Le grenier des enfers

I wanted something pulpy and easy - a book that tells its story in a straightforward fashion and draws the reader on with an interesting plot. To some extent, this satisfied that need. But I found it a little ham-fisted. Characters are generally either all-good or all-bad, and the obnoxious ones we're meant to hate are introduced through physical descriptions that loudly, emphatically shout, “YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO HATE THIS CHARACTER!”

Meanwhile, the plot developments to come are pretty obvious, especially if you keep in mind the law of conservation of characters. Still, it's not terrible - you get to feel smart for picking up the clues, and there are enough unanswered questions that I wanted to keep reading.

But the denouement is just plain silly, and really took me out of the story. From the bizarre plan of the heroes (which is far less believable than bloodthirsty monsters terrorizing NYC) to the explanation of how everything got started, nothing makes sense.

Add in the fact that the authors completely misunderstand what evolution is, and make other dumb science mistakes like confusing scurvy and rickets, and I just can't say I “liked” this. I didn't hate it, but surely there's better easy-reading fun out there!