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3.26 AVERAGE
3.26 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
This was better than I expected but I don’t like westerns. It had a really slow start, but I did end up getting more interested about 150 pages in.
(4.5 stars) I think I had a good introduction to the genre of westerns from a up and coming new favorite writer of mine Josh Malerman. Unbury Carol is a tale about love, gunslinging, and a little bit of magic. An adventure to gobble up in a few days, with mystery's lining the way for you to speculate about.
From my description it doesn't like anything otherworldly, but a few key details make it stand out.
Firstly, the villains of this tale are marvelous. I think my favorite perspective to be in was Smokes, who will reign high in my all-time villain list. He's wicked to the bone, and sometimes that's all a horror reader wants to read. Rot wasn't quite as good, but still creepy and interesting. I'm not as much a paranormal guy, but Rot definitely played his part, his motivation to hate Carol never really makes sense though.
Secondly, I think the way Malerman spices all of his novels makes them stand out. Carols condition, The Trail, his host of new and different characters, and Rot all make this book like nothing else out there. The creative juices put into his novels are close to the best I've ever read and I'm so here for it.
If anyone reading this hasn't read Malerman, give him a shot at least if you're at all into horror, or just really good books.
From my description it doesn't like anything otherworldly, but a few key details make it stand out.
Firstly, the villains of this tale are marvelous. I think my favorite perspective to be in was Smokes, who will reign high in my all-time villain list. He's wicked to the bone, and sometimes that's all a horror reader wants to read. Rot wasn't quite as good, but still creepy and interesting. I'm not as much a paranormal guy, but Rot definitely played his part, his motivation to hate Carol never really makes sense though.
Secondly, I think the way Malerman spices all of his novels makes them stand out. Carols condition, The Trail, his host of new and different characters, and Rot all make this book like nothing else out there. The creative juices put into his novels are close to the best I've ever read and I'm so here for it.
If anyone reading this hasn't read Malerman, give him a shot at least if you're at all into horror, or just really good books.
Josh Malerman always does it for me.I can’t get enough of his books! This book was a little bit of everything. It’s was fun and yet horrifying and also a bit of a love story with such interesting and fun characters.
Maybe my hopes were too high since Birdbox is one of my favorite books of all time, but this book just okay. It was a really unique premise so I enjoyed that.
I really liked this book. It absolutely refuses to be classified or categorized.
Is it Horror? Yes, and then again no. There are some subtle, horror aspects to the story, but not much.
Is it a western? Yes..... but then again no. There are some weird western aspects to it, but only some.
There is magic, but is there really? I'm still not sure.
What I do know is it is a heck of an adventure. From the moment our protagonist falls into her death-like coma, and her maid telegraphs James Moxie there is excitement and adventure up and down "The Trail."
I would like to talk about "The Trail." This story is obviously set in an alternate reality. It appears to be set in what would be equivalent to our early 1800's. It is funny that I don't remember any talk of trains or dirigibles or any of that sort of steam punk paraphernalia. But there is a man named Smoke with metal legs the seems to be operated with oil in some mechanism. Smoke felt steampunk to me, but this is also not a steampunk novel. Anyway, I digress. The Trail itself is a character and there seems to be something a little mystical about it. The world building is very good as far as it goes.
I would very much like to read more stories about 'The Trail."
Is it Horror? Yes, and then again no. There are some subtle, horror aspects to the story, but not much.
Is it a western? Yes..... but then again no. There are some weird western aspects to it, but only some.
There is magic, but is there really? I'm still not sure.
What I do know is it is a heck of an adventure. From the moment our protagonist falls into her death-like coma, and her maid telegraphs James Moxie there is excitement and adventure up and down "The Trail."
I would like to talk about "The Trail." This story is obviously set in an alternate reality. It appears to be set in what would be equivalent to our early 1800's. It is funny that I don't remember any talk of trains or dirigibles or any of that sort of steam punk paraphernalia. But there is a man named Smoke with metal legs the seems to be operated with oil in some mechanism. Smoke felt steampunk to me, but this is also not a steampunk novel. Anyway, I digress. The Trail itself is a character and there seems to be something a little mystical about it. The world building is very good as far as it goes.
I would very much like to read more stories about 'The Trail."
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What a disappointment. It took me days to slog through the first 200 pages and then I only skimmed the second half of the book because it was so dull. There were too many POVs, most of them just follow each other (someone follows Smoke who follows Moxie who tries to reach Carol) and their every step is described in minute detail (all the action in one chapter could usually be summarized by the lame chapter titles, such as "Dwight visits Lafayette again" or "Smoke sleeps, too"). I didn't really care about any of the characters and considering that the title and the summary hint at this book being about Carol, it actually focuses mostly on the men in her life and what they are up to. Also, none of the characters have any depths to them, they were just plain good or evil. The beginning and the ending try to create something unique, showing the potential of the idea behind the book, but instead everything seems unnecessarily confusing and stands in stark contrast to the linear (i.e. boring) progression of the plot in the middle of the story.
Maybe you'll enjoy this if you're really into Westerns, but apart from that I would urge you to read the author's Bird Box instead.
Maybe you'll enjoy this if you're really into Westerns, but apart from that I would urge you to read the author's Bird Box instead.