parts that feel contrived, and generally the characters go through SO much struggle to complete any simple task that it feels really unrealistic (yes I know it's a book about a creek demon I'm talking about a different kind of unrealistic). While Brandon does a great job of weaving the story together and it definitely reads like he had a ton of fun making the book and a passion for writing, I think he got too excited with some ideas and ran with them even if they made for a less compact, slick and satisfying story. The absolutely breakneck pace makes for many things to happen that clutter up the story and I could do without much of it. This problem isn't helped by the fact that the entire book takes place over the course of a very short time span. His other novel, Entry Wounds, has the same thing going on but in a much better way because there is a much more natural sense of urgency and characters still rest, get fatigued, and have normal human needs like eating and sleeping and drinking in that novel. Here, instead of a natural sense of emergency from the very premise of the situation, the thing that makes things move so fast is just the fact that Snare said so. I think the story could've benefited from a longer time limit, as it would've made for much better opportunities for downtime, which this book largely lacks with a couple exceptions, more believable scenarios and characters, and character development. Speaking of characters...
2. The characters are unlikable, unbelievable and average. I liked Ash at first, but I also think she became MUCH less tolerable over the course of the book. I'll come back to this Ash point later, and to avoid spoilers I won't be specific, but basically every single surviving character by the end is a bad person. This is not to say the ending sucks, but it could've been better. The characters also do not change. Characters with flaws are great, but when they never learn from their flaws and just have them for the sake of it instead of for a purpose, such as being relatable or used as a narrative device, it can become very irritating. If there is learning or growth by the surviving characters at the end, it is not stated, and I do not trust those characters to do so because again, they are not good people.
3. SPOILER WARNING! From here on I will be discussing the parts I wasn't before to avoid spoilers. First, I want to mention Trent and Candace, because I have significant problems with both of them. Trent is a horrible person. I hate him so much that I was significantly happier when he died even compared to Candace. And I don't think I should've hated him, not because of him, but because he should've learned something before he died. He died a much worse person than he began, but not in an interesting or satisfying way, just a “Wow, I didn't know Trent was THIS MUCH of a piece of shit!” way. This is because he was never really an antagonist. He became one during the very long climax of the story (or maybe by that point the climax had already happened– I'm not sure) but I think that was the completely wrong way of going about it. I think he should've made terrible decision like the one with the creek water much earlier and then had time to regret it and grow before he died. Next, I really don't like how Ash's character ends up being handled. It feels like Brandon took the philosophy of maximizing drama and tension, which isn't always bad, but it comes at the very high cost of almost every character being someone I hate. This detracts from the drama because I care significantly less about the events concerning characters I don't like than ones I do. When Ash was driving Lauren outside of the zone, it was an extremely gripping and pretty genius plot point, but the decision wasn't justified enough to make me feel anything stronger than the thought, “I hope the police get a hold of her.” So, when the fog covered the town and the police died, I just thought, “Oh. So she just gets away with this.” This wasn't an isolated case, either. Just a bit later when she finds Cheeto dead, I wanted to be sad because he's one of the few good people in the book, but I was just kind of passively bummed out that I wouldn't see him again and angry at Ash for causing his death (which I didn't know yet but it was pretty clearly Snare's doing.) This kind of thing happens many times throughout the book, where my dislike for characters gets in the way completely of causing an emotional response from me.
Score: 67/100.
Good book, again, it was not boring. I just think it needed some more time in the oven and a more experienced version of Brandon, because Entry Wounds is an upgrade in every way. Even with all my criticism, good stuff!
