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3.26 AVERAGE
3.26 AVERAGE
Far better than Mad Black Wheel but nowhere near as good as Bird Box -- this felt like ideas for two separate novellas got mashed together. Up until the last 30-40 pages, there are two distinctly different narratives that are barely connected; even the towns that James Moxie visits along the Trail feel nothing like the town of Harrows, where Carol's story takes place. Pulled apart, edited, and given poignant endings, the Moxie/Smoke story and the Carol/Dwight story would each be pretty interesting, but mashed together, the whole is a bit of a slog.
DNF @ 25%
The more I listened to the audiobook the less interested I became. What I read of the story seemed to predictable. I can definitely say though that I totally had The Fall of the House of Usher in the back of my mind.
The more I listened to the audiobook the less interested I became. What I read of the story seemed to predictable. I can definitely say though that I totally had The Fall of the House of Usher in the back of my mind.
I was super excited to read this book, but it ended up just being average. The overarching Sleeping Beauty retelling aspect I thought was fun, but I spent most of the book confused about the setting of the book and what was going on. I did appreciate the ending, and the parts that focused specifically on Carol, which is why I gave it a 3/5 instead of a 2/5.
It is hard for me to discern why I did not like this book that much. I do not regret reading it, but it lacked a certain something. The story was fine, the characters were fine... I don't know. It was just fine. Bird Box was so excellent that I expected more from Malerman. I would recommend this to Marlerman fans, but outside of that, perhaps not.
This was super frustrating because it had potential. Some of the letdown was on me, because I mistakenly thought this was going to be about Carol more actively attempting to escape her stasis as all of the other plots happened around her as well. But I did not feel like Carol was active in this journey. Malerman did create some interesting characters, and I don't think they needed to be more complicated necessarily as they fit specific tropes, but I did want something more from them. I think it would have helped to get a little bit more of their normal, so that as a reader I could feel that normal being upended. The dialogue could feel off for me at times. While I appreciate he was showing instead of telling with his world building, I don't think he showed enough this go around. I wanted to know more about how this world worked, or even what normal life was like.
All in all, this has some interesting ideas but it doesn't feel like it commits as fully as it could.
All in all, this has some interesting ideas but it doesn't feel like it commits as fully as it could.
Well, I tried again and have learned that Josh Malerman just isn't the author for me. He has some really unique and interesting concepts but the execution has fallen flat twice for me. I won't be trying his work out in the future, because at this point, I feel like a bully.
This was arguably better than Bird Box, so there's that. However, a lot of this story wasn't defined well enough for me. There were too many characters to fully develop any of them, and what the hell was up with the supernaturally element to this? Fuck that. It was useless as a plot point, as a big bad, and as an anything.
This actually could have been better being just a western with more fully realized characters.
But alas.
This was arguably better than Bird Box, so there's that. However, a lot of this story wasn't defined well enough for me. There were too many characters to fully develop any of them, and what the hell was up with the supernaturally element to this? Fuck that. It was useless as a plot point, as a big bad, and as an anything.
This actually could have been better being just a western with more fully realized characters.
But alas.
I absolutely loved Josh Malerman’s Bird Box when I read it a few years ago, so I was excited to read anything he wrote next. His book Black Mad Wheel came out last year but I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet. But when I read the synopsis for Unbury Carol, I knew I had to read it.
This book took me a little while to get into, but I think that’s because I was hoping for something like Bird Box, and this is definitely not that. But once I put that out of my head and got into this, it was so good! It was definitely strange and creepy, which was great, and it was unpredictable. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen to anyone or how it was going to end.
Reviews seem to be all over the place for this one. Some people really disliked it and others, like me, really enjoyed it, so it will be interesting to hear from other readers.
(From www.pingwings.ca)
This book took me a little while to get into, but I think that’s because I was hoping for something like Bird Box, and this is definitely not that. But once I put that out of my head and got into this, it was so good! It was definitely strange and creepy, which was great, and it was unpredictable. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen to anyone or how it was going to end.
Reviews seem to be all over the place for this one. Some people really disliked it and others, like me, really enjoyed it, so it will be interesting to hear from other readers.
(From www.pingwings.ca)
Malerman is a literary chameleon. I loved Bird Box and this book is almost as far from that as possible. But it’s equally good. I love a Western, so the setting of this was a treat. Then the ideas and characters were fantastic. Highly recommended.